CBS (NYSE: CBS) and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) will begin to deliver video clips of some of their premium content on social networks MySpace and Facebook.
Social network users will put the video in their profiles and be allowed to forward it to friends. According to The Wall Street Journal, "As the social-networking sites have grown, so has the competition for viewers and advertisers." The clips will contain advertising as a way for the media companies and social sites to make money.
The effort will amount to another failed attempt to make money off of web distribution of video.
There are now dozens of projects meant to push video over IP to computers. These range from selling full-length feature films, a product already launched by NetFlix (NYSE: NFLX), to putting clips on YouTube. So far, there is no evidence that any of these projects make money now, or ever will.
Marketing full-length features streamed to computers or set-top boxes may eventually be a good business. At least it matches a model the consumer already knows from cable TV. Sending clips of premium content is like forwarding movie trailers. They have little inherent value and putting advertising messages on them is annoying and will almost certainly cut into viewership.
"Pieces" of premium content are no more than junk. Social network users are too busy embellishing their profiles to mess with it.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
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