Video iPod as the New TV

Jeff Jarvis believes that the video iPod is not just a new gadget, but a media revolution. He notes that already, the video iPod is usurping the role long held by that other great, paradigm shifting media device, television, as advertisers are producing commericals for video iPods. Jarvis sums it up by saying:

I say that what really needs to happen is for sponsors to add their commercials to the vlogs and shows I'm watching now. Ad agencies are whining about measurement. Well, wake up, fools! TV is exploding. People are watching TV online and on their iPods and you're not there with them. And if you start supporting this new form of programming, there will be more programming and more audience and more less scarcity of ad avails and lower prices for those ad avails and you'll be happy. So get cracking, kids.

Jarvis also notes the mobile porn phenomenon as one more example of how rapidly the video iPod is becoming a media force all its own.

Similarly, George Simpson makes the point in Online Media Daily:

Let's see if we can make this elementary enough so that even the faculty of the Columbia Business School can get it: The Internet is not a toy. It is not a passing phenomenon. It is the single most important development in the history of media (with the possible exception of the Grill Room at the Four Seasons). Nothing in media will ever be the same again (with the possible exception of creative expense accounting).

However, don't expect your favorite blog or podcast to jump on the videocasting bandwagon right away. Expense and technical expertise aside, the written and spoken word doesn't necessarily translate into compelling video. The videocasting future will belong to those who can think visually and translate their ideas into something an audience will want to watch... not talking heads. However, this will require developing new metaphors and visual techniques. Videobloggers already have a jump start on this, and these folks -- rather than the mainstream media -- may lead the way in videocasting innovation.