Tesla shows how in-car video touchscreens will work. This will become standard on all cars - Media issues no doubt.

Tesla, the new electric flash car that the world is talking about, is also going to be a digital first and shows the opportunity for in-car tech which will have issues for things such as radio listenership.

(I should point out too, that Dermot Hanrahan, no stranger to radio and indeed, Electric Media, pointed out to me that Tesla was the name of a hungarian inventor who is largely credited with inventing radio for Marconi and not Marconi himself).

Tesla will have a 17 inch touchscreen display and in trials it revealed that during commuting times (peak airtime drivetime) that news accounted for 54% of usage. With 26% of sites visited being local news sites and 13% being financial related.

After news, restaurants/travel/auto related sites accounted for 15%, entertainment 14% and lifestyle 12%. 

Californians were the highest users of the screens by a mile but legislation in states regarding in-car screen restrictions (such as Washington + New York) meant lower opportunities to view.

Web video is not there yet but getting there and this will of course, bring online digital video into a new market. News for example, will need to be more video driven to reach this audience - an issue for online newspaper publishers.

The massive opportunity for in-car media is only at its infancy but it is something we should be aware of and react to. All cars will have web enabled screens as a standard and we the opportunity to deliver news/entertainment in a visual context, it may override audio radio listening.

But perhaps that's an opportunity rather than a threat. Radio Stations need to move into online video programming anyway, to reach the online user and indeed, to generate higher revenues from online TV. With established presenters doing established shows, there's no reason to move that type of programming online.

Unless of course, the presenter only has a face for radio.....

Disney spends 950 million on Marker Studios for YouTube online video. Nothing Mickey Mouse about it.

Disney is buying Marker Studios for a rumoured 950 m usd, which in itself isn't unusual except that Marker is probably the largest supplier of short-form video content on YouTube.

So here is the established brand Disney, recognising that it too needs to be in digital online video. 

Marker started only in 2009, but today has about 380 million subscribers with 55,000 youtube channels and wait for it, 5.5 Billion views a month....around 4% of youtube's monthly output.

And of course, Disney wants to reach out to those active subscribers. It also will change future online video consumption and production - but in a real positive way. Notably too, these subscribers will be young adults, right smack into Disney's market. Disney already own 'Club Penguin'.

It's a real shot in the arm too for youtube being able to up their game with rich Disney content and further proof, if it was needed, of the bright future of online video.

A 950 million bright future.