Gap Year

It's been interesting doing the rounds recently seeing what all the major suppliers in the internet and IP TV market have to offer.

Creating a simple media player is easy - I could do it in a few minutes; however, what is difficult is to built a flexible, monetized service that can respond to an ever evolving market. This is where all the platform providers have been struggling and the reason that CDNs have not been able to extend their business into the long tail.

To an outsider, it may all seem 'me too', but there are striking differences between the various off-the-shelf platforms and there's a gaping hole for anyone wanting to launch a service with a budget under $250,000 in their first year and those happy to use a free services. And, yes, I reckon that's 90% of the market by number and 75% by value. It's not surprising that YouTube are rubbing their hands with glee as they extend the Google Video platform into an SDK.

In the world of the long tail, Internet TV has a tail and a head, but no body.

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