Here is my biggest problem with most “produced” online video: It’s a bunch of static images with interesting audio. Why make a video podcast? Why not just put up the audio? Because video is the new black, that’s why, even though most of it would be better served as audio.

Case in point: The most interesting visual in the most recent CalacanisCast/Bad Sinatra mashup is Jason Calacanis’ bulldog. (He also provides some interesting audio color at around 23 minutes or so). From a content standpoint, this is an interesting interview. Calacanis talks about his partnership with Michael Arrington to produce Techcrunch 20 next year, plans for what he’s doing, and some general thoughts around his philosophy of doing business. But the camera is static — a few zooms here and there, but for the most part we have Steve Gillmor’s back to us with a static view of Calacanis and his faithful bulldog.

Video is only worth being video if interesting visuals are part of the mix. Otherwise you’re asking me to focus my eyes and ears on something that my ears alone could manage.

Here are some examples of videos worth watching: Robert Scoble’s Photowalking Series. These are interesting to watch as well as hear, because Scoble’s camera is an active participant, recording the surroundings, the subjects and great how-tos from Thomas Hawk on photography. Every one of these is a keeper.

Diggnation has become an interesting video podcast, though it didn’t start out that way. I still download the audio only, but I’ve noticed that there are several moments in each podcast where I wish I had the visual, because they’re actively engaging the viewer as well as the listener. (I still wish they’d quit making such a big deal of getting drunk, because they’re funny enough without the stupid stuff.)

On the other hand, Cranky Geeks works quite well as an audio podcast; however, on the video they do break up the monotony of taping talking heads by interspersing some interesting images. Still, it could just as easily work as audio.

I’m not a big fan of video in general. If you ask any of my family members, they’ll tell you that I never sit and watch TV, but always am doing something else when the TV is on. If there’s something visual happening, I’ll look up, watch it, and as soon as the audio cues/dialogue kick in, I’m back to what I was doing before.

This becomes even more critical with Web video, where it’s not as simple as clicking a remote and getting a picture. If I’m working on my computer, I don’t really want to stop everything to train my eyes on the online video playing unless there’s something to watch. Despite the popularity of video, the only videos I really watch are:

• How-to videos (like the Photowalking series)
• Short, short funny videos like this one of Nora, the Piano-Playing Cat. These are fun because they’re short, there’s definite visual/action appeal, and they’re quirky.
• Live-feed news videos, like CNN Pipeline.
• Music videos like the ones Sticks is posting on his site or John Amato’s Late Nite Music Club with classic performance video.

If you’re wondering why I’m ranting about this tonight, it’s because I came across this great post by  Mindy McAdams  on online video, managing time, and the fact that watching video online is a huge time suck, particularly when you’re trying to hunt down a specific fact or answer a question. It’s far easier to read through a page of text than to load and watch a video to get it. She has the same problem I do:

There’s a brand-new video at onBeing today, an interview with a woman who plays football. I have it playing in the background, while I’m writing this. I’m listening while I write. I don’t have time to watch right now.

If you’re asking for my time to watch something, it needs to be compelling enough and important enough for me to stop whatever I’m doing and watch it. Videos ask for my undivided attention, and I only give that to compelling visual and audio content. If it doesn’t have both, I’ll listen but not watch, which strikes me as incredible waste of bandwidth.

Video podcasters and Vidbloggers need to think about this before automatically making a video of content that could just as easily work as audio. And by the same token, I would really appreciate it if audio feeds for some of these video podcasts were made separately available so that I could simply listen (and save the bandwidth) rather than watch.

I agree completely with McAdams’ conclusion, and invite those producing video content for the web to open up a discussion about when the video format could just as easily be audio:

Passing the time vs. managing your time.

There are big differences between these two uses of time – which is precious to everyone. Some content is going to be very well suited to video — but other content will be better when it’s delivered in other, more appropriate formats. We’ve got to have open discussions about when video is a good choice and when it is not.

What videos do you watch online?  Which do you find most interesting?

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