Acknowledging that "there's a lot of sizzle around UGC," Geoffrey Coco nonetheless said "it feels to me that the professional content is where the real growth is going to be." Pointing to its simple momentum, Coco noted "there are whole cities--New York and Los Angeles--based on the economy of video production, television production, and movie production, and they're going to ramp up over the next decade."

But it gets more complicated: The panelists also agreed that UGC offers a substantial amount of viable inventory, especially for companies that are willing to experiment. Citing the example of Toyota's recent forays into UGC or UGC-inspired content, Matt Boyd, senior vice president for ValueClick Media, observed that "some marketers have given up some control"--indicating that they're still hedging their bets.

The problem will ultimately be solved, said Joseph Dumont, partner and managing director of Questus, by the slow osmosis of professional standards into the work of more ambitious UGC producers. "The professionalism is going to leach into the genre, according to Dumont, who observed that UGC auteurs also want to "come up with stuff that's engaging and relevant to the user." In combination with digital production equipment, moderator Mark Naples of WIT Strategy suggested this will give rise to an entirely new class of "semi-professional" content producers.

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