Varying the format, just notes from the discussion on Video with Robert Scoble of Podtech and hosted by Howard Greenstein. It was supposed to be on the future of video, as well as revenue sources and programming and turned into a discussion on copyrights and the Internet and distribution model.
Ranging from the traditional media and how copyrights are being fought, who does content belong to nowadays? Scoble noted that he thinks Viacom will win versus Google/YouTube, and it’s a bad thing because it leads to more walled gardens.
But, there are people that are creating their own channels and creating their own distribution channels. Does this change the game, and does it make it where people are more in control? But the reality is that those individuals do not have the ability to fill movie theaters, or the numbers needed for Nielsens.
Is the distribution channel changing? You all distribute to one person, and that person distributes to others (so, it lowers cost of distribution). We can look at what happened with Sicko, and it being distributed on different torrents. The distribution model there forced the Weinsteins to change the release date, only release in one movie theater. For an indie film, you cannot expect to be in business if the distribution model includes your movie being shared for free.
P2P networks may not have value in a commercial sense (at least for Scoble) as you are not able to measure the audience. Being ad and sponsor supported, you need the traditional numbers. My sponsor is not that into numbers, so I could possibly do a P2P distribution system.
New media created properties are starting to have the same value as traditional media, such as vidcasting, but it’s about audiences. If you are reaching the right audience, you are going to be courted by big companies. There is an audience, and people will buy, if there is a reason.
Not a single company has contacted me about my new fatherhood – Scoble twittered, blogged and Jaiku’ed about it – so the companies are not getting how to reach new people.
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