In 2013 there will be lots of crappy “guru” content, as we described yesterday in the first entry of our “Best of 2012” series. But there will also be lots of online video – lots and lots and lots – and it will be so good that you will have to pay for it.
Paying for online video, aka “over the top” (OTT) and not cable delivered, is a theme we’ve hit on all year. There are still way too many consumers, and bloggers, shamefully, who believe online streaming = cord cutting = “video content shall be free.”
We updated the situation most recently here, telling you about what we’ll dub “Pay Video” initiatives at YouTube, Vimeo and Hulu Plus.
It’s one of our best posts of 2012 because similar news just can’t be stopped. Since then we’ve come across these additional “Pay Video” stories:
>>> A company called Dynamo, early to this whole pay to watch concept (circa 2010), announced it will move from working directly with small-bit video creators and instead turn its media player into a broader “white label” solution that will allow big film studios and other large media companies to monetize their video content. Dynamo sees the dominoes of pay video falling into place.
>>> If you’ve been to YouTube in the past couple of weeks, you will have noticed that your home page is looking more and more like a TV-screen program guide, with suggested “channels” being the most obvious attempt to get users to stay, surf…and eventually pay for the channels YouTube has been funding to the tune of $300 million all year long. This story will unfold slowly but continuously as YouTube bolsters its business model. “PayTube,” anyone?
>>> YouTube rival Dailymotion just announced it will launch a subscription video-on-demand (VOD) offering aimed at children. Who will watch, while their parents will pay, daily. Don’t be surprised to see more VOD offerings from Dailymotion in 2013. As well as at least one buy-out offering.
>>> Most interesting of all, though, has been the reaction to Netflix’s deal with Disney, in which the former gets first dibs on streaming the latter’s newly released video content. Netflix shares jumped over 13% on December 4, the day of the announcement, and are up another 10% since then. And this is all because the agreement with Disney will go into effect…IN 2016!!!
Paying up now for online video you won’t be able to see for three years. THAT is what we would also call “over the top.”
