In their new report, Online Video: Making Content Pay eMarketer declares: “Video images are flooding across the Internet.” What is more, they believe that online video will continue to expand; in the US alone, eMarketer projects an increase from 114 million viewers in 2006 to 183 million viewers in 2011.

The report also estimates the top three leading types of video content viewers consume online are news (14%), movie and TV trailers (12%), and music videos (11%).

It seems the buzz around online video is likely to increase as more Internet users make Web video a regular component of their online experience—particularly for news and entertainment as evidenced above. However, not everyone is ready to embrace these projections. Senior Analyst Paul Verna explains:

“Some of the major players in the industry are fearful that the widespread availability of video content on the Internet will threaten traditional TV and film distribution models…others see the potential to increase revenues through a variety of new business models, including ad-supported streaming, pay-to-own downloads, subscription services and online rentals.”

What is clear is that video advertising specifically—and media revenue models more generally—will need to grow and shift as consumers move towards less traditional ways of interacting with media.

In addition to increasingly varied revenue opportunities, the explosion of online video content also raises questions of accessibility and navigation. As more video hits the Internet and users scramble to find specific clips, content providers will face the inadequacies of the current video search models head on. Search is the online modus operandi and Web video should not be the exception. If video content viewers increase at the rates eMarketer projects, video search capabilities will need to ramp up to meet viewer demand. Making video content navigable should help towards that “Making Content Pay” goal as well.