Funny to see web entrepreneurs Loic LeMeur and Om Malik duke it out in the comments section of this entry, on Veoh’s layoffs, which was reported first by Valleywag, and confirmed to varying extent by PaidContent.
Says Seesmic founder Loic:
The first sentence “A Veoh spokesperson has denied a news report published today” with “news report” referring to Valleywag is both hilarious and sad for NewTeeVee.
Is it? Newteevee publisher (and VC!) Om Malik disagrees:
It is a report and it was making the rounds on the blogs and yes it was an incorrect news report. It doesn’t matter where it came from. chris did his job and did it well. I disagree with your read on the situation.
I see Loic’s point, don’t get me wrong. But I disagree with his assessment due to its source (yes, I think who says something has major bearing on the message). That point of view would be a fair criticism from a traditional media chieftain trying to hold on to any vestige of relevance in a new media reality… but for an uber web entrepreneur like Loic to say that?
After all, didn’t The National Enquirer break the John Edwards affair?
I’d argue that Valleywag is eons more news than National Enquirer is, but the point is: just because one does not appreciate or approve of Valleywag’s editorial style does not mean its content is not news.
Granted, it’s not news a la CNN… but it’s not The Onion, either.
For a new media entrepreneur to argue that Valleywag is not news is a bit hypocritical if you ask me… after all, didn’t Reuters build a business on republishing earnings reports?
I digress.
The main reason why I wanted to chime in on this isn’t even the bitching on the comments section, it’s that Newteevee mentions: “Veoh dumped its original video programming“.
Original programming? What original programming? I am rooting for Veoh, but as I tell my friends there, stop changing strategy and business models every other day people! The problems of having too much money. At last count, Veoh has raised nearly $70M.
Yesterday I asked who will ultimately win the TV vs. Web video tug of war. The winner won’t boil down to resources naturally, since old media trumps new media on any given day. The outcome will boil down to speed, agility and who will be more aggressive. My argument has long been that TV folks won’t jump nearly as fast into the Web because the economics won’t justify once the hype wears off: yes, YouTube envy is omnipresent, but that doesn’t mean a TV network will cannibalize the $75B TV ad market for a $500M one. And that’s just ads, tack on syndication and filmed entertainment and TV is actually a $250B market in the US. The Web? Not quite.
But as TV executives see the writing on the wall, many have began to jump ship (right before being pushed out, would argue Valleywag).
Revision3 which raised $8M in funding just lured PC Magazine editor in chief Jim Louderback.
Of course, while the growth and excitement is clearly online, Web video is not a given yet, otherwise CNET would not have allegedly lumped off its video team (disclosure: I have, in the past, approached CNET about working on video initiatives with them and our web video unit WatchMojo.com).
Anyway, time will tell what pans out, but let’s hope that both TV and web video players keep a cool head, because as sexy as video is these days on the Net, it’s no slam dunk.
PLAY
