Pier Screening Offers Glimpse At Future Of VOD

As a video enthusiast, I love checking out new companies that are trying to get a piece of the digital landscape. It’s easy to pay attention to the big guns in the industry, but for every AppleTV, there are 100 smaller companies playing just as an important role in redefining the future of television. At this stage of the game, it would be impossible to predict how things will end up shaking out, but at the end of the day, it’s the consumers who will win the most.

Last night, I had an opportunity to attend NewTeeVee’s 2nd Pier Screening. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the event, but was really impressed with how things turned out. They hosted the event at pier 38 in San Francisco. This is a great venue. If felt like I was at a Drive-In theater that was built right over the water. There was something unique about being able to mingle at a party while watching the sun go down. Later on it got cooler, but they had heat lamps that people could cuddle under Once it got dark, they started the program and I was able to hear some interesting insights into the video world, from some of the people who’ve been involved in digital video from very early on.

During the event, NewTeeVee screened a number of parody videos and gave out awards for the most interesting ones. The winner was the hilarious “Real World Ikea“. It’s a story of what happens when five strangers stop acting polite and start getting real. They really probably should have told Ikea, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as funny if they knew that they were moving in.

During the event I was able to talk to a lot of the different players that are helping to bring video to the net. There were content owners there, technology people, bloggers, even private capital players doing a little bit of reconnaissance The whole event turned out really well.

I was especially impressed with MetaCafe’s sponsorship of the event. It might just be the free beer talking here, but I thought Real World Ikea’s top prize was better than some cheesy gift certificate. MetaCafe is going to give them premium positioning on their home page for a whole week. For a content owner, this type of exposure can really open up a lot of doors. Alexaholic currently ranks MetaCafe as the 150th site(*) on the internet. On top of the exposure, MetaCafe pays content owners to put your videos on their site. This means that the more views Real World Ikea can get, the more money the producers will make.

With a week of premium placement, the Ikea video should end up making Sean Sahlin enough that he can put a deposit on his own place for his Real World experiments. He could even try and get Ikea to donate some furniture for all the positive exposure that they’ve gotten from the video.

Even though a lot of people were there to network and meet the people behind internet video, what I enjoyed most about the party was the carefree atmosphere that it had. It was really a celebration of the explosion in internet video. As this industry continues to unfold, there will be people who make it and people who don’t, but no matter what ends up happening, it’s going to be a huge win for consumers. NewTeeVee is hosting another party in July, if you live in the Bay Area, I recommend attending. Not only can you learn a lot about this industry, but you can have a great time, while you’re doing it.

Davis Freeberg is a technology enthusiast living in the Bay Area. He enjoys writing about movies, music, and the impact that digital technology has on traditional media. Read more of his musings at www.davisfreeberg.com.