Monetizing Video Content on the Web

Today’s headline story about Viacom suing Google illustrates just how nervous Hollywood is about their future. As the web supplants television as the preferred venue for video and entertainment, the existing television/advertising business model for the big, traditional media players becomes less stable. Spending millions for professional content and losing control of how it is distributed is risky business. But that’s the nature of the transition we’re experiencing as people are further empowered by the Internet!

Business as we know it is being turned on its ear. And, it will never be the same again. Chris Anderson delivers a provocative description of this evolution in, “The Long Tail“. This evolution has drastically reduced the number of travel agents during the last 10 years; real estate agents are no longer the only sources of information about homes for sale; and, many others who are intermediaries or distributors between the product and the end user are finding their businesses have changed. The Internet breaks-down the barriers to distribution, giving consumers direct access as never before, making intermediaries [in more and more cases] irrelevant.

Big media has a big problem. Their business model doesn’t work anymore. If they make their content available to consumers, it will find its way onto the web. That’s not Google’s fault. Individual people are the ones responsible for putting it there. If you don’t want people to do that, don’t sell them DVD’s, CD’s, etc.

No one seems to have the answer or the “silver bullet”. Suing Google may be an increasingly popular tactic, but it is not the answer. It’s a big distraction. For businesses that are valued based on their creativity, our entertainment industry giants don’t seem to be applying much of it to this problem.