Don't give in to the 2.0 Agit-prop

44th St. and Skillman
Originally uploaded by adamelend.

OK, so now vertical video content is called "slivercast" according to the NYT, and mentioned by Hugh at Gaping Void.

Interesting article BUT...

Both Roo and Narrowstep players worked not at all for me. If your video is loading for more than 5-10 seconds before it starts playing, you've lost half your audience, and these took forever. I'm sure their experiencing high traffic because of the article, but they're in business to play videos. The videos have to play. And they have to look good - no stuttering.

And, I can't help thinking that this broadband channel concept is a tired old media relic that is being forced on the new media. Broadband video needs to be dynamic, integrated. Not a static, pop up destination. The niche element is cool, but the rest is kind of tired. I'm more interested in the Brightcove model, which focuses on syndication, and offers a distribution vehicle that can be integrated incredibly easily into your existing web content. Why do I want sail.tv when I can put sailing content on Sail-world.com or another existing online sailing community? The niche I get, the destination I don't.

However, this quote is something I agree with completely, and a direction I really do see video content going - video programming served up to you contextually and behaviorally, just like ads:

While advertising on small video sites has been sporadic so far, many companies, including Roo and NarrowStep, say they see an opportunity to match video commercials to specialized audiences, as Google does with Internet searches and Web pages.