The Future of Online Video is Now
I boarded a flight from the East Coast to head to California and 3 nights later I returned home.
Great trip… Huntington Beach is pretty place!
While away, my goal was to learn about some things I didn’t know about and also drop a little knowledge at the same time. Call it an online video mindshare.
It was my first time to Streaming Media West — I had been to Streaming Media East several times before but never to the West Coast event.
Beyond the difference in location, the big difference this time … I was a speaker at Streaming Media Producer Live.
So, yes… I had a little more clout and because of that perhaps a little more access.
If you are interested here are the two topics I spoke about:
1) An interactive discussion about how to take a seemingly boring subject and make it interesting. Feel free to watch it click here
2) A presentation about how and why to think multiple platforms for a video project. Feel free to watch it here
It is all good stuff and I had fun — but that really is not the purpose of this post.
The purpose of the post is to reflect upon what the trip taught me.
So here goes…
The reach and impact of online video goes beyond the simple statistic you often see.
How video does everything from increase click-thru-rates to time spent on a site to conversion, etc…
Yes … all true but honestly – that is really old information and well documented for years.
What I see as interesting and new, is how the buzz over online video is generating so much attention.
The result- there are people all of the world right now scrambling and dare I say racing to leverage and harness the power of online video.
Some are exploring the latest production technologies with the goal of empowering producers with the knowledge of what is even out there (e.g. Shawn Lam)
While others are exploring new delivery, tracking and analytics tools (e.g. Wowza or Ramp). Perhaps, mix in developing more sophisticated and seamless methods of placing video ads (e.g. Anvato)
And this is happening while the definition of the perfect video platform continues to evolve. Maybe you want to blend live streaming with a platform that is both collaborative and shareable (e.g. Watchitoo).
Is the goal live streaming? Great… let’s see if we can make the wireless streaming device as small as possible with the highest quality (e.g. Teradek) and supported by enough bandwidth to reach a mass audience without crashing any servers (e.g VideoRx).
And of course there is always the never ending challenge to transcode the video files to right size for the right device, platform or browser (e.g. Telestream)
I could go on but you get the point.
Generally speaking, there is a rush to discover the next technology or combination of old practices to open up a new Blue Ocean in the online video world.
Hmmmmm …. Maybe I should figure out a way to broadcast a video signal from the sneaker of a running shoe while moving. Look out GoPro – think of the applications?
Easy my high-tech friends — I know it is possible now but I am just making a point — ahem — so here it goes:
I love my job!
