It’s not exactly news that “home grown” and “DIY” video has grown dramatically in its portion of our entertainment consumption. It’s a big reason why many feel comfortable pulling the cable tv plug, and moving to a streaming model for entertainment.
It’s also a reason why entertainment and education are blending together as being available from the same sources using the same production and distribution MO.
For example, YouTube is chock full of tutorials on everything we ever wanted to know how to do. Some of that is simply old fashioned learning. Some of it incorporates more elements we call entertainment. For some it’s hard to meaningfully distinguish between the two.
What’s driving this change? The ubiquity of affordable video production, coupled with affordable distribution to millions, or billions, often via smart or mobile technology. This story from the Washington Post outlines some of the ways that’s being done “as of right now”.
[gview file=”https://publicservicesalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/How-video-conquered-the-Web-The-Washington-Post.pdf”]Tastemade has become a veritable video factory: 7.1 billion views of 3,739 videos and counting, with no signs of slowing down. In December, Tastemade pledged to publish three original videos a day, every day. This spring, the company aimed even higher, saying it would produce more than 100 cooking shows, recipe guides and travelogues every month exclusively for Facebook’s live-video streaming service.
Key to Tastemade’s success are its “tastemakers,” the 1,000 or so global freelancers who contribute recorded shorts or recipes. None are traditional celebrities, although their followings can be robust, and Tastemade invests heavily in winning their allegiance.
One of Tastemade’s three dozen online job openings seeks an “unflappable” Influencer Acquisition Representative — known internally as a “treasure hunter” — working to recruit from within YouTube’s amateur army of popular chefs and quasi-stars.