Category Archives: Uncategorized

Blogs on Video, book, Making Videos, Online Video, Uncategorized, Video Advertising, Video Business, Video Sites

Promoting Your Online Video Content

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Since there's no model that has high traffic (YouTube) AND pay-for-content (Revver), this has been my strategy for making money through online video. Use it as your own risk.

  1. Create good stuff. I'm hit or miss, and still experimenting. Since I'm not interested in making sexy videos, I focus on humor. Sometimes topical, sometimes corny, sometimes I find a hit. Most of them are short, but the 1.5 minute ones sometimes work well.
  2. Market the hell out of it. People think they can post on Revver and watch their account grow. Wrong. There's no guarantee that good content gets viewed, and no guarantee that bad content won't get viewed. It's arbitrary and requires persistence, luck and promotion.

So how do you promote your video?screaming.gif

  • eMail friends. I'm not crazy about this because I feel like an Amway salesman. Unless it's something really good.
  • Befriend a blogger. Steve Rubel (www.Micropersuasion.com) has linked to a few of my videos and that has worked very nicely.
  • Create a site. I run www.CubeBreak.com on a shoe-string. Nothing but my time and a small hosting fee from Yahoo. But I get 1,000-3,500 people per day. So it helps.
  • Use YouTube to get famous, and drive people to a location on which you can profit. Since most of my CubeBreak visitors are typing in the name directly, I can only assume they're finding me because they've seen my bumper on my YouTube videos. Maybe there's some word of mouth.
  • Issue a press release. If you have good stuff, you can write a story for www.PRWeb.com and get some decent pickup. It costs about $80 though.
  • Most importantly, you have to tap a nerve. Who knows what makes something viral. Why do people flock to Mentos and Coke? Why are we obsessed with Asian lip synchers or the Numa Numa kid? Who knows. But I'll continue to experiment to see what hits, and I'll let you know.
book, Future of Online Video, Making Videos, Online Video, Uncategorized, Video Advertising, Video Business, Video Sites, Viral Video, Web 2.0

How Will Amateurs Make Money from Online Videos in 2007?

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Right now there are only two ways for an amateur to make money on short online videos, but this will soon change.

  1. Provide a website or network exclusive rights and get a one-time payment. We've seen certain amateur content creators already stop producing content for YouTube because they've been presumably approached by "content scouts." Remember MadV? He said good-bye and I would expect to see him appear somewhere else. I've seen celebrity YouTube stars also vanish with ambiguous plans about entering into a different arrangement. money-large.jpgI've been contacted by such content scouts, but the financial transparency isn't clear so I haven't done anything.
  2. Serve videos through a revenue-sharing site (usually non-exclusive that allows for ongoing income based on view volume). Eepy Bird's $15K plus income on their Coke/Mentos is a good example of this. They opted to run their videos through Revver and opted to post them exclusively even though Revver doens't require that.

As 2006 continues, we're going to see some new models emerge, providing more options to amateur artists. These will require some serious trade-offs for content owners because we'll have to weigh options without knowing exactly which will be most profitable.

For instance, some online video sites are developing "exclusive revenue-sharing models" whereby you'd turn over exclusive rights to your video for ongoing revenue based on views. This only makes sense if you expect to get dramatically more views in exchange for giving up your video forever.

But if you apply proven media models to the online space, it makes sense that this will be an option. A website can't sell its content upstream (to cell phone providers, for instance) if most of their content is non exclusive and violating copyrights. So the future for a value-added intermediary depends on garnering traffic, getting good content, and then distributing that more broadly.

In any event, there are three things that are critical. 1) Good content (defined as funny, sexy, short and viral). 2) Traffic (there's no advertising revenue without traffic), and 3) Distribution and promotion (someone has to market the videos… more on that soon).

Killer Video, Making Videos, Online Video, Uncategorized, Video Contests, Viral Video, Web 2.0

Help Starving Video Blogger Win Prize

Okay, the competition for the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang contest is better than I expected. Which means I need to blog a desperate plea for votes. If you have a second, please give the following three short videos "5 stars." You don't even have to suffer through them or click the ads. And if I win, I'll let you borrow the iPod whenever you want…

Bar Scene- my wife and me

My kids do Apology scene (mostly bloopers)

EvilFist's entry

Thanks!

book, Future of Online Video, Online Video, Uncategorized, Video Advertising, Video Business, Video Sites, Viral Video, Web 2.0

Sprint and Verizon Stalk Film-Festival Circuit

tvoncellphone.gifIt would appear that the Howard Stern & XM Radio deal has scared the hell out of cell-phone providers. Cingular has partnered with HBO, and Sprint and Verizon are hunting for "short films suitable for the size-challenged cell-hone screen," according to Newsweek. Nokia is setting up a tent at the Los Angeles Film Festival to show off its mobile-video phones and technology, Newsweek reports.

Is there anyone else that finds this a bit ridiculous? Naturally we'll be using cell phones as a primary media-consumption device in years ahead. Finland and Japan have proven this. But I find it weird that some phone providers are going directly to film festivals for two reasons:

  1. This stretches these cell-phone providers well beyond their core competency. Ultimately, they'll need an intermediary familiar with media and with the ability to broker deals. Credit to Cingular for recognizing this. Verizon or Sprint should connect with MTV.
  2. Right idea, but wrong place. In the short term, we're not going to watch even 5-10 minute clips. Cell providers should be looking at partnerships with Atom Films, Break.com or any owner of stupid, funny, short clips. Then worry about longer form and tasteful content.
  3. If the cell providers really want to get "bleeding edge" they should go directly (short term) to viral-video creators like ZeFrank or EvilFist.*

Note: The writer of this blog is friends with EvilFist (even though the feeling isn't mutual). Since this blog produces zero revenue, it's not above self promotion.

AOL, Killer Video, Online Video, Uncategorized, Viral Video, Web 2.0

Cancelling AOL (video version)

Here's my video version of the AOL Cancellation (click to see it on YouTube).
A guy tries to call and cancel his AOL account and runs into an aggressive call-center employee who wants to talk him out of it. And it's all caught on audio for everyone to enjoy! Here's the blog entry about this event. Here's the recording of Vincent Ferrari trying to cancel his AOL subscription. We can all appreciate this because it's happened to all of us.

"Cancel the account. I don't know how to make it more clear… you're annoying the shit out of me."

"And that goes both ways," responds the call center employee. "If you want me to cancel this account… you're going to listen to me."

Apparently the call center employee has been fired from AOL. This just goes to show- see what happens when you outsource your call center (see video)?

book, Future of Online Video, Online Video, Uncategorized, Video Business, Video Sites, Web 2.0

Get Ready for a Remote-Control “Thumb Cramp”

remote.jpgRight now you may channel surf between 100 to 500 channels, according to this article from The Mercury News. But Internet protocol television (IPTV) — television broadcast over the Internet  — could change that. An estimated 49 million Americans already have the gear and broadband connections needed to receive IPTV, and this will allow for a huge varitey of "small audience" programming that can include local athletic events, personalized business news and low-budget independent films or clips.

"We're on the eve of a television revolution that proponents say could change how you watch your favorite shows – and who produces them," says writer Ely Portillo of Knight Ridder Newspapers.

Killer Video, Uncategorized, Viral Video

Britney Spears Child-Dropping Video

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spears.jpgTraffic was low for WillVideoForFood.com so I decided to write about Britney Spears. It's almost a guarantee that you'll get visitors. In fact, I'm setting up a category for Britney Spears just for this post. 

So here's the latest video of her almost dropping her child. At least she didn't spill her tasty drink.

Oh- the photo of her and the snake was taken long bfeore she had a baby. And it has nothing to do with the video. It's just eye candy for you video fans that are pigs (and you know who you are) 

Uncategorized

Google Video to Allow Comments & Ratings (and what we REALLY want)

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google-video-search.jpgGoogle Video will soon allow online video viewers to post comments and ratings. This places the site closer to YouTube's model, and could well help it steal market share from the #1 online video site.

Of course, Google doesn't typically model off of other companies but sets trends. Google's old model was to organize the world, but it appears to be doing things to create and host more content and tools– from spreadsheets to hosted web pages.

Anyway, here are the top 6 things we'd like to see from Google Video:

  1. Please give us the ability to search all videos- whether they live on Google or not. Yahoo Video beat you to the punch here, and this is rightfully Google's domain.
  2. Give us a tool to upload videos on Google, and automatically shoot them to other sites. That's risky, but brave. It's painful to submit the same video to multiple sites. I've pretty much narrowed it down to YouTube (for popularity) and Revver (for income).
  3. Share with content creators. We put stuff in, and you keep the ad revenue. We know you're paying to host and serve it, but throw us a little bone, eh?
  4. For Google's sake, give us the ability to see how often a video is viewed! I want this as an amateur creator, and NEED it as a marketer.
  5. Give us a Google Video logo! Megabranding is a proven failure. You won't buy white Coke, but you will buy 7up. Google Video needs its own identity- what's with every product having spartan black type under the Google logo? Your ad agency is smoking crack. Dennis Hwang can draw something up on his lunch break.
  6. Finally, we'd like you to showcase Google Earth on the homepage and give me revenue for each view.