DISQUS

Duane Brown · 2 years ago

A great example of a niche site would be GameTrailers.com, which just does videos on video games. I think soccer might be to small of a niche... but just sports would do very well. The site could divide into different sports people are into.

Joe Yi · 2 years ago

Hmmm...I would agree expect maybe in the arena of sports - this kind of content is too highly coveted, owned, and tightly controlled. Amateur sports videos can be interesting, but for the most part, if I'm looking for sports clips on the web, I want to see my favorite team, a playoff game I missed, or dunk clips.
Prime example: Due to unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to catch game 4 of the first round NBA playoff series between Dallas and the Golden State Warriors("the hottest team in the NBA right now" - C. Barkely). None of my friends had it Tivo'ed, so I went to http://download.nba.com/ to download and watch the entire game (no commercials) on my pc. It was instantaneous, on demand, video content from the source... I think this is the future for sports content, unless someone can strike a magical deal to license and aggregate it. Maybe Bernard could.

fareed · 2 years ago

I see this much the same way chris anderson sees mp3.com's failures:

Only long tail content is a bad business model. You need the head so that you can draw users, and give people a place to start so they can find the long tail content they will enjoy. If you have only tail content, there's no means for discovery. There's still room for user generated content - some of it is quite good. But without the high end content (youtube's high end content is mostly pirated) there's nothing to draw people in.

Gal Josefsberg · 2 years ago

YouTube also has poor quality issues. For Example, I never know if the music video I am about to watch is the real video, some poor quality copy or a hacked together monster using the music I want and someone's home videos. Whereas I can go to iTunes or Yahoo Music and see exactly what I wanted and expected to see.

YouTube's strength was its uncontrolled nature, but that seems to be a weakness now that more focused competitors are out there.

GJ
http://www.60in3.com

John Gorman · 2 years ago

..."video communities based on genre, .. or affinity groups" History is always our best guide, the world starts horizontal and then goes vertical. Both traditional TV and the text web did this and yes so will video.
Joe - wouldnt you want to be able to discover "contextually" relevant sports clips (interviews, last years game highlights the week leading to a big game etc) when you are reading your local sports news or blog site? Yes fiefdom's of affinity, but that fiefdom or a partner needs to spread the content to all screens where the affinity audience may be consuming..
Finally, discount the UGV long tail at your peril. Go check Americas Funniest Home Videos ratings over the years..The cream of all genre will rise to the top, and the cream of the user generated and semi pro video will blur.

Greg Linden · 2 years ago

"Robust engines that conduct advanced visual analysis are critical in this next stage of online video."

That may be part of it, but is search really the way we will find interesting videos? You cannot search for "something interesting". To search, you have to have at least some idea of what is out there and be able to specify your preferences in a search query.

I think discovery will be much more important than search for video. In particular, I think recommendations and presonalization will help you discover videos. Surface interesting based on what you like and what people like you liked.

We need to tap into the wisdom of the crowd. With a sea of crap out there, we need to sort through it all and filter the good stuff to the top.

Norm · 2 years ago

For

"... it wouldn't be the Long Tail that wins out in the video space, but big studio and middle market talent. The operative word is 'talent.' As I argued a year ago, there are only so many stupid human tricks people can watch and the future of online video isn't clips of TV shows or movies."

It is ironic that this view should appear on VentureBeat which has relatively narrow interests and a narrow audience and, itself, is out in 'the long tail'.

There is no end of what can be put on video clips; the range is not nearly limited to "stupid human tricks" or "big studio and middle market talent". E.g., can also watch lectures and seminars on physics, mathematics, computer science, cooking, etc. Beyond these four examples, there are many thousands of interests in the long tail, and video clips can be welcome for nearly all of them.

Bernard Moon · 2 years ago

Norm,

I would hardly call VentureBeat a long-tail play. Matt's traffic is slightly less than his old company, the San Jose Mercury News. While similar tech blogs, such as GigaOm and TechCrunch, surpass the Mercury News' traffic.

Bernard

Michael Raneri · 2 years ago

Search is important if you know exactly what you want. I think Greg Linden is spot on. Discovery is what will help consumers sort through the clutter of the growing amount of content. Think about an approach that is prospective search, based upon a profile of interests. Our approach is building a profile of the shows peoplelike, the actors, the interest and hobbies they have,. Then virtually aggregating that content into a personal guide. Whats on TV, Whats on within the networks libraries, and on the community sites based on that profile.

Thando - Website Development · 1 year ago

Hi, can anyone here refer me to a link that has an online game challenge based on programming skills? Specifically Ruby on Rails. I'm looking for a challenge. Would appreciate a great link.

Thank you!