Musing About Video - About Video

We tend not to mention podcasts on Profy, mainly because there are other sites out there that do a fine job of that already. But here we’re going to tie in a little of this, a little of that, and some philosophizing on the benefits of video blogs to close things up.

We recently received an email from the folks over at The Daily Reel. They asked the team at Profy to take a look at what they’re doing and, if we like what we saw, would we write up a snippet about their blog. You know, to let all of you know that they exist and that they want your eyes and ears now and forever.

The Daily Reel is simple. It’s a video blog about video. Movie trailers. Quirky stuff found on the myriad of video hosts out there. A few minutes of variety delivered straight to your screen.

And we think there’s an audience for that type of thing. It has its purpose. Thousands of us see a lot of that kind of thing on Rocketboom every weekday, and since Andy and Joanne put a brief show that manages to keep the folks coming, it makes sense for others to want to do the same, just a little differently.

You’re bound to find lots of similarities in the many podcasts available today - over and over and over again. Just trawl the ‘Podcasts’ section of iTunes (or your preferred podcast server). You’ll find several recurring picks in a search for “cartoons,” not just Frederator. Lots of people love Frederator, but lots of people don’t only like Frederator.

So you see where we’re going with this. The Daily Reel isn’t a Rocketboom clone, nor is its host’s attitude and demeanor (somewhat anchor-ish as opposed to Colan’s comedic jibes, segways, and those oh-so-wonderful special reports on RB) anything like Joanne’s. That means some won’t like her (my personal relationship with Daily Reel is too fresh to offer a well-weighted opinion), while others will enjoy both show and personality immensely.

But you all know how this works already. You’re aware of the trends in podcasting (we at Profy presume you’re hip to the world of audio and video RSS feeds). You know how much choice is out there. You know how much you abhor some creations while feeling as if you couldn’t ever live without others. That’s just the way things go on the Web.

Video podcasting is big right now. The sheer volume of content scoured across the Web is proof positive of that. And because advertising is now presented alongside the biggest successes in this young industry, it’s guaranteed to grow faster. But as it does so, the selection will shrink. Not to the point where 100 or so “mainstream” productions are left standing, but where personal experiments that maintain a few dozen, a few hundred, even a few thousand listeners/watchers will stick around or die out solely at the behest of their owners, producers, presenters, characters. In the next year or two (maybe three), the weakest links will bid adieu. A list of a dozen or so shows about beer, for instance, will be whittled down to only a few. The same goes for the segment or genre of video podcasts that’s showcase stuff about video. Survival of the fittest, dear reader.

We don’t know if The Daily Reel will survive. It could do great. You could become a big fan. It could also do very poorly. But for now, we shouldn’t worry about those things. Enjoy what’s out there. It’s a big pool. We can all fit inside. At least for now.