Category Archives: AOL

AOL, BlipTV, Google, google video, metacafe, Online Video, Revver, Viral Video, Web 2.0, Yahoo Video, YouTube

Comparing and Rating Video Search Engines

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videosearchsites.jpgWhile Google/YouTube may change the dynamic of video search, it’s still hopelessly frustrating to find a video online. Wall Street Journal writer Jessica Vascellaro wrote a nice article on video search today. I liked it not just because it was the first time I’ve been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal. The article shows that companies have made significant efforts to address search. Ironically I can’t find the article online. But it’s titled “Finding Tom Cruise (Not Cruise Missiles). Have a go.

Inspired by the piece, I did my own comparisons of the online video search websites she referenced (and one she didn’t- Videoronk.com). My methodology was simple. I searched on my username (Nalts) which I also use to tag every video I upload to any video site. If nothing showed up, I can assume that the engine is crawling neither the username nor the tags, which means it’s not effective. If that failed, I tried a few of the unique titles I have for my videos.

In general all of the sites were poor at finding my videos. Results were incomplete, and they are based purely on the metadata (titles, tags, etc.) which I provide when I upload them. Eventually sites will convert speech to text and that will help. But it will be a long while before these operate with the success of search engines looking for text.

The ratings are in the image above. The winner by a mile is Videoronk. While it only indexes a small portion of my videos (and other people that have tried it), it’s still outperforming the other search tools). Purevideo was in second place because it also has links to each online-video site’s top videos. Pixsy was marginal, and Blinkx.com has actually gotten worse since the last time I used it.

Honorable mentions go to AOL Video and Yahoo Video — both video sites index videos beyond those on their site. Ironically, Yahoo Video ranked my Blip.tv videos higher than those that I uploaded on Yahoo Video. Revver seemed to be the online-video site that was most searchable by these engines. All but Blinkx.com found my Revver videos (which is ironic because Blinkx.com established a partnership with Revver earlier this year).

I didn’t include Metacafe in this test because it’s a destination site, but it’s planning some advanced search features like language translation in search. We can only hope that Google will start to do a better job of indexing YouTube videos and videos on other sites.

For now the easiest way to find a video is to start with YouTube, and then hit Videoronk if you don’t find it. 

AOL, book, Future of Online Video, Google, google video, Making Videos, Online Video, popular videos, Revver, Video Advertising, Video Business, Video Sites, vlogging, Web 2.0, Yahoo Video, YouTube

He “Wrote the Book” on Viral Video

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hemmingway.jpgI’ve decided to write a book on viral video — aimed primarily at marketers and advertisers since amateur videographers and film makers don’t have enough money to buy books. Naturally I haven’t written a book before, but I sometimes read them. So I figure I’m pretty qualified.

The working title is: “The Profit (Prophet) of Viral Video,” and it comes with access to an extranet that hosts updates and links to case-study videos.

To you, dear readers, I pose the following question:

  1. Can I write a book despite having a full-time job that occupies no less than 12 hours a day? And without compromising my wife and kids? I’m willing to sleep less.
  2. Any better ideas on the title? It’s a double entendre.
  3. How do I find a publisher? Of the 1,000 of you that read this I have to believe someone knows a friggin’ publisher that focuses in mainstream marketing books. I don’t feel like self publishing. How about forwarding this post to your buddy at a publishing company and help him discover his next New York Times best seller?
  4. I want to follow the lead of Hemingway (pictured here), but I will be using shorter sentences and not killing myself when I’m done.

Here’s the synopsis of “The Profit (Prophet) of Viral Video”:

virus.gifThe online video market is exploding, with incredible surges of consumer-generated online video, and dramatic jumps in the videos viewed on such sites as YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo Video, AOL Video, Revver and Metacafe. Online video has surpassed cable television as a medium and will soon merge with traditional television viewing in ways we can hardly anticipate.

It’s the end of the 60-second spot. Marketers can no longer rely on creative advertisements that are thrust on consumers “interruption style.” Advertisements have to do more than hold attention, they must create a viral effect in which the video is so good the viewer will share it with friends. As we consumers take control our viewing habits through online video and time-shifted viewing (TiVo), the only videos we’ll elect to watch (when we have an option) are those that inform and entertain us.

buttcrack.jpg(Here’s the part where I toot my own horn): Viral video creator Kevin Nalty has shared more than 200 short videos online that have been viewed my millions online and featured on prominent sites like Yahoo and Google. His videos have appeared on ABC Nightline, Good Morning America, CBS News, CNN and BBC. Nalty shares his learning from creating videos and maintaining the most popular blog on the subject of online video profiting. His background in television and marketing – including participation in some of the most viral video campaigns – gives him unique insight into what works and doesn’t in the new age of short-form, demand driven video. He also makes a side income by producing videos for Revver and Metacafe, which share their advertising revenue with creators.

  • dog.jpgIn “The Profit (Prophet) of Viral Videos,” Nalty provides the tips you’ll need to:
  • Understand the impact of online video to advertisers, marketers and brands
  • Create appealing viral videos that get forwarded and shared
  • Market your promotional and entertainment videos through prominent online video channels
  • Develop ways to measure the views and impact of your videos
  • Profit from vehicles that that share advertising revenue with video creators (like Revver and Metacafe)
  • Build your own video site without any technical expertise
  • Stay on top of the rapidly changing online-video landscape

Target Audiences:

  1. Advertisers looking for ways to create viral videos for their clients
  2. Marketers wanting to understand how to play in the new world where the consumer can be your best marketing channel
  3. Amateur video creators looking to make a side income doing what they love
  4. Filmmakers who are not sure how to approach the online space

P.S. Don’t steal the idea please. I’m trusting you. I’ve already got about 10 chapters outlined with sub bullets, but I thought I’d better not give the whole thing away or you won’t buy the book.

P.P.S. Post comments or contact me via the e-mails listed in the “about me” section of this blog.

AOL, BlipTV, Google, google video, metacafe, Online Video, Revver, Yahoo Video, YouTube

Best and Worst Site for Getting Your Videos Seen Fast

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In my unscientific study I have identified the best and worst site for getting videos viewed quickly. This is based on my own experiments as well as feedback from some of you that have found this to be true as well.

Best site for getting views quickly: AOL Uncut (the consumer-generated portion of AOL). Example- something I uploaded 2 hours ago has more than 100 views. The exception to this would be when Metacafe, Yahoo, or Google feature you. Then your views rock.

Worst site for getting views: Eefoof (a company that shares ad revenue). Example- videos I uploaded a month ago have accumulated fewer than 10-20 views each.

Is this consistent with your findings? The winners for most-viewed appear to be (according to my videos):

  1. Metacafe (if your video is featured). I’m still making very decent money when they feature my videos. Dig the new logo.
  2. Google Video (slow and steady increases over time… a video never seems to die there)
  3. Yahoo Video (better than YouTube, and if they feature you your video can skyrocket- but that’s only happened to me twice)
  4. YouTube (really hard to get traffic there… 50-500 views seems about the average. Too much competition). I’ve had 250K views total at YouTube, but I’ve done much better on Google (million) and Yahoo (nearly million).
  5. Revver traffic is modest, but that’s because it’s up to the creators and affiates to get the video seen. Significant views don’t happen at Revver.com because it’s an infrequented website. All those EepyBird Mentos-Coke views occured on EepyBird via Revver. Not at Revver.com.

Remember that only four sites are paying (Revver, Metacafe, Eefoof, Blip and Lulu). I’ve had no luck with Eefoof and Lulu, but Blip should be “one to watch” if they embrace paying content creators.

Now we can only hope that our videos on Revver and Metacafe get as much traffic as the more trafficked sites.

AOL, Online Video, Video Sites

AOL Video Grows Dramatically in August

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aol-video-growing.jpgJust yesterday I wrote about how we don’t care about AOL. Today, via Micropersuasion, I found some data that Hitwise makes public. Hitwise is a bit more reliable than Comscore because it draws on a panel of 25 million individuals via ISP data (10 million in the U.S.).

Here’s the AOL Video growth chart, which is featured as a “fast mover” on Hitwise. Note that this reports on share not raw volume, and some of this growth could be based on the low baseline (relative to the bigger players in this space).

Also- correction from earlier post. AOL DOES have user generated content via Uncut. Marquisdejolie pointed this out, but I couldn’t find his videos (search doesn’t appear too strong). So we’re still bored by the AOL Video solution but at least the traffic is interesting.

AOL, book, Google, google video, Killer Video, metacafe, Online Video, Revver, Video Advertising, Video Business, Video Sites, Viral Video, Yahoo Video, YouTube

Mandatory Reading for Journalists Covering “Online Video”

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Dear regular WillVideoForFood readers: permit me to speak directly to the media in this post. Read this if you wish, but most of it’s not new to you.

angry.jpgMy friends in media. You’re under deadline. You want to do a story about online video. Your instincts tell you to package another human interest story about the popularity of YouTube. But you know better. The story isn’t just broken it’s shattered.

Now you want a new angle. While some people are happy being popular online, others are looking to make money. And they are- little folks that have day jobs but talent that once never left their living rooms. You’ve read about the EepyBird folks that made the Diet Coke Mentos fountain, and earned probably $50K by now via Revver. So how does this new “consumer generated video”  turn to profit?

The most important thing I hope you’ll take from this post is that all online video sites are not the same. Are eBay, Monster and Amazon the same company because they all sell via the Internet?

There are 4 distinct classes of online video.

Please don’t confuse them, because you know the folks at the other network will. Which is probably why you left that network (in addition to the fact that the psycho who ran the booking department was totally hitting on you). Four classes:

  1. Popular Stand Alone (YouTube is ahead by miles according to Hitwise, Comscore, Alexa, etc.). Probably 30-40 percent of online videos are served from this San Mateo company based in a loft over the pizza store (be sure to add that to your YouTube story because only 4% of stories about YouTube neglect to mention that. Don’t forget to enter our YouTube “bubble burst” pool while you’re here, because it’s not yet a viable business.
  2. Top Online Sites with small but growing online video status (Google, Yahoo, AOL)
  3. Revenue-Sharing (aka pay-for-content) sites (Revver, Metacafe, Eefoof). These folks sell advertisements around the video and give the video content owners (mostly amateurs) a piece of the action.
  4. “Destined for Bankruptcy” sites… like my own CubeBreak and Chapter11TV.com.

Now you know that you can’t really compare “revenue-sharing” sites with YouTube. And I know your EP is asking for a story outline in 15 minutes, but let’s make sure you know the difference between the three “revenue-sharing” sites. I’m going to save you the trouble of taking boring calls from PR people (while you daydream about hte moron that just got promoted to EP because he sucked up to your bosses’ boss).

revver.jpg
Revver: The first site to split ad proceeds, Revver debuted in beta mode late in 2005. In the next few weeks it will officially launch, and it is unique in that it’s not a destination site. Think of it as the Visa for online video. It facilitates people sharing their content without digital-rights management. When someone clicks the ad at the end of the Revver video, I get 50% of the advertisers payment to Revver. I’ve made about $2000 on my 200 plus videos since January. Note that you have to market your videos to get clicks because Revver’s monthly traffic doesn’t touch YouTube’s daily traffic. For press inquiries contact Revver’s Queen of Content Relationships, Micki Krimmel, via the Revver Blog because she’s nicer than the PR person. Ask them to let you interview Steven Starr – the co-founder who has really big muscles. Revver’s new site is a technical dream (flash, advanced sharing, etc.) and the company is partnering closely with major media players for advertising and content partnerships.

metacafe.jpg
Metacafe: A new entrant to the “revenue-sharing” space, Metacafe launched last week a Producer Rewards program in which it provides video owners with $5 for every 1,000 views a video gets. This amounts to somewhat less per view than Revver but Metacafe has lots of traffic. It’s in the top 10-15 most popular video sites depending on source and when you check. Within the past several weeks I’ve made more than $2000 on the 4 videos they’ve accepted and featured. For press inquiries contact Dan Sevitt (and I’ll insert his PR agency’s contact later today). They’re in Israel so they can you can call them at 3:00 EST as you’re eating old Chinese Food and wondering if you should change professions because your boss is such an egotistical jerk.

eefoof.jpg
Eefoof: Eefoof is a small startup that’s in a beta mode now. Eefoof allows creators to submit photos, audio and video. At the end of the month, Eefoof takes its piece of the advertising revenue and then spreads the rest out to creators based on views. I just started using Eefoof but my videos haven’t received much traffic. I know others that have experimented with Eefoof and made about $7 in a month. Contact CEO Kevin Flynn (here’s his appearance on CNBC). Contact here.
Note: Google’s new contract/terms suggest it will soon share Adsense and Google Video revenue with content creators, although it hasn’t officially launched yet.

So now you’re ready for the story. All I ask is that you consider using some of my videos in your b-roll. Oh- and feed your cameramen and PAs beause they’ll be your boss one day.

AOL, BlipTV, google video, Making Videos, metacafe, Online Video, Revver, Video Sites, Viral Video, Yahoo Video, YouTube

You Won’t Get Discovered on YouTube

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get.jpgI’d like to take a moment to dispel the biggest myth of online video. Since a few “cross over” stars have been discovered on YouTube, people have begun to think that they can too.

Folks, it’s like playing the lotto. You have the same chance winning whether you play or not.

You won’t get discovered on YouTube. You’ll be a waitress in Hollywood taking a lunch break for your 177th audition. It’s not that you’re unworthy. You have talent. You’re even quite funny!

Here’s the problem: While it’s true that YouTube dominates online-video share, it’s wayyyyyyy easier to get yourself seen on a 2nd-tier or 3rd-tier site. Sure the BoobTube gets 10 zillion viewers a day. But there are eleventy gazillion videoscompleting for mindshare, and the viewers only look at the really popular stuff. So you won’t get popular because you’re not yet popular. I’m sorry to let you down. There’s just too much crap seeking the same eyeballs.

Try submitting to the 2nd-tier sites (Google Video, Yahoo Video and AOL Video) and you’ll be surprised how much more traffic you get. Even better, get on Metacafe, Blip or Revver. The deeper you go the bigger fish you’ll be in a smaller pond.

Let me close with this little story… My friend Tony Braithwaite went to LA to become a movie star. He tried for a year, and then got wise. He came back to Philadelphia to do stage theater. He’s now a living stage legend in Philly. That’s you on a 2nd tier site, friend.

AOL, Online Video

Time Warner AOL to Price Movies at $9.99 to $19.99 per Movie

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AOL will offer movie downloads from four studios (20th Century Fox, Sony, Universal and Warner Brothers).

AOL Video started in August as a one-stop shop to search and download a wide range of video content from the Web,” wrote ScientificAmerican.com in an article that makes one wonder if they’re not owned by AOL/TimeWarner.

Why price the same as retail for a download that doesn’t include the packaging and probably has ridiculous digital-rights management locks?

  1. No difficult-to-open DVD wraps
  2. No expensive gas to get to the video store
  3. There is no reason 3
  4. AOL has been good to you. Return the favor by taking their profit margins from 30 percent to 80 percent
AOL, BlipTV, Google, google video, metacafe, Online Video, Revver, Video Sites, Web 2.0, Yahoo Video, YouTube

Another Ranking of Top 10 Video Sites

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Here’s another ranking of top video sites (by LightReading.com). I’m reminded that it’s probably time for me to update my ranking of the top revenue-sharings sites.

I admire LightReading’s thorough review, but I’m surprised that it overlooked the fundamental differences in business models between these sites. I suppose LightReading is an infrastructure site that is looking at it from that angle, but it does get down to comparing user experience and functionality.

However how can you review online video sites and not talk about the advertising models and whether you can make money by submitting… or not?

  1. Here’s the “cheat sheet.”
  2. Here’s a deeper dive on criteria for the cheat sheet.
  3. Here are the specific reviews for LightReading’s favorites.

    Blip.tv
    VideoEgg
    Dailymotion
    YouTube
    Veoh
    Google Video
    Grouper
    Jumpcut
    AOL
    Eyespot

AOL, Killer Video, Making Videos, Online Video, popular videos, Viral Video

America Online Spoof Video: “AOL Privacy Cam”

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This is the video I did last night to spoof the recent news that AOL released private data from 650,000 of its customers.

I was getting the shakes last night because I hadn’t made a video in about a week (new job). So I cranked this out after reading a TechCrunch article about this AOL thing. It’s an experiment. What happens to an irreverent and timely satire of news events? Will it catch on or end up in the sand dunes of viral-video wasteland?

Don’t be too critical. It took about as much time to shoot and edit as this post took to write.  I would have played with the soundtrack a bit more  but the Ambien was kicking in. Barely got it uploaded.aol-privacy-cam.jpg