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What Should Internet Television Be Called?
At NYC's Webster Hall last night, a panel assembled by Blip.tv and moderated by NY Video 2.0's Yaron Samid discussed this and other online video content-related issues at a town-hall style meeting.
The panel included:
- Robert Millis - Founder, Hudson Street Media
- Paul Kontonis - Founder, For Your Imagination
- Andrew Baron - Founder, Rocketboom
- Jay Smooth - Founder, Ill Doctrine
- Sarah Austin - Founder, Pop17
- Kathleen Grace & Thom Woodley, Founders, Dinosaur Diorama Production
The first issue was "what is Internet television"? Millis pointed out that it doesn't have established norms like regular television and Kontonis added that it's the ability to distribute across multiple platforms that sets Internet television apart.
The discussion quickly moved to what to call Internet television. Blip.tv's Dina Kaplan offered webcasting or web shows while two academics in the audience suggested anything was better than Internet TV. Calling it that, they felt, would inevitably lead to government regulation.
The panelists discussed platforms next. All had different ideas about how their shows were being viewed. Kontonis said that his company was working will all different kinds of platforms while Millis explained that he and his partners were surprised by the number of people watching PoliticalLunch.com in HD. He added that almost 25% of their feed was being viewed that way, a surprising amount.
Cooper Union's Sanford Dickert asked the panel from the floor how the audience for video could be expanded. Barron pointed out that Verizon's plans to offer video from the Web through FiOS was a good next step. Grace said more bandwidth was necessary as her parents in Texas couldn't watch some of her company's programs from home. Austin thinks that WIMAX in about five years' time will make an impact on the audience that Internet video can reach.
Samid then moved the discussion to hit shows on the Web crossing over to television. Austin pointed out that TMZ.com and celebrity-focused shows had done so successfully. Baron said that come September, Rocketboom.com would be announcing a significant partnership deal that would greatly expand their reach but gave no details. An audience member shouted out that AskANinja could be a crossover hit, but Woodley noted that it's unlikely a show without multiple cameras could appeal to a regular television audience. Baron then noted that based on his research, some shows have less reach than claimed and in particular, said that Robert Scoble's Fast Company show doesn't have as large an audience as he has interactions with people online.
The last two issues raised were monetization or "cashification" as Kontonis called it (and recommended everyone in the audience do the same) and distribution. Kontonis said that there were merchandising, licensing, and even book publishing opportunties, Austin noted that her show is sponsored, and Woodley added that product placement was also a possibility. The panelists were largely agreed that YouTube is the best vehicle for distribution even if the Web site's appearance and cataloguing of content hasn't changed in years. Grace said that it didn't really matter given that if people really want to see your content, they'll find it wherever you post it.
The product placement comment sparked additional debate with an audience member from Morpheus Media noting that content producers make it hard to arrange these kind of opportunities. Grace said that they were always willing, but that they often found they often found the chain of the command at agencies difficult to work with, calling the agency to get to the media planner who speaks with the brand.
I'm going to start using the term "cashification". Really gets to the point.
Posted by: Joseph Weisenthal | July 29, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Oh come on! A town-hall style discussion about what Internet TV should be called. Try a Town-hall meeting about What other names [url=http://www.123world.com/new-york/]New York City[/url] homeless can be called, or is there no "Cashification" for it!
Posted by: Dallas Smithin | April 01, 2009 at 07:29 PM
Just shorten it to ODV - On demand video
Posted by: Martin | June 20, 2009 at 02:08 PM