When we hear the words  ” online video”, most of us think “YouTube”.  A select few of us might think “Vimeo” as well.  The landscape is changing.  There are new startups/side projects of bigger companies hoping to change the game of online video.  For online marketers, YouTube has long been the main point of entry for online video.  For more savvy users, “Vimeo” or “TubeMogul” provided more targeted audiences or farther reach.  However…these new up and coming platforms should give marketers and content creators new options for distributing online video.  Some are going after a B2B model, while others are attempting to compete with YouTube over user-generated content hosting.  Marketers should be ecstatic about the new options for content that are being developed!  Here are a few new ones to be on the lookout for:

• My Pod Studios: This platform brings videos with one criteria in mind, the videos must have high watchability.  The content is hand-picked by the site curators, and is judged by how entertaining, educational, or informative the content is.  It’s like a slimed down YouTube so only the best content makes it.  MyPodStudios builds pods (similar to channels) for a video producer and does all the marketing for you.  All you have to do is have good content.  ”Good” is really in the eyes of the beholder on this one.  They are essentially marketing themselves as the “Gated” online video community.

• AirTime is the next startup in the works by Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning, creators of Napster.  The site is up but non-operational and who knows what could be in store.  A recent article in Tech Crunch suggested a social element, allowing users to vote on quality of content.    Because this site is so knew, we aren’t really sure what they have planned and how the rating system will be different than that of YouTube.  Maybe users can use their votes to ultimately have content removed?  This start-up is being backed by Ashton Kutcher, Will I. Am., and the found of techcrunch: Michael Arrington.

• One Load:  This is a B2B platform that hopes to change the  way online video is mass distributed to different online video hosts.  This platform is basically the new TubeMogul.  The main reason for the change seems to be branding.  The makers of TubeMogul want people to know that their service allows you to upload one time and distribute to all different video platforms.  This service is for the serious video producers that want to maximize their viewership with one easy to use site that includes everything from analytics to easy report preparation.  One Load is the video platform to distribute to all video platforms.

• Adobe Primetime is the next big thing from Adobe.  They are calling it a “fully integrated video technology platform”.  This should be a pretty cool new platform for video producers and distributors.  To me, it seems they are trying to replicate the entire process that goes into the more traditional medium of broadcast TV.   The best feature of this platform, is that the video distributor can edit live clips, select advertising, and stream the video in real time.  The future of web video may look more like broadcast than we thought!