Predictions for 2015 …Continued…Web Video and Financial Web

Yesterday I wrote about what I saw happening in Fintech and Web Video.

Late in the day, Bill Gurley chimed in on Twitter with this post:

He’s not an average Venture Capitalist. He’s a legend.

$AOL continued it’s video acquisition spree buying Vidible yesterday for $50 million. Yahoo bought Brightroll for $640 million a few weeks ago.

All the media/content platforms are arming up.

Today, I watch more HBO and Showtime than any other channel…mostly Sunday or one night catching up, but I can imagine a day in the next 5 years where there is enough fantastic content from the non cable channels and web that I will always feel behind, much like magazines used to pile up.

At that point, the long tail effects of great content around topics will also be kicking in as more and more great web video type shows tackle the long tail discovery business model to be discovered on YouTune, Apple, Netflix or Amazon.

As Television and screen prices plunge along with bandwith, the perfect storm for always on great content will be at hand. Take a look at the cost of televisions:

As for the Financial web, 2015 will see the mixing of some great API’s to disseminate news and even trade within a mobile notification. E-brokers have hung on to their last $3-$8 per trade for years. In 2015 it will be wiped away. It may not seem like much, but if it was not important to the brokerages they would have gone to zero years ago.

At first when I heard about free trading from Robinhood, I told them not to pigeonhole themselves. After using the product and watching people transact for a few months, I take it back. Zero commission is everything to the millenials and even old guys like me with a social brokerage account nearing $100,000 to trade. When you finally open an account you will have that same feeling you did with UBER…that magical, rock star feeling. You will show your friends that at a flick of your thumb you bought $100 shares of Apple before earnings and he will go short …if even just for bragging rights.

The investing world I see in 2015 is one of notifications. The stocktwits community is kicking up 50,000 plus ideas a day that can be shared and acted upon within a notification. It’s significant because of discovery and one’s ability to try new strategies and learn about new securities and industries by people that cover different styles and industries. The velocity of trading from sharing will really kick into gear by 2016 and those following the right people and crowds will bring stocks and their amazing companies back into vogue. Your Robinhood account will be on of your banks, your discount brokerage and might just be invisible depending on the social network you choose to journal and share your ideas about stocks and markets (communities like Stocktwits for one!)