Our day MAY come, and it may NOT. :D

Over the last year, I’ve been able to monitor the “success” of shows that were based on talent vs shows that were based on popularity. The bottom line so far has been “eyeballs”, because without the ability to demonstrate the demographic that’s clicking on videos, companies have to advertise in a “shotgun” method, which is basically selling a percentage of their actual hits as POSSIBILITIES that that percentage is going to be intersted in the advertiser’s product and the advertiser’s going to be interested in selling TO them.

Quality hasn’t been justfied by budgets because the ROI isn’t there. Companies are doing well enough, hiring guys that completely SUCK at producing videos, but who have a large following = automatic audience. The only other option is to hire someone GOOD at creating videos, but then hire someone GOOD at marketing and building and maintaining communities.

It’s all going to change *IF* they figure out how to make money from online video. Until that time, they’re going to keep scraping the bottom of the barrel and going with the cheapest way they can get a bunch of people to click over to their site. You’ll notice that they aren’t even making a lot of “Chick In Front Of The Camera” talking-head shows anymore. The old formulas are falling off and being replaced by actual production companies who are allotting part of their budget or their staffers’ prepaid time to generating content for the web.

The window’s closing on both sides. The “haves” and “have nots” are being decided. The separation’s becoming larger every day between the pros and the hobbyists. 2009′s going to determine who keeps going in this industry and who takes their toys and goes home.