Two quotes about IPTV content delivery and marketing from the past week caught my attention and I need to determine if a reality check is in order.

The first was the New York Times article, "Google Joins Viacom in Web Test of Video Ads" (purchase required). In addressing their plans for distributing limited programming content on third-party sites, such as "SpongeBob" and MTV's "Laguna Beach", "Viacom indicated they will have to approve each site that uses its content, and it wants only sites with at least 100,000 viewers a month".

The second quote was in the August issue of OMMA, entitled "TV and Web Merger in Texas" (registration required). In the article about Verizon's FIOS offering, programming director Walter Delph said, "We see being able to market down to the smallest possible niche, to groups as small as 100 customers".

I understand the former statement was discussing a rev share model with third-party sites and the promise of enabling profitably for all players. The latter statement about Verizon's delivery to small groups of viewers was exclusive of Internet sites, granted. However, what bothered me is this: why does Verizon see the value in micro-group content delivery and marketing and Viacom and Google do not? Has the floor been set at 100,000 users because it is simply not profitable to cater to less? I have not seen any studies to quantify that number, so what about Indie producers who want to boot strap themselves, will they be able to do it based on the Google/Viacom model?