“Farting in Public” Kid Goes MIA: Campaign to Bring Back Spencer May 15, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Nalts, Online Video, Viral Video, YouTube, popular videos , 9commentsSpencer is my nephew’s friend who appeared in “Farting in Public” (now almost at 5 million views). We’ve done about 12 mostly public videos together, and here’s a playlist so you can watch them all on YouTube: “Best of Spencer.”
Spencer has a unique ability to suspend social anxiety and do just about anything without cracking up. Meanwhile, I stand behind the shaking camera laughing with tears in my eyes. He reminds me of The Man Show boy.
I’m starting a campaign to bring him back, because I miss him more than my online-video viewers. And he hasn’t returned phone calls lately. Maybe another creator has signed him. Well rest assured I pay better, Spencer! Free food, iTunes cards, gift certificates, Target trips and even a free Hamster that debuted in “Hamster on a Walk” (I hope Beaowulf is still alive).
Here’s my “Best of Spencer” video, appealing to viewers to charm him back in the “comments” section.
Doritos Video Contest April 21, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Contest, Online Video, YouTube, advertising, popular videos , 11comments
So there’s a galary of amateur videos (consumer-generated advertising) posted on Doritos’ UK website, including this classic Davideo hit. He’s the UK creator of the exploding Diet Pepsi Mentos girl, and one of my favorites in the use of abstract video animation (so be sure to rate it if “five sizzling chips” if you like it too).
It’s another agency produced flash site, so no direct links to the videos are provided, but it’s called “Just Can’t Wait.” So you have to go to the site, skip the intro, click “Just Can’t Wait” and vote. At least you don’t have to friggin’ register to vote.
Dear agencies: when are we going to learn that it’s cost prohibitive and unnecessary to create a custom site with subpar video players? To its credit, Doritos also set up a YouTube channel that features “Just Can’t Wait,” but I’m not sure votes count there.
Here’s another brave entrant featuring a guy whose tongue burns off. Kinda gross (as reflected by the votes) but has the most views.
eBaums Features My Worst Video Ever… L33t Dwarf Horses April 19, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Nalts, Online Video, popular videos , 8commentseBaums featured my worst video ever a few hours ago. It’s called “l33t dwarf horses,” and it’s a parody of “Internet gaming speak.” It was inspired by DigitalPh33r (see recent post on him). For more about l33t, see this Wikipedia entry. Or the Urban Dictionary version of it.
eBaums must have ripped the video from some website, and posted it. So I just set up my own Nalts account, posted the same video, and asked them to provide correct attribution.
Then again, with 224 scathing comments (in just four hours) and a 1/5 star rating, maybe I don’t want credit…
It’s Your Fault if You’re Bored Online April 17, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Blogs on Video, Future of Online Video, Online Video, Video Business, popular videos , 6comments
Now it’s your fault if you’re bored online and can’t find anything good to watch (besides Nalts crap).
Tilzy.tv aggregates and lists a lot of the top episodic programming, and may especially helpful as a transition drug to online-video. Especially for you noobs who still think television is more interesting.
The name, branding and tagline “guide to television on the web” a oddly retro, but that’s the point we suppose.
Good content as well as stories, like this recent news about Rabbit Bites getting sponsored by Purina. You go, Bunns and Chou Chou!
Want to Be Seen and Paid on YouTube? Your Relatives Matter… April 16, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Making Money, Making Videos, Online Video, Viral Video, YouTube, popular videos , 21comments
As many as 25% of the views of a video may come from people finishing a related video. This chart shows the percentage of views that come from various sources to my “The Best of Naked Vlogs.” This is not a representative example, but look at the percent of traffic that comes from “related video” (more than 50 percent). That means someone watched another nude vlogger and then saw mine show up as “related video” and stopped by. Or it means they saw one of the other nude vlogger videos that was posted as a response to mine (or vice versa).
So what’s this mean? Please don’t jam your tags with the same words of popular videos, because that used to game the system but frustrates people. YouTube/Google also has means for penalizing this trick if overused. But do try to make videos about things that are of high interest or topical, and you’ll get some help from relatives…
In other news — as you might have read — YouTube announced that it has paid out $1 million in cash to video creators that are part of its Partners program. Excerpt from NewTeeVee article…
YouTube said today it has paid out more than $1 million to its user partners through its partner program. The figure came as part of an announcement that YouTube is expanding the program to users in Japan, Australia and Ireland. YouTube doesn’t disclose how it splits its revenue, but we’ll make do with what scraps of numbers we have. The site currently lists 100 partners, though that also includes entities that we’d think would be designated as professional partners rather than “user partners,” such as Universal Music Group and CBS.
Appear Better Informed About Darfur in 3 Minutes: The Onion Makes Me Cry April 9, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Killer Video, Nalts, Online Video, Video Sites, Viral Video, YouTube, popular videos , 10commentsDarfur. We both know how serious it is, but we’re not sure exactly why or where it is.
The Onion (helping you seem more informed”) has produced this fantastic parody of news analysis. It’s called “How Can We Let Darfur Know How Much We’re Doing For Them.”
I’ve never laughed as much in preparing a post for this silly blog- in fact cried laughing (to use a bad pun). The Onion, I hope you know, is a website/print publication that has made the single finest transition to online-video content. The Onion News Network is as well written as the website I used to eagerly anticipate each Wednesday (in fact, it was literally the only website besides Google that I checked routinely in the early part of this century). But the acting is what cinches this. The acting is better than amateur online-video content, and most of television.
Watch each of these actors and realize how easy it is to believe that they’re real analysts and you’re not supposed to be laughing- the cadence, the off-camera glances, the “pile on” comments, and the timing. Folks if you’re watching, I’d kill for a cameo. No charge, and I’ll get their with 24-hours notice.
According to Wikipedia, (but watch out because The Onion reminds us Wikipedia is prone to error), The Onion launched The Onion News Network, a daily web video broadcast that had been in production since mid-2006. An early story featured an illegal immigrant taking an executive’s $800,000 a year job for $600,000 a year. The Onion has reportedly invested about $1 million in the production and has hired 15 new staffers to focus on the production of this video broadcast.[11] Carol Kolb, former editor-in-chief of The Onion, is the head writer.
In a Wikinews interview in November 2007, Onion President Sean Mills said the ONN has been a huge hit.
“We get over a million downloads a week, which makes it one of the more successful produced-for-the-Internet videos,” said Mills. “If we’re not the most successful, we’re one of the most.”
TheOnion has a YouTube account (with an atypical banner that allows viewers to drop directly into its podcasts, website or RSS) since March 2006, but its videos are all relatively new to YouTube (past several months). As of this post, I have about 35,000 subscribers on YouTube, and The Onion has about 13,000. I’m willing to bet that the network has twice as many subscribers as me by the summer.
I’ve often said that quasi professional content is on the rise, but this isn’t fair to call “quasi.” The only reason this content isn’t a better version of SNL is because there’s not enough of it, and perhaps it appeals to a smaller segment of the SNL audience with primarily news parody. Then again- it works for Jon Stewart.
See: FDA recalls pot pies because they’re hungry and the plight of lost hikers.
Media Stereotypes Online-Video Clichés April 5, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Blogs on Video, Killer Video, Making Videos, Online Video, Video, Video Business, Viral Video, YouTube, popular videos , 23commentsThere’s no question that traditional media tends to characterize online video — and YouTube in particular — as a cute fad. Certainly the bulk of the stories are about the “one hit wonders,” Internet clichés, and sensational hits like Chris Crocker, Sneezing Pandas, laughing babies and Star Wars Kid.
When I saw some recent Comedy Central parodies, I actually got a little frustrated that comedy writers are captivated with the drama prairie dog, and misses the more interesting trends:
- Amateurs are gaining very active, loyal audiences. Watch the “highest rated” videos of the day, and you’ll see a collection of creators that live on this list. They have relatively small but extremely devoted audiences.
- Artists that create paintings and eBay them. Communities meeting together. Daily webisodes that are more succinct and appealing than much of television.
- Some creators, despite conventional wisdom, aren’t on a rapid pursuit of scoring television shows either. A few are making comfortable livings (six figure and up) and enjoy the creative freedom that only online video can provide.
The boys on Southpark were right that the distribution channel is still far from a mature monetization model. But it’s getting more interesting and obviously an important trend and not a fad.
As I was thinking about all this, I felt compelled to spoof my somewhat defensive reaction. So here’s me taking this argument to an absurd extreme. Attacking media for stereotypes, only to resort to groveling for an SNL deal with Lauren Michaels.
Southpark on Monetization of Digital Content April 4, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Future of Online Video, Killer Video, Making Money, Making Videos, Online Video, Profit, Viral Video, popular videos , 5commentsKyle from Southpark puts it well in this 30-second clip from “Canada on Strike.” The clip’s called “The Promise of Future Revenue.” Thanks to Jan for finding it.
Boy I’m sure glad that’s over with. Me too. Yeah, but you know I learned something today. We thought we could make money on the Internet. But while the Internet is new and exciting for creative people, it hasn’t matured as a distribution mechanism to the extent that one should trade real and immediate opportunities for income for the promise of future online revenue. It will be a few years before digital distribution of media on the Internet can be monetized to an extent that necessitates content producers to forgo their fair value in more traditional media.
In this part of “Canada on Strike,” the Southpark folks meet some YouTube weblebrities (the cliche one-hit wonders). There’s something pervursely symbolic to see all of the Internet stars — laughing baby, sneezing panda, gopher, Chris Crocker, Chocolate Rain, Tron guy, Numa Numa — end up in a bloody mess on the floor.
Yes, Jenna. There is a YouTube. April 2, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Online Video, Video, Video Sites, Viral Video, YouTube, popular videos, viral videologist , 5commentsJenna from YouTube asks the questions (in the comments from a recent post). The humble viral video genius gives the answers…
Hey Nalts, I have some questions about the history of video blogging and the history of Nalts (you).
- Did the guys who made YouTube intend for it to be used as a video blogging site? Chad and Stephen created YouTube in the requisite “Internet startup garage” because they saw a need for simple sharing of videos (instead of e-mailing large attachments). Vlogging came later. Those two don’t even vlog, at least publicly.
- Have you ever been to a YouTube gathering? Are you kidding, Jenna? Those are like Star Trek conferences. Never.
- What do you think are the genre antecedents to video blogging? Do you think it came out of reality TV? Actually I think it’s “anti reality TV.” People were sick of manufactured reality, and entranced by the notion of real people interacting with audiences in an almost real-time setting. The early vloggers were stars who weren’t.
- Can you write a post where you watch your first two videos and then your last two videos and reflect on how your style has changed and why? Wow. First time I’ve thought about that. Initially I was just posting goofy stuff with the kids like “Scary Santa.” The kinda thing that might end up on America’s Funniest Video. The second was “Gum Tree,” which was more carefully edited and still makes me smile. A bit later came “Speed Racer,” which might be worth a sequel now that the movie is coming out! My most recent video, “Rusty’s Song” was more crafted for spreading (nostalgia, cultural references, cute dog, annoying song). The most recent popular video I’ve done was a parody on Mac Air’s commercial, and it did fairly well (about 400K views on YouTube alone) for a video that was never featured. Maybe I’m trying to hard now.
- Where do you live? Between NYC and Philadelphia. But I’m from New Orleans and we still have a family place in Sweet Alabama.
- Do you use StickAm? I tried to use it but I don’t understand how to do it. I have used it, but I can’t take it except in short doses and usually when I’ve had a few drinks. It’s hard to get used to… check out my “Stickam is Crack” video and the responses for some thoughts.
P.S. In business school (Babson) we studied in Prague with some people from Millsaps College in Mississippi, where your profile says you attend. That made me laugh because there was a guy from Millsaps that used to say the name of his school with the funniest Southern accent. And one of my classmates (who died a few years later of cystic fibrosis) did a belly aching impersonation of him… “I’m doin’ some indeeepdendent reeesurch for meeeel ssshaaapps” he’d say. You hadda be there.
Exclusive, Leaked BS: How to Manipulate YouTube April 2, 2008
Posted by Nalts in : Making Videos, Online Video, Viral Video, YouTube, advertising, popular videos , 3comments
All the bad advice on how to manipulate YouTube in one handy video. Where do I start?
Buried in this, actually, is some good advice… Like being creative about tagging with less competitive terms. And keeping a video shocking and fast, and coming up with clever names and thumbnails.
But much of it is futile (pay blogs to post, create fake accounts, use fake and misleading headlines with “exclusive” and “leaked”). I am hoping it’s subtle satire.
Some of the ideas are based on Dan Ackerman Greenberg, who received notoriety last November in TechCrunch for revealing his tricks (and some legitimate strategies) that help marketers spread viral videos. Here’s Dan on CNN discussing his tricks o’ the trade from San Francisco. I was so amused and perplexed by Dan that I created a special URL for him last year (per this post): www.viralvideovillain.com. I still want to meet you, Dan. We can pretend we’re the witches from The Wizard of Oz.
That said, the creator (RunawayBox) made this video a reply to CakkeTeam’s beloved “Internet Stars are Viral.” And I kinda like that video because I’m in it. Dang shame it never went very viral…
