In an article in The New York Observer today, Felix Gillette quotes Marshall as saying the new project is part of an effort to expand his audience, with the idea that if a video goes "viral" it will attract new readers to the blog. The main TPM site is undergoing a full transformation in the next few weeks to make everything more video-friendly, and episodes from TMP TV will occupy a prominent spot near the top.

An interesting bit near the end quotes Web activist Andrew Rasiej as saying that moving to video is no longer just an optional move for serious Web sites.

“There’s an inherent danger in not recognizing that the Internet is becoming much more video-based than text-based,” said Mr. Rasiej. “The new skill set that’s going to be required is ‘videracy,’ not just literacy. Bloggers who fail to understand the shifting dynamic do so at their own peril.”

Mr. Rasiej has faith that Mr. Marshall will succeed in the new medium. “Josh has already proven that he can build an audience online and that he doesn’t need the banner of The Washington Post or The New York Times above his name,” said Mr. Rasiej. “He is about to prove that the same is true in Internet video, where he doesn’t need CNN or PBS or MSNBC to get the eyeballs and the traffic necessary to build an audience.”

Jeff Jarvis, the founder of new media blog BuzzMachine.com, also thinks that Mr. Marshall is making a wise investment. “We’re all experimenting,” said Mr. Jarvis. “It’s a great time to be doing this. Web video is going to be critical to this world.”