aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Saturday, October 28, 2006

The future of GooTube and Comedy Central

I continue to be all riled up about the Comedy Central takedown demands. Cory Bergman notes that Viacom appears not to be going along with the CBS strategy of forming a strategic partnership with YouTube. Cory goes on to observe that “after all, browsing video on ComedyCentral.com is not the easiest of experiences.”

Exactly!

A year ago when MotherLoad launched I complained that Comedy Central just doesn’t get it. Their play was original content and doled out highlights. But what their audience wants is to instantly find - and share - what everyone’s talking about:

As a Massive Media entrant they’ve got to get their content out there. I’d choose to link to them—even as the site seems designed to discourage it (and is not Mac friendly)—they are the source. That is the future.

But for now it will be interesting to see if any of the original content takes off. I’d choose instead to keep the 2 channels, web and cable, closely linked and not go so much for web only content.

Today TV still drives audience to the web; tomorrow the web will drive the audience to the TV. The next day there will be no difference.

My thought today is… why not strike a deal where YouTube serves up all of the video on the Comedy Central site? Just as Google provides search for sites, YouTube should become the video host/provider.

But more, YouTube’s been thought of as a promotional vehicle for content; that’s the wrong construct. The real deal is it’s their technology that we use. We, the audience, do the promoting.

If YouTube embeds the player, the entire player can become the ad. No more interruption or ad clutter. And think of the opportunities for adwords like synchronization of product and content!

The end of mass audiences sitting and watching a broadcast show at the appointed hour does not have to mean the end of the shared cultural experience of all of us talking about that show around the water cooler. The change is in how we share the experience. Today’s audience is an active engaged participant.

I’d allow remixing too. Comedy Central and YouTube are demonstrating their takedown muscle. If a remix goes outside the bounds, they send the letters. But that’s a post for another day.