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YouTube and video is the future and while this medium might not replace text, it will certainly hurt it.
Personally, I don't use YouTube for anything I can find on TV. I have a PVR and can digitally record any program I would otherwise miss. I know that many ppl catch up on shows and clips but frankly, the quality on my TV has yet to be rivalled by anything shown online.
What YouTube is great for (just ask Google) is the marketing potential. Firstly it has a reach of an enormously high percentage of internet surfers. Secondly, it distributes a medium that anyone involved in SEM will say is the future of online search. Thirdly, because of the virture of it being owned by Google, YouTube is a fantastic marketing platform.
Think about it. Everyone searches for text keywords now, bringing them mostly text results. People read blogs, news magazines, online journals, and even web forums like these. In a few years from though, look to video blogs, video newscasts, video journals and video forums. Even video wikipedia and video personals. People will input a text search and be presented with video results.
In fact, let me correct myself. This isn't happening in a few years; this is happening right now! Video sites like vimeo, ulinkx, metacafe, etc. are becomming immensely popular not just to the end user but the marketer as well. Viral marketing and videos are fantastic methods to encourage brand awareness and amazingly simple to do with available technology. SO while i might not use YouTube to watch Family Guy, I will for sure profit on video sites as a marketing platform and branding tool.
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