Everyone seems to be producing content these days and the Internet is becoming a sort of worldwide TV network for audiences seeking entertainment. With global online video services, social media networks, and place-shifting devices national borders matter less and less in the television landscape. This panel discussed the consequences for the perspective of content creators, producers and advertisers as well as distributors and consumers.

This panel consisted of a range of industry executives including:

Greg Clayman, EVP, Digital Distribution & Business Development, MTV Networks
Ben Huang, Director of Product Management, Microsoft TV
Steve Jang, CMO & Head of Business Development, imeem
Steve Mitgang, CEO, Veoh Networks
Jason Kirk, Vice President, MySpace TV
Moderator: Mike Vorhaus, Managing Director, Frank N. Magid Associates

What countries are really breaking out with online video?

Korea is really breaking out for MTV Networks. These high bandwidth markets have gone straight to longer full length shows. Veoh’s CEO does not see a significant difference in what’s being consumed.

What will P2P mean for the industry – will piracy take over?

People use these services because they are better experiences than the alternatives, not because they want to steal. It’s better to download and view than waiting for poor quality streaming. Free is also a big advantage. The key is to figure out how to compete with P2P on pricing and on ease of use.

How will global content distribution impact ad formats?

Pre-rolls perform poorly overall. Overlays are being much better received. Relevance to the audience is critical, but format and timing play a major role. 95% or more of YouTube’s revenue is the display ad next to the video. Veoh’s seeing a disproportionate impact and click through compared to experience at Yahoo. Streaming across the bottom of the page is also emerging as a popular format.

What’s blocking global distribution?

The country based silos of media companies make it difficult to coordinate the global distribution of content. This was how television grew up and programming was localized to each market. Compared to the organizational problems, the technical challenge of going global is comparatively simple. This is not only a challenge for the media companies, it’s a challenge for the brands and their agencies for the same organizational reasons.

Three years from now where will YouTube be positioned?

Jason sees YouTube as being the leader now. They will struggle with content copyright issues if they cannot overcome that problem. If YouTube’s role for Google is the avenue to tap into brand advertising, it will need to transform to something other than the video clip business. It will mean different formats and different licensing arrangements. There is still a real opportunity for someone to fill this role.

Vertical content along genres and interests seem to be accelerating and may be a powerful way of organizing social communities that provides an alternative to YouTube.

Short form content is important, but long form dominates the majority of the viewing time. YouTube will need to break into longer form video for them to stay dominant. Search will also be an important component of helping people find content they enjoy.

[tags]Future of Television, content distribution[/tags]