[InclinedPlane]

I'm glad to see more attention paid to this. The idea of the "youtube celebrity" has been around a while, but to my mind that's less interesting than the idea of people making a living off of youtube. And the fascinating thing is just how many people are now gainfully employed making youtube content. This is a phenomenon that has crept up rather rapidly and hasn't received very much attention in traditional media channels or even in business channels. I find it odd that traditional television networks and movie studios have basically been trying their hardest to pretend that youtube doesn't exist, or that it is merely a repository of funny cat videos.

There's a real revolution in video entertainment going on right now. And youtube is still growing at a phenomenal rate. The recent example of the explosive popularity of the Gangnam Style music video is a perfect case in point. It's not just "viral", it's a cultural phenomenon, and it's taking place on youtube whereas in the past you'd expect people to be exposed to popular music videos through television.

If I were in the traditional TV business I would be all over this. I'd be snapping up talent off youtube and I'd be setting up deals and producing content for the internet, etc. But it looks like this is still a case of two separate worlds. I suspect the "oh shit" moment will come when a more traditional format TV show or movie published on youtube becomes wildly successful, and it's really only a matter of time until that happens.