Political Videos are Dominating the Viral Video Charts. Wassup?

Wassup 2008 is on it's way to viral gold this weekend. Online digital studio 60 Frames has create spectacle, story and moves two or more (depending on who you are) emotions with a parody / update of the "Wassup" Bud commercials.

"Its been eight long years since the boys said wassup to each other. Even with the effects of a down economy and imminent change in the White House, the boys are still able to come together and stay true to what really matters."

This video will make you laugh, make you sad and depending on who you are it might make you angry or even cry in two different ways.

On a personal note, I wish that the events that make this video work on so many levels didn't exist but they do and I think this video has the power to start conversations that will enable online video creators to help change things for the better.

We have some tough times ahead of us but we don't need to let them get in our way. We need to look for the opportunities that will present themselves and we need to work together to make the best of them. The best way to do that is to share.

If we can share what we as video producers find, share what we learn, share we need and share what we have we can make our lives better and then we will be able to help others.

The video producers that are going to survive this economic downturn are producers who can create content that cuts through the clutter and delivers a return on investment for their advertisers, sponsors and investors.

Negative political videos maybe dominating the viral video charts but we don't need to let doom and gloom ruin our online video party.

What Do New Digital Studios Like 60 Frames Mean For You?

The Internet has brought us global video distribution and with that new digital studios like 60 Frames are popping up all over the place but what do they mean for Indie producers like you?

I had a chance last week to chat with Dave Koga from 60 Frames and get the scoop on what this UTA / Spot Runner backed digital studio is up to.

Who's Buying Online Video?

Even though consumers are watching online videos in record numbers online viewers are not yet buying the viral videos they love to watch. In order to sell online videos you have to have a buyer. A buyer who's looking to buy what you are selling at the right time and the right price.

Now this may all seem like common sense stuff but for the sake of conversation I'm going to blog about it anyway.

Video viewers are use to getting Internet videos for free so unless you are selling emotionally engaging videos consumers can't get anywhere else or you are selling videos in a format they want and can't get, consumers have no reason to buy your videos. But as we all know consumers will put up with advertising in order to watch those viral morsels.

So who is actually buying?

Michael Eisner's company Vuguru is buying, right? Well from what I can tell Vuguru isn't really buying, it's co-producing and selling. So is Brett Weinstein's 60 Frames Sony's Crackle and Disney's Stage 9.

These companies are financing the production of online videos created by independent producers and then pre-selling advertising against those online videos and super distributing them across the Internet with the ads baked in or just showing them on their own portals.

Now there are sites like Break.com who are paying for video. Break.com's site says, "For your first original video on the homepage, you will make $400 if you let Break have it exclusively. If you don't want to do that, or can't for any reason, no problem! Break will pay you $200 anyway as a reward for your first original making the homepage."

They go on to say, "$200 is very competitive for a first video. Except for an extremely small group of users on other sites, there is no higher paying structure online. Break has been, and continues to be, the easiest place to make money online." They also have higher paying amounts for your second and third videos.

Metacafe still features their Producer's Rewards Program on the bottom right hand side of their front page and their top earner Kipkay has earned $103,988 but they recently changed their policy and some producers are a little upset.

Revver shares a 50/50 on ad revenue but the payments have been a little irregular.

Blip.TV has a revshare program and is working hard to make sure run of network inventory doesn't go unsold.

YouTube's partnership program pays but according to Paidcontent.org's David Kaplin YouTube is not giving out the details.

Sites like Vuze.com allow you to "Monetize Your Content the Way You Want" and I expect to see more of these types of sites popping up soon.

So who is buying Online Video?

I don't think anyone is really buying online video and if you have some online video to sell I don't think you should sell it. I think you should sell ads against your online video and license it to people who will license it to someone else or sell ads against it and to do that you need to study that dirty word, "SALES."

If you don't want to do it yourself, use one of the above sites.

What do you think?

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.