• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 27, 2017

This news follows Verizon/Awesomeness TV’s February decision to stop plans for its announced premium-content service.

IAC executives believe Vimeo could run at a fraction of the cost of other major competitors, given Vimeo's longstanding efforts in the marketplace. It launched in December 2004 — two months before YouTube began.

At the same time, Facebook now wants to amp up its video efforts for premium-scripted TV shows, with content found on broadcast and cable networks.

The Wall Street Journal says the social media site is planning to produce TV shows with a production budget of $3 million an episode — “TV quality” shows. That's akin to what cable and broadcast networks spend on scripted half-hours, or in some cases, hour-long programs.

Another report says Fox Sports will focus less on “written” resources for its channels, but will spend more on video. Bloomberg says Fox Sports is eliminating about 20 writing and editing positions in Los Angeles, and replacing them with video production, editing and promotion jobs.

Video. Video. Video. Get the message?

Media business executives do. Massive changes in the digital-media landscape offer a once-in-a-lifetime chance for new and tangential media players — or even traditional print-media companies — to make a big play here.

It wasn’t that long ago — about a decade or so — that digital-media proponents said user-generated videos/content would be the new desirable content for the digital age. Old-time scripted TV shows weren't what digital consumers — young, Millennial consumers — wanted.

User-generated content does offer a democratization of video. But it doesn’t always satisfy audiences.

After a while, we want someone to tell us a good story. Not every outlet can do that — or has the resources to do so. That’s why Netflix has a $6 billion budget for TV/movie productions.

Companies can make money from "TV-quality" shows. Viewers will buy. And for some SVODs, so will advertisers.