As I get deeper into the changes impacting television and online video, their convergence, and the possibility of entirely new forms of video entertainment content, I'm thinking about content in the following categories:

  • Long-form professional video — i.e., produced originally to be broadcast on TV
  • Professional clips — news, sports highlights, scenes from programs
  • Short-form professional — i.e., Maker Studios, et al, producing videos shorter than 30 minutes, specifically for Internet distribution
  • Brand videos — i.e., content marketing done in video form, such as Home Depot's do-it-yourself instructional videos
  • Consumer-generated videos

Then there is the medium by which they are distributed:

  • Linear, i.e., at broadcast time
  • DVR, where the consumer takes control
  • VOD through the cable box
  • Online streaming, from either the cable/satellite provider, the programmer, or a streaming service like Hulu Plus

And, of course, there are the devices on which the content can be viewed:

  • Traditional TV
  • Computer/laptop
  • Tablet
  • Smartphone

These different dimensions increasingly intersect — as with Aereo, which takes a linear broadcast, uses a cloud DVR, then allows the subscribers to watch on any Internet device. My Comcast Xfinity subscription has VOD on the cable box, allows me to watch (a few) channels live through a browser, and there is a tablet app that accesses a different library of TV and movies. The fragmentation and complexity of the emerging video landscape is already wrecking the traditional program-centric, GRP-based approach to media planning, but audiences are still so small on many of these non-linear platforms that they are ignored. And these new platforms beg for new relationships between programmers/rights holders and distributors to enable more-flexible advertising models.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, I think, is understanding what these new categories of viewing will be, so we can understand their audience profiles and think about how they can be used tactically to achieve advertising goals.

As I develop this line of thinking, I'd like to hear from you — are these the right categories? Are there others I should include? Which of these do you think will become important new advertising opportunities, and what will advertising in them look like?