The Future of Video: How Many Words Will A Picture Be Worth?

The Buzz: During 2020, video was the “king” of media types. Americans were Zooming into work meetings, logging into online classrooms, FaceTiming friends and family, and streaming entertainment more than ever. Binge-watching and gaming were up 25 percent and 75 percent, respectively. Americans spent an average of 42 minutes a day viewing digital video on their phones last year, compared to 23 minutes on computers. [Connie Chan: https://a16z.com/2020/12/07/social-strikes-back-video/] But this began way before COVID. Since 2015, video streaming has risen 13 percent year-over-year. Now, we’re about to enter a new era of video-first products beyond entertainment and gaming. If video 1.0 phase was laid-back, video 2.0 will be more interactive and participatory, with users engaging with the platform, giving direct feedback on the content, and shaping the experience in real time. How did we get to this moment? The first era was television – controlled by big budgets and lead time to produce 30 or 60 minute shows. In the second era, YouTube unleashed a new category where anyone can be a creator – videos 1 minute, 10 minutes, even 24 hours long. Then the TikTok era— video condensed to one minute or less, with some of the best just 10 or 20 seconds long. All you need is a smartphone. TikTok reached 1 billion monthly active users in just four years, half the time it took Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We’ll ask Kirsten Boileau, Karl Yeh, Ryan Sonnenberg, Loic Simon and Vincenzo Landino for their take on The Future of Video: How Many Words Will A Picture Be Worth?