IPUrbia

I’ve been surprised by how often I’ve ended up blogging about the role of content in the ongoing industry developments. Still, as I watch the industry develop and unfold, the potential impact of new technology developments is only relevant IF it has meaning in the larger context. For voice, that is increasingly meaning integration with other applications and needs (presence, CRM integration, etc…), for video, that is, of course, content. The online video segment used better technology to leverage user-created content to do an end-run around the traditional media monopolies and is now trying to nurse an infant cottage industry into economic viability.

I have taken the stance in previous posts that traditional media is most vulnerable in programming that is closely tied into the social consciousness of their audience–ie MTV–because of the strength of YouTube style forums in creating content that its users feel socially connected to. The first power of user-generated programming is that the end-product is more socially identifiable to us than the overly productized and monetized content of traditional media.

Still, I’m wondering if the power of online video is not as much in the social meaning of user created content, but rather because online video is the more efficient than traditional media. I can sum up the problem of traditional video programming in two words–Nielsen Ratings. Take a simple look at a Digg-style technology versus Nielsen-style “technology” for determining winners and losers in a popularity contents. The simply brutal market efficiency of a Digg-style approach is, in the end, going to deliver better content at a lower cost that, in an open capitalistic market, will win.