Friday, January 19, 2007
How can you make money from user generated content?
A new report on user generated video shows that almost half of all online video watched last year was provided by Internet users themselves. The report also predicts that this will rise to 55% by 2010. In other words, user generated content will dominate. However, for the online video sites user generated videos only represented 15% of revenues. That means more people watch user generated material, but they don't pay for it, or it doesn't support advertising. With the obvious benefits of user generated content and its attraction to Internet users, it is going to be tough for people to make money from it. It requires a wholesale change in business models and attitudes from company directors or individual marketers. Any ideas on how we can make money from user generated video content? So far, traditional models clearly aren't working well.
Labels: future, user-generated
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Hi, Graham
It's an interesting point, for sure. I know a little about the fiction writing sphere, which is identical. You can read many millions of short stories online, but the vast majority of them are so poor that you could never get anyone to pay for them in the traditional sense.
What you need to do is to provide a viewer / reader with an easier method of paying online, which is quick and simple, and accepts small payments without killing the netreprise with charges. Micropayments are the future of payment for online content, in my view.
Viewing video content is starting to make more sense, with more people starting to offer video on demand, and the growth of the "entertainment console" - part PC, part widescreen TV, part DVD player / recorder.
Two years will be enough to see this market (paid-for online content) start to flourish, and within five years we'll all be doing it.
You heard it here first!