User Generated Video Bubble Needs To Pop, And Soon

The entire market for user generated content, in particular video, has just gotten completely out of hand. I must get 2-3 releases a week now from new UGC sites that are launching, yet none of them say anything about their business models. They all talk to how their player is different, their video looks better, their search capability is improved or some other aspect of the user experience.

What about the business model? Where is it? By my last count, there were over 60 UGC sites on the web that I am tracking, the majority of which I have no idea how one differs from the other. Yes, some of them are more focused than others and provide content for just one vertical like comedy, or independent films, but still, there are too many of them. It is only a matter of time before this UGC bubble bursts and these sits consolidate or disappear completely.

Mediaweek published an article yesterday about ManiaTV and how they are shifting their business model away from UGC to focus solely on original content. Will it help? Too early to know, but I give ManiaTV credit for realizing that much of UGC is purely hype. ManiaTV’s chief marketing officer Peter Clemente said it best in the Mediaweek article, "Hype doesn’t necessarily equate to profitability."