Netflix has undergone several changes since its creation, including moving from DVD-by-post to internet streaming and a falling off of subscriptions after they changed their pricing model. But for all those who thought their pricing model was the end of the service – they’ve surprised us all by expanding into foreign markets, specifically the UK.

Let’s not forget Netflix is the leading supplier in the USA, and has a lot of know-how that it can apply to the UK market. However, things might not be all plain sailing for the company in the UK. Firstly, Netflix are not the first player – they have rivals in the form of LoveFilm a DVD-by-post and streaming service that was bought by Amazon in January of 2011. So, while people might be happy to put down their Party Poker for a while, to stream a film or TV program, they might not choose Netflix to be the provider.

Reed Hastings, the CEO of NetFlix flew to the UK for the company launch over there. He told The Independent newspaper that he sees Sky, Rupert Murdoch’s satellite TV service, as their real competitor. Hastings cites the fact that Sky has 10 million customers in the UK, while LoveFilm have a mere 2 million across Europe (though most of these are in the UK).

Amazon’s LoveFilm are responding to the NetFlix threat by offering a streaming service at a £1 lower (that’s roughly $1.50). The Hollywood studios are apparently very happy that Netflix has brought more competition to the UK market, as Sky has had the run of the place for too long. On a more popular note, UK citizens will be pleased to hear that Netflix is keen to invest in original UK content – something that Sky has come under criticism for not doing enough of.

It was a massive year for online video in 2011, and our video site grew nicely as well thanks to entertaining content created by Spidvid’s collaborative video production community.

This is my 4th straight year making predictions for the online video space. If you want to see how my predictions fared in other years here’s 2009, 2010, and last year’s 2011. For my 11 predictions last year, I rate them a 8/11 which is pretty decent. Let’s see how I fare this year.

12 online video predictions for 2012

1. Yahoo invests $250M into original video content – Yahoo has a new CEO and seems to be getting more and more focused on online video. I think that Yahoo takes a big step towards re-establishing their corporate identity and it’s in the video space.

2. Standards for views and ad creatives are finally implemented – There is still lots of confusion as to what constitutes a video view online, and 2012 will be the year where a standard will be set. Some people think that if a video starts that’s a view, while others think a whole video must be watched for it to count as a view, clarity will come in 2012. Every video ad company seems to have their own formats but this will end as ad standards will be put in place for video, much like display banners abide by now.

3. Mobile video explodes – I’ve been predicting this for a few years and every year mobile video traffic seems to double it’s viewing audience thanks to increased penetration of iPhones, Android based phones, and tablets.

4. Apple’s “iTV” makes OTT mainstream – There are a bunch of great “over the top” products out there for your TV including; Apple TV, Roku, Boxee, and others, but as Steve Jobs says they are just hobby businesses well at least for Apple to date. But in 2012 Apple is going to be releasing TV’s in the 30″-50″ range which will sell like crazy to Apple’s raving fans, and these iTV’s will dramatically increase consumer’s use of iTunes for purchasing video content.

5. Social TV – More and more people are watching TV and sending out tweets about what they’re watching, their perspectives on what they’re seeing, and engaging with other passionate viewers. Social TV will be huge in 2012 as Twitter and Facebook create tighter relationships with the TV networks.

6. HTML 5 – This seems to be the format of choice long term even though it’s still in its infancy right now compared to flash. This format is much more dynamic than all the others and will ultimately become #1, but not until 2015. HTML 5 will see more growth than ever before in 2012.

7. YouTube will buy a company – The world’s largest video sharing site continues to build out its ecosystem both through building features internally, and acquiring technologies externally. YouTube is growing up and is stepping outside of Google’s shadow, and 2012 will be the biggest year ever for YouTube. If you are tired of YouTube coverage now, you haven’t seen anything yet!

8. Hulu gets acquired – There was a ton of speculation that Hulu would be acquired throughout 2011 but it never happened, but in 2012 it will. I’m going to double down on my Yahoo prediction and say that Yahoo buys Hulu to become a serious online video player.

9. Netflix gets acquired – There was also lots of speculation that Netflix would be acquired in 2011, but again much like Hulu nothing happened. Netflix has seen its subscriber base and stock price dramatically decrease since its pricing model changed, but it’s still a strong brand in the streaming video space. I’m going to call Netflix is sold, but not at a price that its CEO, board of directors, or investors are overly happy with.

10. Google Plus delivers big views – Facebook and Twitter drive huge video views as social video emerges. Google Plus’s social network is exploding and as a result it will become a major player in delivering video views, especially to its toddler site, YouTube.

11. More online video stars get movie deals – Famous Fred of YouTube got a deal with Nikelodeon to star in “Fred the Movie” which did quite well from what I heard. There will be more of these kind of deals happening in 2012, mainly to the YouTube partners who have strong character personalities like Fred possesses.

12. Remote video collaboration takes off – With more and more cloud based video editing platforms emerging, along with matchmaking sites like Spidvid emerging, 2012 will be a year that many video creators and talent open up to the possibility of bringing on external talent to their teams and using new tools to help manage those projects.

If you have a 13th prediction to add then please add it below!

Cheers to 2012 which will be online video’s biggest year yet!

Other online video predictions can be found on Media Post, VidCompare, ReelSEO, TubeFilter, New Media Minute, and Streaming Media.

So ends another incredible year in online video for 2010! Growth was amazing, the space further matured, and we are taking lots of momentum into 2011. Our own video sharing site grew very nicely as well, both in terms of new videos and audience.

It was fun doing online video predictions and outlooks for 2009 and 2010, so of course a 2011 version had to be done!

I follow online video very closely on a daily basis (proof: read my tweets), and take pride in my predictions. Below are my online video predictions for 2011.

1. Cord Cutting Is Undeniable – There has been lots of talk lately about whether or not cord cutting is for real. In 2011 the debate will finally end, and cable companies will be forced to adjust their channel package deals, and pricing. It doesn’t make sense to pay $100 for hundreds of channels when all you may watch is 10. I plan on being a cord cutter in 2011!

2. Online Video Via TV Screens - This kind of goes hand in hand with #1. Many people that are cancelling their digital cable TV services are moving towards the cloud by using devices such as Roku, Vudu, Boxee, Apple TV, Google TV, and Netflix is exploding by leverage gaming consoles such as PS3, Wii, xBox, and others.

3. Web Series Goes Mainstream – I’m not a big fan of the “web series” terminology, but regardless, I believe that online shows will really start to take off in 2011 thanks to further audience adoption, and Hollywood filmmakers launching new Web projects instead of pitching new TV series concepts.

4. AOL Makes an Acquisition – AOL partnered up with Next New Networks to offer prime homepage real estate to the online video producer, leading to over 1 billion video views for them in 2010. YouTube has been rumored to be acquisition talks with NNN, and assuming that deal goes through I predict that AOL (0r possibly Yahoo) will pick up their competitor Revision3.

5. New Video Ad Serving Leader – Hulu currently has the lead in video ads served per month, but will be surpassed by YouTube as they pick up more rights to professionally produced content, add new partners, and fund new content development, all which can be monetized.

6. Ad Standards – Buying and selling online video ads on a large scale is still very much in its infancy. In 2011, standards will be again heavily debated but won’t be officially put into place until 2012. Every online video ad company seems to have their own creative formats, which in turn is confusing buyers.

7. Mobile Video Blows Up – Until I got my iPhone 4 I didn’t really watch much mobile video. Now I watch a few videos on the device every morning in bed, and love the experience. 2011 will be big for filmmakers and companies to adopt the HTML 5 format to reach new viewers on their iPhone’s and iPad’s. Mobile video advertising will also start to take off, but not in a massive way.

8. IPO – I think that there will be at least one online video IPO in 2011, especially after the huge success that China-based Youku enjoyed on the NYSE.  Sounds like Hulu won’t file for one in 2011, but Demand Media wants an IPO, and I’m sure that other rapidly growing startups want to go public too. We don’t think of Facebook as being an online video company but they are now #2 behind YouTube in views served. For the record, I don’t see Facebook filing for an IPO in 2011, and likely won’t until at least 2013.

9. Social Sharing – Many people discover new online videos through social sharing tools, and this trend will only grow in 2011. Facebook and Twitter drive a ton of views, and good old fashioned email still plays an important role for people to pass video links along to their friends and contacts.

10. From Text to Video – Communication and content used to be all about text and pictures, but with video being the most desired type of content to consume, new video creation strategies will be on top of the list, especially as quality video gets easier and cheaper to produce. I believe that online video will be as ubiquitous as text one day, but then again I’m a very optimist evangelist.

11. Collaborative Video Production – Been hearing more and more stories about top YouTube creators collaborating with each other to leverage each other’s talents and channel subscribers. I truly believe that this global new media concept will be a breakout hit in 2011, and get more structured and organized via open and collaborative video production platforms.

Here are some other experts weighing in with their online video predictions for 2011: MediaPost, Brightcove, ReelSEO, TubeFilter, BizReport, Digital Media Update, VidCompare, and VideoBloom.

If you have a 12th prediction of your own (which I would love to hear!), please add it below with a comment. 

Cheers to 2011 which will be undeniably the biggest year for online video ever!

One of the best talks on how online video spurs innovation was given by Chris Anderson at the TED conference earlier this month. Want to learn more about “Crowd Accelerated Innovation?” Watch the 20 minute video below, and see what Chris means by that powerful term. If you have any comments, be sure to share them below.

Every week for the next few weeks we are featuring the web series “Missed Connections Live” by Melissa Center on our video sharing site. Below is episode 1 of the series, and you can stay updated on all the new episodes (they keep getting better and better) by subscribing to them in your favorite RSS reader.

Missed Connections Live Episode 1 from Melissa on UnleashVideo

Have you got a chance to check out the first ever video created via Spidvid’s production community yet? It has been posted below for your viewing pleasure, so enjoy.

Every time a new quality video is released we will be sure to post it here in case you don’t subscribe to our RSS feed or our new videos newsletter.

The Sourest Day of My Life from Jay on UnleashVideo

If you aren’t already subscribed to our blog, you can quickly grab it through RSS or get our new posts delivered to your inbox.

We collaborated with a music artist to get a song created for our site, you can listen to it below. Crank up the volume and enjoy!

Aside from the song, we expect to have an influx of videos and films from Spidvid’s production community later on this month. Stay up to date with all the new content by subscribing to our RSS feed, or get the content delivered right to your inbox by providing your email address at the top of our site.

If you have a video or film production project you want to create, or if you want to be part of a project, you should get a Spidvid account and get connecting with other like-minded individuals in the community.

Welcome to video production 2.0.

Many individuals who wish to join the ranks of the video and movie industry elite are typically faced with a trifling decision of relocating to Hollywood, and from there hoping luck and skill will help them rise through the ranks. This traditional method of joining a lucrative industry has been widely accepted for decades. Yet, this method makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the low budget director or producer to develop a high quality film. The aspiring producer or director have more options then this traditional method though.

While Hollywood’s elite still hold a firm grasp on closed sets and contracts, this does not limit the abilities of low-budget productions. Many recent professional grade video cameras have become openly available to the public consumer; many of these cameras are capable of filming high quality video. These cameras accompanied by advancements, and price reductions in video editing software have aided low budget productions in giving the multi-million dollar productions a run for their money.

As a director or producer, production budget is not the only issue that needs to be addressed while making a film. Even with creative direction, and advanced skills in editing and other ventures of the production, producing a feature as a single individual is not only stressful, but also time consuming. Finding a creative staff and actors can be almost as important as the creativity or budget of a production itself. This is where Hollywood features have held their sway for years, until now.

With the advancement of the internet and its social networking capabilities, finding a full team to collaborate on countless aspects of a production has become a reality for even the lowest budget productions. Whether it’s finding an actor, or finding a group of individuals to take and turn your idea into a reality, finding the right people for your production has become an open opportunity. Outside collaboration efforts are not only good for those producing, but also for those looking for new types of projects to become a part of.

With many aspects of video productions becoming available to the public, and especially the capabilities of outside collaboration, creative individuals are no longer looking to Hollywood first to find success. This revolution of the film industry is not only putting productions in the hands of the creative and able, but is breaking the hold Hollywood has maintained over the industry for so long.

For further reading check out the ebook Hollywood is Doomed – The Rise of Collaborative Creation Teams

A couple of weeks ago we relaunched our video sharing site but instead of writing a post about it, we wrote tweets, and shared the news on Facebook with our fans. The design is cleaner, navigation is easier, and videos start playing and streaming quicker which is important for an improved viewing experience.

You might notice that UnleashVideo no longer accepts video uploads, and user accounts no longer exist. The focus is now solely on video viewing, sharing, rating, and engagement.

All new video content for the site going forward will come from Spidvid’s video production community. Everything has been customized to accommodate the team produced content from Spidvid.

How all future video pages will be:

• Collaborative production teams – All other video sharing sites acknowledge the video creator by displaying “By: creator name” on their video pages. What we do is not only display the creator but each team member who helped produce the video as well, which showcases their Spidvid profile picture and link.
• Google Maps – Each team member is displayed on a Google map with the rest of their team members. Doing this outlines the concept of empowering anyone from around the world to form production teams who then create and produce videos together. This shows not only who the members are, but where they are located as well.
• Facebook - Facebook Connect has been integrated so that anyone can post a comment on a video (when logged into their Facebook account), and then share that comment and video link with their friends on the world’s #1 social network. Disqus has also been integrated to allow anyone to post a comment as a guest or via their Disqus account.

Be sure to stay updated on all of Spidvid’s community produced videos by subscribing to our RSS feed.