I just read this fastcompany article on digital video and the threat posed to Holly wood studios by the low price and increased popularity of digital video cameras and editing software. First the article goes through the growth in online video:

"With some 18 billion videos streamed online in 2005--up 50% from 2004--it's not surprising that new businesses are sprouting up around this digital explosion. Each day on YouTube, more than 40 million video views are delivered and 35,000 new clips are uploaded. Google and Yahoo have video search sites and large caches of moving content. Apple's iTunes Music Store sold 12 million video clips for $1.99 each over the span of just a few months. A new company out of Berkeley, California, called Dabble is vying to become a micro movie studio for the masses by inviting users to create, remix, browse, and organize video online. These aggregators are fast becoming the central nodes of an entirely new video marketing and distribution system, one far from Hollywood's control."

Now that sounds great, high numbers of downloads, interest and spend in a very short length of time. But then reading these Hollywood quotes I almost choked:

"Hollywood studios aren't losing any sleep over the ascendance of digital filmmaking. Without mass marketing, you won't capture the attention of a mass audience, and the Internet is not a viable way to attract a mass audience."

"The Web could simply become a place to scout talent. It seems a safe bet that someone at News Corp., which paid more than half a billion dollars for MySpace, is watching the site closely for the next breakout star of film, music, or anything else."

That seems to be a severe case of head in the sand to me. How long before the digital video companies are the ones making the real money?

Jonathan