Archive for August, 2007

Licensing Online Media for the “Long Tail”

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Marjorie Kase
on August 18, 2007
in Long Tail
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Last week, Wired ran a post about the “long tail” of selling media online - basically, that more than just the top 40,000 song tracks or 3,000 movie titles can and will sell to online buyers, and that without the cost of storage you’d get in an actual store, there’s no reason not to sell beyond the highest profit curve in any media market. How to deal with the licensing of media in a long tail system, however, is not as clear cut.

Should all sites be charged the same amount to license copyrighted content, in spite of the fact that some content producers only get a few thousand views while others spread their material to movies and TV? Or should the media producers take matters into their own hands - like the band Harvey Danger has with their last album release - and distribute their content under a creative commons license, which would let fans exercise their creativity on songs and video without violating copyright?

So far, the legal rules associated with licensing long tail media remain in flux, with lawsuits like Google and Veoh’s ultimately likely to influence the outcome. There ought to be a compromise available between rigid license agreements and the free-for-all that online media sharing can become; what that compromise might be, unfortunately, is still a mystery.

(Source: Online Video Watch)

Facebook Diaries Begin Tonight

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Marjorie Kase
on August 16, 2007
in User Generate Content, Video and Social Networking
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Facebook, in conjunction with Comcast’s Ziddio, has had a new project in the works since February: Facebook Diaries, a weekly series of episodes made up of user-generated content edited professionally. According to New TeeVee, the series will finally launch tonight around 9 p.m.

Judging from previews hosted on Ziddio and Comcast’s VOD platform, the video diaries will largely feature content befitting a college-centered social networking site - heartbreak, drama, and personal stories about users’ adventure creatively edited together. At present, the series is set to stretch eight episodes long, with the pilot, “Who Am I,” already waiting here.

Considering Facebook’s success and the success of social networking in general, it seems likely that these Facebook Diaries, the newest in the tradition of partially candid series (think lonelygirl15), has a good chance of attracting steady viewers. It may even have a chance of ending up on cable TV, which would be just one more feather in the cap of user-gen content’s online success. In the end, is there anything we like better than our own work?

(Source: New TeeVee)

Social Networking Added to Netflix

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Blogger Reps
on August 15, 2007
in Video and Social Networking
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As of July 30th, Netflix has joined the social networking craze. Tech Crunch reported yesterday that the video rental portal has added a new community aspect to its Web site, replacing its former “Friends” page with an entire section dedicated to user interaction.

Most of the community features added seem fairly standard for a site centered around movie downloads. Users can now view peer reviews in real time, see love/hate movie lists on their friends’ pages, get suggestions for movie rentals based on their previous title choices, and find formerly unknown users on Netflix who have similar taste in movies to their own.

There are also a few more unusual features, such as a “Friends’ Quiz” designed to test your knowledge of other users’ taste in movies and a list that shows your friends’ recent Netflix activities (renting, returning, etc.).

Adding a social networking aspect to Netflix isn’t likely to hurt the site at all, though the popularity of some of the features is questionable. Is there really a lot of interest in knowing when friends are returning their rented flicks? It remains to be seen whether social networking will increase Netflix’s traffic and user interaction, or whether there’s little call for community features on a primarily rental site.

(Source: Tech Crunch)

Study: Time Spent on Content is Rising

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Marjorie Kase
on August 14, 2007
in Video, Web 2.0 and Social Networking
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Content consumption now accounts for half of users’ Internet time

The Online Publishers Association today released a study stating that consuming content (reading news, watching video, social networking, etc.) now accounts for 50% of the time users spend on the Internet. This would mean that the time spent consuming content online has increased 37% over the last four years.

Pam Horan, president of the OPA, cited “the online transition of traditionally offline activities, such as getting news, finding entertainment information or checking the weather” as part of the reason for the increase in consumption. The popularity of social networking and video streaming sites may also be affecting this change in time demographics.

Considering how many networks have invested in online video recently, along with the outpouring of social networking, the idea that half of users’ time online is spent consuming content doesn’t seem so far off the mark. For the next generation, online media may even replace books, TV, and newspapers as the norm. Scary thought?

(Source: Online Video Watch)

Online Video Sparks a Change in Programming

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Marjorie Kase
on August 11, 2007
in TV and Video
. 0 Comments

Now that so many videos and other types of media are available online for viewers to find whenever they want, the companies that produce those media are having to approach their content in a non-traditional way. One of the changes the Online Video Watch blog has observed is fewer current event references in Web broadcasts than their television-based brethren.

With a traditional TV broadcast, the time viewers will see it is controlled, so producers can reference recent events without worrying about their viewers getting lost. Popularity on the Web tends to be inconstant for any particular video, and often comes in spurts separated by a time lapse, meaning producers can’t count on which events will be hovering in the forefront of their viewers’ minds.

Different networks have approached the problem of drawing viewers to them (as with a nightly TV broadcast) in different ways. CBS has made an effort to spread their content as far across the Web as possible, in the belief that wide availability will help catch a viewer with so many choices on his plate. Contrarily, NBC/NewsCorp has focused on producing professional-grade content that viewers must seek out only at select, protected portal sites to force viewers to come to them.

So far, neither strategy has proved superior to the other, but in the constantly changing sphere of Web video (and the access to information it gives online users), attracting a dedicated audience will likely prove as important as the nightly “appointment” of a traditional TV broadcast.

(Source: Online Video Watch)

NBC Universal Plans Ad-based Web site

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Blogger Reps
on August 10, 2007
in Advertising and Video
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Didja.com to feature “entertaining advertising”

NBC Universal has announced its intention to launch a new video portal site, Didja.com, in early 2008. This site won’t feature the same streams and webisodes that can be found on other NBCU-sponsored sites, though - Didja.com is going to be dedicated specifically to entertaining TV spots, with product offers and brand pages available as well.

The purpose of Didja.com, and similar sites like Droga5? To bouy the more traditional TV advertising that TiVo, web streams, and file sharing have crippled. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a little fun, either, and TV spots are often rated highly on sites like YouTube, giving NBCU reason to think that a video site dedicated solely to ads could still get quite a few visitors.

Chris McCumber, the senior vice president of marketing and brand strategy at USA Network (part of NBCU), had this to say about Didja.com’s viewing appeal:

“Advertising should be treated as entertainment. We know people love commercials. You see that around the Super Bowl and Academy Awards. Why not create a destination where it’s celebrated?”

According to NBCU predictions, Didja.com will expand to include things like movie trailers and promotions for TV shows themselves, with higher paying advertisers (and NBCU properties) earning better placement and visibility on the site.

Visitors will also be able to comment on the commercials and use a “mash-up toolkit” to remix them right on the site, which may give Didja.com a little of the user-gen flavor so many Web sites are adopting.

(Source: Media Week)

Mefeedia: The Vlogosphere in Review

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Blogger Reps
on August 9, 2007
in TV and Video
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Major media networks have been focusing on their online audiences more and more over the last few months, and quite a few of them have taken steps toward flooding the Web with their programming. In case you need a refresher on all of the recent initiatives, here’s a sketch (courtesy of the Mefeedia blog) of what the networks have been up to.

NBC and Fox are teaming up to create a new rival site to MySpace, featuring content exclusive to both networks; Fox is also on board with MySpace’s “Storyteller Challenge,” where user-generated pilots could turn into big-time TV programming. CBS has both acquired Wallstrip, a business video blog, and started an “Interactive Audience Network” to spread their content all over the Internet.

Sony’s video sharing site Crackle (formerly Grouper) has morphed into an original content site with quarterly contests that pitch users’ ideas to Sony executives. And between Sony and MySpace’s 6-minute “minisodes” and NBC’s “webisodes,” there’s plenty of video out there for an eager fan to find.

The distance between a TV show and one featured on the Web is quickly growing smaller, and the day may come when there’s no difference between how a network approaches each of them. If this recent trend toward online availability is a solid indication, that day may not even be all that far off.

(Source: Mefeedia)

Social Networking Gets a Sharper Edge

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Blogger Reps
on August 7, 2007
in Social Networking
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Duels.com merges RPG battles with community

Andrew Busey, formerly co-founder of the startup Pluck, is taking social networking in a different direction. Duels.com, host to a new online RPG, crosses the classic adventure of Internet gaming with a community forum site. The result is asyncronous play - since you choose how you want your character to fight but aren’t actually at the dueling controls, your character can accept challenges from other users even when you’re offline.

The social networking aspect of Duels isn’t lost, either - in addition to the option to challenge opponents of choice and list them as rivals (or allies), Duels hosts a forum area for players to discuss strategy, character tracks, or anything else that catches their interest. And of course, each user has a profile that displays their avatar, fight history, stats, and any comments other duelists might make.

According to Tech Crunch’s review, Duels is both “addicting and fun,” even though the site’s newness means there are few opponenets to battle. If you’re into online gaming - or if you just want to check out how Facebook and Warcraft combine - Duels is always waiting for more challengers.

(Source: Tech Crunch)

Update: Blogging Shield Laws

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Blogger Reps
on August 6, 2007
in Blogging
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Just a quick update to our previous story about blogger shield laws in the works at Congress: Friday, Aug. 2, a bill that would protect bloggers’ rights to maintain the confidentiality of sources passed the House Judiciary Committee. So far, the bill maintains a fairly loose definition of the “journalists” it will protect, but “financial gain or livelihood” earned by blogging is still a prerequisite.

A similar version of the bill is under consideration by the Senate; right now, the House version of the bill has strong support from both parties, as well as the support of over 40 organizations affiliated with journalism and/or the media.

The story’s still in development, and the end result unknown, but we’ll try to keep you posted on any news pertaining to this issue.

(Source: Ars Technica)

Disclosure In The Blogging Age

Published
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Marjorie Kase
on August 6, 2007
in Blogging
. 0 Comments

Josh Catone debates guidelines on a slippery subject

Disclosure is something journalists have been wrestling with probably since the inception of media. What counts as a conflict of interest? Should everyone who contributes money to the journalist’s medium count as a potential bias? How do family members, friends, and coworkers fit into an attempt at objective reporting? And how much does a reader really need to know?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a guide book around to give bloggers a road map for this complicated issue. The good news is, Josh Catone at Read/Write Web gave the matter some thought, and he’s got at least one man’s opinion on the subject, in case anyone’s looking for ideas.

A few of Josh Catone’s tips:

  • Take financial association into account. Advertising isn’t as important in this regard, but issues such as ownership or partial ownership should be disclosed.
  • Employment might be one of the more obvious ones - if you’re writing about the company you work for, your readers should probably know that.
  • If your post deals with a direct competitor to the company you work for, that could be worth a mention. Readers should know whether their review is in range for bias.
  • If the person or company you’re writing about is one with which you have heavy personal involvement, that’s another disclosable aspect. Catone admits that this area is the trickiest to gauge, but his full story gives clear guidelines to get you thinking about what’s just too close to home.

Disclosure’s not an easy topic to come to consensus around, and at some level the decision will always rest with the blogger and their common sense. Nonetheless, Catone’s post should give bloggers a better idea of when - and what - their readers need to know.

Check out the original story here.

(Source: Read/Write Web)