Comcast’s purchase of TV network NBC and movie studio Universal seems backwards to older media veterans who remember the ascent of upstart cable versus the powerful Big 3 TV networks in the 70′s/80′s. It proves that media itself has become a commodity to be digested across a panoply of distribution channels. It just so happens that cable, with its reliable subscription revenue streams and multiple channel assets, now has more financial clout than advertising based network TV and with it, the ability to finance programming through a movie studio as well.

Moreover, TV/cable and Internet are merging towards display across a common TV/monitor display platform. Cable channels pay significant syndication fees to broadcast relevant programming. They are curating content for their audience. However…

Social media facilitates the same content curation done by cable channels. Justin.TV allows anybody to broadcast hit movies (illegally) like a Showtime channel and now, personal broadcasters can get paid for it as a pay-per-view affiliate:

Obviously, copyright issues on Justin.TV seem to fall by the wayside just as they have done on Youtube (Google no longer seems diligent in deleting uploaded copyright content). This tolerance becomes a moral hazard that makes copyright protection unenforceable.

Like other content, video has essentially become free and curatable. For every Hulu, there will be copycat channels. Even Hulu’s exclusive licensed content are easily replicated by screen scraping video software like Camtasia.

Justin.TV’s pay-per-view channels will be the first of a new video revenue model that YouTube (which already announced this intention) and other video channels will follow. Why? Because everybody wants to be a broadcaster.

Why are print newspapers shutting down presses, and book publishers decrying where their readers went? Today’s NY Times essentially says this:

(Charts, of course, not based on actual statistics; for descriptive purposes only)

Consumers are increasingly avoiding newspapers — and books, too — because the text mode is now used so infrequently that it can feel like a burden. People are showing a clear preference for a fully formed video experience that comes ready to play on a screen, requiring nothing but our passive attention.

The video mode has been reinforced by the rise of YouTube. In December, almost 100 million viewers in the United States watched 5.9 billion YouTube videos, according to comScore. Tellingly, YouTube has not cannibalized TV viewership — it has instead carved out another chunk of our leisure time for video on a screen.

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).

TODAY’S ONLINE CONTENT FATIGUE

Web 2.0 could be described as a phase in the evolution of the Internet that facilitated individuals in creating content within the constructs of social websites (blogs) and social networks (as participants). User-generated content was the New New Thing when it first appeared refreshingly on blogs (in 2002 blogs were being recognized as media), MySpace (2003), YouTube (2005) and Facebook (in 2006, it opened up beyond colleges).

Now, the discovery phase of Web 2.0 is over. Thinking bird’s eye level, all the content that needs to be online is now online. For example, there are literally thousands of articles (and videos) about how to raise your credit score, and using Google isn’t really going to help you find the best or most appropriate advice. Conclusion: content creation is now not as highly valued when it’s already ubiquitous and en masse.

However, one kind of content is still prized; it’s in the taglines of CNN and Huffington Post: “Breaking News“. Breaking news, in all its forms from reporting to analysis, holds the most social and economic value – world society reacts, trades and competes with New News.

MEDIA 2.5 – POSITIONING AS THE HUB OF BREAKING NEWS

The mainstream media finally figured out that journalist content creation also didn’t need to be salaried. Breaking news can now be reported by anybody in Mumbai or Gaza. Media measures its worth by traffic, and solidifying the market position of being the hub of Breaking News is where Media 2.5 is headed. That means having producers like CNN’s Tori Blase on Twitter‘s front lines receiving and monitoring news stories and alerts from her Twitter network. This reinforces CNN’s status as the breaking news hub when it has dispatches at the borders of citizen journalism. News sourcing is social, every news producer must do this to stay connected with the new citizen news sources and be relevant in the future.

WEB 2.5 – EMPOWERING WEB 2.0 INDIVIDUALS TO CREATE BREAKING NEWS MEDIA HUBS

The New New Media Properties have none of the mainstream media overhead and infrastructure for collecting breaking news – Huffington Post, Politico and video-based Funny or Die are the collaborative media that Web 2.0 facilitates. All they need are writers/video producers who want syndication, and what aspiring journalists/producers will turn that opportunity down? These sites have become talent agencies that trade talent exposure for content quality, and in turn elevates their online presence and traffic.

The window is open, but nobody sees it’s open yet. Any organization, company or even a team of like-minded individuals can now create Politico-type blog network/breaking news distribution properties cheaply by leveraging Web 2.0′s blog and website design applications. A key distinction needs to be made in developing a media property – the content being created and distributed must be quality controlled to attract traffic. Social networks built on platforms like Ning won’t work due to noise and content credibility arising from any yahoo who wants to be a participant. The mainstream media understands this distinction and have been augmenting their journalistic offering with a J-School trained blogger corps (examples: NYT, SFGate), basically trading in the name “column” for “blog”.

Web 2.0 facilitates individuals. Web 2.5 facilitates the development of collaborative websites. The real estate industry in particular can leverage Web 2.0 tools to create collaborative websites that position real estate agents as local “reporters”. Properties like Homescopes leverage Web 2.0-savvy real estate professionals to break local news like the details of recent home sales only they would know about. Seth Godin mentions today that real estate brokerages should create local e-newsletters… this idea aligns with the idea of real estate agent as reporter.

You wouldn’t buy GM stock today without checking Marketwatch.com, and consumers will soon understand they won’t put an offer on a house (in this weird market!) based on month-old data. Breaking news is the killer app.

WEB 2.5 – LEVERAGING THE MEDIA HUB TO ATTRACT TRAFFIC (AND ONLINE FAME)

If you want evidence that content creation is taking a back seat to content distribution, see Justin.TV, an online streaming media application initially launched to allow the masses to chronicle their lives in video. Unfortunately, most people’s 24-by-7 lives are excruciatingly boring, and Justin.TV has evolved into the leading do-it-yourself online Cable Access channel network that facilitates anybody who wants to “program” online TV. Naturally, the most in-demand content are the free broadcasts of subscription streams of sporting events and movies… value-based content is king.

And just so content creators won’t complain that I’m positing the “death of content”, on the contrary, good content creators will now flourish, and gain access to exposure and fame much more easily with the proliferation of the new Web 2.5 content distribution channels (and let’s just call them media).

Media hubs/channels are the antidote to content fatigue by facilitating relevant filtering for discovery of great stuff. Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop and Jason Calacanis’ Mahalo are based on nothing more than the collaborative insights of what is online good “breaking news” content. Somewhat autocratic, but a simple formula. It’s no coincidence that both Guy and Jason have attuned themselves to real time trends as well-networked Twitter celebs.

What I’m trying to say is – the opportunity is build these media hubs is wide open and easy to do… the challenge is to convince your network to participate in your hub. This is the spirit of post-Web 2.0.

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.

Eventually all Internet-based video formats will easily play on an HDTV screen. Until then, YouTube will continue to increase the size of their player to begin to replicate a TV watching experience. It has now graduated to 16:9 960 pixel width, about the same size standard adopted by video competitor Hulu.

The killer app seems to be the connection between the HDTV and the PC. Now, I attach the HDTV and the PC using a VGA cable. Why don’t TV manufacturers develop a Bluetooth application that replaces the VGA cable. A quick search engine check of Bluetooth-based HDTV reveals only a 2007 released Samsung model that doesn’t seem to have this functionality.

Anything else out there that makes internet video watching as easy as turning on the TV?

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.

The most popular A-list blogs become go-to sources by posting breaking news first before anybody else. Wired has chronicled how cut-throat the competition is. Now, “everybody media” is out there trying to get breaking news up on YouTube and on their blogs.

Tonight’s SNL appearance of Sarah Palin has all the trappings of being a historic media event combining politics and laughs. The East Coast has the advantage as YouTube devotees set up their vidcams in front of their TVs at 11:30EDT for “taping” and subsequent posting on YouTube. The winners are rewarded with lots of traffic to their YouTube site.

This simple news-gathering linkbaiting strategy will snowball into a massive social media trend – “everybody media” – where individuals seek to become go-to news sources.

I’m hoping that SNL plays it straight up and provides Palin with a script that has her do Weekend Update impersonating Tina Fey’s role.

UPDATE 10/18/08 9:30pm PDT: Huffington Post posts Sarah Palin on SNL, who is getting uniformly poor reviews on Election.Twitter.com. What a wasted opportunity for both NBC and Palin… just see how Obama and McCain shine as comedians in their own right in the previous article Obama and McCain do Stand-Up.