Archive for the ‘Video’ Category

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)

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:

2005: $1.764 billion
2006: $2.117 billion
2007: $2.009 billion
2008: $453 million (Q1 only)

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:

• YouTube says it will generate $200 million in advertising in 2008.
• We’ve estimated that Hulu will sell as much as $90 million.

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!

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)

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).
Well, Martha Karolyi, the team co-ordinator, was quick to blame officials at Beijing’s stadium as quoted from this Yahoo article, US clears Beijing officials of blame for gymnastics loss.

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.”

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)

Hands down, this may be one of the funniest videos related to advertising…

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.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).
That’s great for them and better for the mobile and online video industry, but According to Silicon Alley Insider article How Big Is The Market For Tiny, Mobile TV Ever Going To Get?

“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.
Again, according to the SAI (Silicon Alley Insider) article:

“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.

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)

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]
This is very similar to CollegeHumor.com’s step from Online Video to MTV. I wrote about that earlier this week: CollegeHumor: From Online User-Gen to MTV
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

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)

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:

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)

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.
	Bubble Comment 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!

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)

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!

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)

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):

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Article By: Joshua ‘The Red’ Russak (Red@aclion.com)


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