#SMWLA Preview: Online Video Is Changing The Meaning Of ‘Mainstream’

From September 23-28, online companies, executives, and personalities will gather in Santa Monica for Social Media Week Los Angeles. To help showcase the incredible events that will be going down this year, Tubefilter will be offering daily previews of individual events. Check out the full schedule here and our schedule at a glance here.

TV programs still claim a much bigger market share than web series, but the online video is still managing to undermine traditional media’s hold on mainstream eyes. Instead of working against TV, the web is supplementing it by providing viewers with the bonus content, experimental formats, and filter-free programming they cannot find on the small screen.

This power dynamic was eloquently illustrated by Kevin Spacey in a recent keynote. Spacey didn’t specifically instruct TV producers to get their butts on the Internet, but he urged them to put control into the peoples’ hands, and where better to do that than on the web?

At Social Media Week Los Angeles, an

all-star panel will explore the way this ‘new mainstream’ is changing the way we experience our favorite shows. Hosted by creative consultancy Imagine 1369, the panel features four online video notables. YouTube’s Head of Global Creator Development And Management, Bing Chen (who works closely with YouTubers like Ryan Higa), will describe the ways in which online creators have gained public attention; Comedy Central VP of Digital Development Allison Kingsley will discuss the process of creating an online companion to a popular TV channel; Vuguru Director of Distribution and Marketing Jason Eskin will offer up the strategies behind his company’s TV-style web offerings; and Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl creator Issa Rae will provide the perspective of an actual online content creator. It’s a diverse group that is sure to offer a wide variety of viewpoints.

The ‘New Mainstream’ panel will go down on Thursday, September 26th at 4 PM at ROC Santa Monica. If you’re interested, you can sign up right here.