Visible Measures Blog

First, there was UGC
The barriers for video producers to get their content in front of consumers have been lowered dramatically by new technology, the internet, and video publishing destinations such as YouTube and publishing platforms like Brightcove and Veoh among others.  The wave of so called UGC (user generated content) publishers has spawned viral video phenomena such as Mentos and Coke, Evolution of Dance, and the more recent McNuggets Rap.  Along side all the UGC, a niche has been quietly exploding whereby PGC (Professionally Generated Content) or the equivalent of Indie productions have been starting to really catch on.  Folks in the industry gently distinguish PGC from UGC, though at times the lines are really blurred.

PGC is here but will the $ follow?
Episodic video content and PGC, written and produced to be "snackable" specifically for the web, from lonelygirl15 to the made-for-the internet (and Emmy nominated) Prom Queen (backed by Michael Eisner's Vuguru), is poised for an increase in quantity as well as quality.  A new wave of video content is coming.  To date, UGC producers have not necessarily made their videos with money first and foremost in their minds.  But the question going forward, if internet video content will really explode, is can PGC producers earn enough to spur more content production.  I applaud sites like Metacafe for offering producer rewards programs to share some ad revenue with the producers of popular videos.  But at this time, things are at such an early point on the monetization curve for internet video that producers must take a long term view, just as consumer website operators and bloggers had to in years past, before the paid search and internet advertising models caught up with the traffic.

Don't worry, be crappy
Regardless, people are trying new models for building brand and audiences with their internet video. Experimentation and optimization are proving to be key for this new medium, until a steady model for monetizing the video ecosystem for all involved proves itself out.  As Guy Kawasaki says, "Don't worry, be crappy".  I think that it's great that people are willing to try stuff out.  Great examples include the simple and often hilarious Funny or Die, which is quietly backed by Sequoia and Will Ferrell, and the CBS-acquired WallStrip.  Hey, even the numa numa guy has a website and you gotta give him credit for that!  :)  The money will come, but notoriety and traffic will come first.

World On Fire is the latest music video from Sara McLachlan. She made this video in her house for about $15, and she then donated the otherwise typical $150,000 video production cost to groups which will use that money to impact the lives of one million people.  To me, this shows that the power of Internet video is in the hands of the people, and people can really make a difference.  Thanks to pme for the link.

In a move a long time coming, Nielsen is switching to time spent as a leading indicator of web page popularity. 

We at Visible Measures have long believed that base level metrics such as page views (or in the case of internet video, video views) are not the best way to measure the success of marketing or advertising campaigns.  We think that going beyond video views is key to truly measuring the internet video experience.  It seems like a good sign that Nielsen is finally trying to move beyond the view for web page measurement. There is a lot more that marketing intelligence companies can do though to increase the benefit for their customers and partners.  We hope that our solutions will help to make some of this benefit a reality.  What do you think?

link to article here

Randi Jayne is Mark "Facebook Founder" Zuckerberg's sister and works for Facebook.

Is this showtune video, Randi and her friends sing about some funny stuff in the valley and about how Facebook spurned Yahoo and are going IPO.  It's actually pretty funny.

link to article

In this video parody, the singer imitates Paris Hilton in prison.  I couldn't believe the fanfare associated with Hilton's jail time.  I believe she got more press coverage for going to jail than all the Tsunami victims combined!

Anyway, the negative with watching this video is that now I have the melody from one of Paris Hilton's songs stuck in my head and that is a bit tough to handle, but it's all in good fun, right?   :)

http://www.prweb.com/releases/ParisHilton/inJail/prweb536437.htm

You know how you can read a book and then see the movie adaptation and something is missing?  There are so many feelings and nuances that you capture as your mind creates the images as you read.

But sometimes video can add so much weight to a message.  On the heels of our independence day, here is an example that is quite political in nature.  Whether you agree or disagree with the viewpoint, this video by Keith Obermann seems to be an eloquent presentation of a perspective, and the fact that people can get their ideas out there in this manner is part of what makes America great:

By Keith Oberman
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19588942/

When we presented last week at the 2007 Under the Radar Conference for Entertainment & Media produced by Dealmaker Media, we were honestly just happy to have been invited.  But we ended up winning both awards in our category of Internet Power Tools, the Judges Choice and Audience Choice awards!  The interest and kind support we received was great.  Huge thanks go out to Debbie Landa and the whole team at Dealmaker for putting on a terrific event.  We also would like to thank the other presenting companies who all gave great demos of their products.

Here is an example of a really relevant and timely video - and a funny one at that :)

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/06/iphone-the-musical-lyrics/

We've moved to our new offices in the Downtown Crossing area of Boston!!

We will miss the creative energy of Kendall Square, where we were adjacent to MIT, Akamai, Brightcove, Maven, ATG, Pegasystems, Genzyme, Biogen, Novartis and others for 2 years, but we are very excited to have more restaurant choices and less expensive office space!

Here is a shot of our new "lounge" / kitchen area.  We're small but hard working! :)