Tag: youtube

YouTube rentals: The new Netflix?

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YouTube rentals: The new Netflix? (iStock and YouTube)If you were looking to get rich off that adorable video of your baby dancing to Rihanna’s “Rude Boy,” today might be your lucky day.  This week, YouTube quietly rolled out a YouTube Rentals beta program open to any user looking to monetize their content.  All you do is upload your video, choose a few settings, wait for YouTube staff approval, and then sit back and watch the money roll in.

Or not.  Conventional wisdom dictates that consumers aren’t likely to pay for something they’re used to getting for free.   In fact, they can get down right annoyed and angry about.  On the other hand, try telling that to “The Simpsons” and “Sex and The City” who made a killing at the theatrical box office on content people were used to getting pro bono.  Continue reading “YouTube rentals: The new Netflix?”

Branding in a new era of journalism

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Branding in a new era of journalism (iStock) When Joel McHale’s character Jeff Winger on the NBC show Community spouts some dubious statistics in this week’s episode, he is promptly mocked by a friend who quips, “I think some of this research may have been done on Wikipedia.”  The user-generated encyclopedia gets its share of jabs from journalists, professors, and comedy writers alike, but that doesn’t stop 365 million unique visitors from happily trusting it as an information source every month.

This and other related topics were the subject of a SXSW Interactive panel last week titled “Process Journalism: Getting It First, While Getting it Right.”  Several panelists, including writers for the New York Times and SISeattle.com discussed a new generation of journalism in which sites like Twitter and YouTube have become essential to breaking news stories.

Through a variety of case studies including stories about Steve Jobs’ health and a Seattle murder, the speakers illustrated a new triple-threat of resources that professional journalists now tap: Technology, Social Networks, and Citizen journalists.  Continue reading “Branding in a new era of journalism”

Will brand sponsorship bring back music videos?

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Dr Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (OK Go and State Farm)For most bands in the slumping music industry, the day of big budget videos is a luxury of the past.  But last week undisputed kings of the viral music video, OK GO, found a new avenue to make their art a reality: corporate sponsorship.

The band’s clip for “This Too Shall Pass,” which features a mind blowing two story Rube Goldberg contraption, was bank rolled by none other than State Farm Insurance.  In a brilliant move, the band also arranged the deal so that State Farm paid for the right to make the YouTube clip embeddable anywhere on the web.  The band’s singer Damian Kulash recently wrote a piece for The New York Times questioning EMI’s decision not to allow embedding of YouTube videos and State Farm graciously presented a work around solution.

This is the first example of prominent corporate sponsorship of a major music video that we know of and State Farm’s bet has paid off handsomely– the clip received close to a million views a day in the first week of launch.  The video includes a toy car with the State Farm logo as well as a State Farm teddy bear and a closing thank you to the brand for making the video possible. Continue reading “Will brand sponsorship bring back music videos?”

Still think social media is a fad?

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Still think social media is a fad? (Socialnomics)When clients visit the Lab, they always want to know:  But what does social media mean to me? And ultimately, they want what Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character asks of Jerry Maguire.

Brands want to know they can prove their investment on social media platforms is a worthy one. They want to know it will reach wide and far–and will be as effective as television and print campaigns used to be. They want ROI, which means somehow, social media will have to prove it can not only connect people, but draw the dotted line to the cash register. They want to know it won’t backfire (we do our best to show how social media can save the day in a PR nightmare, but we also tell them that all content is viral content, for better or worse).

As new media advocates, it’s hard to know that brands MUST play in this space without being able to give them a pile of case studies and years of hard data to go on that show a direct connection to the purchase funnel. Continue reading “Still think social media is a fad?”

What Susan Boyle and Japan can teach YouTube

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boyleaThe most popular video of Susan Boyle’s performance for Britain’s Got Talent on Youtube.com has amassed over 70 million views as of June 2009. Her outstanding performance on the popular TV show would have made her famous in the Great Britain, but it is YouTube that made her a global household name.

Let’s imagine if 1% of the viewers actually bought an mp3 of her performance at 99 cents each, the video would have the potential to generate $700,000 revenue.

But of course, with YouTube’s current business model, there is no way for the visitors to easily access related products featured in the millions of videos available. Continue reading “What Susan Boyle and Japan can teach YouTube”

A million voices, a million editors

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Africa - Andrea Planet WallpaperThe TED conference showcases lectures from some of the most interesting voices in technology, arts and media.  Most recently, I discovered a short, four minute video on text message reporting of violent crisis in Africa.  The concept is a great one, but the larger concept behind this particular incarnation is what is fascinating.

The project initially allowed thousands of updates reporting break outs of violence, and aggregated that content.  But eventually they had more content than could be realistically consumed.  So after having success with a crowdsourced approach to content generation, they decided to take a similar approach to content filtration.  Which is brilliant. Continue reading “A million voices, a million editors”

Gaming’s next YouTube?

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LittleBigPlanetThis is part of our best-of 2008 series, previously featured on our newsletter, Advance. Imagine, for a moment, a universe that does not yet exist. A flying saucer navigates a galaxy of oddly colored planets and moons teeming with life. The saucer slows upon reaching one particular world, and moves in closer. It is a lush green landscape, and scattered around the planet are cities – sculpted from Coke bottles. Moving closer, vehicles created from Coke bottle caps race back and forth between the buildings. And zooming in reveals the townspeople of this foreign land to be none other than the creatures from Coca-Cola’s "Happiness Factory" commercial.

This imaginary planet sits in a galaxy created by Spore, EA’s new hit game. Or rather, it could. There’s a trend beginning to hit mainstream in-video game design: User-generated content. September saw the release of EA’s aforementioned Spore. a "universe simulation" that allows players to create and share entire worlds with other players. In late October, Sony released LittleBigPlanet for the PS3, a highly anticipated title for all ages and both genders where the user generated content provides levels for sack-puppets to play through. Continue reading “Gaming’s next YouTube?”

Gaming’s next YouTube?

Posted on by Lab Team

ugcgamingImagine, for a moment, a universe that does not yet exist.  A flying saucer navigates a galaxy of oddly colored planets and moons teeming with life.  The saucer slows upon reaching one particular world, and moves in closer.  It is a lush green landscape, and scattered around the planet are cities – sculpted from Coke bottles.  Moving closer, vehicles created from Coke bottle caps race back and forth between the buildings.  And zooming in reveals the townspeople of this foreign land to be none other than the creatures from Coca-Cola’s “Happiness Factory” commercial.  This imaginary planet sits in a galaxy created by Spore, EA’s new hit game.  Or rather, it could. There’s a trend beginning to hit mainstream in-video game design: User-generated content. 

September saw the release of EA’s aforementioned Spore, a “universe simulation” that allows players to create and share entire worlds with other players. In late October, Sony released LittleBigPlanet for the PS3, a highly anticipated title for all ages and both genders where the user generated content provides levels for sack-puppets to play through. Continue reading “Gaming’s next YouTube?”