Let me cut right to the chase: Video on the Internet...

It's been percolating so long, it's easy to underestimate two things about it:

1. How fast it's coming

2. The profound impact it's going to have on the Internet.

As I write this, it's Christmas season 2005.

My prediction is that by this time next year, the biggest story in the media will be about how video took over the Internet.

It's going to happen that fast - and it's going to be that huge.

How can I be so sure?

I've seen it happen before.

Eleven years ago, I organized and sponsored the first seminar ever held on the subject of marketing on the web.

It was in San Francisco and Marc Andreessen, the inventor of the web browser, was our keynote speaker.

As enthusiastic as we were about the web, we both totally underestimated how fast and how powerfully the web was going to grow.

And that's when the web was just print and pictures.

Imagine the power of making video clips available on every subject under the sun, on demand, instantly available to Internet users.

Video will swamp text, the same way television swamped radio and newspapers.

Video won't eliminate print and picture web sites, just like television didn't eliminate radio, but video web sites will very quickly find themselves 'king of the hill' in every niche they enter.

For example:

Sports? Do you want to watch the play of the week - or read about it?

Weather? Do you want to see the path of the hurricane or blizzard in real time - or read about it?

Shopping? Do you want to see how a new gadget actually works - or do you want to read about it?

Whatever aspect of the Internet you're involved in, now's the time to step back and take some 'thinking time.'

If you could wave a magic wand and use video any way you want on your web site, how would you use it?

This is not an exercise in make believe.

It's preparation for a very real and very fast approaching future.

- Ken McCarthy