Bobby Tulsiani [Posted by Bobby Tulsiani]

I just read Mark Cuban’s blog entry on "The Great Internet Video Lie".  If you have time, be sure to check it out – but if you are pressed for time I’ll quickly summarize a few of his points:

  • Standard Internet video platforms (YouTube, Hulu, etc) on their own can not support large simultaneous audiences
  • When you do a big event (eg. Obama’s Inauguration), you must partner with one of a handful of CDNs
  • None of these CDNs could support multiple events. So your favorite platform is going to have trouble airing both the Obama Inauguration & the Spurs/Mavericks game at the same time.
  • Ergo.  It is a big lie that any Over the Top Platform can replace pay TV providers (cable, satellite, telco)

I always think Mark makes interesting points, though I am not sure who exactly has been "lying" about this one.  Even the word "lie" is probably a bit strong, guys like Madoff and Blagojevich have raised the bar on that word :-). Regardless, I wanted to point our readers to some of our research that talks about Internet video being a complimentary, rather than replacement, medium:

  • "The Internet Television Value Chain":  We discuss how the Internet has opened a new release window for television and incremental revenue.  I also talked about the framework with Andy Plesser last year on a interview on Beet.TV.
  • "The US TV Market in Transition: Succeeding in a Multiplatform World":  We surveyed consumers on their top criteria in watching video (quality, content library, interface, etc) and rank all of the emerging platforms (Internet Video, Mobile, VOD). We lay out our view – how these platforms will work together and how customers will choose many, not just one, to watch TV content.

Hope to continue the discussion – feel free to reach out or comment if you have any thoughts on these two mediums do or do not compliment each other.