The state of online video. Today.

My past posts reveal some of my interest in the rapid change of media consumption, particularly as it pertains to the internet and television. These are my personal favorite mediums, and they are tying together more and more. In October of 2008, I did a bunch of research on pre-and mid-roll commercial offerings online within premium content. They inquired again in March, and I had to start from square one, as the landscape had completely changed!

Today I saw yet another hilarious television commercial promoting Hulu, which in it's short existence, has changed the game of premium online video. With the recent news of ABC finally joining NBC and Fox to buying a stake in Hulu, it really has a corner on much of the premium video available from major TV networks. The only missing piece is CBS, which is focusing on it's goal to transform TV.com as a TV Portal, sort of a Hulu competitor. As this article poses, their independence is good for media buyers as it keeps the space competitive.

All of this crazy growth in online video viewing will inevitably lead to people wanting to get the same great, on-demand video on their TVs. Things like Boxee, web-enabled gaming consoles, and set top boxes are paving the way. This article estimates that by 2013, web tv will be in 24 million US homes. This study shows that people will be willing to pay $100 extra for TVs that are easily hooked up to the internet.



In another post I'll attempt to look at the options from a planning and buying perspective. In another post I may tackle the issue of newspapers vs. the internet. But for tonite, after watching Grey's Anatomy on ABC.com, I'm a tad emotionally exhausted.

More to come!