Create Your Own Online Marketing “TV” Station
Copyright 2005 Jim Edwards
It will happen! TV and the Internet will eventually merge
into one giant multi-media “melting pot” that includes
everything from live footage and old reruns to garage
videos posted by your next door neighbor’s kid. Just like
cable TV fractured network TV, the Internet will enable
everyone with a voice, a video camera, and something to say
to fracture cable TV even more. But the real TV revolution
on the Internet will only happen when marketers stop trying
to copy TV, with its commercials and outdated modes of
revenue generation, and start copying the “pay-per-view”
and “infomercial” models.
One company at TVexe.com has started offering television
broadcasts from around the world via Internet streaming.
The free software (with optional one-time $25 upgrade)
allows you to stream TV feeds from around the world to your
desktop through a broadband connection. The picture rates a
“C+” on the quality side, but, just like Internet telephony
6 years ago, you can expect the quality to improve quickly.
If they can keep costs down long enough to figure out how
to make money, this company will likely succeed because
they provide programming that’s virtually impossible to get
anywhere else.
But, for the rest of us “mortals” who want to stream our
images, video, and audio across the Web, trying to provide
“live TV” broadcasts spells the kiss of death in both time
and money. For the vast majority of companies doing
business online, it will prove virtually impossible to get
a meaningful number of people to show up to a website at
“8:00 P.M. Eastern” for tonight’s live “TV” broadcast. But
what will work online is adopting the “pay-per-view” model
found in hotels where you watch the program you want, when
you want. Offering website visitors video content they can
download, start, stop, play, pause, and view on their own
schedule holds the key to online “TV” success. I hate to
make this overly simplistic, but bottom line: an effective
online “TV Station” only needs a basic website and the
ability to allow “viewers” to download or stream video
files.
All of us get two basic options when it comes to creating
content to deliver from our “TV Station” website. First,
you can do “screen capture” video, which combines video of
the action taking place on your computer screen with your
voice as narration, to create excellent instructional
content. You then allow viewers to download this “TV
program” from your website either free or for a free. Two
programs enable you to do this quickly and easily: “Screen
Cam Generator” from http://www.ScreenCamSoftware.com and
“Camtasia” from http://www.TechSmith.com.
Your second option involves using full-motion video, either
from a web-cam or a camcorder. The content most easily gets
published online either as a WMV file (Windows Media Video)
played with Microsoft’s Media Player, or FLV file (Flash
Video) played with the free Flash “plug-in” found in most
Web browsers.
Regardless of which option you choose, remember: unlike
traditional TV, successful models of “TV-style” content
online will empower the viewer to watch when and where they
choose.
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist, author,
speaker and information publisher. Jim Edwards publishes a
NO BS multi-media newsletter that teaches "real" people how
to make "real" money online at
http://www.IGottaTellYou.com
<< ------------------End of Article --------------- >>
Find More Related Articles
See Also:
All Articles
About Computers & Web Pages
Index of All
Free Reprint Articles
