Category Archives: Video Business

Uncategorized, Video Business, Video Sites, Web 2.0

What Does YouTube and 27 Have in Common?

CNNSteve Chen, co-founder of YouTube, is 27. Chad Hurley, the other co-founder who worked with Chen at Paypal, now employ 27 people.

Think about that. Twenty seven people running the most popular site for online videos-one that streams 50 million videos a day to the 12.5 million visitors they get a month. For another of the me-too articles written about this overnight success, see this piece by SiliconValley.com. Or click the photo to read the CNN story.

Maybe we'll keep the 27 theme going when one of the networks purchase the site for 27 million? No- I think it's going for more than that.

book, Video Advertising, Video Business, Video Sites

Is A 15-Second Ad Every 3 Clips Fair?

What's the tolerance for ads before online videos? I kinda like the Office Pirates model of one 15-second ad before every third video. Obviously we'd all like to watch our videos without ads, but then we'd have to pay for them or the companies would go the route of www.Chapter11TV.com.

On the continuum, iFilm is probably the most aggressive and Google Video the most laid back about ads. Think that will change? I see us moving to a model somewhere between iFilm and Google… and 15-seconds every third video seems fair.

Blogs on Video, Making Videos, Video Business

Tin Cupping Vloggers

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A new site is helping video bloggers (vloggers) get funding for their projects. Below is a the description from the site, and here's a writeup by DVGuru on the initiative: "Have Money Will Vlog."

Traditional artists can apply for grants to make their work. Have Money Will Vlog supports videobloggers trying to do the amazing. The power of the community can fund projects on a regular basis. You easily spend $10 or more everytime you go out to see a movie…so consider donating $10 a month to a videoblog project. If we have 100 people that give $10 a month, that’s $1000. Let’s energize creators.

Video Business, Video Sites, Web 2.0

Extra, Extra: The Top 10 Most Popular Video Sites!

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At last Hitwise does a public ranking of the online video sites. I use Hitwise in my day job (the company track about 25 million Americans web habits by buying ISP data). However I can't release any of the rankings. Now it's public!

Some highlights & observations:

  • YouTube is obviously number one- with 42% market share and an average visit of about 13:20. These "average visit" numbers are less reliable that actual log traffic that measures a "mean visit," and tends to overstate them. Still- that's a nice chunk of time.
  • The second highest share is just more than half of YouTube's… MySpace comes in at 24%.
  • Yahoo video is ahead of MSN video AND Google video by a few percent. They had a lead, so that doesn't surpise me. Now that Google videos are showing up in Googles search, we'll see that change in the next months.
  • DailyMotion, while being low on the list, has a decent average visit number.
  • Revver (and CubeBreak) aren't tracking high- mostly because Revver is doing almost no promotion since it's still in beta. Plus- Hitwise would not necessarily track most of the videos viewed via Revver since Revver's strategy is to deploy its videos on other sites.

This quote kinda summarizes why I created this Blog: "The rapid growth of online video sites in the past six months demonstrates a major shift in online behavior" said LeeAnn Prescott, senior research analyst at Hitwise. "The Internet is quickly moving from static web pages to an environment rich with interaction and user generated multimedia content."

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book, Video Advertising, Video Business

Buy Some Post-It Notes

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Remember when FLASHY banners were hot? I used to have a pack of post-its that I'd tape over the banner so I could read without distraction. Time to buy 3M stock.

About.com recently announced it will use Brightcove to stream online videos on its site. Here's what you can expect: "Nearly all of these video clips will include standard pre-roll ads… Included will be player-integrated expandable billboards, a full player takeover unit, an interactive overlay unit which lands above the video window, as well as live-read promotional announcements from the expert guides themselves."

It's somewhat true that About.com sees its visitors as a revenue stream and desperate advertisers as its primary customers. But the dawn of online video… embedded everywhere you go online… raises frightening prospects of how commercial things may become… even on sites that try to balance visitor needs with advertising goals.

Search, Video Business, Video Sites

I Saw That Video on… Um… the Internet.com

forgot.jpgI ask my dad what medicine he's taking, and he says "the one from CVS Drugstore." You ask millennials (people born after 1980) and 33% can't name the TV networks (according to a Bolt Survey covered by ClickZ). Such is the dilemma of being a middleman between a creator and a consumer. Nobody remembers you.

You're not going to remember that you learned this factoid — about TV networks fading to obscurity — on WillVideoForFood, much less ClickZ. Maybe you'll remember it was a Bolt survey.

Right now we're all fascinated by the places… MySpace, YouTube, Revver, eBay. But what really matters is the stuff, the videos, the community. That's what will transcend the individual players and channels. Do you care where you got your soft drink? Probably not. Will you drink another brand? Probably not.

One in three millennials (people born after 1980) can't name the TV networks.

Uncategorized, Video Business

The Awkward Clash of Online Videos and Multi-Level Marketing

Oh, man. It was only a matter of time. The worlds of online video and multi-level marketing have collided. Check out this stunningly awkward video — click the "two minute introduction" about "EVE" (the extendable video engine."Door_to_Door_Salesman.jpg

I haven't been this confused since I got drunk and went to an Amway pitch in college. "What are we selling?" I asked.
"Networking," said the host.
"Do we make money?" I asked.
"Yes!" said the host.
"Who pays the money?" I asked.
"They don't build statues for losers," said the host.

Source: Small Businesses Produce Big Returns Using Video Online (Newswire Today).

Uncategorized, Video Business

Online Video Viewers Grew 18 Percent

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The number of Internet users watching video online went up 18 percent between October 2005 and March 2006 according to a ComScore's analysis of U.S. Web users' online video viewing habits. In March, U.S. Internet users initiated a total of 3.7 billion video content streams; and we watched an average 100 minutes of video content each during the month, compared with 85 minutes back in October last year. The gender split is almost even, but men spend more time watching videos (should we be surprised?). And the study confirmed its not just college kids watching. It's some of us that still think we're in college too.

And in a statement that gave the founder of CubeBreak a smarmy grin, Comscore said this: In a blow to human resources managers everywhere, the workplace is the favored environment for watching video. People spent about an hour a month watching from work environments.

Source: ClickZ and ComScore news release.

book, Video Advertising, Video Business, Video Sites, Web 2.0

Google and AOL and Video Ads Online

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Interesting news. Google will offer video ads through Adsense in a very "non-intrusive" way… meaning the visitor would have to select it before it loads (thank goodness). What I find most intriguing is that Google seems to offer this for its partners (any site that "syndicates" Google ads via Adsense to make money). But apparently they won't be using these on Google itself. Why?

Let's pray that Madison Avenue takes advantage of this new vehicle by creating fun ads. Not 15-30 second pieces that work for a captive audience watching American Idol* without a TiVo remote. But a busy web searcher that, if not entertained, is moving on quickly.

On a related note, AOL bought LighteningCast recently, which gives them the ability to insert ads into video content. According to MSNBC, this gives AOL the ability "run targeted ads within video and even change ads from time to time without replacing the entire video file."

* We at WillVideoForFood are big Catherine fans, but we think Hicks is our next Idol.