Google and Hollywood in the 1920s

November 17, 2009

Short honk: In Google: The Digital Gutenberg I discuss the way in which those sharp pencil, strong handshake fellows Louis Burt Mayer and Samuel Goldwyn ran their businesses. If your knowledge of Hollywood lore is murky, think “control” and “vertical integration”. You can get a glimpse of the challenges rich media faces when you read “YouTube Unveils Tool to Connect News Organizations with Citizen Journalists”. I have scanned a number of write ups about this digital “train roundhouse” but none of them focuses on the point that struck me when I read Google’s patent documents and technical papers about the firm’s “matching” innovations. Think in terms of having an “individualized Google” generate your own programming line up. Not enough? Envision your wanting to hire a person to make your video. No problem because Google can connect a person looking for rich media talent with that buyer. Distribution? Google’s own system. Search? Already in place. Monetization? Two choices: you do it yourself or allow Google to pump ads into your space. Either way you get money. I could go on, but I think the folks obsessing about traditional publishing may want to cast their eyes at the future of rich media. Books are a pleasant diversion but another disruption is building momentum. Don’t think Google can be like Louis and Sam? Ask your local telco wizard about Google and telephony. Same strategy. Different theater, and the show will be playing on the computing devices of the children of today’s TV, studio, and cable executives. Just my opinion.

Stephen Arnold, November 17, 2009

Oyez, oyez, National Endowment for the Arts, I was not paid to point out that the Google is moving to disrupt and reshape another information sector.

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