Future of travel content?

Many of us suspect that when it comes to online travel content, text and pretty pictures alone won’t cut it for much longer. We’re convinced of this because television is driving newspapers to extinction and there’s little to suggest the same thing won’t happen soon on the Internet.

This week there was fresh evidence that content providers are acting on those concerns. Visual Data Corp., a developer of original digital video content, inked a distribution and advertising partnership with Broadcast.com to create a new online travel video channel. The aggregator and broadcaster of streaming media programming has positioned the agreement as the first step in consolidating travel-related video and audio on the Web.

Pay attention, now. This affects all of us, whether we run a booking site, develop original content or just like to pretend we know a lot about interactive travel. If Broadcast.com is successful and it can drive some of its 1.1 million daily visitors to its travel channel, this could mean pink slips for a lot of us who live in a banner ad and HTML world.

“People have to wake up and realize that technology is developing rapidly,” says David Chestler, a vice president for Visual Data, which is based in Pompano Beach, Fla. “In a few years, everyone is going to have the ability to broadcast commercials and video clips on their Web page. Emerging compression standards will allow faster downloads from slower modem connections.”

The folks at Broadcast.com may differ with Chestler in one detail. They believe we won’t have to wait a few years for online video and audio to become a reality. As far as they’re concerned, it’s here now.

“The content is here. The partners are here. Now it’s just a matter of bringing it all into one portal,” says Kyle Smith, a senior account executive and manager of the travel channel at the Dallas company. “Travel is one of the biggest trends on the Internet, and we can empower users to make better buying decisions.”

To that effect, the Broadcast.com-Visual Data deal will offer a series of destination-related “clips” two minutes to four minutes long, specifically shot with the Internet in mind. If they’re interested in learning more, channel visitors will be able to select a video for a property or attraction. The clip will feature a digital “walkthrough” of the hotel, showing everything from a typical room to the pool or other amenities.

Chestler says Visual Data is working on ways to attract more customers and track where they come from while using the Broadcast.com travel portal. Plans are under way to add a sophisticated tracking mechanism so resorts can determine look-to-book ratios and analyze traffic.

A Broadcast.com spokeswoman declined to offer any specifics on the financial arrangements of the new travel channel.

There are three factors that could prevent this scheme from turning our world topsy-turvy. The first is bandwidth. Sure, new standards like MPEG4 could vastly reduce the time users have to wait for information, but will such solutions be too little, too late?

Another is appeal. The Visual Data presentations are compelling; they’re professionally filmed and produced. Advertisers and customers no doubt will find them irresistible, but how about users? In a medium as decentralized and countercultural as the Internet, where homegrown content is frequently preferred over the prefabricated and preapproved, how will these clips rate?

Finally, I’m more than a little concerned about attitude. In talking with Visual Data and, especially, Broadcast.com, I’m left with the impression that there’s a widening rift between the old-school hypertext content producers and the newfangled videographers of the Web. More to the point, I think the streaming media types look down their noses at the content producers who stubbornly insist on using text to relay their message.

This in a world where e-mail is still the killer app, much more widely used than the Web.

The Internet might surprise us all yet. Streaming media technology might be the next thing or it might remain a novelty. It all depends on how early deals like Visual Data’s agreement with Broadcast.com play out.

And, to some extent, whether we play along.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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