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One of the emerging Web technologies I keep my eye on is streaming video. It’s my feeling that video on the web will totally transform the Internet. Today, people think of the Web as mostly text and pictures, but in the future I think video will dominate.

Here’s some information I read in an article on Mediapost that gives some perspective of what’s been going on:

At the end of 2006, more than half–58%–of Americans age 12 or older with Internet access had streamed some form of video content online, according to the Ipsos Insight report. That translates to 44% of the overall U.S. population age 12 or older, or approximately 100 million consumers.

That’s a lot of people doing something that only a few years ago was relatively unheard of online. But this phenomenon is still in its infancy. Just like a lot of other new technology, the path is being blazed by the very young:

By the end of last year, just 26% of all consumers who view streaming video had watched the full-length TV shows offered by networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC. Worse still, only 15% had streamed a whole movie online.

I think this is where we’ll see a lot of change in the next year. More and more people will watch longer videos and finally complete movies. It also means that arts organzations will get into the action too.

How long do you think it will be before some innovative string quartet records an entire 2 hour concert on camera, and posts it to be streamed online?

One response to “The Switch to Video”

1. You’re absolutely right…. how long! On April 18, my husband filmed Duo Diorama (Minghuan Xu, violin and Winston Choi, piano) in Calgary, Alberta. He got about 1.5 hours of footage and plans to edit it and post it to Youtube, with Duo Diorama’s permission. Video is an unbelievable resource….. we’re all so visually oriented and have been fed a steady diet of television for most of our lives. We’re ready to watch online.

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