I see two problems with the idea of producing a big, commercial movie on YouTube. First, the devices: YouTube is still mostly viewed on phones and few people would like to watch The Lord of the Rings on a phone, for various reasons (ergonomics, distractions, quality of the experience, immersion). Even when viewed on a TV, YouTube is limited by the speed of one's Internet connection, which can be a problem in many places, especially if one wants to watch a movie in 4k on a big screen. Second, the revenue: YouTube is not paying enough, as you also said, to make it worthwhile to produce a really big movie for the platform. This might change in the future, and I believe that there surely will be some kind of YouTube-like platform that will offer big, original productions. But it may not be called YouTube and it might generate and distribute revenue in different ways to enable these productions.
But a lot of consumption on YouTube is not on the phone -- the fastest growing category of YouTube watching is on connected TVs. People are specifically using it for the lean back experience that get from watching TV.
I was going to comment the only thing holding back the prediction is device size and quality. 2 observations...
1) My 23-yr old daughter told me NOT ONE of her friends has cable TV. She and roommate do pay for Internet via cable company.
2) TVs do streaming now, and YouTube is another streaming option. So, TVs today support YouTube video, and no doubt it will be a major streaming service on good quality (TV) screen devices.
There is little doubt in my mind that streaming - Internet Video - will supplant legacy TV stations, bundled in cable packages, so even those stations may morph to only streaming distribution. And, YouTube will be a huge force.
Someone once made an observation to me that media revolutions typically come to music before movies, sometimes decades before. We now commonly see Grammy nominations for music that is made in bedrooms. Sure, music is cheaper to make than studio-quality movies but I think you are spot on. It is coming. Probably faster than we think
Been enjoying your unconventional trains of thoughts lately, good job.
Reach out if you want me as per your media entrepreneur thing. Not sure if I qualify, I'm a solopreneur that makes most money through operative work which is fuled by my newsletter.
I see two problems with the idea of producing a big, commercial movie on YouTube. First, the devices: YouTube is still mostly viewed on phones and few people would like to watch The Lord of the Rings on a phone, for various reasons (ergonomics, distractions, quality of the experience, immersion). Even when viewed on a TV, YouTube is limited by the speed of one's Internet connection, which can be a problem in many places, especially if one wants to watch a movie in 4k on a big screen. Second, the revenue: YouTube is not paying enough, as you also said, to make it worthwhile to produce a really big movie for the platform. This might change in the future, and I believe that there surely will be some kind of YouTube-like platform that will offer big, original productions. But it may not be called YouTube and it might generate and distribute revenue in different ways to enable these productions.
But a lot of consumption on YouTube is not on the phone -- the fastest growing category of YouTube watching is on connected TVs. People are specifically using it for the lean back experience that get from watching TV.
I was going to comment the only thing holding back the prediction is device size and quality. 2 observations...
1) My 23-yr old daughter told me NOT ONE of her friends has cable TV. She and roommate do pay for Internet via cable company.
2) TVs do streaming now, and YouTube is another streaming option. So, TVs today support YouTube video, and no doubt it will be a major streaming service on good quality (TV) screen devices.
There is little doubt in my mind that streaming - Internet Video - will supplant legacy TV stations, bundled in cable packages, so even those stations may morph to only streaming distribution. And, YouTube will be a huge force.
Yeah, a lot of young people don't even understand how cable TV works. The first time they try it out it's like exploring some alien technology.
Someone once made an observation to me that media revolutions typically come to music before movies, sometimes decades before. We now commonly see Grammy nominations for music that is made in bedrooms. Sure, music is cheaper to make than studio-quality movies but I think you are spot on. It is coming. Probably faster than we think
Yeah, I'm guessing it's going to happen within the next 10 years.
Been enjoying your unconventional trains of thoughts lately, good job.
Reach out if you want me as per your media entrepreneur thing. Not sure if I qualify, I'm a solopreneur that makes most money through operative work which is fuled by my newsletter.