Thoughts about an Online Content Revolution

An online content revolution is drastically changing the traditional media and distribution landscape. The market for online content, especially video and audio, is growing at an extraordinary pace. Fueled by open standards for digital media, the deployment and continually falling costs of broadband access, the explosion of user-generated content populating the Internet, the growth of broadband, mobile, set-top boxes and digital recording devices in addition to the advancements made in Digital Rights Management software, digital video and still-image content is becoming more widely available and easier to access.

The one obstacle these technological advancements have failed to properly address is how to efficiently monetize online content. In the past, aggregators and content providers worked only with traditional means of media distribution including through television, theater releases, DVD/VHS purchases and rentals. Moving content to the Internet has presented itself as a new, highly efficient medium to view and distribute digital media and ultimately is helping to build new ways to promote, build revenue streams and other non-traditional monetization mechanisms.

Indeed, we are witnessing the long-term trend away from the inefficiency of legacy delivery and the associated sub-par customer experience of the legacy model. New digital media start-ups and their emerging technology will gradually complement and possibly replace traditional television business models in the future. Now anyone with a camera and a desire to produce content can record, upload and distribute their work over the Internet. This type of access used to be just a fantasy for most content creators, but now it is fast becoming a reality.

Clearly, the emerging standard for video and information is on-demand, à la carte interactivity: consumers being able to find, download, store, recall and transfer content of their choice on virtually any platform or device. Digital interactivity will be the driving force to unlocking the bottomless content in this Pandora's box. However, search and filtering is the means by which to find and manage the data, television program, movie, music or other content of choice. One cannot exist without the other in this brave, new media world.