Online Video
All the buzz on the Internet today seems to be about
online video. Back in 1995, a few people looked at the
Internet and recognized it to be a great frontier–now
look at it! Today, online video is the growing
phenomenon that has impacted the way stars are made and
the way advertisers are impacting consumers. It’s also
impacting the flow of information in the way of
tutorials and international news. eMarketer estimates
that 50% of Americans view online video on a regular
basis.
Anybody can go to “YouTube” and see video footage
from Iraq or Afghanistan that you’ll never see on CNN.
You can also find videos on how to cook a turkey or
watch a video about your favorite sports car. “Funny or
Die” is a wonderfully hilarious online video site
started by the makers of Saturday Night Live. Everybody
has millions of videos to choose from. You can pick any
subject that interests you at the time. Today an old
lady giving advice on dating can become an overnight
celebrity.
Advertisers are also on board. Adobe Flash has made
it really easy to add streaming video to banner
advertising. A lot of websites use video for product
promotion or safety and assembly instructions. Online
video is an easy way to get attention and inform your
audience.
Viral marketing has also become an interesting
phenomenon on the web. Viral marketing is the “word of
mouth” web equivalent where a video is so good that a
friend shows a friend, and that friend shows another
friend, and so on. You may have watched a Mac commercial
online or seen the Citroën C4 transform into a robot and
dance around, or the kids that installed a loop-d-loop
on the train tracks or the small rock band that did the
treadmill dance.
Millions of people are watching these mini-movies,
and the most popular ones are garnering additional media
attention. Just in the past few months, various TV &
news stations have covered the piano playing cat and the
Thriller prison dancers, both originally posted to
YouTube.
As Internet connections and computer speeds continue
to improve over time, online video will become a bigger
part of our electronic world. Will it replace TV or
merge with it? Nobody really knows. What we do see is
the massive impact it’s having now.
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