7 Simple Ideas Network TV Could (and Should) Grab from YouTube

 

YouTube is like IKEA—get in and there are so many fun things to look at, it’s hard to get out. Click from one video to another, one channel leading to a whole new bunch of videos, and before you know it, you’ve forgotten to turn on the TV.

Sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Veoh and other user-generated online video viewing spots have a lot to teach broadcast television networks—if the stubborn programmers would only pay attention. Here are seven simple ways TV could improve immediately with the influence of YouTube:

1.      Watch what YouTube users are watching. What are the hot videos this week? Besides the clips of TV shows--American Idol, Britain’s Got Talent, the National Spelling Bee—you’ll find some hilarious amateur oddities. Like “Potter Puppet Pals,” a series of all-puppet versions of Harry Potter stories rewritten with a little wink-wink action and some nods to Austin Powers. And “Checking in with Conchita,” a video featuring a tiny white-naped “mangabey” (tiny monkey) at the London Zoo. There’s a whole series of videos about Conchita, watched by hundreds of thousands of YouTube viewers. Conchita’s bio-flicks are consistently at the top of YouTube’s “most-watched.”

 

2.      Kitties are the bomb. Ever see the videos about Sparta the Mean Kitty? Cat owner and filmmaker Cory Williams launched his SMP Films channel via YouTube with a silly song about his devious kitten. To date, nearly 10 million viewers have watched Cory and Sparta romping in a series of videos. They’re cute, they’re funny and they’re fresh. Sounds like a show, right? Also, some 4 million have watched an animated short called “Simon’s Cat Let Me In,” (below) from a British cartoonist named Simon Tofield. His series of ‘toons are as deviously funny as early episodes of The Simpsons.

3.      Find the gems online and put them on TV right away.10 MPH (Segway Across the USA)is a 93-minute indie film available in its entirety on YouTube. Two software geeks got on Segways and hit the road in 2007. The film documents the journey. Coulda, shoulda been a TV series.

4.      Personal experiences with a twist are fascinating. Some of the best finds on user-generated video sites are the short films of seemingly ordinary people just talking to the camera about serious stuff that might make some other people squirm. Like ToryMagoo44, a former Scientologist who posts 10-minute monologues almost daily, revealing the strange inner workings of the cult-like religion for which she worked in public relations for many years. Tory Christman is what YouTube is all about: one face, one camera, one fascinating message. She should be on the big box.

 

5.      Think The Hills but with personality. “Authentic Pinky” is a 20-year-old homegirl in Brooklyn who points her pink camera at a mirror and talks about her life. She’s chronicled her romances, the goings-on of her girlfriends, her hopes for marriage and a move out of Brooklyn. Sometimes she sings along with her favorite tunes. Something about Pinky screams for an MTV series. She has 10 times the personality of Tila Tequila, and 1000 times more than Lauren Conrad and the So-Cal fembots.

 

6.      Take a chance on some nobodies with a good idea and a lot of heart. These four guys set out two years ago in a Winnebago to cross off 100 things they wanted to do before they die. Their videos on YouTube show their progress and how random strangers help them. Some of their goals: No. 38, meet the Stanley Cup; No. 22, meet a beautiful girl and give her a kiss. Why isn’t THIS a show? Produced by Oprah?

 

7.      Feelgoods feel good. YouTube and other sites are loaded with little stories that inspire and enlighten. They're just begging to be discovered and appreciated. Like this video, “Where in Heaven is Mozart?,” that shows a little girl playing her violin in exotic spots around the world. She gave a concert in the Sahara. She rode on a camel and played for 60 Berber kids who had no running water and had never seen a violin. “The beauty that we are seeing and the kindness of people everywhere makes this world seem like heaven,” wrote her parents on the YouTube blurb. “This experience has been a great gift to us and we would like to share some of it with you. Enjoy!” We did and we bet TV viewers would, too.