What YouTube Does: 30 Rock

Joseph Laszlo | October 16, 2006, 08:00 PM

Checking in on old media views of the world can be useful. It provides a valuable perspective and sometimes corrective to the starry-eyed pronouncements of new media visionaries (not that I’m claiming to be one).

But looking at Todd’s thinking about YouTube worries me a little because it blithely dismisses a growing force in media distribution, one that lots of large media companies are embracing.

Todd says YouTube can't do 30 Rock. But in fact, YouTube DOES do 30 Rock. NBC’s been distributing clips from the pilot via YouTube, you can watch them there totally legally. They’re using YouTube the way it should be used: to build buzz and create an opportunity to (in very uncontrolled circumstances) see how people are reacting to the show. As I write this, 235,000+ people had seen one “exclusive clip” from the show. Big number or small number? Well it was the 37th most viewed clip for the month. Not bad.

Saying YouTube can’t deliver an experience like 30 Rock mistakes production for distribution. YouTube doesn’t make content, it simply helps creators and viewers come together. So can YouTube provide a rich, funny, enjoyable, moving experience? Absolutely yes, if that’s the kind of content that’s submitted to it, and if the audience can find it. Is it going to replace old-school TV? Not for a long time, if ever: it’s hard to monetize (for now) and much more about very short form (2-5 minutes) than longer form media. But that’s not to trivialize its importance.

Thankfully the president of digital media and market development at NBC Universal Digital, Beth Comstock, seems to get it, in a great Ad Age piece she described

NBC Universal's five principles for handling the coup in the media landscape. She said NBC Universal needed to "create the best, most innovative content, get used to sharing control, tap the power of the community, develop a keen understanding of constantly changing consumer behavior and, finally get used to the idea that the media marketplace from now on is going to be full of contradictions and tensions."

That's a far far better approach for an "old media" company than simply assuming "YouTube will never do that."