Viewfinder: How are TV and Video Different?

The phrase "TV show" originated in the 1940s from the phrase "radio show." Both phrases originally referred to broadcast programs. Entertainer Jack Parr started his career with a radio show and successfully transitioned into The Tonight Show, a TV show now hosted by Jay Leno. While the term broadcasting was coined to define TV signals emitted from an antenna on top of a tower, we now consider programs that are transmitted via satellite or cable television to also be "TV shows."

At the beginning of the TV industry, there were very few TV shows so the programs had to be extremely broad in their appeal. With the advent of hundreds of TV channels, dozens of niche networks transmit TV shows with much more narrowly targeted audiences. The term "video" has several definitions, but when we refer to the plural (videos), we are usually referring to videocassettes or DVDs. Half a million viewers is a major success for a "video," but a major TV network might consider 500,000 viewers a disaster.

Videos don't require massive audiences for financial success so their aim is to smaller audiences compared to TV shows. The dominant genres of videos are instructional (how-to) and special interest (documentary). Unlike advertiser supported TV shows, videos retail between $10 and $90 and the viewer expects no commercial interruptions. All of this review seems quite academic, but there's opportunity buried in these details, so read on.