Before I begin I know that in my last post I promised a review of business based video services. I will do that however I want to write about an issue which has been circulating the digital press.
Barack Obama
A lot of media and speculation has surrounded the recent withdrawal of Whitehouse video from YouTube. Read Write Web has reported that this is due to privacy policy. Fair enough. However I am concerned with the mentality of some reports, particularly where the tone is such that it is implied that you must be on YouTube to reach audience. This is complete rubbish. Yes, YouTube has a mass audience, however the interests of its viewers based on its top rating content is highly questionable. In addition it is owned by Google who may be strong in the technical development of clever player bits but again I come back to that audience question.
If I were a young film maker or if my parents just gave me a HD cam for my birthday and I wanted to have a crack at being famous then YouTube has it all. An audience that will watch anything, a mass appeal in viral sharing and so forth. However Barack Obama, a person who could arguably be the worlds biggest personal brand, does not need YouTube. He can quite simply go it alone.
This is an incredibly interesting argument for any brand that already has mass audience. The selection of Akamai by the Whitehouse probably had more to do with capability around delivering that much video anywhere in the world over any privacy issues. And that brings up another very interesting point. Akamai as a content distribution network must have enjoyed incredible press and publicity because some members of the media are too lazy to research it before comparing it to YouTube. They are not the same thing.
So the real point to this is that there are many options where you put your own video content and there are important decisions to be made. And even if you are a small niche content provider you should not assume immediately that you have to sell your soul and content in a major video portal like YouTube. There are alternatives. Contact us if you want to know how. Yes you can!
