Google is talking about interactive video ads at this weekend’s Allen & Co. conference. Today, Twitvid is launching its video advertising platform over Twitter (press release). What’s important to know about video is that there is already an institutional history of the video format in the form of the :30 television spot.

Like television, the social media will act as broadcast media that will distribute the “video spot” over the channels – Facebook, Twitter – that are replacing television eyeballs. Even more promising are the upcoming geolocational marketing opportunities for local merchants who will be able to upload video, coupon deals and other content like menus on mobile applications like Yelp and Foursquare. Those first mover merchants who develop compelling media content will be rewarded with Facebook “likes”, the new currency for customer attraction and search results.

We’re now reaching the stage where the instant video upload for business starts to make sense. Remember the old Seesmic video conversation platform that Loic LeMeur took down last summer 2009 because he concluded video conversation adoption by the public was limited? I agree carrying on a video conversations may still attract a limited audience, but the ease of uploading video from iPhones etc. now makes it much more easier to develop video messages on the fly. For example, it would be easy for a chef to iPhone video the day’s dinner offerings and broadcast/post it via a social media distribution system like Posterous across the restaurant’s Twitter and Facebook feeds each afternoon:

It takes time for consumers to understand and adopt new media. The concept of Twitter was alien to most, until Oprah made Twitter accessible in April, 2009. The use of adhoc video for business messaging is still alien to those who believe video production quality standards are high hurdles, but pioneering businesses will soon figure out that audiences are more interested in the real time message being delivered in “living color”.

Yes, this is the virally active video du jour entitled “the History of the Internet“, but I think it’s remarkable explanation. It really explains the evolution of the internet as a electronic network phenomenon that evolved in parallel with telecommunications. Somebody had to explain all that geekiness in 8 minutes because it otherwise would be a dry academic read.

This video (hat tip J. Owyang) encapsulates the death of the 1950′s Madison Avenue advertising paradigm.

Scholz & Friends: “Dramatic shift in marketing reality from Michael Reissinger on Vimeo.

Related slideshow (focused on real estate marketing): The Hard Sell is Dead

I always had this notion that if Twitter could embed videos, it would do three things:

1. Become a full fledged broadcast media. Now Twitter “channels” can be created.
2. As a true broadcast media, TV news organizations would jump all over this by embedding their video stories for distribution and publicity.
3. This would position Twitter as a content network competitive with user-generated video blogging services like Seesmic.

I saw it on Jason Calacanis’ Twitter account this morning, investigated and found Tweetree.

This is the only application I’ve found so far this morning that can embed videos on Twitter.

UPDATE: I believe the capability to see embedded videos in Twitter requires Firefox’s PowerTwitter add-on, or to see the Twitter stream via Tweetree.

Tweetree has potential to become Twitpic for video, which just proved its value with Janis Krums’ famous Twitpic picture of the downed Flight #1549. Moreover, I predict a programmer rush to build a Twitter application that facilitates a simple “shoot, send and embed into Twitter” functionality for phones and cameras. (And yes, I know Seesmic has similar video functionality but Janis Krums would have required a broadband connection, and an open Macbook to “upload” a video from his ferry).

Justin Kan, founder of Justin.TV, achieved notoriety in March 2007 by hooking up a webcam on a helmet and broadcasting his life 24-by-7. Justin.TV was born to facilitate similar life streaming broadcasts by individuals.

The evolution of the business model twisted from personal, user-generated broadcast content, Justin style, to a media site that hosts individual broadcast channels.

It’s a play on the “be your own DJ” online model, and many participants are using the pulpit to broadcast sporting events and movies that they are (likely illegally) re-broadcasting from existing online subscriptions. The more interesting feature that YouTube or Hulu don’t have is real time chat functionality to pundit the broadcast.

The moral of the story is the power of combining cutting edge technology (in this case, online streaming video) and outrageous action to develop first, celebrity, and then an online media model. Through discovery, a true online business model – personal broadcast channel – emerged based on the simple cable access channel paradigm.

Sound bite video lives so well at Will Ferrell founded Funny or Die. 2 minutes is the perfect amount of time for a laugh… it’s the end of attention span.

YouTube has huge media advantages over mainstream media:

1. It’s free. Buying airtime is way expensive.
2. It has global reach. Airtime only reaches a regional broadcast area.
3. It’s viral. Anybody can embed YouTube messages like I’ve done.

It’s time to call YouTube the uber-network, it transcends TV and cable. Barack Obama has endorsed it for his weekly addresses to the people:

The auto industry, care of GM’s PR group, has also made its plea on YouTube:

Note that Barack and GM have followed the “sound bite” rule – 4 minutes tops to keep our peripatetic consumer focus.

Final thought: Advertising can be served up free on YouTube and other online video services, and people can comment on them freely. Multimillion dollar national TV ad campaigns become budget-challenged in this economy, and ad agencies start looking like candidates for disintermediation.

Three snippets of recent buzz about Hulu:

1. Hulu has attracted advertisers used to the TV advertising model (Alley Insider 11/10/08)
2. Hulu is easier to use when searching for TV and movies. YouTube is a mess (NYT 11/10/08)
3. YouTube is playing catchup to Hulu by offering brand name content – announces MGM film distribution deal (Wired blog 11/10/08)

Six observations about Hulu:

1. Hulu is a replica of TV. No user-generated surprises, all programming has been broadcast traditionally.
2. Strange to say, but Hulu’s success is based on copying the old world broadcast TV business model. This reinforces the fact that advertisers like the plain vanilla advertising model.
3. Hulu gets complete support from the media industry because it’s one of them. YouTube / Google is still sparring with Viacom in court.
4. Hulu is evolving naturally as a mass media, not a social media, model. It says a lot that the masses will go to Hulu when they are tired of the amateur quality of social media.
5. Cable companies, a natural play for developing their own Hulu-like content distribution systems, hesitate to break their lucrative cable subscription fee model. Online media is perceived as a threat, just like newspapers thought last decade.
6. Consumers have gotten used to fighting content distribution bottlenecks. Hulu delivers what they want free.