Today was a crazy day. Many people were asking for my opinion on the announcement of Google and YouTube. First my personal opinion, this was a good deal for Google. Why? Because it continues their vision of connecting people to content. To me, at the end of the day, YouTube was very much like Google in the fact that they didn’t create anything rather they become the middle man between content creators and people looking for content – very much in line with what Google does. That’s all great, but what exactly does that mean for a small business?
I think we the advent of online video, there is a real opportunity for local businesses to take advantage to television style production. In the old days (back when my dad walked 10 miles to school and 20 back, everyday), a commercial or infomercial created by a business meant one thing – air-time on a TV station. However, today, a company can invest in the production of a commercial or infomercial and use it in a variety of places without ever touching television. For example you could use the video on your website, company CD’s, post it on Google video or YouTube, and a host of other places.
What I am saying is that if your business has a great concept for video and you have some application, it may be worth the investment. A commercial no longer needs to be played on television to be effective.
And if you think TV production is really expensive, read my post on SpotRunner.