Looking at Video on the Web with Ken McCarthy
Video, filmmaking, marketing and the web
If you’ve been checking the blog on a regular basis, you know that I’m more than a little bit skeptical about YouTube’s long term prospects. I’m impressed by how much traffic they’re generating and the pioneering role they’ve taken, but….
There’s a much better way to play the Interner video game.
In the 1950s, television tore a huge chunk out of Hollwood’s hide. Within six years of the introduction of TV to consumers, movie theater attendance was down 50%
Today, theater attendance is only one sixth – yes, 1/6 – of what it was in the late 1940s.
So what did Hollywood do?
They grasped at straws like 3D movies.
Fast forward to 2006…
The Internet, digital video and DVDs are threatening to put the final nail in the coffin of big budget Hollywood spectaculars.
So what is Hollywood doing? Director James Cameron is singing the praises of…
Google’s got video, Yahoo’s got video, eBay users are starting to use video – and now Amazon is entering the game.
They signed humorist Bill Maher to host a soon-to-be launched Internet TV program called "Amazon Fishbowl."
The launch date is still several weeks away, but you can take a sneak peak here:
Let me know what you think…
As I write this, a new company called YouTube is downloading 35 MILLION videos per day.
Sequoia Capital, which just advanced them another $8 million, is calling them "the forefront of a cultural shift in digital media entertainment."
It all sounds very impressive, but where’s the beef?
Hollywood fought electronics manufacturers first over the VCR and then over the burnable DVD.
When it comes to the Internet, it looks like they’re finally getting smart…
First: Thank you to everyone who contributed a comment so far. Much appreciated.
A quick recap:
Our challenge…
To use the Internet to get a small portion of the mass of video testimonials we’ve collected over the years out of our warehouse and into a form that:
1. Demonstrates the volume of testimonials we have and
2. Does it in such a way that it’s easy for visitors to find their way around
If you didn’t see our first attempt, you may want to skip to the next article and look at Version 1.0 and then come back before you see Version 2.0. (See "What Do You Think?")
The biggest problem wih Version 1.0: Overload.
We succeeded in making the point that we have a lot of video testimonials from our clients, but we missed the boat on making the site easy to navigate, in particular, making it easy for the visitor to find videos relevant to him or her.
The puzzle was how to fix the problem without spending an arm and a leg and burning weeks of time.
How would you have "fixed" Version 1.0 and done it fast and cheap?
Take a look at how we did it…
Version 2.0: http://www.AskaGrad.com
Let me know what you.
Thanks.
P.S. The speed with which we were able to make the changes was thanks to a proprietary Internet video display system we created. Details to be released at System 2006.