In 2008 the teenager Charlie McDonnell amassed thousands of fans with his “Charlieissocoollike” Video Blog on YouTube and was asked to appear on television with Whoopi Goldberg after blogging about “How to be English”. The teenager, from Bath, Somerset, began filming the blogs in his bedroom in April 2008 and had no idea that anyone outside of his friends and family would log on. But his tongue-in-cheek videos provoked a massive response and by August 2009 he had over 174,000 fans who subscribe to his regular blog updates. In October 2009 Charlie was a guest of Google UK presenting as part of their Day in a life series. One of the interesting insights Charlie made was about his [media] consumption trends as a “digital native”. He explained how he tended not to follow traditional media sources like the BBC but instead follows blogs of people he is interested in which in turn tend to present stories he will be interested in. This of course means that we have a generation that don’t always follow conventional media routes and therefore provide marketing audiences that present new opportunities for Cloud and Web 2.0 led companies willing to reach their audiences through new media routes.
In 2008 managers at CNN spoke about the future of television and how it is changing. Studios such as Fox, NBC Universal, and Warner Bros are establishing websites in order to gain a growing audience of online viewers. YouTube is mentioned in the article as being a champion of online viewing. The Google-owned site now features professionally produced videos from CBS, TNT and others. Even though the future of television does not seem too promising when looking at YouTube and its success, there are still many people who prefer to watch TV because of the comfort it offers instead of having to sit in front of a computer and search for shows or other information. YouTube should present an alarming sign to all TV media and in the same time should force them to come up with new solutions. YouTube is positioned for success and as long as it is managed properly it will continue to attract many viewers. YouTube needs to remain easily accessible in order to not be threatened by the rapidly evolving technology. YouTube needs to focus beyond PC screens and onto other video displays: mobile phones, handheld players, and most important, the living room television. A recent survey of 14-19 year olds showed that they would be willing to substitute up to a quarter of their current TV viewing with amateur videos if the clips were easily accessible on TV. Another threat is the fact that the popularity of YouTube far outstrips its revenue generation. Advertising of all kinds on video-sharing networks amounts to about $337 million a year worldwide, which is a small fraction of the $37.8 billion from the TV advertising business in the US alone. Basically, YouTube needs a revenue generating business model.
As Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt once insisted at a Paris launch event, “YouTube ultimately will be very profitable. The challenge is finding the right business models, which is why Google is experimenting with ways to present ads that are more localized and entertaining”. Other threats involve continental competition. For instance, in Germany, MyVideo is rapidly gaining market share. Dailymotion is the market leader in France and operates localized home pages in a number of countries in Europe and Asia. This site is more multilingual compared to YouTube and is gaining in popularity as users enjoy additional features not found on YouTube and greater community functions.
Cloud computing is not just about using technology within the Internet, it is also about embracing tools and techniques that live within the Cloud to enhance our business success. When it comes to marketing, understanding your younger audience like Charlieissocoollike clearly does, will go a long way into helping creating your media presence be it online or through more traditional routes.
