Looking at Video on the Web with Ken McCarthy

Hey, this blog is for archival purposes only.

I started this blog shortly after I saw my first example of video embed code in 2005.

“This is it. This is what we’ve been waiting for.”

How long have we been waiting?

In my case since 1994 when I commissioned one of the first articles ever published on the subject of Internet video for the way-ahead-of-its-time Internet Gazette (1994-1995). The Gazette was a little San Francisco-based newspaper that published more accurate predictions about the direction of the Internet than any ten years of Wired Magazine.

The Internet Video Age I imagined has come, saw and conquered so there’s really not much more to say about it.

My interest now is in generating page views that have video on them using viral methods and not one penny of advertising. As of the day of this post, we’re up to 24 million + video views. Not a lot by Facebook standards and I know some have done much more, but it’s been fun and profitable and we’re only just getting started.

The blog is done. You might find it interesting to use it has a historical archive to read about how video on the Internet developed as it was unfolding.

My active blog is here: The Ken McCarthy blog

I finally got one…

I won it in a sales contest…never would have bought one.

On the other hand, now that I have one, I’m very glad to have it.

The MacBook Air (my previous lightweight option) was a piece of ****. It was lightweight alright, in every sense of the word. I don’t know anyone who likes “the Air” but I do know many people who foam at the mouth at the very mention of it.

The iPad, in contrast, actually does what it’s supposed to do which is:

1. Let you carry out basic Internet functions (mail, browsing, audio and video)…

2. With a small, lightweight device

iPhones etc. are a little too small for real video watching as far as I’m concerned.

I’m sure someone has mentioned this somewhere already, but it not here goes:

Thanks to the iPad, we now have graduated from 24/7/365 video on demand…(who needs TV anymore?)…to PORTABLE 24/7/365 video on demand (as long as there is a wireless signal.)

That’s a pretty big leap of evolution (even though I know they’ve had something like this in South Korea for at least four years!)

What’s next?

There must be something that’s “next” but once all the world’s video is available on demand 24/7/365 on a portable and truly useful device, what could possibly be next in the video world?

Improvements in detail, in delivery, in price etc. sure, but with this device we’ve reached the Promised Land…if the Promised Land means being able to carry around a device that lets you access video on demand on any subject under the sun at any time of day or night.

Social media is hot.

It’s also one of the hottest refuges for scammers and BS artists.

I recently made the mistake of doing some pro bono work for a good cause run by amateurs. (Long story and a mistake I will never repeat.)

Throughout the process, I’ve been told I have to meet with this social marketing expert and that one, the implication being they have something of value to bring to the party that’s more important than actually getting the job done. (These folks LOVE meetings. They don’t like work.)

Meanwhile, I patiently try to explain to these wing nuts that the only currency that means anything in Internet marketing is the size of your e-mail list (prospects and customers). Not how many “friends” you have, how many people “follow” you on Twitter, or how much chatter there is about you in the blogosphere.

Hey, I like Twitter and I know people who get some good things from Facebook, but I don’t know anyone who would trade a solid e-mail list to become king of Twitter or Facebook.

Conversely, I know plenty of social media masters who are one step away from living in a “van down by the river.” (Google it. If you don’t know the Saturday Night Live routine that phrase is from, you’re in for some serious laughter.)

Anyway, after listening the the millionth and one social media “genius” I took a look at some of my own social media stats. (My social media weapon of choice being video.)

Here are my numbers:

1. I’ve pushed one video over the 2,800,000 views mark
2. I’ve pushed two over the 1,200,000 views mark
3. I’ve pushed seventeen over the 100,000 view mark (sixteen singehandedly, one in partnership)

Total cash expenditure: zero dollars.

It was all accomplished by viral marketing, also know as “word of mouth” and all these hits were kicked off with mailing to an e-mail list. No Twitter. No Facebook.

I’m sure there are social media “gurus” who could turn these stats into speaking gigs at the latest social media conferences, television appearances, and books on how to “crush it.”

Me?

I’m very unimpressed by my own accomplishments.

Why?

I’m in SALES.

How many leads did I generate? How many sales did I close? How many people did I induce to come back and buy a second and third and fourth time?

Let’s get real folks.

Social media is gravy.

You better have a meal to put it on.

Focus on what matters.

These days, it’s looks like I’m posting every three months. C’est la vie.

The Internet video revolution has come, saw and conquered. What’s left to say?

Well, occasionally things happen that deserve attention.

Here are two big ones that jumped out at me while I was in the UK:

1. YouTube hits 1 billion video downloads a day

Holy smokes!  There are only about 1 billion Internet users. Does this mean that everyone on the Internet is watching an average of at least 1 video a day on YouTube?

I guess it does and then there are people who watch 50 or more a day. Me, for example. It’s not hard to do.

I don’t watch TV. Why bother when I can call up anything I want whenever I want? TV is doomed.

2. The Internet creams TV

Speaking of the UK, the amount of money spent by advertisers on Internet advertising in that country just exceeded the amount spent on TV advertising. The numbers are 1.75 billion for online advertising vs. 1.64 for TV advertising. More evidence that…TV is doomed.

And this is only the beginning.  Looks like the things I predicted when I started this blog four years ago are starting to come to pass.

Speaking of beginnings, I’ve been going over to the UK occasionally for years but something “clicked” for me on my latest trip and after tidying up some business here, I’m heading right back.

Next year, I’m planning on spending a few months there as I do in New Orleans ever year.

One of the reasons I’m going back to the UK so soon is that a bunch of my Internet marketing friends are attending the UFC fights in Manchester. System grad Lloyd Irvin has a team in the competition. To fill out an already busy week, I’m bringing New Orleans jazz poet Chuck Perkins over to do some gigs in that poetry and music loving city to help open the door for other New Orleans musicians looking for new markets to perform in.

Never a dull moment.

Interestingly, all the guys who are coming over for the fights and the seminar are heavy users of Internet video – that’d be Lloyd, me, Greg Davis and Ben Moskel.

Heavy users of video in our marketing – and we’re all doing well. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Ken

Read more…

Hard to believe, but it's been three years since I wrote about a little company called Pure Digital and its
interesting – but dumb – idea for disposable video cameras.

While it was cool to be able to buy a video camera for $29, being able to use it only once was not cool

That's where the hacker came in.

Read more…

I'd didn't have much time for blogging this year.

Instead I spent my free time making and promoting videos.

(Hint: Making and promoting Internet videos pays better than blogging.)

Results: We crossed the 11,000,000 video view mark for 2008 yesterday. No one is more shocked than me.

Total costs to host, serve and promote?

Read more…

Well, I have one.

A genuine viral video

How about 1,234,411 views for one page in September – with no advertising, no SEO, no nothing? Just raw viral power. 

Just in case you didn’t read that right, that’s over ONE MILLION TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND views for one page in one month.

Now that I am a genuine viral marketing "expert", here’s what I’ve learned…

Read more…

We did it.

We took an important subject that the media wants to ignore and put it – and kept it  – at the top of YouTube’s "New and Politics" charts.

As I write this, the video – "The Truth about Katrina" – is the #10 highest rated video in this category of this month. Amazing when you think about what we’re up against – McCain, Obama, Palin, Wall Street melt down, etc. etc. and the fact that the Katrina anniversary and Hurricane Gustav are long over.

The underdog – in this case the people of New Orleans and Southern Louisiana – can win…if the underdog has some Internet savvy.

Speaking of savvy, YouTube is adding so many cool "bells and whistles" that it’s hard for me to keep up.

Can anyone point us to a good online resource (maybe hidden somewhere on YouTubes’s site) that goes into the fine points of creating and customizing a YouTube channel and using all the other new stuff they’re offering (text annotation, automatic transfer to another video, click from video to a web site)

The speed of change in this medium has swamped my ability to keep up. If you’ve got anything to share on this point, I’m sure fellow SystemVideoBlog readers will appreciate it. I know I will.

(Please limit posts to this subject.)

Thanks.

Ken

We hit a million plus viewers again in the month of August, but that’s not what I’m really excited about.

A friend and I made this video from scratch – from concept, to script, to production, to being seen by thousands online – in just three weeks from start to finish.

All the footage was "found" on the Internet and it was a very part time effort for both of us.

I’d like you to click through to YouTube and rank it (with five stars), favorite it, and comment on it.

If readers of this blog generate at least 20,000 YouTube views, I’ll interview the guy who did the production and post it for you.

If you guys generate 50,000 or more visits, I’ll explain how I get 1 million plus visitors to a video site working just 15 minutes a day.

You have seven days to make your numbers. Good luck – and as you’ll see – this is for a good cause.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wln_iq5bc8k