It looks like online video is gaining mainstream traction. It’s not only becoming more credible as an advertising medium, but as a legitimate source of substantive information. As eMarketer reports:
An average of nearly 30% of US adult Internet users say they will watch online news video to learn about 2008 presidential candidates, according to a survey conducted by Synovate for ClipBlast!.
“These findings unquestionably affirm the rise of the video Web in public life,” said Gary Baker, CEO of ClipBlast!, in a statement. “What’s more, we believe that online video is engaging new audiences and drawing new [and] otherwise disaffected or disinterested viewers.”
An average of 21.8% of respondents said they would watch debates online, and an average of 7.5% said they would go to video bloggers for information.
Granted, 7.5% doesn’t make the future of video blogging all that promising, but this is just the beginning. Besides, %7.5 of the US population is about 21 Million people. That’s a serious market as far as I’m concerned.
In any case, this is just the beginning. The internet isn’t just some alternative to print publishing and television broadcasting. It’s an improvement on them. Technological progress, pure and simple.
The manner in which information is disseminated over the internet will become the standard by which it is disseminated in the very near future. The members of the fifth-estate who understand this will get on board and prosper (that’s what things like Apple TV are all about). Those who try to ride it out as just another emerging consumption trend to be assimilated in time will perish. That is all…