85% of the video we consume is pre-recorded
Liz Foreman August 30th, 2007
From the department of obvious insights: Vint Cerf, Google smart guy who totally invented the web way more than Al Gore did, claims conventional TV will go away in favor of downloadable content that you view on demand. Not news to the LR faithful. But, this stat from Cerf’s speech is really cool: “85% of all video we watch is pre-recorded.”
I had no idea the percentage was that high. Even stuff that’s pretending to be live (look-lives in TV news) and stuff that used to be live (most radio stations) isn’t live anymore. In the great scheme of things is this good, bad or just plain sad?
Adds Swift Loris in comments: “What [Gore] said was, ‘I took the initiative in creating the Internet’–in context, referring to the Internet in its popular modern form.”
6 Comments Add your own
1. Swift Loris | August 30th, 2007 at 8:38 am
Sorry, but this is one of my hobbyhorses: Al Gore NEVER SAID he “invented” the Internet. That was a canard generated by Republicans and perpetuated by the so-called lib’rul media.
What he said was, “I took the initiative in creating the Internet”–in context, referring to the Internet in its popular modern form.
Here’s what Vin Cerf himself had to say back in March of 1999 about Gore’s role, commenting on the ruckus over the faux remark:
“I think it is very fair to say that the Internet would not be where it is in the United States without the strong support given to it and related research areas by the vice president in his current role and in his earlier role as senator.”
It behooves those of us who have benefited from today’s Internet to show some respect to Al Gore, who, among others, made those benefits possible. We could start by euthanizing the “invented the Internet” canard.
2. liz | August 30th, 2007 at 9:44 am
Well, Swift, I don’t like being inaccurate. Perhaps we can agree that they contributed to the Internet we know of today in different ways.
At this point, the phrase is a joke. When something like this gets this far along, the validity of the information isn’t important. People just want a good laugh, even at the expense of a seemingly nice guy.
3. Swift Loris | August 30th, 2007 at 11:43 am
I’d say it’s a cheap laugh if it isn’t true. And it’s so old by now it wouldn’t be all that funny even if it *were* true. But if that’s the best you can do…
4. discreet_chaos | August 31st, 2007 at 2:16 am
I had to click onto another portion of the appearance because the video number wasn’t in the piece which was directly linked, but what I heard him say was the 85% of online video is pre-recorded and first of all, I wonder where he got that statistic and secondly, no duh.
5. Swift Loris | August 31st, 2007 at 5:00 am
With regard to live vs. taped reports on news shows, I’ve noticed that on MSNBC, at least, there’s a “Live” bug onscreen throughoug the program except when a report is taped. The bug goes away during a taped report even if the anchor and correspondent pretend to be throwing back and forth live at the beginning and end of the report.
That’s not the case on NBC, but sometimes you can tell because the throws aren’t quite coordinated; the timing is a little off, and the apparent exchange seems oddly flat. It’s a subtle difference. I find that quite annoying. Seems unethical somehow.
6. Howard Owens | August 31st, 2007 at 12:49 pm
I’m no fan of Al Gore … pretty much dislike the guy … but what he said about his role in the development of the Internet is no exaggeration. The dude deserves some major cred for his foresight in funding the expansion of the Internet as we know it and creating the opportunity for so many commercial ventures.
I wish we could once and for all put to rest the whole “I invented the in Internet” meme about Gore. He never said that, but what he did say was spot-on honest. It’s unfair to Gore to perpetuate it even as a joke. Journalists should be in the job of debunking myths, not perpetuating them, even as jokes.
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