User Generated Video is Dead?

WellcomeMat put out an interesting blog post recently titled, “The Beginning of the End for User Generated Video?” In it, they basically state that the reluctance of advertisers to plop down money in UGC will kill the space, and that moves by ManiaTV.com and recently Brightcove.tv are indicators of what is to come.

This is certainly not a bad hypothesis to make. The industry does need ad dollars to survive. However, it appears to us that a growing number of independent content creators are getting better and better at producing quality content, and this trend will continue as better tools become accessible for less cash and the availability of how-to information make it easier to hone one’s film-making skills. There are valuable brands being created as episodic/serial content that are in fact user generated videos. And more are on the way.

In addition, the lack of advertising dollars isn’t just about brand risk - being paired next to unfavorable content. It’s also about a perception that there aren’t enough video impressions to make the spend. This could change, though, if growth in viewing habits continue, if more data comes in on the value of an online video impression vs. impressions in other media, or if advertisers realize the viewership of a single piece of content is far greater than what is seen on one video site. Or maybe advertisers won’t even have to realize these things… maybe they’ll simply need to place bets in online video because the majority viewers they are targeting are found getting video content online.

3 comments December 6th, 2007