Category Archives: Uncategorized

Are TV Stations Waking Up to Online Video? ClipSyndicate

clip syndicate.jpgHere's a new online video service that shares ad revenue like Revver. It's called ClipSyndicate, and its partners include Bloomberg News, The Associated Press and other news outlets.

The idea behind ClipSyndicate, says The International Herald Tribute, is "to give local U.S. television stations, which have watched as online upstarts have stolen viewers and advertising dollars, their own foothold on the Web. Local stations have failed miserably in attracting audiences to their Web sites. But given the fascination with online video, that model is now flipping. After all, why struggle to build an audience of your own when new Internet businesses will find video-starved viewers for you in far-flung corners of the Web?"

ClipSyndicate shares revenue with any site that hosts its videos (provided the site isn't a broadcaster or porn site). Publishers can either pay an undisclosed fee to ClipSyndicate each time they show a clip – and then display their own ads with the clip – or run the videos with ads sold by ClipSyndicate and earn 5 percent of the advertising revenue. The video's owners, meanwhile, receive 30 percent of whatever revenue is generated from each clip.

I gave ClipSyndicate a whirl, and was intrigued a bit. The demo sites like Aerospace News (which shows crashed planes) are not the finest, but that may be because the service is new. An ad was served at the beginning of a video, which was spawned by Microsoft Windows Media Player (ironically I didn't see the video of the ad, but the video of the clip worked). There was also a YellowPages banner on the top of the video.

I'll do a comparison of pay services next.

Favorite Photo Manipulating Websites

RasterbatorWorth1000It's a little early in this blog's life to wander off topic (as I'm prone to do on Revverberation), but this is worth it. I've discovered two great photo sites this morning. Each worth some time. 

1) Worth1000: A site that features contests for PhotoShop junkies. Some hysterical images, including a collection of presidents in drag (which has been forwarded around a lot lately).

2) Rasterbator: Many applications allow you to convert your photos to tiled PDF images you can print on a B&W printer. But this one makes it very easy, and has some great stories around how people used Rasterbator creatively.

ADHD Theater

BlipTV

The beauty about online video is that it forces you to compress your story. Both in size and time. BlipTV is a nice model for this, and I'm surprised I'm just discovering it. The tagline says it all: "Nobody Does it Shorter." It's 5 second to 3 minute bits that can be streamed on phone via Verizon. Although it's available in the U.S. it's probably more prominent in China and Hong Kong where people use their phone as a primary web browser and media center.

P.S. After looking at the beautiful design of this site, I'm simply embarassed about www.CubeBreak.com.

Upload Videos While Driving

Just what I needed. One more thing I can do while I drive (instead of drive). Now you can upload videos to YouTube remotely via your phone. We're getting closer to the reality of my story about a the bank hostage that makes money from her traumatic experience. Imagine soon that you'll be able to take a video of that reckless trucker and then send a link to his indifferent boss. It's takes a bit more work, but it's more effective than calling the phone number on those omni-present "1-800-EAT-SHIT" bumper stickers.

I Have the Psychic Power to Lower Prices

I want to share my amazing gift with my readers. At first, I thought it was a coincidence but now I realize it's a special talent. I have the power to make an electronic device drop in price. All I have to do is buy it, and it goes down in price about 20% within the two weeks following my purchase. This has happened with my Mac, a storage drive, my Cannon Rebel, my new printer, a Point & Shoot Digital Camera, a Panasonic wireless phone, and that webcam that lets you turn your face into a shark.

Maybe this is a message that I should stop buying crap. And maybe I should start saving receipts so I can get refunded the difference. But more importantly, willvideoforfood readers, I want to share my talent. Go ahead and tell me what you want to purchase. If I like it, I'll buy it. And you can take advantage of the sale that will magically occur the next week.

Scoring Videos With Music… Without Going to Jail

There's nothing like shooting a low-budget video and scoring it with some recognizable music. Most sites aren't preventing amateurs from using copyrighted music, but this will become a bigger issue in the months ahead…. especially if you're making income on your videos on sites like Revver.com.

In the meantime, you have four choices:

1) Go to a free, royalty free site like Podsafe. It's easy to use, but you have to sort through a lot to find the tune you'll need.

2) You can create your music using tools like GarageBand (free with a Mac). It's easy to use but your video will sound like everyone elses.

3) Find someone you know that scores music (tough one for most of us). You'd probably want to give them credit and give them a piece of your income.

4) You can buy royalty-free music, but it's usually priced high ($100-$200 for a CD) for professionals. I haven't found a low-cost site ($1-$3 a tune) for really polished royalty-free tunes. If you know of one, let us know!

Citizen Created Commercials

Two interesting trends have accelerated the growth of "Citizen Created Commercials" (ads like those of FireFoxFlicks that are created not by Madisson Avenue but by folks like us). First, as brands migrate big television dollars to the web, there's simply not enough traditional paid placement opportunities (like banners nobody clicks). So marketers want something that provides and efficient impact. Second, in some industries we're starting to trust each other more than the ads and experts. In a recent study, some patient types are more prone to trusting the information they get on the Internet than their own doctors!

iMedia logo

With this in mind, it's worth scanning this iMarketing piece by nFusion's Mark Drosos. For highlights, click "more" on this post…

Continue reading Citizen Created Commercials

How to Make Money on Short, Viral Videos

For starters, let me get two things out in the open. I'm a Revver addict, and this blog is a spinoff of Revverberation, the unofficial blog of Revver. I'm also not a film pro, so we won't be exploring how to get your feature length film into Sundance.

 This blog focuses on how the average Joe can make money on their videos. There are currently four ways:

1) Upload your video to Revver.com and some other video services I'll be discussing in future posts. You'll make 50% of the ad revenue generated from your video. Here's my spoof of myself on Revver.

2) Enter your video into viral video contests (FireFox, Howard Stern, etc.), and those sites that give amateurs the ability to make "citizen created commercials." We'll be identifying lots of these.

3) Submit your video to a site that pays for great viral videos. Break.com is an example.

4) Create your own site using Revver videos. This is what I've done with CubeBreak, and I make a 20% affiliate fee on all videos that get ad clicks (and 50% of the ad clicks of my own work).