Anyone not currently living under a rock or in a coma will know that Tuesday, January 20, 2009, is the day when the first ever black President of The United States will be sworn in. Will Obama’s Inauguration Day be the biggest online video event ever?
Maturing Online Video Business
Online video has definitely grown up over the past couple of years. It’s gone from being comprised of a few amateurish clips on YouTube to being big business with many different content creators and Web destinations to watch them on.
As it’s matured, its influence on important events has also grown. Now, you don’t need to have a television to watch the big news and sporting events because online video offers a viable alternative. In fact, there could be too much choice.
2008 Beijing Olympics
The first real test of online video’s capability in offering a real alternative to traditional television was the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the summer. This huge worldwide event was the perfect match for online video, and while the Web coverage didn’t make much money, the range of options open to Web video viewers proved the point.
2008 Presidential Election
Then came the 2008 Presidential Election between Barack Obama for the Democrats and John McCain for the Republicans. The Web was used as a key political battleground for the first time ever, and video played an important part of that fight between the candidates.
During the campaign, both candidates released videos to YouTube and the like spelling out their policies and vision for the future. We took a look at which candidates were being searched for and viewed the most, and Obama was actually beaten by Sarah Palin in that department.
In the final few weeks of the campaign, hundreds of interesting videos were uploaded to the Internet, which we helpfully compiled for your pleasure. But the actual election night was where the Web came into its own, with multiple places on the Internet offering the chance to watch the results coming in.
Obama’s Presidential Inauguration
And now we come full circle to the day in which Barack Obama is to be welcomed to the White House, replacing George W. Bush in the process. There are literally dozens of different ways to watch live coverage of the Inauguration, and the event promises to be the biggest test yet for online video.
This is such a monumental day for U.S. politics, with the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech finally paying dividends. But not many people will actually be able to attend in person, making online video a key factor in allowing everyone the opportunity to experience the Inauguration.
With live video streams, after-the-event clips on video sharing sites, peer-to-peer options, and even the ability to watch on your iPhone, let’s just hope the Internet can cope with the volume of traffic.
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