Trial and Error

Earlier this week I wrote about how companies such as Hulu and Veoh are leaning on Twitter to track user feedback and what’s being said about them over the microblogging service. Since then I’ve heard from a number of other companies also using Twitter in smart ways and I wanted to draw attention to the PBS Twitter account. Check it out at www.Twitter.com/PBSEngage. This is one of the better examples by a broadcaster and media company of using Twitter interactively. Being interactive on Twitter—that means actually talking, responding and replying–to Twitter comments and posts about your service is what engenders viewer loyalty.

So take a look at the PBS account, which is used to provide links to PBS blog entries and also to chat with users and followers. The broadcaster’s recent Twitter feed includes friendly replies to users (a good idea as this involves users in the conversation), posts about whether the site is working, and tweets about other PBSers to follow, such as www.Twitter.com/NewsHour, which includes newsy tips from that show and interactions with followers too.

Consumers might have a new incentive to defect from cable to broadband-only video. That’s because Viacom and Time Warner are engaged in a battle that could result in Viacom channels like Comedy Central being pulled from Time Warner systems when the contract between the two companies expires tonight at midnight.

Viacom is asking for an increase of about 25 cents per month for the package of channels or about $3 a year per customer. That kind of increase could potentially raise cable bills even higher.

Could these high-stakes poker games with the consumers as the chips breathe fresh interest in ditching cable entirely? Will more cable viewers opt out, opting instead to get their shows via broadband? Let me know what you think!

At first blush, watching a viral about one’s biggest regrets in life might seem like a bit of a downer.

But this video is actually pretty uplifting in my book. It also happens to be one of my favorite viral videos this year. It’s called “Googling Biggest Regrets” and it’s a funny, clever, often poignant look back at life’s “what ifs.” And hey, it’s only three minutes!

So I share it with you as this year draws to a close. (Thanks, Riptide, for sending this to me, whoever you are!)

How is Starburst related to rhythmic gymnastics?

I’m still not sure, but this video on how to be juicy from the Starburst videoblogger series might help explain it.

The video comes from popular video blogger David Jr., who displays his ribbon-shaking abilities in this video he created as part of a campaign commissioned by Starburst.

It’s worth checking out because Starburst has been one of the most innovative marketers in the last year when it comes to harnessing Web video by working with stars who are known for creating cool stuff online.

Obama Girl wished me a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Check out my personalized holiday card from the coolest and hottest Web star out there!

For more Funny Tech Videos BarelyPolitical.com

Merry Christmas from some of my favorite online video creators—Rhett and Link.

Here’s a little rendition of “Silver Bells” performed by the comedy duo along with fellow musician Wade Johnston. May it make your holidays bright.

What I’m wondering is did they have to lubricate the cat to get him to slide so fast across the floor? Or just the bottom of the cardboard box?

The online video site OVGuide.com recently crowned several winners in its second annual Viewser Choice Awards for online video sites.

Top honors went to anime site Naruto Wire, which won the popular vote (we all know how important that one is!). Anime has long been one of the most popular video categories on the Internet and is typically one of the top-visited genres in OVGuide.com's database, OVGuide said.

OVGuide also selected winners in various categories with input from a range of judges, including yours truly. Here are some of them.

Education: WonderHowTo

Food / Wine: Bitchin' Kitchen

Music / Entertainment: PluggedIn

News / Business: CNN Video

Political: Politico

Radio: Pandora

Science / Technology: National Geographic

Sports: ESPN

Trailers: Yahoo! Movies

Travel: Raw Vegas

Video blogs: Justin.tv

What do you think of OVGuide’s picks? What are your top online video sites from 2008? Let me know by posting a comment!

Now that I’m an unabashed Twi-Fan (What, you don’t know what that means? Shame on you!), here are some fun “Twilight” spoof videos.

I especially love the Santa spoof—the actress does a dead-on Bella, while Santa sounds just like Edward when he says, “Ask me the most basic question. What do I eat?”

Why let an Iraqi reporter be the only one who gets to throw shoes at President Bush?

Now you can, too, if you play the new online game “Ninja Bush” at www.tabloidgames.com

The online game was created by John P. Roberts, the former interactive gaming expert from GSN. In “Ninja Bush” you can throw shoes at the president, but he’ll toss baseballs back at you, so watch out. If he hits you with three baseballs, it’s game over for you.

Roberts recently created the online game “Palinisms," about the Alaska governor, as well as “The Prison Life: Paris," which received more than 1.5 million game plays.

Research firm eMarketer has already gone on record saying online video is a smart marketing strategy during these lean economic times. Now a report from online video technology firm Permission TV surveying 400 senior-level advertising, marketing and media executives reveals that they expect to increase their budgets for Web video in 2009.

The survey found that one-quarter of digital marketing executives are currently discussing their video strategies and by the second quarter of 2009 more than half expect to be implementing or extending an online video project.

Why the interest? Because more than two-thirds said online video will be a key marketing strategy for the year ahead, beating social media at 41 percent, search at 34 percent and podcasts at 32 percent. But here’s the brightest spot of all if you’re a digital programmer—advertising executives surveyed said their 2009 digital marketing budgets would be the ones least affected by budget cuts.

Sure, the election’s over and it’s only natural that online buzz around the new president would fade a little now that the contest is behind us.

But who would have predicted that President-elect Barack Obama would see this big a drop in the number of videos tagged with his name on YouTube? Online trend tracker Trendrr reports that while the number of videos on YouTube tagged with “Obama” rose from 82,200 on April 18 to 396,000 on Nov. 16, the amount of videos since then has fallen dramatically. As of Dec. 7, there were 138,000 videos tagged with “Obama” on the video site, a decrease of 256,000 videos in less than a month.

So who’s taking the videos down?

Obama’s seeing a big dip in blog interest, too. By Nov. 7, the president-elect had been mentioned in 1.7 billion blog posts, a number that had fallen to about 18 million by Dec. 9, Trendrr says.

I guess it’s better to be a candidate than the incoming president when it comes to online love!

He is even competing with Santa for attention on Twitter!

I get that it makes more sense to have a movie star host the Oscars than it does a television star. But let’s be honest, it sure doesn’t hurt that Hugh Jackman is People’s current Sexiest Man Alive? And the Oscars telecast, after all, is referred to as the Super Bowl for women in terms of its ability to draw a female audience.

I haven’t tuned in for the last few years, but I’m thinking I just might this year, even if Heath Ledger isn’t nominated for his acting performance in “The Dark Knight.” Which he really should be, but if he’s not, then perhaps Christian Bale for best smolder?

I digress. For a taste of the new Oscar frontman, here is a clip of Hugh hosting the 59th annual Tony Awards in Radio City Music Hall.

In the U.S., we watched 13.5 billion online videos in October, up 45% from last year, according to online measurement service comScore. We’re also watching for longer, spending 3 minutes per video, up slightly from 2.7 minutes.

YouTube still dominates, with almost 5.4 billion videos viewed in October, representing about 40% of all videos watched on the Internet. But Hulu is rising in popularity and had 235 million videos viewed in October, with the average viewer watching nearly 12 minutes at a time.

So what are you watching these days? Tell me which videos are catching your eye and why.

I keep hoping we can make it through the end of the year without seeing any more online video or television industry, or, frankly, ANY layoffs.

But online video technology provider Brightcove let go 25 of its 171 employees recently.

The company said in a statement: “Over this last year, we’ve focused and invested in our platform business. We’ve seen tremendous growth in that business, and we continue to build on the solid lead we have in the category. We’re committed to putting more energy into developing our online video platform, serving our customers and solidifying our technology and innovation advantage. As we move into 2009, we have reconfigured the Brightcove team around our key strategic priorities, and this has involved some staffing adjustments.”

Let’s hope this is the last of it.

Once upon a time a tea-obsessed video producer decided to make a Web show. Like thousands of others before him, he grabbed a camera and started shooting in his kitchen.

Unlike others, he kept making the show and he kept sending it out to experts and he kept asking for advice and he kept fixing his show and he kept making it better.

He submitted the show to Web network Revision3 as an applicant for its beta program, a farm league for emerging Web shows. The show was rejected, so he refined it and struck relationships with video-sharing sites. He submitted it again to Revision3 and it was accepted.

That was two months ago. And the show, “Bottles, Blends and Brews,” became part of the freshman class of the Revision3 beta.

Fast-forward a mere six weeks later because that same Web host—Zack Luye—landed a gig as the host of a new weekly Web show created by Adagio Teas, one of the biggest tea makers and distributors.

The show is slated to launch online in January and will revolve around the company’s “signature blend line.” The podcast will highlight some of the more interesting and successful custom blends that customers can create on the site.

Why am I telling you this story?

1. Persistence can pay off.

2. Not everyone gets hurt in a recession.

3. There are paths to making money if you launch a quality Web show.

4. Brands increasingly will produce online video content for their sites.

5. If you have an expertise, reach out to like-minded brands, companies or marketers. They’ll be leaning on Web video more in these lean times.

Mr. Luye will continue to host and produce “Bottles, Blends and Brews.”