So does a strike help digital?
When asked if he thought a strike would benefit online video, Josh Felser, president of online video destination Crackle, gave a typical response.
"There's isn't a magical change underway because of the strike," Felser said. "Our focus on emerging talent and distributing high quality video remains the same."
According to Felser, Crackle, which is owned by Sony, has seen strong and steady growth that is independent of the strike.
While Doug McFarland agrees that the web's growth can't be attributed to the strike, he does admit that a lengthy Hollywood labor dispute could give internet video a tremendous boost.
"What's happening here is fascinating if you work in online media," McFarland explains. "What we see is that most of the video online is entertainment, with news a close second. If the strike lasts a long time, we could see more and more people turn to the web for entertainment, and hopefully that will become a permanent thing."
According to McFarland, that shift could begin as early as next week. With more shows going into reruns and a holiday weekend looming, viewers will be looking for entertainment wherever they can find it. That means occasional users of online video may become devoted fans, while hardcore viewers might make sites like Crackle their first stop for entertainment, forgoing the TV set.
Opportunism?
As each day goes by, a media void grows. Anxious eyeballs looking for content will go anywhere they find something new and entertaining. While digital media executives insist that those eyeballs are migrating to the web anyway, at least one video entrepreneur is taking matters into his own hands.
While observers like Whitney don't see the need for the internet to find its breakout hit, people like Break.com CEO Keith Richman believe it's only a matter of time before video content on the web has the ability to move mass audiences the way similar content on TV already does.
"Every day there are more people turning to the web to be entertained," Richman explains. "The wind is at the internet's back right now."
While Richman says he thinks the web will deliver its hit (and countless more) regardless of what happens with the Hollywood strike, he says he believes there is an opportunity for digital right now.
"The web is the best thing that has ever happened to writers because it helps them profit from their work and it encourages a wider range of expression," Richman says. "It's great to see that the writers see the web as a viable platform."
When Richman says writers see the web as a viable platform, he's not just talking about the WGA's position at the bargaining table. Even before the strike began Hollywood writers were playing with the internet. The WGA website has a page linking to blogs run by its members. To some extent sites like Crackle have cashed in on aspiring Hollywood writers who see the web as a way to break into entertainment. And since the strike, writers have taken to blogs and YouTube videos with unbridled passion to get their message out. But Richman has taken the writers' love affair with the net one step further.
Shortly after the strike began, Break.com began a contest for videos written by WGA members. According to Richman, the contest is part of an ongoing effort to attract quality writers to Break.com. Union writers who submit their videos with proof of guild membership are eligible to win up to $5,000 for their shorts.
While the WGA has warned its members not to write for the web outside of a collective bargaining agreement, Richman and others like him see the web as an opportunity for creative people to extract value for their work.
Does that mean a new media frontier? Maybe. But as Richman was quick to point out, traditional media companies are buying up huge chunks of the web.
Of course, the difference between network-backed sites and their digital rivals like Break.com is that (for now) the more a piece of content scales on Break.com, the greater the economic benefit for the creator. With each day that the strike goes on, people like Richman believe more writers will see the advantages of working directly for the web. If that happens, and the quality of web video continues to improve, many people believe the eyeballs will follow -- if they weren't already headed in that direction anyway.
Michael Estrin is associate editor, iMedia Communications, Inc. Read full bio.