Tools of the Trade

As video producers we are all familiar with cameras like the Panasonic AG-HVX-200 P2 or editing software like Final Cut Pro but most of us are not that familiar with a very special tool called a Media Kit.

For those of you just getting into the online video business - Media Kits are sell sheets that explain to Media Buyers what a media property (in our case an online video) is about, who it reaches and what inventory that media property has available for that Media Buyer to advertise on. Media Buyers look at media kits to decide if a property is right for their brands.

As a advisory board member of the ADM I have been asked to put together some tools for members of the Association of Downloadable Media and I thought the first thing to pull together should be a collection of Media Kits.

That said, if you are a producer of downloadable media and you have a media kit you would like to share with the ADM please send it to me at 1timstreet (at) gmail.com.

I can't promise if we will use it or not but if we don't have it we won't be using it for sure.

If you are looking for a little preview here's a copy of The French Maid TV Media Kit.

And if you are interested I've also posted another tool of the trade the French Maid TV Advertising Sales Presentation which is basically an Upfront Presentation for French Maid TV.

Online VIdeo Star From Tiki Bar TV Saves a Life in NYC Subway

According to Scott Beale of Laughing Squid "Kevin Gamble, who plays Johnny Johnny on Tiki Bar TV, tells the amazing story of how he jumped down onto the subway tracks at the L train station at 3rd Avenue in New York to save a woman’s life after she fell off the platform and hit her head on one of the rails."

Now I want to know what cocktail he fixed himself after it was all over.

Way to go Johnny Johnny! I can't wait for the recipe for the "SUBWAY" drink.

Integrated Advertising that Doesn't Work for Me

Okay here's some Online Integrated Advertising that DOESN'T Work for Me and at the risk of being called mean spirited I'd thought I'd just share. Please feel free to disagree with me.

Forget the over the top acting on Mark Malkoffs part and just ask yourself what emotions are moved by this video?

Anger? Maybe. Disgust? Maybe. Fear? Not really. Joy not so much. Sadness? Nope. Surprise? A little. (I can't believe they talked Lisa Loeb into doing this)

There are no clear winners. At face value nothing really moves the needle.

From a concept standpoint "We're going to get Mark to invite Lisa Loeb into IKEA to sing for his wife." Wow! That's so romantic. Wow! How did you get Lisa Loeb? How cool is that? But the finished video doesn't feel like an emotionally engaging spectacle that would go viral on the internet.

Now this is from my point of view and I may be a little too close to this one. I've shopped at IKEA and I don't like it and I hate putting furniture together, I've worked with Lisa and I didn't enjoy it and I've seen Mark's videos and I feel they have so much potential but they just don't work for me.

On the other hand, if my Aunt Bea was still alive she would think Mark was adorable and she would find it so gosh darn cute that Mark got Lisa to sing for his wife. The only thing that would have made it better for Aunt Bea was if there was a white cat in the video. (Aunt Bea loved white cats)

Some how this video has touched me because I'm blogging about it. Maybe I'm just discussed because I think videos like this hurt the integrated advertising video business but hey, I'm sure people say the same thing about French Maid TV but FMTV has over 26 million downloads so the Maids must be doing something right.

As of this posting the "Lisa Loeb Plays for Mark in IKEA" video has had 434,114 on YouTube - not bad for 7 days. I'm not sure what they spent on getting Lisa and Mark to do this but if I was a local furniture store in Florida I would be very happy with 400,000 views in 7 days. If I was a global furniture brand? Not so much.

From the production side I think this video is fine. With a little editing it would make a great segment on Good Morning America or some cable television network and that's where I think it and Mark belong. Women viewers of The View or Regis and Kelly would eat this video up. This type of integrated advertising belongs in old media where old people would think it's adorable.

What can you do to avoid this pitfall? Plan.

Make a plan of what human emotions you feel you need to touch in order to move the needle and get your target demo to do what you want them to do.

If you are serious about using viral videos to reach your audience I would caution you to make sure your audience is made up of young males. Sure there are millions of women on the Internet but they are not the ones watching viral videos in big numbers - yet. My recommendations for emotions to target young males would be: Lust, Joy and Surprise. Translated: Make it Funny and Sexy.

Next, add the spectacle ingredient. Think about your product or service and come up with some spectacle that will get young guys' attention but still fits the promise of your brand and MAKE SURE YOU HAVE BRAND PERMISSION to do what you are going to do. To my knowledge Houston's restaurant chain does not have drive-thru windows.

The last thing, find people to produce your viral video who understand the viral video space and know the culture and websites that aggregate and reach young males. Believe it or not YouTube is not the only video sharing website out there. Other video sharing websites can be more influential in reaching young male influencers and every good marketer knows the power of infuencer marketing.

Nalts Discloses Fees

In the above video is one of his most popular Revver files where he shares his "Addiction to Blackberry Crackberry" and on his blog Will Video for Food Kevin Nalts has published his rates.

Nalts says, "Let me disclose my own fee structure and hope others will do the same. I initially was happy with $1,000 per video (for Mentos and some of my early work), but soon discovered my hourly rate computed to less than minimal wage. And I was juggling more work than I could handle with a day job. I also didn’t want to junk my YouTube channel with excessive sponsored videos, which alienating my subscribers (especially since many resent YouTube’s InVid ads, which produce far less income for me than sponsored videos).

Now I’m pricing between $3,000 and $10,000, but there are a few reasons I can price this way:

I have a decent track record, and fortunately more demand than time.
I have a steady audience on YouTube so most of my videos will get at least 20-40,000 views.
I have a marketing background, and provide strategy and a creative brief before diving into the video.
I try to produce several videos so a brand can amortize the cost (and generally I get some efficiencies out of a series).
I have gobs of debt (hey, just keeping it real here)."

I think his rates are a little low for the service he's offering.

More Stuff That Super Bowl Ads Are Made Of

Not to be outdone by the Pepsi creative team the Bud Lite Creative team was quick to fire off an email to me with a tease of their Super Bowl spots and I must say they too are playing with the human emotions in brilliant Super Bowl fashion. Looking at all these Super Bowl spots ahead of time feels kind or wrong to me - Kind of like seeing Mickey with his head off but what the heck here's a little tease of what you are going to see:

A-B has made teasers of several of the spots they’ll be running during this year’s game available on YouTube:
Breathe Fire:




X-Ray Vision: (MY FAV)



Wheel:


Team: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPr4ECNzPTk

Language of Love:

But that’s not all. There’s also a mobile execution that ties into the spots. Here are some rough bullets on how that’s working:
Over the next two weeks, visitors to BudBowl.com, BudLight.com and Budweiser.com will be invited to participate in an interactive program during Super Bowl in which they can rate our Super Bowl ads.
Following each of our Super Bowl commercials, registered adults receive a text message to their cell phone prompting them to reply with a rating.
Following the final ad, participants receive a final text message with a code allowing them to unlock the secret 11th spot available via their video enabled cell phone or on BudBowl.com.
Consumers who view the secret spot will be invited to send a customized humorous messages to their friends inviting them to view the secret spot.
All of the ads will be available for download to PDAs, phones and iPods on Budbowl.com.

For the first time, Bud will include a widget that allows users to post their favorite ads on their own MySpace, Facebook, or other personal web site to share with their friends.

What's Up with spending so much time talking about traditional TV Ads? Because the stuff that goes into them affects our pop culture and our internet videos for years to come.

Whatsuuuuuup!

The Stuff Super Bowl Ads Are Made Of

Bob's House is the unique and hilarious Pepsi commercial for the 2008 Super Bowl, illustrating a popular joke in the hearing impaired community. Created and enacted by deaf members of the Pepsico workforce, EnAble.



Beyond the great back story of how this Super Bowl ad came together is that fact that depending on who you are this spot blends two or more human emotions with spectacle. It truly has the stuff that Super Bowl Ads are Made of and looks like it will be one of the most talk about ad campaigns of this Super Bowl Season.

22 Year Old Kid From Maine Has Top Brand Sponsors

According to Ad Age Jake Sasseville's show is on 40 ABC affiliates, following "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in markets across the US, and he counts Ford Motor Co., Overstock.com and Dunkin' Donuts among his sponsors.

Jake once said he wants to see what he can do to change the world and it looks like he's doing it. Now how long till someone does what he's doing on TV on the Internet?

The Real Power of the Upfront Presentation

While network upfronts are on the out this year I feel the "Upfront Presentation" or Upfront "Trailer" is an important tool in explaining to advertisers what your show is and where it is going. These short form marketing tools can be emotionally engaging and aid in closing ad sales. Many shows' advertising have been sold on just an upfront presentation. In fact I created one presentation for a show (that will remain nameless) that hadn't even been filmed yet. We faked the whole thing and made it look like the show was in production when they were still casting it. (That presentation won an award)

Now I did have the pleasure of creating the Upfront Presentation for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and working on that project for Bob Bibb and Lew Goldstein at The WB and that gave me a lot of insight into how TV Networks picked shows and I still think there is a lot to be learned from Network Upfronts.

If you are going after advertisers for your online video and you are just getting started you might want to create a presentation that explains the details about your show and where you see it going in the future. An "Industry Trailer" that's not for consumers but for advertisers and other companies that might want to partner with you.

Networks are still going to go after Upfront money for their shows. They will still meet with Ad Agencies and Media Buyers from large advertisers and ask for their advertising buys before new shows launch. Why wouldn't they? And there's no reason for the online video advertising world not to do the same.

I think we should get together and have online content creators meet with advertisers at a cocktail party and we should show them our Upfront Presentations.

Maybe we could do one in New York, one in Chicago, one in LA and one in San Francisco.

Would any of you be interested?

Diluting Your Feed

Is your RSS feed powerful enough that you need to dilute it?

I didn't think so but lots of people are diluting their feeds by making other feeds available. I'm guilty of this and I'm not sure how to stop it.

Why does this matter you ask? Well I guess it matters only if you want the free promotion that Apple gives you on the iTunes Store in the podcasting directory and if you want to make money by controlling and selling your own advertising inventory.

It stands to reason that if you make your content available in as many formats as you can that more people will be able to choose what feed they want to subscribe to. Right? Okay, sure but when someone subscribes to your Windows Media feed they are not subscribing to your feed that is featured on the iTunes Store and they don't count as a subscription for the day that will bring you up in the iTunes rankings. What good does moving up in the iTunes ranking do me? Well if you have content that is emotionally compelling and can really build a large audience it means a lot. It took me over a month to get listed on the iTunes Store and once French Maid TV was featured as new and notable we shot up to number one in 3 days and pick up 20,000 subscribers overnight. Then we were mentioned in Wired Magazine and picked up another 20,000 subscribers. Your feed is very important because it allows you to reach a lot of viewers quickly and the iTunes Store is a great way to get new subscribers and be noticed by business development people and media buyers who are looking for "hot" properties.

Youtube has offered subscribing to their videos for a while but that's a separate feed from your own feed and now other sites like Revver are offering subscription buttons for feeds as well. That's all well and good but in the long run where does that get you? You don't control those feeds. Sure they are another way to get more viewers paying attention to your videos but if these "Partner Feeds" go away you lose all those subscribers.

The Apple iTunes Store doesn't control your feed, you do. You create your feed and then you tell Apple where it lives. You can tell Apple about multiple feeds that you have, say an iPod/iPhone feed, an audio only feed and an Apple TV feed but if you do that you are just diluting your feed and diluting your brand when it comes to your ranking at the iTunes Store.

Looking at my stats at Feedburner 43% of the French Maid TV RSS feed subscribers come from Windows iTunes, another 43% come from Mac iTunes and the rest are divided up by up by other readers including 3% that is Zune. (I didn't even know that Zune people could watch French Maid TV. I thought I had to deliver an M4V in oder for them to subscribe.) 86% of French Maid TV's subscribers come from iTunes. They bad part about my Feedburner feed is that I don't know who my subscribers are and the only way I can contact them is by dropping something down my feed and asking them to sign up for my mailing list.

Now at YouTube I only have 2434 subscribers but I can see their YouTube user name/profile and what videos they have uploaded and what videos are their favorites. This has the potential to be valuable but I've not really taken advantage of it yet. At Revver I can't tell how many subscribers I have nor can I tell anything about them.

Having as much information you can about your subscribers that you can share with potential advertisers is very important and moving forward I feel I need to figure out a way to get the kind of info that I have about my subscribers at YouTube on all my delivery channels but beyond that I feel the need to figure out how I can have one feed that I control that is viewable everywhere because I don't want to dilute my feed.

I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this.

In the above video Brian Chappell offers a simple how to guide on setting up a basic meta refresh to enable tracking of RSS subscribers via google analytics, for sites that use services like feedburner. It is a great method to track where your sub's are coming from.

18-34 Year Old Males Are the Heaviest Users of Online Video

According to Burst Media Young Males are "the heaviest viewers of online video" - I wonder how much they spent on that research and what else they could have done with the money.

On a serious note, if you are looking for some impressive statistics about online video to put into a presentation or media kit about online video you might want to have a looks at Burst Media's report for your research.

Product Placement Advertising in Web Video

Daisy Whitney's New Media Minute focuses on product placement advertising in Web video and iMeem.

Hey these guys could be on to something.

Super Distribution Leaves the Gate with Cockpit

The Double Emmy®-nominated Douglas Cheney, Chris Hampel, Chris McCaleb and Ryan Wise, better known as the Big Fantastic Boys (to me) who brought us the dark online thrillers Sam Has 7 Friends and Prom Queen have "shacked-up" with former UTA Agent Brent Weinstein's 60 Frames to launch a new comedy titled Cockpit.

The story starts with First Officer John Pinneke's first day on the job. He meets his fellow employees including Flight Attendant Dan Wishbone who swears he's not gay.

It's a web series about the employees of Mile High Airlines and "what really goes on behind that cockpit door." It's very Reno 911.

The first episode doesn't really work for me maybe because the it doesn't deliver on the expectation/promise that the above thumbnail Key Art gave me when I first saw it but these are very talented guys so I've subscribed and I'm going to give them a few episodes to hook me like they did with Sam and Prom Queen.

Beyond the fact that they have partnered with 60Frames Entertainment - (the newly-formed digital media financing and syndication company, has officially debuted its programming with seven new original online series) - run by Big Fantastic's old UTA Agent, is the fact that they are using a new super distribution deal with leading online video sites including Bebo, Blip.tv, Break.com Dailymotion, Heavy.com, iTunes, MySpace, Veoh Networks, Vuze, and on YouTubeTM at http://www.youtube.com/60frames. (Revver is missing?????)

According to their press release, "60Frames content will also be syndicated through Joost by February 1, 2008. This distribution network collectively reaches nearly 90% of all online video traffic. As of today, consumers can also access 60Frames content by logging onto www.60frames.com."

Weinstein stated: “The idea behind 60Frames was to create a set of financial, creative, marketing and distribution resources that professional artists could use to bring exciting new projects to life in an environment that provides artists meaningful profit participation, ownership, and control of their IP. We’re very excited about our initial offerings and future projects which we believe will expand, in terms of genre and form-factor, the notion of what ‘works’ online. By partnering with the leading online sites, we are giving artists’ content the widest possible exposure while maximizing revenue opportunities.”

Okay that's all well and good and it will be interesting to see how it all works but if you look at what is working right now this is a 180.

The Ninja Boys are keeping their new content just on their own site and using tradition page view advertising to monetize.

Cockpit is only one of seven new shows for 60 Frames and according to NewTeeVee
"each partner will sell its own ads for now, 60Frames will eventually sell sponsorships through Spot Runner, which incubated the company with UTA."

I'm really interested to see how this works out. I'm excited about what Brent is doing with 60 Frames and think his timing couldn't be any better with the writer's strike going on right now and of course I always love to see the Big Fantastic Boys break new ground.

Apple Day 2008

Gary Rosenzweig of MacMost takes a look at past Apple Days and what important products were announced each year, including the iMac, iPod, the switch to Intel and the iPhone.

And as tomorrow is Christmas Day all over again I thought I would ask for a few things.


Dear Santa Steve,

I've been a very good boy this year. All 14 days of it. For Apple Day I would like an Apple TV that works like a TiVo and comes with AT&T Digital Cable or better yet my current cable provider.

Next I would like a professional version of iWeb with a content management system for podcasting and dynamic ad insertion - and a couple of interactive media buyers who like French Maids.

And finally I would like a new MacBook Pro or MacTablet (MacBook Air) that is faster than any laptop on the planet and will be for six months because of a deal you struck with Intel.

The Trader Joe's Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies are in the kitchen near the iMac.

Oh and one last thing, I'd like some programable digital photo frames that hook up to Airport and iPhoto.

Thanks

Timmy

and thanks Gary.

New Interactive Storytelling Platform - Chumby?

Chris Pirillo gives a demo of the Chumby multi-media widget player that plays FLASH.

"That’s right… it’s Chumby! This is definitely going to be a huge hit, and the favorite new gadget of many Geeks. I am having a lot of fun playing with the Chumby… and so are all the people in our live community!

The Chumby is a compact device that displays useful and entertaining information from the web using your wireless internet connection. Always on, it shows — nonstop — what’s online that matters to you. What can you do with a Chumby? The question is… what CAN’T you do with it?"

Could this be an interactive storytelling device?

Information, Sex and Comedy

Information, Sex and Comedy are great tools for building a viral video series and the Midwest Teen Sex Show has them all. I expect this Online Series to win many awards and turn into a big brand.

Venture Capital vs Volunteer Capital

At least once a month I get someone who asks me if I would be interested in raising venture capital to start an online video network. It always is flattering to think that someone thinks that I could raise VC. Me? A guy that wears sunglasses almost 24/7 and is known to hang out with sexy women in lingerie who jump on beds and have pillow fights in their bras and panties? How could I raise venture capital from companies like Panorama Capital, Highland Capital,New Enterprise Associates, Redpoint Ventures,Greycroft Partners, BV Capital or Sequoia Capital to start a video network?

Sure the VC like me. They will read my name badge at a conference and then raise their hand and high five me while saying, " Dude, I love the CPR episode!" But I just don't see these guys giving me money. Even if they did I know that someday they would take what ever I built away from me and give it to a grown up person to run. I know that I'm a "Starter" trying to become a "Builder" and I'm definitely not a "Minder."

I've learned that Venture Capitalists have many strings attached and if I raise money to do something I know I will be a marionette and the VCs will be pulling my strings much like the way Studios and Networks have pushed and pulled me for years.

I've stopped producing Studio and Network Television work for almost six months now. I've spent the past half year pursuing Online Video, both for myself and for others through consulting gigs. I left doing studio projects because I wanted creative freedom. I've always wanted to be able to paint my own pictures and now for the first time in my life I see the reality of being able to do that. Sure it may not be on the scale that I want at first but as an artist I'm plagued with ideas both large and small. Up until the democratization of video production and distribution I've never been able to create and distribute my ideas for millions to see. French Maid TV has changed all that for me.

I'm an Independent Filmmaker at heart. A storyteller. (Unfortunately I don't see an opportunity to make money with "story" online video yet so I'm sticking with "spectacle" for now) I've made short films and I've followed the Indy film movement for quite some time. I've studied the different ways of funding, producing and distributing Independent films. As I've learned more about financing a film I've realized from a business stand point, unless you are going to have a known celebrity, explosions or nudity in your film you shouldn't make it. Over the years I've produced several movie trailers for Independent films chasing distribution and time and time again I would hear the filmmakers say things like, "A distributor asked if there were any explosions." " If only I had a celebrity." "If only I had shot some nudity." If you wanted to get your film picked up by a distributor you needed those things and even being picked up by a distributor didn't mean your film would ever get seen but that's a whole different story.

Now for the first time you don't need a distributor for your short films and in the years to come you won't need a distributor for your Independent film to be seen by millions either - if you can put together all of the pieces of the monetization puzzle.

With Independent film you had a few choices of getting your film funded but the most common and successful way was an LLC where you would put together a business plan and create an Limited Liability Corporation of which you were the managing partner. Next you would find 35 investors to cough up the dough and then you would beg borrow and steal the rest. You would call in all kinds of favors and get as many volunteers to work on your film as possible. Another way to fund your film might be borrowing money from family members who had it to lend. One writer/producer, Rian Johnson who used to cut TV promos for me did that. Rian got all his buddies to help out as crew, found a few celebrities to star in his film, shot it on HD and cut the film himself. Then he submitted his film to Sundance. Not only did he get into Sundance but he won a special award and sold his film BRICK to Focus. I went to Sundance to watch his film and afterwards I asked him what has been the funniest thing anyone has said to you here at Sundance and his answer was, "Here is 2 million bucks for your film."

Like that story and the story of the Blair Witch Project there are a few exceptions to the rule that most Independent films don't get seen by an audience but in online video that is different and in some cases where people have been volunteering to help filmmakers and other artists the work is being seen on a much bigger scale than ever before.

Take for example CHERUB the slapstick parody of Joss Whedon's ANGEL, released as an Internet video series by Seattle-based producer Stephen McCandless and his Caution Zero Network. Stephen runs a small theater in Seattle. A theater that has had people volunteering or working for peanuts for 20 years. Then for the hell of it they did the online video Cherub. Lots of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans from all over the world watched it. It was such a success that Stephen decided to do another project called, "What the Funny." This time though Stephen could say to his potential volunteers, "The last online video series we did has been seen by more people then have come to this theater in the last 20 years." Wow! That's a pretty impressive statement and to actors who want to be in local theater to be seen by an audience, any audience, this is music to their ears.

From a crew perspective in Independent film people volunteer to be involved, to learn, to get experience and to meet new people - all things that might lead to paying jobs down the road. Many times people will volunteer on a film to get a "bump up." A PA will work as a production coordinator or production manager. A grip might work as a key grip or a camera operator or camera assistant might volunteer as a director of photography. Volunteers get valuable experience at someone else's expense.

Independent film volunteers "Invest" their time hoping it will pay off on a much greater scale down the road just like Venture Capitalists invest their money hoping for a much greater pay day down the road.

We are now at a time where the threshold of video content creation and distribution are low - anyone can get a video on YouTube but can anyone create a ongoing series that makes enough money to live on? Ahh, YES. Just Ask A Ninja.

Now Kent and Douglas bootstrapped Ask A Ninja, got funding from their family so that they could work full time on Ask A Ninja and then instead of selling Ask A Ninja they got an advertising deal with Federated Media and sold advertising on their website.

"That's great Tim but my family doesn't have any money and even if they did they wouldn't give it to me to go make some stupid ass online video."

Okay, do you believe in yourself?

Do you have a good idea that will attract tens of millions of views?

Can you get other people excited about your vision?

Do you know how to write a compelling Craigslist post?

Do you have access to video and editing gear?

If you answered yes to those five questions you should seriously think about Volunteer Capital as a way of funding your online video project and maybe even your online video network.

"Come on Tim an Online Video Network? You're crazy!"

I am crazy but even YouTube used and uses Volunteer Capital.

"No they didn't. You are full of crap. Chad Hurley and Steven Chen had VC from Sequoia Capital and got bought by Google."

Sure YouTube had funding for the technical infrastructure and bandwidth but how much did they pay for all the cameras, computers, editing, acting, singing, locations, cats, ceiling fans, farts and all the other capital that went into creating and uploading the user generated videos on YouTube?

Nothing. Their production and programming was and is Volunteer Capital.

How much does NBC pay for their programming?

Think about this, YouTube launched when you still had to pay for bandwidth for your videos to be hosted. Now with sites like YouTube, Revver, Blip.TV and with distribution applications like TubeMogul you can "super distribute" your videos with one click. Another thing, sites like Ning and Facebook were not available either.

If you want to create your own game, get to play with your own ball and not have to worry about the money bags taking it away from you now is the time to do it and do it with Volunteer Capital.

The Promise of the Thumbnail

Okay, Here's what I've been waiting to see from Google for a long time and this is the first time I've noticed it. Permission Based Video Advertising. Unfortunately it didn't work the way it should.

I was surfing Revver to see what was new and I clicked on a funny video. Next to the video I was watching was another video player that was a Google Advertisement for USA's New Season of Psych.

After I got done watching the video I wanted to watched on Revver I clicked on the video for Psych because Dulé Hill the guy from West Wing was on the ad. Instead of seeing Dulé Hill I was shown a promo for "Young Shawn and Gus" that is on Psych.

Now I'm not sure I'm going to watch Psych cause the promo didn't tell me what it was about (it only told me about Sean and Gus) and I'm too lazy and not interested enough to go find out (Please note that Mr. Chris McCumber EVP/Marketing, Digital and Brand Strategy USA Network)but I did click on and watch the Google Video ad because the Key Art/Thumbnail gave me a reason to click on it. Unfortunately the Key Art/Thumbnail didn't deliver on my assumed promise.

Anyway, as you move forward in marketing and promoting your podcast or online video think about your Key Art/Thumbnail and what your audience is going to see when they give you permission to deliver to them the promise of that thumbnail. And give that crazy Google Video Advertising thing a try if you can figure out how to use it.


(Having nothing to do with what I'm talking about the USA Network Website calls it "Little Shawn and Gus" but the promo's voice over says "Young")

Wizzard offers dynamic insertion for podcast ads

Kristina Knight of bizreport.com writes that, "A new offering from Wizzard Media could have more advertisers taking the podcast seriously. This week the podcast advertising and content aggregator launched a new tool which will dynamically insert ads according to the content of audio and video podcasts." For the whole story

And I thought Someone said, "Podcasting is Dead."

A Movable Feast

The above video is a bunch of us reading comments that were sent in to Epic Fu at a party Zadi and Steve had.

Just like those artists before us we are in a time of "A Movable Feast" or maybe "A New Media Movable Feast." Some of us are doing better than others but it's still a very fun time, as long as someone has money for beer and pizza.

Thank God Steve and Zadi did.

I think this is going to be a great year for independent video creators and I can't wait to see who the next break out hit that self monetizes is.

Who do you think it will be?