Amanda Congdon (click to enlarge)

I went to Amanda Congdon's plenary session at the end of Syndicate. She's the host of Rocketboom, a videoblog that deals with serious and not so serious news.

I've heard of Rocketboom, but hadn't seen it before. I enjoyed the clips she showed and will probably go have a look from time to time. They are getting 350,000 unique views per day and half that is international. There's only about 6 staff members, allowing the production timeline to move at a very quick pace.

Syndicating video requires working with multiple formats: wmv (multiple versions), mov (multiple versions), mp4, etc. This makes it a little trickier than audio where if you've go mp3, you're set.

She points at Daryl Hannah's video blog. Why does a Hollywood veteran do a video blog instead of doing something in a more traditional video medium? Its easier, costs less, and is more convenient for the producer and the viewer. Basic Brewing is another example of targeted niche content.

Amanda has a few thoughts about what all this means:

• Democratization of content
• Aggregating system, like iTunes and TiVo will become the norm, leveling the playing field.
• More and more people are becoming producers.
• Traditional ads that talk at you rather than to you won't work in this medium.
• This isn't about what you know or who you know. Producers can keep their integrity as artists and human beings.

What's the business model?

• Ads
• Subscription, and premium services
• Pay-per-view (iTunes model)
• Merchandising
• Consulting
• Write a book

She credits the Video iPod and Steve Jobs' featuring of them as a huge win. That one event gave them one of the biggest spikes they've had, increasing their viewers by 100,000.