Formerly known to power only annoying splash pages, Adobe's Flash has zoomed to 2nd place in the online video market.When it comes to enabling technologies, Flash is the backbone of the Internet.
The former bane of standards gurus, widely known for many an obnoxious splash page (or
entire sites), is now being hailed as the
backstage player in the new online Hollywood.
Flash rose from zero to No. 2 in its market in the last two years,
Accustream iMedia
Research told the San Jose Mercury News recently. Microsoft's Windows Media format is the leader, handling 60
percent of all streaming video in 2005; Flash has 19 percent of the
market, jumping ahead of RealNetworks at about 10 percent and Apple's
QuickTime, with about 8 percent.
Of the top ten video sharing sites on the Web right now, Flash powers at least five of them: YouTube, Yahoo, Grouper, DailyMotion, and vSocial.
In the last few months, ABC has launched an online theatre based on Flash. CBS' Showbuzz and CBS' Innertube on the other hand, both use Realplayer.
I'm willing to bet the biggest hurdle Adobe faces in getting complete adoption is other companies partnering with Microsoft. The Associated Press, for example, launched a Windows Media-based streaming network in March AFTER they'd already partnered with the Feed Room, which built them a Flash-based player. The AP said they ended up going with Windows Media because of the strength of the MSN ad sales team.
All that said, I think what we'll continue to see, start-ups -- who have fewer partnerships to worry about than established companies -- use Flash to make a big splash in new markets.
This article originally appeared on Steve Bryant's blog, InterMedia.
Note: This article has been corrected to remove a statement saying MySpace uses the Windows Media Player. MySpace actually uses Flash to stream video.
Online Media 
