DoTube

I’ve said numerous times on this blog that it’s not so much about what the content is online but what you can do with it. And I’ve suggested that the big guys are going to struggle with this aspect of web video. Many people have told me I am wrong. They say that the big guys get it and are going to make their video content truly web native.

So I am going to start playing with the web video services from the big guys that seem to be popping up almost daily now. And let you know what I think. I’ll call this series of posts DoTube.

I can’t resist starting with this one from Comedy Central’s Motherload.

The Motherload service does support the basic things you’d want to do with web video (rate it, link to it, embed it, send it, create a playlist). But you can’t comment on the videos. And worse, this video is going to expire on April 22nd. So I guess if you are reading this blog post after April 22nd, you aren’t going to see this video. Comedy Central explains that:

Due to licensing agreements we’re unable to keep this clip available on the site past the expiration date. We hope you enjoy it while we have it up.

This is the kind of stuff that’s going to hold the big guys back. Putting up content that’s going to expire in a month is not going to create the best web video experience.