• by George Simpson , Featured Contributor, May 3, 2018

OK -- I don't need the NewFront to see the writing on the wall. I know if I don't launch my own streaming service, some other MediaPost columnist will slip in and grab a toehold in the market.

The emphasis this year is on live streaming, so for now I will leave the videos of opening Christmas presents, my sons playing Little League football back in the day, and my daughter's high school choral performances on the shelf.

Unlike a bunch of crazy YouTubers, I won't try to do something on a skateboard that will inevitably result in a visit to an orthopedic surgeon, or share my bedtime beauty regimen (take statin, brush teeth) just because such videos might go viral. No, I subscribe to “authenticity" — which, I am told, "resonates, especially with today's younger audiences."

I toyed with the idea of strapping a GoPro camera to my handlebars so I could live-stream my bike rides up the coast of Connecticut. But then I realized that would only show my wife that I occasionally take shortcuts up U.S. 1 — which is kind of like biking on the 405 when there are no traffic jams. Besides, what drivers on U.S. 1 shout at me might be a little too "authentic" for most audiences. I tend to assert my right to be on the road with the traditional "one-minute" hand gesture.

Since mile after mile of city streets broken by a glimpse of the occasional beach might only interest someone in the seventh hour of some Orange Sunshine or Windowpane trip, I thought I might vary things by interviewing interesting folks with whom I interact on the journey (of course excluding those who return my friendly one-minute signal). But it’s really hard to get those guys at the gas station convenience stores where I hydrate to come out from behind the Plexiglas cages so I can ask them how long they have been in the States. Oddly, many don't want their pictures taken, either.

Since I don't take a ride up the coast more than once or twice a summer, I’m afraid I might not have enough inventory to meet advertiser demand. So I’m experimenting with setting my phone on video while I do yardwork.

Nothing can be more “authentic,” since that's how I spend nearly every weekend. Certainly watching me brush past emerging flowering plants to focus on weeds can be educational for the gardening market in general.

As can the expletives I utter when I find I have just struck my hand into a hive of bees determined to protect the queen and her nest. But I can just hear the animal right groups now howling when they see my response is to spray-can-bomb the nest until nothing else takes flight. Sorry, just a tip of the evolutionary hat to survival of the strongest.

Since I watch a lot of TV, go to a lot of movies and read a fair number of books, I thought perhaps audiences might be interested in my reviews. But then I remembered that with a Kindle you never see the title of the book once you start reading it. So it would be embarrassing for me to explain how I just read this fascinating account of Soviet troops during World War II, but can't remember the name of the book or the author.

Similarly, I have gone to the multiplex more than once and had to look at the posters to remember which movie I came to see. "Uh, the next one starting" doesn't seem to resonate with ticket-takers.

My final thought was to turn on the camera mounted on the top of my PC screen for those occasional Skype calls, but then what you would have seen is exactly what you are reading (minus the trips to the bedroom).

Thinking $9.99 a month.