Notably absent from the 2008 VON conference were the over the top and new video alternatives that were prevalent at the 2007 version. Kulabyte, with their real-time HD encoding over the web, was a highlight on the showfloor. Unfortunately, I only attended a portion of one panel, but there were some very insightful quotes from Fred Seibert of Next New Networks (and Executive Producer of The Fairly Odd Parents, former President of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. and first employee of MTV).  The 15 minutes I spent at this one panel was as valuable as a day at other conferences. 

Seibert suggested it would take awhile before Internet video advertising catches up with other media. He likened the challenge that Internet video faces to that of the cable television in the early 1990s as it went against the established broadcast television industry. 

Seibert pointed out that the new money will come from selling different ads to different people; in other words, targeted advertising. He also suggested that the networks would have to create new content tailored specifically for the Internet medium. 

“Chaos is the enemy of advertising,” stated Seibert. This statement was made in the context of the Internet video and the perception that advertisers want to associate themselves with consistent and appropriate content. This has been a problem for some of the User Generated Content sites, as they try to monetize their billions of views. 

There is a converse to Seibert’s point. That is, many of UGC video producers do not want certain advertisers for their content. Just like the advertisers, these UGC video producers want control of their content and the associated advertisements. 

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