Original Web Video Still A Bust

The Web has proven itself a capable place to distribute video -- Americans watched 14.5 billion videos online in March, according to comScore. But efforts to create original video for the Web are still mostly flat; in a hit-based business, there just aren't many Web-original hits. Instead, the most popular Web videos -- and the streams most likely to generate revenue for their producers -- are still offline-first productions like TV shows and music videos. That explains why media companies are most interested in deals like Vevo, the music video site YouTube is building with Universal Music Group; and Hulu, which Disney just joined.