the zeitgeist report

I have often said, and regretted not committing to print, the idea that websites were going to be the new television station. Websites generate, distribute and create content into highly idiosyncratic concepts designed to reach ever so nichey of audiences. With large cities now becoming wireless internet hubs, the internet is becoming a broadcast medium with the narrowest of castes. Websites can now have a deftly drawn pallette of music, video, and written word content that reflects the tastes and interests of a person or small committee, much like today's magazines which are getting increasingly boutique in their editorial oeuvres.

Rolling Stone had an article on comedy websites that are generating a great deal of interest and are attracting A-list writing talent, including The Simpson's and SNL alumnis:

Before the Saturday Night Live December 17th episode was half over, NBC's switchboard was flooded with calls hailing Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg's white-boy rap video "Lazy Sunday" as the show's best bit in years (the bar, of course, hasn't been set too high lately). By 5 a.m., an MP3 of this ode to cupcakes and Narnia was online, and soon video-sharing sites were hosting clips. Downloaded more than 3 million times, it was an Internet phenomenon.

It also pointed to a quiet revolution that is transforming comedy. The primary breeding ground for fledgling comic talent is no longer the stand-up circuit or network television but the Web. "The Internet takes power away from big companies," says Jimmy Kimmel. "You no longer have to send a bag of coke to execs to get your stuff played."

No one knows the power of the Web better than the team behind "Lazy Sunday," Samberg and his writing partners Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer. The childhood friends have posted homemade videos on Channel 101 and their own site, thelonelyisland.com, for several years. "If you make videos in a traditional way, passing around a VHS, no one sees it," says Schaffer. "When we started our site, the dream was that there would actually be an audience somewhere." The site now draws 30,000 viewers a day.

The feature highlighted two particularly good sites: Icebox.com and Channel 101 Which ominously labels itself "The Future of Entertainment".

Icebox.com has an extremely funny, spot on satire of Beach Boys father Murray Wilson call called "Rock 'N' Roll Dad".

And now Futureboy has a feature on a new high quality video sharing site called Veoh.

On Wednesday, Veoh, Shapiro's San Diego-based startup, launched a Web-based version of its video-sharing software to compete with the likes of YouTube, iFilm, and vSocial, which each let users watch, post, and share videos online. Whether or not Shapiro ever catches up to this already-crowded pack, he does have a few ideas that may very well point to how we will all one day be watching TV -- and not just over the Internet.

And, of course, your kids are doing YouTube.com.

And this from Yahoo:

After proclaiming grand plans to bring elaborately produced sitcoms, talk shows and other television-style programs to the Internet, the head of Yahoo's Media Group said yesterday that he was sharply scaling back those efforts. He said the group would shift its focus to content acquired from other media companies or submitted by users.

So as they say,"Stay tuned".