Unmet Needs of Internet Video
Colin Dixon, Practice Manager, Broadband Media
March 16, 2009
Last week I moderated a panel at the TV of Tomorrow Show, an event I highly recommend to all involved in today’s digital media revolution. The panel was entitled “The Broadband Video Economy: Mapping the Opportunities and the Challenges.” My fellow panelist were:
- Damon Berger, Director of Branded Entertainment, Moderati
- Marty Roberts, VP Marketing, thePlatform
- Doug Knopper, CEO, Freewheel
- Austin Shoemaker, CoolIris
- Peter Yared, CEO, iWidgets
The lively conversation ranged across a number of topics and issues but two in particular stood out to me as we talked. Firstly, there is a growing understanding of the important role that social networking plays in the discovery and consumption of media. Secondly, and related to the first point, syndication is becoming an important part of media distribution. I would go further to say that these two issues were über-themes for the entire show.
Social nets and syndication underscore how increasingly important the web is becoming in our entertainment lives as both of them leverage the platform extremely effectively.
The panel had several other insights I thought I’d share with you. In particular, I asked them to tell the audience, in 30 seconds or less, what was the biggest unmet need in Internet video today.
Here’s what they said:
Marty – Content discovery on the web. With so much content how can a consumer possibly find something relevant to them to watch?
Peter – Needs to be full integration with social networks. In Peters view, the social networks are the video networks!
Austin – There needs to be a single, pervasive guide. Readers of my 2005 report on guides will know how near-and-dear this subject is my heart.
Damon – Authoring platforms for cross platform delivery. I’m sure there are a lot of content providers out there looking for a lot of help in this area.
Doug – Video distribution with control. Content providers need a better platform to control how their video gets to and is enjoyed by consumers.
One last thing struck me later about my panel. But it only hit me as watched another, much larger panel later in the afternoon. On this panel there was a representative from Canoe Ventures and a representative from Cable Labs. These gentlemen, I think it’s fair to say, represented the existing PayTV providers. They talked about a graceful evolution of the delivery platforms toward a more interactive future. On my panel, there was a tacit assumption by all that the platform was already here: it’s called the Internet.
I’m off to Austin, Texas this week for South by Southwest where I’ll be moderating another panel entitled “Beyond Apple TV: Building Next-Generation Systems for Acquiring Content.” Check back here for the highlights.
Thanks,
Colin Dixon
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