The Shift in Media
A post on gigaom.comÂ? by Robert Young bring up an interesting point about the future ofÂ? media content. In the last few years, several major companies have made moves to take control of the mainstream media content, Â? and now, it seems, the major TV networks are making their own moves. Major TV networks like ABC and Fox (both mentioned in the article) have increased their web presence, providing their shows with ads/commercials on their websites. In the near future, we could see a very big shift in the production and distribution of media content and the creation of two very separate “poles” - commercial and independent media.
With the popularity of social networking/consumer generated media (CGM)Â? sites - MySpace and YouTubeÂ? are two of the heavyweights that come to mind, but you can never ignore the power of Google VideoÂ? in this field either - and the influence of the blogosphere, an independent in film or music can easily create their own fame and popularity quite easily. In fact, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibilities for an independent film distributed specifically through MySpace and/or YouTube and mareketed through blogs, forums, etc. to eventually be picked up by a major studio and put onto TV, if not all the way to the big screen. “The Blair Witch Project” is a perfect example of a movie that could have worked this model, and even “Napolean Dynamite.” Both have somewhat of a cult-like following, andÂ? would have been relatively cheap to create.
The commercial movie industry will obviously need to embrace the internet much the same way TV networks are beginning to. Instead of fighting pirating, they will instead have to start offering the product themselves online, streamed, with trailers, etc. and take advantage of new types of advertising like product placement. Making the product affordable, timely, and of the highest quality will be a first step in tackling the problem with pirated videos. As we’ve seen with music, legislation alone isn’t the answer, but a site like iTunesÂ? is a good first step, because it provides an alternative to pirated media content to the mainstream population.
It is harder to see the financial gains for the independent side, however, creating awareness of work and a following might become a lot easier. And that potential might be more important as somethingÂ? to build on. I mean, these are artists. Isn’t it supposed to be the creation of the product and the admiration and respect that it receives, not the monetary gains, that is really strived for? I’m not sure I believe that either, but I think a lot of starving film students would take pride in 1 million + downloads from YouTube as a good first step.