TelevisionWeek contributing writer Daisy Whitney is blogging about the pinnacles and pitfalls facing viewers who want to consume television in new ways. Check in frequently as Daisy kicks the tires on the new media juggernaut and dishes on which services do -- and don’t -- make the cut.
Did you know there are 171 Starbucks stores in Manhattan?
Comedian-filmmaker Mark Malkoff decided to see if it would be possible to visit every Starbucks in the city in a day: That’s one store every seven minutes for at least 20 consecutive hours. The rules were to make a purchase in every store and consume at least part of the product.
Check out this video as Malkoff bicycles through Manhattan getting more and more jacked up on caffeine throughout the day. The best part is about seven minutes into the video, when he hits a couple of snags late at night and has to bribe or try to bribe several Starbucks employees when he hits stores past closing time.
Kudos to online video creators the Fine Bros. for finding a way to mix Harry Potter with “Lost.”
You might recall the Fine Bros. for their previous YouTube hits that are also “Lost” parodies: one mixed “Star Wars” and another “Pirates of the Caribbean” with the TV series. The video below is the third installment in the “Lost” series.
Wine Library TV host Gary Vaynerchuk is the latest Web video star to pen a book.
In May, Rodale Press will release his book “Gary Vaynerchuk: 101 Wines Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight and Bring Thunder to Your World.” The book will include his wine picks for 2008.
I’ve got this theory that publishing—book publishing—is going to be one of the next big areas of Web video. I also think it might not be the publishers who lead this “gold rush.” I think it’s going to be the writers.
I know this is a wild and wacky thought, but remember the screenwriter Tim Robbins’ character offed in “The Player?” Well, he said it best with his line: “I can write, what can you do?” (Man, I have been waiting years to work that quote into a blog or a story. I can retire now.) Anyway, the point is, writers can write. Which means they might actually be able to write compelling pieces of Web video.
We’re already seeing this start to happen in the Young Adult genre, which is no surprise since the readers are Web-savvy. For instance, novelist Mandy Morgan started a cute and quirky video blog just last week about the writing process.
What I like about the videoblog is that it’s tongue-in-cheek and not sales-y or self-promotional. “Video blogging is an extremely important—and largely untapped—method of book promotion,” Morgan told me by e-mail. “Young adults are an especially tech-savvy group, so vlogging through YouTube is an excellent marketing tool. Not only that, as many writers spend a lot of time on the Internet, it's a useful networking tool as well.”
(Um, yeah, we do spend a lot of time on the Internet. The truth comes out about writers’ habits.)
Then there’s Jackson Pearce, a HarperCollins author, who is producing clever Web shorts on topics such as connecting with readers and finding the time to write.
Other authors are finding audiences on YouTube, too. Best-selling writer Meg Cabot has logged thousands of views for her humorous videos on writing and on, well, just life.
If you want more info on how some authors and publishers are latching onto Web video, check out our report at WebVideoReport.com.
Just a quick video today as I am on the road. This one is courtesy of my art director and it’s Indiana Jones with Legos. (Which you know means it’s a preview of the Lego video game.)
Mobile video viewers don’t think too much of a shared Democratic ticket, according to the latest poll from MobiTV. What’s more, they think former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s marital infidelity was more reprehensible than President Bill Clinton’s.
On its “Decision '08” channel on its mobile video service, the carrier asked users if the Democrats should form a “dream ticket” of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Turns out 67% of MobiTV users think that’s a bad idea.
MobiTV also asked whether Mr. Clinton or Mr. Spitzer’s infidelity was worse. And a resounding 83% said Spitzer’s “indiscretion” was the seedier one.
The ongoing survey also reported that 80% of respondents believe the U.S. economy is in a recession.
By now you probably know that YouTube accounts for one-third of all online videos viewed. That’s according to a comScore report analyzing January Internet traffic.
Here’s the chart showing how the top 10 properties stacked up.
Top U.S. Online Video Properties* by Videos Viewed, January 2008
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
FrenchmaidTV now carries a new Web show, sort of a companion piece, a spinoff, if you will, of the original French Maid Web series.
The new show is “French Maid Magic” and it’s got lots of, ahem, close-ups.
The show’s executive producer, Tim Street, also tells me the site recently relaunched with a new design, a new ad server to deliver CPA and CPM banner and text ads, and a new gift shop where you can make your own French Maid TV T-shirts.
So check it out for the ad server and the T-shirts and the design. Yeah, right. Just go check it out for the, ahem, close-ups.
You can find out pretty much anything from blogs these days. All you have to do is RSS those little suckers and you are in the know.
So here’s what I learned thanks to my RSS for Kent Nichols this morning.
As you know, or as you should know, Nichols is one of the co-creators of the hit Web series “Ask a Ninja” and has been tapped to direct a remake of cult favorite “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.”
He said in a recent blog post that he and co-creator Doug Sarine may take a break from “Ask a Ninja” after their current contract to produce the Web show runs out.
Check out the post. In addition to their possible Ze Frank/Quit While You’re Ahead suggestion, the post offers great insight into the aspirational path of new media.
On a related note, if you want to follow Kent and Doug’s path and get into feature filmmaking, you may want to check out www.hungryflix.com. It’s a self-service site for filmmakers and producers to upload their flicks.
Some of you may have seen the edited on-camera interview with video blogger Steve Garfield at TVWeek.com earlier this week. And some of you may have seen my New Media Minute from South by Southwest this week that referenced that interview. You can find both here:
Now, I am going to pull back the curtain even more and show you how the sausage got made. That’s because Garfield streamed the entire interview on his Web site. If you want the full, raw, unedited version, here it is:
So I was flying down to SXSW in Austin on Sunday, enjoying my “smart rite” snack pack, or something like that on United. You know, it’s the one with the can of tuna and a baby-size jar of hummus. Anyway, as much as I wanted to watch “Becoming Jane,” the film the flight was showing, I decided to be a good girl and exercise restraint. Because, really, don’t you think my husband will want to watch James McAvoy with me?
Anyway, I broke out my iPod, which I had pre-loaded with episodes of Revision3’s new show “Internet Superstar.” I hadn’t watched it before, but I liked the idea—it’s all about who’s making it on the Net. So I fired up that bad boy and watched both the 30-minute version of the talk show and also several of the mini three-minute versions of the show.
I was digging it. I like Martin Sargent. He’s pretty bleeping funny. I kind of felt like I had a little secret there on the plane, like I knew something the others didn’t.
Then I realized I don’t want this to be a secret! I want other people on airplanes to watch this show, too. So share my secret:
The Kent Nichols-Doug Sarine remake of “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” won’t be a Ninja vehicle. But if you want to know how to be a Ninja when it comes to Web video, look no further than this duo. The co-creators of hit Web show “Ask a Ninja” have snagged a major Hollywood deal.
They’re going to write and direct a remake of the 1970s cult classic for producer M. Dal Walton III. He has brought Emmett/Furla Films, a wholly owned subsidiary of Family Room Entertainment, on board to co-produce
So at 11:30 a.m. Central time I headed over to Room 12 at the Austin Convention Center to catch Michael Eisner’s “fireside chat” with Mark Cuban. Like many attendees at South by Southwest, I’ve had a busy schedule. At 11 a.m. I was interviewing Jamison Tilsner, a co-founder of the Web site www.Tilzy.tv.
After I finished that interview, I headed to Room 12. But the room volunteer told me the room was already at capacity. Even for press, I asked? Even for press, she said. “Fire marshal rules,” she added.
I get fire marshal rules. I don’t aim to shirk them. I am totally cool with respecting them.
But hey, SXSW—ever heard of an overflow room?
It’s an extra room where you put all the people who couldn’t fit due to fire rules in the first room. Then you pipe a video feed of the session into that room.
Audience measurement firm comScore reported that heavy users of blog sites are significantly more likely than the average Internet user to consume news and entertainment content online.
The study found that the most active 20% of blog visitors (the folks who account for 84% of all time spent on blog sites) are more likely than the average Internet user to consume news and entertainment on the Web. That includes content at politics and general news sites as well as entertainment news, humor and movie sites.
I am in the epicenter of Twitter. And yet I am not Twittering.
Shame on me. I am embarrassed at my lack of early adopter-ness, at my absence of with-it-ness.
I am at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, right now—this is the epicenter of indie Web hipness. Everyone here is Twittering. They Twittered during the keynote Sunday with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg, expressing their displeasure with how the interview was conducted. And they Twitter during the day to tell their “followers” that they’ve added a new video, updated their blog or are now streaming live. That’s how the Twitter-ers get the word out about their online video world.
So here’s the thing. I am on Twitter. But I don’t make such extensive use of it. Should I? Do you want my Twitter updates? Or do you prefer this blog to be unspeakably lame?
Tim Shey of Next New Networks hosted a panel Saturday at South by Southwest on how to make a job out of videoblogging. His panelists included successful video bloggers and Web stars Lindsay Campbe
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