Bad News For The Business Of Online And Offline Video

According to a new poll by Harris Interactive, “73 percent of frequent YouTube users say they would visit the site less if it started including short video ads before every clip.” And…

Of the frequent YouTube users, 66 percent claim they are sacrificing other activities when on YouTube, including other websites (36 percent), time spent watching TV (32 percent), email and other online social networking (20 percent), work/homework (19 percent), playing video games (15 percent), watching DVDs (12 percent) and even spending time with friends and family in person (12 percent). (Emphasis mine)

Yeah, polls are polls, but man, if that’s even directionally correct, it doesn’t bode well for traditional TV or Google/YouTube. Perhaps YouTube’s rev share plan is designed to “bribe” that 73 percent into tolerating pre-roll ads — just the idea that they COULD get to share in the spoils, even if they never actually do. It’s just more evidence that the “user in control” is a double-edged sword — users drove the success of YouTube’s platform, but they see it now as THEIR platform, no Google’s to monetize.

As for traditional TV, if they promote a lot of clips on YouTube, maybe they can break even on time spent with their shows. Bottom line is it’s a zero sum game — there are only 24 hours in the day. Every winner creates a loser.