Forbes Blog Mentions TakePart TV and PM

What Role Will Your Company Play in Disruptive Video?

It’s in the blood. Sir Richard Branson’s son Sam is disrupting at least one industry. Entertainment. Sam announced today that anyone in the world can view his documentary for free for one month, not in movie theatres, but on his production company’s branded YouTube channel.

See it as another sign that your organization is facing a threat and opportunity: Video disruption. The lines are rapidly blurring between TV, movies, documentaries, amateur and professional video vignettes and how-to programming. Novel new partnerships for creation, promotion and distribution are proliferating, threatening the status quo.

2013 is the year that your organization either creates it’s own “TV” programs or is in danger of losing out to a competitor that may not yet exist. With the right partners, you could either launch a video-based start-up to serve the market you know best or suggest that your organization do so.

How valuable is video online? More than 75 percent of the Internet’s audience ages 18 to 34 visits YouTube each month, according to comScore. Collectively they make more than 29.6 million daily visits in this age group, spend an average 14 minutes per visit. An enticing way to reach them might be to partner with TakePart TV. That’s a YouTube channel started by the renowned movie and documentary maker and investor in socially relevant topics, Participant Media. It has been involved in 40 films including Promised Land, Middle of Nowhere, Lincoln, Syriana. Food, Inc., The Cove, An Inconvenient Truth and The Help. For TakePart TV, Participant TV president, Evan Shapiro said, “Our goal is to bridge the gap between heartfelt idealism and slap-stick humor by bringing provocative programming that will engage dialogue and, better yet, give viewers a way to take action on the issues that they care most about.”