The problem with web video is that there are precisely 83,958,234 "web video producers" out there, and most of them, never having sold a "real" video in their life are willing to work for peanuts.
To compete against these folks, you need to do more than just offer a service, you need to demonstrate that you're better than they are, and that you're justified in charging a few grand for a quality production. Even then, I have scary visions that this new wave of video producers might, if not put us pros out of business, at least force us out of some of the markets we've comfortably lived in for years.
My dad used to be a printer. Ran his own business, and complete with a couple million-dollar Heidelberg presses. You know what drove him out of business? Desktop publishing. In the late 90's when color injet printers were becoming commonplace, people were looking at putting together a 20 page report, and thy realized that for the same price my dad charged they could buy an inkjet printer and do it themselves. Sure, the quality stank in comparison, and they didn't have the years of layout expertise to make them the same as he would, but at the end of the day, loyalty to their printer gave way to saving money. And you can't make payments on a couple million dollar Heidelbergs when your customers ditch you to do it themselves.
In some ways, I worry that with the mass production of cheap camcorders and YouTube&Friends, the perceived value of video production is taking a hit. Sure, we have better equipment, and we've got experience. But then, the same was true for my dad, who left his dream job of printing to build kitchen cabinets. Camcorders are in 2009 what the color inkjet was in 1999. They're getting better and cheaper, and if we're not careful, we may find ourselves in the custom cabinets business ourselves.
Okay, that was a little bleak. Trying to be a hair less macabre, I will say that our fate doesn't have to line up to that of the pressmen of the late 20th century. There are still printing companies in business, albeit many less than there used to be. The ones that are still around survived by offering services at competitive rates, and trough lots of perseverance. They also heavily promote services you just can't do well at home, like bindery, carbonless forms, etc... In an analogue to that, I would say that video producers need to look for that edge that average Joe with a handycam can't duplicate readily. For example, I bought a live switch for my business, and it's already paid for itself.
There are ways to make money in video, but it's not an easy road. We have to be better, stronger, and faster than the competition, and competition includes your client buying a camcorder and doing it himself. We need to work work work, and only that will ensure our continued viability as a trade.
