Content Form Factor - What are you trying to hit?
So I've been putting a big part of my "off time" braincycles into determining where our roadmap fits into the big picture of video -- or as our CEO has hammered into my head (and I wholeheartedly agree) -- this "Year of Internet Video" which I expect to extend beyond this year. I think I've come to somewhat of a thesis.Video, as it sits, has two branches, form factors if you will. There's short clips -- segments, clips, quotes, "videobytes," etc. Then there's more traditional "show-length" form factors, these are generally 22 minutes, 44 minutes, or longer -- what you'd find from any typical old media content provider; broadcast network, cable network, movie studio, etc. Without question, we fall into the first form factor. More to the point, however, until there's a *real* consumer electronics convergence, i.e. I can hit a button on my remote (without having spent multiple hundreds or thousands of dollars on specialty equipment) -- the second form factor is simply not a reality.
When I'm at my computer, like the majority of users, I have a plethora of things going on, many of them requiring my attention, and most of those are non-entertainment related. When I *do* have a few minutes, I like to sneak in a few clips, or maybe a quick read of a blog, or sending/reading a few IMs. Quite frankly, I have far too much to do to watch a half hour -- or longer -- episodic saga. This reality has spawned a term (Webisode) which really speaks to the fact that users, on a computer, in a browser, really aren't looking to spend 2 hours watching someone's content.
This is important when building any app -- not just one that's video-centric. You have your user for a limited amount of time per go. Are you building it as such?
posted by webba @ 11:43 PM
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In this family we represent the two form factors you've described. My wife is a video editor and I am web developer. It might givee us unique perspective on video as you describe it in this post. Who knows, maybe not. I will explain this in terms of TV and computers.
The next paragraph could sum-up any point I may attempt to explain thereafter.
At our home we have computers with WAN connections and TVs with cable connections. We "work" on the computers during the day and relax by watching TV at night.
There have been many attempts to merge the TV with the computer. That made sense to a lot of people -- and still does to many. However, they still haven't fully merged. I question how much anyone will be able to blur the distinction between the two very different things.
IMPO, we are still cavemen of modern entertainment and the computers. With our current perspective on TV and computers, being cavemen, we just want to lump them into an "electronics" category or "home entertainment" or whatever other word or phrase of your choosing. I propose that as we continue down the digital path that this world's societies are headed, we will define with greater distinction the technologies we are now attempting to lump together.
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