TubeMogul’s blog did a nice summary of the online-video sites it feeds, and provides user feedback about the site and monetization status (whether you can make money on the sites). You can also read the “Zagat’s”-like report as a PDF. Thanks to Mark from TubeMogul for bringing this to our attention.
Category Archives: Revver
Revver 2.0: Now With Gomi Taro Monkey
It’s taken me a week or so to decide what I like best about the Revver 2.0.
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The homepage changes (less “creative use of white space,” more videos, and the addition of categories and featured sections?
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A new video browse page with a most-watched section for browsing popular videos by date range, and a new categories page features videos broken down by category?
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My improved dashboard for tracking videos by status through every step of the upload and review process?
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One-click video editing?
Nope. The monkey.
The monkey.
Post Script: After significant research, I have identified him as a Gomi Taro monkey. I have, of course, promptly purchased one from this site which may or may not be reputable. Rika Yang is apparently a big fan with the most entries to this Gomi Taro Flickr photo pool.
Best Prank Videos
Well the title is a little misleading. This is a Revver collection of my top 20 prank videos.
Last week I was contacted by a casting agent for a new television show that features pranksters. She found me via “Farting in Public” (which is almost at 4 million views on YouTube), and asked me to send her a few pranks. She also asked if I would create a unique prank for my audition reel.
So I figured — why not prank her? In this video, “Pranking the Prank Show Lady,” I called her to pitch the most inappropriate, unethical and outrageous prank ideas I could imagine. She handled it well.
Note that I’m sometimes providing a “sneak preview” of my daily YouTube videos on alternative channels like Metacafe and Revver. I often post these sneak previews via Brightcove because it’s usually the first site to confirm a posting (of the suite of online-video sites to which I post and distribute via TubeMogul).
Before I forget, here’s last night’s Halloween prank titled “Parsnip Prank.” What happens when you replace candy with a bowl full of parsnips, Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes?
Revver Launches Video Responses
Revver is now facilitating video responses, a vehicle that helped propel YouTube’s community. The feature allows a viewer to react to a video via their own and attach it similarly to a comment. HappySlip, a prominent YouTuber who powers her website’s videos via Revver, announced the feature.
The company is also now offering pre-roll ads and CPM (pay by impression) to creators. I began in online video using Revver, and have slipped until recently in my YouTube obsession. But I’m back, and plan to release some of my content uniquely via Revver and some in advance of my YouTube posts. Here’s the collection. Here is the RSS feed of the posts.
Thanks, Revver
Wow. I’ve been so busy with YouTube that I almost forgot about Revver. And when I popped by for a visit, there wasn’t any “where the hell have you been” guilt. In fact I found myself at the top of the featured creators. Thanks, guys. The link appears to be down currently, but that’s part of Revver’s magic.
In case you’ve been sleeping under a rock, Revver shares ad revenue with creators. If I could somehow get the views I get on YouTube with the revenue from Revver I could probably start digging my way out of debt.
The Google vs. Viacom Debate
Yesterday’s post about Viacom suing Google brought a couple dozen fantastic debate points. You can rest assured that Viacom’s public relations team is doing a “word of mouth” audit (using Buzzmetrics or another player) and that your quotes are being read by nervous spokespeople.
I was amused by at Slashdot in which one individual suggested Google should remove all Viacom properties from its search results! Richard Brandt, a blogger and journalist who is writing a book on Google, predicts Viacom will settle for $500 million.
Incidentally, I started my online video obsession with Revver and uploaded about 2 dozen videos with copyrighted music. Revver’s CEO, Steven Starr, called me one day and explained why the site is vigilant about copyrighted material. He explained how, in the end, I’d want the protection of copyright for my content. I was so compelled with his rationale that I voluntarily pulled videos down and resubmitted them with Garageband music. A couple weeks ago I used a company’s logo on a Revver video, and Revver received a hostile letter from the logo’s owner (and you know who you are, bastards). Again- I pulled the video down quickly and apologized to Revver.
Now my rule of thumb is simple: If a copyrighted song will dramatically help a video, I’ll use it as a score. But I never do it for a video that I think might have a shelf life, and I accept 5 risks.
- It probably won’t get featured.
- I won’t be able to use it on Revver or any shared-revenue site.
- It’s not likely to get used on a television network.
- I’ll probably have to delete it when Google/YouTube start revenue sharing
- It’s possible that individually I could be sued (remember, folks, Google’s not going to take all the bullets here).
That being said, I think Viacom is tarnishing its public image by acting like a scorned girlfriend.
It’s understandable that it feels robbed, frustrated and a bit frightened. In the end, it has an obligation to protect its content. Here’s what gets me. How in the WORLD can it point to a loss of revenue?
- Remember Viacom. We’re watching more television since online video arrived. Not less.
- Most stolen clips on YouTube are too short to cannibalize viewership
- Online videos have probably been the best marketing tool for television that ever existed
I once did a video with my son laughing at “The Office” (probably my favorite television show). The video is about my son’s reaction to a brief clip. I contacted the network numerous times to get their approval to put this online and didn’t get the courtesy of a response. To thee I say… “lighten up, Francis.” Dang. I can’t find that clip from Stripes on YouTube.
What Video Site Pays Best? blip.tv Winning on Mashable Poll.
What video site pays you the best? Visit this post from Mashable for details, and you may see blip.tv winning by a long shot. The focus is on the raw $ per views. Keep in mind that I’d take a significantly lower payment per view (average seems to be .05 to 1 cent) in exchange for lots of traffic. Even if I was paid $1 a view it wouldn’t do me much good if the video was never seen. And since I’m no ZeFrank I need the site to help me get exposure.
By the way- I love tips on stories like this. Please send them to kevinnalts at gmail.com with all cap subject. Most importantly, please let me know how you’d like to be credited (name and URL). I’m often reluctant to credit because I don’t know if people want it or not.
This one courtesy of Klim.
Revver Blog Features “Best o’ Nalts”
The Revver blog featured my “Best o’ Nalts” collection on Revver. I think I should have called it the “Least Worst o’ Nalts.” I’ve been so busy with YouTube I forgot about how cool Revver is.
Don’t expect your video to get thousands of views because it’s on Revver.com but… If you have an audience (on your own website) than you’re a fool not to use Revver to serve the videos. It’s great quality and you earn income (50% of the ad revenue).
YouTube Celebrities are “Hot Properties”
Just what some of the popular personalities on YouTube needed. The NYTimes is calling them “hot properties,” and providing examples of some YouTube “weblebrities” getting courted by other sites. Indeed there’s been at least one example of this with Smosh, a creator who was paid to move from YouTube (where he still posts) to LiveVideo. LonelyGirl15 went “bi-situal” last year and began posting on both Revver (a site that shares 50% of ad revenue) and YouTube, which is planning to share advertising revenue with creators. This article has YouTube’s “Renetto” claiming the share would be 20 percent — a small fraction of what’s becoming the norm.
Verizon and Revver “Sittin’ in a Tree”
Micki from Revver announced in Revver’s blog that Verizon and Revver have deepened their relationship. Later this year, subscribers to FIOS TV (which is limited to certain regions) will be able to watch Revver videos from the comfort of their couch. They’ll be free to viewers, and Revver and the creator will evenly split an undisclosed percentage of the total ad revenue generated through this channel.
Typically Revver provides the distribution platform with 20% of the advertising revenue, leaving Revver and the creator 40% each. I would venture to guess that this deal offers a larger percentage to Verizon even if Revver is staying true to the 50/50 share with creators. For instance, if Verizon sells the ad space then it could expect Revver and the creator’s cut to be smaller.
This opens up a powerful new distribution channel for Revver, who has a generous business offering but very little traffic to Revver.com. Without these upstream/downstream partnerships, the creator must generate his or her own traffic. I’ve told Revver before that I’d happily settle for a smaller percentage of the revenue if they could drive the total advertising revenue higher via new distribution channels. They’ve been trying to broker these deals, but I suppose they’re not easy ones.
I truly hope that the larger media companies will syndicate consumer-generated content from Revver and similar entities. From my perspective as a content creator, it makes life much, much easier. I don’t have time to upload my videos to 12 sites. And from the “big media” perspective (be it Verizon, Sony, Comcast, Disney, networks) it provides fast and painfree access to gobs of user-generated content, and saves them the peril of pissing money away dissintermediating online players.
Thumbs up to Verizon for sticking to its core competencies. The Revvers, blip.tv, Veohs, Brightcoves and Metacafes are there to help.
P.S. Hey Verizon… You stinkers sent me a note saying I could get FIOS TV, and then retracted it a week later. Get in my neighborhood. I wanna watch Revver from my couch. My butt hurts.