Okay, I'm surfing around today reading other folks blogs (I do that a lot). And today over at Scott Kirsner's CinemaTech blog he has done a lot of leg work (as he usually does) for us lazy types. :)

He has links to several great stories from the LA Times, Wall Street Journal, etc. on new Internet video distribution (i.e. video on demand). Click the above main link to read his articles.

Here are a few highlights I found especially interesting...

Based on consumer surveys, Points North Group estimates that 50% of Internet users watch video online, with 9% of users watching full-length movies downloaded from the Internet and 8% watching current TV shows at least occasionally.

and...

Parks Associates estimates that 3.7 million Americans will pay for video online by the end of 2006, with that number rising to more than 51 million by the end of 2010. The Dallas research and consulting group predicts such payments will rise to $1.8 billion by 2010 from $111 million this year.

This one is really cool from Brightcove - I recall their name from the web series "The Strand". They have some kind of involvement with that (from one of the creators of "Blair Witch")...

The biggest idea Brightcove has - and the way it's different from, say, Google Video - is that anyone can become what I call a "video dealer." If you have a site about windsurfing, for instance, you can offer a selection of videos from Brightcove on that topic. If one of your site's visitors chooses to pay to download one of the clips (or simply watches an ad), you get a cut of the revenues.

I just posted a blog entry over at Indie Features 06 talking about Google Video. Check it out to hear about my first experience with it.

I must say that I am really excited about the possibilities of all this! If you are an indie filmmaker and every tried to sell your film you know how hard it can be. This, my friends, will change the way ALL movies are distributed - but especially independent ones.

-Blake

Do you like this article? Share It!