Could it be possible? Could consumers be learning that they can enjoy robust online video, simultaneously or soon after broadcast, in higher resolution, on legitimate licensed sites? It’s a better viewing experience than YouTube?

We’re all creatures of habit, and YouTube’s viewership numbers reflect that. The most recent month measured had 5 million videos viewed on YouTube. But remember, broadcasters’ sites and licensed sites such as Hulu aren’t necessarily trying to compete with YouTube on total numbers of views. They’ll offer fewer videos, but those videos will be more compelling in terms of content, better presented visually, and because they’re licensed they can have advertising.

Which brings me to Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton. As anyone not living in a cave knows, NBC’s Saturday Night Live did an opening number the other night with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton (a role the latter has played to some acclaim). Buzz quickly grew about the skit. I haven’t watched SNL with any regularity since the Not Ready for Primetime Players left, but when my wife suggested we find this new skit online I didn’t hesitate.

I started my search by going to NBC.com. There was the clip, right on the home page. (It’s still there as of this writing.) We had to watch a 15-second commercial (the amount of time it takes to TiVo through a batch of broadcast commercials) and then the video played. It was as simple as that.

It turns out I was not alone in heading to NBC over YouTube. Recent viewing data shows NBC a few hundred thousand views ahead of YouTube. If Google can attract eyeballs for sleeping cats sliding off pianos, while sites for licensed creative works attract those wishing to see high-production entertainment, that is a good deal for producers trying to monetize web content.

Oh, and we thought the video was hilarious, and that Tina Fey looks remarkably like Sarah Palin. Or perhaps I should say that Sarah Palin looks a lot like Tina Fey.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 11:31 am by Patrick Ross and is filed under advertising, creators, licensing, market forces. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.