AOL a Video Contrarion? What does their evidence show....

Finally, someone I can clobber with history. I've been preaching that video is the future of the web, perhaps not good news for the DVD and the DVR. There are too many forces, large ones and many more limber small ones, who know that video may dominate bandwidth use in the (near?) future. Here's the lead from the AOL contrarian in an article called "AP, AOL: Online Video Overblown:"

"AOL and AP say, after canvassing in the internet, that online video usage data may be severely overblown. They report that only one-fifth of internet users have watched a full TV episode or movie online. That contrasts with the majority, who do download video - but it smaller clips, mostly as garnishings to other web content." Remember, this is a snapshot in time even as more players are entering (but are not yet in) the broadband business.
See http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2006/09/05/
ap_aol_online_video_overblown/index.php

See also a different take at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
20060905/ap_on_hi_te/online_video_ap_poll_7

It's actually refreshing to see someone come out with a heavy dose of skepticism about a new "medium." But they are dead wrong. In the article they say "1 out of every 5 internet users have watched a full TV episode or movie online." They should revisit that statement. I'd say it's shocking that 20% of Internet users (which includes dial-up users who are highly unlikely to download a movie) have already tried it on for size. And what happens when we break this down demographically? Could it be that the percentage is significantly higher among, for example, 18-34 year olds?

Or is it just that AOL can't keep up with Yahoo, Google, YouTube, MySpace and many others who are or soon will be providing the chance to download a TV show or a movie? Anick Jesdanun, the writer for Poll: Online viewers shun lengthy videos, has a wealth of information in this article. In fact, as I read it, I wondered why the headline is what it is. It seems like a Karl Rove "1984" version of war is peace, ignorance is strength, freedom is slavery, and everyone would be watching downloaded videos if it made any sense to do so.

I wonder how the class of 2010 thinks about this.

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You may use this content (better still, argue with me!), but please cite my ideas as © 2006, Dr. Bruce Klopfenstein. Find any typos! Don't smite me, let me know!