Why Should You Update Your Content on a Regular Basis?

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Now I've never been one to update my web series content on a regular basis but it's something I'm always wanting to do. I just haven't found a cost effective way of doing it yet. But now that I've found a new Rev Share outlet I'm more motivated than ever to come up with a weekly version of French Maid TV so that I can reap all the benefits of fresh content.

I ran into Michael Berkley Co-Founder and CEO of SplashCast and he gave me the scoop on Rev Share for Online Video in widgets for Social Media sites.

SplashCast is distributing content and sharing revenue for Sony BMG, Warner Bros., Universal and MTV as well as bloggers, video bloggers and anyone who already has compelling content with distribution. There is one caveat: SpalshCast needs to be able to sell advertising against your content. If they can find a brand that is willing to buy your video advertising inventory then it's a go. If the sales peeps at SplashCast don't think they can sell your video content to an advertiser they won't take it on.

Keep in mind you could come to SplashCast with an advertiser yourself and they might help you distribute.

If you do strike a deal with SplashCast you could get a standard 50% / 50% Rev share deal or as high as 70% / 30% if you are selling the advertising.

SplashCast is looking for video content that is episodic in nature and already has a meaningful audience with 100,000s of views that they can help turn into viral videos.

THE BIG TIP: The shelf life for video content inside a widget on social networks is very short unless the content is refreshed on a regular consistent basis. Unless you create and post new content on a regular basis people will drop your widget from their site.

There are other rev share deals for video out there and if you have one that you would like to chat with me about please let me know.

What Hard Drives Do I Need for HD?

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I don't normally blog about tech products but every once in a while I come across something that I think is pretty cool and the G-tech guys have been very good to me - inviting me to parties at the Playboy Hef Suite in Vegas and making great drives that I use - so I thought I would point out two of their products that can be very useful to online video producers and editors.

I ran into Roger Mabon of G-Tech at the HDEXPO in Burbank this week and he had some new storage products that might be of interest to online video people who use Final Cut Pro and need to move large amounts of HD and SD video files around for editing.

First is the G Speed ES a 4 drive RAID that goes up to 4 TB and second the G Speed XL PCIe supports up to 24TB and is expandable up to 180TB with a 800 MB/sec throughput.

I don't personally edit HD (I have produced/directed projects in HD) but if you want to you can use these new RAID storage drives from G-Tech.

Tim, I'm an online video producer I don't care about HD video. Are you stoned?

Well, if you care about making money from online video you should care about HD and other Hi Res formats like RED. You should be doing everything you can to capture your video in the highest quality format that you can so that when people can watch online videos on their HDTVs your video looks better than everyone else's.

I'm not telling you to go shoot the best daily horoscope show on a RED camera but if you are creating video content that could live on TV, DVD or go to the big screen then you should consider how you can shoot High Resolution Video.






Do you have a tech product that online video creators should care about?

Let me know.

How Can You Watch Web Videos on Your TV?

http://1timstreet.com from Digital Hollywood Dave Mathews of Boxee.TV talks about the open, connected, social media center that won iStage's $50,000, a booth at CES and how you can use Boxee to watch online videos on your TV.

And Dave mentions how you can share what you are watching on TV with your friends without sharing if you are watching any Internet TV programming you don't want your friends to know you are watching.

Tubemogul Buys Illumenix

It sounds like an acquisition of comic book companies: "Tubemogul Acquires Illumenix" in order to take over the world. Well I don't know about taking over the world but this is certainly a step in the direction of giving Visible Measures a run for their money.

I think it's a very smart move for Tubemogul but what's really missing in the marketplace right now is a combined FLASH / Quicktime / Windows Media Player / Silverlight metrics standard that tracks all videos served on the planet.

The technology is there. Let's see who is able to get everyone on board and agree on standards that advertisers and content creators can use. Maybe by 2012?

3 TubeMogul Tips for SEO

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Are you new to the online video game? Would some SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tips from Mark Rotblat of TubeMogul be of use to you?

Here's a video from the new offices of Tubemogul by Massimo Burgio from SMX London 2008 and a few tips:

1. Descriptions and Tags are very important. Use them.

2. Make sure you put your URL upfront in the description because the first couple of lines are often the only things that show. URLs in descriptions are often clickable and can get a 1% click through rate which is often higher than the click through rate of the ads around a video.

3.Put your most important TAGS in first and look to see how they show up on the different sites listed on Tubemogul as you enter them.






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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.

Opie, Andy Griffith and the Fonz Have a Viral Video

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Ron Howard is the latest star to jump on the Obama train and he does it with his old costars Andy Griffith and Henry Winkler in a video for Funny or Die.

Stripping down he trims his nose hair, dons an Opie wig for a black and white call to action and then trips back to “Happy Days” as Richie Cunningham.

I wonder if they cleared the music they are using and if the use of characters are clear because of "parody?"

Let me know if you find any funny celebrity McCain Videos.

What's the Best Way to Make Money with Online Video? : Acquisition

"What's the Best Way to Make Money with Online Video?" is a blog series that investigates the different ways to make money with online video. This post is about: Acquisition.

Adam Eland and Jeff Marks (Jeff was a little shy but I got him sitting at his desk in the background of the interview) are the creators of WallStrip.com and with their other partner, Howard Lindzon managed to raised $600,000 from angels and friends to produce this web series where pop culture meets stock culture.

Next, with the help of their first smart and funny host Lindsay Campbell they built a loyal following and were then acquired by CBS Interactive for somewhere around $4 Million in May of 2007.

Since then the WallStrip team created another online show for CBS MobLogic.tv and they run the CBS Interactive Web Originals Department in New York City.

What's the Best Way to Make Money with Online Video? Well, acquisition is definitely one way that pays off however I'm not sure that in this particular economic time it's the best strategy but that could change. If you have an online video with a huge niche audience that would be of great value to a large media company you might just be able to get an acquisition deal.





If you are interested in reaching Journalists, Hollywood Agents, Independent Video Producers, Studio and Network Executives who care about the monetization of online video sponsor 1TimStreet. Contact Tim Street for rates and opportunities. 1timstreet at gmail dot com.

Is There Video Pollution Coming?

Last night I was at Andrew Warner's Mixergy get-together and a guy that came brought a PICO laser video projector that was the size of a Flip digital video camera. This guy was projecting video everywhere in the bar. (It's similar to the one in the above video.) He was playing video from his iPhone on the ceiling, on table cloths, on people's shirts and even if you can imagine it, on the wall.

Everyone in the bar was drawn to him and his projector like moths to a flame. Just watching this made me think of the early days of filmmaking when just seeing moving pictures with no story was novel enough for people to pay admission to a theater to watch a motion picture of a train pulling into a station.

Next I thought about laser pointers and how people would bring them into movie theaters and point them at the screen before a movie and sometimes during. Then it got me to thinking about bars, schools and Tom Cruise in Minority Report. Soon there might be a rash of these little projectors projecting videos everywhere. Imagine sitting in a bar or restaurant and the Cuervo Gold Girls walk by and play a commercial. Or some dorky guy shows off a YouTube video that he's proud of or worse, his favorite adult movie. There is no end to where this could lead and the problems it could cause.

Imagine if you owned a restaurant and your competitor parked outside and projected her commercial on your restaurant's wall? I'm sure you are already thinking of how this could effect you for bad or good and the good could be really good.

What if your iPhone had the processing speed and storage of your MacBook Pro and instead of having to flip open your laptop you just set your iPhone down and it projected it's screen on the wall and projected a virtual keyboard on the table that would allow you to use your iPhone like a laptop?

Now imagine movie night. Where will you set up your portable theater and will you bother anyone with your video pollution?