Bit of a Multi-media post today...

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There are hirez versions of the panaramas over at Flickr

Advertising and Web Video

I read an article on user resistance to video advertising being attached to the beginnings and or ends of their uploaded clips.

From the Splashcast blog…

Survey Says: Ads in Videos Are Annoying

by admin

An interesting new survey of web users by Burst Media this month found that most people do not like advertisements placed in online video, few people pay particularly close attention to them and a significant portion of viewers leave a site all together when they see ads placed in videos. These aren’t surprising conclusions to come to. (via)

From the write up of the survey:
Among respondents, one out of two (52.7%) say they typically continue watching video content once they encounter an advertising unit; 40.4% say they typically stop watching.
Interestingly, one-quarter (27.9%) of respondents who stop watching video content once they encounter an advertisement also say they immediately leave the website…three quarters (77.5%) of respondents say advertisements in online video are intrusive..

What does this mean for video sharing companies and video content creators? It’s something that needs to be discussed widely.
It’s hard to say whether there will be an ongoing consumer backlash, almost all new media face struggles to become economically viable while early consumers yearn for content free of advertising. I don’t particularly like pre-roll ads myself, though I try to click on all the post-roll ads I see in videos I like just to support all the people involved.

Google AdSense is far and away the most profitable form of online advertising that’s emerged of late but that’s in large part because many people don’t recognize the text link ads as ads at all! Other media have found that the initial backlash fades when consumers begin to empathize with content creators and delivery services. At least that’s been the case where advertising has been kept low-key.

For now at least, advertisers are willing to pay far more for ads that run before videos than for those running after. If the practice of leaving a site all together upon seeing a video ad becomes common, though, pre-roll ads may not be the most valuable in the long term.
Post-roll ads are of questionable impact, though. Just yesterday, for example, Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson of FreeVlog and RyanIsHungry cited the unproved viability for all but the biggest stars of Revver’s post-roll ads with revenue sharing when they explained their decision to work with Podtech.
As we move towards launch here at SplashCast, we’re feeling a real need to explore revenue streams other than pre or post-roll video ads. Other than white-labeling software (a great approach), there are not a lot of alternatives that have been brought to market yet. We’ve got some interesting ideas we’re working on.

I think the questions brought up by this Burst Media survey are of general interest to anyone who uses the web. If pre-roll ads drive away viewers and post-roll ads are not worth very much - what models are likely to emerge with strength in the coming months?
From infrastructure providers to content creators, people need and deserve to be able to afford the time and energy it takes to make the thriving ecosystem of online media continue growing.

I’ve been thinking about a solution that would allow advertising to be less obtrusive when attached to uploaded clips.
I’ve noticed that companies such as YouTube like to watermark their videos.

As an example…

I did a short clip of a ‘Walk Against Warming’ protest march a while back.
The clip has a short intro title sequence.

Potentially, I could have uploaded this video to a site such as Splashcast, and be presented with a series of clients compiled by the people running the site.
I scroll down and find a sponsor that I feel fits my clip, say Green Peace.
I select this sponsor and when my video is posted on the site, a watermark with the Green Peace logo and a corporate message is overlayed across the bottom of the clip (or some user selected zone.)

The watermark appears for a standard minimum time period before fading out. If I don’t want to have the watermark on the content, I make sure the titles I’ve built run for this minimum time.
The video producer may elect to keep the watermark up for a longer period of time, and the sponsor pays extra for this extended time under the viewer’s eyeballs.
If the watermark is clicked on, the video producer also receives a ‘click’ fee.
Content producers may feel comfortable with a series of sponsor messages appearing during the running of their clips?
Eg: The Mentos in the Coke bottle guys might well choose to have a Coke logo floating for half the clip, after which a Mentos watermark appears.

This system may be self policing in that most content producers would try to find a sponsor match, most likely to gain them ‘click’ fee’s.
You may find that content producers end up highlighting the watermark to improve the ‘click’ rate
(there would also be parody potential :-)

Possibly a site generated sponsor roll at the end of the clip would also be an option for those who would accept a smaller fee for having the end of their clip tagged?
Some people may go for all the options!

Sponsor controls

There may be problems with sponsors not wishing to be associated with a video.
The sponsor can ‘pull’ the watermark at any time.
When a video is initially uploaded to the distribution site, there should be a one day ‘cooling off’ period where the video is withheld from the public.
The sponsor has the opportunity to refuse to be associated with that clip.
If the content provider chooses not to have a sponsors watermark, the clip would appear immediately.
Content providers could have a sliding scale of ‘trust worthiness’ that can be used to speed up the process.
New providers might have to wait a week for approval.
The content provider should be allowed to select three sponsors in case their first preference pulls their approval.

Customisation

The thing with Googles Ad Sence is that they give the content producer a large degree of customisation.
A video site could do the same thing with the watermarks and all options would modulate the payout to the content provider.
The content producer could select from three levels of transparency. Solid pays the best, highly ghosted pays the least.
Control over how long does the watermarks appear after the default time limit has passed?
Choose whether the watermarks appear at the beginning, during, or in a sponsor roll at the end of the clip?

Entry for January 10, 2007: I’ve been back at work since Monday.

Spent the weekend cleaning. Read about the Japanese nationwide spring-clean on the web...

One of the Japanese traditions I most anticipate is The Great Cleaning that proceeds New Year's Day -- otherwise known as o-sooji. (The o is honorific denoting greatness, sooji means cleaning.)

Traditionally, New Year's in Japan was a time to wipe the slate clean of the cobwebs: debts, grudges, unfinished business as well as the thin filaments hanging from the ceiling and dust bunnies behind refrigerators. Much has gone the way of the samurai dressed in warfare armour but the spirit of the tradition remains intact.

So on the days leading up to New Year's, workers, business owners and homemakers commit their time, spray bottles and buckets, cleansers and rags, dusters and mops, and hands and knees to cleaning their properties. Homes are scrubbed top to bottom -- windows too! Employers "knock off early" so employees can clean their desks. Shopkeepers from the operators of the small noodle shops and izakaya (Japanese pubs) to the large department stores will emerge from behind closed doors and be seen sweeping steps, sidewalks and stoops. Mostly men but many women too will be scrubbing their automobiles spotless and placing on the hood small ornamental pieces of greenery representing fresh tidings.


Only today have I cleared the pile of ironing I had sitting on the bed. I bought clothes for the new year in the sales.

I finished off the yearly ‘family type stuff’ with a drive up to dads farm for a couple of days of country fresh air last week.
It was nice to see big fluffy cottonwool clouds in the sky as I drove up the highway.
Currently blue skies are drought skies over here.

I think that the happiest I’ve been in a long while, was driving up to dads and back. Not the arriving there, but the drive itself.
Threading through the country side, music blasting out of the radio, stopping off in tiny rural towns for drinks and snacks.


I helped dad round up some calves, then we snagged their ears with electronic tags.
I’ve read about this sort of measure in the U.S. where animals are tracked by computer to quickly shut down disease outbreaks like BSE or foot and mouth.
After seeing the chaotic business of animal movement in the U.K. I reckon this is probably a good thing.

The calves in the 'cattle crush' (metal fence arrangement designed to allow a single person to handle half a ton of unhappy muscle and bone) were shitting all over the place, and I’m told that the dogs like to lick it up, especially when the wind has formed a bit of a crust on top (hay I felt sick after hearing the story, I’m just passing on the joy!)

There were also the swarms of flies, which didn't seem to bug dad very much. I guess that's what you get when you lump a group of animals together in one spot.
A while back, dung beetles were introduced to the area in an attempt to reduce the 'turdage' (that's an official measurement. much like tonnage.)

While the calves were penned up, we cut marking wedges out of their ears, and I’m told that the weirdly intelligent Indian Minor birds like to peck away at the discarded triangles of flesh. These sly little buggers were perched strategically (trust me when I say that this word is very apt for Indian Minors) around the area while they waited for the humans to clear out.
Dad finished the job, with trickles of blood running down one hand.

As usual when visiting parents (even at my age) I arrived home totting a bundle of food.
A bag of cherries, Chocolate brownies and a slice of pizza for my lunch.



Aims for the New Year…
I’m thinking that it would be nice to finally fix up the kitchen, so I’ve got that to look forward to.
Post more videos.
Get a flat mate, or turn my residence into an illegal b&b.

I’ve been back at work since Monday.

Spent the weekend cleaning. I was reading about the Japanese nationwide spring-clean on waterbaby blog.
Only today have I cleared the pile of ironing I had sitting on the bed.

I finished off the yearly ‘family type stuff’ with a drive up to dads farm for a couple of days of country fresh air last week.

It was nice to see big fluffy cottonwool clouds in the sky as I drove up the highway.
Currently blue skies are drought skies over here.

I think that the happiest I’ve been in a long while, was driving up to dads and back. Not the arriving there, but the drive itself.
Threading through the country side, music blasting out of the radio, stopping off in tiny rural towns for drinks and snacks.

I helped dad round up some calves, then we snagged their ears with electronic tags.
I’ve read about this sort of measure in the U.S. where animals are tracked by computer to quickly shut down disease outbreaks like BSE or foot and mouth.
After seeing the chaotic business of animal movement in the U.K. I reckon this is probably a good thing.

As usual when visiting parents I arrived home totting a bundle of food.
A bag of cherries, Chocolate brownies and a slice of pizza for my lunch.

Entry for January 07, 2007: New years message

Hiya,
It’s a new year and I’m back to blogging.


First up, Christmas.
I can be a 'grumpy old man' when this time of year rolls around.
I don't have a TV so I get to miss a big chunk of the commercialisation type thing, and this has helped reduce the degree of season surliness.
Some of the best Christmas’s I've had, was when I was travelling and living in hostels.
Christmas would be a coming together of all the strangers that were living in the hostel at that moment.
Not having friends and family around forced everyone together and it was simple and nice.

No baggage or expectation, Just food and fellowship.


This year I was a dirty whiner, and told everyone that I was sick of spending the Christmas/New year period isolated in my flat next to the beach in sunny shiny Sydney (yeah I know, I said I was a dirty whiner)
So I had heaps of invitations suddenly appearing (I will take anything from a ‘pity fuck’ down to a ‘pity dinner party’ or ‘pity meet up for a cup of coffee.’)

My immediate relatives and I got together the day before Christmas. Four generations sitting around a long table, the top of which was uneven as it was jerry rigged from a series of small table’s hidden beneath a couple of table cloths.
I think I made the comment ‘when did we become the Walton’s?’
All the girls were trying to out ‘domestic goddess’ each other. All the boys were trying to out talk each other.
At one point I visited the toilet which was down the other end of the house, and realising the I could still hear everyone perfectly, muttered to myself ‘gee we make a lot of noise when we all get together!’

The thing with ‘hanging out’ with family is that I don’t get a choice in who these people are. So I get to hang out with all sorts, including people with right wing political views. These people have started making comments like ‘what a disaster Bush has been,’ and I’m left weirded out that it’s taken them almost seven years to work this out.


Christmas day dawned grey, and it was real quiet out on the streets (I set fire to a couple of cars and no one noticed.)
A ‘quiet one,’ is where the family has disappeared off to celebrations with their partners families.
I detoxed by drinking a few refreshing G&T’s. Ate oven fries, crumbed fish, and drained a bottle of red for Christmas dinner.
Afternoon saw some golden rays bathing the city.


Boxing Day
Saw me arriving for dinner with my mates. A lovely couple who have a deaf little dog, a brilliant liquor cabinet, and who have finally found a sunny corner for their two ‘pot plants.’

Then there was a BBQ with an ‘inner circle’ group from work, so my commitment to building contacts within the industry is proceeding nicely.
There was the usual bitching about our respective employers.
Most of the people had bought their kids along, so in the future I will need to find a child that I can steal for a night.


Chilled out till New Years Eve, where I joined a billon other bodies in the city.
In Sydney a lot of people gather down at the harbour where we watch fireworks mounted to the high curving iron span of the harbour bridge, from barges floating down in the harbour, and from a few of the tall buildings in the city.
The fireworks started and the concussive shock of the ignitions, showers of sparks reflected in walls of windows, the spotlights mounted on the bridge, sweeping the swirling gunpowder smoke haze, was giving me World War Two flash backs, and I wasn’t born then!
One of the rocket platforms floated in the harbour twenty meters away from where I was standing.
My clothing shivered, and the wharf that I was standing on shook with each air burst over head.
Supposedly three tons of crackers where burnt that night.

I was standing close to a group of girls who were screaming in some sort of prepubescent multi orgasmic release.
I kept looking around to see if Robbie Williams or Johnny Depp had suddenly materialised somewhere nearby.
I left around two, and noticed on the way back home that lot’s of women were wearing really impractical footwear. Lots of minuscule-flappy-sandaled-heeled numbers. I reckon some would be cleaning out between their toes when they got home, what with all the debris lying around like mashed cans spilling puddles of beer, cigarette butts, broken glass bottles, vomit, possibly blood, and sticky discarded chips smothered in tomato sauce.

The only people more busy then the buses and street sweepers at two that morning, were the ambulance crews.

New years message

Hiya,
It’s a new year and I’m back to blogging.

I was hoping to get a few things finished off last year like the Spanish dolphins peice, but December has been pretty busy, so I’ll finish these items off in the next couple of weeks.

First up, Christmas.
I can be a 'grumpy old man' when this time of year rolls around.
I don't have a TV so I get to miss a big chunk of the commercialisation type thing, and this has helped reduce the degree of season surliness.
Some of the best Christmas’s I've had, was when I was travelling and living in hostels.
Christmas would be a coming together of all the strangers that were living in the hostel at that moment.
Not having friends and family around forced everyone together and it was simple and nice.

No baggage or expectation, Just food and fellowship.

This year I was a dirty whiner, and told everyone that I was sick of spending the Christmas/New year period isolated in my flat next to the beach in sunny shiny Sydney (yeah I know, I said I was a dirty whiner)
So I had heaps of invitations suddenly appearing (I will take anything from a ‘pity fuck’ down to a ‘pity dinner party’ or ‘pity meet up for a cup of coffee.’)

My immediate relatives and I got together the day before Christmas. Four generations sitting around a long table, the top of which was uneven as it was jerry rigged from a series of small table’s hidden beneath a couple of table cloths.
I think I made the comment ‘when did we become the Walton’s?’
All the girls were trying to out ‘domestic goddess’ each other. All the boys were trying to out talk each other.
At one point I visited the toilet which was down the other end of the house, and realising the I could still hear everyone perfectly, muttered to myself ‘gee we make a lot of noise when we all get together!’

The thing with ‘hanging out’ with family is that I don’t get a choice in who these people are. So I get to hang out with all sorts, including people with right wing political views. These people have started making comments like ‘what a disaster Bush has been,’ and I’m left weirded out that it’s taken them almost seven years to work this out.

Christmas day dawned grey, and it was real quiet out on the streets (I set fire to a couple of cars and no one noticed.)
A ‘quiet one,’ is where the family has disappeared off to celebrations with their partners families.
I detoxed by drinking a few refreshing G&T’s. Ate oven fries, crumbed fish, and drained a bottle of red for Christmas dinner.
Afternoon saw some golden rays bathing the city.

Boxing Day saw me arriving for dinner with my mates. A lovely couple who have a deaf little dog, a brilliant liquor cabinet, and who have finally found a sunny corner for their two ‘pot plants.’

Then there was a BBQ with an ‘inner circle’ group from work, so my commitment to building contacts within the industry is proceeding nicely.
There was the usual bitching about our respective employers.
Most of the people had bought their kids along, so in the future I will need to find a child that I can steal for a night.

Chilled out till New Years Eve, where I joined a billon other bodies in the city.
In Sydney a lot of people gather down at the harbour where we watch fireworks mounted to the high curving iron span of the harbour bridge, from barges floating down in the harbour, and from a few of the tall buildings in the city.
The fireworks started and the concussive shock of the ignitions, showers of sparks reflected in walls of windows, the spotlights mounted on the bridge, sweeping the swirling gunpowder smoke haze, was giving me World War Two flash backs, and I wasn’t born then!
One of the rocket platforms floated in the harbour twenty meters away from where I was standing.
My clothing shivered, and the wharf that I was standing on shook with each air burst over head.
Supposedly three tons of crackers where burnt that night.

I was standing close to a group of girls who were screaming in some sort of prepubescent multi orgasmic release.
I kept looking around to see if Robbie Williams or Johnny Depp had suddenly materialised somewhere nearby.
I left around two, and noticed on the way back home that lot’s of women were wearing really impractical footwear. Lots of minuscule-flappy-sandaled-heeled numbers. I reckon some would be cleaning out between their toes when they got home, what with all the debris lying around like mashed cans spilling puddles of beer, cigarette butts, broken glass bottles, vomit, possibly blood, and sticky discarded chips smothered in tomato sauce.

The only people more busy then the buses and street sweepers at two that morning, were the ambulance crews.

Video distribution sites.

There are an amazing number of online video sites these days.

Here’s my current list…

http://www.nowpublic.com/
(Current affairs orientated)

http://www.myspace.com/
(Murdock’s evil empire)

http://video.google.com/
(best quality playback that I’ve found so far)

http://www.youtube.com/
(Owned by Google, and recently overtaken in ‘hits’ by MySpace.)

http://one.revver.com
(Supposedly these guys pay per view)

http://www.brightcove.com/
(potentially huge Uber site)

http://www.ning.com
(These people are a bit of a pain to use, but the Geotagging is cool)

http://portal.vpod.tv
(Euro chic)

http://www.veoh.com/
(Some interesting features like auto cross posting and have a P2P content distribution.

I’ve posted the links in the bar on the right.

I wonder who will be still around in a couple of year’s time?
This list will grow before it shrinks.