New Media Musings: Paid video vs. free video J.D. Lasica blogs about comparing Ourmedia with Google’s new video service. Although a lot still is unknown about how exactly Google’s service will work, the basic distinction that Ourmedia is a free video service and community based vs. Google is a place where you can sell your video and share a cut with Google is what much of it seems to boil down to.
I think it is good that independent producers of content will have multiple platforms to try and showcase their work in the future. And I’d also point out that Google will not be the only game in town. I believe that you will find a whole host of smaller independent companies offering paid or advertising supported video content including folks like Brightcove and Cozmo TV.
Google has an interesting advantage perhaps in the business given their size and visibility but sometimes smaller companies can be more nimble and bring things to end users in ways that big companies are not as good at doing. In any case the space is going to be large enough for many players and it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out in the end.
On thing that Gaurav Bhatnagar, Ourmedia’s chief developer who is quoted in Lasica’s post, is right about though is that there is always power in community. And this may could be in the end may be the glue that sticks, the tie that binds.
Community based ventures seem to have sticking power and even more than the fact that Google or Ourmedia will be great places to host your video at no cost to you, a vibrant micro community may be what sustains them.
Another interesting micro community that has revolved around micro content is Brandon Stone’s photoblogs.org. This is probably the best place that digital photography is organized on the internet today. Those that are a part of it know that Brandon does a lot to foster a strong community spirit.
I think that both Microsoft and TiVo should be working with all of these micro content sources to bring these communities in their various forms to the living rooms of tomorrow.