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July '08 VideoNuze Recap - 3 Key Topics
Happy Friday and welcome to August. Recapping another busy month, here are 3 key topics from July:
1. Skyrocketing video consumption has a downside, just ask the broadband ISPs
This month I touched on the growing problem of broadband ISPs' networks getting overwhelmed by broadband's surging usage. In "Video Usage is Creating a Hairball for Broadband ISPs, Others," I reviewed the issue and solutions ISPs are implementing. To get a sense of why the bandwidth problem is only going to intensify, slides were offered in "Broadband Video Drives Cisco's Zettabyte Forecast."
Two posts provided evidence of how consumption surging is at both ends of the duration spectrum (See "Longer-Form Live Streaming Events Get Traction" and "New Magid Survey: Short-Form Dominates Online Video Consumption and Hurts TV Viewership"). ISPs are scrambling to deal with all this, yet they are constrained in their options by fulminating regulators net neutrality-seeking free-speechers. Just ask Comcast, which today faces a sanction from the FCC for its network management practices. Bandwidth problems are only going to grow over time, requiring all constituencies to work together toward productive solutions.
2. Brand marketers continue to embrace broadband opportunities
What do marketers like Baby Ruth, McDonald's, Klondike, Kmart, Sears, Virgin Mobile and others have in common? They all launched user-generated video contests in July, aiming to engage their audiences in new and creative ways. Meanwhile, what do Hewlett Packard, Sierra Mist, Southern Comfort, Revlon, Unilever, GMC, Home Depot, Red Bull and others have in common? They all announced or launched original broadband video shows (often with partners) during the month. All are chronicled in VideoNuze's news roundup section for brands.
Brands are experimenting widely with broadband, and based on my tracking of the space, they seem to be gravitating to UGC and original content. Given audience fragmentation, ad-skipping and massive changes in consumer behavior, brands are furiously trying to figure out how to capitalize on broadband's growth. I reviewed two of their initiatives in "Ritz-Carlton's Short Films: Sleek, but Successful" and "Ralph Lauren's Broadband Mini-Site Supports Brand, Drives Sales." And don't forget the comical entries from Bio-Rad and Eppendorf. Expect a lot more broadband initiatives from brands going forward.
3. Syndication continues to gain ground
In July I also continued chronicling the concept of the Syndicated Video Economy, which I introduced last March. This is a key trend, with multiple dimensions. Just yesterday, in "Dispatch from the Syndicated Video Economy's Front Line" I recapped a panel I moderated on Wednesday, in which four industry executives detailed key SVE opportunities and challenges.
Various forms of syndication are being embraced, as illustrated in two additional posts, "Google, Others Syndicating Video Into the Long Tail" and "EgoTV, Clearspring Show How Widgets Successfully Distribute Video." Mobile is yet another syndication front in the offing. "Azuki Systems is Poised to Ignite Mobile Video" provided a glimpse of how both content providers and users may soon turbo-charge syndication using mobile devices. Based on several briefings I've had in the last two weeks, I'm able to say there's plenty more exciting syndication news coming shortly.
That's it for July. If you want to see a list of all the month's posts, they're available here. See you on Monday!
