In early 2011, I put some thoughts into writing about a concept I've realized in my young career, spending some years in the Israeli army and at Taboola. I called it the Economy of Good Enough. A few months later, I decided to write about it on Video Insider, where I also shared some points from a presentation I gave at MIT Sloan.

2011 was a breakout year for online video. It grew in both importance and prevalence largely because of the abundance of video content coming online from video streaming sites like Amazon, Hulu, Netflix and VEVO -- and the fact that the quality and quantity of content has dramatically improved in just a short time. Another factor: Cable channels like HBO and ESPN and providers like Comcast putting more shows online, enabling advertisers to both replicate and improve on their TV advertising efforts. Users, meanwhile, are making it clear they will sign up and pay to watch video not only online, …

The phrase "manifest destiny" spawned from a 19th-century belief that the United States had an obvious and definitive mission to expand its democracy and freedom across the continent. I think the same can be said of online video. It's no secret: online video advertising is exploding. Recent data from eMarketer estimated that in 2011, more than 158 million U.S. Internet users will be watching video content online each month, a number it expects to increase nearly 24 percent, to 195.5 million, by 2015.

One of the usual objections to content is the challenge of scaling everything: production, distribution and monetization. In today's article, we'll touch on distribution, or put another way: growing your audience, especially through content.

There are numerous options to help brands reach their video marketing goals, but unfortunately there is no simple way to understand the best option for a particular brand. Every option is going to present itself as the single solution that addresses every marketing need. But to borrow a line from Frank Zappa, "One size does not fit all." Each channel offering access to video inventory has its own distinct benefits, and marketers must understand how they can benefit from working with different types of partners.

With 2011 in the rearview mirror and a strong holiday shopping season propelling e-commerce to new heights, video commerce is poised to play a much stronger role in 2012 than ever before for brands that sell direct, as well as re-commerce merchants. Trends to watch out for this coming year include:

2011 was the year that YouTube clocked in over a trillion video views and committed to spending anywhere from $100 to $250 million to lock in exclusive premium and super-premium content. YouTube's content initiative was aimed at duplicating the cable strategy of offering programming along verticals. Broadly speaking, it also served to move away from the prosumer and user-generated content that made the site so popular. Will it work? Let's consider three potential outcomes of the company's content bet: