What can I
say, kudos to Google. For a while it
became blogging du jour to take a stab at Google’s video strategy. Some complained the features and functions
did not live up to expectations- “the product is delayed…. The content is limited… The player is not
working…My account won't authenticate..” Back in January, Andrew Goodman from Traffick.com made the analogy that Google’s foray into video was akin to a
billionaire buying a sports team, a trophy business that serves vanity more
than financial profit. Many small
businesses praised Google’s aimless “bring your random video here” strategy
with their tongue in cheek. This
strategy had the nice side effect of providing free bandwidth and hosting to
serve up these businesses’ video for free.
And yet as
Google’s strategy starts to take shape publicly, it seems to me they are
approaching the market with a smart staged approach and a great launch content
partner. First, Google’s features are
improving, with page layout that makes better use of the page space and adding
instream rating and permalinks (similar to YouTube). Second, Google entered the market incrementally, gradually bringing on
popular features and new content. Google
carefully navigated the copyright waters, brining on clips like The White House
Correspondent’s Speech from CSPAN and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Trailer from Disney. Google is increasingly moving users to the video section of their site. Media companies also seem to trust Google to syndicate copyrighted content over the search giant's powerful network.
Continue reading "Google Says: I Want My MTV!" »
It is easy
to read and write about Myspace. It
actually takes 5 seconds to type in the url and run a search for your favorite
not so mainstream band. It takes 10
seconds to locate the Vanity Fair article touting Baywatch's Hobie’s 2nd coming
as the man about Myspace (e.g., Hobie is finding action and a profession
online). And it takes a good 30 seconds
to register your profile. But it takes a
sibling or a close friend who lives in their space to really understand the
power of the community.
After
watching my brother Greg, who is a respectable lawyer by day and aspiring rock
star by night, scour Myspace one weekend, I was truly struck by the inordinate
amount of time he spent on the site. When I asked Greg what it is he likes about the site, he replied “It’s
like a car accident… I don’t want to look, but I cannot help it.” The real reason is he is generating fans for
his band in advance of his upcoming self-produced album. Greg is part of a new generation of social
networking “CPA” (Cost Per Acquisition) marketers, he just does not know
it. In this case, the “C” is his
time. For Greg, he does not really see
the C as C because he loves his band and his music and so it seems his new
friends do as well.
Continue reading "My Space Firsthand" »
I came
across an article in the NYTimes over the weekend that took on the question of
whether the best businesses are evolutionary or revolutionary.
In answering
is this age old debate, I would argue that the answer lies in semantics or the
definition of revolutionary. Is
revolutionary a disruptive technology, a unique business model change or a significantly better
user experience? Or is it the best two
out of three with a side topping of luck?
“Disruptive”
is defined ambiguously at best. To some
it is an order of magnitude improvement around speeds and feeds. To others
it is wrapping new forms of connectivity around an existing offering/use case or enabling new end user behavior. As an
example, think of a chip that enables a significantly longer battery life (e.g.,
AnalogicTech) vs. a physical swap meet
moving online (e.g, Ebay) vs. an application that allows you to move large rich
media files cheaply over the Internet (e.g., Bittorrent or Red Swoosh).
Continue reading "Evolutionary vs. Revolutionary" »
Labels like
Warner Music Group and EMI are reinventing themselves as broad-based agents and
marketers. Ironically, the digital
download era which seemed to be disenfranchising the record label, has created
so much business model confusion, bands are looking to the labels for a more holistic
media plan. Those labels willing to
think outside the box- with regard to revenue streams and revenue share- will
prosper.
EMI Music
recently teamed up with The Firm to launch a new record label that not only
manages musicians careers, but also produces, distributes and markets their
music. The Firm looks to split revenue
with artists equitably, rather than sign small royalty agreements.
These
developments are interesting because they highlight the way in which the music
business has changed:
Continue reading "Music on the Brain" »
Six months
after the Dead came under attack for taking down free digital copies of their
tracks online (What a Long Strange DRM Trip), the company has decided to join
forces with a real label. The band
signed a licensing agreement with Rhino Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner
Music Group. The deal is a
multiple-rights deal in which Rhino will help the Dead manage their business
and brand broadly, including touring, publishing and merchandising.
I guess
Deadhead stickers really do belong on Cadillacs. The band has clearly been thinking about
concepts such as paid digital distribution and DRM and views the business
burdens in this hybrid digital/analog age as too great to manage directly.
Continue reading "Co-Managing the Dead's Soul" »
Link: Techdirt: Can Someone Explain Word Of Mouth Marketing To Hollywood?.
Can Someone Explain Word Of Mouth Marketing To Hollywood?
from the might-help dept
Seriously. Is it really that hard for the folks in Hollywood to understand the benefit of word of mouth marketing? After all, this is the same crew of people who know how to blame bad word of mouth when it makes a bad movie tank. You'd think they would recognize the other side of the coin as well. Instead, they do what they always do and send out the lawyers.
This post hits nail on the head. Premium content producers (and advertisers) are only starting to get the power of word of mouth marketing, a topic of a recent post. Many are missing the New York skyline for the 30 story building. Hollywood has much to gain by allowing the user-generated community to flourish.
Continue reading "Techdirt: Can Someone Explain Word Of Mouth Marketing To Hollywood?" »
Thanks for the shout out Andy!
Link: Online Video is Hot VC Sector | AlwaysOn.
Online Video is Hot VC Sector
June 24, 2006
The world of online video is definitely more than a blip on the radar screen of many of the top venture capital firms. We caught up with Kara Nortman of the top-tier Boston/Menlo Park-based venture capital firm, Battery Ventures.
Continue reading "Online Video is Hot VC Sector | AlwaysOn" »
This could also read YouTube sees the fork and takes it!
When user
generated video content comes up in conversation, the question I am
most often asked is "What is going to happen with YouTube?" Are the
IP/copyright holders goign to sue the video aggregators once they start
to monetize content or will they demand royalties? Will the large
media companies allow a trickle of premium content to flow illegially
on YouTube as promotion for the more mainstream channels or will they
do their best to shut down any illegal copyrighted material? Is
YouTube the next Napster (the first iteration of the company)?
Link: NBC to run TV promos on YouTube.
By Andrew Wallenstein
NBC and YouTube are going from foes to friends.
The network is announcing a deal today that will see select clips of NBC series embedded on the popular viral-video site beginning this week, sources said.
The deal is quite a reversal from the well-publicized conflict that broke out between the companies in February, when peacock parent company NBC Universal ordered YouTube to remove hundreds of copyright-violating clips. A skit from "Saturday Night Live" titled "Lazy Sunday" triggered millions of streams for YouTube, becoming its most popular clip for a time.
Continue reading "NBC to run TV promos on YouTube" »