Amateur video on the Internet seems to be losing some of its luster as professionally produced Web video becomes more common, reports Catherine Holahan on BusinessWeek.com. While user-generated content is still popular, viewers, advertisers and sites are united in their preference for higher production values.

"One after another," Holahan writes, "online video sites that have long showcased such fare as skateboarding dogs and beer-drenched parties are scaling back their focus on user-generated clips, often in favor of professionally produced programming."

Social networking site Bebo has announced it will soon allow top media companies to post content alongside user-generated material to attract viewers. And ManiaTV recently cancelled the 3,000 user-generated channels on its site for lack of viewership. Celebrity videos have proved to be much more popular with ManiaTV viewers.

More than 57 percent of U.S. Internet users say they have watched or downloaded online videos, Holahan writes, citing a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The Pew study and another by Burst Media indicate the most popular online-video content categories are news, movie trailers, comedy sketches, music videos and TV shows, in that order. User-generated video clips ranked ninth of eleven categories.

Peter Hamrick, 2007-11-28