One of our IT guys forwarded a story to me from ITWire Australia that got me really excited.

According to a study done by the BBC, online video is beginning to erode TV audiences by noticeable amounts in the UK. Gee, think that trend that will continue here as well?? (Although okay historically, they catch on to tech trends a little quicker there, like with cell phones and texting. But still.)

Some interesting numbers came from the survey of 2,070 Britons:

• 43% of people who say they watch video from the internet or on a mobile device say they watch less broadcast TV as a result.
• Though only 9% said they watch online video regularly, 13% watched occasionally, and a further 10% said they plan to start in the coming year.

This is a huge audience and it’s only growing. The internet continues to democratize our mass media, and the cost of entry into web-based video is ridiculously low. With a $25 webcam, anyone can begin video blogging via YouTube or Google Video with absolutely no hosting costs.

Web video is still in its infancy (even though YouTube sold for $1.6B, it was only started in 2005), but I can’t help feeling like we’re looking at the same kind of situation that occurred when Napster first came on the internet scene (way back in 1999) and everyone started trading music like wildfire before the recording industry caught on.

However, unlike that whole debacle, there is vastly more original video content being distributed than there was original audio content (though there are still a lot of copyright issues cropping up here, too.) There’s a great opportunity here not only for the big players like Google, who intend to monetize internet video ASAP, but also for the little guy trying to get his message out there, whether it’s business related or not.

The movers and shakers in this field will be looked back on as pioneers in a few years. Stars are being made in this area and today’s novice will be tomorrow’s expert, just as it was for blogging and then podcasting. Maybe one of my readers is going to be one of the inevitable Internet Video Gurus? If so, let me know – maybe we’ll have you speak at StomperNet 07!

The ITWire Story is here:
http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/7513/52/

The original BBC report is here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6168950.stm