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MillimeterMark In
Jun 1, 2008 12:00 PM
Business Intelligence: Internet Distribution: Adapt or Die
By Andy Beach, director of product management at Inlet Technologies
Although video distribution is perhaps never simple, surely it must have seemed much easier just 10 years ago. Video had already appeared on the Internet, but it was little more than a novelty at that stage — a sideshow that would never displace viewership of television or VHS (remember those?) and DVD sales. Yet, here we are, a decade later and IP distribution is changing the way we consume content and leaving the traditional guys scrambling for a viable alternative. Who can blame them? To be told your current business model is slipping away is a scary thing for a business.
Adapt or die is the name of the game, but how do you make the right choices? Every techie startup seems to have a paper-thin business plan, some acronyms, and a way of proving yet again that dogs on skateboards have more market share than your Thursday primetime slot. With all the video-sharing sites out there, how's the average person to know the difference between a Joost and a YouTube?
IP distribution doesn't have to be a broadcast-media apocalypse, but it does mean embracing change and letting go of some control. Not only has the model for distribution changed; in many ways, the very philosophy behind it has also changed. The word “distribution” is a transmission-centric view for content sharing where a single location feeds content to the masses.
In the world of the Web, aggregation is king. Aggregation is much more of a user-centric view of the masses selectively gathering all the information interesting to them for consumption. This reverse view of the same problem is indicative of the web experience — the viewer wants to be in charge. Viewers want to watch what they want when and where they want. They don't care about your walled gardens of content or your business deals, and if you make it too hard (or expensive) to view, they'll either watch something else or steal the content.
What is a successful broadcaster and media company to do these days? The best suggestion is to set up several sandboxes within which to experiment. The desire to control your content within a closed-off web property and drive viewers to your sites is tempting, but fight the urge. By having consumers come to your web properties, you'll certainly see an pick up in traffic, but in the long run, you're cutting yourself off from the self-discovery that works so well on the Web. Instead, take advantage of the open nature of the Web and put content where smart people are creating destinations and toolsets customers want to use.
Whether you are a big or small media company, you should be doing three things with regards to distribution: Make your content easy to access, easy to find, and easy to share. Doing those things means supporting multiple video formats and resolutions, partnering with web properties to distribute your content, and providing users with toolsets that allow them to “play” with your content (whether that is as simple as mailing it to a friend or embedding it in a page).
Hulu is a great example of doing it right, but it's an exception to the rule. Although Hulu appears to be a walled garden by having content that's exclusive, the company has built-in toolsets that allow viewers to easily place the content directly on their own websites or to share content in a variety of other ways. In addition, the company has a very compelling library of content that cannot be commercially rivaled on an ad-supported-only site. (I'll take the back catalog of Bones over that skateboarding dog movie any day.)
Here's my advice: If you are distributing today, be prepared to kiss a lot of frogs. Go out and try every distribution model you can find and let your viewers pick the way they wish to interact. Some will naturally fall off while others take the lead, but distribution diversity guarantees the widest possible audience opportunity you have.
