The Digital Era
The Internet and the role it plays in the digital revolutionÂ? is almost ready to realize its full potential.Â? Several of the largest Entertainment companies in the world are adapting to the Internet. Here are some of the headlines from theÂ? last few weeks:Â? MySpace offers downloadableÂ? episodes of ‘24′, Disney Offers Downloadable Movies, NBC offers The Office mini-episodes only online. For years, it was the Music Industry alone that fought with the Internet, but improvements in technology and increased access toÂ? high speedÂ? InternetÂ? for the average individual has put all forms of content at risk for massÂ? distribution.
For the Internet Industry, the way Entertainment companies have struggled with the concept of working with the Internet instead of against it is baffling. Without a legitimate source of the desired digital content, users looked to the only available source, and the Entertainment Industry lost out on potential revenue (those numbers are heavily debated). The success of iTunes proves that there are people willing to pay for digital content, the key is to provide themÂ? easy access. As suggested by the headlines listed above, this easy access is finally being provided, and as the headline on this article suggests, this is officially the Digital Era.
The Digital Era goes far beyond downloading a Disney Classic or watching an episode of Lost. Cellphones, music, and pictures are just other examples ofÂ? stepsÂ? towardsÂ? the digital era. So what makesÂ? digital video contentÂ? so significant?Â? The companies that control a majority of the television andÂ? Â? big-screen content have a great deal of influence on North America and the World andÂ? television shows and moviesÂ? areÂ? arguably the most influential sources of entertainment. How oftenÂ? do people planÂ? for their shows?Â? ThatÂ? is all changing.
AOL is a perfect example ofÂ? a company trying to catch up with this change.Â? AOL released it’s MySpace Killer, AimPages, it’s YouTube clone, UnCut Video, and it’s own version of Digg (Netscape, sounds so familiar, doesn’t it?), all within about a month.Â? ThisÂ? gives them options to compete against News Inc. and the MySpace beast, as well as other options to capitalize on the Digital Era. NBC doesn’t have it’s own userbase, and instead aligned itself with YouTube. It’s now a race to see who can establish themselves most quickly andÂ? effectively. Paul Kedrosky of Infectious Greed posted about a Leo Hindery speech. The Hindery speech suggested that portals, like Yahoo!, Google, and MSN, will fade out and content providers will displace them. It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.