1 Yes, if you put up a YouTube video and allow advertising, you get a cut.

2 Google sponsored the 'Geek and Sundry channel, founded by Felicia Day. Thats where the money for this series comes from.

3

That's interesting. What the web did to newpapers and magazines, now it's about to start doing to cable TV.

"Broadcasting" on YouTube has some real advantages compared to cable. For one thing you're not stuck with a hard-and-fast length you have to fit into. For another things, FCC censorship rules don't apply.

It's just a trickle right now, but eventually it'll be a flood.

4

Webcasting/webstreaming is the way of the future, but I have my doubts about Youtube as the platform for it (Primarily due to the management/ownership of Youtube, i.e. Google.).

 

5

I think YouTube is going to be the foundation of this, just as Blogger was the foundation of blogging.

Blogger made it easy for people to get into blogging, and the number of blogs exploded as a result. (Of course, Sturgeon's Law was an underestimate when it came to this.)

But Blogger doesn't dominate blogging and YouTube won't dominate webcasting either. They're both convenient and cheap but limited in various ways, and ultimately unsatisfying. Blogger was training wheels for a blogger, and YouTube will be the same for webcasters.

6 I think some of his popularity in tabletop games comes from the Acquisitions Incorporated D&D games held at PAX each year. The videos are all on youtube, and have some rather hilarious, if raunchy, moments. One recurring theme is Wheaton's ongoing feud with acid traps.

I read somewhere recently (it might have been an Instalink) that a growing amount of bandwidth is going to people watching other people play games, whether console/PC or tabletop (either traditional or using PC tools like VASSAL or Roll20). I'll readily admit to watching playthroughs of games, particularly the movie-like ones (e.g., The Last of Us) that I have neither the time, skills, or often the hardware to play myself.

A heck of a lot of people are apparently watching top MOBA players go at it, though, and that might just mainstream e-sports once those viewers hit peak earnings age, much as the "Children of the '80s" have apparently driven some of Hollywood's choices in recent years (e.g., Transformers/GI JOE).

7 Yeah, Webcasting ability was apparently recently added to the nVidia drivers package in some of the latest versions I've downloaded, as well as full screen capture.

8 I'm gonna agree with BigD and admit to watching playthroughs of older games I no longer own or cannot play due to skill (in the video game arena.)  In the case of some board games like Mage Knight, a good video playthrough helps in learning the game beyond the basic instructions.  Box of Delights has shown me some strategies I don't think I would have ever thought of just playing on my own.

9

A lot of the dedicated streaming services like Twitch and UStream get much/most of their traffic from people broadcasting video game playthroughs.  Tougher games, harder to find games (Like Panzer Dragoon Saga - most US Sega Saturn games, actually.), import games, and speed runs will always get an audience.

I have friends who stream games and it is nice being able to watch games that you will never play or own.