Keep Your Eyes Peeled for the Future of Television

LONDON, June 11, 2009 — -- The video revolution is definitely being televised.

"Home," a documentary film about the environment produced by Luc Besson, the acclaimed director of "La Femme Nikita" and the Bruce Willis hit "The Fifth Element," was released in theaters on Earth Day this year. And in a first, it was also broadcast live on YouTube the same day.

Was it a pirated copy? Not in this case. Besson arranged with YouTube to offer the film free to Web users.

The documentary, about the future of Earths fragile environment, was bank-rolled in part by the French company PPR, the maker of Gucci handbags and Puma shoes. It was not intended as a commercial moneymaker like the movies that made Besson rich and famous.

But Besson's decision to use the Internet to help bring in the widest possible audience for the project is another sign of the revolution in online video that is radically changing the way we watch video content.

Everyone has seen the proliferation of online versions of TV programs such as "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "Good Morning America" on ABC and "Saturday Night Live" on NBC. However, industry watchers say the future of video distribution lies elsewhere: in interactivity.

"The Internet is not the same as television" explains Luca Ascani, president of Goadv, an online media company, in an interview with ABC News. "It has an interactive nature and has features that traditional television cannot supply."

To develop this potential, content providers are producing more high-quality online content to replace the amateur-looking material that circulated on the Web during the early years of the Internet, and they are developing ways to make it more interactive.

"What do you want to do as Web user? You see a video and you want to share it with your friends, to give your opinion and leave your comments," Ascani said. "These are the needs online content providers are looking to satisfy."

Babelgum, an online site designed to showcase made-for-Internet video content that is owned by Italian telecom magnate Silvio Scaglia, is at the forefront of the Internet video revolution. Babelgum CEO Valerio Zingarelli told ABC News, "We believe there is a high international demand for intelligent entertainment tailored for a new audience which surfs on the Web and watches videos on mobile phones. This form of entertainment is designed to tap into the so far unfulfilled potential of the Internet."

British director Sally Potter directed "Rage," starring Jude Law, Judi Dench and Steve Buscemi, a which is planned for release on Babelgum. In an interview with ABC, she explained how she sees her new target.

"For a filmmaker used to an anonymous audience in cinemas in cities we may never visit, the Internet is a curiously intimate alternative way of showing our work. We know that our films are reaching people via a one-to-one relationship with their laptops, a place that has become accepted as a site of intense and prolonged private activity," she said. "Interactive sites also allow us to meet the strangers we work for when they post messages on forums, or if we make ourselves accessible online."

Who Is Producing New Video Content?

YouTube is looking to change its image and promote more professional content. "Home" is not the first movie the site has broadcast, last year it debuted Wayne Wang's "Princess of Nebraska," shot on consumer video cameras on a shoestring budget.

Babelgum has set up two online contests to highlight Internet content: The Babelgum Online Film Festival headed by director Spike Lee and the Babelgum Music Video Awards, which director and musician Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") will judge.

High-quality content is what Babelgum is looking for, Zingarelli said. "What differentiates us from all the other players is this well-defined editorial approach? We scout, license or commission programming only in certain areas which are of interest for our public and based on precise selection criteria."

Internet video content is also growing on the mobile market due in part to technological improvements in the wireless transmission and playback of video. Babelgum Mobile, for example, "isn't simply a Web platform adapted for the mobile interface; it's a whole new application integrated with the world of social networks Zingarelli said. "It allows users to share videos with others; vote for their favorites and take part in competitions; send videos by e-mail and post them on Facebook so they can comment on them with their friends," explained Zingarelli.

The good news is that, for now, this content is going to be free for users, since advertisers will be paying for it. So everybody is going to be content. Consumers won't pay, video producers may earn money out of advertising revenues and the advertising companies will be able to target exactly the audience they want.

But problems might persist, said Ascani, of the online media company Goady. Advertising will only reward companies that can count on a lot of Web traffic. "This business will certainly work for YouTube that already has a massive number of users, but it could be dangerous for other companies focused on video content without the backup of an already wide audience."

For now, this new business is just beginning to take off so just relax and decide what you want to watch, and when you want to watch it.