The future of TV is on the internet.

Since it is alright to post on the blog I would like to add some insights and relevant information to shatter the concerns about future of our culture and consumer habits.

While I agree the traditional TV program is getting worse and worse everyday, arguably everywhere around the world, I can also see that there is much more improvement in the independent creator's waters - the internet. From simple trolling, gifs, cam records and cat videos, the capacity of those services has increased greatly, allowing for scheduled, periodical and meaningful quality contents. Of course cat videos aren't going anywhere anytime soon. ;)

One thing to ask ourselves before I get into it. Is the content on TV getting worse because of the increasing commercialism and competition, or is it because consumers are more accustomed to this contents and demand it more and more? I don't feel entitled to answer this question, but if you do, please go ahead.

Commerce.

One side of the coin is purely commercial existing (or newly created) channels with connection to an existing viable company. Just to name few, it is names like MTV, VIVA, VEVO, Old Spice, Adidas, Nokia. All those companies have realized the viral power of the internet and create entertainment, but some also quality educational contents. The investment into these channels generates usually much higher and much more sustainable heat than using traditional channels. Although the omnipresence of existing media still gives greater advertising exposure... with a main difference. In traditional media consumers are being forced into contents they don't care about, while on the internet consumers, and fans are directly seeking content of that certain company.

I am personally subscribed to Old Spice, Nokia, Adidas Originals, Nike, Wieden+Kennedy and of course plenty of others. I happily intake their commercial contents for my amusement and education. And it has great impact on me. I am a fan of those companies. I run in Adidas shoes, I am having everyday shower with Isaiah Mustafa, the OldSpice Guy and I go to WK for teaching myself how to make a great ad. It works, and as soon as those channels invade our living rooms, the content will gain even greater audience.

Link window:
OldSpice, nokia

Independence.

The internet, although, is becoming increasingly good. The contents have improved much from 90s and the first decade. We now have plenty of full-length shows, comedies, videos, music shows, talkshows, news reports and much more on servers like metacafe, youtube, vimeo and others I don't know.

Those producers and creators are getting actually paid for their contents, thanks to the sponsorship / advertising models. And it works like this:

- one does something awesome
- starts being youtube partner
- and get revenue shares from ad views
- and or company contacts one, gives one capital to produce content one normally does, but "FOR THEM"
- and then share the fame of the creator (ie product placement)

Imagine you create videos with over 6 000 000 views under a week. Such heat is impossible for a show aired on yle. Those creators usually create videos every week and those videos created, unlike on TV, generate heat even after its first exposure, because they are kept on the channel. And such video can grow in 10s of millions of views in a year and its value doesn't decrease because new and new people are exposed to it (there is billions of humans on the internet). Now you can imagine how profitable investment it is for companies to support these people.

Both of those models work very well and artists travel around the world and they don't have to pay for it! And the regular consumer watches their (increasingly better) contents, watch few ads or buy a t-shirt from the sponsor company and circle is closed.

Link window:
freddiew, mysteryguitarman, devinsupertramp, - acclaimed creators, incredible exposure
jsleeper, - recently emerged creator (2010), who has received incredible heat in last few weeks and now is expanding his plans online.

Collaboration.

Key term for a good youtube exposure is collaboration. It is of course a great fun and way to connect with other creators on the platform but it is also a way of self-advertising. Being hosted on channel of very famous content producer means the same for the emerging creator as for the companies. And people of course do this for fun, karma and to support more quality content on the service.

Link window:
Collaboration between MGm and the band Weezer.

Decentralization.

Even though I mostly mentioned youtube throughout the story, there is another amazing sensation ongoing. Decentralization that is. There is numerous video sharing services like vimeo, viddler, metacafe. Not to count all the livestreaming services, that allow for different, real-time models and completely different business opportunities. All of those are somewhat centralized channels, but their great number results in freedom of publishing and freedom of choice. But wait, there is something more. Today, anyone can set up their own service of such kind on larger or smaller scales. Nation-wide services pop-up every now and then. Specialized content websites are also to be found (Av-arkki for example). And many new projects choose the power of video and thanks to the technological opportunities create their own solutions. (Like Cai mentioned, BalconyTV) Many different businesses use this opportunity in a supplemental manner to what they normally do, like Boilerroom.tv, which is a music club, that streams their concerts online.

Expertise.

The greatest thing about these services is that anybody can become good, anybody can learn and gain exposure. Being famous is getting democratized. If you are into some contents you are likely to stumble upon secondary channels explaining How-to. Not only how to create similar contents, but also how to become Youtube partner, how to seek for sponsors and so on. Surprisingly enough, most of those creators are willingly sharing their expertise and perhaps being unaware of that fact, they become independent teachers of the next creators, and perhaps next generation.

Link window:
Freddiew2, DevinSuperTramp talks about shooting in Africa and getting sponsors

Clearly all those channels are somewhat related to my personal interests, but there is handful of other contents go hop on. Plentiful of musicians, comedians, cooking shows, DIY tips, and much much more.

As such those passion, quality and later on commerce driven channels become invaluable cultural resources. And knowing how many of those emerge every year, how many of those catch on and survive for years, I am not afraid about the cultural future of our society.

Thank you for reading and feel free to comment.

P.S.: Even this writing is sort of content creation. Blogging applies too.