Jet Blue Goes Direct To The Web


It’s a great TV commercial – except it was made only for the web….

Early adapters are beginning to opt out of broadcast and cable and head for all web, all the time for their videos.

Now, some early adapter companies are starting to do the same thing.

Everyone in the ad business dreams of the video that goes ‘viral’.

But in their dreams (cast in the 1980s view of technology), their ad agencies create a $3 million 30-second spot for broadcast on TV networks and then they put it on YouTube.

But increasingly YouTube is the go-to place for video, and it seems some companies have decided to bypass the broadcast first rule entirely.

This is good.

It’s a sign that true video (as opposed to repurposed and afterthhought) is beginning to enter mainstream thinking,

This reverse of fortune is not new.

When the web was first becoming an interesting place to be (the 1990s) I was President of New York Times TV.  The paper had just launched its website, nytimes.com, but Joe Lelyveld, the Managing Editor of the paper had a rule: nothing could go on the website until it had been published in the paper first. Paper first, web second.

A lot of cable shows treat the web the same way – the poor cousin in the attic.  Broadcast first – web for the leftovers.

This is starting to change, but slowly.

But it is chainging

And, it’s where it’s all going to end up.

So why not get there first.

That, at least, is what Jet Blue seems to be doing.

This simple spot was made exclusively for the web.

Nice.

Michael Rosenblum

For more than 35 years, Michael Rosenblum has been on the cutting edge of the digital video journalism revolution. During this time, he has lead a drive for video literacy, and the complete rethinking of how television is made and controlled. His work has included: The complete transitioning of The BBC's national network (UK) to a VJ-driven model, starting in 2002. The complete conversion of The Voice of America, the United State's Government's broadcasting agency, (and the largest broadcaster in the world), from short wave radio to television broadcasting and webcasting using the VJ paradigm (1998-present). The construction of NYT Television, a New York Times Company, and the largest producer of non-fiction television in the US. Rosenblum was both the founder and President of NYT TV, (all based on this paradigm (1996-1998). The President and Founder of Video News International, a global VJ-driven newsgathering company, with more than 100 journalists around the world. (1993-1996). Other clients include Spectrum News, Verizon and CBS News.