Commentary

With Self-Publishing And Self-Televising, Who Will Need Big Media in The Future?

by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, October 26, 2012

The number of self published books is up almost 300%. Could user-generated television networks be far behind?

User-generated video is an obvious video forerunner, which continues to grow. The big issue continues to be finding the right monetization, as not all big-time advertisers are interested. Growing premium digital video, as well as the continued structure of the $70 billion traditional TV business, continue to be a better opportunity .

User-generated video is still important to the modern video consumer. But this is only a piece of the package. Active creation of entertainment and content takes work. Not everyone has time for this.

For a while, the coming of premium digital video -- TV shows and the like online -- seemed to take over the user-generated video space (at least in terms of headlines), especially when it came to traditional TV marketers looking to find safe and big-impact consumer-luring content. And then there are rumors that Hulu -- perhaps the biggest premium video site -- is losing customers.

That isn't all. According to one estimate, there are some 109 million user-generated content creators this year. But that is only up from 102 million users last year and 96 million in 2010. Significant growth in this sector might be questionable.

Is the digital video world changing again?

Maybe the print (or e-book) world can give us a clue. Around 150,000 of print books were self-published in 2011 -- 43% of all print books published in the U.S.

Comparing video or TV networks to books doesn't really make sense by itself. There are a bunch of other factors to consider. Yet in looking at media trends-- growing usage of ever-new personal devices -- consumers will come up with other ways to define their own media businesses and platforms.

All this is something to consider, with future media creation and monetization still firmly in the hands of the big players.

2 comments about "With Self-Publishing And Self-Televising, Who Will Need Big Media in The Future? ".

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Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, October 26, 2012 at 3:03 p.m.
You should ask my 14-year-old sons, who watch much more YouTube than ordinary TV. And then ask yourself what happens to any habit that skips a generation.
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Doug Garnett from Protonik, LLC, October 26, 2012 at 3:27 p.m.

As a self-publisher with my book on Amazon, the reality is that there may be 150,000 self-published books. But it's a very, very tiny number that get seen. The hockey stick in the publishing industry is amazing - the difference between the #1 book and the #15 book. Or between the #15 and the #100. This trend isn't going to challenge big media. It will merely clutter our lives.