If you wanted proof of the (potential) power of You Tube, look no further than Nobody's Watching.
Here's a high concept sitcom for you: two twenty somethings make home video bemoaning the state of sitcoms; send it studio; get asked to do better; hilarity ensues (or not)...hence Nobody's Watching. The problem: Warners found the whole thing too post-modern-ly complex, and so the pilot didn't get past test screening stage.
This was 18 months ago. Recently though said pilot appeared on You Tube by, it seems, rather cloak and dagger means. And, in a rather ironic twist on it's Wayne's World-esque premise, has found a ready audience: nearly 400,000 downloads and counting.
Conspiracy theorists will obviously cry foul, and say it's a scam. But interviews with key players suggest not. And what this shows is how the hegemony of media owners is coming under pressure from web 2.0. Previously, media owners controlled content because they controlled the route to market. But with things like blogs, You Tube, Myspace Films etc., the barrier between production and distribution is breaking down. And I'm not talking 'funny' home movies here; I'm talking the real deal direct to the audience.
You are your own media, and if you make it they will come.
