You've heard of William Hung, the most famous American Idol reject, but have you seen Gary Brolsma?
Brolsma shot to fame after posting a video clip of himself on the internet doing the 'Numa Numa' dance to a Romanian pop song. His clip has drawn more than two million hits and spawned hosts of admiring imitators, which puts him in the ranks of that Darth Vader kid, Ghyslain Raza.
The 19-year-old American in many ways represents the sweeping shift taking place in the entertainment industry.
Hung is broadcast television - so old paradigm, so last year. Brolsma is new paradigm - digital entertainment - an age in which anyone with access to the internet can find 15 minutes of fame.
But Brolsma's celebrity is not important. What is important is that audiences are actually tuning in. This could have profound implications for broadcast TV. Television already competes with the internet for viewers. The coming era of 'internet everywhere, any time on any device' will multiply choices for viewers. To compete, content creators will need to make their wares available over multiple platforms or else go extinct.
'As choice becomes extensive and time remains limited, attention becomes a scarce resource,' said Saul Berman, media and entertainment partner at IBM Business Consulting Services.
