The Future of Digital Media - Happening Now...
A couple of significant events have occurred over the past few weeks which should provide reassurance - to those who keep asking the question "What's the future of digital media?" - that we are in fact witnessing a massive industry shift in the way media is distributed and consumed. A few that are particularly noteworthy:
1) Echostar buys SlingMedia. This is a big deal. It a) is tremendous validation for the media "any time, any where" concept that many of us in the industry have been talking about for some time, and b) it cuts right across the traditional lines of distribution and economics in the media industry. As pointed out by Arik Hesseldahl at BusinessWeek, the acquisition also ups the ante on placeshifting - the practice of watching or listening to live, recorded or stored media on a remote device via the internet or over a data network (see the expanded version of this definition on Wikipedia - it's good). Just as DVR's let consumers timeshift their content - watch it outside the timeframe it was broadcast - placeshifting goes against some of the basic traditional "rules of the game" in the media and broadcast worlds (rights to televise sporting events, for example, are typically sold to different players based on geography, for example). This acquisition puts Echostar, one of the "traditional" players in the broadcast/operator equation, squarely in the middle of the debate over rights and portability of media. That's a big deal. It's also a huge endorsement of a new, network-based technology for media consumption, and that's a big deal.
2) NBC announces NBC Direct. Given the BBC iPlayer's success, as well as the success of offerings from Channel4 and SkyAnytime in the UK, we certainly expected US broadcasters to offer premium content via comprehensive download services. Along with the launch of Hulu and ABC making shows available via ABC.com, we are watching the migration of mainstream broadcast television and movies to an online world. Before we know it, mainstream consumers will have their pc's connected to their tv across the country and the online medium will be as popular as cable and satellite video delivery. As this happens, consumers will see all sorts of new features and functionality enabled around the way they consume media - think of when you started surfing the web for news, rather than reading the newspaper. This is a big deal.
3) NBC.com to premiere original production. As I first read on Cory Bergman's Lost Remote blog, NBC will debut Coastal Dreams, an original production for its online medium. Why is this a big deal? It takes time, money and effort to produce, promote and distribute professional media across any medium. The launch of this program means two things to me:
a) It won't be long before we have the "onlines" - people (likely to start with a demo under 30) who get their media primarily online - and "offlines" - people who get their media primarily offline. And some portion of what is available to the two groups will be different. The onlines will eventually have a ridiculously wide slate of programming available - complete historical libraries, searchable by subject or any other terminology, user generated and amateur content, etc. The offlines will no doubt benefit from the breakthroughs happening online - things like EPG's (for a cool example of this, see the user nav demos on OpenTV's web site) for mainstream cable and dish tv will improve - but they probably won't see as wide a slate or "participate" in the social networking aspects of what is happening with online media.
b) There is money to be made, and an audience to reach, via online content. Sounds basic, but if everyone believed it were true, we'd be further along on this front.
None of these recent announcements is going to change history forever, but as you start to piece together items from across the industry, you have to see the writing on the wall - online video - beyond UGC - is going to be a big deal.
The "any time, any where, any device" era is just around the corner...
