Beyond Cable: Pro Content Jumps Online

Big names are joining no-names online. The same low initial overhead and favorable demographics that are helping independent productions succeed online are also becoming a boon to traditional, and not so traditional, content providers. There’s a flood tide of online exclusive content on the way, especially geared toward the all-important 18-35 year-old male demographic.

It’s not just promotional content for network shows, like mini-webisodes and full episode streams, it’s not all trapped at a domain on some restrictive custom player, and some of it could even be considered socially valuable. Some recent announcements from the NHL, History Channel and UNICEF highlight the range and quality of shows produced by seasoned professionals for online distribution.

Glove save and a beaut: The NHL, which has been struggling in the television ratings for some time now, has been the most aggressive of the major North American leagues to distribute and promote its content online. The league has teamed up with Voxant to distribute clips like the week in hockey highlights above through TheNewsRoom, which also features content from CBC, Reuters, Investors Business Daily and more.

Bloggers take note: Voxant offers a cut to people who ‘mash‘ (embed) TheNewsRoom content on their site (see previous coverage).

“Soldier generated content:” Among the new online exclusive shows announced by the History Channel is “Band of Bloggers.” Set to debut in the fall, this series will feature footage shot by soldiers on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The site currently features “History Uncut,” a collection of historical footage from the extensive access to archives that the History Channel has access to. Finally, towards the end of the year, a series of documentaries produced by George Lucas meant to compliment “Young Indiana Jones” will be provided. Sadly, no embeds or downloads.

Torrents for a good cause: UNICEF is partnering with Azureus’ Vuze for “the first-ever peer-to-peer (P2P) distribution initiative for the nonprofit organization,” according to their announcement. It’s a wonderfully inexpensive way to get an advocacy message out without breaking the bank. Instead of a little Flash player, these shows are full broadcast quality, and feature celebs like Shakira, Roger Federer and Sarah Jessica Parker.