Roundup: The White House and YouTube test an open relationship, the Dow plunges below 7,000, an iPod and iPhone-less Gates household and more
Here’s the latest action:
The White House and YouTube need to video message one another — A report this morning by CNET claimed the White House was ditching YouTube as a platform for President Obama’s weekly addresses and going with a different Flash-based solution from Akamai. The decision was said to be due to privacy concerns about information YouTube (which Google owns) tracks. But the whole thing is not true says a later report from the White… Continue Reading
Flickr opens video for all, and HD video for Pro users
Flickr, while known as one of the main picture hubs on the web, is also a pretty nice place to share videos. Until now, though, that option has only been available to users with “Pro” paid accounts. Today, that changes as the service opens up video uploads to all users while granting Pro members the ability to go high definition with their video uploads.
If you’re wondering why you might use Flickr for videos as opposed… Continue Reading
Online audiences love Joaquin Phoenix as the crazed Unabomber rapper
Actor Joaquin Phoenix and late night talk show host David Letterman shared a special moment a couple nights ago on the Late Show. Phoenix, who is now clearly either insane or doing one hell of a publicity stunt, appeared on the show to promote his new film Two Lovers – and did anything but. As Letterman asked him questions, Phoenix, with long hair, a Moses-like beard and wearing sunglasses sat quietly and occasionally muttered to himself,… Continue Reading
Hey, must be the money? More details on YouTube’s pay to download plan
It seemed pretty clear yesterday that Google wanted the focus of its YouTube announcements to be on the downloading and Creative Commons angle and less on the potential revenue it could earn from the downloads it will charge for. To me, this seems like a clear indicator that it doesn’t expect to earn too much money from this, and certainly not enough to silence its critics who argue that the service can’t make money.
More details… Continue Reading
Google enables the most direct YouTube monetization: Selling videos
These days, YouTube seems to get just about as much press for its lack of money-making ability as it does for all its accolades. Google is obviously trying to find the right way to draw money from the site without ruining it, but it has so far stayed away from perhaps the most obvious form of monetization: Selling videos. Until now.
Google has created a new section in the My Videos area of the site called… Continue Reading
Hollywood stars pass studios, go directly to YouTube?
Google still hasn’t figured out a way to make money from YouTube, but that isn’t stopping the insanely popular online video service from signing interesting deals left and right. The latest involves the William Morris Agency, one of Hollywood’s top talent agencies. And it could alter the way artists get paid for content — and the web’s role in providing it.
Specifically, the deal would allow William Morris clients to bypass movie studios and television networks… Continue Reading
YouTube still hunting for money with affiliate ad expansion
Google is expanding its YouTube eCommerce Program beyond the U.S. and the U.K. to allow viewers in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands to “click-to-buy” products (such as songs or DVDs) related to the videos they watch on YouTube.
This is an effort to boost YouTube’s affiliate ads program, with ads that allow you to buy products through sites like iTunes and Amazon. Links to purchase songs and DVDs will now appear as semi-transparent ads within the… Continue Reading
Will the Wiimote finally bring a good YouTube living room experience?
YouTube is one of the largest success stories of the “web 2.0″ era (at least in terms of viewers, not in terms of making money). But to be considered fully mainstream, the service needs to get into the living room, where people still do most of their content viewing. And YouTube is taking another step in that direction today by launching a beta version of the service for the Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation 3… Continue Reading
Google’s new year’s revolution: Six products slashed or maimed
Well, Google picked a good day to announce layoffs and kill a bunch of products. While everyone is busy reading about Apple chief executive Steve Jobs’ leave of absence for health related issues, Google has more or less killed six of its products. Let’s survey the damage, shall we?
Dodgeball
First up, Dodgeball, a service close to the hearts of many of San Francisco’s tech elites (but few others) is being shut down. Dodgeball is a mobile… Continue Reading
Evolution of Dance 2: Shaking the moneymaker on YouTube
Evolution of Dance, a toe-tapping journey through the history of dancing styles, is one of the most popular YouTube videos of all time, second only to Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” music video. But how do you make money off your 109 million video views?
Judson Laipply, the motivational speaker/comedian and dynamic dancer behind the original Evolution of Dance, is trying to figure that out with today’s release of Evolution of Dance 2.
Debuting on The Today Show, the… Continue Reading
The U.S. Congress: The new stars of YouTube?
Move over, C-SPAN. The 111th Congress opens today with a virtual bang — YouTube is launching channels for The Senate and the House of Representatives to make it easier for average viewers to connect with their Senators and Representatives (we know you’ve been procrastinating on your letter writing campaigns). An explanation of the new service (delivered with obvious help from a teleprompter) can be seen here:
The YouTube channels are well-designed, with an interactive map that… Continue Reading
Cisco study: U.S. wins TV and mobile-watching world olympics
Cisco Systems has released results from its new Visual Networking Index survey looking at video consumption habits around the world, and some of them may surprise you. Among other things, it gauged people’s attitudes toward online, mobile and television viewing of video content in the U.S., China, Germany and Sweden. Below, we’ve broken down the report’s findings for optimum factoid digestion:
American internet users spend 2.5 as much time watching professionally-produced content (shows and movies created… Continue Reading
Twitter, YouTube among the new propaganda tools of the battle in Gaza
In discussions about the conflicts in the Middle East, one of the consistent, sensitive points of debate has revolved around the question of media bias in covering any related events — which is why the adoption of online communication mediums like Twitter and YouTube in the chatter around the most recent Gaza conflict is both timely and interesting.
Tweet the press (conference)
In reading up on the current situation, you may have chanced on the Israel Defense… Continue Reading
Watch this: Our top ten videos of 2008
The best viral videos of 2008 weren’t necessarily the ones that got the most page views, in my humble opinion. Or the list below would feature Fred — whose helium and sugar-fueled antics often make me want to chuck my dying laptop out the window — a music video, or Paris Hilton.
Here’s the final countdown, with more videos after the jump. While you’ve likely seen a few on the list, there should be a couple… Continue Reading
YouTube’s relationship with HD video gets serious
YouTube is introducing an expanded high definition video section today. It’s an obvious move, improving the viewing experience and the ability to target advertising; until now HD content was mixed in with videos encoded at YouTube’s regular resolution.
YouTube has been offering a limited selection of HD videos over the past few weeks, with links indicating which ones were available in high definition. Clicking the “watch in HD” link beneath any HD-enabled video will now open the… Continue Reading
YouTube game videos become a big channel for game marketers
YouTube has provided a great market for posting viral videos related to video games, just as it has been for almost any other kind of video that captures buzz.
But Google’s YouTube division is starting to pull out all the stops to enable game developers to launch video campaigns on the site — and to make money by adding officially sanctioned game videos. You can expect this viral marketing to grow as the economy takes a… Continue Reading
SNL’s Andy Samberg rules YouTube, not Hulu
Hulu is an online joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp, but it’s not the site that’s fueling the traffic for one very popular NBC video, according to a report in AdAge.
Saturday Night Live star Andy Samberg’s production company, The Lonely Island, uploaded its “Jizz in My Pants” music video to Google-owned YouTube. The not-safe-for-work video (at least not without headphones) has gained more than seven million views and more than 28,000 comments, making… Continue Reading
Overlay.TV gets boost to push overlay technology in video
Overlay.tv, a company that lets you overlay video with graphics and other information, has raised $4.6 million more in backing.
Overlay is just one of several companies helping publishers monetize video by letting them insert ads within video. Like a number of other companies, it’s working on technology that’s more nimble than currently offered by leading video sites such as Google’s YouTube. It doesn’t rely on standard ad technology, such as Flash, which can take many… Continue Reading
Musical geeks squeal for Andrew Lloyd Webber on YouTube
Taking a page from fellow Brits Monty Python’s recent move into online video, Broadway composer Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s entertainment company, Really Useful Group (RUG), has launched its own YouTube channel.
RUG, which is a theatrical, TV and film production company that owns several West End theaters, hopes its online presence will translate into more music downloads, ticket sales and merchandise purchases. This pairing also highlights how Broadway shows, whose ticket sales have cooled, are trying to tap… Continue Reading
Who says you can’t make money on YouTube?
Making videos for YouTube can be a legitimate source of income for the most popular users, some of whom can bring home the bacon with their creations — six figures worth of bacon. At least that’s what the New York Times is reporting.
It’s been a year since Google-owned YouTube invited users to join its partner program and add advertising to their videos. Big media companies like Lions Gate, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and CBS… Continue Reading