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YouTube video advertising… big dreams, slow progress

The Wall Street Journal reporting this morning that Google’s Push to Sell Ads On YouTube Hits Snags.  The problem, in my opinion, lies more with Google/YouTube than with the market.  There’s plenty of real innovation happening in online video advertising — just look at VideoEgg and Tremor Media for example.  And we speak every day [...]

The Marketer’s Cheat Sheet to Viral Video (as taught by a YouTube superstar)

Kevin Nalts has earned more than 25 million views on YouTube. How can you get visibility like that? Nalts has some tips for you in his excellent blog post, The Marketer’s Cheat Sheet to Viral Video.
Here is Kevin Nalts’ eight-step summary of how to do viral video (slightly condensed):
Step 1: Determine if your [...]

Advice on Internet Video Advertising

E-Commerce Times has an excellent survey on the state of online video advertising. Although written last year, John Mello’s summary of the current video ad landscape remains insightful and (thankfully) concise.
A few observations from the article:

65% of broadband users occasionally watch video online (as of 2007). In 2006 the number was 44%
while “YouTube [...]

Video Drives Into Internet Traffic Jams

The New York Times reports that heavy usage of video is driving Internet traffic through the roof — increasing by 50% every year according to conservative estimates (or 100% a year, if you believe the aggressive forecasters).
Last year, by one estimate, the video site YouTube, owned by Google, consumed as much bandwidth as the entire [...]

How much does YouTube charge for a video campaign? For Toyota: $4 million. For H&R Block: $0.

Emily Steel reports in Friday’s Wall Street Journal that Toyota has launched a new video marketing campaign on YouTube. Essentially, YouTube is creating a high-end microsite that offers contests and culls appropriate content from the YouTube’s user-generated videos.
The result is one of the most intricate and expensive campaigns ever on YouTube; Toyota is paying [...]

Pakistan shuts down YouTube… for the WHOLE WORLD

I know this sounds far-fetched, like something out of a William Gibson novel. But I swear I’m not making this up:
Pakistan didn’t like something on YouTube.
So they tried [...]

“video here, there and everywhere”

In an article about YouTube’s continuing growth, the New York times reports:
Interestingly, the top 10 video sites accounted for less than half of all videos viewed online. That means people are watching video here, there and everywhere on the Web. And they’re doing so more every day.
During November, 138 million people, or about three-quarters of [...]

YouTube “down for maintenance”

Kudos to YouTube for creating a phenomenal consumer video site. It’s still quite surprising, though, that YouTube keeps going down for maintenance during prime viewing hours. Their current downtime (as of 10pm PST) appears to be less serious, but has still killed most administration functionality.
Google is reknowned for its network infrastructure, and there [...]

Shoppers who find you on YouTube — 20% better?

Bob Tedeschi of the NYT reports:
Aided by less expensive and more sophisticated technology, stores like RealmDekor.com, CleanAirGardening.com and SitStay.com are competing with retailers as well as bigger sites like Amazon.
The article (Small Merchants Gain Large Presence on Web) talks about how smaller retailers are cleverly using online promotion and marketing to compete with much larger [...]

Viral Videos: a “how to” from the Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal has a short video interview about how innovative small businesses are using “viral video” to get their message out. The interview discusses “best-in-class” viral video strategies by WillItBlend (by Blendtec), Val’s Art Diary, and Moe’s Southwest Grill.
Here is some of the WSJ’s advice on making successful viral videos:

Videos that tend to [...]

How to use video to expand your business in a YouTube world

What are the rules for making effective online videos? How do you get viewers from a video? Who are the role models to examine?
The Wall Street Journal offers up answers in Lights! Camera! Sales! How to use video to expand your business in a YouTube world. The key takeaways:

Be Funny
Tap Into Current [...]

Secret Strategies for Viral Video

“Viral video” is the talk of e-commerce these days; everyone’s wondering if they could be the next Will It Blend phemon. In today’s crowded media landscape, though, it’s easier said than done.
That’s why there’s such a storm around a recent TechCrunch post called The Secret Strategies Behind Many Viral Videos. In it, a [...]

The #1 e-commerce trend: “Video that sells”

Jay Herratti, SVP of strategic planning for IAC/ InterActiveCorp, spoke about “The Five Key E-commerce Trends That Require Your Attention” at this summer’s eTail 2006 conference. What’s the#1 trend to watch?
1) Video that sells.
“It’s now become possible for broadband video to be distributed successfully online,” noted Herratti, citing the near-mass penetration of broadband (as [...]