10 Million Theoretical Dollars
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It’s predicted that in three years we will be watching so much TV and videos on the internet that bandwidth will run out. Most of the networks have their shows on their websites for viewing and now there are new sites like Hulu that have plenty of diverse TV shows and movies. You can also get shows on pay-per-view sites like iTunes and Amazon.
What amazes me is that with the popularity of large HD flat screen TVs, why are we spending so much time on the internet watching videos in such low quality? I’ve decided that it’s because our attention span is so short we need a constant supply of entertainment on our TVs, our computers and our iPhones. Why do I believe this? Because of my case study below…
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Case study - Dramatic Prairie Dog
One year ago a clip from a Japanese TV show with a segment about prairie dogs as pets showed up on YouTube. Someone took ten seconds of a close-up of the prairie dog and matched it up with dramatic music. Then it became a YouTube sensation. There were over 2,000 spin-offs and mash-ups of the dramatic prairie dog.
South Park summed it up best in their Canada on Strike episode when they thought the best way to raise money for Canada was to become a YouTube phenomenon. When they became a hit, they earned 10 million theorical dollars on YouTube. They went to the Department of Internet money to get paid. While waiting to get paid, they met up with all of the YouTube favorites, including the prairie dog waiting to cash in…