What Will Make Online Video More Than Just TV Online?

from the making-it-work dept

Thu, Oct 5th 2006 3:03pm — Mike Masnick

For many years people have tried to create internet-only TV shows, and about the only notable feature of most has been how quickly they failed. For a while, it seemed like the internet just wasn't right for "sit back" content that involved just watching video -- but perhaps it had more to do with the lack of enabling technology. In the last few years, of course, we've seen the rise of much faster connections combined with the rise of online video sites in just the last year. The combination means that online TV shows are hot again -- helping to prove that the value of things like YouTube goes well beyond copyright infringement. Many are embracing this trend, such as Jeff Pulver, who has been building a directory of online only TV shows among other video projects. Of course, the real question is where will this all lead. Simply replicating TV isn't all that interesting by itself. It certainly does open up opportunities for those who could never get on TV, which is a great starting point, but the real power isn't just in "broadcasting" TV content to the internet (and then getting a TV or DVD deal, as some seem to aspire to), but in adding in the real interactivity -- and there are many different ways that can play out. It can be as simple as encouraging others to make "response" videos, as are popular on YouTube, or playing up to the community of watchers as folks like Ze Frank have embraced. While it's great to see more and more people experimenting with moving video online, it seems like we're still in the stage where people are looking at internet video the same way they viewed early cars as "horseless carriages" and non-silent movies were "talkies."

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6 Comments

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Rick, 5 Oct 2006 @ 4:41pm

Inernet TV shows will continue to fail until they can be SEEN on a TV. Hopefully Apple's iTV will change this and maybe a few more companies like TIVO or 'god forbid' the cable company will start giving it's users what they want.

Make it easier to surf the web on our TVs and we will actually watch these shows.
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The Man, 5 Oct 2006 @ 4:55pm

I would like to see
I would like to see more of what ABC is doing with showing their full TV show online starting the day after it airs on the network. For those of us that do not have a DVR (don't want to pay for one, to lazy to threaten my Sat provider I am going to switch to get a free one) it is a great way to see a show you missed. I personally have no interest in seeing crap put on YouTube by everyday people. The time investment in sorting through it all looking for something good is not something I am willing to do. That site must just be for kids who have nothing better to do.

Commercials don't bother me, so I do not care if ABC plays them along with the Internet rerun. I think that is a good additional revune stream idea for ABC. I wish all the networks would do the same thing with all their shows. I don't think it will affect DVD sales much, I myself would rather go buy the DVD set than invest the time to download and burn.

I guess I just am not big enough of a geek.
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The Man, 5 Oct 2006 @ 4:55pm

I would like to see
I would like to see more of what ABC is doing with showing their full TV show online starting the day after it airs on the network. For those of us that do not have a DVR (don't want to pay for one, to lazy to threaten my Sat provider I am going to switch to get a free one) it is a great way to see a show you missed. I personally have no interest in seeing crap put on YouTube by everyday people. The time investment in sorting through it all looking for something good is not something I am willing to do. That site must just be for kids who have nothing better to do.

Commercials don't bother me, so I do not care if ABC plays them along with the Internet rerun. I think that is a good additional revune stream idea for ABC. I wish all the networks would do the same thing with all their shows. I don't think it will affect DVD sales much, I myself would rather go buy the DVD set than invest the time to download and burn.

I guess I just am not big enough of a geek.
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Matt Maginley, 5 Oct 2006 @ 9:30pm

Print, Radio, TV, Cable, Web Video
What I thought was always interesting was the language of the web and the early need to compare to print publishing and to have a site with pages, rather than follow the natural progression of electronic media.

Early man began publishing to survive, (where is water, where is food, how do I get there , when is the best time to plant, by drawing symbols in dirt, on bark, on clay tablets). Today we use Google to answer some of those questions, but still have the problems of war, poverty and disease. So advanced technology does little to have our thinking evolve.

From a media standpoint how long did it take for the language of film to be created and the cinematic narrative form? Here is the point, a new language is being created for this medium and while we watch that happen, TV online is trying to be a part of that new language
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PhysicsGuy, 6 Oct 2006 @ 8:27am

Re: Rick
Umm... it sounds like you need a new computer there bud, at the least a new video card. you'd be hard pressed to find a modern video card that doesn't have the ability to go s-video or auxilllary out, at the least an adapter from a dvi out to whatever you need.

as for the article, the main example was youtube's lonelygirl15. until they announced that it was planned, it was one of the sweetest things, interactive tv. but the draw for me was trying to point out the things in the plot that logically led it to be scripted. but talking with lonelygirl (or whoever was doing the talking) and interacting with all the people who were also watching was what made it a unique experience. anyways, the lonelygirl15 show was a great example of what tv would/could/should be like on the internet. you can't just have regular tv, you need that bit of interaction.
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Haven't seen it yet, 6 Oct 2006 @ 9:35am

Re: PhysicsGuy
Although I haven't seen what YouTube is like is I am reminded of a scifi flick that I thought had something neat in it. Do you remember the interactive TV ads on Starship Troopers? "Would you like to know more?" would be asked at the end of a short ad about something on the TV's playing in the background. This was a part of a really bad movie (book was way better but thats hollywood) that I thought was very telling of how TV could be interactive in the future. Kind of like a hyperlink to another channel or recorded show or maybe a menu of like items. Pretty much how google ads work. That would make sifting through all the content a little easier. More of the same author, more from that genre or whatever. Most modern cable boxes have the ability to garner input from the remote and I know my comcast box already uses an MS os. One more reason to just put a computer in the TV.

Also about the comment to see a show after it has been played on the regular line up, One of the local news channels posts their news shows to the DVR menu on my comcast dvr like within a few minutes after they are run in their normal time slot. This way if I miss the news and didn't record it, I can still watch it when I'm ready to. I wish all shows did that or posted to the internet. But I also wish comcast would give me internet access for my TV so I could watch internet video too. I already pay for their broadband, what's the diff?

I look forward to more advances in the use of the technology but alas, it always moves too slow for me.
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