We’re seeing 2010 predictions emerge in the Online Video space by industry leaders and it provides for interesting reading. That being said, there’s nothing shocking being stated, or rather, there are no big surprises or prognostications of something new to come. Everyone tends to agree on what to expect in the New Year including the much hyped TV Everywhere, set-top boxes, multiple screens, and of course, mobile.
Indeed these are exciting features and products to look forward to and what’s mentioned by these smart individuals is definitely worth reading. So, I have laid out for you a few comments and links regarding aforementioned subject matter below:
- Ron Yekultiel of Kaltura on the DIY online video solutions: “Alternatively, more publishers will opt to self-host the video management platform behind their firewall to allow for greater security, control, and flexibility. In both scenarios, the commoditized video delivery services (e.g. storage, backup, streaming, transcoding) shall be augmented by innovative high-margin digital services such as video search, metadata extraction & analysis, and syndication.”
- Ben Weinberger of DigitalSmiths on TV Everywhere: “TV Everywhere, which Time Warner announced over the summer, is a beautiful idea: for a fee, cable operators will give subscribers multi-platform access to whatever is on cable, at any time, from any place, on any device. This notion has caught fire, with Comcast and other major players announcing their own versions of this exciting platform. I expect that, along with the new initiatives movie studios unleash, 2010 will be the year of TV Everywhere — especially as versions of this idea start becoming available to consumers.”
- Jeff Whatcott of Brightcove on mobile video: “I recently returned from Japan and as is always the case, I came away inspired by seeing what is possible when high-speed connectivity and intelligent devices become ubiquitous. As Mary Meeker of Morgan Stanley has described in unbelievably comprehensive detail, mobile is a massive transformation in computing and video is going to be a huge part of it. At Brightcove, we are really gearing up for this transformation and we foresee incredible adoption across all of our customers in all segments in 2010.”
- Ian Blaine of thePlatform on viral distribution: “Another trend that hit big in 2009 is viral distribution on a massive scale. We of course had YouTube as an early leader, and its growth in 2009 continued to stun. One billion streams a day is something that was hard to imagine even a few years ago. But beyond YouTube, the continued growth of Facebook and the emergence of Twitter as platforms for distribution of media became real, and really interesting.”
- And Ryan Lawler of NewTeeVee on set-top boxes: “With broadband connectivity being extended to more consumer electronics devices like TVs and Blu-ray players, it will become difficult to justify buying yet another standalone box. And that’s not even mentioning Boxee’s bigger problem, which is convincing programmers and cable companies that it isn’t the enemy.“
Personally I think there is something bigger (in the sense of holistically, not enormity) brewing for 2010 which I’ve discussed at length with several OVP CEOs, and that’s the notion of specialization in our space as a result of impending commoditization. OV has come a long way in a very short amount of time and the fact of the matter is, we’re nearing ubiquity at a breakneck pace. It won’t be long until every online business has video in some way, shape, or form used to market their business, sell their product, extend their brand, and/or increase exposure.
The space will grow significantly in 2010 at the cost of a few providers, spurred by differentiation and specialization. I sound like a broken record, I know. But knowing what you do best and capitalizing on strengths is what’s going to take the leaders in OV to the next level and prevent the occurrence of commoditization. Let’s face it, it’s difficult to be everything to everyone. There’s just too much to manage and it’s just too easy to overwhelm users today especially with newer technology and services. With a keen eye on a specific niche and market segment, OVPs will be able to help the $3B small medium enterprise sector realize their goals and achieve them with assurance and confidence in the coming years.
Peace.
In the early days of 2009 I thought this was to be the year of OVP mergers, acquisitions, and shutterings. Turned out only a few 
A recent report from 