Post by Smashing on Nov 13, 2006 4:15:48 GMT -5
This post is NOT about this: www.youtubeidol.com/
although that might warrant its own discussion.
There are some vloggers who think that YouTube is the new television, with each user getting their own so-called channel. One might say a better analogy is that YouTube is like it's own cable channel, and the users all have their own shows. But I believe that if an analogy with television is to be made at this point (and there isn't a perfect one), it's that YouTube is one big show, much like American Idol, and the content creators are the contestants.
Upon first thinking this, my next thought was, "but American Idol probably isn't worth 1.6 billion." Well, I couldn't find current numbers, but according to an article in USA Today* American Idol generated $900 million in revenue in 2004. It also says it had an average of 28.9 million viewers. So we're dealing in a similar ballpark. And using a different measure, the stars of American Idol are more famous than YouTube's stars at this point.
I don't know if most people see YouTube as a competition. Especially when it first started, I saw it as the place to go for pirated TV clips. But post-LG15, I do follow the rankings. I would say everyone on the top 40 most subscribed list, with the notable exceptions of geriatric1927 and thesilentpatriot, is there because they aspire to be in the entertainment business, and a few of them have been vocal about their obsession with their ranking. And while their's no official prize, a few have received production deals with TV.
Thoughts on this analogy?
* www.usatoday.com/money/media/2005-03-29-media-usat_x.htm
although that might warrant its own discussion.
There are some vloggers who think that YouTube is the new television, with each user getting their own so-called channel. One might say a better analogy is that YouTube is like it's own cable channel, and the users all have their own shows. But I believe that if an analogy with television is to be made at this point (and there isn't a perfect one), it's that YouTube is one big show, much like American Idol, and the content creators are the contestants.
Upon first thinking this, my next thought was, "but American Idol probably isn't worth 1.6 billion." Well, I couldn't find current numbers, but according to an article in USA Today* American Idol generated $900 million in revenue in 2004. It also says it had an average of 28.9 million viewers. So we're dealing in a similar ballpark. And using a different measure, the stars of American Idol are more famous than YouTube's stars at this point.
I don't know if most people see YouTube as a competition. Especially when it first started, I saw it as the place to go for pirated TV clips. But post-LG15, I do follow the rankings. I would say everyone on the top 40 most subscribed list, with the notable exceptions of geriatric1927 and thesilentpatriot, is there because they aspire to be in the entertainment business, and a few of them have been vocal about their obsession with their ranking. And while their's no official prize, a few have received production deals with TV.
Thoughts on this analogy?
* www.usatoday.com/money/media/2005-03-29-media-usat_x.htm