I just spent an hour lost in YouTube, watching everything from Coldplay to Steve Jobs original iPod keynote to a Dutch TV interview with rising YouTube webcam signing sensation Esmee Denters. (This woman will become a recording star off her webcam appearances, which is amazing in itself.)
This is TV for the short-attention span generation.
The power of online video and YouTube in particular will force more and more “on-demand� style programming on conventional TV. Indeed, in a relatively short period of time most of the distinctions between TV and YouTube will disappear. There are now several ways to get Internet content/video into the living room (most recently SofaTube).
All of those who criticize my inexpensive, disruptive, “good enough” approach to newspaper video should pay attention to what Sterling is really saying about what’s good in online video. It’s not about big production. It’s about making it work and connecting with people and being relevant and entertaining.
Three years from now the $1.65 billion that Google paid for YouTube will probably look like a deal.
Did I say deal? I meant steal.
Scoff if you like, but I think he’s right.