Keep your eyes on the rapid growth of online video, says the Sun-Sentinel today The adoption of online video reflects several trends afoot. One is the increasing adoption of broadband Internet services, like DSL and cable modems, into the home soaring 40 percent from March 2005 to March 2006, according to The Pew Internet and American Life Project.
Good news for PR people. NPR reported last week on the fact that the The Federal Communications Commission recently moved to crack down on TV stations that fail to properly identify corporate video news releases which appear to be news stories. Local stations are strapped, expected to make profit margins of 40 - 50% with limited news staffs. They can't be everywhere to get every story and they use good content provided by PR firms. The FCC says it's OK to use VNR's on TV news as long as it is properly labeled as a PR piece, which TV stations are not so keen to do as it erodes their credibility. With the explosion of online video and media RSS feeds to syndicate them, you can reach your audience without having to go through the hoops and expense of distributing a VNR to the mainstream media. YouTube has stormed the Internet. Last August, the site had 58,000 unique visitors. It topped 12.8 million in July, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. "You gotta learn about this kind of new marketing. Why go to them when you can use Google to get them to come to you?" says Owen Frager, a Boca Raton Internet entrepreneur quoted in the Sun-Sentinal article Good point!
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