Peak & Speculation

I believe that both the popularity of and technology behind internet videos have yet to hit their peak. Somewhat surprisingly, this (dated; it's from November 2006) demographics study shows that the majority of YouTube visitors (54.46%) were between the ages of 35 and 64, with about 40% being younger than 35 and 4% being older than 64. As the case is with lots of new media, its growing integration with life across all age groups will increase as the generations who "grew up with it" get older. Increased and more varied use of internet video will lead to a more seamless integration with day-to-day life.


Speculations:

• The process of making videos will become more organic in the sense that technology will be cheaper and easier to come by. The urge to capture something on video and share it online will be easier to indulge.
• The shift of focus from production value to content will influence other forms of new and old media to do the same. Hopefully, this will eventually lead to a synthesis of good production value and worthwhile content, both in internet video and other media.
  
• Niche and specialty video sites will draw attention away from the "mainstream" video sites when the population is largely comfortable with the idea of internet video as a legitimate source of art and entertainment and feels the need to branch out to sites that cater to their tastes.
• The fame of cheesy viral YouTube "stars" and "sensations" will be replaced by the fame of internet video creators with actual talent and creativity.
• We will begin to see more fully realized pieces of art on these sites as the video compression quality of these sites expands and artists are comfortable with the presentation.

"Ultimate Reality" - a video by Jimmy Joe Roche with music by Dan Deacon