Webification of TV: Stage one complete, stage 2 underway

The first stage is, of course, the use of the internet to deliver the same content that we see on our television. According to the New York Times, viewer numbers show that this stage is going gangbusters. Each network has finalized its content host for streaming video viewing of its content. According to Nielsen, viewership via the internet jumped 16% in the first half of 2007, before many of these deals were even locked down.

Even as we struggle to figure out the dollar impact of stage one, stage two is upon us – the production of shows specifically for the internet. Here, I'm not referring to the user-generated content (USG) of Chinese teens lipsynching Backstreet Boys songs, but professional productions by some of the industry's best and brightest. Take, for example, Michael Eisner's Tornante Co., creators of Prom Queen. The recent news that Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Simon Frasier are working on a secret project together makes a lot of sense in stage two terms.

All of this is great news to us as viewers, but a nightmare for advertisers. In a world where content comes from a thousand sources, is distributed over hundreds of delivery systems, with advertising sold by dozens of vendors, the poor advertiser's head can spin. And not in a comedic way; in an Exorcist way.