A new report from Forrester Research says that pay per view downloads are soon to go the way of the do-do, replaced by ad-supported videos. Anecdotally, I know a lot of people who prefer to wait to watch a show like Heroes online at NBC.com or Veronica Mars on the CW’s website rather than pay $1.99 for an ad-free (and higer resolution/sized) version through iTunes Music Store. Still, I think it’s premature to signal the end of pay-to-own videos… the Forrester report is $775, so I’m going to go ahead and pass on buying and reading it cover to cover. Maybe they need an ad-supported version? Hmmmm…

What does this spell for video podcasters? It’s not clear, to be honest… podcasters seem to find more success monetizing their shows through merchandise and ad revenue rather than through “premium” feeds anyways, but that may change. To be continued…