Category Archives: Viral Video

Diet Coke, Killer Video, Mentos, Uncategorized, Viral Video

Mentos and Diet Coke… the New Sushi

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sush.jpgI once spent a summer in NYC and I couldn't believe I had access to sushi 24/7. Each day I'd have sushi for dinner and lunch, and this went on for about 2 weeks. Then suddenly one day during lunch, I spit out my sushi into a garbage can. I couldn't eat it again for months.

This is what's suddenly happened to me with the Coke, Diet Pepsi and Mentos videos. I can't look at another one.

I hereby proclaim this Mentos and Soda fad officially over!

Okay, maybe just one more. The exploding girl. But then I'm really done.

book, Online Video, Uncategorized, Video Advertising, Video Business, Video Sites, Viral Video

Why Tuesdays Suck for Online Video Junkies

snail.jpgTuesdays suck. Why? It's the worst day to check videos. For reasons I can't quite explain, people do more on e-mail and the web on Tuesdays. It's been a long-standing "secret" that promotional e-mails get the best "open rates" on Tuesdays. My CubeBreak traffic spikes on Tuesdays. Even this blog spikes on Tuesdays.

But all of this means I'm competing with my co-workers for bandwidth. Tuesday lunchtime is the single worst time to surf videos. So my videos aren't loading, and it's pissing me off. Could everyone just get off the Internet for a few minutes?  

book, Future of Online Video, Killer Video, Making Videos, Online Video, Uncategorized, Video Business, Video Software, Viral Video, Web 2.0

Video Resolution to Get Worse Before Better

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old-cam.jpgWe're all getting used to crappy video online. It may stream quickly, but it's a pixelated as Atari's original Space Invaders.

Will this improve soon? Not for the most part. Sure some of us will upgrade to higher end pro-sumer video cameras ($3000-$10,000). And broadband will allow for higher file-size uplpoads than the typical 100 meg cap. But the vast majority of us will start using our video-enabled cell phones to capture a lot of spontanious, viral videos. So in aggregate, the videos of 2007 will be even uglier than 2006.

Bandwidth isn't yet an issue online, but keep in mind that Japan's wireless broadband is signficantly faster than what you're using now to connect at home. There won't be an incentive for cell providers in the U.S. to bring us high definition video cameras because nobody will want to spend 5-10 minutes sending their video clips to their buddy. So until cell phone pipes expand in the U.S., we're going to be stuck with grainy footage for a while.

The high-end sites will boast broadcast-like quality video, but the vast majority of consumer-generated video will look worst next year. Let's hope that I'm wrong or that someone's creating a software to enhance videos.

… Like in the movies when they turn a 10-pixel image of some guy at his desk into a "Kodak clear" image, in which you can read the legal print on the memo on his desk. Does that bother anyone else, or am I just a geek (don't feel obliged to answer that)?

Blogs on Video, Online Video, Uncategorized, Video Business, Video Sites, Viral Video, Web 2.0, YouTube

Will the “Video Revolution” Be As Muted as the “Audio Revolution”?

My friend Jack wrote this rant about online videos, and he said I could steal it. Click "more" below for the entire piece. Here are some highlights.audio.jpg

  • The revolution will be televised; but its just seems we needed to wait untill the television is really a large flat-panel LCD monitor with a PC hooked into the Internet.

  • The Consumer Generated Content Internet “Video Revolution” needs four things to hit tipping point: 1. eyeballs, 2. adoption, 3. famous and/or popular mavericks, and; 4. easy-to-use payment systems supporting artists.

  • Want to predict the future of the Video Revolution? Look at the Audio Revolution. Common independent music artists are still eating Ramen Noodles just like the 80’s and 90’s. Thanks to software like Garage Band, we have lots of tools to make the stuff…. However, no one really showed up with a system that paid artists directly and easily.

  • Really the Audio Revolution focused on pirated music of famous artists, not original content. More than six years past the commercial birth of the Internet we tune in to FOX and American Idol (on TV) to find our new music stars and not the Internet…all on a show made famous by a maverick record label guy from the UK who stole the idea for the show in the first place. We use our phones to vote; we can’t even e-mail it in.

  • This Audio Revolution was followed quickly followed by the Lawsuit Era.

  • Why did the Audio Revolution fail? No model to pay content providers. What if a presidential candidate put his/her videos exclusively on Revver (which pays content creators), with ad clicks going to the campaign bucket? “Sorry CNN.com, put the video town hall on your homepage via Revver or nothing at all for you.”

Continue reading Will the “Video Revolution” Be As Muted as the “Audio Revolution”? →

Online Video, Uncategorized, Video Business, Video Sites, Viral Video, YouTube

Seriously, Boss. I Was Surfing Those Sites to Write This Story

pervert.jpgThis quote from a Cnet article on the topic of smut and online video:

A weeklong review of some of the top user-generated video sites by CNET News.com unearthed scenes of beheadings, masturbation, bloody car accidents, bondage and sadomasochism. It's important to note that no child pornography was discovered.

Meanwhile, imagine if YouTube needed to monitor all posts. They'd have to hire hiring people to eyeball each frame of the more than 50,000 videos that get posted daily. Although most flicks are under 2-3 minutes, YouTube allows videos to last up to 10 minutes. So YouTube would be monitoring up to 2,500 hours worth of video a day.

book, Diet Coke, Killer Video, Mentos, Online Video, Revver, Uncategorized, Video Advertising, Video Business, Viral Video, Web 2.0, YouTube

Get Rick Quick? Amazing Case Study on Viral Video Impact (Diet Coke and Mentos)

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1150173200mentos.jpgWho would have thought that a few hundred dollars worth of Diet Coke and Mentos could turn into $30,000? According to this Wall Street Journal article, viral videos — which featuring explosive shots of Mentos mixed with Diet Coke — http://www.eepybird.com/ have generated several million of views. This is not uncommon for YouTube, but it's a record for Revver.com, a video-serving company that splits ad revenue 50/50 with its creators.

The result?

  • In the first weeks, the creators made $15,000 of ad revenue from their videos, which included an elaborate display of 101 two-liter bottles of Diet Coke and 523 Mentos to create what WSJ called a "dancing fountain like the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas." (Click here for video). Revver made $15,000 as well, and this data is already weeks old. EepyBird is not posting its videos on YouTube or other sites, and has requested visitors not to either.mentos.jpg
  • Mentos is made by a unit of Italian confectioner Perfetti Van Melle. "We are tickled pink by it," says Pete Healy, vice president of marketing for the company's U.S. division. The company spends less than $20 million on U.S. advertising annually. He estimates the value of online buzz to be "over $10 million." He's talking about EepyBird, as well as the hundreds of other videos posted elsewhere.coke1.jpg
  • Mentos is considering a promotional campaign with the two creators of the viral videos. Diet Coke, however, is less interested. spokeswoman Susan McDermott. "We would hope people want to drink [Diet Coke] more than try experiments with it." McDermott says that the "craziness with Mentos … doesn't fit with the brand personality" of Diet Coke. (kinda reminds you of when the M&M guy passed on having his candy associated with an alien, and then Resees Pieces ate M&M's lunch by appearing on E.T.).  Would Sergio have argued about brand personality? Would Sergio Zyman have turned that down?
  • EepyBird's creators are Fritz Grobe, a 37-year-old professional juggler, and Stephen Voltz, 48-year-old lawyer, from Buckfield, Me. They belong to a local theater company (Oddfellow theater) and have had calls from several late-night talk shows, including CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman."

Typically it's hard to make a mint on Revver (which has limited traffic), but impossible to make money on YouTube (which doesn't share ad revenue with content creators). So how do I move from my GoogleHead, Crackberry and Burger King Outsources videos (which are somewhat popular but nothing like Eeepy) into something with wicked viral appeal?

I wonder if I lit my fart on fire with a Bic if I could get the lighter-maker to do a promotion with me. Ya think?

Blogs on Video, book, Future of Online Video, Making Videos, Online Video, Uncategorized, Video Advertising, Video Business, Video Sites, Viral Video, Web 2.0, YouTube

YouTube is a Giant Conference Call

concall.jpgI've been trying to figure out how YouTube managed to surpass video-sharing sites like Break.com, despite arriving to the market far later. Then it occured to me what may already be obvious to you. Most video sites are searchable television stations… putting the visitor in command to find video that appeals.

YouTube, however, is a giant conference call. It's made up of video posters watching and commenting on other video posters. They're connected, they have popularity (or lack of), and they react to each other. YouTube has recently launched the ability to send a video reaction to someone's video (instead of just leaving a comment). It's closer to MySpace in the social networking aspect. And it's what people want out of online video.

So despite previous posts, I think there will be a future for YouTube after the "wild west" era of copyright protection ends. It won't be as dramatic, but it will be there.

Interestingly, though, some of the popular video creators of YouTube are starting to migrate their content to other channels that give them income. For instance, YouTube idol, Morbeck, began posting on Revver.com (a site that gives creators half of the revenue generated by ad clicks). Others (like ZeFrank) are posting via Revver and asking people not to post it on YouTube or other online video sites.