Mega Video: The Future of Television?

Since watching television shows, and other clips, on the Internet has been steadily increasing in popularity ever since the advent of streaming video, there have been a number of sites that have attempted to capitalize on this market. Hulu is best known, raking in profits from ads placed at clutch points in the latter half of shows. As well as youtube, which has just recently begun to use advertising within their videos (in the form in video bar ads).

Another, lesser known, but still widely used service is Megavideo. Originating from the parent site Megaupload.com, Megavideo takes a slightly different approach from most services, an integrated approach. All videos on are offered to all viewers in high quality, with a mandatory pop-up at the beginning. From then on the viewer is allowed to watch what ever program they want, for free. Since Megavideo has many off-shore branches, this becomes an effective way to watch television shows that would be removed from youtube or missing on Hulu.

Naturally this isn't entirely legal, or at least not wholly moral, but it is profitable. However the real trick of megavideo is their bandwidth limit. Any viewer can watch about 72 minutes of video, before they have used their allotted limit and must wait (generally around an hour). This seems like quite a lot of time, but considering that most shows are around 43 minutes, and movies at least 90, the result is the viewer being left halfway through their program.

In steps the second revenue stream, premium accounts. For a nominal fee (about $10 for a month) the user can gain unlimited access and much faster steaming. This account also passes onto megaupload, where you get fast download and upload speeds of many files. The peak of this offer is that it is made immediately as the video cuts out, prompting immediate action.

I wont debate the legality of the service, they do only the bare minimum to not get sued off the net. But their pricing strategies and service are both highly effective. They are the only service online where one can find normally inaccessible shows and movies, in high quality, for free. Their growth and prominence are both testament to this success. I personally know many people, both young and old, who use the service. Some even choose it over the legal venues (although streaming copyrighted work is not technically illegal, only uploading).

This brings to mind the question: Is this the future of streaming television? The networks might not like it, but the service is unquestionably faster, less invasive, and more reliable than most streaming sites. Even Hulu (the current contender) does not have the breadth selection. It will be interesting to see if megavideo's combined Subscription/advertising service for high quality product becomes the dominant method.