Video as Publishing: This Is How We Do It
A lot of what we see on the Internet is digital publication; usually we can print it out. This notion underlies my grand unified theory of Internet video: treat it like publishing, not film or television, and this will become a viable industry.
Much of the film and television business is based on risk management. Will this show work? Maybe! So why make it? Because it’s based on this book that sold a million copies and it stars Brad Pitt and it’s a murder mystery and we know that murder mysteries are SO HOT right now, especially with teen girls in suburban neighborhoods. Every brand, talent and genre has a particular following, and we have a vague sense of how big that following is and who is in it. And the marketing people in Hollywood, they’re brilliant. They know exactly how to reach these audience pools and how much money to spend doing so. All things considered, if there’s a pretty good shot people will watch a show, and the projected audience is big enough to justify the cost, the project’s a go. Read more >>
This Week in Hulu
It’s been a interesting week for Fox/NBC’s Hulu. (Per Wikipedia, Hulu offers commercial-supported streaming video of TV shows and movies from NBC, Fox and many other networks and studios.) A week ago, Hulu removed its content from both TV.com and open-source media center, Boxee, thereby removing one of the only ways to watch Hulu content on your television. As Fred Wilson explains on his blog post entitled “Why Hulu Should Embrace Boxee”: Read more >>