Howto.tv - what a great idea

Vodafone and Wicks are among the first brands to sign up to HowTo TV – a channel to advertiser funded programming.

This is what the site says about itself:

Whether it's creating the perfect hairstyle, cooking that amazing BBQ, perfecting your swing on the golf course, or finishing the tiling that you've promised to do since two Christmas's ago, at HowTo.tv you can watch our shows when you want but also where you want! We've made our HowTo.tv videos available to download to your mobile devices so that, no matter where you are at that distressing time when you need to know HowTo do something, you can still watch the video instructions!

The service was created by Nadhim Zahawi, founder and ceo of YouGov. If he is half as successful with the new venture then you will be hearing a lot more about it in the coming years. Looks a great idea to me. All flat pack furniture manufactures must be natural target customers – unless they do it themselves. Dick Stroud

A couple of new UK Web video channels

ERT Weekly is the leading magazine for electrical retailers and now has a video version. The British Franchise Association (bfa) is the only voluntary accreditation body for franchising in the UK and has taken the plunge into the .tv world. Dick Stroud

Idiot’s guide to Web video

The Street contains a short “idiot’s guide” to Web video. If you know nothing of the subject then this not a bad starting point. Dick Stroud

CNN.com to stop charging for Pipeline live video service

This report in Technology News reveals that CNN will give away access to an online video service that now costs $25 (euro18.59) a year, becoming the latest news organization to revamp its revenue model on the Web - effective July 1. Since CNN is already giving a 90 day free trial it is effectively free as of today.

The rationale for this change is that it reflects lower costs associated with delivering bandwidth-intensive video.

Maybe it has more to do with: ''People don't like to pay for stuff on the Internet''. This is a quote from the company as is this: ''We're not going to deny it, but we also had to make sure from a cost perspective that we got to the stage where it made sense to offer it for free.''

Good to see that CNN is not trying to do a King Canute act. Dick Stroud

Video meets the press

This is a good overview of how video is being used (in the UK) by the national, regional and magazine publications.

I think it could be summed up by the words: “Early days”. But, watch this space. Dick Stroud

Video channels and the Baby Boomers

General Catalyst is a VC company that has backed, amongst others, two companies that are of interest to me. The online video distributor (Brightcove) and Jeff Taylor’s Eons - the Baby Boomers social networking web site. This article in the Boston Herald gives more details.

The big question is what synergy, if any, do these two companies have? I would be astounded if we don’t see a eon’s TV channel, hosted by Brightcove, within the next 3-6 months. We will have to wait and see. Dick Stroud

Google's In-Video Ad Experiment

Coming soon to a vlog near you: commercials? Google has began inserting video advertisements within online programming.

The initial ads are part of a test confined to video producers within Google's AdSense network, a collection of Web site publishers that post Google ads on their sites in exchange for a piece of the advertising revenue.

This article suggests that if the pilot goes well Google might start inserting commercial breaks into its hosted videos—maybe even on Google video or YouTube. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Dick Stroud

Video may not be best way to monetize online

This posting appears on the Lightspeed Venture Partner’s blog. If you are interested in measuring the effectiveness of video versus traditional online advertising then this is definitely worth a read.

This extract shows that the writer has a good handle on what is happening.

In the early days of TV, many shows were of the “talking head” variety - essentially televised radio shows. It took a little while for TV programmers to break out of their old habits (in radio) and to create programming that took advantage of the new medium.

I suspect that we’re in that stage with online video today. Many “online video sites” or “web video channels” are primarily focused on the video, perhaps with some ratings and commentary features associated. Over time I suspect that we’ll see a richer integration of video, text and picture content that is optimized and designed for the web.

Dick Stroud

Moviebakery – what a great name and business idea

This press release explains what Moviebakery is all about. More details and examples are on the outfit’s web site.

The company sums up its business proposition as - Internet access + creative mind + video camera = access to moviebakery.

My take on the company is that it wants to be the conduit between the amateur (and not so amateur) movie makers and corporate who are looking for new and original movie content. Like all good intelligent conduits it takes a percentage for its troubles.

What a good idea. Dick Stroud

Chartered Institute of Marketing recognizes the power of video

It is great to see that the UK’s Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) has recognized the value of video and opened a video channel. The above video clip is a short teaser for the marketing channel.

CIM has had the online publication What’s New in Marketing (WNIM) for the past 5 years and it has just supplemented it with a video only version. Good to see. Dick Stroud

YouTube Is the Fun Choice, Not the Smart One

This is an informed article about the issues that corporates should consider when using Web video. Well worth reading. Dick Stroud

Google Begins Move to Universal Search

You might have missed this announcement. You might have read the headlines and thought that it wasn't important. You might have read the announcement and not understood what it meant.

It is important. Take the time to read the Google press release.

Danny Sullivan, a guy who knows a lot about web search, reckons it is the most radical change to its search results - ever.

A paraphrase of the main points from the press release.

"Universal Search" will blend listings from Google’s news, video, images, local and book search engines. Google's vision for universal search is to ultimately search across all its content sources, compare and rank all the information in real time, and deliver a single, integrated set of search results that offers users precisely what they are looking for.

From today, Google will incorporate information from previously separate sources (videos, images, news, maps, books, and websites) into a single set of results. Over time users will recognize additional types of content integrated into their search results as the company advances toward delivering a truly comprehensive search experience.

So what does this mean? It means that instead of boring old web site text being the main thing that companies need to worry about optimizing for Google they must now ensure that their images, video and all other forms of media are also Google friendly. I think the biggest change will be the increasing role that video will play within the Google search results. Beware – Rejoice. Dick Stroud

Health messages and video

A message about hand-washing sounds as exciting as messages about vegetable-eating or looking-both-ways-before-street-crossing.

Just to make it really hard - how do you communicate this message on the Web… like this!The above clip shows that video is darn effective.

Brand Channel has just published a good article about this video. Dick Stroud

TheNewsRoom and Mashing

TheNewsRoom is an interesting outfit. It is the news site of Voxant - the Viral Syndication Network (VSN). Its pitch is that it makes available new markets for news organizations and advertisers around the world by helping them get their news content played zillions of Web sites and blogs.

The above is an example of a Wall Street Journal news item about the latest Microsoft acquisition. Definitely worth looking at this video source. Dick Stroud

Videos and politics

Politicians of all nationalities and persuasions are using video as part of their campaigning.
The above is a video was e-mailed to supporters of Mrs. Clinton and features four minutes of Bill telling why his wife is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I suspect this sort of approach is OK at motivating the ‘converted’ - not so well with the skeptical ‘unconverted’. Dick Stroud

Cars and video

The International Herald Tribune has an article about a new Web site that uses video to assist with the car buying process. Since more than 70% of car buyers do some research online before making a purchase then this seems an obvious development.

A new web site has just been launched called DriverTV.com that features high-definition video clips of new car-models, with each video following a uniform script.

A three-minute video of a $175,000 Lamborghini shows the car from the same angles as a clip featuring a $15,000 Chevrolet. As a narrator describes the features, interior and exterior shots are coupled with footage of the car driving along a stretch of road in Southern California.

DriverTV has a channel on youtube – see above for a sample. Dick Stroud

CBS opening up Web video

As reported in CNET news - the network is preparing a new strategy for online video that involves syndicating content across as many as 10 different Web sites ranging from Time Warner Inc.'s AOL to Joost, The Wall Street Journal reported.

That's a big shift from its earlier strategy of posting everything to its own Web site and hoping viewers would head there. CBS executives now say that that plan was "arrogant," with one telling the paper "We can't expect consumers to come to us." It is great to see that the penny has finally dropped. Dick Stroud

Booksellers and publishers see the power of video

All booksellers and publishers should read this article.

Simon & Schuster is turning to online video spotlights of its authors to help promote new works and keep the buzz about already released books alive. The company is launching a new web site Bookvideos.tv (It is not yet live).

The president of online and consumer marketing for Simon and Schuster's adult publishing division says:"Publishing in particular has been thought of as a very old media industry, and we have a tendency to only think one-dimensionally. I think all of us who are working in online media have a challenge to think multi-dimensionally... books have always been promoted on television, and through a visual experience. You see an ad, or hear an ad, or you see an interview on the news... Video for us seems a logical extension."

Amazon.com has just announced a new network of podcast channels to promote its media property offerings, including books, music and movies, by providing free interviews with the authors and artists themselves. The first set of podcasts can be found here.

Lonely planet is already providing video on its recently launched lonelyplanet.tv web site.

These companies are using cheap, multimedia formats for essentially the same reason: to engage potential consumers and give them more information on the things they may want to buy. The book industry and Web video are a perfect match. Dick Stroud

Blinkx – competition for Google?

I wonder if Google will have competition on its hands for searching video content? Blinkx is a site that enables you to search 7 millions hours of broadcast video. Dick Stroud

YouTube, HisTube and HerTube

It seems that right now video it is more popular with men than women. Movie clips is the only area where women watch more than men. This research was published by Piper Jaffray. It is a small sample size (200 people) but is the only research that I have seen about gender.

My guess is that as the practice of web video moves into the mainstream we will see a reversing of this gender bias. Dick Stroud

Video and the kitchen

Ocado is a delivery grocery service in the UK. To encourage you to spend more money with them they have created a series of cookery recipes. If you like what you see you push the button and the ingredients are added to your shopping basket. Now that is smart marketing.

The BBC has very deep pockets so as you would expect they have created a beautiful video based cookery web site – me wonders what this means for the long term shape and style of the cookery book.

Finally, the dreaded Martha Stewart has just launched her new web site that is dripping with video, much of set in the kitchen. No video, no credible web presence - what do you think - is this the message of 2007? Dick Stroud

TripAdvisor upgrades to take video reviews

TripAdvisor has gone into video, allowing users to upload clips from movie cameras or phones.

I can just hear the discussion at the hotel reception: “OK, how about 50% off the bill and I will forget to upload my video of the decaying and dirty shower curtain. You think I jest?

As the Sunday Times article says: “it’s disappointing to find that the list of “top-rated” videos is dominated by dreary corporate ads. Hilton has posted a 13-minute (yawn) film about its resort in the Maldives, and the clip given the most five-star ratings by users is an advert for a game lodge in South Africa”.

Since this article things have moved on a pace. Have a read of this posting on the Travolution blog.

Travel is clearly an important industry for video as can be seen by the launch of Lonely Planet’s new video only web site. It is just the beginning. Dick Stroud

Microsoft signs Web video deals with Volvo, Chivas Brothers

This article describes the deal that Microsoft is doing with Volvo and whisky maker Chivas Brothers to support two new Web-only video series from Reveille, the production company behind TV shows "The Office" and "Ugly Betty".

The shows -- Driving School - a comedy about a driving instructor who imparts life lessons to his students and - This is the Life - a travel and adventure show linked to a Chivas Regal advertising campaign, will arrive on Microsoft's MSN Web site in the next six months.

The Microsoft/ Reveille partnership have already produced videos that are pitched between advertising and programming (e.g. Kraft Foods, "Chef to the Rescue" ). I think this demonstrates why getting videos to span different national audiences is non-trivial. See the above clip. Dick Stroud

Churning video from live events

Marketing Week (UK) has a great article about the way that videos that are made for live events can be leveraged on the Web and mobile. Sorry, Marketing Week is stingy with links to its content.

There are a couple of interesting companies mentioned in the article.
Shiny Media claims to be the UK’s leading commercial blog publisher with 25 blogs attracting around 2.7 million visitors each month. This outfit has 3 as a client and was responsible for posting the above video on YouTube. It is a product selling product demonstration with a difference.

The other company mentioned is Smartfusion. You have to look at their web site. You might love or hate it, but you have to admit it breaks new ground, by switching the balance between text/image and video. Dick Stroud

More Boomers Watching Online Video

At 39.4 years old, the average adult who downloads video is about five years younger than the average Internet user, according to BIGresearch.

The data refer to all Internet users or Internet video viewers.

Like the BIGresearch data, a demographic profile from Arbitron/Edison Media Research is based on self-reported survey results, but still points to the significant trend of more mature viewers. The survey indicates that over a fourth of online video viewers are 45 or older. Dick Stroud

Screwing your competitor with video

Thisislondon is a freebee London newspaper and is part of Associated Newspapers (Daily Mail, Evening Standard & Metro Media Group).

Needless to say it doesn’t care too much for its prime competitor thelondonpaper – part of News International.

What better way of dissuading advertisers than slinking around and videoing street vendors dumping copies of the paper.

To add a bit more credibility, Associated Newspapers had the videos verified by a former Scotland Yard detective inspector.

The final kick in the groin was to publish a double page ad in Marketing Week.

Read the story see the Click here to watch the footage Dick Stroud