Blog

In 2009, I coined the term “The Golden 15″ to describe the four portals (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft & AOL), the four broadcasters (ABC, CBS, FOX & NBC), the five cable conglomerates (Comcast, Disney, MTV, Turner & Viacom), along with Hulu, MySpace and Facebook.  Well, the Golden 15 are looking a bit bronze at the moment.

Why is this? First, comScore recently released its VideoMetrix 2.0 Preview for May, which provides an early look at the reach of advertising on all video sites. When measured by ad reach (as opposed to content reach) only three of the top 10 sites are Golden 15 publishers. Networks and aggregators have significantly scaled over the past 12 months and will no doubt dominate these reports for the foreseeable future.

Second, big initiatives like TV Everywhere have yet to come to fruition.  YouTube, the one exception, is continuing its gradual onslaught on the content business and recently hit the milestone of 2 billion videos viewed per day.  The other 14 publishers in the Golden 15 don’t even have 5 billion videos viewed per month!  At its most fundamental level, the business of online video requires technology innovation — and the slumbering giants are struggling to keep up.

To read more, visit MediaPost