November 19, 2009

YouTube Launches Automatic Captions; Great for Accessibility and Search

YouTube is introducing machine-generated automatic captioning to YouTube. The captions can also be translated. This obviously has incredible implications for the hearing-impaired and language translation. But it also has great implications for search.

Automatic captions will be generated using Google's automated speech recognition (ASR) technology and the same voice recognition algorithms used in Google Voice.

Additionally, auto-timing is being introduced. If you provide all the words in the video, Google will automatically time the captioning for you.

Of course, having what essentially amounts to transcripts for online video means that the text can be crawled and indexed and then yes - SEARCHED. Bring on the keyword research and seo scriptwriting for online videos!

Google put together a video on how to access the automatic captioning and auto-timing features:

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

November 13, 2009

YouTube to Add Support for 1080p HD Video

YouTube has announced that they will begin supporting 1080p HD video. The support will begin sometime next week.

Previously, the max HD resolution was 720p. Resolution for a given video will depend on the resolution on the source of the video. In other words, a video will need to be uploaded in 1080p to appear as 1080p on YouTube.

Videos that were already uploaded in 1080p are being re-encoded by YouTube.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

November 11, 2009

YouTube Tests Skip Button on Pre-Roll Ads

Over at our sister site ClickZ, Zachary Rodgers has the news on a new YouTube test where a "Skip" button is added to some Pre-Roll ads. This would allow users to avoid watching advertisements before the video they've chosen to watch.

YouTube hopes the test will lead to more creative ads. But this also could be a step towards performance pricing in video ads.

Don't expect big changes anytime soon. Pre-roll ads only appear on premium content from the likes of Sony and MGM. And YouTube maintains that the primary goal is better ads.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

November 5, 2009

Funny or Die Becomes YouTube Partner

Comedy video site Funny or Die is now a YouTube partner. This means you'll be able to access select Funny or Die videos on the largest online video site in the world.

Funny or Die was created by actor and comedian Will Ferrell and screenwriter/director Adam McKay.

Ferrell and McKay have managed to employ the talent of several Hollywood stars in promoting Funny or Die through simply having them appear in a funny video on the site. Natalie Portman, Lindsay Lohan, Zach Galifianakis, Paris Hilton, and Denis Leary have all appeared in Funny or Die videos.

Embedding is disabled on most of the YouTube version of the videos, so you'll still need to grab embed codes from FunnyorDie.com. Only a handful of videos are on the YouTube channel, which seems, thus far, primarily set up to advertise Will Ferrell's HBO special on DVD.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

October 31, 2009

125.5 Million Americans Watched 10.3 Billion YouTube Videos in September

Normally, announcements made on a Friday afternoon are bad news. But yesterday at 4:21 p.m., comScore Video Metrix announced that more than 168 million U.S. Internet users watched nearly 26 billion videos online during September 2009 -- an average of 154 videos per viewer. That's good news, isn't it?

To put this in perspective, Super Bowl XLIII achieved the largest television audience in U.S. history with a total audience of 151.6 million viewers, according to official national ratings data released by Nielsen Media Research.

In other words, more Americans are watching online video each and every month than watch the Super Bowl once a year. Get it? Got it? Good.

YouTube accounted for close to 40 percent of the 26 billiion videos viewed during September, to remain the market leader by a wide margin.

According to comScore, -- 84.8 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in September. -- The average online video viewer watched 9.8 hours of video that month. -- The duration of the average online video was 3.8 minutes. -- 125.5 million viewers watched nearly 10.3 billion videos on YouTube.com -- which is 82.4 videos per viewer. -- 45.6 million viewers watched 424 million videos on MySpace.com -- which is 9.3 videos per viewer.

Now, let's compare these numbers to ones that search marketers should know by heart.

According to comScore qSearch, Americans conducted 13.8 billion core searches in September 2009. They watched nearly 26 billion videos online that month. This means Americans are watching almost twice as many videos as they conducting searches at the five major search engines.

So, is your video marketing budget twice as large as your search marketing budget? Hmmm. Maybe that's why the news was buried on a Friday afternoon.

Let's drill down a little deeper.

There were almost 9 billion core searches conducted on Google in September. There were 10.3 billion videos viewed on YouTube that month. That's right, Americans are watching more videos on YouTube than then are conducting searches on Google.

But wait! There's more!

According to comScore qSearch, there were 21.3 billion expanded search queries conducted in September. This counts searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites as well as searches at the major search engines.

Who were the leaders in expanded search?

Google was #1 with 9.4 billion expanded search queries. YouTube was #2 with 3.5 billion. Yahoo! as #3 with 2.7 billion. Bing was #4 with 1.2 billion.

So, even if you put blinders on and say you are only interested in "search" and not interested in "marketing," then YouTube belongs on your A-list. It is the #2 search engine.

If you want to see what other marketers are doing on YouTube, check out Coldwell Banker's channel. And for the backstory, check out my interview with Michael Fisher, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Coldwell Banker, at SES San Jose 2009.

Michael Fisher of Coldwell Banker discusses Coldwell Banker's successful viral marketing campaigns

And there are advertising opportunities on YouTube, as well. For example, check out my interview with Matthew Liu, YouTube Product Manager, at SES New York 2009. He talks about Sponsored Videos, which has since been renamed Promoted Videos.

YouTube Product Manager, Matthew Liu on YouTube's Insight and Sponsored videos at SES NY 2009

Now, many search marketers measure the success of their campaigns in terms of conversions. In these cases, it's not just about views or clicks; it's about what the user did next: Buy something, fill out a form on your website, or take some other action.

These marketers want to be able to incorporate these kinds of conversions into their campaigns so they can "close the loop" and drive traffic to off-YouTube web pages. Back in June, YouTube launched this feature as an option for all Promoted Videos, allowing anyone who runs a campaign to specify a "Call-to-Action" for users, helping them generate engaged, well-targeted traffic for their websites.

Adding a Call-to-Action overlay to your video is easy. First, run a campaign to promote your video on YouTube. Then, go to the Video Details page under My Videos and fill out the fields in the section marked "Call-to-Action overlay." All you have to do is include a short headline, ad text, a destination url, and upload an optional image, and the overlay will appear whenever someone watches your video. Clicks on the overlay will be tracked in YouTube Insight.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

October 28, 2009

Hot Rumor: Google is Launching a New Music Service

According to a blog post by Heather Dougherty, Director of Research at Experian Hitwise, Google is expected to launch their music service today. So, she took a closer look at the tons of data that Hitwise collects to see can be seen.

Here are some highlights:

-- Out of the top 1,000 search terms that took place on Google last week, 6 percent were music-related (which includes bands, music services and content). -- Last week, Google sent 1.48 percent of their total visits to the Music category and of those visits, 95 percent of the downstream traffic to Music websites were returning visitors (that had visited Google in the past 30 days). -- Google was the top referral website to the Music category accounting for nearly 30 percent of the total traffic to the category last week, 5x more than 2nd ranked Yahoo! Search and 6.3x more than MySpace. -- Last week, 15 percent of the clicks from the search term portfolio of Music that includes the names of over 900 band and artist names resulted in a visit to a Google property, especially YouTube, among the Top 10 websites to receive traffic. -- Last month, 71% of all searches took place on Google.

Speaking of music, VEVO, a music and video entertainment hub being launched by YouTube and Universal Music Group later this year, just landed AT&T as an advertiser. Oh, and VEVO just got an undisclosed investment from Abu Dhabi Media Company, which is backed by the people from the United Arab Emirates.

Is there a connection? Is YouTube an independent subsidiary of Google? You betcha.

I spoke with Bill Tancer, General Manager of Hitwise, and author of the best-selling book "Click: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why it Matters" at SES Chicago 2008. He was about to spot search engine user behavior patterns and the shopping patterns of the affluent long before they were common knowledge.

Bill Tancer on Search Patterns at SES Chicago 2008

So, when the folks over at Hitwise tell me how music plays on Google, I listen. I listen very closely. They hear things before the rest of us.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 6:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

October 22, 2009

YouTube Lets Marketers Think Global or Act Local at WaWa Hoagiefest

Last week, I mentioned that Americans watch more YouTube videos than they conduct Google searches. Well, Americans aren't alone.

It turns out that 420 million unique visitors every month watch YouTube somewhere around the globe. If YouTube were a nation, it would rank #3 in population -- behind China and India, but ahead of the United States and Indonesia.

The YouTube community has its own quaint expressions, such as "Charlie bit my finger - again!" YouTubers also have their own culture and customs. For example, they share funny views of the "Evolution of Dance."

But I can't tell you how many marketers say, "Yes, yes, that's entertaining. But, how do I harness YouTube to promote my small or medium business?"

So, let me share a case study that show how Wawa's sandwich promotion reached hungry audiences with YouTube marketing.

With 570 stores throughout the mid-Atlantic region, Wawa makes hoagies, which are called subs, heroes, bombers, poor boys, grinders, or rockets in other parts of the country. During the summer of 2009, Wawa decided to kick off its second annual Hoagiefest campaign.

In partnership with their digital agency The Archer Group, Wawa launched Hoagiefest.com, a fully interactive site that combines music, video, and details regarding the summer promotions.

Once the site was up and running, the marketing challenge was raising awareness of Hoagiefest.com and driving engaged users to it efficiently.

To reach this marketing objectives, Wawa and The Archer Group used Google's Content Network. One of the site's in the network is YouTube. Yep, YouTube.

Wawa tested YouTube InVideo ads, which are animated overlays that appear on the bottom 20 percent of a YouTube video. Selecting video content that their target audience would likely watch, Wawa ran InVideo ads along with standard display placements on YouTube.

What were the results? Their campaign: -- Generated interest and awareness of the Hoagiefest 2009 promotion; -- Drove over 500,000 unique visitors to the campaign microsite; -- Received CTRs 500% higher than typical rates from other placements; and -- Achieved a cost of $7 per hour of site interaction time.

If you are interested in learning more, attend either the YouTube & Video Optimization session at SES Chicago 2009 or the YouTube & Video Optimization session at the Online Marketing Summit.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 16, 2009

YouTube Tests Real-Time Comment Search

If you like to find instances of people jumping to conclusions, being extremely judgmental and just pure hate, then comment search on YouTube will be right up your alley. Seriously, though, in online reputation management, the ability to search YouTube comments will be very useful for engaged companies. Thankfully, ReadWriteWeb has the goods on a real-time comment search that was very quietly rolled out by YouTube. To access it, you'll need to go directly to http://www.youtube.com/comment_search.

For the screenshot, I wanted to keep things as clean as possible, so I searched "love" and here's what it looks like:

Notice the trending topics - conduct a few searches yourself and you'll see how quickly those trending topics change. Give it a go and let us know what you think by leaving a comment.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

October 14, 2009

We Watch More YouTube Videos than We Conduct Google Searches

Now, we all know search is important. And we all know that Google is the leading search engine.

But here's a factoid that continues to amaze marketers:

In August 2009, Americans watched 10 billion videos on YouTube. That same month, Americans conducted 9 billion searches on Google.

Yep, Americans watched a billion more YouTube videos than they conducted Google searches.

The data comes from comScore, a reputable source. And the reason that it may have flown under the radar screen is that it comes from two different reports.

The YouTube data comes from comScore Video Metrix, which reported that 120.5 million Americans watched an average of 82.6 videos per viewer.

The Google data comes from comScore qSearch, which reported that 169.2 million American conducted an average of 53.2 queries per searcher.

So, do you want to be found when someone conducts a search for a relevant term on Google? Of course you do.

But do you want to be found when someone looks for a relevant video on YouTube? You should.

A lot of marketers are trying to get their arms around social media -- like Facebook and Twitter. These are both important. But YouTube is a video sharing site -- which is also a form of social media.

And according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 62% of Internet users in the U.S. have watched video on a video sharing site. This compares to 46%, who have used a social networking site, and 11%, who have used Twitter.

So, why is YouTube often left off the marketing to-do list? It's a mystery.

But, you can start to get your arms around the topic by watching the YouTube video below.

Greg Jarboe of SEO-PR discusses YouTube and Video Marketing at SES London 2009

You can also get a sense of why YouTube is neither fish nor fowl by reading the TubeMogul report entitled, "How do people discover videos online?" More than 45% of viewers find videos through direct navigation to a video site -- i.e. going to YouTube and running a search or clicking around the featured or related videos. But more than 44% of viewers find videos embedded in blogs.

Finally, you can attend the YouTube & Video Optimization session at SES Chicago 2009. I'll tackle this issue head on -- and provide you with proven, practical guidelines for developing and implementing video marketing for your organization.

With more YouTube videos being watched in America than there are searches being conducted on Google, you will want to find out what it takes to get your videos discovered, watched and shared.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

YouTube Promoted Videos Available to Buy in AdWords, Expand to 7 More Countries

Advertisers with video content now have the option of buying Promoted Videos on YouTube with their AdWords account. Need incentive to buy? YouTube says clicks on Promoted Videos have increased 500% since January.

Additionally, YouTube is expanding the reach of Promoted Videos. Originally available only in the United States, Promoted Videos have been expanded to seven more countries: Canada, the U.K., France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.

Promoted Videos launched in November 2008, but were first named Sponsored Videos. The name change came in March 2009, and Call-to-Action overlays were added in July. A couple of weeks ago, Promoted Videos were added AdSense, part of the Google Content Network.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 9, 2009

YouTube Now Serving More Than a Billion Views a Day

Chad Hurley, CEO and Co-founder of YouTube, today posted an item to the Official YouTube Blog with the criptic headline, "Y,000,000,000uTube."

He said, "Three years ago today, Steve and I stood out in front of our offices and jokingly crowned ourselves the burger kings of media." He added, "Today, I'm proud to say that we have been serving well over a billion views a day on YouTube."

According to comScore Video Metrix, 120.5 million Americans watched nearly 10 billion videos on YouTube.com in August 2009. That 82.6 videos per viewer a month.

According to comScore qSearch, Americans conducted 9.4 billion searches on Google in August 2009.

Yep, the numbers are right. There are more videos being watched on YouTube than there are searches being conducted on Google in the United States.

So, why is YouTube perhaps the most underrated marketing channel in the country?

Back on July 20, 2009, the YouTube Biz Blog did a little myth busting. I think the post provides insight into the reasons why the world's most popular online video community is the Rodney Dangerfield of marketing.

Myth 1: YouTube is limited to short-form user-generated content. YouTube has thousands of premium content partners, from Sony to Disney to Universal Music, and fans can find hundreds of full-length feature films and thousands of full-length TV episodes on YouTube. Hey, even Hulu has a channel on YouTube.

Myth 2: YouTube videos are grainy and of poor quality. YouTube launched HD videos less than a year ago and YouTube already has more HD videos than any other video site. Hundreds of thousands of HD videos are uploaded to the site every month, and tens of millions are viewed every day. Check out Where the Hell is Matt? (2008), if you need to see an example.

Myth 3: Traffic, growth, and uploads are bad for YouTube's bottom line. This may look like a threat to a Wall Street analyst, but it is a opportunity to a marketer. The truth is that all YouTube's infrastructure was built from scratch, which means models that use standard industry pricing are too high when it comes to bandwidth and similar costs. And marketers should focus on where their prospect are going day in and day out, not what keeps Wall Street analaysts up at night.

Myth 4: Advertisers are afraid of YouTube. You may be still be afraid, but more than 70% of Ad Age Top 100 marketers ran campaigns on YouTube in 2008. They're buying YouTube's home page, Promoted Videos, overlays, and in-stream ads. Many are organizing contests that encourage the uploading of user videos to their brand channels, or running advertising exclusively on popular user partner content. Watch my interview with YouTube Product Manager at SES New York about YouTube's Insight and Sponsored videos.

YouTube Product Manager, Matthew Liu on YouTube's Insight and Sponsored videos at SES NY 2009

Myth 5: YouTube is only monetizing 3-5% of the site. This oft-cited statistic is old and wrong. Monetized views have more than tripled in the past year, as YouTube has added partner content very quickly and has done a better job of promoting their videos across the site.

If you want to learn more about the opportunity that YouTube represents, you can attend the session entitled, "YouTube & Video Optimization," at SES Chicago 2009.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

October 5, 2009

eMarketer Report Says Keep Video Ads Short and Relevant

David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst, has just written new report entitled, "Marketing to the Online Video Audience."

Although online video viewership has never been higher and marketers are eager to reach this large and growing audience, many online video viewers dislike intrusive video ads -- even though they freely accept TV commercials.

Hallerman thinks this audience perspective can shift if marketers increasingly implement two key concepts.

First, he thinks they should focus on "making the length of video ads suitable to the length of content, so that they are not too pushy." Second, he believes they should also focus on "devoting resources to develop high-quality video creative that is well-targeted to the intended online audience."

"The Internet and TV audience are not one and the same," says Hallerman. "The Internet audience does not necessarily respond to the same ads in the same way they would after viewing them on TV."

For example, younger people are more comfortable than their older counterparts with online media, which can lead to higher levels of engagement. A drill-down look from Nielsen Online shows that audiences ages 30 and younger are more likely than older viewers to find online video advertising funny, emotionally touching and informative -- essential qualities for brand marketing.

The net-net: Keep it short and keep it relevant.

If you want more details, read the article, "Engaging Online Video Viewers," which was just posted on eMarketer.

You can also read more about this topic in my book, "YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day."

Back in the 1990s, I worked for William B. Ziff, Jr. He often said a special-interest magazine was a like a magnet and a screen: It attracted readers interested in a topic but also sifted out those who weren't as interested. This created an audience that endemic advertisers could reach cost-effectively, because a high percentage of readers were interested in their products.

Although it is still early days for online video advertising, it appears that viewers attracted to a video like Monty Python's Argument Clinic might also be interested in buying The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus on Amazon.com.

In fact, when Monty Python launched their YouTube channel in November 2008, not only did their YouTube videos shoot to the top of the most viewed lists, but their DVDs also quickly climbed to No. 2 on Amazon's Movies & TV bestsellers list, with increased sales of 23,000 percent.

You find this case study and plenty of other practical tips in my book. If you don't believe me, you can read Lee Odden's, "Review: YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day," on his Online Marketing Blog. Hey, if Odden says "You cannot afford to miss this story," then you probably shouldn't.

Or, if you'd like to have an argument, just let the receptionist know if you want to start with a five-minute argument or take a full course of 10 arguments.

Argument Clinic

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 30, 2009

Warner Music Returns to YouTube

Last December, Warner Music decided not to renew its contract with YouTube. They wanted more money from the advertising coming in to YouTube as a results of the company's popular music videos. It was only slightly ironic since YouTube (and social media in general) has been notorious for not monetizing very well.

Meanwhile, another major label, Univeral was out there touting the benefits of having their videos on YouTube, which actually made music videos a viable part of a business model again (you know, ever since MTV wrapped their business model around socialites in Hollywood.)

Not only did Universal renew their contract, but they partnered with YouTube to create their own music site, Vevo. Sony a also renewed their contract.

Of course, traffic on YouTube continues to soar. In August alone, Warner Music is returning to YouTube. They'll be back to making tens of millions of dollars off what is essentially a marketing medium.

The new deal allows them to sell their own ad inventory and includes a revenue sharing agreement. Warner will also be using the Content ID program to make money from videos uploaded by third parties that use content developed by Warner artists.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 29, 2009

Microsoft Windows 7 House Party: Public Relations Disaster or Video Marketing Triumph?

If you create something so bad that it goes viral, is it a public relations disaster or a video marketing triumph?

That's the question that journalists and bloggers are asking after watching HostingYourParty, which tells you how to host a Microsoft Windows 7 House Party.

Microsoft is putting a Tupperware-style twist on the upcoming Windows 7 rollout -- launching a new initiative to encourage thousands of employees, partners and technology enthusiasts to throw parties in their homes and communities to demonstrate and help spread the word about its new operating system.

People accepted as official launch party hosts will get their own copy of Windows 7 Ultimate Edition, and a chance to win a computer. But unlike the Tupperware model, there will be no literal selling. These parties are more about generating word-of-mouth buzz.

To promote this idea, Microsoft has uploaded a video to YouTube. Some journalists and bloggers think it is a public relations disaster.

Cindy Perman of CNBC writes, "You just knew that once they put the Microsoft geeks in charge of the "party," that it wouldn't be a 10-kegger and before long, we'd all be putting lampshades over our heads."

Ian Douglas, a tech blogger for the Daily Telegraph in London, writes, "I'm beginning to think that no one involved with Microsoft's advertising has ever left the house or spoken to a real person."

And James Lileks of The Bleat writes, "If Microsoft had been put in charge of marketing sex, the human race would have ended long ago, because no one would be caught dead doing something that uncool."

Now, you may be tempted to watch this 6-minute, 14-second video yourself -- to jump to your own conclusion. But, I warn you -- only serious geeks like me will watch beyond the first minute.

HostingYourParty

Now, if Microsoft really wanted to show people how to hold a Windows 7 Launch Party, they might have created a remix of the 1950s educational video below about what, in fact, makes a "good" party.

1950 - What Makes a Good Party

Not all of the reaction to Microsoft's Windows 7 House Party has been negative. Some of it can be charitably described as "mixed."

David Meerman Scott of Web Ink Now, asks, "Is this Microsoft Windows 7 House Party thing real? Or is it an incredibly wonderful and clever spoof on a 50s educational video that is so well done as to have fooled most observers who seem to think it is legit?"

Janice L. Brown of The Fussy Marketer also asks, "Hmm, if something goes viral because it's so bad, does that still count as achieving the marketing goals?"

Nevertheless, Lieutenant Columbo, if he were blogging these days, would ask just one more thing: "Why did Microsoft disable ratings and adding comments on HostingYourParty?"

Is this something you'd do if you were hoping for a video marketing triumph?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)

September 28, 2009

YouTube Merges Content ID with Insight Analytics

YouTube's Content ID is an identification and management tool that allows content providers to determine how their videos will appear on the popular online video site. As of last week, over 1,000 partners had signed up for Content ID. However, the tool only provided limited stats on videos.

Today, Content ID is being combined with YouTube Insight to provide more robust analytics.

For example, Sony Music can view analytics on the JK Wedding Entrance video, which, though uploaded by a third party, uses a song by Sony artist Chris Brown.

This is a great tool for companies and marketers who want to track their viral content, such as songs and videos.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 23, 2009

How To Pimp Your YouTube Channel and Other Miscellaneous Advice

This may seem like shameless self-promotion, but if you read all the way to the bottom of this post, you'll benefit in ways that you wouldn't imagine. Besides, I figure that you'd want to know how to pimp your YouTube channel and get other miscellaneous advice. I could always blog about this topic, but the details have just been dished out in three videos and a podcast.

Let's start with the interview that Mike McDonald of WebProNews did with me at SES San Jose 2009. (Actually, the video starts by itself, but don't let that throw you.) The video is entitled, Finding Marketing Value in YouTube.

With people being increasingly drawn to video content, everyone is trying to capitalize on video sharing sites such as YouTube. I told McDonald, however, there is one problem: it isn't always easy.

YouTube is known for funny videos of cats or children. While these videos may go viral, they will likely only produce a one-time audience. In other words, these kids and cats may not to do the same thing again, which means there would be no reason for viewers to return to that channel for more content.

To be successful on YouTube, users cannot simply upload a single video. Statistics show that in an average minute, 24 hours of video has been uploaded to YouTube. As a result of this large amount of competition, I tell McDonald that users should create a series of "compelling content" in order to bring viewers back continually.

Users have to have a reason for wanting to come back to a particular YouTube channel and it is up to the content providers to produce that desire. Is your YouTube channel creating that appeal?

Now, I should provide equal time for other views.

Over at ReelSEO, Mark R Robertson interviewed me at SES San Jose 2009 about Leveraging the Power of YouTube for Search Marketing. I told him, "One of the most important trends in search is YouTube. It is the second most popular search engine on the planet."

But I suggested a two-pronged approach:

1. Optimize your video so that it can be found in searches 2. Involve yourself in the community, which helps breed the sharing aspects of YouTube.

I then told a story about Monty Python. I interviewed Monty Python's producer about their YouTube efforts. The producer originally just went looking for a way to help keep pirated copies of Monty Python's work from being uploaded all over the place. So they created their own channel and began posting their work themselves -- in a higher quality.

As an afterthought, they put a click-to-buy link at the bottom of the video so that users could click and be taken straight to Amazon to purchase DVDs. A funny thing happened when they did that: sales went up a staggering 23,000%.

The point of the story, obviously, is that although YouTube is not thought of as a direct-response marketing platform, as it continues to evolve, it's turning into a direct-response marketing solution faster than people may realize.

But wait! There's more! Check out the YouTube video below. Mike Grehan, Senior Vice President of content for Search Engine Watch, ClickZ, and Search Engine Strategies, says my new book "won't help you find the answer to life, the universe and everthing in it, but I guarantee it will help you get your videos found on YouTube, Google and other sites. So, read this book. It will change your life. You'll become more wealthy, more attractive to the opposite sex."

Mike Grehan, SVP for SEW, ClickZ and SES on YouTube Marketing: An Hour A Day

If you find this hard to believe, then check out the podcast on DishyMix.

This all started when Susan Bratton saw me dashing through the San Francisco Airport, with a new copy of my book, "YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour A Day."

Bratton says, it "is another one of those Wiley tomes that plunges all the way to detail hell on every aspect of using web video for marketing. This book is a must-read that will get you up to date on the constant changes YouTube is putting into place so marketers and Google can milk this phenomenon for everything it's worth."

The random encounter at SFO got me invited on DishyMix, where Bratton has just posted her interview of me. It's entitled, Episode 117: Greg Jarboe: Pimp My YouTube Channel, 6-Steps to SEO PR and Roosevelt's Arena.

According to Bratton, "Start making video and let Greg tell you how to produce it, research the keywords and optimize your video so you can get found, watched and loved."

She adds, "And in case you still want to get those press releases out there, Greg gives us his updated, freshly reformulated 6-Step Process for Optimizing Press Releases for the News Services."

If you like those DishyMix episodes where the guest delivers how-to advice in painstaking detail, then this is the show is for you. According to DishyMix, it is "packed with great tips, insider short cuts and a level set on the world of online video marketing, banana-milkshake fueled Jarboe works his buns off for you."

I know, I know, even I would take these comments with a grain of salt.

So, if McDonald's video, Robertson's video, Grehan's video and Bratton's podcast still don't provide you with enough details about video optimization, then you have options.

You can attend today's Online Publicity Workshop at Market Motive. It starts at noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific and is entitled, YouTube & Video Marketing.

No, this isn't duplicate content. I will explore the world of online video, including what it takes to be successful and how to use some of the lesser known tools to prepare and track an online video marketing campaign.

Or, can also attend SES Chicago 2009. On Day 1, Monday, Dec. 7, I'll be speaking at a session entitled, "YouTube & Video Optimization."

Online video marketing is crucial in today's marketplace. More than 158 million Americans watched an average of 8.3 hours of online video during July 2009. That's more viewers than the 151.6 million Americans who watched Super Bowl XLIII, which reached the largest television audience in U.S. history.

My solo presentation will provide you "with proven, practical guidelines for developing and implementing video marketing for your organization." At least, that's what the SES Chicago website says.

And if you register by this Friday, Sept. 25, you can save up to $600 with the Early Bird Rate. See, it does pay to read all the way to the bottom of these posts.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

August 25, 2009

YouTube to Monetize Individual Viral Videos (Maybe, If They Want To)

One of the questions asked during the JK Wedding Dance phenomenon was why the owners of the video did not get paid. After all, YouTube, Sony and Chris Brown (artist behind the song) benefited monetarily in a way that they would not have had the video not been made.

Now, YouTube is answering that question. Future JK's can get paid. Maybe. It's all part of an expansion of YouTube's Partner Program. In a post on the YouTube biz blog announcing the expansion, Shenaz Zack, Product Manager wrote:

Now, when you upload a video to YouTube that accumulates lots of views, we may invite you to monetize that video and start earning revenue from it.

How will they decide who they may or may not invite?

To determine whether a particular video is eligible for monetization, we look at factors like the number of views, the video's virality and compliance with the YouTube Terms of Service.

Looking into my crystal ball, I can see Tweets, Facebook updates and blog posts of people wondering why *they're* video was not invited to be monetized while some other dude's video was chosen and they're so similar!

Actually, I can see why JK would not receive an invitation. They illegally used a copywritten song! GASP!

If you still hope to be monetized for your forthcoming YouTube fame, you gotta sign up for the YouTube Partner Program. You'll get paid through your Google AdSense account (which you can sign up for if you don't have one).

Got an opinion about the Partner Program expansion? Leave a comment below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 3:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 21, 2009

YouTube App for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 Adds More Languages

YouTube has added five languages to its application for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 phones. The new languages are:

• Brazilian Portuguese
• Polish
• Russian
• Swedish
• Czech

This brings the total languages supported by the YouTube mobile application to 12. The other 7 are US English, French, UK English, Italian, Spanish, German, and Dutch.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

August 17, 2009

6 Google Updates: AdSense, Street View, Reader and More

Got a case of the Mondays? Here are 6 Google updates to keep your mind curious through the 3pm slump.

Google Maps has added Picasa photos to Street View.

Google AdSense is conducting email interviews to get a better sense of what publishers want.

Also, AdSense has launched a Category Filter beta for English-languages feed ads.

YouTube recently ran a 1,024 recipe multivariate experiment and lived to tell about it.

Google Reader has introduced new Sharing options, including the ability to share with Facebook and Twitter.

Google Books has added Creative Commons options for its partners.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 16, 2009

A Chat with Michael Fischer of Coldwell Banker Real Estate

I have seen the future of YouTube, and it works!

Last week, I had "A Chat with Michael Fischer" at the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum in San Jose. Fischer is the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

We talked about coldwellbanker's Channel on YouTube, which offers consumers a new way to search for and interact with real estate information and listings. Named Coldwell Banker On Location, the channel was created back in May.

On Location is the first branded YouTube channel to use dynamic IP lookup to search for videos, which automatically serves up local results when visitors first hit the site. To create On Location, Coldwell Banker Real Estate closely collaborated with both YouTube and Google to develop what is arguably one of the most comprehensive and immersive brand channels on YouTube.

And I'm kicking myself for not mentioning this YouTube channel in my book, YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day, which I finished writing in May. It's like visiting Boston in April 1912 and missing a trip to Fenway Park, which had just opened that month.

Two areas of strategic focus set Coldwell Banker On Location apart from other real estate Web sites. First, it showcases the power of video to bring real state more vividly to life -- offering behind-the-scenes looks at towns and neighborhoods, smart tips and timely news on real estate topics, and video listings of homes for sale. Second, content posted to On Location has a strong emphasis on local information and insights, so consumers can dig deeper into the areas of the country that interest them most.

Supporting this highly localized perspective is one of the more unique aspects of Coldwell Banker On Location -- the ability to search for videos through a special map feature that has been developed specifically for the site. The map "widget" is a prominent feature at the top of the On Location site and the main starting point for consumers searching for a home, a specific area of the country or more information on a real estate topic.

Visitors to the site are automatically shown video search results from their own area / zip code. Then by clicking the link "Browse By Map," consumers can enter the city / state or zip code of their choosing - which pulls up all videos posted to On Location associated with that area. These video results are displayed as icons on the map.

Each search returns a wide range of video results, including video listings, spotlights on that local community and Coldwell Banker sales associate/representative profiles. Consumers can click through to view specific videos - as well as connect back to the main Coldwell Banker Web site to learn more about a specific property for sale.

At the end of the session, I interviewed Fischer about some of the Coldwell Banker Real Estate agents who add their individual personalities to the YouTube video experience.

Michael Fisher of Coldwell Banker discusses Coldwell Banker's successful viral marketing campaigns

Some of the video and written content for On Location is supplied by a select group of content providers, including the Associated Press, CNN, Reel Productions TV, This Old House and TurnHere. Coldwell Banker On Location complements the company`s main Web site at www.coldwellbanker.com - including the "Learn" section which features educational content as well as news articles and updates on the real estate sector. It extends the company`s social media strategy, which includes Facebook pages for the brand and its two founders, Colbert Coldwell and Arthur Banker, a Twitter feed and profiles on Flickr and FriendFeed.

In addition to using YouTube as a platform, Coldwell Banker Real Estate is using Google's ad networks and channels to promote On Location. This includes both Google and YouTube search ads, YouTube banner promotions and Google TV.

Development of the On Location site was a collaborative effort by Coldwell Banker interactive agency partners, FD Kinesis and Bootstrap Software, Inc.

I am especially impressed that the the nation's oldest real estate organization is also the most innovative. Coldwell Banker Real Estate is not only thinking outside the box when it comes to YouTube, it is also thinking outside the website when it comes to video marketing.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

August 5, 2009

Audience for Online Video-Sharing Sites Has Nearly Doubled

According to a survey by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project conducted in April 2009, the share of online adults who watch videos on video-sharing sites has nearly doubled since 2006. Fully 62 percent of adult internet users have watched video on these sites, up from just 33 percent who reported this back in December 2006.

Online video has also become a bigger fixture in everyday life, garnering 19 percent of all internet users who use video-sharing sites to watch on a typical day in April 2009. This compares with just 8 percent of internet users reported use of the sites on a typical day in 2006.

The report is based on the findings of a daily tracking survey on Americans' use of the Internet. The results are based on data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research International between March 26 to April 19, 2009, among a sample of 2,253 adults, 18 and older.

According to Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist at the Pew Research Center, online video watching among young adults is near-universal; 89 percent of internet users ages 18-29 now say they watch content on video sharing sites, and 36 percent do so on a typical day.

While much of the content on video sharing sites is user-generated, there is also a growing archive of professional content available through YouTube and newer network-sponsored video portals like Hulu. Efforts to lure viewers to these portals appear to be paying off, as 35 percent of internet users now say they have viewed a television show or movie online. By comparison, just 16 percent of internet users said they had watched or downloaded movies or TV shows when asked a similar question in 2007.

I know, I know, I've just written a book entitled, "YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day." But just because I'm biased doesn't mean I'm wrong.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project found that the use of video sharing sites currently outranks many other headline-grabbing internet pastimes among American adults. For example, the 62 percent of adult internet users have watched a video on online video-sharing sites like YouTube is greater than the 46 percent of adult internet users are active on social networking sites, or the 11 percent who use status updating sites like Twitter.

So, think about that as you consider which sessions to attend at SES San Jose 2009. You can attend The Next Wave for Online Video, Extreme Makeover: Live Twitter & Blogging Clinic, or both sessions.

Or, you can attend the Social Media & Video Strategies Forum, the Local Search Summit, or both events.

Based on the latest data from the Pew Research Center, online video-sharing sites are among the topics that you'll want to be able to discuss intelligently. And if you really want to master this subject, check out the YouTube and Video Marketing Workshop on Friday, August 14.

Or, you could sign up for one of the other training workshops. I know all of the other instructors: Shari Thurow of Omni Marketing Interactive, Jennifer Evans Laycock of SiteLogic, Bill Hunt of Back Azimuth Consulting, Amanda Watlington of Searching for Profit, and Cindy Krum of Rank-Mobile, LLC. There are a lot of topics that will be on the test.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

July 30, 2009

YouTube, Sony, and Chris Brown Make Money Off 'JK Wedding Entrance' Video

A bright young couple decided to have a non-traditional beginning to their St. Paul wedding. The entire wedding party, bride and groom included, danced down the aisle of a church to "Forever" by beleaguered R&B singer Chris Brown. They put the video up on YouTube and it currently has received over 12 million views.

While watching the video, links pop up allowing users to buy the song from Amazon or iTunes. Many have done just that.

Google took to their Official Blog to tout this YouTube is touting this as proof YouTube does can indeed make money. Amazon and Apple are benefiting from links guiding people to buy the song. Sony and Chris Brown are making money from song purchases as well.

Everyone is making money except the couple. None of the above companies would have made this money without their content.

Anyone else see something wrong here?

Ironically, many times videos with unauthorized use of music simply get taken down here. I guess it's a good thing for the companies monetarily that this was allowed to stay up.

Hopefully the next step in the evolution of their education is to let content makers profit from their creations as well. After all, this entire money-making situation is nothing without it.

But that's just my opinion? What's yours? Share it below in the comments section.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

July 8, 2009

Is YouTube's Lack of Profitability a Myth? (And If So, Does Google Perpetuate It?)

The idea that YouTube makes no money for Google is widely held by many. Even yours truly falls for it entirely too often considering I know better.

Last year, at a local interactive meetup, Google employees informed attendees of how advertisers get those specialized YouTube channels. They have to fork over $200,000 in advertising on the Google content network.

Ok, so that doesn't monetize YouTube directly, but Google is likely looking at the big picture of profitability instead of the limited scope of siloed revenues.

Of course, that hasn't stopped Google from traipsing down the yellow brick road of direct monetization. They enjoy contracts with the big music companies and recently launched video ads, which is essentially the Sponsored Links of YouTube.

Over at TechDirt, Michael Masnick is contemplating the idea that Google enjoys the myth that YouTube doesn't make any money. It helps them get bigger contracts and avoid bigger copyright issues (than it already has).

Indeed, with the recent joining of YouTube accounts to Google accounts, it appears that Google doesn't necessarily need YouTube to be a huge cash generator. The integration of Google products across the board is done so slowly, it irritates early adapters, but it quite possibly means a greater number of adapters over time.

All of this is pure speculation for industry observers. Only Google knows. Actually, probably only select Googlers know. But it's fun to speculate.

What are your speculations? Do share in the comments, won't you? (Bats eyes, says "Pretty please."

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

YouTube Biz Blog Touts Social Media and Video Strategies Forum

How cool is this? On Monday, I posted "Social Media & Video Strategies To Be Held With SES San Jose:. It broke the news that ClickZ, YouTube and Google will be holding an event on August 11, 2009, in conjunction with SES San Jose 2009.

Then on Tuesday, the YouTube Biz Blog posted "Join Us at the SES Social Media & Video Strategies Forum." Kristin Kovner, the Industry Marketing Manager at YouTube, said, "We're excited to be a part of this first-time ever event. SES is one of the best places for businesses to learn about search; now that YouTube has millions of searches each day, it's only fitting that ClickZ and SES are expanding the agenda to include a full day dedicated to video and social media."

Just as importantly, the YouTube Biz Blog embedded the featured video on the SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube. Views of the video, which was uploaded four months ago, shot up immediately. You can see the video for youself below.

Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo

This illustrates the link between search and social media that I mentioned on Monday and Mike Grehan writes about in his cover story in the latest issue of SES Magazine.

Additional evidence can be found in research conducted by TubeMogul entitled "How do people discover videos online?" Here's the gist of what they found:

-- 45% of all videos are found on a video site, i.e. going to YouTube and doing a search or clicking around featured and related videos. -- 44% of all videos are found embedded in blogs. -- 6% of all videos are found with search engines, like Google. -- 2% of all videos are found in social networks, like Facebook. -- 2% of all videos found in social bookmarking sites. -- Less than 1% of all videos are found with video search engines, like Google Video.

So, optimizating the title, description and tags of your YouTube video is half of the success formula. But the other half is engaging what Google calls "the buzzing blogger community."

I mentioned this a year ago at SES San Jose 2008 during a video interview with Liana Evans, who was then with KeyRelevance and is now with Serengeti Communications. Looking at it again a year later, I wouldn't change a word. (And I can't anyway.)

VSEO - Video Search Engine Optimization - with Greg Jarboe at SES San Jose 2008

So, stay tuned. Because this year's events -- as you can see in the SES San Jose 2009 agenda and the Social Media and Video Strategies agenda -- are likely to demonstrate the link between search and social big time.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

July 1, 2009

YouTube Launches Call-to-Action Overlay

YouTube is now allowing advertisers to incorporate a "Call-to-Action overlay" on their videos. With the overlay, advertisers can drive traffic to their sites where they can make purchases, sign up for email newsletters or whichever action an advertiser wishes.

The Call-to-Action overlays are available for Promoted Videos only. Promoted Videos, you may remember, are essentially the paid search of YouTube. They were once called Sponsored Videos, similar to paid search listings called Sponsored Listings.

In order to set up the overlay:

1. Set up your Promoted Video campaign like you normally would in YouTube 2. Under My Videos, go to the Video Details page 3. Fill out the fields for the Call-to-Action overlay section

You're all set. Once the campaign is in full swing, you can check YouTube Insight to see how many people are clicking on the Call-to-Action overlay.

What do you think of this new option for YouTube advertisers? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 26, 2009

YouTube Gives New Look to Channels, Launches Trailers Page, and Sees Mobile Upload Increases

There's a bunch of news coming from YouTube in the past couple of days. First up, they're giving channels a makeover. Users can switch their channels over on their own now, but by July 15th all channels will be switched to the new look.

The University of Phoenix has already taken advantage of the new look. Check out their new channel design (click on the image for a larger view or visit the page here.)

The YouTube blog has nearly 50,000 comments on the matter and many of them are a variation of this:

It looks like YouTube may be facing Facebook's problems when it comes to changing things up. No sign yet from YouTube that they'll go back to the old channels.

Next up in YouTube news has launched a page for movie trailers.

I finally got a chance to see the trailer for The Time Traveler's Wife, which opens in August:

Last but absolutely not least, YouTube is seeing an increase in mobile uploads of videos. In the past six months, mobile uploads have increased by 1700%. Since just last Friday, the day of the iPhone 3G S release - the first iPhone with video, mobile uploads have increased by a whopping 400%.

What do you think of this YouTube news? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

June 24, 2009

YouTube Gets a Slew of Updates Including Wonder Wheel, Improved Advanced Search

YouTube recently released a bunch of updates across the popular online video sharing site. Here they are:

Wonder Wheel - You may remember that Google added Wonder Wheel to search back in March. Now, for certain searches on YouTube, check the right hand side for the Wonder Wheel link. Here's what happens when you click on it for "keyboard cat"

Improved Advanced Search - YouTube says they've made advanced search easier to use, highlighting all the options available to searchers.

Upload Progress Bar Remaining Time - Users will get an estimation of how much time is left on the upload based on file size and internet bandwidth.

Download mp4s of Your Own Videos - This is especially helpful if you've lost your videos saved on your hard drive for whatever reason.

TV-Like Experience - When you're in full screen, the player controls are hidden so you can watch videos without distraction.

Mobile App Expanded to Six Languages - They are: French, UK English, Italian, Spanish, German and Dutch

What do you think of these YouTube updates? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 4, 2009

152 Million U.S. Internet Users Watched 16.8 Billion Online Videos in April

comScore has just released April 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, which shows that nearly 152 million U.S. Internet users watched 16.8 billion online videos during the month, representing an increase of 16 percent over March. This means 78.6 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in April, and the average online video viewer watched 385 minutes of video, or 6.4 hours.

According to a press release, "A significant increase in video viewing at YouTube during April contributed to the month's sizeable gains."

107.1 million viewers watched 6.8 billion videos on YouTube.com -- which is 63.5 videos per viewer. By comparison, 49 million viewers watched 387 million videos on MySpace.com -- which is 7.9 videos per viewer. About 45.4 million viewers watched 355.2 million videos on Yahoo! Sites -- which is 7.8 videos per viewer. And 40.1 million viewers watched almost 397 million videos on Hulu -- which is an average of 9.9 videos per viewer.

In other words, YouTube not only has an audience that is more than twice as large, this audience also watches six to eight times more videos per month.

At SES London 2009, I interviewed Li Evans about online video. She was with KeyRelevance back then, but is now the Director of Social Media at Serengeti Communications. Li talked about how putting your brand out via YouTube is becoming a new marketing channel for companies.

Li will also be one of the panelists at SES Toronto next week in the session "Optimizing for Video Search: Virgin Territory?" The other panelists will be Gregory Markel, Founder/President, Infuse Creative, LLC, and Amanda Watlington, Owner, Searching for Profit.

Liana Evans, KeyRelevance, on video branding strategy at SES London

The moderator of the "Optimizing for Video Search: Virgin Territory?" session will be Mona Elesseily, Director of Marketing Strategy, Page Zero Media. If you go to SES Toronto, remember to compliment Mona for having, "Nice shoes." I forgot at one conference and paid dearly for my oversight.

Mona Elesseily of Page Zero Media and Greg Jarboe of SEO-PR compare their "nice shoes" at SES New York.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

June 3, 2009

YouTube Optimizes for Large Screen Viewing

If you like watching YouTube videos in full screen or on your TV, you now have a new option: YouTube XL. Like finally admitting you need to go up a size in your wardrobe, YouTube XL is a good fit for larger screens.

The text is larger. There's a dark background. If you look at it from your desktop, you'll think YouTube was inspired by a phone with large buttons - you know the one your grandma has sitting in her living room. (This wouldn't be a bad idea, of course. As we know, granny is all up in the YouTube.)

You can still search as well as view by top rated or most viewed. There's also a continuous play mode where you can just keep streaming vids in a given topic. Some of you, depending on your set up, will even be able to control your YouTube XL via Bluetooth remote control or mobile apps.

Check out YouTube XL and then let us know your first impressions in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

May 21, 2009

YouTube Insight Now Downloadable, Plus Google Analytics for Brand Channels

Google has a couple of new releases for analytics features on YouTube. First up is the ability to download Insight from YouTube. Insight was initially launched last October and provides data on which parts of a video are most popular among viewers, how viewers discovered videos, geographic information, and when videos were most watched.

Next up is a bigger release. Google Analytics is now available for Brand Channels on YouTube. Brand Channels are YouTube channels for Google advertisers and they're usually more fancy and have more features. From what I understand, advertisers are usually shelling upwards of $200,000 of advertising on Google in order to get the Brand Channel. It's only fitting that they now have Analytics to track their video efforts.

Unlike Insight, Google Analytics for Brand Channels will provide full reporting as if the channel was their own full-fledged site. Brand Channel clients will be able to access such data points as

• How long visitors stay
• Repeat visits
• Bounce rate
• Page views per visitor

Additionally, geographic location and language will be able to be used to target specific audiences.

Perhaps these analytics features will help YouTube in the monetization department. If YouTube members with large and small marketing budgets are armed with better data on how to reach audiences on YouTube, they may be more likely to spend money on advertising on the site. This has been the greatest challenge YouTube has faced and perhaps arming people with data will provide momentum in YouTube advertising.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 7, 2009

Google and YouTube Accounts are Now Linked

When you sign up for a Google account, you get access to a account-level features on a bunch of products through a singular login. That hasn't included YouTube, until this week.

Now, new YouTube signups will be automatic Google accounts. Existing users can link their YouTube accounts to their Google accounts.

If you're an existing user, you don't have to get or link your Google account now, but in the future, features may be rolled out that require it.

Related Reading: New Version of Android Includes YouTube, Picasa Uploads YouTube Offers Movies and Shows; Signs Sony, CBS and More YouTube and Universal to Partner for New Music Site, VEVO

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 17, 2009

YouTube Offers Movies and Shows; Signs Sony, CBS and More

YouTube has signed deals with Sony Pictures, CBS (parent company of CNET News), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Lionsgate, Starz, and the BBC. The deal is part of a new offering on the site for US users.

There's a new channel for this content. Simply go to YouTube and look for the new "Shows" tab in the navigational menu. If you're logged in, you'll notice another new tab for "Subscriptions."

The "Subscriptions" tab will be rolled out internationally in the coming weeks.

Related Reading: YouTube and Universal to Partner for New Music Site, VEVO YouTube Click-to-Buy Expands to Eight Additional Countries YouTube Changes the Names of Some Features

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 10, 2009

YouTube and Universal to Partner for New Music Site, VEVO

Apparently, if you want to start an online video site, you must come up with a name that is two syllables and heavy on the vowels. Cases in point:

• YouTube
• Veoh
• Hulu

Soon, there will be one more to add to the list: VEVO. The site is a partnership between YouTube and Universal Music Group to feature the record company's video content.

It was just last December that Universal was part of talks with other music companies to form a Hulu-like site for music videos. It seems that YouTube stepped in and was able to at least stave off one of the big guys from starting the thing.

Related Reading: Veoh Gets Another Victory in Copyright Case Brought by Universal Viacom and NBC Take Note: Universal Music (and Others) are Making Tens of Million$ on YouTube

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 9, 2009

YouTube Click-to-Buy Expands to Eight Additional Countries

Last October, YouTube launched Click-to-Buy which is an attempt to monetize the popular online video site. The program allows advertisers to offer a simple and direct way to sell their products featured via video.

The program opened initially just to the U.S. and the U.K. In January, it was expanded to Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. Now, 8 more countries are being offered Click-To-Buy. They are:

• Australia
• Canada
• France
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• New Zealand
• Sweden

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 2, 2009

Matthew Liu Discusses YouTube Insight and Sponsored Videos

At SES New York last week, one of the speakers at the conference session, "Video Search Engine Optimization: 2009 & Beyond," was Matthew Liu, the the lead product manager on YouTube Sponsored Videos. You may remember him from such hits as the "YouTube Sponsored Videos Overview."

Well, enough about the past. Liu spoke about some of YouTube's newest applications, including YouTube Insight and YouTube Sponsored Videos, at SES New York. For example, he discussed how Insight, an analytics tool, allows users and advertisers to learn more about their videos and how much traffic they are receiving.

Liu also discussed how you can use Sponsored Videos to promote your videos on YouTube. He said Sponsored Videos is like "AdWords" for Youtube.

And just like Matt Cutts of Google, who always draws a crowd after he speaks at a session, Liu also drew a crowd after he spoke last week. Check out the video interview below.

YouTube Product Manager Matthew Liu on YouTube's Insight and Sponsored Videos

As the lead product manager on YouTube Sponsored Videos, Liu focuses on building an advertising platform that allows video creators -- from the everyday user to a Fortune 500 advertiser -- to reach people who are interested in their content, products, or services, with relevant videos. Previously, Liu led numerous other projects at YouTube for advertising, content partnerships and rights management, and community engagement.

Liu has a MS in Management Science & Engineering and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 28, 2009

NYC Public Relations Firms: Give PR Jobs to CCNY Students

If top NYC public relations firms are smart, they'll give PR jobs or paid internships to The City College of New York (CCNY) students that I met last week. Why? Because most of these kids know something that most of us don't and it is crucial to our survival as an industry.

Let me explain.

I played reverse hooky last Wednesday afternoon. I attended school when I didn't have to.

Professor Philip Ryan invited me to visit his Introduction to Public Relations class at CCNY. He was covering Chapter 13 of Public Relations Strategies and Tactics, (9th Edition) by Dennis L. Wilcox of San Jose State University and Glen T. Cameron of University of Missouri. Published by Allyn & Bacon in February 2008, Chapter 13 is entitled, "New Technologies in Public Relations."

But, as one of the students in Professor Ryan's class pointed out, "There's nothing in our textbook about SEO PR."

So, I asked for a show of hands. "How many of you use Facebook?" Virturally everyone did. "How many of you use YouTube?" Nearly everyone did. "How many of you use Twitter?" Almost everyone did.

So, I observed, "Well, SEO-PR was founded 2003, Facebook in 2004, YouTube in 2005, and Twitter in 2006. So, just because these new technologies aren't covered in your textbook doesn't mean they aren't fundamentally changing public relations as we know it. I'm speaking at Search Engine Strategies New York this week and these new technologies are all on the agenda along with social media and blogging."

Another student observed, "When I Googled the term 'SEO' you weren't ranked #1."

I replied, "Well, that's not one of my target terms. Now, if you Google the term 'SEO PR', you'll see my firm is ranked #1."

The student countered, "But that's the name of your company."

And I responded, "The term 'SEO PR' gets about 320 searches a month. Not bad for a keyword that didn't exist in 2003. But, if you Google 'blog outreach', you'll also see my firm is currently ranked #1. How many of you think blog outreach is an important part of media relations services, especially with 900,000 blog posts every day?"

Then, I added, "Besides, what I really want you to do is conduct a query at Google News for the term 'Online Marketing Summit' and find the optimized press release that we distributed yesterday for ClickZ."

I think that's when they started cutting me a little slack.

Then, Professor Ryan asked, "How is contextual marketing changing public relations as we know it?"

I explained, "Contextual advertising is targeted to a Web page based on the page's content. This means there is the opportunity to create editorial content targeted at the contextual advertising that you want to attract to your news blog or YouTube channel."

Yes, these were tough questions from sophisticated students and their professor.

Which means these CCNY students are exactly the kind of people that NYC public relations firms need to hire if they are going to survive short-term or thrive long-term.

Yes, they are still acquiring the skill of writing a press release. But they already understand that an optimized press release can get a high ranking in news search engines.

Yes, they are still becoming acquainted with the fundamentals of persuasion and communications theory. But they have already mastered how to make friends on Facebook.

Yes, they are still beginning to recognize how PR relates to other fields of marketing. But they're already familiar with how to upload YouTube videos.

Yes, they are still learning the key ethical issues affecting the practice of PR. But they've developed an appreciation for the acceptable use ofand unacceptable abuse of Twitter.

Unfortunately, most NYC public relations firms won't give PR jobs or even paid internships to these CCNY students?

Why? Short term, the recession is the primary excuse. But even if there is an opening, most of the job descriptions in the public relations industry were written back in the 20th Century. So, these square pegs won't fit into the round holes.

For example, is your HR department trying to hire an entry level public relations specialist? Does the job description read: "Prepares and disseminates information regarding an organization through newspapers, periodicals, television and radio and other forms of media. May require a bachelor's degree in a related area and 0-2 years of experience in the field or in a related area. Has knowledge of commonly-used concepts, practices, and procedures within a particular field. Relies on instructions and pre-established guidelines to perform the functions of the job. Primary job functions do not typically require exercising independent judgment. Works under immediate supervision; typically reports to a supervisor or manager."

So, don't blame your HR department if they aren't looking for someone who can prepare and optimize information regarding an organization through news search engines, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

And who is at fault if someone who doesn't have a bachelor's degree gets filtered out during the screening process even through they could have brought knowledge of new concepts, practices and procedures to the table?

And ask yourself, honestly, do you want someone who relies on instructions and pre-established guidelines to perform the ever-changing fuctions of the job? Or do you really need someone who doesn't typically exercise independent judgment in an emerging field that didn't exist when you went to college?

In other words, are you giving PR jobs to the people you will need in 2009 and the decade after this? Or, is your HR department rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic?

Now, if I were you, I'd find a way to play reverse hooky at CCNY.

Other "guests" to Professor Ryan's class have included Garrett Glaser, a corporate communications consultant and former reporter for CNBC, and Rena L. Lewis, the Director of Brand Management, Industries & Marketing, at KPMG, and will include David Grant, President of LVM Group.

And television journalism icon Dan Rather will deliver the Spring 2009 Samuel Rudin Distinguished Visiting Scholars Lecture at The City College of New York on Thursday, April 2. Mr. Rather, who was anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News from 1981 to 2005, will speak about "Democracy and the 24-Hour News Cycle."

This kind of "higher education" doesn't fit on the normal resume.

That's why it's time to overhaul the job screening process at most NYC public relations firms to ensure that you're giving PR jobs to CCNY students and others like them who are crucial to the survival of the public relations industry.

But, hey, what do I know? I'm not even mentioned in the college textbooks.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

March 26, 2009

YouTube Changes the Names of Some Features

YouTube has announced a name change for some of the features on its site. They are as follows:

• Spotlight Videos - These are videos that YouTube are entertaining or educational for the masses, so they highlight them.
• Promoted Videos - Originally called "Sponsored Videos," these are the paid video ads - like paid search but for YouTube and with videos.
• Featured Videos - These videos have gained popularity among YouTube's users and therefore get prominent attention on the largest online video site in the world.

What do you think of the name changes? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 20, 2009

Google Launches YouTube App for Windows Mobile and Nokia S60 Phones

When the iPhone launched in the summer of 2007 (and a year before the iPhone app store was launched), one of the highlights was that it came standard with a YouTube application. Then, of course, when T-Mobile made the Android-powered G1 available, YouTube was accessible by those mobile users as well. Now, more users of even more phones are getting the ability to experience a YouTube application.

Phones using the Windows Mobile operating system can now download the YouTube mobile app. Additionally, phones in the Nokia S60 series can get the app. A list of the included phones can be found here.

Here's what else to expect, per the Official Google blog:

• Speed: Faster application start-up, searching, and video loading. For even quicker access, add the application icon to your phone's home screen.
• Video quality: The application automatically detects your device and network capabilities, and selects the highest available stream quality based on those. Videos will look sharper and sound clearer than ever.
• WiFi: Improved streaming over WiFi to support a wider range of networks.
• More robust streaming: Improved buffering ensures that videos will play even in weak coverage areas.
• Easy video viewing: Once installed, no configuration is required outside of the application. We've worked really hard to make video playback "just work".

Here's a video showing off the YouTube app:

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 3:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Super Bowl Ad Creates Spike in Activity at Hulu in February

Okay, so maybe Super Bowl ads still work.

Hulu saw a significant spike in activity after it aired an ad during this year's Super Bowl, "which both ignited the site's popularity and highlighted the growing mainstream appeal of online video," Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix.

Hulu, the online video joint venture of NBC Universal and News Corp, surged 55% to 7.8 million unique visitors in February, driven in large part by its TV ad campaign starring Alec Baldwin. This growth helped Hulu secure the #2 spot in comScore's Top-Gaining Properties ranking this month. For figures on video viewing at Hulu, including videos viewed in its syndicated network of sites, check out the most recent comScore Video Metrix ranking in the press release entitled, "YouTube Surpasses 100 Million U.S. Viewers for the First Time."

Although Hulu may be celebrating its 7.8 million unique visitors in February, YouTube had 100.9 million viewers that month.

And, to put this in context, 95.4 million people watched the Pittsburgh Steelers' dramatic win over the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII -- the second-most-watched Super Bowl broadcast ever and the third-most-watched broadcast in U.S. television history.

Meanwhile, the average YouTube viewer watched 62.6 videos in February. And the duration of the average online video was 3.5 minutes. If you do the math, that's 219.1 minutes -- or more than 3.6 hours of viewing.

That's as long as the Super Bowl itself -- including the half-time show!

So, yes, Hulu is growing quickly. And the fact that the Super Bowl was broadcast on NBC may not have helped Hulu get the "friends and family" ad rate -- which was $3 million for 30 seconds of fame. Oh, and Hulu's commercials were 60-seconds long.

Hulu's Superbowl Commercial - 60sec

Hmmm. Do you think this explains why Hulu's Superbowl Commercial is also posted on HuluDotCom's Channel on YouTube?

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 19, 2009

Google Adds YouTube Feature to Gmail Labs

When you get a link to a YouTube video to your Gmail account, wouldn't it be nice to view the video right then and there without opening a new tab or window? You're not the only one who thinks so. A new Gmail Labs feature enables just that.

Turn on the new feature by clicking on "Settings" in the top right corner of your Gmail page. Then look for "Labs." Previews for Picasa, Flickr and Yelp have been added as well.

Related Reading: Gmail Offers Extra Level of Protection for Late Night and Weekend Emails Google Returns Search Web Option To Gmail

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 17, 2009

YouTube Dominates Online Video Market on Both Sides of Pond

Two weeks ago, I reported that YouTube had surpassed 100 million U.S. viewers for the first time. According to comScore Video Metrix, 100.9 million viewers watched 6.3 billion videos on YouTube.com in January 2009 -- an average of 62.6 videos per viewer.

Today, comScore reported that 23.5 million U.K. viewers watched over 2 billion videos on YouTube.com in January 2009 -- an average of 86 videos per viewer. And 1.1 million U.K. mobile phone subscribers visited YouTube.com that month.

During SES London 2009 last month, I interviewed Li Evans of Key Relevance about new wave in video.

Li talked about how putting your brand out via YouTube is becoming a new marketing channel for companies. She said that if you are a company looking to get your videos out for branding and marketing purposes, you have to make sure everything is congruent across all marketing channels, including avatars, banners, or overlays on the videos. Li recommended some additional tips and strategies for companies looking to create brand effectively through video. Check out the video interview below.

Liana Evans, KeyRelevance, on video branding strategy at SES London

Li and I will both be speaking next week at the "Video Search Engine Optimization: 2009 and Beyond" session at SES New York 2009. Jeff Ferguson, a member of the SES Advisory Board and the Director of Online Marketing for Napster will be moderating the panel, which also includes Gregory Markel, the Founder and President of Infuse Creative, Henry Hall, the Senior Product Manager of Microsoft Live Search, and Matthew Liu, the Product Manager of YouTube Sponsored Videos.

This session will look at how video search engine optimization (VSEO) has become the most important new use of search engine optimization today. Although, YouTube isn't a video search engine; it doesn't crawl videos on your website. It describes itself as "the world's most popular online video community." I'd describe it as a video sharing site.

But whatever you call it, YouTube dominates the online video market on both sides of the pond.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

March 4, 2009

YouTube Surpasses 100 Million U.S. Viewers for the First Time?

This just handed me...according to an email from comScore about their press release distributed on PR Newswire and posted on their website, YouTube has just surpassed 100 million U.S. viewers for the first time. Ironically, there was no online video with the announcement.

Nevertheless, this is big news. According to the January 2009 data release today by the comScore Video Metrix service, more than 147 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 101 videos per viewer in January. This means 76.8% of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed 14.8 billion online videos during the month.

That's more people than watched Super Bowl XLIII on NBC!

According to comScore, the duration of the average online video was 3.5 minutes. This means that the average online video viewer watched 356 minutes of video in January -- approximately 6 hours a month.

That's more time than the Super Bowl pre-game, game and post-game coverage combined -- including the half-time show!

Leading the way was YouTube. You remember them. The video sharing site that Google acquired for $1.65 billion back in the fall of 2006.

100.9 million viewers watched 6.3 billion videos on YouTube.com in January -- 62.6 videos per viewer that month. That's makes YouTube the top U.S. video property. YouTube.com also accounted for more than 99% of the 6.4 billion videos viewed at Google Sites. This means the number of videos viewed at Google Video is now round off error.

And Yahoo! Video, which began as a video search engine, was launched in February 2008 with a new focus on Yahoo-hosted video only. In other words, it became a video sharing site -- like YouTube.

So, I think it's time to declare that video search engines are dead. They were killed by their siblings, video sharing sites. Even MySpace, which ranks second with 473 million videos viewed in January, is a video sharing site.

Since neither YouTube nor MySpace crawl the video on your website or blog, I think it is also time to declare that video search engine optimization is dead. You might still want to optimize your videos for YouTube, but if you don't upload them to YouTube, they will never be found in a YouTube search.

And YouTube search is just one of many ways that people discover videos on YouTube. I talked about this at SES London 2009 -- Li Evans of Key Relevance interviewed me about this surprising outcome afterwords. Check out the video interview below.

Greg Jarboe of SEO-PR discusses YouTube and Video Marketing

I plan to share this case study again at SES New York 2009 -- at the "Video Search Engine Optimization: 2009 and Beyond" session. Yes, this session will look at "how video search engine optimization (VSEO) has become the most important new use of search engine optimization today."

Hey, the description was written before the news was just handed to me. So, this should make for a pretty interesting discussion. Li is on the panel again, along with Gregory Markel, the Founder/President of Infuse Creative, Henry Hall, the Senior Product Manager of Microsoft Live Search, and Matthew Liu, the Product Manager of YouTube Sponsored Videos. The moderator is Jeff Ferguson, SES Advisory Board member and Director of Online Marketing at Napster.

Come early to get a front row seat. Or sit in the back or along the side of the room, near an electrical outlet, if you plan to live blog the session. Or, heck, just Tweet about it on your cell phone. The death of video search engines and video search engine optimization are going to be hot topics.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

February 27, 2009

The fourth estate is dead; long live the fourth estate

Back in May 2005, Linda Rutherford sent me an email with the subject line: "Demise of the fourth estate." Linda is now the Vice President of Communications and Strategic Outreach at Southwest Airlines, but she is a former a reporter for the Dallas Times Herald newspaper.

In her email, Linda wrote, "If you have a few moments, please take a look at this short video. It's an interesting short movie from the Museum of Media History predicting the demise of the fourth estate.

"The scenario is entertaining, a bit frightening and not too far-fetched.

"It hints at the monumental changes afoot in how consumers will learn about news and form opinions about brands.

"Thought given your role you would enjoy this creative prediction of what's to come."

Linda was right. The 8-minute video by Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson is a bit frightening. And the scenario it depicted was not too far fetched: "In the year 2014, The New York Times has gone offline. The Fourth Estate's fortunes have waned. What happened to the news?"

The same day that Linda sent her email, The New York Times Company announced a "targeted staff reduction program that will include approximately 190 employees at The New York Times and the New England Media Group, which includes The Boston Globe."

While the staff reduction represented less than 2% of the New York Times Company's total workforce back in 2005, the cuts didn't end there.

In its report on The State of the News Media 2006, the Project for Excellence in Journalism, asked, "Will we recall this as the year when journalism in print began to die?"

In December 2007, I wrote an article for Search Engine Watch entitled, "Blogs are the new trade press." I observed, "In many industries, the trade press has imploded." In our industry, I reported that online publications and group blogs generated close to 88 percent of the coverage of SES Chicago and PubCon. (The remaining 11 percent was - you guessed it - press releases.)

A year later, I reported on the battery of online video crews interviewing speakers between sessions at SES Chicago 2008. I also interviewed Abby Johnson of WebProNews about this trend. Abby is a pioneer in the field and has been producing videos for the WebProNews Video Blog for years.

Abby Johnson, WebProNews, discusses the top trends at SES Chicago

We're now halfway between 2004, the year that Museum of Media History made its predection, and 2014, the date when it predicted the demise of the fourth estate. So, I think it's time to declare: The fourth estate is dead; long live the fourth estate!"

Yes, print journalism continues to implode. The Rocky Mountain News, Colorado's oldest newspaper, is publishing its last edition today. The Chicago Tribune and LA Times have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Christian Science Monitor is going "all digital." US News & World Report is now published every other week. PC Magazine is going "all digital."

Even in my home town, The Boston Globe is cutting 50 jobs in its newsroom, fifth newsroom staff reduction since 2001. At its peak in 2000, the Globe newsroom had 552 full-time jobs. When the latest cuts are complete, there will be about 300 full-time newsroom and editorial employees, plus another 29 news employees at Boston.com.

At the same time that print media are imploding, blogs are exploding into a global phenomenon that has hit the mainstream. According to eMarketer, there were 22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12 percent of Internet users) and 94.1 million US blog readers (50 percent).

And comScore Video Metrix reports that Nearly 150 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 96 videos per viewer in December 2008, or a record 14.3 billion online videos during the month. This means 78.5 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in December. The duration of the average online video was 3.2 minutes. So, the average online video viewer watched 309 minutes of video, or more than 5 hours.

Now, this doesn't mean that all of the predictions in the Museum of Media History video turned out to be right. For example, it predicted that Google would acquire TiVo. It didn't. Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion instead.

Still, I predict that you'll be able to see the new fourth estate for yourself at SES New York 2009. There will be lots of bloggers and a bunch of videographers. And, who knows, we might even see a print reporter or two -- attending sessions like "Publishers & Agencies: New Business Models for Changing Times", "Video Search Engine Optimization: 2009 and Beyond" and "News Search SEO."

I'll be at all three of these sessions, so I'll let you know if my prediction comes true.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 26, 2009

YouTube Adds Help Center Video Submission; API Gets Recent Activity

YouTube is now accepting video submissions for its Help Center. Now, users can help others learn how to use YouTube. Simply go to a Help Center topical page (find one that's super specific) and look for the box on the right hand side where you can submit a video.

Here's a screenshot of the page for "Sign-up and Log-in Issues: Unsolicited 'Reset Password' email"

YouTube is also enabling "Recent Activity" to be accessed through the API. The "Recent Activity" info appears on YouTube channels and lets viewers know what users have been up to lately.

Related Reading: YouTube Launches Collaborative Annotations YouTube Tests Downloading; Offers Creative Commons YouTube Continues Online Video Dominance in December 2008

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

February 23, 2009

YouTube Launches Collaborative Annotations

Last year, YouTube enabled annotations, which lets users make little notes about their videos. Now, they're offering users the opportunity to open annotations up to their viewers for collaborative annotations.

To do so, go to the annotations editor under "My Videos" or on the page of your video that you want to allow the collaboration for. There will be a link that you can send out to people you wish to collaborate with.

If you don't like an annotation, you can delete it.

What do you think of collaborative annotations? Are you going to give it a try? Let us know in the comments.

Related Reading: YouTube Makes Annotations Easier YouTube Tests Downloading; Offers Creative Commons

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

February 13, 2009

Sony Re-Signs Contract With YouTube

Recently, the contracts that major recording labels have with YouTube have come up for renewal. But there was some speculation that the labels might not renew because they were no longer happy with the terms that YouTube was setting.

Now, at least one of those labels, Sony, has re-signed a contract with the popular online video site. The terms of the deal have not been released.

In the past, YouTube and the record labels have had an ad-sharing agreement. But after Warner pulled their vids from YouTube, news broke that the labels were negotiating to create a Hulu-like music video site.

Whether that happens or not, it appears there's still some value in keeping music videos on the most trafficked video site in the world.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

February 12, 2009

YouTube Tests Downloading; Offers Creative Commons

In the ongoing effort to monetize, YouTube is now testing letting partners offer downloadable videos. Partners can allow downloads for free or for pay via Google Checkout, which requires a fee.

Partners testing the free downloads are educational, including Stanford, Duke, UC Berkeley and UCTV. Partners testing the paid downloads include users khanacademy, householdhacker and pogobat.

Here's a screenshot of a video by householdhacker. Notice the download link below the bottom left corner of the video.

Done right, this could prove quite lucrative for YouTube. Assuming this eventually gets opened up to more partners/users, it could prove quite the competitor for iTunes. But Google is much more open than Apple and many more users would have an opportunity to pursue revenue streams via YouTube.

In fact, bundled with today's download announcement is news that YouTube is now offering Creative Commons licenses for those of you out there who "get it" and don't mind sharing your work.

Related Reading: YouTube Expands Click-to-Buy YouTube Rolls Out HD, Niche Landing Pages Google Can't Fix All of YouTube's Ad Problems with 'Project Spaghetti'

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 26, 2009

Taking It Back: YouTube Allows You to Delete Your Own Comments

Ever written something on the internet you wish you could take back? Well, now on YouTube, you can take it back.

YouTube is allowing users to delete their own comments. Of course, it's always prudent to take a moment (or 100) and be sure you really want to make that comment in the first place.

After all, there is still the Abuse & Safety Tool that people can use to report inappropriate comments. And that tool can be used before you've cooled down and reconsidered that comment made in the heat of the moment.

So, as always, comment wisely. But we all make mistakes, so, thank you YouTube, for giving us an eraser.

Related Reading: YouTube Expands Click-to-Buy The Curious Case of Music Disappearing from YouTube Videos YouTube Hosts First Video Contest for Pharma Brand Monetizing YouTube's Massiveness YouTube Analytics: Marketers Draw New Insights from Old Uploads

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 22, 2009

YouTube Expands Click-to-Buy

In the neverending quest to monetize YouTube, Google is expanding the popular online video site's Click-to-Buy e-Commerce platform. Previously available in just the U.S. and U.K., now user in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands can impulsively buy products featured in ads below videos.

The program was launched last October. It certainly wasn't YouTube's only attempt at monetizing itself. Sponsored videos were rolled out last year, and music label licensing agreements have been in place since before YouTube was acquired by Google.

Incidentally, those licensing agreements are in jeopardy, with Warner Music opting not to renew their contract and instead attempting to corral other music companies into starting their own Hulu-esque site for music videos.

Meanwhile, YouTube faces additional monetary challenges with various copyright suits, the most famous of which is brought by Viacom.

Still, YouTube is by far the most popular watched online video site. It reached a milestone 100 million unique visitors last October and has recently been giving Yahoo a run for its money when it comes to search market share.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 15, 2009

The Curious Case of Music Disappearing from YouTube Videos

Lately, many have noticed that copyrighted music has mysteriously been removed from user-submitted videos on YouTube. Now, YouTube is addressing the occurrences with a simple explanation.

Previously, when a video was faced with copyright issues, users could dispute the claim or select from a library of approved tunes. Now, users have a third option: simply removing the music.

Maybe silent films will make a comeback, because sometimes these copyright issues feel so archaic. The good news is that ditzy blond girls with bad voices can be stars again! Oh wait, we have Britney, Heidi and Paris. That trend never did go away, did it?

Related Reading: Judge Rejects Universal Music's Arguments in Another Veoh Copyright Case Dumb and Dumber: E!'s The Soup Blog Links to a YouTube Video Taken Down By E!

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

December 30, 2008

Dumb and Dumber: E!'s The Soup Blog Links to a YouTube Video Taken Down By E!

I'm a big fan of The Soup (Fridays, 11pm 10pm EST), an E! network clip show that makes fun of the entertainment industry. It's where I first learned that the camera-shy Amish were selling fireplaces that you can roll around the house (only 2 per household!). It's also where the whole Cameron Mathis' thong-no-wait-it's-a-tshirt scandal erupted.

So when I was reading The Soup blog featuring a YouTube video about the Amish fireplace (here's visual proof, click to enlarge)

and the copy below included a link about the Cameron Mathis situation, naturally, I clicked on it. Here's what I found:

In case you can't read that, it says: This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by E! Entertainment Television

That's right. E! linked to a YouTube video which it had YouTube take down because of its own copyright.

Give it up, E! YouTube had 100 million unique visitors in October. Don't you want people watching your network? Ok, at least The Soup?

Related Reading: YouTube Doesn't Change The Way We Think - It Matches the Way We Think Online Video Wins the 9-5 Hour, Weekdays

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

YouTube Doesn't Change The Way We Think - It Matches the Way We Think

Clive Thompson, over at Wired, and titling his post in the third person, is saying that YouTube is changing the way we think. Oh contraire.

It matches the way we already think.

It should be more common knowledge, that people learn and think in different ways. But years of "reading, writing, and arithmatic" has so many thinking that TV and video games rot your brain.

But they don't. So many of us learn, think, and communicate visually. Video provides us with the opportunity to truly express ourselves in ways that our brains have long desired.

One of the reasons my family chose to homeschool was the crude lack of technology in our school district. My son is very much a visual learner. Now, he uses YouTube as a search engine, since reading is such a struggle for him. He can watch news reports, DIY videos, and yes, he has his very own YouTube channel that he uses to communicate his thoughts on Mario, Bionicles, and Transformers to anyone interested in the matter.

That video is going mainstream and people are thinking visually is really not as far fetched as some want to believe. History has shown that people in ancient civilizations carved drawings as their first and instinctive form of communication.

If anything, it is written communication that changed mankind, and now we have a mix of the manners in which people think. The obviously great think about the internet as a whole is the ability to match so many different types of learning and communication.

Related Reading: YouTube Attracts 100 Million U.S. Online Video Viewers in October 2008 YouTube Rolls Out HD, Niche Landing Pages Online Video Wins the 9-5 Hour, Weekdays

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

December 23, 2008

Big Music Companies in Negotiations to Form Hulu-Like Site

The Music Companies versus YouTube debacle continues to unravel one bit at at time. Now, Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that Warner, Universal, Sony and others are in talks to create their own Hulu-like site for music videos.

The music labels are "only" making a max of $25,000 per month off of ad revenues from YouTube. But that's only half the story. The real money is made from a pay-per-play licensing deal.

To be making this kind of direct money off of music videos, which have only been used as a marketing tool up to this point, is a big shift in the music industry.

Universal makes tens of millions on YouTube and they expect to make even more next year. Overall, they expect to make $100 million next year from all of their agreements with various sites.

Since Hulu keeps NBC content on just two sites - Hulu and NBC.com, why would Universal want to restrict their offering to just one site?

Pulling from the world's largest online video site means less exposure to millions of people. YouTube had 100 million unique visitors in October. Those visitors are concert-goers and merchandise-buyers.

Another factor is how YouTube is no longer just a video streaming site, but a bonafied search engine. YouTube is starting to pass Yahoo in searches conducted. On an anecdotal note, my son conducts searches via YouTube frequently. He hates reading; watching video is a much easier way for him to learn.

Bailing on YouTube would be pulling an entire, effective marketing channel. So, here's my final warning to the music companies. The numbers speak for themselves.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

December 22, 2008

Warner Music Not as Thrilled As Universal, Says Goodbye to YouTube

After writing about how Universal Music is making tens of millions from YouTube this year, I was surprised to see Warner Music withdraw from YouTube.

Round up the usual suspect for the reasons why they've bailed: Warner Music wants more money from the advertising revenue being brought in.

Nevermind that YouTube has been struggling to monetize itself. Nevermind that the music industry is struggling since the fall of the cd and the rise of the mp3.

Nevermind the current crappy economy.

Warner wants more money. They didn't get it, so they bailed on the money they were getting. In a time where CEOs are begging Congress for money to stay afloat, this seems like a stupid move.

But with other licensing deals expiring soon, we may see this scenario repeated like a bad version of Groundhog day.

If companies want to abandon an online video site which is starting to generate more searches than Yahoo and saw a whopping 100 million visitors in October, fine. But they're shooting themselves in the foot, big time.

via Media Memo

Related Reading: YouTube Rolls Out HD, Niche Landing Pages Online Video Wins the 9-5 Hour, Weekdays YouTube Attracts 100 Million U.S. Online Video Viewers in October 2008

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 19, 2008

Viacom and NBC Take Note: Universal Music (and Others) are Making Tens of Million$ on YouTube

Instead of suing or shunning YouTube, Universal Music, the largest recording company in the U.S., is making tens of millions of dollars from music videos, according to CNET. They have a revenue-sharing agreement with YouTube for the ads the online video network has increasingly been displaying.

And it's working.

Universal's YouTube channel is the most-watched channel in YouTube history at 3 billion views, with artists like U2 and the Black Eyed Peas. In second place is Sony BMG, incidentally the second largest recording company, with 485 million views.

Next year, Universal is projected to make $100 million from online video streaming across several sites, including YouTube, MySpace, and MTV. The MTV one is ironic, since Universal claims they never made money via MTV (on TV) when the network actually played videos. Of course, the ROI isn't direct, so that's why MTV doesn't get the credit for its obvious place in music video history. But now, MTV's online site is helping to keep videos alive, with a more direct link to profits.

Big media companies such as Viacom, who is suing YouTube/Google, and NBC, which launched its own video streaming site, Hulu, earlier this year should take note: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Many experts have said that Viacom has no case, just an ill informed judge. That sentiment was backed up by a similar case against online video site Veoh, which was thrown out by a different judge in August.

Meanwhile, NBC's Hulu only saw 9 million unique viewers in November, compared to YouTube's 82 million. Hulu, of course, primarily streams what has already been on TV, not user-generated content. Still, I'm guessing if NBC had a Universal-like agreement with YouTube, they'd be making more dough.

Call me crazy, but I think the 500 workers getting the axe from NBC Universal would have appreciated a more open mind when it comes to these things.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

December 18, 2008

YouTube Rolls Out HD, Niche Landing Pages

YouTube has enabled HD viewing following the recent format change to a wider layout for videos. In case you're HD unaware, high def videos require a widescreen format for optimal viewing. That's why all the fancy pants LCD HD tvs are widescreen. YouTube was prepping for HD videos online with the format change.

Just click "watch in HD" under an HD-enabled video and it will automatically play in HD. You can also visit the new HD videos section to browse HD videos. If you need to prepare your videos for the new widescreen format, click here for the FAQ.

Another addition is new niche landing pages for YouTube. The new pages are for News (http://www.youtube.com/news), Music (http://www.youtube.com/music), and Movies (http://www.youtube.com/movies).

Related Reading: YouTube Attracts 100 Million U.S. Online Video Viewers in October 2008 Live from San Francisco, It's YouTube! YouTube Rolls Out Sponsored Videos YouTube Adds Search to Embeddable Videos

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

December 9, 2008

YouTube Attracts 100 Million U.S. Online Video Viewers in October 2008

The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC discusses some under reported "Holy Mackerel" stories each evening. Well, I'd like to share a "Holy Mackerel" story from SES Chicago 2008.

I'm one of the speakers at the Video Search Engine Optimization session on Wednesday, Dec. 10, from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m. And tonight, I did a double-check to see if there was any last-minute news about online video that I should be aware of before tomorrow's panel.

And I read this: "YouTube Attracts 100 Million U.S. Online Video Viewers in October 2008." Holy Mackerel!

Here are the details: According to comScore Video Metrix, more than 147 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 92 videos per viewer in October. Google Sites attracted a record 100 million online video viewers, or more than two out of every three Internet users who watched video during the month. This means that Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property with nearly 5.4 billion videos viewed, with YouTube.com accounting for more than 98% of all videos viewed at the property.

Specifically, 99.5 million viewers watched 5.3 billion videos on YouTube.com (53.2 videos per viewer).

But, YouTube isn't a video search engine. It is a video sharing site. Which means that YouTube doesn't crawl the videos on your website. You need to upload your videos to YouTube in order for them to be found when someone conducts a "YouTube Search."

Fortunately, I have a YouTube case study to present at tomorrow's session. It's a follow-on story that I shared at SES San Jose on a similar panel. Li Evans of KeyRelevance interviewed me after that session a couple of months ago. So, you can see that this "Holy Mackerel" story has been told before.

VSEO - Video Search Engine Optimization - with Greg Jarboe

Still, I can't tell you how many times people ask me how to optimize video for Google Video. Ummm. How do I say this? If YouTube is accounting for more than 98% of all videos viewed at Google Sites, then Google Video accounts for less than 2%. Right?

So, video search engine optimization appears to be round-off error. What is more important is optimizing video for YouTube. That's what I plan to talk about tomorrow. It may be a little surprising. But no more surprising than the latest data from comScore.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 19, 2008

Live from San Francisco, It's YouTube!

This Saturday, YouTube will be hosting its first ever live streaming event. The broadcast will feature a music and variety show being held at Fort Mason Center's Herbst Pavilion in San Francisco.

The event begins at 8pm EST and will feature Soulja Boy Tellam, Will.i.am, Tay Zonday of Chocolate Rain fame and a bunch of "talent" from the YouTube community.

Thankfully, Ask a Ninja will be there. He's one of my favorite YouTube sensations of all time.

Most importantly, there will be dance. But will it top Justin Timberlake as Beyonce's backup dancer on that other live variety show that airs on Saturdays last weekend? Me thinks not. (Dangit. NBC has still NOT posted that skit on Hulu.com. Really, NBC?)

Related Reading: YouTube Rolls Out Sponsored Videos YouTube Adds Search to Embeddable Videos Yellowbook and YouTube Enter Content Distribution Partnership

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

November 13, 2008

YouTube Rolls Out Sponsored Videos

Paid search has come to YouTube. Users can pay to have their videos appear in a right hand sidebar called "Sponsored Videos" in the results of desired search terms.

It works pretty much exactly like AdWords. You bid on terms, set daily limits, etc. You only pay when someone clicks to watch.

Check out YouTube's YouTube video for more details:

Related Reading: YouTube Adds Search to Embeddable Videos Yellowbook and YouTube Enter Content Distribution Partnership Link to a Point of Time Within a YouTube Video

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 6, 2008

YouTube Adds Search to Embeddable Videos

YouTube is adding search and 3 other features to embeddable videos. The search feature will appear at the end of videos that are embedded on other sites.

The other features are things you've seen if you visit YouTube's site but were not previously available for the embeds:

• High-quality start images (thumbnails)
• Integrated video annotations
• Integrated closed captions

Google says 44% of their users watch videos embedded on third party sites.

Related Reading: Link to a Point of Time Within a YouTube Video Yellowbook and YouTube Enter Content Distribution Partnership Beam me up, YouTube! YouTube, Now with Click-to-Buy

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 4, 2008

Yellowbook and YouTube Enter Content Distribution Partnership

Yellowbook's video advertisers will now be showcased on YouTube via a content partnership agreement between the two. This is indeed an interesting partnership as yellow pages publishers attempt to transition their business online and YouTube continues its attempt to bring home the bacon for Google.

“We're pleased to be the first internet yellow pages publisher to offer YouTube as a distribution channel for our video advertisers,” said Pat Marshall, chief new media officer for Yellowbook. “Video advertising on yellowbook.com and via YouTube distribution uniquely promotes Yellowbook's advertisers to more potential customers than ever before.”

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 27, 2008

Link to a Point of Time Within a YouTube Video

Major hat tip to TechCrunch for sharing with the world a way to link to a certain time point within a video on YouTube.

Take for example this video of a clip from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=p1d19wV1GZQ

If you wanted to share the link but have the video start 56 seconds in where the film cuts away from Ginger Rogers in the Senate Gallery to Jimmy Stewart's character speaking and barely standing as part of a filibuster, then you would simply add:

#t=0m56s

Those aren't random letters and numbers. Put the minute number before the letter 'm' and the seconds number before the letter 's' to direct people to the portion of the video you desire.

Now the link is

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=p1d19wV1GZQ#t=0m56s

Related Reading: YouTube Insight Now Shows Which Part of Videos are Hottest YouTube, Now with Click-to-Buy Beam me up, YouTube! YouTube to Launch New 'HotSpots' Feature

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

October 11, 2008

Beam me up, YouTube!

On Friday, the YouTube Blog announced that the video sharing site was starting to test full-length programming. Apparently, YouTubers have been asking "to be beamed up with Scotty, to devise a world-saving weapon using only gum and paperclips, and to get your grub on at 'The Peach Pit'."

Hey, I'm not making this up. Go to the YouTube Blog and read it yourself.

Through a deal with CBS, YouTube is now offering “Star Trek,” “MacGyver,” and “Beverly Hills, 90210” to the 91 million viewers in the U.S. who watch 5 billion videos a month (54.8 videos per viewer). Yes, yes, comScore Video Metrix reports there are another 19.7 million viewers in the U.K who watch 1.4 billion videos a month on YouTube.com (72.4 videos per viewer). But, I'm sorry, I can't find out how many there are in Canada.

Nevertheless, the YouTube Blog says, "These shows will be available in the new Theater View style we rolled out earlier this week, which provides optimal experience for watching full-length programming on your computer."

Yes, yes, but what does this mean to search engine marketers?

The YouTube Blog adds, "As we test this new format, we also want to ensure that our partners have more options when it comes to advertising on their full-length TV shows. You may see in-stream video ads (including pre-, mid- and post-rolls) embedded in some of these episodes; this advertising format will only appear on premium content where you are most comfortable seeing such ads."

Ah, ha! You knew there was a catch!

Still, in order to make it clear to viewers, YouTube has labeled all full-length videos with a Film Strip symbol so they'll know what kind of content they're choosing to watch and what type of ads they might see.

I can't wait to share this news with Matt Bailey, the founder of SiteLogic. My business partner, Jamie O'Donnell, talked with Matt about Trekkie lore and web analytics at SES San Jose 2008. Matt was the first to analyze "the Red Shirt Phenomenon." (As any die-hard Trekkie knows, if you are wearing a red shirt and beam down to the planet with Captain Kirk, you're gonna die.) But, check out the YouTube video below to hear Matt's analysis for yourself.

Measuring Web 2.0 with Star Trek - & SiteLogic's Matt Bailey

By the way, Matt Baily will be teaching one of the Search Engine Marketing Training Workshops at SES Chicago 2008. It's the Search & Analytics Workshop: Using Analytics to Increase Search Effectiveness, which will be held on Friday, Dec. 12, 2008.

To prepare you for Matt's workshop, here are some basic stats: The Enterprise had a crew of 430 during its five-year mission (although, the show was only on the air for 3 years). In the 80 episodes that were produced, 59 crewmembers were killed, which represents 13.7% of the crew. So, that's what Matt uses as the overall "conversion rate."

Heck, I can't explain it as well as he does. So, watch the video interview above -- read his article over on the ClickTracks site -- or prepare to be amazed during his workshop at SES Chicago.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 8, 2008

YouTube, Now with Click-to-Buy

YouTube has begun placing click-to-buy links beneath videos. This is the beginning of a greater plan to offer YouTube as an e-commerce platform to interested companies.

Amazon, iTunes, EMI Music and Electronic Arts are among the first to get a crack at the new feature, which is currently only available in the United States.

Memo to Viacom: Instead of suing Google and YouTube, which is costing you undoubtedly large sums of money in legal fees, you might try advertising on the wildly popular online video network instead.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 1, 2008

YouTube Insight Now Shows Which Part of Videos are Hottest

YouTube has introduced a new feature to its Insight analytics. The feature is called Hot Spots (not to be confused with Live Search's "hotspots") and it shows which part of a YouTube video are the most engaging.

YouTube says that the information can help users edit or annotate their videos in order to help audiences stay engaged.

Here's a screenshot of the new feature:

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 20, 2008

Has YouTube Passed Yahoo in expanded searches?

Back on July 20, 2008, I asked: "Is YouTube about to pass Yahoo in expanded searches?" Well, I've just had a chance to digest the latest data from comScore for August 2008 and its appears that YouTube has passed Yahoo -- if you look at "expanded" search queries instead of "core" search queries.

First, what's the difference between an expanded and a core search query? According to comScore, a "core" search query is one that occurs on "the five major search engines including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers."

If you expand the definition of a search query to include searches on YouTube, MapQuest, MySpace eBay, Craigslist.org, Facebook.com, or Amazon, then you get a different picture.

Google had 7.4 billion core search queries and 7.6 billion expanded search queries in August to lead no matter how you define a "search query." Yahoo! had 2.3 billion core search queries and 2.4 billion expanded search queries that month. But "YouTube/All other" Google sites had 2.6 billion expanded search queries that month. Microsoft sites had 977 million core search queries and MSN-Windows Live had 988 million expanded search queries.

So, depending on your definition, the top three search engines are either (1) Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft, or (2) Google, YouTube, and Yahoo! That is a distinction with a big difference.

By the way, comScore Video Metrix reports that YouTube accounts for more than 98 percent of all videos viewed at Google sites. (This means Google Video accounts for less than 2 percent of all vides viewed at Google sites.)

So, if you've optimized the pages on your website that contain videos, you've optimized them for Google Video and other video search engines. They won't help them get discovered, watched or shared on YouTube.

YouTube doesn't crawl the web trying to index videos posted on millions of websites. Instead, users are now uploading 13 hours of new video to YouTube every minute. So, getting your video found in about 2.6 billion expanded searches a month means uploading and optimizing video for YouTube, not Google Video.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

September 16, 2008

27 Million People Watched Over 3 Billion Videos Online in the U.K.

According to new data from comScore Video Metrix, more than 27.4 million U.K. Internet users (78 percent of the total U.K. Internet audience) viewed 3.2 billion videos online in June 2008. Google Sites, driven by the popularity of YouTube.com, attracted nearly half of all videos viewed online in the U.K, followed by BBC Sites (1.4 percent share), Microsoft Sites (0.8 percent share), Fox Interactive Media (0.7 percent share) and ITV Sites (0.6 percent share).

U.K. Internet users watched an average of 117.7 videos per viewer in June – the highest videos per viewer average of any of the five countries reportable in comScore Video Metrix, which also includes U.S., Canada, France and Germany.

Google Sites also attracted the most viewers (20.5 million), who watched an average of 77.8 videos per person. BBC Sites drew the second most viewers (5.9 million), followed by Microsoft Sites (5.8 million), and Fox Interactive Media (3.9 million).

Other notable findings include:

-- 19.7 million viewers watched 1.4 billion videos on YouTube.com (72.4 videos per viewer). -- The average online video duration was 3.0 minutes. -- The combined U.K. online video viewing audience watched a total 161 million hours of video content. -- 4.2 million mobile phone subscribers used their phone to watch any kind of TV or video in the U.K., of which 37.6 percent were younger than 25 years old.

Video Search Engine Optimization Panel Recap, Greg Markel

At SES San Jose 2008, Greg Markel of Infuse Creative talked with Byron Gordon of SEO-PR about the Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) session. Markel emphasized the crucial nature of an online video (and online video optimization) strategy especially with relation to YouTube and Google's universal search.

The Video Search Engine Optimization session will also be held at SES Chicago on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008. As I've mentioned before, if you register before Sept. 26 you can take advantage of the "recession special" to save up to $600.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 11, 2008

SEW Experts: YouTube-ery: Online Videos as Learning and Marketing Tools

YouTube is user-generated content at its best...and worst. Everyone in the world with a video camera -- or just a Web cam and microphone -- can be part of the nebulous social monster that is YouTube. In today's SEM.edu column, "YouTube-ery: Online Videos as Learning and Marketing Tools," Ron Jones looks at what this that mean for educators and marketers.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 9, 2008

YouTube to Launch New 'HotSpots' Feature

According to Abbey Klaassen of Advertising Age, YouTube plans to launch a new feature called HotSpots this week that will allow "video creators to monitor how viewings rise and fall within a video."

Klaassen writes, "HotSpots plays a video alongside a graph that maps whether the audience is lower or higher than average for a particular length of video. When the graph goes up, the video is 'hot,' and more viewers are watching -- because there's either less attrition or some viewers are fast-forwarding or rewinding to isolate a particular point in the video. When the graph goes down, the video is 'cold' because viewers are leaving the video or skipping to another part of the content."

Klaassen adds that YouTube plans to unveil another service, called Visible Measures, which measures audience engagement within a video.

I can't find any additional information about YouTube's HotSpots or Visible Measures, so it appears that Abbey has a scoop.

In her article, Klaassen also interviews Matt Williams, a senior at State University of New York-Brockport, who makes funny videos and with his friend Andrew Reynold under the YouTube channel name StanleyJenkins. Williams estimates that optimizing videos based on YouTube Insights data has doubled his traffic.

Williams also noted that most of his video traffic was referred from related videos. That's something that I also highlighted during my presentation at SES San Jose last month.

Li Evans of KeyRelevance interviewed me following the Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) session about the importance of related videos -- and the benefits of reaching out to influential bloggers to ask them to embed videos in their blogs. Check out Li's interview below.

VSEO - Video Search Engine Optimization - with Greg Jarboe

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

September 2, 2008

Top 10 Videos on YouTube from SES San Jose 2008

SES San Jose 2008 was held just a couple of weeks back, but still gives us enough time to find out what topics the top 10 videos on YouTube from the event were about.

Okay, so I only looked at the YouTube videos posted on the SESConferenceExpo's channel -- but that provides an apples to apples comparison. Besides, this is more about the topics discussed at the show than the popularity of the one channel versus another.

So, what are the topics covered in the top 10 videos from SES San Jose 2008?

1. (with 251 views) Avinash's Long Tail Terms, Bouncy Icebergs, and Analytics Avinash Kaushik of Google and Bryan Eisenberg of Future Now, Inc., talk about goals, bounce rates, and all sorts of important topics for marketers interested in measuring their campaigns, especially with Google Analytics. Later on in the video, Avinash talks about new features in Google Analytics like the partner program and data visualizations to help marketers understand what works and what doesn't. He moves on to testing at the end, and plugs Bryan's new Google Website Optimizer book, Always Be Testing.

2. (with 128 views) Small Business Viral Marketing Tips, SES San Jose 2008 Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide and Andrew Goodman of Page Zero Media follow up their SES San Jose 2008 "Igniting Viral Campaigns" session with a discussion of the best tips on viral campaigns and social media marketing, especially for small business who want to make the most of their business online without spending too much money. The two talk about using social media sites like Linkedin and Twitter to communicate one's marketing message to a dedicated and enthusiastic audience.

3. (with 121 views in 1 week) Mobile Search Lazarus, Mobi Job with Rebecca Lieb Rebecca Lieb of ClickZ opines that mobile search is back and in a strong way, of course as a result of better smart phones and with what she and others see as the death of mobi. I interview Rebecca on her Death of .mobi panel at SES San Jose 2008 to learn more about the changing mobile search landscape.

4. (with 121 views in 2 weeks) Social Responsibility & SEM for Nonprofits with Jamie Welsh Jamie Welsh of 10 Percent Solution talks with Byron Gordon of SEO-PR about her organization's work to certify companies with respect to three categories: philanthropy, as defined through the donation of five percent of pre-tax profits or one percent of sales; volunteerism through individual employees; and green sustainability.

5. (with 80 views) Measuring Web 2.0 with Star Trek & SiteLogic's Matt Bailey Matt Bailey of SiteLogic Marketing talks Trekkie lore and web analytics with Jamie O'Donnell of SEO-PR about his SES San Jose 2008 panel on Web 2.0 measurement. Matt's famous Star Trek/Web Analytics mashup played well at the show as he explained the increasing likelihood of Enterprise ensigns' chances of survival given various circumstance, including the color of their shirts, shuttlecraft landings, and the captain's amorous liaisons.

6. (with 78 views) Johanna Wright of Google on Google Universal Search Johanna Wright of Google talks with me about Google's Universal Search platform, which integrates various online media in its search results page to offer searchers a wider selection of relevant results. Johanna gives some insight for SEO (search engine optimization) pro's into how the vertical backends are put together and advocates a thoughtful approach to making information accessible to Google through use of sitemaps and detailed descriptions.

7. (with 76 views) Lee Siegel Punches the Internet Lee Siegel, author of Against the Machine, talks with Kevin Ryan of Search Engine Strategies and me about why the internet is an abuse -- and not a use of the internet for human life. Well, that's the big-picture idea, at least. Mostly he just beats up on Gawker. No objections here...?

8. (with 63 views) A/B Test Experts Tim Ash and Bryan Eisenberg Tim Ash of SiteTuners and Bryan Eisenberg of Future Now, two A/B testing gurus, talk landing page testing shop on the conference floor at SES San Jose 2008. Tim and Bryan discuss the crucial nature of testing for the bottom line with the triple threat of incrased online competition, rising PPC costs, and a recession economy. Tim also talks about SiteTuners' new self-service portal which opens up, for the first time, some of SiteTuners' large-scale multivariate testing tools to in-house SEM's (search engine marketers).

9. (with 57 views) How Much Search is Enough - Kevin Ryan at SES San Jose 2008 Kevin Ryan of Search Engine Strategies (SES) talks with Byron Gordon of SEO-PR at SES San Jose 2008 about his panel on holistic approaches to online marketing, in which he and the other agency panelists investigated what the appropriate mix of search and other online mediums was in properly integrated campaigns. Kevin relays some tips from the speakers regarding how to experiment in order to make the most of your online presence.

10. (with 54 views) Soothware Online Advertising Platform Intro with Tim Ogilvie Tim Ogilvy of Soothware chats with John Mulligan of SEO-PR about his company, Soothware. Soothware helps advertisers manage their search advertising and display advertising campaigns in one place, tapping into Google and the RightMedia ad Exchange.

There are more videos on the SESConferenceExpo's channel -- and another 20+ videos from SES San Jose 2008 over on the WebProNews Video Blog. And you'll find even more videos from the event at SEOWebTraffic's Channel, SocialJulio's Channel, StepForth's Channel, HHeitzman's Channel, SageRock's Channel, ChrisDaviesCa's Channel, misiggaes' Channel, and HudsonHorizon's Channel.

While you really had to be there to catch all the action, at least now you can get some samples of the what turned out to be the best attended SES of all time. That's right. There were more people at SES San Jose 2008 than attended SES New York 2008 or SES San Jose 2007 -- the next two biggest shows.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 4:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

August 7, 2008

Is John McCain or Barack Obama Winning the YouTube Vote?

Yesterday, Rasmussen Reports said that the "news you watch says a lot about how you'll vote." According to the pollster, 87 percent of Fox News viewers say they are likely to vote for John McCain, while 65 percent of those who watch CNN and 63 percent of those who watch MSNBC plan to support Barack Obama in November.

Those who read a print newspaper during the week were fairly evenly divided between the two candidates, but among those who read the same papers online, Obama had the edge. On the other hand, more than 60 percent those who listen talk radio plan to vote for McCain.

Today, the Times of India reports that the McCain campaign strategy of hammering away at Obama in funny videos has pushed the McCain YouTube channel to the sixth most watched sites this week. Overall, however, Obama's YouTube channel still dominates, with 51 million all-time video views.

And what about the news search engines? Four years ago, the Online Journalism Review (OJR) reported that "non-traditional sources cloud Google News results." Searching on the term “John Kerry,” several stories from “second-tier” online-only news and commentary sites appeared to have a conservative tilt. Among them were headlines such as “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Expose John Kerry's Lies.”

What about this election cycle? Unfortunately, the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication suspended publication of OJR in June after a decade of helping mid-career journalists make a successful transition from other media to online reporting and production.

So, I will be watching this fall to see if there are any patterns to the news search engine rankings for John McCain and Barack Obama. But that's a big effort. So, send me an email if you see something before I do.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 30, 2008

Italian Broadcaster Sues Google, YouTube for $779 million

Google is facing another YouTube law suit, this time from Italian broadcaster Mediaset, which is controlled by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The suit was filed in Rome and seeks 500 million Euros in damages (approx $779 million USD).

The suit is similar to others, including the one brought by Viacom, citing illegal use of copyrighted materials.

Mediaset says a June 10 analysis showed 4,643 videos equaling more than 325 hours were found on the popular online video site. The broadcaster claims the videos amount to a loss of 315,672 days.

Related Reading: Google Fights Back in Viacom/YouTube Copyright Suit Others Join YouTube, Google Copyright Lawsuit Viacom Would Rather Not Sue, Chief Counsel Claims

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 20, 2008

Is YouTube about to pass Yahoo in expanded searches?

On Friday, comScore announced that Google retained its lead in the U.S. core search market capturing 61.5 percent of the searches conducted in June 2008. By and large, the press coverage focused on the fact that Google's share of core searches was down slightly from May, while Yahoo! and Microsoft's share of core searches were up slightly from the previous month.

But, farther down the comScore press release was data on the "expanded search queries" for June. This includes the top properties where search activity is observed -- like YouTube. And here's what comScore qSearch 2.0 found: -- 7.3 billion expanded search queries were conducted at Google in June; -- 2.5 billion expanded search queries were conducted at Yahoo that month; -- 2.3 billion expanded search queries were conducted at YouTube and other Google sites; -- 1.1 billion expanded search queries were conducted at MSN-Windows Live.

And the month to month growth of expanded search queries at YouTube was 15%, while it was 8% at Yahoo!

So, let the countdown begin. How many months do you think it will take before YouTube passes Yahoo!?

According to comScore Video Metrix, 82.2 million viewers watched 4.1 billion videos in May on YouTube.com -- that's an average of 50.4 videos per viewer. It's also worth noting that YouTube.com accounts for more than 98 percent of all videos viewed at Google Sites, whic h means that Google Video is now round off error.

Okay, to be fair, expanded searches includes ones for mapping and local directories as well as user-generated video sites. So, YouTube and Google Maps are being combined in the comScore data.

Nevertheless, the media world still seems focused on core searches, which doesn't count about 5.1 billion expanded searches a month.

So, it's important to remember that vertical search engines are ... search engines, too. And getting found in all the right places increasingly means optimizing video for YouTube as well as web pages for Google, Yahoo! Search and Live Search.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 16, 2008

Google to Scramble YouTube User IDs and IP Addresses in Viacom Case

Yesteday, I reported that YouTube user viewing histories would not longer be handed over to Viacom by Google per an agreement by the two. I also wrote that User IDs, IP addresses, and Visitor IDs would still be handed over. What yours truly completely missed (i am afterall, only human) is that even that data will be scrambled. Here's the legalese:

When producing data from the Logging Database pursuant to the Order, Defendants shall substitute values while preserving uniqueness for entries in the following fields: User ID, IP Address and Visitor ID. The parties shall agree as promptly as feasible on a specific protocol to govern this substitution whereby each unique value contained in these fields shall be assigned a correlative unique substituted value, and preexisting interdependencies shall be retained in the version of the data produced. Defendants shall promptly (no later than 7 business days after execution of this Stipulation) provide a proposed protocol for this substitution. Defendants agree to reasonably consult with Plaintiffs' consultant if necessary to reach agreement on the protocol.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 15, 2008

Viacom Agrees to Skip YouTube Viewing Histories

Despite a court order requiring Google to hand over YouTube user viewing histories, Viacom and Google have come to an agreement where that data will be left out of the user log handover. Viacom will still receive user ID, user IP addresses, and visitor ID data.

Viacom has been going after Google for the copyright material found on YouTube, something many predicted would happen once the Mountain View-based search giant acquired the popular online video site. And while Viacom may have the law on its side, many feel the media conglomerate should just accept the free advertising that comes with the so-called copyright violations.

Meanwhile, Microsoft and Yahoo may want to take notes on how to negotiate an agreement without the help of the mainstream media.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 9, 2008

Google Can't Fix All of YouTube's Ad Problems with 'Project Spaghetti'

Google is struggling to monetize YouTube and will fall short of revenue projections this year, according to the Wall Street Journal. Tim Armstrong, Google's President North American Advertising and Commerce, told the Journal that 105 problems have been identified with YouTube's advertising process. Meanwhile, 24 different processes were identified for search advertising. Now, "Project Spaghetti" is in full swing to help streamline the processes.

YouTube's monetization problem may not be as severe as reported. Last month at a Triangle Interactive Marketing Association meeting, Google said that YouTube's branded channels come with an agreement for clients to spend $200,000 in advertising the channel on their Content Network. Otherwise the channel is "free." Obviously those aren't YouTube revenues, but it does funnel money elsewhere in Google.

Still the bigger question remains in the ability to monetize social media. In May, eMarketer lowered its projections for social network advertising. While users are open to ads on social networks, many find them irrelevant. Mix in the fact that advertisers are wary of marketing their product next to some of the crazy social media content out there, and you've got yourself a regular conundrum.

YouTube is expected to begin pre-roll and post-roll ads (ads before and after vids) in the third quarter, but don't expect that to go over well with users. Or advertisers. Or even Google in the long run. With one of the core problems being relevant ads, simply adding a new type of ad to the mix doesn't solve the problem.

Plus, pre-roll and post-roll ads are akin to TV ads, where branding is a key focus. But with the economy and Google's own shifting of the ad marketing place with pay-per-click ads, more and more advertisers are looking to direct response methods.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 7, 2008

Google Adds Privacy Link in Wake of Viacom Ruling; YouTube Addresses Privacy Issues

Recently, Google has been resisting calls to add a privacy link to their home page, saying searchers can simply type "Google privacy policy" in the search box to find the info. Plus, they didn't want to mess up that beautiful front page - well, except for links to advertising and business solutions that will bring them money.

But the search giant has finally caved and added the 7 letter word to its page with a link to the policy. And as John Paczkowski points out at AllThingsD, the link just happened to go up just after a judge ruled that Google has to hand over YouTube user logs in a suit brought against it by Viacom.

Meanwhile, YouTube addressed the ruling on its blog. While they're planning on complying with the ruling, they are working with Viacom lawyers to remove at least some of the information they'll be handing over: Of course, we have to follow legal process. But since IP addresses and usernames aren't necessary to determine general viewing practices, our lawyers have asked their lawyers to let us remove that information before we hand over the data they're seeking. (You should know, IP addresses identify a computer, not the person using it. It's not possible to determine your identity solely based on your IP address. Rather, an IP address can reveal what geographic area you're connecting from, or which Internet service provider you're using.)

What do you think of Google's move to put the privacy link on the homepage? How about YouTube's decision to comply with the law? Fire off in the comments!

Related Reading: If You Give Google a Cookie Google: A Clear & Present Danger to Corporate Data Privacy Google Privacy Practices Under Attack Google Defends Data-Retention Practices

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

July 3, 2008

Judge Protects Google Source Code, But Not YouTube Users

Remember when Google and Viacom were friends? Ah, those were the days. But not anymore. Over a year ago, Viacom filed suit against Google for the copyright infringment found on YouTube videos. In the latest plot point in the ongoing saga, U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton has ruled that Google can keep its source code secret, but must hand over user logs for the popular video sharing site.

Viacom says it wanted the code to prove that Google could use it to "purposely" find the content in question. Nice try, Viacom. Google's code, of course, is a trade secret. But it's almost a wonder the judge protected the code, because he ruled that Viacom can have access to the user logs. Data to be released includes user names, IP addresses, and videos watched.

Google has often defended its data collection, saying it's not a threat to privacy. It appears the argument worked a little too well on Judge Stanton.

For a history of the Google-Viacom battle, check out these links: Google Fights Back in Viacom/YouTube Copyright Suit Others Join YouTube, Google Copyright Lawsuit Viacom Would Rather Not Sue, Chief Counsel Claims Google to Viacom: Don't Turn YouTube into SueTube

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 10, 2008

Lauren Bernat Google YouTube Wii-Fit Social Media Sensation

The LA Times and the UK Telegraph beat us to the punch on this video search engine sensation. We didn't want to be left out of the loop now that Lauren Bernat has become one of Google Trends hourly "Hot Trends" and Dugg by thousands.

The LA Times reported that Giovanny Gutierrez, director of Interactive Media at Tinsley Advertising in Florida, recorded his girlfriend, Lauren, playing the Wii Fit hula hoop game. When he posted it on YouTube, the video scored 500,000 views and racked up a monstrous 9,000 Diggs.

Gutierrez has said that even though he works at an advertising firm, the video wasn't a viral ad for Wii, even if it really should have been.

"She loves Wii Fit" he told the Times, and "looks hot doing it."

How did she react when she found out that he'd posted the video without telling her, and that hundreds of thousands of Wii fans were now drooling over her?

"She was FURIOUS," wrote Gutierrez, who said she "called me on the phone screaming her head off and then hung up on me."

"But now [she] finds herself actually laughing about it and enjoying her 15 minutes of fame as the Wii Fit girl. It's just crazy how it's blown up."

The sensational social media Wii Fit search engine video after the jump:

Here's the video of Lauren Bernat filmed by her boyfriend, entitled "Wii Fit - Why You Should Buy It For Your Girlfriend."

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 27, 2008

Google to Viacom: Don't Turn YouTube into SueTube

Viacom President and CEO Philippe Daumann joined Kevin Johnson, President of Microsoft, onstage last Wednesday at the Microsoft advance '08 client sumnmit to discuss the Future of Search. They didn't discuss copyright infringement or Viacom's $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube. Perhaps they should have.

Google, YouTube's owner, claims the $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit questioning YouTube's ability to keep copyrighted material off YouTube.com threatens the free exchange of information on the Internet.

Google's lawyers filed papers on Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan in response to Viacom's lawsuit alleging that the Internet has led to "an explosion of copyright infringement" by YouTube and others.

Viacom filed its lawsuit last year, asking for damages for the unauthorized viewing of programming from MTV, Comedy Central and other networks, including such hits as "The Colbert Show" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

In papers submitted to a judge late Friday, Google claimed YouTube "goes far beyond its legal obligations in assisting content owners to protect their works."

By seeking to make carriers and hosting providers liable for Internet communications, Google said Viacom "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression."

Google said YouTube was faithful to the requirements of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, saying the federal law was intended to protect companies like YouTube as long as they responded properly to content owners' claims of infringement.

On that count, Viacom says Google has failed miserably.

The Associated Press reports that in a rewritten lawsuit filed last month, Viacom said YouTube consistently allows unauthorized copies of popular television programming and movies to be posted on its Web site and viewed tens of thousands of times.

Viacom said it had identified more than 150,000 unauthorized clips of copyrighted programming — including "SpongeBob SquarePants," "South Park" and "MTV Unplugged" episodes and the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" — that had been viewed "an astounding 1.5 billion times."

The company said its count of unauthorized clips represents only a fraction of the content on YouTube that violates its copyrights.

It said Google and YouTube had done "little or nothing" to stop infringement.

"To the contrary, the availability on the YouTube site of a vast library of the copyrighted works of plaintiffs and others is the cornerstone of defendants' business plan," Viacom said.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 19, 2008

YouTube Adds Query Suggestions for Search

YouTube has announced the addition of query suggestions for search. In case you're not aware, query suggestions are search suggestions that pop up once you start typing a search.

The announcement said that you have to opt in to the suggestions using the "advanced" link next to the search button. But I'm getting suggestions without doing the opt in.

YouTube has also added a contact importer and improvements to the inbox.

Related Reading: YouTube Videos Now Part of Google Maps Search Mix Google Launches YouTube Insight - Google Analytics Lite

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 30, 2008

iGoogle: O Pop, Where Art Thou? Jeff Koons, Wiggles, La Cicciolina

Google commissioned Jeff Koons, the controversial modern artist, to create graphic images for iGoogle backgrounds. Koons' Google Doodle today features his interpretation of (chrome) tulips. "Where art thou?" asks Marissa Mayer, VP of search products & user experience, in her official blog post this morning:

"Did you notice the chrome tulips on Google's homepage today? They are part of a special Google doodle done by renowned artist Jeff Koons. And that isn't the only art appearing anew on Google today. As part of our iGoogle Artists project, we have collaborated with almost 70 artists in 17 countries on 6 continents to create special iGoogle themes -- works of art that appeal to all ages and interests."

Our response: "O Brother, Google, where art thousands of dollars going?" Or perhaps, "O Pop, Where Art Thou?"

Most of the time, the controversy about Koons -- at 53-years old modern art's aging bad boy -- centers on whether he's a brilliant artist or the emperor's new clothes.

Jeff Koons isn't the only Google artist designing for iGoogle: non-artist artists like UK rockers Coldplay and U.S. kiddieboppers The Wiggles (shown below); fashion designers Mark Ecko (rhino logo) and Diane von Furstenburg (wife of Ask.com owner Barry Diller of IAC); architects Phillipe Starck (W Hotels) and Michael Graves; and New Yorker cartoonist Robert Mankoff.

Why in the world would a world-famous artist like Jeff Koons hire himself out for graphic design work?

It seems the multimillionaire artist and ex-husband of an ex-porn star may need the moolah.

Jeff Koons famously married a European porn star, La Cicciolina ("fleshy one"), after hiring her as his muse for photos, paintings and sculptures.

The artwork Koons spawned from their union was graphic but not graphic in a Googley design way. Think NSFW: sexually explicit in a flashy, fleshy Paris Hilton - Britney Spears - Lindsay Lohan kind of way. The only difference? Koons' sculptures starred Jeff and (as Brit wits might say) his naughty bits.

A few weeks ago, La Cicciolina, AKA Ilona Staller, sued her ex-husband, Jeffrey Koons, for $2.4 million dollars (1.5 million euros) in child support for their 15-year old son, Ludwig Maximilian Koons, according to papers filed in Manhattan State Supreme Court.

Child support payments of 15,000 euros a month were ordered by an Italian court in June 2007. Koons has only paid 191,426 euros for child support during the roughly nine year period (Oct 1998 - Dec 2007), leaving a balance owed of about 1.5 million euros.

Staller starred in X-rated films in Italy as La Cicciolina before she was elected to serve as a member of Italy's parliament for five years.

After the jump we have a two-minute clip from the Sundance Channel: fashion designer "Tom Ford on Jeff Koons" from the Iconoclast series. You can see what Jeff Koons Safe-For-Work art is all about in a SFW video.

AP reported that after their divorce in New York in 1994, Koons was given custody of their infant son. A judge ordered that the child remain in New York. In June of 1994, Staller slipped away from Koons' security guards and escaped to Italy with the boy.

When the divorce and custody issues were litigated again in Italy, Staller, an Italian citizen, was granted a divorce. After appealing, she received custody of the boy.

Koons piled up legal bills of almost $4 million trying to bring his son back from Italy. So maybe we can call this Google's "No Child Left Behind" Pop Art campaign.

Here's Tom Ford explaining the art of Jeff Koons, whose work has been displayed at London's Royal Academy, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain:

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:47 PM | Permalink

April 16, 2008

Divorce by YouTube: Tricia Walsh-Smith Searches for Revenge?

Google's YouTube is the dominant video search engine in the world. So if you're looking for a "divorce" where else would you search? YouTube divorce, naturally.

Divorce by YouTube? Sure, we can think of lots of ways online video could lead to marital dis-bliss. But using YouTube to prevent a divorce? Brilliant.

Apparently that's the thinking - or lack thereof - behind UK actress and playwright Tricia Walsh-Smith. She lives in New York (Park Avenue!), sometimes with her husband, Schubert Organization President Phil Smith, the broadway impresario who's evicting her from their posh apartment.

That's the set for this UGC reality show. Getting picked up by one of the cable networks, though, or another millionaire is a likely outcome for Ms. Walsh-Smith, who joins the short but impressive list of women scorned who exacted their pound of flesh online.

In the late '80s, "Trish the Dish Best Served Cold" wrote the now quite appropriately named play, Bonkers. Several of her plays, including' "Addictions," "Change the Day" and "The Last Journey," are scheduled to open in London this year.

Her rant replaces what the UK Telegraph journalist Aislinn Simpson revealed as a bizarre but effective revenge plot - at least to Desperate American Housewives: "stuffing fish fingers" in the curtain rod.

Of course in the Battle of the Ex-es and Sex(es) in the City, men aren't sitting idly by while women take over the search engine world. (Unless you're the famously eBay-ted Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales who had his wiki waxed by ex-girlfriend airing his dirty laundry on eBay.)

Try a YouTube search for keyword ''crazy ex-girlfriend voicemail."

See the full uncensored and unexpurgated video rant after the jump:

If you're outraged by this Search Engine Watch investigative report on YouTube divorce, send me a message (140 characters or less) at: http://twitter.com/kevinheisler

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 11:47 AM | Permalink

April 1, 2008

YouTube Crime Scam Solved on April Fool's Day

A 24 year-old woman who used a YouTube video to accuse 3 male youths of raping her has been arrested by Scotland Yard after it was determined the video was a scam and the woman is now charged with suspicion of underage sex and perverting the course of justice.

YouTube had been criticized for allowing the video to be published and how long it took them to get it down.

Two of the boys accused were 16 and one was 14, their arrest for rape had been dismissed and no further action will be taken, according to the UK Sun.

In the video the woman looked like she was drugged and then assaulted, the Sun stated.

Posted by Frank Watson at 11:17 PM | Permalink

Risk Astley and More April Fools Day Goodness

Happy April Fool's Day everyone, or, as we call it in Israel, Monday! But it does give me the opportunity to be awake (hopefully) before everyone else and report on how the various search engines and websites you generally trust are messing with you today.

YouTube is rickrolling everyone today. If you've never been rickroll'd, buy a computer and exit the safety bunker you've been living in for the past ten years. Go to YouTube today and just try not to get rickroll'ed. LiveJournal is following suite by adding Rick Astley to their Advisory Board. They even gave him an LJ page!

Google is partnering with Richard Branson to create Virgle, which will aim to populate Mars.

WikiAnswers is answering a series of ridiculous questions today, like "Why Did The Chicken Cross the Road?"

Wikipedia may actually be the funniest destination this April Fool's Day, with their entire Main Page dedicated to jokes and nonsense. All the links lead to real articles, but don't take anything else serious today, except for news.

Gmail just added CustomTime, which allows to send (10) emails up to 6 hours earlier. Never be late again (again meaning 10 times). Take advantage of Google's e-flux capacitor, which I'm guessing was developed with Doc Brown.

As more happens, I'll keep you updated.

Posted by at 5:36 AM | Permalink

March 27, 2008

Google Launches YouTube Insight - Google Analytics Lite

Today Google video search engine YouTube launched a free Web analytics tool.

Think Google Analytics Lite: it's essentially a way to see how popular a video is over time combined with a global map that shows where it's popular.

The map? It's identical to Google Analytics. Hmmm, wonder if it will ever be integrated into the Google Analytics platform?

Google announced the tool in a blog post after midnight EDT stating Insight enables anyone with a YouTube account to view "detailed statistics" about the videos they upload.

So what insights will YouTube Insight provide?

1. how often a video's viewed in different geographic regions 2. how popular it is relative to all videos in a market over a period of time 3. how long until a video becomes popular (the fuzziest of fuzzy metrics) 4. what happens to video views as popularity peaks

What happens to video views when popularity peaks?

They go up? Then they go down?

If anybody knows for sure, ping me.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:54 AM | Permalink

March 18, 2008

YouTube: Damon Wayans Pay-to-Play, Paid Inclusion or Pay-for-Placement?

At SES NY, John Battelle outted Damon Wayans, Google and YouTube.

Battelle said Wayans spilled the beans on his YouTube deal as a "platinum partner" for WayOutTV.com.

Wayans shared he was guaranteed 60 million impressions by YouTube. Those 60 million impressions -- guaranteed -- sounds very much like the structure of a MySpace-style minimum revenue deal. Plus, Wayans shared his YouTube rev share number. Wow.

Everything advertisers need to know about video search but were afraid to ask.

That officially makes Google a publisher not a technology company, in Battelle's view. The SES crowd didn't argue, though Google's universal search guru, Jack Menzel, product manager, Google Search, said the number may have been an estimate of the minimum number of impressions expected.

In February, Damon Wayans launched WayOutTV.com in collaboration with Google's YouTube. WayOutTV.com features videos produced by stand-up comedians selected by Wayans, the film and TV star.

He was in town promoting his YouTube deal on a panel moderated by Battelle at AdAge's Digital Marketing Conference ("a new crop of stars in town who've grown their celebrity via MySpace pages, YouTube channels and videos gone viral. And now, of course, they're celebrity spokespeople.").

YouTube needs branded entertainment for Google to succeed as a media company. WayOutTV.com is not unlike Will Ferrell's FunnyorDie.com and the lesser known MyDamn-Content.com by Harry Shearer.

film and TV satires shows such as Hollywood Shuffle, I'm Gonna Git YouSucka, and In Living Color, where Jim Carrey and J-Lo launched their careers.

George Alexander, business entertainment columnist at blackenterprise.com noted, "As the Web proves to be a place for more and more content providers to introduce their product to audiences, analysts contend that branding will be the key competitive advantage to an increasingly cluttered marketplace."

Alexander noted because barriers to entry are low, and anyone with a digital video camera, a computer, can upload a video on YouTube, name recognition and quality will determine who wins eyeballs and repeat visitors.

"With the name Wayans, Damon could clearly be way ahead of the pack."

Not to mention starring as YouTube's The 60 Million Impression Man.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:28 PM | Permalink

March 11, 2008

Hulu Launches -- Takes "You" Out of YouTube, Puts Copyright In

Hulu, the video search engine for copyrighted and trademarked entertainment, will premiere Wednesday.

It will be a minor Internet miracle if the GE-NewsCorp JV Web site can keep up with online demand and search engine searchers.

Get ready for the Invasion of the YouTube Snatchers. The iPod people are coming ... and their PC'ed.

Are you searching for The Simpsons?

Can't find The Big Lebowski?

Is Buffy the Vampire Slayer in your database of intentions?

Do you need to do a local search for Mulholland Drive? Can't find it on Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Eath or on YouTube (legally)?

Hulu promises to run hoops around YouTube. The NBA and the NHL will deliver sports programming.

News Corp, NBC Universal, Warner Bros. and Lionsgate will showcase films.

There's even a SuperBowl Ad Gallery for the search marketers ready to take over TV budgets and bounce traditional advertising agencies from the upfronts.

No doubt YouTube will feel pressure to protect copyrights and clean up trademark infringement.

The message from Hulu? Monetize this.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:32 PM | Permalink

February 14, 2008

YouTube New Features - A Marketer's Perspective

It's been an interesting week for YouTube this week--especially for those of us working in SMO or SMM (social media marketing), who spend our days marketing clients through YouTube videos. On Tuesday, YouTube abruptly stopped counting and updating views for all videos. The "blackout" lasted about 40 hours, and during that time no videos moved in or out of Most Viewed lists, other than those that expired (i.e. they had been uploaded more than 48 hours ago and so could no longer be in the Most Viewed Today list).

YouTube has admitted that they were having server problems, and that does seem to ring true. View counts have generally been updated at a slower pace recently, and many users have complained about issues watching newly uploaded videos. Some users think the view count freeze was a response to the plethora of Anonymous-vs-Scientology videos that have flooded the front page of YouTube recently. Whether that's true or not is up for debate. The Tom Cruise video remains on the site, and the Anonymous warning remains high on the Most Viewed for the Month list. The freeze count did occur on the same day as videos from global Scientology protests from the day before were uploaded, so it's hard to tell whether YouTube subscribes to the "Don't Be Evil" motto of its parent.

While the servers were acting up, the brains behind YouTube were at YouTube's Videocracy event in New York, where they debuted some cool new features for the video sharing site, including: * Video recommendations based on your viewing habits * Active Sharing * Better Video Editing Tools * Multiple Platform Distribution * Advanced Analytics for view of your video

For marketers, the last point seems most important. Currently, you can only see the same data about your video that everyone else sees: how many views, comments and ratings the video received; the honors it acquired; and the top 5 sources of embedded views. These new analytics will give video publishers the ability to see where the viewers are geographically, and will hopefully give a breakdown of embedded views vs YouTube views, bounce rates, average time spent on the video, view/subscription and/or view/channel visit rates and other demographics—as well a complete list of embeds driving views.

This is the data we've been waiting for, that will finally let YouTube marketers know what methods work—and the real, intrinsic value of each view. Do some videos lead to more subscriptions? Do some videos appeal to a certain demographic? Are people watching the entire video—and which people are not leaving immediately?

Video recommendations and multiple platform distribution are important too. Finetuning your YouTube video collection could potentially mean someone watching more of your videos on TV, and a much larger potential audience. All these changes taken together should mean more views for savvy YouTube marketers—provided they fix those servers!

Posted by at 6:43 PM | Permalink

February 13, 2008

YouTube Channel launched for SES London 2008

Andrew Lipsman, an analyst at ComScore Media Metrix, recently told the Los Angeles Times that the writers strike drove a record number of restive viewers to the Internet in December. It was the single heaviest month for online video viewing since ComScore started tracking such results back in January 2007. People watched more than 10 billion video streams on their computers, including CrunchGear.com's hands-on with TI's prototype Android phone, which had drawn 30,911 views on YouTube as of this morning.

In fact, YouTube has been the biggest beneficiary of this trend, as the number of videos streamed on the site surged 12% from November to December. That's well above the steady growth rate in online video consumption, Lipsman told the LA Times. The average time visitors spent watching videos online increased seven minutes from 104 to 111 minutes a month.

So, it seems like the perfect time for Search Engine Strategies to launch its own YouTube Channel – the SESConferenceExpo's Channel – just before SES London gets underway next week.

The Search Engine Strategies (SES) Conference & Expo Channel currently has three video clips – but more will be added during next week's event, which is being held at the Business Design Centre in London, UK, from February 19-22, 2008. That's in Islington, mate! The top video clip, which was added yesterday, features and interview with Rebecca Lieb, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of the ClickZ Network, about AOL's prospects in light of Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Yahoo. The interview originally appeared on CNBC's Media Money program on February 4, 2008. The video clip was provided by Ann Shannon and the team at PAN Communications.

In fact, the recent possibilities presented with a Microsoft/Yahoo combination will be discussed at Search Engine Strategies London during The Keynote Roundtable: The Changing Search World. Attendees will have front row seats to these industry-shaping events as they unfold.

Following an introduction from Nick Carr, author of The Big Switch, Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google, a group of search experts and analysts will discuss the impact of these changes in an interactive format. Kevin Ryan, Vice President, Global Content Director, Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch, will be the moderator. The speakers include: Mike Grehan, SES London Co-Chair and Founder and CEO, Searchvisible Ltd.; Steven Kaufman, SVP Media Director, Digitas; Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder, Future Now Inc.; and Erica Schmidt, Global Director of Search, Isobar.

Also on the SES YouTube Channel is a video clip with Market Motive's CEO Michael Stebbins and CTO John Marshall, which was added a week ago. They discuss the company's on-demand video training, Q&A and direct conference calls with six of the top online marketing consultants – several of whom are speaking at SES London. John and Michael also explain their partnership with SES London and the special offer that they're making to conference attendees: a free month's subscription to MarketMotive.com.

For those of you who admire the quality of the videography, it was shot and edited by John Zukowski of Azimuth Productions / Video San Francisco.

Finally, the third YouTube video for SES London is my interview with Nick Carr, who will also be a keynote Speaker at SES New York. I chat with Nick about his new book, The Big Switch, which examines the future of computing and its implications for business and society, and about his introduction to The Keynote Roundtable at Search Engine Strategies London.

The video production company that created and produced this video clip is Diginovations, winners of the Platinum VISTA Award for Best Corporate Video from the National Professional Videographers Association for three of the last four years.

Added a week ago, this video clip of my interview with Nick already had more than 780 views as of this morning. Okay, so that not even close to comedian Judson Laipply's “Evolution of Dance,” which has drawn 74 million views on YouTube. But, while I should disclose that SES London is a client, I have to confess that I only got around to promoting this video clip today.

How did it rack up so many views, then? Well, Jasdev Dhaliwal's The Web Pitch gave it a plug even before I could get around to publicizing the video clip myself. That's what I love about social media.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 8:33 AM | Permalink

January 9, 2008

Pew survey finds increased use of video-sharing sites

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has just released a new report which has found that 48% of Internet users have been to video-sharing sites such as YouTube and the daily traffic to such sites on a typical day has doubled in the past year.

The findings of Pew's national phone survey in December show: -- 48% of internet users say they have visited a video-sharing site such as YouTube. A year earlier, in December 2006, 33% of Internet users said they had visited such sites. This represents growth of more than 45% year-to-year. -- 15% of respondents say they used a video-sharing site "yesterday" -- the day before they were contacted for the survey. A year ago, 8% had visited such a site "yesterday." Thus, on an average day, the number of users of video sites nearly doubled from the end of 2006 to the end of 2007.

If you go to YouTube, the featured videos are "The Phone Call" or "The Pickup." But, "how to" videos are a growing category, too.

If you conduct a search on the site, you'll find 254 videos for "pay per click advertising," 873 videos for "search engine optimization" or 11,100 videos for "search engine marketing." Check back a year from now to see how those numbers have growth.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 4:55 PM | Permalink

December 20, 2007

Free Google Flip Video Camcorder --No purchase necessary

OK, strike "no purchase necessary." Free Flip video camcorder: "big purchase necessary?"

Google gave big-time advertisers and SEMs (whose clients spend big) a Flip Video Ultra Series camcorder with recording time up to 30 min. and 1GB internal memory.

Search marketer Shimon Sandler recorded an Oscar-worthy short film (YouTubed) of his Google Video Ultra gift being unwrapped. You'll watch the film again and again, if only to get into the Xmas spirit of green envy that children of all ages feel during the Holiday Season.

Google Flip flopped with all the SEMs who only received Google 2GB USB memory cards instead of the Google Flip (with MSRP of $149.99!). The 2GoogleByte USB card was described by our friends at SERoundtable as more or less a lump of coal -- way inferior to last year's Google gift gadget: a sweet digital picture frame.

It would seem only the FTC approves of Google acquisitions these days.

Here at Search Engine Watch, we'll be providing the P.O. Box for Google Customer Returns and the address of the secret Google Gift Exchange location.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 6:46 PM | Permalink

December 10, 2007

Online TV forecast sees huge growth ahead

Steve Clarke of Variety reports on new research by Informa Telecoms and MediaSome that forecasts 38.4 million homes worldwide will receive TV via the Internet by 2012. In the shorter term, Informa is forecasting 10.6 million online TV households by the end of 2007, double the 2006 figure.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 1:30 PM | Permalink

December 5, 2007

Who Holds the Keys to Video-Related Ads?

Nielsen will release a service enabling broadcasters and cable networks to control and make money from their online video distribution (per today's WSJ, subscription only). Through fingerprinting technology, the video may be blocked, permitted to load, or "perhaps load only if it is attached to a particular piece of advertising.”

This announcement makes me wonder who holds the keys to video-related ads. With Nielsen acting as a neutral party, I would like to believe the largest rights holders keep control of their ad sales and sources.

However, we can't predict new moves from social networks, such as YouTube. What if the network itself starts to block copyrighted clips, but you want to show your clips and ads? What if the network begins showing ads that somehow interrupt yours? What if you prefer to use the network's ad inventory after all?

Regardless of these unknowns, the Nielsen announcement is interesting news. We'll see who gets real traction in this "video cop" marketplace, and how they charge for or otherwise monetize their services.

Posted by at 2:39 AM | Permalink

October 11, 2007

Expect More Finger Pointing on Copyright Protection for Video

In an News Corp stated that Google 'could do a better job' at preventing illegally copied video from appearing on its YouTube site.” Chermin also stated that there is no reason Google could not track and filter copyrighted material as well as MySpace, which is owned by News Corp and overseen by Chermin. Was this just finger-pointing and corporate sparring? What about Viacom's billion dollar lawsuit lodged against Google in March over copyright infringement, and all those other pesky lawsuits?

Let me put on my foil hat for just a moment. I can feel some serious vibes coming in. This finger pointing and posturing about who does copyright protection better is going to continue and get even more intense as the promise of advertising on video becomes a revenue-gushing reality.

Tuesday, Google announced the launch of AdSense for Video program which will let publishers embed YouTube videos on their websites using a customized player and then make money from overlaying text ads that fade in and out as the videos play. Watch those dollars winging through the broadband.

Then, Wednesday, following close behind, comes the announcement by video search engine blinkx of a new service that they are offering which allows people to make money when they embed video clips on their Web sites. The Blinkx program, entitled AdHoc, is particularly interesting in that it allows users to monetize, through revenue sharing, video garnered from a number of video-sharing sites including YouTube, GoogleVideo and DailyMotion. The video ad space is clearly booming with the options for advertisers and publishers ballooning. The ground trembles as another revenue gusher is about to blow and start pumping even more revenues toward some well known search engines.

Now, why the foil hat vibes? Isn't this ‘my copyright detection beats your copyright detection' just more of ‘my algo is better than your algo' that we've known for years. Not quite. In an article entitled “The Cost of Copyright” Danny Bradbury discusses copyright detection technology, why the various parties do not seem willing to develop and adopt a single detection methodology which would yield a recognizable digital fingerprint for copyright materials. He points out that it's about the advertising benjamins that await the advertising network that can provide pinpoint targeting based on viewing patterns. Fingerprinting on video has the promise of delivering lots of potential revenue-producing information on viewing patterns.This information will become ever more valuable as advertisers seek to hone in on their prospects. Even without a foil hat, it's easy to see that the finger pointing over who has the better copyright detection capabilities will continue. It is not just my detection routines beat your detection routines, but rather I can target prospects better. In fact the it is now no longer just about the copyright material; it is all about advertising revenues.

Posted by Amanda Watlington at 6:34 AM | Permalink

Blinkx Showing Google How To Monetize YouTube

Andy Greenberg over at Forbes has written an interesting article about how Blinkx - the European based video platform - has rolled out a monetization process that could help Google with making money on YouTube.

Blinkx launched a method for providing contextual ads that go along with the video content embedded on a site.

"Blinkx released a tool Wednesday that lets online publishers place targeted text ads in any video embedded on a Web site based on the actual content of the video. That's a big contrast to Google's approach: Google figures out what ads to pair with a video based strictly on the video's title and any keywords attached to the clip. Blinkx software "listens to" and "watches" the video, then inserts text overlay ads based on the spoken words and to some extent, the images in the clip. That technology depends on algorithms developed by a longtime Google competitor, search engine Autonomy," Forbes reported.

It is definitely an article worth reading.

Posted by Frank Watson at 12:11 AM | Permalink

October 9, 2007

Google AdSense for Video

Google has announced a new initiative designed to help them monetize YouTube content. The new program is called Video Units, and it allows publishers to incorporate YouTube videos onto their site, while monetizing them through the AdSense program. The AdSense ads display in the video player both above and below the video.

The publisher is able to configure the basic look and feel of the player through a selection of colors and player size. The publisher can also exercise control over the nature of the videos shown. The choices they can make are:

1. Automatic - let Google/YouTube figure out what content to show on your site
2. Automatic with keyword hints - Still decided by Google and YouTube, but you get to give the algorithm some hints
3. Choose categories - You can steer the process further by selecting the specific categories you want your video content to come from
4. Choose specific providers - You can also choose the providers you want to get your content from

Once the publisher has made their configuration choices, they can click a button to generate code for the player to put on their web site. One of the key steps is to provide Google with your AdSense ID and your YouTube ID (you need both).

The program is being pitched primarily as a method of incorporating content into your site. The idea is that the embedded videos will provide increased stickiness for your site traffic. Of course, it's also nice that you can monetize the video right on the spot as well.

You can read more about the program on the AdSense Blog. The video in the blog post provides a great overview of the program.

Posted by at 11:14 AM | Permalink

July 30, 2007

Google Adding Copyright Filters To YouTube

Friday during a copyright-infringement lawsuit hearing involving Viacom and Google, a Google attorney told the judge the company was working "very intensely" on a video recognition technology, the AP reported. The technology, that could be used to filter for copyright infringements, could be added to YouTube as early as September, it was reported.

Viacom sued Google in March in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging copyright infringement from YouTube and seeking $1 billion in damages.

Using the recognition programming, copyright owners can provide a digital fingerprint that within a minute or two will trigger a block from YouTube whenever someone tries to upload a copyright video without permission, the AP reported.

"We hope to have the testing completed and technology available by some time in the fall, but this is one of the most technologically complicated tasks that we have ever undertaken, and as always with cutting-edge technologies, it's difficult to forecast specific launch dates," a YouTube spokesperson told IDG News.

Posted by Frank Watson at 12:40 PM | Permalink

July 6, 2007

LG, Google Developing YouTube Phone

Mobile phone manufacturer LG is working with Google to develop a mobile phone that will allow you to upload videos directly to YouTube, according to an Adotas.

The phones should be available by the end of the year, the report stated.

"The technology will give users the ability to shoot, view and upload videos onto YouTube from their phones just as they would on their PCs. Also, videos on the site will be easily viewable," Adotas reported.

LG Electronics CEO Skott Ahn said the phones should be available globally by the end of the year.

This new content will provide more advertising space for Google and continues the relationship they have with LG that has a number of Google aps installed on some of their mobile phones.

Posted by Frank Watson at 12:09 PM | Permalink

June 19, 2007

YouTube Adds 9 Localized Country Sites

Google announced today that YouTube has added nine country-specific sites. The localized sites are fully translated, with localized home pages, content and search functions. This first phase of an international rollout includes sites for Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK, with plans for more countries to be included in the near future.

On the YouTube blog, YouTube International Manager Sakina Arsiwala writes: Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK. As part of this first step in our international rollout, you can now enjoy fully translated sites, with localized home pages, content and search functions.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:16 PM | Permalink

June 14, 2007

Google Video Expands Focus on Search

Google Video had been comprised of videos that were submitted by users, or uploaded by content providers for purchase. It appears that Google has revamped its idea of what Google Video should be, and that is a Web-wide video search engine.

Back in January, Google began integrating YouTube videos into Google Video results, and said at the time that the strategy for Google Video and YouTube would be to continue to play to their respective strengths. They plan to continue pushing YouTube as an entertainment destination and community site, and Google Video as a search tool. Ultimately, most user-generated and premium video will be hosted on YouTube, with Google focusing on video search, monetization and distribution.

That plan has moved forward this week, according to Google spokesperson Gabriel Stricker:

Now we've made even more progress towards realizing that vision. On Google Video, users will now be able to watch videos from various websites via a web crawl. For those videos which were not uploaded to YouTube or Google, users will be able to see a thumbnail image of that video and then have the ability to be redirected to where the video is hosted in order to watch it in its entirety.

This week, Ionut Alex Chitu at Google Operating System has spotted some changes to Google Video, and Philipp Lenssen at Google Blogoscoped follows up with more details.

Lenssen writes: it looks like Google realized their strengths and finally turned Google Video into an actual web-wide video search engine: the latest update will not only incorporate results from different sources, like YouTube, Vimeo.com, CollegeHumor, eBaumsWorld, MetaCafe, Google Video itself, Yahoo Video or MySpace... it will also present those in a new frame wrapper, similar to what you'll be used to at Google Images.

When Google launched its Universal Search results last month, it began showing thumbnail video results from third parties like Metacafe, as well as full inline video results from YouTube and Google Video.

In Google Video results now, users will see up to 15 thumbnails in a javascript slide-open window. This is part of the broader goal to innovate "video crawl," Stricker said, which lets users search for online video content irrespective of where it may be hosted.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 1:14 PM | Permalink

May 9, 2007

User-Generated Videos On Your Domain?

Do you already produce or license video content for your site? Do you incorporate user-generated content and sharing tools now? Then encouraging your visitors to share video content on your domain seems like a natural progression.

Yet today we all equate video sharing with the portals. Sites like YouTube, Metacafe, Revver and Break have achieved critical mass, with YouTube far in the lead. They attract professional and amateur video contributors, who all host freely on these sites. Viewers know they will be able to search within these communities and find something that intrigues or amuses them.

While these video portals are doing well today, their predominance may not last forever.

A few days ago, YouTube announced that it would start paying some of its amateur contributors who brought in high traffic. While other sites had paid for non-professionals before, the market leader joined the fold too. (See earlier SEW posting.)

We're not cheerleading for particular services, but there are some low-end options for publishers. vSocial released a free service last year. CEO Mark Sigal says that nearly 600 users have created mini-YouTubes through his service so far. Vidiac provides another free option for small sites. Further up the food chain are services like VideoEgg, which powers some selected social networks.

It's worth trying to create more social engagement and loyalty on your site. At some point, the tide will turn.

Posted by at 1:30 AM | Permalink

May 4, 2007

YouTube to Pay Top Users

Google's YouTube will begin paying top users for the video content they submit under a new revenue sharing partner program that will let the creators share in AdSense revenue generated by their videos.

“A select group of content creators will get promotion on the YouTube platform, and we will help them monetize their content,” Jamie Byrne, VP of marketing at YouTube, told Om Malik on Thursday. “This will help erase the stigma around the user-created content, and, to be honest, these guys are media entities in their own right.”

In a post on the YouTube Blog, the company said it is extending its partner program, previously only available to big media companies like CBS, Sony BMG and UMG and the NBA, to include "thousands of mid-sized to large content creators who range from video game companies to universities to production houses."

"Up until now there's been a distinction between the content you create and the content created by YouTube's professional content partners. We want to start changing some of the perception here. Which is why we're adding several of the most popular and prolific original content creators from the YouTube community to our partnership program."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:17 AM | Permalink

May 3, 2007

YouTube Set To Test Marketability of SciFi Film

YouTube is launching a new animated science fiction show. The interesting part of this event is that YouTube is using the show, Afterworld, to test their marketing abilities.

"And with ambitions of tapping the Internet video advertising market, the producers of Afterworld will also provide Google-owned YouTube with its first real chance to demonstrate its revenue generating potential—just as the site gears up to roll out video commercials this summer' , Red Herring opined.

"There is plenty of doubt whether Internet viewers are ready for commercials, but that hasn't stopped producers at Electric Farm, the Internet production house behind Afterworld. They are pouring millions of dollars into the show in hopes of creating a compelling web serial that will attract the Internet digerati and advertisers," Red Herring reported.

Posted by Frank Watson at 2:04 PM | Permalink

April 17, 2007

Will Filtering Solve YouTube Copyright Problems?

Eric Schmidt in an interview with John Seigenthaler, a former reporter with NBC's Nightly News, at National Association of Broadcasters conference noted that Google is close implementing a filtering service that would prevent copyright content from being uploaded to YouTube. According to Schmidt, the new system called Claim Your Content, will automatically flag copyright material so that it can be removed. The system was supposed to have launched last year. Google is surely feeling a certain urgency in getting effective filtering in place given the $1 billion lawsuit against filed by Viacom against Google last month that accused Google of wholesale intentional copyright infringement. It remains to be seen if this new system does in fact weed out copyright materials.

Posted by Amanda Watlington at 10:43 AM | Permalink

March 29, 2007

YouTube Adds New Functionality for Categories

Andy Plesser at Beet.TV reports that You Tube last night introduced new functionality that will let users to organize clips around designated categories. For those managing a large number of clips this will be a welcome addition. Previously, clips whether uploaded to a channel or to a regular account, simply went up in a semi-random order -- usually chronological. Users could organize their clips into playlists, but there was no way to group clips more completely. This change, which I've not yet tested out, will let the user decide how to organize their clips and will improve the user experience. Andy notes that this will make YouTube more Flickr-like.

Posted by Amanda Watlington at 9:19 AM | Permalink

March 27, 2007

The YouTube Video Contest – And the Winners Are . . .

The votes are in and counted for the first ever YouTube Video contest. The contest was designed to honor the best user-generated video of 2006.

The winners are:

Most Creative - OK Go: This music video with a scary treadmill theme also won a Grammy for "Best Short-Form Music Video” and has been viewed by 13 million people.

Most Inspirational - Free Hugs: A heart-warming video showing how folks respond to a free hug.

Best Series – Ask a Ninja: Created by L.A. comedians Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, this series of ninja answering questions would make Ann Landers or other advice columnists queasy.

Best Comedy – Smosh: The creators Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox, aka Smosh, have the number two most-subscribed channel on YouTube.

Best Music – Terranaomi: Terra Naomi, a YouTube success story now with a major record label, began vlogging and broadcasting live acoustic performances from her LA apartment in February 2006. She is the third most subscribed-to musician on YouTube.

Best Commentary – The Winekone: A half-naked man rants.

Most Adorable Video – Kiwi!: This film, Dony Permedi's master's thesis in animation with music Tim Cassell, is about the aspirations of a kiwi bird. Kiwi is the number one most watched Film and Animation video on YouTube with more than six million views.

If you are a fan of consumer-generated video, I recommend giving these winning videos a watch .

Posted by Amanda Watlington at 10:15 AM | Permalink

March 19, 2007

YouTube Announces 2007 YouTube Video Awards

According to an announcement made today, now is your chance to vote for 2007 YouTube Video Awards. These awards will honor the best user-created videos of 2006. The voting period begins on Monday, March 19 and ends on Friday, March 23 and is open to the YouTube community. To vote, community members will simply browse the award categories and place the nominees in their preferred rank order from their favorite to least favorite. The nominees have been selected from the site's most popular original videos and for ease in voting have are centralized in a gallery of separate lists, one for each award category. YouTube will announce the winners on YouTube on Monday, March 26. YouTube has indicated that the winners from each category will be prominently featured on the side and will receive a trophy.

Note: When I just went to browse the categories, I received a notice that the channel was not available. I'll keep an eye on this.

Posted by Amanda Watlington at 8:36 AM | Permalink

March 13, 2007

Viacom Sues YouTube, Google for $1 Billion

It had to happen sooner or later. Someone is suing Google via YouTube for $1 billion for massive copyright infringement.

Viacom filed a suit against them in New York court today, asking not only for the money but an immediate stop to the copyright infringement. The legal complaint claims over 160,000 Viacom clips are on YouTube and have had over 1.5 billion views.

Viacom issued the following press release after filing the papers.

"YouTube is a significant, for-profit organization that has built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others' creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent Google. Their business model, which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws. In fact, YouTube's strategy has been to avoid taking proactive steps to curtail the infringement on its site, thus generating significant traffic and revenues for itself while shifting the entire burden - and high cost - of monitoring YouTube onto the victims of its infringement.

This behavior stands in stark contrast to the actions of other significant distributors, who have recognized the fair value of entertainment content and have concluded agreements to make content legally available to their customers around the world.

There is no question that YouTube and Google are continuing to take the fruit of our efforts without permission and destroying enormous value in the process. This is value that rightfully belongs to the writers, directors and talent who create it and companies like Viacom that have invested to make possible this innovation and creativity.

After a great deal of unproductive negotiation, and remedial efforts by ourselves and other copyright holders, YouTube continues in its unlawful business model. Therefore, we must turn to the courts to prevent Google and YouTube from continuing to steal value from artists and to obtain compensation for the significant damage they have caused."

Posted by Frank Watson at 10:31 AM | Permalink

March 2, 2007

Test of YouTube AdSense Unit Reveals Clickthroughs

You may have noticed Google is testing a new ad format, which features YouTube videos inside an AdSense unit, as noted by Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff earlier this week.

According to technology analyst Amit Agarwal, the units reveal clickthroughs for the ads via a bug in YouTube's "links" feature. Agarwal notes that the feature, which is intended to show how many sites are linking to a YouTube-hosted video clip, and the number of clicks coming from those sites. An unexpected side-effect of that feature exposes the number of clickthroughs the ad receives, by listing the site that hosts the ad unit in the links list, and showing the number of clicks send to the video.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:02 AM | Permalink

February 28, 2007

Jump On The Video Distribution Bandwagon

Right now, web publishers of all stripes are busy developing video to entertain or inform visitors. The best video content engages your visitors and encourages them to spend additional time on your site.

In the rush to develop your site, you may not have focused on other traffic opportunities for your professionally-produced video. That rich video content can provide additional revenue streams outside your own domain.

In the old world order, this is called syndication. As an intellectual property holder, you sign contracts which grant licensing rights to others. In return, these licensees pay you based on where the video is shown, audience levels, specific channels, number of plays, and time periods.

In the age of YouTube, your audience is getting used to finding videos there and across the web. Thus it makes sense to solicit help from your site visitors. Encourage them to embed your videos on their own sites, blogs and pages. With ad pre-rolls and sponsorships attached to your own videos, you'll earn incremental revenue from this extended audience.

Fortunately the barriers to hosting video have fallen lately. Since you already host video on your own site, consider extending that support when it's embedded on other sites. Check out StreamingMedia.com, one of the better resources for tips and contacts.

Why go through this effort? Dan Rayburn presents a wake-up call in Broadcasting & Cable, telling publishers they should not “risk their videos' being marketed by other media outlets like bloggers and those who can drive traffic and awareness.” Publishers are advised to control their content distribution, so they can easily adjust their advertising as well.

External distribution isn't reserved for the biggest publishers anymore. It's true that some entertainment companies have been reacting to YouTube in recent weeks and going it alone. However this is an important matter for all video producers who want to maximize traffic and revenue opportunities – wherever their video appears.

Posted by at 12:58 AM | Permalink

February 2, 2007

MTV Networks Demands YouTube & Google Remove Unauthorized Videos

A Viacom spokesperson called me a few minutes ago, breaking this news, and sending along an official statement. Today, MTVNetworks and its parent company Viacom, are issuing an ultimatium to Google/YouTube: remove unauthorized content or else...

MTVNetworks/Viacom says that over 100,000 unauthorized clips of its video content – representing 1.2 billion video streams - appearing within Google and YouTube, must be removed immediately from its site.

The recent talk of adding short video ads ahead of content on YouTube may have been the last straw for MTV and Viacom, who clearly did not want Google to profit from showing unauthorized clips.

After months of ongoing discussions with YouTube and Google, it has become clear that YouTube is unwilling to come to a fair market agreement that would make Viacom content available to YouTube users. Filtering tools promised repeatedly by YouTube and Google have not been put in place, and they continue to host and stream vast amounts of unauthorized video. YouTube and Google retain all of the revenue generated from this practice, without extending fair compensation to the people who have expended all of the effort and cost to create it. The recent addition of YouTube-served content to Google Video Search simply compounds this issue. Virtually every other distributor has acknowledged the fair value of entertainment content and has taken deliberate steps to concluding agreements with content providers.

We have great respect for and loyalty to our audiences. We host more than 130 authorized web sites where millions of fans visit and interact with our content. Our internet portfolio has more visitors than any other entertainment company and we are always seeking distribution relationships to ensure that any of our products and services are easily accessible on every platform.

Our hope is that YouTube and Google will support a fair and authorized distribution model that allows consumers to continue to enjoy our very popular content now and in the future.

Posted by Elisabeth Osmeloski at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MTV/YouTube Spat Growing for Months?

Viacom's decision to issue a takedown notice to Google demanding the removal of all of its protected content from YouTube is not really a surprising move. Just this summer, Viacom teamed up with Google to promote its MTV Networks content on Google Video, in part to counteract the widespread use of its content on Youtube. MTV was the content provider in a test that wrapped video ads around its content on AdSense sites.

Even before Google bought YouTube, there were rumblings of secret deals with content owners to create rev-share deals to avoid this kind of legal action. Apparently Viacom was not one of the providers that reached an acceptable agreement.

Viacom was allegedly in talks late last year with Fox and NBC Universal to create a YouTube rival, but dropped out of those talks in December.

This legal action is also happening -- perhaps not coincidentally -- at the same time that Google is discussing ad options on YouTube. Another factor may be that Viacom is itself developing an ad-supported, user-generated video platform with ViTrue, talentload.tv.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:29 AM | Permalink

January 29, 2007

YouTube Video Creators to Share Ad Revenues

John Battelle reports that YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley has confirmed for the BBC after a session on social networking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that YouTube expects to roll out an ad model that includes revenue-sharing for video creators who upload their content to YouTube.

The advertising may include short clips inserted ahead of the video content. The revenue sharing offer will only be applicable to video content where the copyright is fully owned by the individual uploading the content. YouTube is still working out details of how the technology and the revenue-sharing model will work. Rollout is expected over the next couple of months. A similar revenue sharing advertising model is already available with Revver without the reach or popularity of YouTube. Similar to the advertising program proposed for YouTube, Revver only provides revenues to copyright owners and will not reward infringers.

Posted by Amanda Watlington at 8:14 AM | Permalink

January 26, 2007

Google, YouTube and Wikipedia are among top global brands

According to an annual survey by online magazine brandchannel.com, Google, Apple, YouTube, Wikipedia, Starbucks and Nokia are the top six global brands. YouTube was launched in 2005, Wikipedia was launched in 2001, and Google was launched in 1998. (Way back in the last century.)

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 1:13 PM | Permalink

January 14, 2007

Video From The Professionals

Everyone will be hawking their video wares at the NATPE conference this week. Some 8,000 attendees are expected in Las Vegas. Producers and programmers with original video will be on hand. While TV and cable executives will be licensing video as usual, they will be looking to distribute their existing assets online too. We wonder if the online wheeling and dealing will get even more attention than TV deals.

Ad Age reports on the growing broadband scene: "Gary Gannaway, president-CEO of local TV syndicator WorldNow and 20-year NATPE veteran, said consumers have proven their appetite to watch their favorite programming on any available platform." Both Brightcove and Revver will be there, getting deals with as many players as possible. They provide technology and syndication opportunities, and feel they are strong competitive threats to Google-YouTube. Where are the engines? MSN, Yahoo, Google and AOL will be there and wearing their content and distribution hats. Long Tail author Chris Anderson will present a keynote address, which is the closest NATPE comes to search training this year.

Posted by at 7:23 PM | Permalink

January 8, 2007

Online video usage increasing as TV viewing declines

Safa Rashtchy, Managing Director and Senior Internet Analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co., has just reported the results of their latest survey of online users, which suggests that video usage is rapidly increasing, while TV viewing is declining. Google's YouTube is the top destination for video, ahead of TV Networks, with Google Video itself in the third place.

Rashtchy says this "suggests the mainstreaming of video usage is going beyond just amateur videos." He adds, "While YouTube became popular because of its variety of user-generated videos, we believe YouTube has now established a solid position as the main destination for video consumption overall. Further, with a proper strategy, YouTube could secure the top market share as video consumption expands."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:48 AM | Permalink

News at Seven has an avatar for its news anchor

Kate Goodloe of The Wall Street Journal Online reports that an online show, called "News at Seven," is using "an automated computer program to comb online news outlets for major stories of the day and to pair them with video and still photos culled from sites like Google Images and YouTube. The newscast is delivered by an avatar."

Still in beta, News at Seven is a project of two computer-science graduate students and a professor at Northwestern University's Intelligent Information Laboratory, and was funded with a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:26 AM | Permalink

January 5, 2007

What about Targeting Video Ads?

According to MediaWeek, “Analysts and agency executives envision a new ad system that would use sophisticated targeting techniques to create ad messages users will want to watch.”

Someday tagging will connect video ads to video content. That's viable in the new world of YouTube and Google. Advertisers could buy video ads based on keywords. Then their ads play before or after videos tagged with those same keywords.

Brian Morrissey suggests an AdWords type system which "could choose from a vast pool of video spots for one relevant to the viewer."

For this to work, all publishers showing videos have to take a more active role in tagging as well.

Posted by at 4:56 PM | Permalink

December 14, 2006

YouTube shares secret of its home page picks

The clips featured on YouTube's home page are not paid placements, insists Jennifer Nielsen, the video-sharing site's marketing exec. "Our editorial team scours the site for the most entertaining, novel and unique content," she tells Mark Glaser of NPR." Some users have accused CBS of buying its way into YouTube's "Most Viewed" pages.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 2:25 PM | Permalink

December 12, 2006

YouTube featured in Coke campaign

Brian Morrissey of AdWeek reports that Coca-Cola has launched a YouTube promotion that taps several of the most popular video bloggers. This includes LisaNova, Geriatric1927 and Renetto.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 11:57 AM | Permalink

November 15, 2006

Google Holding $200 Million In Escrow For Possible YouTube Copyright Cases

First Google was rumored to be keeping $500 million back from the YouTube sale to settle possible legal problems. Then Google CEO Eric Schmidt said they weren't. Today, turns out they are. Google holds back stock in YouTube deal from the Associated Press covers the details about keeping 12.5 percent of the stock swap for one year "to secure certain indemnification obligations." What Eric Schmidt Meant When He Said Google Wasn't Holding $500 Million From YouTube For Lawsuits: We're Holding $200 Million from TechDirt does a summary, plus gives you a funny headline about the entire thing.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:12 AM | Permalink

November 14, 2006

Google Officially Buys YouTube

Yesterday, Google announced that they have officially closed the deal on YouTube, acquiring them for "3,217,560 shares, and restricted stock units, options and a warrant exercisable for or convertible into an aggregate of 442,210 shares, of Google's Class A common stock." For more details, please check out the press release.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:21 AM | Permalink

November 10, 2006

Battelle "Grilled" Schmidt On Google Video, Google Docs & More

PC Magazine has an excellent write up on John Battelle's interview with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google at the Web 2.0 conference named Google's Schmidt Grilled At Conference . John Battelle (which PC Mag spelled wrong), sat with Eric Schmidt for 30 minutes and asked him tough questions on YouTube, Google Docs & Spreadsheets and more. For example, Battelle asked, "So why did you buy YouTube? Was Google Video not doing well?" Battelle then noted that Google Docs and Spreadsheets were a Microsoft Office replacement, in which Schmidt replied, "We don't see it as a replacement of Office. The focus we have is not the focus they have." Battelle's response to that is the focus is that it is free. I wonder what the audience reaction was to this interview?

Postscript: Danny has coverage on the Web 2.0 conference from earlier this week here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:23 AM | Permalink

November 9, 2006

Microsoft, Ask & Fox On Google At Web 2.0

Photo from kennejima at Flickr

Yesterday, Ask and Microsoft talked about taking on Google at the Web 2.0 Summit. But honestly, the highlight for me was the image of Microsoft's Steve Berkowitz sitting next to Ask's Jim Lanzone. Lanzone use to work for Steve, then took over his spot running Ask when Steve left. Both remain good friends, and it was cool to see them up on that panel side by side.

ZDNet covered what they said, plus they have an even better side-by-side photo. Jim's push in taking on Google is that its vulnerability is being distracted by projects other than search. He also puts out this new line I haven't heard used before: "Google is the model T of search. Over time peoples' needs evolve." But I heard you can have search in any color you want, as long as it's black!

Steve talked about consumer experience, the idea that search within IM might be presented differently than within a community site. Plus, he talked about Google's weakness in terms of cultural issues, such as still learning how to act as a public company.

Greg Linden also has a short write-up of the talk, looking at the question about personalized search. Steve wanted to give users complete control of their data. Jim was more pessimistic on personalized search, seemingly in terms of users actually helping with it, since more are "lazy" and don't want to customize things, which is pretty true.

Greg points over at InternetNews, which has another write-up of the talk -- this time with Microsoft CTO Ray Ozzie saying in the fight against Google, there is "immense opportunity in the core space" that he's "surprised" Microsoft hasn't branched into. I take core space to mean search.

At PaidContent.org, Ross Levinsohn of Fox Interactive is noted to have said it was "genuine" of Google CEO Eric Schmidt to have visited so quickly after Google snapped YouTube away from a possible purchase by Fox. Plus, he offers soothing words that YouTube would have been "fun" to own but Fox couldn't do it at that price.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:50 AM | Permalink

Google Video Sued, Plus More Info From New SEC Filing

The Associate Press reports that Google Video was actually sued for copyright infringement but yet, Google did not reveal who actually sued them. The lawsuit was disclosed by Google via a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (link via Gary, but we do not know much more. PaidContent reports (site currently down), that Google may loan YouTube money prior to closing the deal with them, in order to help them settle or battle certain lawsuits.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:02 AM | Permalink

November 8, 2006

Eric Schmidt At Web 2.0 On YouTube & Other Issues

John Battelle spoke with Eric Schmidt at Web 2.0 yesterday. What have we got? YouTube's growth made it a necessary purchase. No, money's not set aside to cover YouTube legal claims. Yes, you can have your date if you want it, users. No, Google's not trying to take out Microsoft Office. Plus some more below.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt: We would never trap user data from ZDNet has coverage that has Schmidt saying:

• Google bought YouTube because it was growing faster than Google Video, and video was a "fundamental data type" to Google.
• Google's still figuring out ways to compensate content owners with video, a complex area.
• Google would support exporting personal data (search history, email, etc) to other providers, if it can be authenticated.
• Google's office products are "casual" and not aimed at Microsoft.

Google CEO denies rumor of YouTube legal reserve from Reuters quotes Schmidt as saying "not true" to a rumor that $500 million of the YouTube sales prices was set aside for legal claims.

@ Web 2.0: Day One Highlights: Ad 2.0; Google CEO; Skype Content from PaidContent covers Schmidt but also touches on IAC's Barry Diller saying in a separate interview that he doesn't expect Google will become a media monopoly or dominant player.

Web 2.0 Con: Liveblogging the "Conversation with Eric Schmidt" from Valleywag has a nice minute-by-minute rundown of the interview, for those that want more -- and covers that if Schmidt or one of the cofounders Larry Page or Sergey Brin don't agree on something, the cofounder wins. "I'm the one with the experience who's late. Left to their own devices they'd be early and right, but too early."

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 5:34 AM | Permalink

November 7, 2006

YouTube, TIME's Best Invention Of 2006

If you missed it, TIME released their best inventions of 2006 and the best invention at the top of the list was YouTube. Why did it win?

YouTube is ultimately more interesting as a community and a culture, however, than as a cash cow. It's the fulfillment of the promise that Web 1.0 made 15 years ago. The way blogs made regular folks into journalists, YouTube makes them into celebrities. The real challenge old media face isn't protecting their precious copyrighted material. It's figuring out what to do when the rest of us make something better. As Hurley puts it, "How do you stay relevant when people can entertain themselves?" He and his partners may have started YouTube, but the rest of us, in our basements and bedrooms, with our broadband and our webcams, invented it.

So now that Google is going to buy YouTube, they need to make sure this invention doesn't drown in legal battles.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:05 AM | Permalink

November 6, 2006

Google Wins Right To Buy YouTube In Antitrust Review

The Chicago Tribune reports that Google has won the right to buy YouTube after antitrust authorities reviewed the documents by the Federal Trade Commission. So now it is official, Google can go through with the acquisition of YouTube for $1.65 billion.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:49 AM | Permalink

November 3, 2006

Google Working To Stop Lawsuits Over YouTube

The Financial Times reports that Eric Schmidt's Google is running from media company to media company trying to offer upfront cash, in sums of "tens of millions of dollars," to slow and "halt" the threat they pose to YouTube. FT.com says that Schmidt met with CBS, Viacom, Time Warner, NBC Universal, News Corp and others recently. There are some more details over at paidContent.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:27 AM | Permalink

October 31, 2006

More Details On YouTube & Google Acquisition

Blog Maverick has some intimate details on the Google YouTube Deal from a "trusted anonymous author" in a message board. Here are some of the excerpts:

The first request was a simple one and that was an agreement to look the other way for the next 6 months or so while copyright infringement continues to flourish. The second request was to pile some lawsuits on competitors to slow them down and lock in Youtube's position. Infringement lawsuits will be served on Youtube and the new proud parent Google in the coming months. Google will respond with two paths: an expensive legal fight or a quick and easy settlement with most choosing the latter.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:26 AM | Permalink

October 20, 2006

YouTube Deletes 30,000 Japanese Media Files & Deals With Record Labels

Reuters reports that YouTube erased 29,549 films and media files after receiving a complaint from "Japanese media companies over copyright infringement." Around the same time, the NY Times informs us that Music Companies Grab a Share of the YouTube Sale. The article says that the $50 million earned from this deal "should help to shield Google from copyright-infringement lawsuits." Universal Music last week sued two smaller video sharing sites but not YouTube, for distributing pirated music and videos. Techdirt feels that the last minute deal with the music companies before Google buying them was YouTube basically handing over to "the labels Google's cash before any official deal was completed."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:18 AM | Permalink

October 13, 2006

Upload Videos To Google's Picasa

Philipp Lenssen reports that you can upload your videos to Google's Picasa web albums if you wanted to. Philipp links to this sample video of a kid doing chin ups. As an FYI, you can now upload videos to Google Video, YouTube (soon to be owned by Google) and now Google's Picasa. Options, options and more options -- too much?

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:58 AM | Permalink

Time Warner: YouTube Copyright Negotiations To Be "Kicked Up" To Google

Google faces copyright fight over YouTube from The Guardian cover how chair and CEO of Time Warner Dick Parsons said his company plans to go after YouTube for copyright violations. It's still talk rather than legal actions:

Mr Parsons told the Guardian: "You can assume we're in negotiations with YouTube and that those negotiations will be kicked up to the Google level in the hope that we can get to some acceptable position."

I'm sure it will get kicked up. And it shouldn't be hard to get the right people connected given that the AOL part of Time Warner already has an existing distribution deal with Google. Of course, if that fails, it should be interesting to see if Time Warner sues a copy that has a five percent ownership stake in AOL. Related coverage and commentary can be found via Techmeme, here.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:35 AM | Permalink

October 12, 2006

Ballmer: YouTube Overvalued & Google Transferring Wealth From Content Owners

The Web According to Ballmer from BusinessWeek has Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer questioning the value of the Google-YouTube deal and oddly warning that Google is transferring wealth away from rights holders. It's an odd statement, since that's what Microsoft wants to do as well.

First the questioning of the YouTube value:

[You've got to ask] could Google do whatever it is they're hoping to buy without paying $1.6 billion? Is YouTube really some permanent, long-term thing, or is it a fashion?....Right now, there's no business model for YouTube that would justify $1.6 billion.

Though strangely, when BusinessWeek tries to pindown what seems a clear statement that Google overpaid, Ballmer says:

I'm not saying it is overvalued. I'm not trying to say that. It depends on a set of factors. I'm not saying I wouldn't write a check for that amount of money. I might.

And back to the controversial statement about Google's relations with content:

And what about the rights holders? At the end of the day, a lot of the content that's up there is owned by somebody else.

The truth is what Google is doing now is transferring the wealth out of the hands of rights holders into Google. So media companies around the world are all threatened by Google. Why? Because basically Google is telling you how much of your ad revenue you get to keep. They better get some competition. Us. Yahoo! (YHOO). Somebody better break through or you can short all media stocks right now. As long as there are two, you can hold onto media stocks. Google understands that. And that's one reason why they're willing to lose money up front.

Microsoft has its own video sharing service up, Soapbox. It has a question answering service, Q&A. It has an entire search engine that crawls the web like Google, Windows Live. Microsoft has plans for contextual placement of ads on pages, similar to AdSense. It's specific to MSN content now, but that will inevitably change. All of these things leverage the content of others in order to make money from Microsoft. So if these actions leverage wealth away from content owners, Microsoft is just as guilty of it as Google.

Frankly, all Ballmer seems to be saying is content owners would be better off if Microsoft was a strong third participant in ad game. Sure -- but let's not kid ourselves. Microsoft gets a lot better off by that as well, and it didn't jump into the game out of some desire to counter-balance the power of Google. It's in it to make as much money as it can, as well.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:42 AM | Permalink

October 11, 2006

MySpace Threatens YouTube After Google's Buyout

A Wall Street Journal article shows how the folks over at News Corp., the owners of MySpace.com, have threatened to cut "off the MySpace links to YouTube" because YouTube didn't respond to News Corp's email request to have an "opportunity to participate in the sale process." Google with YouTube and News Corp. with MySpace are to meet this week in LA to "discuss new ways of working together." The Wall Street Journal explains that News Corp. is threatened by the acquisition of YouTube by Google, making YouTube a much more powerful competitor to the MySpace property.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:44 AM | Permalink

October 10, 2006

Recapping Coverage Of Google's Acquisition Of YouTube

I don't have a ton to say about the Google acquisition of YouTube. That's because to me, it's more an eyeball landgrab than a search development. There's no doubt people search for video on YouTube, and getting the leading property will help Google. But the searching isn't the deep dive video search involving transcripts linked to video clips or other technological advances you might think Google would want in a more in a true search deal. This, to me, is basically YouTube as a hot property that Google hasn't been able to replicate with its own Google Video.

In particular, Google sees online video ads as a big step forward in generating revenue (rather than organizing information). Getting YouTube makes much sense, in that regard. YouTube has the eyeballs watching video. Google wants to shove ads in front of those eyeballs.

Various people see sense in YouTube diving for the copyright cover that Google's somehow supposedly going to extend. I don't know what super copyright protection technology they're expecting Google to cook up. To date, Google has had plenty of copyright violations it struggles with.

Overall, the biggest takeaway for me is how the YouTube purchase is the end of an era of Google buying small. To date, most purchases have been tiny. But with loads of cash in its pockets, Google's jumped into the second round of billion dollar purchases of web sites that's been going on.

Some headlines from the ample coverage out there that particularly caught my eye.

• Google To Acquire YouTube for $1.65 Billion in Stock - Press release covering the $1.65 billion all stock deal leaving YouTube to operate independently, with the deal to close in the fourth quarter of this year.  
• Google-YouTube WebCast - Follow the links on this page to watch the press conference from yesterday. Ironically, I can't find the conference having been posted to Google Video or YouTube. A Message From Chad and Steve is a video message about the sale from YouTube's cofounders.  
• SeekingAlpha's Google Transcripts - Transcripts of Google's financial discussions often posted here. So far, one from the deal is not up. That might change, though perhaps not, since this wasn't an earnings call.  
• Google to Acquire YouTube for $1.65 Billion - New York Times overview coverage, noting that Microsoft, Yahoo, Viacom and News Corporation were also interested. YouTube to stay mainly independent. YouTube cofounder Chad Hurley said his company wanted to stay independent and the sale makes it "still the case." We'll see.  
• Google Looks To Boost Ads With YouTube - Wall Street Journal overview coverage, paid subscription required. Nice chart on some past Google acquisitions. Nice detail on YouTube rejecting an earlier lower offer from Google and Yahoo's 24 hour offer expiring, with Yahoo having concerns about copyright and revenue issues. Touches on the deal threatening to create a rift between Google and News Corp, which owns MySpace, the biggest property in the ad deal Google and News Corp signed in August.  
• Google to buy YouTube in its biggest deal yet - Reuters overview coverage.  
• Google snaps up YouTube for $1.65B - Associated Press overview coverage.  
• Google acquires YouTube for $1.65 billion - Niall Kennedy points out how the purchase price is similar to eBay's huge acquisition price of PayPal.  
• What Google's YouTube deal means for Microsoft - Seattle Press Intelligencer looks at Microsoft thinking Google paid too much.  
• I still think Google is crazy :) - Mark Cuban figures one copyright lawsuit will put Google out of business. Perhaps. Then again, we heard that about click fraud. What happened? Google paid an incredibly tiny amount to wipe out click fraud exposure in the US and continues to rake in the profits. Google does have digital rights management on video it sells, unlike what he says. And since YouTube apparently has one copyright case against it already, Google's already getting into that hot water now. Time will tell how it plays out.  
• YouTube, your copyright and Google - News.com has a nice look at copyright issues with YouTube, such as takedown notices and automatic detection.  
• Google YouTube Conference Call - Search Engine Journal with conference call coverage.  
• Google buys YouTube for $1.65 billion - Silicon Valley Watcher with conference call coverage.  
• First Blush on GooTube - Conference Call - John Battelle with some conference call coverage. I'm with him on the point that Blogger was an out-of-brand purchase for Google, as was Deja before that -- but neither approached this scale or degree of autidence.  
• Google/YouTube Conference Call - InsideGoogle with conference call coverage.  
• GOOG-YouTube: Conference Call: No Name Change; Audio - PaidContent on conference call coverage.  
• Google Purchases YouTube for $1.65B - Google Watch, with this quote from the conference call from Sergey Brin: "We spend a lot of time working on our two core areas of search and advertising," said Brin. "And when you think about search, when you want an explanation about something, what better way than to actually see it in video?" Also notes Google Video's not going away.  
• Google Acquires YouTube, Becomes the Archetypal Media Company - The story's pretty short, but I liked this headline and Publishing 2.0. Yes, spare us the argument Google's not a media company. YouTube is simply another way Google will effectively own lots and lots of media to show ads.  
• One way to look at it - Very short post by Blogger founder Evan Williams, and right on target: "It's a great example of how and why a focused startup can compete with the big guys. Google not only had a video product that was a competitor, they started it before YouTube existed. Then YouTube came along an kicked their butt into paying through the nose for them." Googlers are surprised from him also notes three Googlers expressing disbelief or amazement.  
• Deal creates new Valley stars - San Jose Mercury News with good backstory on the birth of YouTube.  

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:08 AM | Permalink

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