Nov 18 2008
Bad week for user-generated video
AOL, current.tv. Brightcove and Youtube jump ship.
[UPDATE 12/2] Expect the stampede away from user-generated video to accelerate: According to he IAB’s Randall Rothenberg in this week’s Economist user-generated content is a major obstacle to monetization:
The lesson appears to be that the problem was not the format but the fact that so much of the footage online, especially on YouTube, is “user-generated”. Brands are wary of putting their ads next to amateur clips because they may be boring or offensive.” via onlinevideowatch
Al Gore’s current.tv is out of the user-generated video business: “Approximately 60 positions have been eliminated in the company’s three U.S. offices….company is going to drop its shorter (user-generated content) videos in favor of the more traditional 30-minute programs that have long dominated television programming across all channels” cnet
AOL is “shutting down the AOL Video Uploads service starting this week.” techcrunch
YouTube announces its intention to concentrate on high-quality specialty niche programming.
The problem: anyone can make them, no-one can monetize them, not even Google.
That is a darn shame.
But is it really a surprise?
If anyone can produce X, with no significant talent, training, commitment or resources, then how can X possibly have any economic value?
In the short term all sorts of market anomalies appear. But with no barriers to entry the short term is very short indeed.
[…] Bad week for user-generated video. The problem is money, and the user-generated stuff doesn’t make any. […]
Check out this from top Youtube producer
“Usually, my message is that we’re still at a point where production value doesn’t matter that much; in fact, it can hurt you if you overproduce,” says Kevin Nalty, a top YouTube producer known as Nalts.
“There’s a certain level of resentment towards the people on YouTube who are trying to have the perfect shot and the perfect lighting. It suddenly makes them seem like they’re better than everyone else, and the video can come off as more commercial, more canned, and less authentic.” http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=10851
Yes reading that you would have to conclude that getting more viewers and getting more $$ almost require two different strategies.
I wonder what impact this may have on the content branded and sponsored video , who use or co-opt the user generated video feel, to reach out to their audiences in a non corporate way and less aggressive way.