NewTeeVee Is Building Community Online and in the Real World

Last night online video blog NewTeeVee had a real world meet up in Hollywood as part of their NewTeeVee Pier Screenings series.

Some of online videos biggest celebrities were there including Kent Nichols from Ask A Ninja, Hayden Black from Good Night Burbank / Abigail's Teen Diary doogtoons' Doug Bressler and Casey McKinnon and Rudy Jahcha from Galacticast. Also present were new media agents from UTA and ICM as well as Judges: Lydia Antonini from Warner Bros.,Allen DeBevoise of Machinima.com and Aaron Simpson of Cold Hard Flash,

Execs like Angel Gyetvan from UStream and others from College Humor and CBS Interactive were also there.

I had a great time and got a few moments to chat with Liz Gannes about what NewTeeVee is, what they are doing and what they mean to independent content creators.

Different Online Video Monetization Solutions

Last night Liz Gannes and Chris Albrecht from
New Tee Vee (the video blog about online video) threw a party in Hollywood at the Cat and the Fiddle. The bar was filled with online video creators including Kent Nichols from Ask A Ninja, Greg Goodfried and Miles Beckett from Lonely Girl 15 and KateModern, Hayden Black from Goodnight Burbank and Abigail’s Teen Diary, Felicia Day from The Guild, Douglas Cheney and Ryan Wise from Big Fantastic, Alec McNayr from Space Shank and David Nadelberg from Mortified, were there as well as people from companies playing in this space like Jane Hu from Vuguru, Sarah Szalavitz from Veoh, Angela Gyetvan from Revver, Jamie Flam from Independent Comedy Network, Zach Posner from National Lampoon, Philip Hodgetts from Open Television Network and Jeremy McMillan from Soda Entertainment.

What really hit me was that as diverse as the content was from these different creators so were the business models of the different online videos represented by these people.

Ask A Ninja has an online advertising agency selling their ad inventory. The Lonely Girl 15 guys are selling their own product placement deals. Hayden Black is using Revver. The Big fantastic guys are creating content for Michael Eisner and Jane Hu at Vuguru and also doing content in a partnership deal with Brent Weinstein's 60 Frames. Everyone is trying different ways of getting to the advertising dollars. Phil Hodgetts seemed to be the only one at the party who was doing a pay-per-view model although the guy from CBS Interactive who bought Wall Strip for $5 Million was there but I'm not sure you can say that's a pay-per-view model ;)

As I keep reading terms of service agreements from online advertising companies I keep seeing how different media companies are better for different types of content creators. Just because someone has online video ads doesn't mean those ads are right for your content and even if the ads are right for your content doesn't mean the video player or delivery device they have is right for your website and don't get me started on getting ads in your video podcast.

Right now it is truly the Wild West in online video and just because someone is building a fancy train doesn't mean that it will fit on your tracks.

It will all work itself out in time just like the banner ads industry has worked itself out with IAB standards but it takes time.

My advise right now is don't lock yourself into anyone monetization opportunity just yet. Keep your options open and look at what might work best for your content.

The Power of Lonely Girl 15

Well you haven't heard much about Jessica Rose since she left LonelyGirl15 (maybe because of some strike) or LG15 as they call it and just because her character died doesn't mean the LG15 series couldn't live on. In fact LG15 looks to be doing pretty well both in view numbers and in product placement deals.

You may have used your lunch breaks to do silly things like go eat or attend meetings but while you were doing that other cool kids with high speed internet connections have been watching as the cast of LG15 has come in contact with a JUMPER . No, not those powder blue polyester costumes I used to wear at the Listen to the Land boat ride at EPCOT Center. I'm talking about the kind that are being chased by Paladins like the one Samuel L. Jackson plays in the new 20th Century Fox's movie Jumper.

So if you have some time over lunch today or you are like Liz Gannes at New Tee Vee and you get paid to watch stuff like this, have a look and enjoy jumping around the Internet. While you're doing it take a look at LG15's YouTube Numbers just be sure to watch out for the Paladins while you are jumping around.

New Tee Vee Live

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Scott Beale from Laughing Squid" took a great photo of my heros Kent Nichols from Ask A Ninja and Jeff Macpherson from Tiki Bar TV and me while we were at the New Tee Vee Live conference this week.

If it wasn't for Jeff I wouldn't have launched French Maid TV and if it wasn't for Kent I wouldn't have UTA as my agent. I love what both of these guy have done for our industry and getting to hang out with them together is always fun.

As far as the New Tee Vee Live conference goes... well.. I'd have to say it was...great.

The VC suits were out in force and there were even some advertising people there as well.

Liz Gannes, Om Malik and the whole New Tee Vee gang did a fantastic job of bringing the right crowd together and I hope they do another conference soon.