Looking at Video on the Web with Ken McCarthy

When I started this blog two years ago (after patiently waiting eleven years for Internet video to catch on), one of the first companies I featured was a modest little start-up called TurnHere.com

I really liked TurnHere.com’s model which was to take video into neighborhoods and small businesses and give those otherwise unheard voices a chance to "be on TV."  Video  is, for better or worse, the ultimate marketing medium, but until the cost of producing – and distributing – video messages was prohibitive, for all by the most deep pockets organizations.

No more and I’m happy to say that TurnHere has turned out to be one of the true movers and shakers in this movement. When I first profiled them, they had a network of less than 50 videographers. Now they have thousands.

This video features a somewhat rare interview with Brad Inman the mastermind behind TurnHere.com. Before taking a leadership role in the Internet video world, Brad was – and still is – deeply involved at the intersection of the Internet and real estate. He’s the preeminent publisher in the field and his traveling conferences on the subject are top notch.

Listen to what he has to say about the opportunities in Internet video. The door is wide open, especially for people who are smart about finding niche markets to serve.

VideoPiggy is an Application for Windows XP and Vista that will let you download videos straight from YouTube, Google Video, and Metacafe. This program even has built in Video Conversion to watch videos on your PC, iPod, PSP, or Cell Phone!

Internet video has created some interesting new business opportunities.

Viacom pays $100,000 per month to have its copyrighted videos scrubbed from YouTube. "Video analysts," the employees who spend their days searching YouTube and other online video services for copyright infringements, get paid $11 per hour. 

YouTube’s founders, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley, were in Paris last week where they announced they’d be creating "localized" YouTube in seven languages: French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Polish and Dutch.

This comes a month after SytemSeminarTV started posting video content in French, German, Russian, Lithuanian, and Ukranian.

Why foreign language content?

Simple. That’s where the growth is.
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Many people around the world speak English, but if want to hit them where their heart is, speak to them in their own language. Or at the very least introduce yourself in their language and then continue the conversation in English.

Here’s a sample in German

More International videos here

Howdy,

My name is Steve Blue. I am a Video Pro who will guide you through the stormy seas of Internet Video Creation. I am a jack of all trades when it comes to video production. I’ve edited and shot it all: commercials, documentaries, music videos, wedding videos, artistic video installation, professional sports videography, even large marketing multi screen presentations for CES. I help Ken McCarthy edit and post videos online for The System Seminar.

I will be posting to SystemVideoBlog, in the capacity of a Video Pro.

Trends in Internet Video are shifting everyday it seems. It can be quite difficult to keep up with the latest video technologies and services out there.   I hope this blog post will be your yellow brick road to the future of internet video. As "The Wizard of Oz" transformed movie screens from black and white to color, companies like Google and Apple, Inc. are changing the quality and delivery of Internet Video right now.

If you are a business owner, you probably outsource video creation to a professional. Some professionals, even those in the business for twenty years, may not know a single thing about internet video. Most professional videographers are concerned with the latest quality innovations, such as DVD and HDTV. Some even denounce internet video right off the bat, saying it looks horrible, so why would anyone even use it?

Picture quality doesn’t matter to the average viewer. Everyone is wowed and amazed by HDTV at first, but still content to watch the worst quality video of some guy skiing off a jump on YouTube.

But what if I told you I can create a video designed for streaming over the Internet that has close enough quality to broadcast, that the casual viewer can’t even tell the difference? I will show you how in upcoming blog posts.

Internet Video has grown up and is now moving out of the house. If you visit Apple’s iTunes website right now, you will be greeted with a message that says "YouTube, meet AppleTV". AppleTV viewers will soon be able to view thousands of YouTube videos right on their television sets. Did you know AppleTV also supports 480P, which is the standard for DVDs right now? Internet Video and Broadcast Quality are converging right now. But at the same time, YouTube also struck a deal with Verizon Wireless at the end of 2006, establishing a cell phone television-like channel for the most popular videos on YouTube. Now YouTube is moving onto the iPhone too, which means AT&T has access to the Internet Video Giant. Internet Video is now available on millions of digital devices out there. Internet Video is spreading like a virus.

It amazes me how YouTube is the most popular video sharing service by far. YouTube has 44% of total internet viewership. YouTube also has the worst interface out of all the video sharing sites I have encountered. I upload maybe 10 clips at a time to YouTube about a certain topic. It is one huge pain in the butt when I have to change preferences about them. In contrast, what makes a good video sharing site? Well, the ability to upload multiple videos at once for starters, with a large file size and duration on each clip. It’s called Google Video, which is still in fifth place lagging behind MSN, Yahoo, MySpace, and of course YouTube.

Upload videos to a cocktail of sites. I upload videos to YouTube, Google, MySpace, and iTunes. In future posts, I will detail step by step instructions on the best methods of uploading videos to these services.

When you are ready to upload to the internet, output the best quality video with the smallest filesize possible from your editing program. This can be a struggle. I use Quicktime H.264 for this task, others go straight into Flash FLV. Most of the online sharing sites use FLV and will convert most anything you give them to this format. Make sure you upload the best quality video possible to services like YouTube or Google Video. Those sites will make your video look crappier. But do not fear. Because of the Apple’s efforts to upgrade the video quality in iTunes, all the other internet video sharing sites will follow suit and gradually improve the quality of online videos. YouTube did it just the other week. If you view a movie on YouTube using their new beta interface, you will find a slightly larger screen for the video. YouTube just switched over to the H.264 standard probably because of their dealings with Apple. Why would the Internet Video Giant think of switching over their entire library to a new standard? H.264 is not just a standard for the Internet.  H.264 can handle everything from the crappiest looking online video to full HD quality 1080i.

Broadcast and Internet Video standards are converging right now.  So, in addition of making your video suitable for current online conditions, make sure you always have a master copy available that is Broadcast Quality.

I hope you just gained some nuggets about Internet Video. I will be writing articles on SystemVideoBlog.com, even with step by step instructions, that will get down to the nitty gritty about all different aspects of internet video creation. If you have questions that you’d like to see me address on the blog, please mail them to me at videopro@iuseapple.com. Due to the volume of mail I won’t be able to respond personally and I won’t be able to answer every question, but I’ll do my best.

Steve Blue

If you use YouTube to host your videos, you’ve probably noticed some recent changes to the way they do things.

To make a long story short, they’re superimposing a whole lot more stuff on your videos – and it doesn’t necessarily benefit you.

For example:

1. Viewers are offered the <embed> code and the video’s URL at the end of the video without having to click through to the YouTube site

2. Viewers can scroll through and view related videos right in the YouTube-provided player without leaving your web site.

The first feature is designed to make YouTube videos easier to share.  The second allows YouTube to, in essence, highjack your web page and turn it into a YouTube platform.

The benefits of these two features to YouTube are obvious. What I’m waiting for how is Google/YouTube will monetize this new-found ability to colonize other people’s web sites.

Maybe Google will cut web site owners in on the revenue they derive from their video services, but don’t count on it. In any event, relying on YouTube  to host business-critical communications like  ads is a very bad idea because it puts your users in a place where they’re just one easy click away from leaving your sales process.

Bottom line: If you’re depending on YouTube and other free hosting sites for your video hosting, it’s probably time to look into some better options…unless of course you don’t mind making a free gift of your web site’s traffic to YouTube (Google).

Hosting with and otherwise dealing with Internet video can be a tremendous hassle – and very expensive, but it doesn’t need to be in you pick the right service.

Here’s the one I like for hosting – and controlling – your own videos:

WebVideoZone

Here’s an extended interview I did with the creator of the service:

Interview with Joe Chapuis

Enjoy!

Ken

P.S. This is the service I recommend to Internet entrepreneurs who want to control their own videos:

WebVideoZone

Matt Mullenway, CEO of WordPress, says that 5 to 8% of all blog posts are YouTube videos.

Can this be accurate? If so, the age of the personal TV channel is upon us. It’s possible now for everyone to program their own personal TV channel.

(One of my blogs Food Music Justice – a blog about New Orleans – is running about 30 to 40% of blog posts with video content.)

It finally happened…

I was reading about something interesting and new and I went to look up more about it on the Internet…and instead of looking for an article, I wanted to see a video about it.

And here’s the kicker, there were none (or at least I couldn’t find any.)

So you know what I did?

I crossed the subject off my list.

Now I’m a heavy reader and a verbal guy if ever there was one, but this topic (modern uses of steam engines) was not something I was willing to invest neurons on sorting out from verbal descriptions. I wanted to SEE one of these things working and have someone explain it to me.

Question: How many millions of times a day is thing happening now? Internet users searching for video content FIRST? And then, in some cases, bailing because there is none.

The response to the Gary Halbert videos I posted last was very positive…and it made me think.

I’ve got miles of video tape on Internet marketing in my archive going back to 1994. Why don’t I start making it available for free on the Internet in useful bite sized pieces? (Duh!)

In just a few days, 1,200+ people told me they thought it was a good idea. They went to the site and joined the bulletin list to be informed every time I post a news video.

In addition to the Halbert material (much more coming by the way), I’ve posted some of my own talks (they were handy and ready to go.)

Coming post-System 2007 (sometime in late May or early June), I’ll be posting an amazing talk by the late Ken Giddens (the System was the first conference that invited him to speak) and Dan Kennedy’s talk at the System in Cleveland.

Then I’ll start going through all past System videos and cherry pick highlights.  My plan is to post at least one new video at the rate of one per week.  In short time, there will be hundreds available.

If you’re interested in taking a look at the site in its early stages, you can take a sneak peek now. I’m calling the project System Seminar TV.

You can click here to see a sample: Gary Halbert  on Rave Review Ad Copy

You know I thought this was going to be the case, but you never know.

Every time a new medium like Internet video comes along, a whole flock of people start making wild
claims for it – as if the TOOL alone is what’s going to make the difference.

There now hundreds (if not thousands) of new ventures that have Internet video at their core.

How many are making money?

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