YouTube Live Streaming, Disney Jumping in on Hulu, and the End of Television As We Know It

Two big news stories this week speak volumes to the paradigm shift in viewing habits taking place in the world of digital communication.

First, Mashable reported last Wednesday that Barack Obama’s 100-days press conference would be streamed…live…on YouTube.  This was the first live streaming event ever on the site that changed the world as an archive of recorded video content. We spoke with a representative from YouTube this week and it appears clear this is a direction the media behemoth will be actively pursuing going forward.

Then came the news that Disney has fallen in line with Fox and NBC as a venture partner of the increasingly popular video destination Hulu (check the LA Times for the complete write-up).  In short:

Disney will offer full-length episodes of its most popular prime-time shows from its ABC network, including “Lost,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Desperate Housewives,” as well as such cable offerings as ABC Family’s “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and Disney Channel’s “Wizards of Waverly Place.”

Disney, ABC, NBC, and FOX will now be competing online with the CBS-backed TV.com

So YouTube is going to be streaming live broadcasts, and all the major networks are going to have their shows available for viewing online.  We’re looking at an extremely interesting near-future for the television industry.  The lines between online and terrestrial have been blurring for years - it now seems like those lines are very close to disappearing altogether.

What does this mean for everyone involved?  It’s tough to answer that confidently, but I’d hedge my bets with:

• Networks - will have to concentrate much more heavily on the web.  Not just for the housing of content, but for marketing and promotions.  Short form, viral content will be the lynchpin in grabbing viewers’ attention and bringing them directly to the Network site to see the real thing…without even having to turn on a television.
• Online video destinations - YouTube, Hulu, TV.com, and online networks that don’t even exist yet will become the new media superpowers.
• Viewers - will reap the benefits of ease, accessibility, and more than anything…choice.  Web viewing takes Tivo to the next level, and allows us to filter out nonsense we know we shouldn’t have spent time watching to begin with.  Quality will become a much bigger factor in the success of a show, and we will all be much better off for it.
• Cable providers - will hopefully take notice and stop trying to hold against me the fact that I only want to sign up for Cable Internet access.  Time Warner currently prevents me from utilizing their fastest web connection unless I order television as well.  It was foolish to begin with, and it seems as though they may finally see that writing on the wall.

Something to keep an eye on - will certainly be interesting to see how it all unfolds.