• by Jim Kaskade , September 16, 2008

In 1981 there were 200 domains on the Internet. In 1992 that number broke the 1 million mark. Now there are over 100 million domains registered each year, according to ISC. This has led to the increased number of Web sites launching (100's of thousands daily). Website owners are in a much better position today with the availability of Web development tools. What do you do after the purchase of your Web site domain name?

Network Solutions was effectively the first of its kind with a grant from the NSF back in 1993 to build a self-service Internet domain registry. Over the past 15 years it has become increasingly easy to get a Web site up and running after that initial domain purchase. First-time Web site owners now get a bundle of services including sute hosting, email, e-commerce, WYSIWYG Web site builders, and much more - all from their domain registry providers.

It is by looking at the domain registry providers that we can see what the new standard will become. Noted Steven Olson, senior vice president of business development at Network Solutions, "We think there are a lot of opportunities with regards to using video in any small business hosting offering." That's right, you got it -- video.

The complexities of Web site development and management are already overwhelming. Ever try to negotiate an annual video delivery commit with Akamai, Limelight, or others? Understand how to license and integrate the right video codec, build your robust transcoding platform, chose the datacenter, acquire the rack space, buy the right server, storage, and networking gear? The sheer technical difficulties of building your own scalable media platform have kept young sites out of the video mix until relatively recently.

Now enters the integrated video offerings from service providers like GoDaddy and Demand Media (the top two domain registries in the world), which are making video another element of their website solutions, with pricing to match budgets of new ventures, and individuals. A few examples:

In less than 5 minutes you can build your own personalized Internet "channel," with video and social networking capabilities, media syndication, advertising, all hosted by Demand Media's ChannelMe.tv.

GoDaddy has added video to its offerings, allowing users to upload and publish 30MB videos using the product WebSite Tonight.

For small and mid-market businesses (as well as individuals), domain registries will be a major force in taking video mainstream. When implementation is as simple as the click of a button, there's not much to stand in the way of the proliferation of video among sites of all sizes from day 1.

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Video Shootout: Nominations Open
At OMMA Video in Los Angeles (Oct. 29) we will end the day with a "Startup Shootout" that lets four early-stage video ad and technology companies make their pitch to our skeptical audience of media buyers, planners, marketers, and rival tech companies. But which startups and their "revolutionary," "game-changing," "paradigm-shifting" ideas and models for video advertising would you like to hear? We are asking for nominations from our readers, and we will offer invitations to the four companies that buyers, planners and marketers are most curious to see make their case and respond to audience questions. Send your suggestions to conference Chair Steve Smith at popeyesmith@comcast.net.