[digg http://digg.com/tech_news/Follow_up_how_to_expand_Internet_TV_viewership]I had the pleasure of doing a brainstorming session at Podcamp EU, discussing ways to increase internet TV viewership. I had a great time at this session, and learned a lot from everyone in the room, as well from comments that followed.
Most of the participants talked about the need to make content discovery and consumption much easier, and some also talked about the fact that there is not enough interesting content out there. Some participants challenged the thesis that we actually have a problem - especially a smart young guy that said that his generation, the early twenties and late teens, is the important one, not the older ones, and this generation doesn't have a problem to find the content and watch it. We discussed a lot the need for branding and baiting people to see new shows.
Some solutions were suggested:
1. Trailers for shows, to get people to watch the first episode
2. Printed guides for Internet TV, that can communicate with Apple TV for example, and make subscription simple.
3. From a different angle - get as much product placement as possible and increase your budget for higher production quality.
The discussion didn't end there:
Chris Brogan covered the panel, and added his view: ..."I believe the winners of the Internet TV world are those who will band together, move audience by way of driving awareness, and interact well with other producers such that you put good stuff together in one easy-to-find locations...". Check out his post, and its accompanying 12 comments...
Jeff Pulver take: ..."Seems to me that this is a classic long tail play. The long and simple of it. There is no doubt in my mind that there will be HUGE breakout hits that are only available on the Internet and such hits will have mainstream adoption. It is going to happen. In fact for some people, it already has. During the past year a number of people have signed contracts with media companies who were discovered on the Internet..."
Chris Hambley left a lengthy comment on my original post and was kind enough to record the session - you can find it here.
I encourage everyone to read these posts and their comments - it added a lot of value to the discussion.
Now, here is a challenge for you. How can we keep this discussion alive? We are all interested in increasing viewership - so we need to cooperate in best practices and lessons. What's your take on that?
Thank you all for being a part of this discussion, online and offline.
Having Fun at the Panel
Technorati Tags: Internet TV, webtv, Jeff Pulver, Chris Brogan, Christopher Penn, Viewership, web tv
One Comment
Interesting post. I have stumbled this for my friends. Hope others find it as interesting as I did.
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