A Bright(cove) future for niche marketers online?

Recently, at Media Magazine’s Outfront Conference in NYC, Brightcove CEO and Founder, Jeremy Allaire took to the podium and dropped some insight bombs on the crowd in attendance. Now of course, I was sitting behind my desk when this happened, but I sure read a nice little article about it by Laurie Peterson from Media Post that had me wishing I was there. Of course, as the CEO of a company like Brightcove, which is leading the charge in empowering audiences, I should’ve expected nothing less…

According to the article, Allaire’s future is all about “blended distribution strategy” that includes a core branded content site, strategic syndication to affiliate sites, and viral distribution through widgets or players such as Brightcove’s that empower the consumer to distribute it for you. I love his dedication to the power of the web here, proposing this multi-tiered online promotion strategy which incorporates perhaps the greatest digital marketing goody out there right now – the widget! After all, if 2007 is supposed to be the year of the widget, so let’s get to using them. Those suckers can really drive traffic!

Still, I can’t just blindly praise everything the man says. Allaire also proposed a new model for broadband video consisting of a pre-roll “brought to you by” sponsorship units along with 10-second “midroll” ads that when clicked, pauses the video, and takes over the screen to bring the consumer into the ad. Apparently, this is something that Joost is already trying, and I wish them luck because this is one area where I’m still skeptical. More and more it seems we’re trying to migrate the 30 second spot (which I believe was declared dead about 24 months ago) into new platforms with new tricks. Myself, I’m more of a branded entertainment believer, at least for now. In any case, it will be interesting to see how video advertising online plays out over the next year and what alternatives come into play – or if consumers will just accept it, shut me up, and be happy they’re now getting all their video on demand. It could go either way…

While I wanted to be mildly contradictory, I couldn’t disagree with his final conclusion that media buying in in our new world will eventually lead to format agnostic platforms and marketplaces. That’s right where my head is at, and as for my own insight bomb, I’d have to say that once technology and media reach this stage, we’ll truly enter a renaissance for content creators (and marketers by consequence). With content available seamlessly across platforms, the lines between professional and amateur content creators will cease to exist as the giant hurdle of distribution that now trips up many of the little guys will be removed. Once this happens, we will truly enter the wild west as all content – no matter how niche – will have an equal opportunity to find an audience and thrive.

For those of us marketing and creating niche brands, even with some mild skepticism from yours truly, Allaire’s digital future certainly looks Bright…