• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, May 25, 2006

Forget the Hollywood heavyweights. Now you, me, and everyone we know are entertainment moguls.

Not so long ago, Google ad chief Tim Armstrong was asked to identify his status on the food chain. Specifically, would he define himself as a media mogul? "No," he answered quickly, because these days the kingpins are "the users of the world."

While it was clearly a politically correct response, it speaks volumes about the bottom-up movement sweeping content production across all media platforms, and most notably the Internet. With a handheld digital video camera and basic knowledge of video uploading, an average Joe or Jane can shoot a film and give it worldwide distribution without ever leaving the house. No Screen Actors Guild or American Federation of Television and Radio Artists talent, or pitch meetings with Hollywood gatekeepers, required.

While the blogging boom ushered in an era of text-based user-generated content, and podcasting added sound to the mix, video is the newest area to flourish. Consider that the video-sharing site YouTube, a hub for the Spielbergs-next-door, racked up 12.5 million unique users in April, and it's barely a year old.

Are consumers the new Hollywood producers? And if so, should the glittery entertainment mecca of the world feel threatened? Last year, as YouTube was building blockbuster traffic levels from scratch, the phrase "user-generated content" entered the vernacular. Its roots may be on Main Street, but it's now common parlance on Wall Street.

"If you really look at the Web today, it really is all about user-generated content," Fox Interactive Media chief Ross Levinsohn told a room packed with investors recently. While his comments may be self-serving -- Levinsohn's News Corp. unit oversees the 800-pound gorilla in the genre, MySpace, which has some 77 million users creating content -- they reveal how seriously big media is taking the trend.

Apart from Wall Street, the phenomenon is having an impact on Madison Avenue, Hollywood, Snellville, Ga., and all points between and beyond. "It's wild," says Todd Weiden, an amateur auteur who made a video for about $10 and posted it on multiple sites. "It makes it so much easier for filmmakers to showcase their work. It's just phenomenal."

How big will it get? Will it render talent agents obsolete? And what does Snellville, Ga. have to do with it?

Junkie Robots?

UGC. CGM. CCM It's got more acronyms than the federal government. User-generated content (UGC) has picked up steam recently, though consumer-generated media (CGM) and consumer-created media (CCM) also apply. User-generated content may emerge as the establishment label: The New York Times has used the term, as has the BBC.

But the label has provoked a backlash in the blogosphere. Blogger Derek Powazek created a stir when he called for an end to the "despicable, terrible term" and deconstructed it as follows:

"User: One who uses. Like, you know, a junkie. Generated: Like a generator, engine. Like, you know, a robot. Content: Something that fills a box. Like, you know, packing peanuts." So what's user-generated content, by Powazek's definition? "Junkies robotically filling boxes with packing peanuts. Lovely."

As an alternative, Powazek suggests the term "Authentic Media." "Authentic media comes to you unfiltered," he notes.

That prompted public relations advisor Shel Holtz to blog back, "All Powazek has done is add another term to the list that people have announced they hate."

Exploding Shorts

No one yet knows how big the trend will get, but for the moment, user-generated video is exploding. New sites allowing users to post their creations have rocketed onto the scene: Google Video notched more than 7 million unique users in April, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. And sites have seen massive traffic surges: Both eBaum'sWorld and iFilm saw unique users increase by more than 30 percent in April 2006 versus a year ago. Up-and-comers in this area include Revver and Grouper, and even MySpace recently added a viral video section.

In January, vh1 launched a weekly show called "Web Junk 20," a countdown of the strange and humorous videos being spread virally around the Internet. The show airs on vh1 and vh1's broadband network Vspot. MTV's iFilm researches the clips and makes each available for viewing at iFilm.com.

In a similar development, Simon Andreae, a British reality show producer, is developing a reality TV series for the USA Network based on the eBaum'sWorld Web site. It's a compilation of user-generated viral media including videos, stand-up comedy, prank calls, instant messaging pranks, and other arcana.

Recently, user-generated content also found its way into network upfront presentations. "We know that our audiences are into user-generated content, social networking, and gaming," Michael Wolf, MTV Networks President-coo, told media buyers. "So we've made strategic acquisitions like iFilm, GameTrailers, NeoPets, and XFire." Think of it as old media's land grab. The N, MTV Networks' digital nighttime network for teens, plans to launch a broadband media player called The Click. Slated for a summer debut, The Click will include "video mashups," which allow users to create videos by mixing their own digital content with clips from the network's shows. The venture will be accessible via The N's Web site.

Media companies old and new are rushing to make something of user-generated content. "[UGC] is probably in its growth phase, somewhere between being new and being mature," says Randy Haykin, a venture capitalist who led a conference on the topic earlier this year. "There are still many areas to be explored, [in terms] of additional content that users could come up with and post."

Still, even those bullish on user-generated content don't expect that it will supplant traditional outlets in the media consumption pecking order. Instead, they feel it will coexist alongside it. "UGC will exist parallel to Hollywood content," notes Mike Bloxham, director of testing and assessment at Ball State University's Center for Media Design.

There are two principal reasons why user-generated content likely won't usurp traditional media: lack of quality and lack of revenue generation.

While there are some very creative and funny videos on sites like YouTube, the production values lag behind Hollywood, and the bulk of the work consists of clips that last only a few minutes, if that. There will still be a demand for compelling narratives that run a half-hour or longer, according to media and entertainment industry pundits.

"It will be very hard for consumers to create half-hour or hour-long series," notes Jim Nail, chief marketing and strategy officer for Cymfony, which conducts media research and analysis of consumer-generated content.

It's also unclear how a site like YouTube will monetize its traffic. Venture capitalist Haykin believes UGC sites will thrive as promotional outlets to drive the purchase of traditional media, but not necessarily as revenue generators by themselves. MySpace is making an aggressive push to convince Madison Avenue that it's a viable advertising vehicle, but advertisers haven't rushed headlong to associate themselves with it.

"It definitely is not a fad; it's an empowering opportunity for Internet users," remarks Mike Donahue, executive vice president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies. "But I just don't know where advertising's going to fit. And at this point, I don't think advertising is losing out, because people are spending time creating their own content."

Perfect Storm

What's driving the UGC phenomenon? Put simply, two things: technology and distribution.

Video production is more accessible than ever. Digital camcorders and cell phones equipped with video cameras are affordable and widely available. These tools of the trade can be found on eBay for less than $50. And once filming is completed, individuals can easily distribute their work to a mass audience via the broadband Web.

"They don't have to wait for Les Moonves to approve it," says Michael Yudin, president of production company my Entertainment and managing director of Carat's branded entertainment arm. "In other words, if I want to put something on the air, I don't have to sell it to somebody. My idea is on and then it goes from there."

"There was a perfect storm," comments Steve Rubel, a senior vice president at Edelman Public Relations, who tracks UGC on his blog Micro Persuasion. "The technology became very cheap and easy to use. Then you had distribution."

And Rubel says there was another major factor: As scandals in the Catholic church and corporate America proliferated and people lost faith in institutions, including big media, they turned to one another. "There was a fundamental shift in how people think, and it was driven by a distrust of authority," Rubel observes.

Of course, as the broadcast TV business has found, distribution does not equal consumption. It helps when a video catches on with people who are eager to e-mail it to their friends and family. JibJab's memorable animated short parodying the 2004 presidential campaign was deemed a viral success and illustrates how user-generated content can spread. The video remains available, archived on JibJab.com, where viewers can access it -- but not before watching an ad, recently for Neutrogena.

Ask an Agent

Executives at major media companies scour the Internet just like everyone else, and when they come across a hilarious short, they pass it along to friends and colleagues. "People who are professionals have been impressed by the work," says Stephen Andrade, NBC's vice president of interactive development. "There's funny stuff out there."

Yudin, whose production company currently has two shows airing on the Spike network, says user-generated content offers his company a whole new area to mine for ideas. Concepts floating around the Web come up every week in development meetings, he says. "We consider that content now the same way we consider a writer coming in to us," he notes.

The rise of UGC doesn't mean talent agencies and brokers will go out of business. As they have with every other emerging medium from vaudeville to Web animation, talent agents like the William Morris Agency aggressively seek out talent and promise those individuals access to opportunities (read: dollars) they otherwise can't find on their own.

"[Talent agencies] may even become more important," says Yudin, "because obviously the people who are creating this content don't have a clue what Hollywood's about." Adds NBC's Andrade: "The good agents are probably on the Internet trying to sign people up."

On the flip side, if consumers hunger for more user-generated content, agents will promise media companies they can deliver the best and brightest from the amateur ranks.

One example might be the artist behind the comedic AskANinja.com. "I guarantee this guy is going to have a movie made about him or get a TV show," projects Rubel. "He's going to get a huge gig."

The movie business appears unthreatened by user-generated content. In fact, marketers are spinning it to their advantage. Instead of cutting into the box-office haul, it may actually help. Take New Line's summer release "Snakes on a Plane." Though the film stars Samuel L. Jackson, the studio has eschewed an early advertising campaign. Instead it has benefited from a publicity explosion as UGC has spread virally throughout the Web, making the film a cult hit months before its release.

"'Snakes on a Plane' has the kind of pre-release buzz that most studios would pay millions for," according to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association's blog. "The movie doesn't even hit theaters until Aug. 18 and yet it has already spawned a passionate grass-roots community of fans. Not only are they filling up blogs and forums with talk of the movie, but some fans are creating their own trailers, videos, songs, fan fiction, and comic strips."

Brand Democracy

Marketers are looking to UGC to figure out how to make it work to their advantage. Converse, for example, encouraged consumers to make 24-second mini-films inspired by the brand, which are available at ConverseGallery.com. Some of the films have even been used as actual on-air ads for Converse.

"We don't want commercials," instructions read on the submission site. "We want films. Your art...Leave the catchy slogans to the ad guys." The promotion was hatched by Converse's agency Butler Shine Stern & Partners.

General Motors' Chevy Tahoe brand invited consumers to create their own commercials for the SUV, hoping the ads would spark word-of-mouth buzz. But several ads critical of the brand found their way onto the Internet. John Butler, co-creative director at Butler Shine Stern & Partners, says the Chevy Tahoe incident shows that UGC isn't right for every marketer.

"It has to be intrinsic to the value system of the brand," he says, adding, "If you just ask people, 'What do you think?' and they don't like you, it's dangerous territory. The reason we did it for Converse is originality. It has been a key part of that brand for 90-some years. A good dose of self-awareness is probably a good thing to have before you start messing with brand democracy."

Nonetheless, advertisers continue to experiment with UGC. "With marketing becoming more about personalized dialogue rather than a mass-oriented monologue, a lot of marketing efforts will move toward the more personal relationships found in user-generated content," says John Blossom, an analyst at Shore Communications. "We can expect this to be a fairly drawn-out transition towards user-centric marketing."

The transition has had its bumps for major-league producers. Consider "Saturday Night Live's" spoof rap video "Lazy Sunday." When NBC asked YouTube to remove the video from its site, since it was NBC property, amateur filmmakers rushed in with their own spoofs of the spoof.  "'Lazy Muncie' [as in Indiana] was one, as was 'Lazy Snellville' [as in Georgia]," says Shawn Gold, senior vice president of marketing, MySpace. "A hundred user-generated 'Lazy Sunday' parodies replaced it on YouTube."

The driving force behind "Lazy Snellville" was 24-year-old Todd Weiden, writer, producer, director, editor, and co-star, along with Mark Roper, a classmate from The University of Georgia. Weiden says the entire production from conception to distribution took a little over a week and cost about as much as a movie ticket. The video was posted on YouTube, iFilm, and Weiden's MySpace page simultaneously.

The video received considerable uptake, with nearly 4,000 views a week on YouTube. "It's crazy how word-of-mouth can buzz around the country so quickly," says Weiden, who works in a bank by day and dabbles in video production as a hobby. The video also appeared during a Snellville City Council meeting when the mayor played it as an example of good pr for the city. Weiden says he hasn't been contacted yet by agents or Hollywood types as a result of the video, but hopes to make a few bucks through the sale of related T-shirts and bumper stickers.

For Chris Cox, one of the stars of "Lazy Muncie," it's a different story. Cox, who lives in Southern California and already had a career in the entertainment industry, says he's received two production deals -- one with Endemol and the other with E! -- as a direct result of the video.

Cox says his video cost $2,500 to make -- nearly half for travel for himself and co-star Kirby Heyborne to return to Muncie. He turned it around in five days. "If you look at 'Lazy Muncie' like a stock, I guess I'd say I'm very pleased with the return on my $2,500," he notes. Cox has already met with vh1, NBC, Fox, and Paramount.