At AC Lion, having "Online Video" as an Industry Coverage requirement makes life at work that much sweeter. From browsing YouTube to Hulu, MetaCafe to Break, and all the rest I can get my hands on, I find myself intrigued by how much effort is put into monetizing the video content. Up until, companies likes Adotube, Blinkx, and Youtube have been attempting to solve this problem individually. But I have a feeling, according to everything I have seen, the process of video-monetization is going to undergo a drastic change:
According to ComScore, Internet users in the U.S. watched 11.5 billion online videos in March 2008, up 13% over February 2008 and 64% year-over-year.
So how do we properly approach the monetization of these overwhelming statistics? Simple - As was done in the past with Banner Ads, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is working to establish an ad-delivery "standard" within online video content. The only hesitation I have is towards the future of MOBILE ONLINE VIDEOS. It's a completely separate format, yet an approaching monster that, with the launch of 3G networks and the iPhone, is increasingly growing popular. Monetizing mobile video content will require an entirely separate approach (though I have my money on Android solving this problem first - but don't quote me on that).
And do add to the rush for standardization, a lot will depend on the Domestic-Prime-Time viewers Q2 results. Let me explain why...
Well, we know that the percentage of viewers of domestic prime-time programming declined overall in Q1. BUT, a lot of that may have to do with the WGA strikes. Q2 will truly tell how quickly viewers are declining. Yes, I am openly admitting, there is no hope for Prime-Time, Organized, Commercial Filled, Time-Bound Programming. My next biggest fear is the internet adopting TV habits and soon, every video will have a :15 - :60 second commercial. Where will we turn to next once these ads are forced down our throats? We can only hope and pray the IAB chooses a wise standard while, at the same time, allows for continuous growth in the monetization of Online Video.
...It's time to run...I have to head home and make sure my DVR is recording all my favorite shows. Otherwise, I'm stuck with reruns of Doogie Howser on Hulu!
According to Reuters (article here), Time Warner just withdrew their bid for the Weather Channel. Time Warner Chief Financial Officer John Martin told investors last week the company would be interested in pursuing a deal but would be "extremely price disciplined and price sensitive." It was not clear how much Time Warner had offered. [Shares of Time Warner rose more than 3 percent!]
General Electric's NBC Universal, Blackstone Group LP and Bain Capital stepped in and made their bid for $3.5 billion for both properties (cable and web). Since it was unclear what Time Warner was willing to bid, I'm not sure if $3.5 billion is a "fair-price".
As for the consortium...They were the only competitors and the deadline for for a new bid passed at noon ET on Friday.
As for Time Warner, this latest development leaves them free to pursue other cable networks.
Yes, the story is over 2 days old...and for those of you who don't know, read the original coverage and come back to us: Ad Agency To Internet: Take Down That Teen Sex J.C. Penney Ad!Saatchi & Saatchi, J.C. Penney's ad agency, made their apologies and placed the blame on a 3rd party. 2 days ago, they took the initiative to take it down...
...OR SO WE THOUGHT! I imagine all you simpletons ran searches on Google, YouTube and other sites...and couldn't find it! BUT IF YOU READ THE ALLEY INSIDER ARTICLE ABOVE you would have noticed it said:
"The bigger issue: As Saatchi & Saatchi knows full well, you can't take something off the Internet once it's up there -- if they don't believe us, check out Wikipedia! Nick Denton's Gawker has already served notice that it intends to host the video if YouTube pulls it -- and it will have a good argument that its news value will trump anyones copyright claim at that point."
I would have copied the source code to host it here, but they've decided to imbed it in there site leaving us "newVideoPlayer("/jcpenney_teensex_gawker.flv", 506, 423,"");" with no way of tracing it!
Hats off to Gawker for having the "muchachas" to host the video, and the "selfish attitude" for keeping it to themselves!
I was recently reading a Mediapost article in their Online Video Insider Publication where they addressed the question: "Can we reach television-sized audiences using online video?" And they continued to say "The answer is, unequivocally, yes.". That means a lot for the monetization efforts for online video. In my recent article: Online Video - Q2 Tells All, According to ComScore, Internet users in the U.S. watched 11.5 billion online videos in March 2008, up 13% over February 2008 and 64% year-over-year. And I continued to point out that the IAB is attempting to standardize the monetization of online video. Until that "standard happens" I like to keep myself up to date on what big video networks are doing now, pro and user-gen alike. I have to admit, each company has made their own attempts. For the purposes of entertainment, I chose YouTube and Hulu and covered some of the efforts made to "monetize" their constantly growing database of video:
AND
...BUT, before I go ahead and explain why, I have to point out a very entertaining and new way to monetize online video: As covered in the NYTimes article "Coming Soon To YouTube: My Face-Lift", they have taken online advertising to a new and rather nauseating level. Plastic surgeons are offering patients free/discounted services in return for posting their operations on YouTube. The catch: They have to write a GOOD REVIEW and post a link to the surgeon's web-site.
According to the New York Times, more than 6,400 videos of Botox, breast augmentation and Lasik appear on YouTube alone. (Article Here)
And that completes my User-Gen Coverage. Now, if you're a hungry online video addict, I suggest Hulu. I recently started "Arrested Development" on Hulu and it has been an eye opening experience comparing their "monetization" methods.
The site itself has been out of Beta for 3 months now, and in terms of ranking, they ahve already made their way to Nielsen's top-10 video sites. In terms of turning advertising, they've served more videos in May than ABC.com.
AlleyInsider.com, one of my favorite online industry blogs out there (besides this one, of course), They "estimate Hulu will sell between $45 million and $90 million of advertising during its first 12 months -- April 2008 through March 2009. By the time it pays off its content partners, it will book between $12.5 million and $25 million in net revenue. (Which isn't bad for a start-up, actually.)" They have painted a map of how Hulu will get there in their posting, "Hulu: A Consumer Success But Still A Small Business" One quote I particularly enjoyed...
On the low end, we estimate that Hulu.com will generate close to the revenue generated by, say NBC.com, which is said to generate "tens of millions" in revenue this year. On the high end, Hulu would net $90 million in gross ad sales -- in the same league as some estimates for YouTube.
It seems to me that both YouTube and Hulu have their challenges set up for them, both of which are worlds apart. I'll follow them closely as we reach an IAB "standard", but until that happens, just keep up to date and if you see anything out of the ordinary, let me know. E-mail me anytime at Red@aclion.com Now if you'll excuse me, it's my lunch break and I'm almost done with Season 1 of Arrested Development :)
For your viewing pleasure, here's the viral video of the day. Listen closely to the soundtrack, because according to an AlleyInsider article, the singer is 17-year old Palbasha Siddique, and besides the 4 million+ views this video has, she now ranks as part of the top 10 music downloads on Amazon.com (above Mariah Carey and Madonna):
It's Friday and there's a lot going on in the world today, but I feel it's necessary to forget everything and do what 85% of internet users do and watch a video. My fellow AC Lion executive, Dan Goldsmith, took the liberty of sending me this video. Take a moment to sit back and relax. This one is for all the gamers in the house!!
Quick Synopsis:Tech Support Humor at it's finest! Sales guy complains of web-site failure as TechSupport is completely immersed in Halo-3!
Well, it's no surprise that my attention has been diverted from Video to Social Networks this week...well, sort of. This weeks article was inspired by me literally stumbling on Mashable.com...
"Bubble Comment"! No it's not XXX...nor is it a Bazooka Gum rating site! Bubble Comment is fully owned and operated by kShermanStudios LLC., a privately held group located in Sausalito, CA.,
and is part of the Bubble suite of video services which include:
Bubble Guru
A subscription based video service that enables you to directly engage your web site visitors and improve web-based communications.
Bubble Testimonial
A subscription based testimonial service that eliminates all the time-consuming aspects of gathering, organizing, and posting of customer testimonials.
Bubble Joy
A free service that allows you to send richly interactive video greeting cards to all your friends and family.
A free service that enables you to share personal video comments with others on virtually any web page.
You won't find BubbleComment advertised on kShermanStudio's main site just yet. Simply put, it does the simple but effective task of allowing you distribute a page to a circle of contacts along with personal video recording. It's an easy 3-step process and can't get any easier than plugging in a VCR (unless you're a tech-tard...
...anyways, what is attractive about this product? Why would anyone take the time to do all of this when the old way of commenting works just fine for the amount of time it takes (less than 30 seconds)? Well, for one there's no sign-in requirements No sign-in is required. Just two basic steps, and you’re done. It's for video enthusiasts who really want to get their point across.
Give it a shot...you have nothing to lose except for your self dignity!
InterActiveCorp (IAC) are the proud owners of such businesses as Ask.com, Match.com and today's topic: CollegeHumor.com. That and many more properties to boast. But what makes CollegeHumor stand out is the recent news of CollegeHumor/Connected Ventures guys finally moving from online to having a syndicated TV show on MTV. As written on the about page of CollegeHumor.com, it "was founded in 1999 by two high school friends from Baltimore, Maryland who went to different colleges as a way to share all of the pictures, videos, and links their friends would IM and e-mail each other. Now it's a lot bigger." AND NOW, according to the MediaPost article MTV Buys CollegeHumor.com Show,they have at least a six-episode commitment for this fall. According to MediaPost "No financial or content details were disclosed". So stay tuned for updates...
That's big news for the world of User-Gen Video!! According to Comscore in my article Online Video: Q2 Tells All: According to ComScore, Internet users in the U.S. watched 11.5 billion online videos in March 2008, up 13% over February 2008 and 64% year-over-year. This bridge of Online to Traditional-TV could mean one of 2 things: Either an increase of online fan-base migrating back to TV or...TV beginning to adopt online content and monetization and a slow migration from traditional TV to a new version of Online Integrated TV Platforms.
...these are just my thoughts, but considering nobody else has voiced them, I figured I'd be the first to say "THIS IS SIMPLY...HUGE!" Stay tuned for further updates loyal readers and fans...and while you're waiting check out one of my favorite videos from the site:
Following the recent trend of CollegeHumor.com going fromOnline User-Gen to MTV, it seems FunnyOrDie.com falls into that same category. I think this is going to be a recurring theme and figured I'd bring readers up-to-speed on FunnyOrDie.com's progress:
Without a question, FunnyorDie.com is hilarious and has a future in the Online Video business. They even have a Wikipedia Page, Funny Or Die. "Funny or Die is a comedy video website founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's production company, Gary Sanchez Productions with original and user generated content. Funny or Die is also unique in that it contains a good deal of exclusive material from a number of famous contributors (e.g. Judd Apatow, James Franco) and has its own Funny or Die Team (FOD Team) which creates original material for the site. Michael Kvamme, an aspiring young comedian, came up with a concept for a new kind of comedy site and the site was developed by Randy Adams. Videos are voted on by users of the site; those that are deemed funny stay, but those that are not "die" and are relegated to the site's "crypt"."
The site's first video, The Landlord, has received over 55 million views and features Ferrell confronted by a swearing, beer-drinking two-year-old landlord.[1] In June 2007, they received venture capital funding from Sequoia Capital,[2] and in June 2008, they announced a partnership with HBO.[3]
I first knew about the Investment back in April when I came across a Mashable.com article FunnyorDie.com: Will Ferrell Takes Sequoia Investment. Then In June 2008, I read an article that insured my belief that they've made their place in the Online Video business, avoiding the User-Gen approch (in a way) and uploading professional content. As quoted from WikiPedia:
HBO and FunnyorDie announced that HBO had purchased a stake of less than 10% in Funny Or Die. With this, Funny or Die will be responsible for developing at least 10 half-hour episodes for HBO, and the companies may organize future comedy tours together. Regarding the agreement, Will Ferrell said, "I don't want to overstate the importance of this deal, but this is the missing link moment where TV and Internet finally merge. It will change the way we as human beings perceive and interact with reality. Okay, I overstated it. But it is an exciting deal."[4]
I'd keep a close eye on FunnyOrDie and see what Will Ferrell is fully capable of. Hats off to them! Now go and check out their latest footage (b/c most of it is not exactly censored for me to post on this blog): FunnyOrDie.com
MobiTV global TV and digital radio service, recently stated in July 31st press release MobiTV Soars Past Four Million Subscribers it now has 4 million subscribers to its mobile TV and radio services, available in more than 15 carrier networks, including giants AT&T, and Sprint. The Service costs $10 monthly. Their competitors include Verizon, Modeo and Joost and Babelgum (on PCs).
"It's been more than 9 months since MobiTV announced its 3 millionth subscriber; it only took 8 months to get to 3 million (Oct. 22, '07) from 2 million (Feb. 28, '07)."
It looks as if their numbers are slowing in a time where Mobile capabilities are constantly increasing. Still, it's alarming to see Mobitv.com's site analytics! Take a look at their Unique Visitors decline over the past year:
That's a 40% decrease this year, but that could be caused by many different factors and we also have to rely on their subscriber numbers over the visitor numbers any day! We also have to be aware of the fact that the "slow" increase can be blamed on usability level of smart-phones, limited 3G networks, etc? That could directly influence the amount of people willing to pay for mobile TV.
"About 4.8 million Americans -- 2.1% of the U.S. mobile market -- watched programmed TV/video at least once a month on their phones this spring, according to research firm comScore M:Metrics. Meanwhile, more than twice that -- 11.7 million subscribers, or 5.2% of the market -- watched free video sent by family or friends."
But again, this brings us back to recent articles concerning online video metrics. Take a look at http://blog.aclion.com/video/ for more info to bring you up to speed. Other than that, things are looking up for MobiTV now and I'm going to follow their growth to see how it pans out over the next 2 years of which mobile capabilities will play a huge part. Familiarize yourselves with companies like these, because we are beginning to move into a highly-technical advanced MOBILE future where video plays a key role in both news, entertainment and advertising.
I was in search for an article to "blog" about and came across a rather interesting post by AlleyInsider's creater himself, Mr. Henry Blodget. It's a big statement, but they claimed It Was NBC's Fault US Gymnasts Blew Gold Medal. I mean, I personally thought it was because team captain Alicia Sacramone lost her balance on the "BALANCE BEAM" and floored her "FLOOR ROUTINE" (puns intended).
Karolyi said immediately after the US loss to China that officials at Beijing's National Indoor Stadium disrupted Sacramone's beam routine by delaying her performance for an extended period, breaking her concentration
"First they called her name up, then they did not even put her name up even though the Chinese had finished … (it was) totally unusual holding," she said.
"She was mentally prepared and then she had a mental break, then after not doing the job, the beam, on the floor exercise her concentration was bothered."...
Karolyi insisted the world champion US team would have won gold if Sacramone had not become unsettled.
Well, AlleyInsider did it's investigative work and found the heart of that article, quoting Alas: It was NBC's fault...
USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny said the delay involving Sacramone's beam routine happened because of scheduling issues related to the Games' television feed.
"It's a normal television thing that's typical in international competition," he told AFP.
Well, in the end, there's really no need for blame! China still out-did America by over 2 points and on their home-turf. China's first time team-gold-medal in this category is worth clapping for and everything else aside, Sacramone herself didn't play the blame game, saying "I think everybody knows there'll be good days and bad days, I just wish this was a good day for me."
YouTube, which accounts for more than half of all video views, will generate a mere $200 million in sales in 2008...yet they still are among other "losers" failing to be a profitable company in the Online Video space. According to Dow Jones investors have spilled more than $8 billion into Online Video. Here's some #'s (though they don't add up to $8 Billion) that give you an idea of Online Video Spending over the past 3 years:
These numbers come primarily from AlleyInsider's reporting on the Dow Jones VentureSource, which provided them with a running tally of venture investment in online video startups since 2005. The dealflow includes "video infrastructure (Brightcove), ad platforms (YuMe), service providers (VideoEgg), and consumer sites (FunnyOrDie, Veoh, Joost, etc). Between 2005 and Q1 2008, that tally is $6.06 billion. Add in one big acquisition -- the $1.65 billion deal for YouTube ($1.65 billion) -- and a few smaller ones -- like Sony's pickup of Grouper/Crackle for $65 million -- and the grand total comes to $8.06 billion. Keep in mind this doesn't include any of the billions invested in Europe or in China."
Now according to a more recent AI article, Sorry, Investors: The Online Video Pie Just Shrank By 65%, according to eMarketer, "In February, the Web prognosticator said YouTube et al would sell $1.4 billion in ads in the U.S. this year. Now it says it was overzealous: It has ratcheted its estimate back by 64%, to $505 million."
I really liked how AI broke down the $505mm and decided to copy and paste the text for all to see:
...here's how a $505 million market would break down this year:
That means the remaining $215 million, then, is divided between the following:
Big media companies like ABC/Disney, CBS, Time Warner, Yahoo, News Corp/MySpace, NBC U, and Viacom.
Video aggregators like Veoh, Joost, Metacafe and DailyMotion
And ad networks like Brightroll, Tremor, Husky and Broadband Enterprises
It's really hard to see Online Video draw back it's yearly quote predictions for the 2nd time this year, but there's hope yet in terms of IAB taking yet another step closer to determining Online Video perameters. This is the first I've seen of it: Digital Video Ad Measurement Guidelines by the IAB. 3 CATEGORIES all committed to Online Video, while I find it interesting to see E-Mail only has 1 guideline. EVEN MORE INTERESTING, is the fact that it Digital Video is now a whole new category in "Emerging Interactive Platforms", along with Games Advertising, Mobile and User-Gen Content & Social Media. I'm interested to see when these will be in full completion and what will take their place as "Emerging". Either, I hope the best for Video and look forward to seeing YouTube lockdown their Ad-Model and finally bringing in the big bucks!
As usual, my Friday blogging habbits seem to lead towards a selected "Viral Video"...which leads me to my 4th "VIRAL VIDEO OF THE DAY"...but at the same time I totally got sucked into Reuters YouTube Posting covering Michael Phelps and his Marketing success.
Michael Phelps is a "Marketing Dream" to companies like Speedo, AT&T, and Visa. He earns $5mm a year in endorsements, but can expect more post-Olympics. But none of this could happen without the Marketing Magic behind Phelps, Octagon.
Want a little humor? Well, according to the Video above, VISA immediately launched a commercial congratulated Phelps on the most metals in Olympic History, yet the marketing firm behind Phelps hasn't seemed to update their own web-site: http://www.octagon.com/worldwide-overview/athletes-and-personalities. Check it out...they still have him down for "8". Looks like VISA was a step ahead ;)
...Now that's some good Blogging right there! As for Phelps, have fun buddy!
Every time the TV is on or the internet movie is rolling, everyone knows not to bug me during "commercial" time. I once thought that I was part of a small sect of "commercial" lovers, commenting on them, critiquing them, or simply sitting back and enjoying them. Well, I recently discovered an article that claims there are many more "commercial lovers" out there...
As I was browsing the AlleyInsider Blog for some good material and up-to-date news, I came across Video Ad Companies: People Love Watching Video Ads! ...That's right! 3 Companies support the idea that someone "out there" manages to make it through the commercial. Now I'm not going to go as far as to say they enjoy the commercials as much as I do, but at least they're not flipping the channel any-time soon. Check out the stats below as quoted from AlleyInsider:
Tremor Media says [...] only 20% of Web video watchers give up and leave when confronted with the pre-rolls it serves up. Or, as Tremor is putting it in a release later today, 80% watch the ads all the way through. [...] [A]udiences are willing to accept pre-roll advertising in exchange for content they want, on demand." And Tremor also says that its stuff is so good (it measured 65 million ad impressions across 100 different ad campaigns) that the bail-out rate didn't change if the ads were 15 or 30 seconds long.
Break Media is claiming an even higher "completion rate" -- 87% -- for its pre-rolls, which includes a whole lot of user-generated video. Break's sample was a lot smaller than Tremor's -- 5.85 million impresssions. But we're equally skeptical of both numbers. We're certainly not anti-advertising, and we will indeed sit through some pre-rolls, when we know were getting good stuff we want to see. But there's no way we do that 8 out of 10 times.
Now they haven't exactly pinpointed WHY, but the money is there and that's usually all that matters in order to convince the public that this form/method of advertising works. As for my commercial loving companions, our time to shine is just over the hill. Beware!
I was playing with Stumble Upon and discovered a great depiction of a world without internet, in cartoon narrated story form (with pop-ups). Very entertaining if you need a break from work....(*To move through each story, click the arrow on the bottom right of the book)
Advertising sources say YouTube is revamping the homepage to accommodate a huge new banner ad that will span the entire width of the page. The ad will is roughly the same height as the current video ad unit on the upper right of the page, and designed to accommodate high-definition video, similar to the campaign Sony Pictures ran on YouTube to market "Pineapple Express." Sources who have seen the unit describe it having multiple tabs that activate when rolled over by a cursor.
And now for the "Viral Video of The Day"...as featured on ViralVideoChat.com as the most viral video of today. Stats:
And now for the "Viral Video of The Day"...as featured on ViralVideoChat.com as the most viral video of today. Bill Gates & Jerry Seinfeld - Shoe Circus Commercial Stats:
As part of this blogs timely Friday Tradition, "Viral Video of The Week" will become a regular thing. This week I've decided to include 2 videos for 2 reasons. The first reason is because it's a "Friday" and that is self explanatory. The 2nd reason is because both videos have 1 thing in common: The 2008 Elections! Their popularity is due to their humorous approach to what the number 1 thing on America's mind right now. All stats and info can be found at ViralVideoChart.com. According to them, both videos have been "spreading across the interweb like Wildfire!"...
At this point you should be asking yourself, "How is #2 if it is has over 20,000+ more views and 50+ more Blog Posts than the Simpson video?". I'm not sure either, but while I go ahead and contact ViralVideoChat, check out the video below:
I sent an e-mail to both Scott & Matt of UnrulyMedia, the creator of this site and this is their response:
"We rank videos based on linking and sharing on the web rather than views - similar to how google ranks sites on it's search engine.
Partially we do this because it's information that is standard across sites (the definition of a view varies from site to site) and is a bit harder to manipulate and partially because that's the way we've always done it...
Hope that explains it!
Matt."
So there's the answer! Now go drink and enjoy your Friday!
“Viral Video of The Day” is part of this blogs timely Friday Tradition, as provided by my friends at ViralVideoChart.com. They marked an interesting #1 video for today. So for all of you marketers and mobile junkies out there obsessed with your PDA and e-mail, you'll love todays Viral Video of The Day:
Introducing Gmail for mobile 2.0
That's right! A geekie video made it to #1...and with reason. For all of you using PDA's, the proprietary email application can be quite plain (static, no html, courier new, etc.). Well, this is probably more applicable to "Blackberry Users". Well, today's viral video promotes Gmail's Phone Application. The guy's kinda funny in the video, in a geeky google kind of way. How this made #1 for the day, I'm not sure...
