Let’s play a game. I’m thinking of a company that identifies talented people who can produce great content that attracts an audience. This company then pays these content producers to publish their content, with the aim of growing a large audience for that content and creating an editorial environment that will be attractive to advertisers.
What [...]

A whole mythology is emerging around the idea of “users” — consumers, fans, regular average folk — creating content that media companies and brands can leverage. It’s a compelling idea — but it’s a myth.
The reality is that “average people” don’t create a lot of content — at least not the commercially viable kind. [...]

The new YouTube InVideo ad format is big news not because the format is new — Google has been testing the format for a while, and other sites like VideoEgg have used it. It’s big news because the ad format is being rolled out on YouTube’s massively scaled video site — kind of reminiscent of [...]

To understand why the inclusion of videos on Google News pages — which can be played via YouTube embeds right on the page, without leaving Google News — can be a valuable distribution channel for video content producers, first take a look at this video embedded right here on Publishing 2.0:

The Infinite Monkey Theorem (which now has an official name, thanks to Wikipedia) states that given an infinite amount of time, a monkey banging on a typewriter will eventually produce the complete works of Shakespeare. I suppose Wikipedia has proven this true for encyclopedias, but advertising agencies that have open-sourced the ad creation process to [...]

Google has disintermediated media companies, not just through Google News, which has been the focus of newspaper lawsuits and handwringing, but also through Google’s main search results — and even more so with the introduction of Google Universal Search. But of all the features in Universal Search, the most disruptive may be the Video PlusBox, [...]

The following piece was co-authored with Robert Young.
One by one, the big media companies and the Internet giants have started to ante up for the big poker game over the future of the video content business. Google started it all with its acquisition of YouTube. Then GE’s NBC-Universal and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp responded by [...]

Everybody in the video content business is focused — to the point of obsession — with distribution. Viacom is going to distribute through Joost. NBC Universal and News Corp are creating their own distribution channel. CBS is going to distribute through everybody and their dog.
All these content owners are right to be focused on distribution. [...]

Did the NBC Universal/News Corp deal make Google a tad nervous? Via WSJ:
Mr. Chernin said Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt called yesterday and said Google will consider signing on as a distribution partner. A Google spokesman confirmed a call took place, but declined to comment on what was discussed.
After spending $1.65 billion on YouTube, that [...]

I’m at the Online Publishers Association Global Forum listening to a panel with digital execs from Disney-ABC, NBC Universal, and CBS (moderated by Larry Kramer of CBS). Some interesting comments on the deep infrastructure problems that online video needs to overcome.
1. What ad creative works?
15 second, 30 second, pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll — oy vey
“It requires [...]

Here’s a koan for everyone in media: YouTube had revenue of $15 million is 2006; what is the value of YouTube in 2007?
If you’re not familiar with koans, this is from Wikipedia:
A kō·an is a story, dialogue, question, or statement in the history and lore of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, generally containing aspects that are [...]

Google is learning that the value propositions of content hosting, content distribution, and content discovery are not created equal, and that YouTube’s monopoly on all three may be slipping away. A story in the Washington Post states what has been evident for some time:
In the few months since Google paid $1.65 billion to acquire YouTube, [...]

Nothing brings into sharp relief the radical change sweeping through the video-based media industry (TV, movies, etc.) like hard data:
Downloads of Walt Disney films on the iTunes platform have risen sharply to more than 1.3m after only three months on sale, putting pressure on other Hollywood studios to join Apple’s digital service. (Via FT)
And [...]

Last summer, in It’s The Users Calling…They Want Their Money, I wrote:
User-generated content is going through a novelty phase, where most “users” are content with attention as a form of recompense for their efforts. But for savvy “users” — or in this case video production artists, let’s get real here — getting paid in attention [...]

I’ll be mostly offline for the rest of the year. I’ll leave you with this “user-generated” holiday message — one of the “authentic” Coke-sponsored Holiday Wishcasts — seemed like an appropriate way to end 2006. Of course, this “user” is actually a director with 26,300 subscribers and 1,383,285 video views, but whatever, enough of that [...]

We’ve all become so enamored with the increasingly distributed nature of the web — or the de-portalization as Keith Teare of Edgeio puts it — and the success of user-centric platforms like YouTube and MySpace. But we seem to be forgetting that the most successful platforms are acting just like portals — the “one stop [...]

The widely-used and much reviled term “user-generated content” implies that somebody is making something. But the dirty little secret of “user-generated” sites like YouTube and MySpace is that much of the content is not made by the users themselves — it’s appropriated from someone else.
So while everyone was watching Google engage in “frantic” negotiations [...]

Mark Cuban posted an interesting theory about the YouTube/Google deal from an “anonymous author.” The self-described “experienced veteran in the digital media business” characterizes the theory like this:
Some of this is based on talks with people involved and some is speculation based on my experience working in the industry, negotiating settlements and battling in [...]

Google’s $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube solidifies Google’s position at the center of media. Google already has Google Video, so they didn’t buy YouTube for the technology. No, they bought YouTube for the traffic, the same reason they cut the $900 million deal with Fox Interactive Media.
So don’t believe Eric Schmidt for a second — [...]

Those who pay more will get an “enhanced” experience.
This is a from TDavid explaining what will happen to the web now that the House has rejected “net neutrality” — this is representative of the many arguments in favor of net neutrality.
Here’s my question: Isn’t it true everywhere in life that those who pay more get [...]