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… Continue Reading

Hey, must be the money? More details on YouTube’s pay to download plan

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… Continue Reading

Google enables the most direct YouTube monetization: Selling videos

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… Continue Reading

Hollywood stars pass studios, go directly to YouTube?

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… Continue Reading

YouTube still hunting for money with affiliate ad expansion

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… Continue Reading

Will the Wiimote finally bring a good YouTube living room experience?

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… Continue Reading

Google’s new year’s revolution: Six products slashed or maimed

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… 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… Continue Reading

The U.S. Congress: The new stars of YouTube?

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… Continue Reading

Cisco study: U.S. wins TV and mobile-watching world olympics

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… Continue Reading

Twitter, YouTube among the new propaganda tools of the battle in Gaza

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… 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… Continue Reading

YouTube’s relationship with HD video gets serious

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… 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… 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… Continue Reading

Overlay.TV gets boost to push overlay technology in video

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… Continue Reading

Musical geeks squeal for Andrew Lloyd Webber on YouTube

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… Continue Reading

Who says you can’t make money on YouTube?

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… Continue Reading

Roundup: YouTube HD links, Del Biaggio charges, Korean game support, and more

Roundup: YouTube HD links, Del Biaggio charges, Korean game support, and more

YouTube gets links to high-definition videos It already offered HD videos, you just had to use a simple hack to access them. In other YouTube news, the company is offering a new service for adding sound to videos you upload.

Valley investor Del Biaggio nailed with fraud… Continue Reading

YouTube Symphony Orchestra can fulfill your Carnegie Hall dreams, maybe

YouTube Symphony Orchestra can fulfill your Carnegie Hall dreams, maybe

Move over, vegetable orchestra, YouTube is holding auditions for the world’s first collaborative online orchestra. Announced yesterday, The YouTube Symphony Orchestra is a worldwide project in partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) to bring together international musicians of all ages, instruments and internet connections.

Anyone… Continue Reading