Streaming Media West: AOL Video presentation

Tim Tuttle, VP AOL video, shared what he sees as the four contributing
factors to the massive surge in popularity and predicted continued
growth for online video. The first is that consumers love to watch
videos online. He said sarcastically that only the guy in the cubicle
next to you watches video online, but quickly came back to reality.
"Well, over half of internet users watch online video multiple times a
month", he said. Whether it's a video on the blog that an internet
surfer just stumbles across or an email link from friends, more and
more folks are sharing and watching video online.

The second contributing factor to the growth of online video is the
content creator who loves finding ways to share videos. New delivery
methods mean direct access to people who are interested in viewing
your video. Tuttle claimed that content producers are streaming seven
billion videos a month.

The third factor that has caused this growth is advertisers. Hungry
for new ways to interact with consumers, advertisers are paying huge
amounts--$25-35 CPM, according to Tuttle--and getting exact
measurements on who's watching and what they are watching. This is one
of the areas that is actually pumping revenue back into the R&D for
online video and showing a profit.

Fourth and finally, changes in technology are spurring the rapid
acceleration in online video. Cheap hardware, open-source software,
widespread broadband adoption, and a culture that is more open to
embracing new technology have all created a boom in internet-delivered
video. All this also leads to the proliferation of high-quality,
easy-to-use and easy-to-share online video.

And all these converging factors have led to the next wave of online
video: search. Tuttle is convinced that the next generation of online
video will be a one-stop shop website that will let you search and
find relevant content. Obviously, with the problem of effective,
personalized video search still very far from being solved, this
realization may be several years away, but he asserted that it will be
here sooner than later. There are issues still lurking with video
search, and several of the attendee questions revealed the industry's
desire for standards on how to tag, organize, and find videos. Until
this industry standard is formalized, we will still be struggling to
find our favorite clips of The Daily Show and Mentos/Diet Coke bottle
rockets easily.