You know the real estate maxim about location, so what is the state of video programming online? From what I have seen so far, it is not yet beachfront property.
Will the situation change when Yahoo!, AOL and other media titans spin up their production departments or harvest vaults of existing content? These folks will have large budgets and staffs to implement strategies for people like Lloyd Braun, who Yahoo! brought in from ABC to chart their course. Will Mr. Braun look to former platforms like FinanceVision™ or Platinum,™ what he refers to as "almost like a television set", as a guide in building Yahoo's offering? Will Time Warner's deep vaults prove sufficient, or will AOL need more programs, like the well-produced Live8 concerts, in addition to creating other original programming? Is there another HBO channel in the offing for Internet television and will it be Yahoo!, AOL or the player to be named later?
Some items to consider which I will also explore in further posts:
- Yahoo! and AOL can afford to make some mistakes along the way, but what about Indie producers? Will they stand to gain from IPTV aggregation sites, new or established networks? How will the revenue model work?
- Will numbers alone drive a site or project it to success? In addition, even if you can attract 100,000 users to your site as rocketboom.com claims, does that translate into a business model, which will attract advertisers? Will viewers be willing to pay for content, or will they simply move to another free site?
- Will there be a lowering of quality as more non-professionals pick up low priced high-quality DV cameras or the latest generation of video equipped cell phones, such as the Nokia N90 and decide they are producers? Do you remember the effect camcorders and newbies had on established producers and DPs back in the eighties when we were working with Ikegami HL79EAL's? It was a negative but it was also an opportunity depending on one's ability to adapt to technology changes.
On one side: using low priced gear like the DVX-100a, Sony Z1 or even the Nokia N90 does not mean these devices are or will be unwelcomed tools for Indie professionals. Having spent a few minutes with the N90, I can see situations where its small form factor would be useful as a second unit camera or for the creation of micro-documentaries especially since the image quality is about VHS grade, from what I've seen. After all, the DP can create compelling content with less then broadcast gear owing to their eye and use of motivated natural or artificial light.
However, on the other side: This is really about people without any experience flooding the market with low quality produced content, which will make it more difficult for the viewer to sift through to find good content.
I'm not suggesting you need a Sony F900 to shoot with, though it would be nice :-} I am more interested in seeing the best level of produced content given the tools used to foster the growth of IPTV among Indie producers. There will always be a market for consumer-produced content, and some of it will find its way into the same aggregation and portal sites that are promoting more professional content. Hopefully, we as professionals can benefit from the exposure which sites like Brightcove can offer.
On the other end of the pipe, will viewers be able to find content they want? What about content they don't know about yet, and how will they have that serendipitous moment when they find something compelling? In addition, what if they want to find a specific episode of The Sopranos™ but they only remember a scene or part of it? Will tagging systems be smart enough to sift through and deliver that episode to them?
In the end, if people cannot find content quickly and be able to manage their own shopping cart, so to speak of media, they may find the process too complex and tune out.
