Friday, October 1, 2010

Demographic Behaviour - Video Sharing Sites

Despite the increase in video-sharing, new surveys have shown that many adults have mixed feelings about how their video is shared on the free video sharing websites. While 31% of uploaders say they “always” place restrictions on who can access their videos, 50% say they “never” restrict access. The remaining 19% fall somewhere in the middle. And while there is almost universal appreciation for the ease with which video sharing sites allow uploaders to share video with family and friends, a considerable number (35%) also feel they should be more careful about what they post.”So while video-sharing is clearly trending upward, we find that many adults are insecure about posting video online.”

“Seven in ten adult internet users (69%) have used the internet to watch or download video. That represents 52% of all adults in the United States. Driven by the popularity of online video among 18-29 year-olds, there have been dramatic increases since 2007 in the number of American adults watching. Here are the numbers:

• Comedy or humorous videos, rising in viewership from 31% of adult internet users in 2007 to 50% of adult internet users in the current survey.
• Educational videos, rising in viewership from 22% to 38% of adult internet users.
• Movies or TV show videos, rising in viewership from 16% to 32% of adult internet users.
• Political videos, rising in viewership from 15% to 30% of adult internet users

Changing Approaches Of Video Sharing Sites

Amateur and personal video is catching on again and competition is heating up between top companies as the Internet draws more people to share their videos online.

One such service, YouTube, is approaching its year anniversary as a consumer media company that allows uploading, tagging and sharing of personal video clips.

The company reports more than 6 million videos served up daily and active members who number into the hundreds of thousands on its site which allows free browsing, embedded codes on other sites, secure showings, social networks and playlists.

YouTube, founded in February 2005, competes with similar sites like DropShots.com for the growing number of amateur video enthusiast though they boast slightly different strengths.

DropShots draws people sharing video with family and friends -- as opposed to the world at large. It is different in that it is one of the most popular non commercial sites.

Most video sharing sites feature commercial material today. Others trying to grab a slice of the market, which was virtually non-existent a few years ago, are: Vimeo, Sharkle, Grouper and VideoEgg. Twitter is the latest service, after social networking sites, Facebook and Orkut to give into video sharing options. Commercial options are visible in a big way on all these sites, unlike a few years ago.

How Twitter Helps Real Time Video Updates

The changing face of video sharing is affecting more and more fields. Recently there was fire that broke out near Utah at an army machine gun facility. The fire burned over 20 thousand acres, and they evacuated may be 1,700 homes. It lit up the Utah skyline. You could see the fire from everywhere, but you couldn’t see local television news coverage of what was happening. So people were taking videos with their cell phones, and were attaching that video to their tweets. Then the local news stations were actually picking up people’s twitter feeds and using those videos as part of the community updates (or visual updates).

A year ago you wouldn’t have gone to twitter for the real time updates. Before this, you would have had to have gone to a local news station or maybe to Google itself and try and search for data that was probably several hours old. But now with the new twitter, you get real time video that is both very interesting and timely. You get multiple videos in real time from different local perspectives – local videos coming in all over twitter, different fires, different houses burning, and evacuation of animals – all kinds of things that were happening.

Video Listings In Real Time Search Results

Search engines are connecting video as a highly ranking component for organic search results, and often video is a very ‘real time’ search result – which is what the search engines value greatly.

Video in search results is often of live events, a recent string of events, or recently recorded events – so it’s started to contribute to quick results in improving search engine rankings particularly as it pertains to Google (which is two-thirds of the search market today). So if you’re able to post the video along with your tweet, then Google is also showing a liking for tweets as a potential search as well. So with video and twitter, you’re kind of ‘doubling down’ on your visibility in the search engines with twitter video – with real time update through the tweet, as well as real time content through video. People who tweet are simply pulling in things that are hyper-recent (which is what Google and other search engines want); they’re not pulling in things that are old.”

No, with the new twitter, video will soon replace words. It is a boon to people using rich content like video - it’s easier for people to view and share. For marketers, it’s going to make using video better for getting their message across.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Online Video Is The New Television


Comedy video is now the most popular type of online video, supplanting news video which topped the list in 2007. Viewership for several other types of online video has grown significantly over the past two years, most notably educational videos, TV shows and movies, and political videos.


Despite an increase in video sharing, the survey reveals that many adults have mixed feelings about how broadly they want to share their own creations, who they think is watching, how they think their video might be used, and how careful they feel they need to be about what they post. So while video sharing is clearly trending upward, we find that many adults are ambivalent about posting videos online.


On the other side of the camera, video creation has now become a notable feature of online life. One in seven adult internet users (14%) have uploaded a video to the internet, almost double the 8% who were uploading video in 2007. Home video is far and away the most popular content posted online, shared by 62% of video uploaders. And uploaders are just as likely to share video on social networking sites like Facebook (52% do this) as they are on more specialized video-sharing sites like YouTube (49% do this).

The Changing Trends of Video Streams

We know that online video consumption continues to show huge growth. According to Nielsen, there were 11 billion video streams watched by 139 million unique users in a single month in the U.S. in 2009 which represents growth of 24.8% and 11.3% respectively compared to the same month during the previous year.

In 2010, it seems that the TV industry in the United States is reaching a tentative consensus about how to bring more premium content online in a manner that does not overly destabilize current business models. By bringing your rights as a cable or satellite television subscriber with you into the online world, you are going to be able to consume more television content online than ever before. There are many unanswered questions, many competing agendas, and lots of ways for this initiative to fail to live up to its full potential, but it is an interesting and important step toward the future of online video.

Live video streaming is another important trend. Specific events with specialized audiences hog this space. Typically the largest user base for these services seem to be live streams that typically have less than 1000 viewers. Of course there are certain mega events that command a larger audience.

Mobile video seems to be another big story, especially in Asia where superfast mobile internet and services that exploit this facility are setting a new trend. A small portion of the video sharing pie does go to sites that cater to more specialized needs such as that of companies that need to put up large product description videos.

The latest trend analysis shows that bloggers who embed YouTube links tend to be male and young. The most active group of YouTube users is between 25 and 35 years old and bloggers who embed YouTube videos are mostly male (58%).

Friday, August 27, 2010

Video Sharing - Should You Always Go By The Popular Option?

The truth is that YouTube is not as great a video sharing interface as Vimeo, yet everybody knows who has more viewers. But Vimeo has its set of loyal users. So do a lot of smaller sharing sites. Users have begun to realize that there is more to the experience than the most popular option can offer. A lot of new video sharing sites offer specific features. Some have easier downloads while some have better video quality or sharing options. Some sites come with the full option of editing your video right there and sharing it with the world.

Even when it comes to visibility, YouTube may not be the best option because it has many times the users of most other sites. This might even work out as a disadvantage. Your video can easily be lost among the millions being uploaded every minute. If you have a film school project you want to share with other interested users, you might want to choose a site that offers good video quality and is frequented by people with similar interest. Here you know your ground and you will be able to promote your video better and get your results. There are a lot of options. Make sure you choose the one that fits your requirements rather than following the crowd. It might be rewarding to put in some originality.

Video Sharing Sites Become The "TalkingQuote"

YouTube, Google Video, and Grouper made the concept of video sharing an everyday reality for millions of people. They initially dealt with simply uploading videos and sending video URLs to friends. Soon, they were associating one video with another . Every video came with a list of similar videos that might suit the interest of a viewer watching any video. So if you are watching a music video by Akon, you get other music videos by the same artist, interviews with the atrist, live performances, TV appearances and even spoofs of the artist’s work. Now this is getting more sophisticated, to keep up with the user base that is turning bigger every day. According to surveys,more than half of American Internet users (58%) have used the Internet to watch or download videos. 19% of all Internet users watch download video online on a typical day. 74% of broadband users in US watch or download video while 39% of home dial up users watch or download videos online.

As knowledge grows beyond the known realms of art and literature, new devices are born that facilitate communication in the new medium. For the new internet medium that encompasses images, words and video, new devices are being born and classic devices recreated for the new medium. Like a quote used to illustrate a point you are explaining, now it is possible to use video quotes. Simply select the portion of the video that is relevant to your discussion and copy it on your paragraph and you have yourself a moving talking quote. Video sharing sites now allow the user to link to a particular starting point of a video. You select the point in the area where you want to close quotes and you have yourself, a video quote.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

How Video Sharing Sites Keep Up With The Rise Of Internet Speed

The rise of internet speed all over the world is enabling more complex applications to be used on video sharing sites. With HD video loading in seconds, with multiple sharing options, a new wave of videos are hitting computer screens. Movie studios are releasing HD trailers that look and sound awesome. The trend setter was the Imax release Dark Knight which stunned audiences with an HD trailer. Today every big studio puts out teasers, trailers and interviews in high definition.


The latest trailer for David Fincher’s the social network, shows pixilation in HD. The HD trailer for Iron man 2 had breathtaking special effects. Whiplash whipping F1 cars on the Monaco track did look pretty crazy. You got to see it all, with the intricate detail of the threading on the car tires, leaning back on your chair at home. If you are not a movie buff, go for the most viewed videos around and you will be surprised what people have been spending their time watching. Staring beavers and smoking cats to people breaking their own legs, there is a million days of viewable content out there. For the discerning viewer, you also have dedicated sites for the creative community. Watch how the world is being shaped.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Video Sharing Sites Make You A Searchable Entity

The need to put yourself up as a searchable entity on the world wide web has grown to a phenomenon. Kindled by hifi, orkut and the current smash hit - Facebook, the idea of an online persona has taken strong root. It was once enough to be able to write a short description about you, put down your interests, affiliations and put the information out there for friendly eyes. With the service providers fighting each other to provide more options to flesh out your online persona came photo sharing websites (and of course photo sharing options on the social networks). Then it got better. You could put your moving, breathing (singing, dancing, barfing) self out there. There were all sorts of entities waiting for this chance to push themselves down the throats of unsuspecting entertainment seekers. Commercial entities learned that this was result-producing new media.


There are many video sharing sites up today, all vying for your mouse click. But if all you want is post a video and have it seen by people, what options do you actually need? Look for a hassle-free site that gives you the exact options you need. Do you want to share the video with your friends on a social network? Do you want to put out a video that gets the maximum possible amount of hits? Do you want a site that lets you edit the video you want to put up?


You could even get paid directly for people viewing your video. Pick a site depending on what you want.

Options To Consider While You Upload Videos

Missed the latest episode of your favourite show? Of course you know what to do. Get on a video sharing site and search for the episode. If you haven't tried it yet, you'll be surprised by the number of options that come up. There are dedicated fans who'll get the show uploaded as soon as the episode plays out on the telly. You are also spoilt for choice. There are uploads with subtitles, uploads without commercial breaks, uploads in HD and even dubbed versions. This is an entertainment fanatic's golden era. The age of unlimited free entertainment (of course you might have to overlook the legality of the issue in some cases). Wait. What happens to the videos you upload? Can they be viewed, edited, reposted by anyone? You might want to keep a few pointers in mind.


For starters, you can choose the people you want to be able to view your video.“Anyone”, “My Friends”, or “Just Me”.


Who do you want to be able to add comments to your videos? Comments can be added by viewers in the timeline and/or below your video.


Similarly some sites have options allowing viewers to embed your videos somewhere else. Again, you can choose the user groups who will be able to do this.


Tags are keywords associated with your content. You can decide who will be able to add tags.


If your videos are downloadable, the viewer has the option to directly save it onto his/her computer.


Hence, before uploading your video, make sure to read through the options and select the little boxes you want to check.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Marketing Videos On Video Sharing Websites

The video sharing medium has the advantage of a more direct involvement from the viewer; as opposed to the advertising in traditional media where advertisements crowd the space around the main content, using the interest in the main content to push the advertising. In a tactic similar to taking advantage of reflected light, traditional advertising wedges itself into the space between news or gaps on a TV show. Marketing videos on video sharing website, on the other hand, have viewers who choose to watch the video. Higher involvement leads to better communication.

For those who are new to the concept of marketing using video sharing website, video clips syndication makes sure that your video is seen by a maximum number of people. Video distribution sharing websites are around, that post a video on as many video sites as possible, thus improving the rate of viewership. You can also create RSS feeds that inform people who have subscribed to feed, about your new posts.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Video Clips On The Go!

Illustrate your world with video links. Think what you said did not hit hard enough? Post a video link. The new class room tool. Don't be an oldie - watch them while you exercise, travel, eat. Carry them around on phones, pads, books. There are terabytes of movies, music, amateur video and ads waiting to be called to your service. Watch videos made for the superbowl, watch videos made for the cannes film festival, watch the latest antics of celebrities, watch the world unfolding on your little screen, watch Hugh Jackman dance to the tune of Lipton, watch Jimmy Fallon dance to pepsi, or watch a bear slow dance to starbucks . It happens here. Right here - the video sharing sites.

Video Sharing Websites - The Hottest Marketing Tool

It is more than the awesomeness and convenience of simply typing in any thought and finding your screen fill with results. It's more than finding the the next numa numa guy and telling your friends about it. Video sharing websites are the hottest marketing tool that even the big guns are beginning to take notice of. Nothing like a free, as-long-as-you-want-it promotional video doing the rounds, to help your product pick up shelves. From mass-marketed products to individuals trying to provide services, the video sharing website is a great tool.

Riding on the waves of facebook and twitter, their audiences are changing faster than strategies can keep up. They are dealing with a new wave of cyber savvy customers who do not have the patience to read the marketing copy. But if something tickles them, irrespective of whether it is O&M's marketing war cry or some amateur setting his pants on fire, they will give it their attention. And bang! Catch. Free successful advertising. That's what a video sharing website could be of.

Friday, July 2, 2010

How Video Sharing Readies Up Our Lives

So you want to watch the latest trailer for Kickass. You want to do more than watch it. You want to be the first one to watch it and tell your friends about its sheer awesomeness. Of course you know where you will find it- video sharing websites. Wake up each morning, rush to your screens and type in kickass trailer. Wait with bated breath. That is, if you cannot bear to wait for the newsletters that you have signed up for, to bring you the good news. Movie watching today has evolved into a complex process, involving various stages of information gathering and processing.

There's a movie in the theatre near you. You go to your pet movie rating websites and read up on it. Next, you head for your video sharing websites and favorites and gather video information, ploughing through each trailer. It is now, finally time to watch the movie. The next scene has you rushing back to your screen, excited about the movie you just watched. Now, you want to share your views, read up others' views, comment on video clips and do your part in filling up the discussion forums. Not satisfied, you keep going back to see if the ratings have fallen or risen.

All stages religiously completed, you finally go back to your life. At least for a few hours. You've just heard about Christopher Nolan's Inception.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Video Sharing - A World In Itself

There's a video of this guy breaking an apple with his head doing the rounds. What's great about it? I don't have an answer. It just looks looks to me like an apple with his head. Like the video of a fat guy singing numa numa. Or the dramatic gopher. Or teletubbies from hell, farting babies, monkeys in kettles, supernatural paper cups. Each popular video giving birth to its follow ups, variations, other videos trying to catch up with some of the overflow. Like the light saber gopher and the dramatic lemur.

Of course there are some videos that do have a logical explanation for its popularity. Some fad? Maybe. But what it certainly tells us, is that there are a lot of bored people spending a lot of time in front of computer screens .Starting with social networking sites, the idea of being constantly hooked to the information sharing world has taken off and is constantly innovating itself. There's always more to be part of, with millions of sharing units uploading their lives as words, images, videos, sounds.


Much beyond uploading videos like movie trailers or TV shows, the video sharing medium is now a whole independent creature. With made-for-YouTube videos hitting the screens each minute, the online video sharing medium roars ahead- creating its own stars, scriptwriters, technicians- all working for the billion-headed unseen master. The guy who put up a music video against United Airlines' careless handling of luggage, cost the airlines millions of dollars in empty seats and launched his own music album.

The new world order?