I remember first getting to play with a video camera in high school some 20 odd years ago. We made a 5 minute school video and it took a week. The editing console looked like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. Now I can shoot broadcast quality video on my HD camera, edit it in iMovie or whatever, and have it on Vimeo or YouTube in a couple of hours. According to Google, 13 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and is growing daily. That’s outrageous!
People are watching video online. What’s more everyday people are using it to get heard. Just last night The ONE News YouTube Election Debate was televised nationwide in New Zealand, where you had a chance to ask the 2 main party leaders questions that were important to you by creating a short YouTube video. The best questions uploaded to this site were broadcasted live during the debate and the leaders had to answer them. If that’s not an advertisement for how online video can make you be heard I don’t know what is.
TVNZ ondemand - some of the shows are free to view via the embedded player on the website.
This convergence of online video and conventional TV is only going to become more prevalent. TV will become ultimately more like online video – it will become targeted and it will be measurable. TVNZ has already released it’s new online-video service, TVNZ ondemand – providing on demand television to New Zealanders via their computers. There’s a good mixture of content on the site, from shows that have just been shown to older popular shows.
Combine this with the recently launched “Freeview” Digital TV and radio in New Zealand which is served via satellite or UHF aerial, and TV as we know it is definitely changing. Now regular television shows (when available), instead of being broadcast in only an analogue transmission, are offered in DVD quality and sound delivered in a widescreen format. Get that pumped in to your future wireless enabled handset – phone or ipod or whatever, and now you’re really talking!
“The growth of long-form video online—defined as TV episodes, Web-only shows, complete sports events and full-length movies—will create a wide range of inventory” – David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer
So what does all this mean for my home videos? Well, unless the quality of my content improves significantly, not a lot. Having the technology, and having the talent to produce compelling and entertaining content are two entirely different beasts. It’s an over-used saying, but content really is king. However, with all of these delivery mechanisms constantly improving, it’s pretty damn exciting isn’t it?
