From The Online Reporter
-Online Video Gaining Studios and Steam
Original online video was the topic of a number of panel discussions at CES this year, and a number of the big players in Web content made appearances from independent studios, YouTube stars and distribution platforms.
“There’s a number of studios out there now that finance this type of content,” David Tochterman head of digital media at Innovative Artists, said during a panel discussion. He mentioned Vuguru, Amazon, AOL and Yahoo!. “It feels like every week there’s more and more people looking to finance and distribute content online.”
Not present were representatives of Netflix, Hulu Amazon or Google, all of whom have spent large sums of money on producing and distributing Web originals.
Here’s a look at some of the other big Web content players who did speak at CES:
-Blip.TV: Blip.TV has been around since 2005. It’s a platform for independent creators to distribute and monetize Web videos. “We’re geared for independent show creators, we always have been,” said Steve Woolf, SVP of content and president of Blip Studios. “We provide all the services independent show creators need; distribution, monetization, audience development, and recently launched studios.” Blip Studios also creates its own content, which is distributed on Blip.TV. Woolf said the company receives between 250-300 million video views a month, globally, and is available on mobile apps, Xbox, tablets and a browser.
Woolf said online content has evolved beyond what is commonly associated with the term “user-generated.”
“We’ve seen a vocabulary of its own emerge online about what clicks with an audience,” Woolf said. “In the previous years, it had been this authenticity of communication with the audience, the two-way conversation, that differentiated [online content] from what you can get on regular TV.” “Now, we’re seeing a return to an emphasis on production value.”
Woolf said audiences now expect layers of content, whether online, on a mobile device, or through the TV. “You have to think, ‘What does my story look like?’ It’s not just on the Web, but on my phone, my tablet, my television,” Woolf said. “You’re really more of a story architect now than you are a screenwriter. You have to think about how your story lives on tall these different platforms. Consumers went from a lean back experience to light engagement to hardcore evangelist. The most successful shows tend to serve all three of those audiences in some way.”
-My Damn Channel: My Damn Channel is a comedy entertainment company that started in 2007. “We made a couple of bets,” said Robert Barnett, CEO and founder. “One of those bets was that Google’s purchase of YouTube was going to eventually turn from user-generated content to more professionally produced content. We didn’t think it was going to take as long as it did for Eric Schmidt to stand up on stage and announce the third wave of media.” Schmidt made that announcement in the summer of 2012.
My Damn Channel distributes video on its own sites and apps, as well as on its YouTube channel, as part of the premium content experiment.
“We have primarily worked on creating original series with both name talent and emerging stars,” Barnett said. From day one, we believed that the most important thing for us to do as a company is build a brand for great smart comedy. We had to get great comedians, we had to open up the checkbook and write checks. We’ve always funded original content that we think is the best. But then we do it the way God intended, we get as much advertising as we can, to pay for it.”
Barnett said online content, and specifically My Damn Channel, is just now beginning to receive the attention from the larger media companies, after five years of production. “Now you’re seeing just in this last year, you’re seeing YouTube, Microsoft, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon...writing checks for the very first time, and we’ll be making an announcement in short order about doing production for those companies.”
-The Fine Brothers: Benny and Rafi Fine are two YouTube stars known for launching the series “MyMusic,” a innovative, interactive comedy series that is now considered YouTube’s first sitcom. “We’re number 30 on the site right now, we make high quality, serialized content,” Benny Fine said. “We’re more of a production company than a personality, which is the usual stereotype of a YouTuber.”
The MyMusic channel is also part of the YouTube channel experiment. “We’re kind of looking to innovate and create new forms of content to prove that long-form high quality content can work, and the counts have gotten there,” Fine said.
-Alloy Digital: Alloy Digital owns a number of online content brands, including Clevver TV, Smosh (which just reached most subscribed channel on YouTube), and gaming site The Escapist. “We look at ourselves the way MTV network saw themselves in the eighties,” said Barry Blumberg, EVP at Alloy Digital, and president of Smosh. “We service young people. We look at that younger demographic. The people that are in the digital space, that 12-34 year old audience, that’s who we produce products for.”
Blumberg said online content primarily reaches younger, tech-savvy audiences. “YouTube’s partnerships for original channels – the first round was very broad, the second round was focused on younger demographic,” Blumberg said. “As much as we liked to think it’s going to happen, 48 year old women are not getting the lion’s share of their content online.”
-Vimeo: Vimeo is one of the few popular subscription-based user-generated video platforms. It was founded in 2004, and boosts of 65 million unique visitors per month and 8 million registered users. “We’re a distribution platform, and we have a subscription plan that caters to upload,” said Gregg Bernard, former Sony exec who now serves as SVP of business development at Vimeo. “We see a lot of opportunity to take our existing platform and make it available and satisfy the needs of different creators and different types of content. We’re in beta right now for a pay per view platform that will launch in the first half of this year, that will give the creator the ability to monetize their content in a different way than they could on YouTube or some other platforms. A subscription model has worked really well for us.”
-Electus: Electus is a production studio, founded by Ben Sullivan, former co-chair of NBC Entertainment, and funded by none other than Barry Diller’s InterActiveCorp.
“Ben had an idea to take a studio model and see what would that look like in the 21st century,” said Evan Bregman, director of digital media. “We started by not .....
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-Online Video Gaining Studios and Steam
Original online video was the topic of a number of panel discussions at CES this year, and a number of the big players in Web content made appearances from independent studios, YouTube stars and distribution platforms.
“There’s a number of studios out there now that finance this type of content,” David Tochterman head of digital media at Innovative Artists, said during a panel discussion. He mentioned Vuguru, Amazon, AOL and Yahoo!. “It feels like every week there’s more and more people looking to finance and distribute content online.”
Not present were representatives of Netflix, Hulu Amazon or Google, all of whom have spent large sums of money on producing and distributing Web originals.
Here’s a look at some of the other big Web content players who did speak at CES:
-Blip.TV: Blip.TV has been around since 2005. It’s a platform for independent creators to distribute and monetize Web videos. “We’re geared for independent show creators, we always have been,” said Steve Woolf, SVP of content and president of Blip Studios. “We provide all the services independent show creators need; distribution, monetization, audience development, and recently launched studios.” Blip Studios also creates its own content, which is distributed on Blip.TV. Woolf said the company receives between 250-300 million video views a month, globally, and is available on mobile apps, Xbox, tablets and a browser.
Woolf said online content has evolved beyond what is commonly associated with the term “user-generated.”
“We’ve seen a vocabulary of its own emerge online about what clicks with an audience,” Woolf said. “In the previous years, it had been this authenticity of communication with the audience, the two-way conversation, that differentiated [online content] from what you can get on regular TV.” “Now, we’re seeing a return to an emphasis on production value.”
Woolf said audiences now expect layers of content, whether online, on a mobile device, or through the TV. “You have to think, ‘What does my story look like?’ It’s not just on the Web, but on my phone, my tablet, my television,” Woolf said. “You’re really more of a story architect now than you are a screenwriter. You have to think about how your story lives on tall these different platforms. Consumers went from a lean back experience to light engagement to hardcore evangelist. The most successful shows tend to serve all three of those audiences in some way.”
-My Damn Channel: My Damn Channel is a comedy entertainment company that started in 2007. “We made a couple of bets,” said Robert Barnett, CEO and founder. “One of those bets was that Google’s purchase of YouTube was going to eventually turn from user-generated content to more professionally produced content. We didn’t think it was going to take as long as it did for Eric Schmidt to stand up on stage and announce the third wave of media.” Schmidt made that announcement in the summer of 2012.
My Damn Channel distributes video on its own sites and apps, as well as on its YouTube channel, as part of the premium content experiment.
“We have primarily worked on creating original series with both name talent and emerging stars,” Barnett said. From day one, we believed that the most important thing for us to do as a company is build a brand for great smart comedy. We had to get great comedians, we had to open up the checkbook and write checks. We’ve always funded original content that we think is the best. But then we do it the way God intended, we get as much advertising as we can, to pay for it.”
Barnett said online content, and specifically My Damn Channel, is just now beginning to receive the attention from the larger media companies, after five years of production. “Now you’re seeing just in this last year, you’re seeing YouTube, Microsoft, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon...writing checks for the very first time, and we’ll be making an announcement in short order about doing production for those companies.”
-The Fine Brothers: Benny and Rafi Fine are two YouTube stars known for launching the series “MyMusic,” a innovative, interactive comedy series that is now considered YouTube’s first sitcom. “We’re number 30 on the site right now, we make high quality, serialized content,” Benny Fine said. “We’re more of a production company than a personality, which is the usual stereotype of a YouTuber.”
The MyMusic channel is also part of the YouTube channel experiment. “We’re kind of looking to innovate and create new forms of content to prove that long-form high quality content can work, and the counts have gotten there,” Fine said.
-Alloy Digital: Alloy Digital owns a number of online content brands, including Clevver TV, Smosh (which just reached most subscribed channel on YouTube), and gaming site The Escapist. “We look at ourselves the way MTV network saw themselves in the eighties,” said Barry Blumberg, EVP at Alloy Digital, and president of Smosh. “We service young people. We look at that younger demographic. The people that are in the digital space, that 12-34 year old audience, that’s who we produce products for.”
Blumberg said online content primarily reaches younger, tech-savvy audiences. “YouTube’s partnerships for original channels – the first round was very broad, the second round was focused on younger demographic,” Blumberg said. “As much as we liked to think it’s going to happen, 48 year old women are not getting the lion’s share of their content online.”
-Vimeo: Vimeo is one of the few popular subscription-based user-generated video platforms. It was founded in 2004, and boosts of 65 million unique visitors per month and 8 million registered users. “We’re a distribution platform, and we have a subscription plan that caters to upload,” said Gregg Bernard, former Sony exec who now serves as SVP of business development at Vimeo. “We see a lot of opportunity to take our existing platform and make it available and satisfy the needs of different creators and different types of content. We’re in beta right now for a pay per view platform that will launch in the first half of this year, that will give the creator the ability to monetize their content in a different way than they could on YouTube or some other platforms. A subscription model has worked really well for us.”
-Electus: Electus is a production studio, founded by Ben Sullivan, former co-chair of NBC Entertainment, and funded by none other than Barry Diller’s InterActiveCorp.
“Ben had an idea to take a studio model and see what would that look like in the 21st century,” said Evan Bregman, director of digital media. “We started by not .....
For the complete article go to www.onlinereporter.com
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