Video, Schmideo -- D1SPLAY RULEZZZ!!!

There's no doubt about it -- video might be on the cutting edge, along with other 2.0 buzzworthy strategies like RSS, podcasts, blogs and the like -- but after house list email marketing and the low-hanging fruit of search, display advertising is still planned to be larger than any of the others, even in 2007. This in eMarketer:



And even though rich media spending is growing incredibly and display spending is topping out, it won't be until 2011 when rich outstrips display:



People just like to stick with what's familiar and easier to manage. When rich becomes as easy to manage as display, that's when the tipping point will really occur.

What Frustrates Users About Web Video

Wave of the future though it might be, the online video revolution might experience blips on its way to content nirvana, as detailed in this eMarketer article.

Of course, commercials within videos is the #1 annoyance, since despite the well-established commercial nature of online, people still expect content for free, without commercial sponsorship (or interruption, depending on your POV). But check out what trails closely behind:



I find it very interesting that #2, #3 and #4 are all related to the ability to find decent stuff to watch, on a consistent and predictable basis. People are conditioned by their TV-watching training to be able to find exactly what they're looking for in the same fashion, all the time. Why wouldn't they want that in online video as well?

I think people will get used to the advertising aspect over time and its prominence on this list will diminish as online video matures as a platform. But the desire of users to consistently and reliably find good quality videos to watch creates a business opportunity for someone with good coding and marketing skills, I believe.

Interpublic's Prediction: Five Big Trends

The Interpublic group of agencies this morning announced they believe the five biggest trends of 2007 will be, on a broad scale, and digital media stands at the center of these predictions.

The five are:

1. Physical and digital worlds collide
2. Consumers build digital homes
3. Social software drives communications
4. Marketers embrace digital nets
5. Next-generation content makes it big.

If you have 20 minutes to kill, the video, entitled POV: Emerging Media Predictions for 2007" and delivered by Greg Johnson, Executive Director of Interpublic's Emerging Media Lab, can be seen here. Unfortunately there's no written transcript available just yet.

To me, the most interesting prediction is #2. I have begun to wonder whether the digital home will be the centerpiece of what becomes Web 3.0. Web 1.0 consisted of web content pushed by publishers to consumers, much as old media had been. Web 2.0 is the social and community-based interactive web. I think that Web 3.0 might be life-management web, in which you can use the Internet to communicate with your house, your car, your electronics, etc., to manage tasks related to these items. I also think it will be used to greater effect to manage your general scheduling, both day-to-day (appointments and tasks) and throughout your life (doctor appointments, oil changes, etc.), to a degree that is being underutilized today.