In an exciting development that further cements Google’s commitment to user generated content, YouTube users who post popular video clips will now be paid for their efforts. They will earn a share of the revenue generated from the adverts which run alongside their clips – potentially making thousands of euro per month.
The YouTube Partner Programme has already been piloted in the US and Canada, and is now coming to this side of the pond. However not everyone can jump on the bandwagon as the scheme is only open to “popular and prolific original content creators”. Contributors must apply to become partners and will be accepted if they regularly upload videos which are viewed by thousands. So one-hit viral wonders need not apply!
The powers that be at Google are remaining tight lipped as to the revenue split but claim that existing partners in the US, whose videos regularly receive over one million hits, are earning several thousand dollars per month.
It seems to be plain old affiliate marketing to us..
Have a look at this HEMA (a Dutch departmental store) website. At first glance there’s nothing particularly interesting or innovative about it. In fact if you don’t speak Dutch your first reaction is probably to just close it down. Well don’t! Just wait. Don’t scroll, just wait.
Click here to view and, if you’re like us, have a right good smile!
Of course this is just a promotional website. To do your “normal” shopping, you’ll have to visit here. How boring in comparison!
Not content with just owning the latest technology? Then why not wear it!
Those folks at ThinkGeek.com, sick of having to crack open their laptops to see if there’s a wi-fi signal, have come up with a t-shirt that actually displays the current wi-fi signal strength to yourself and everyone around you with a wi-fi detector right on the front. The glowing bars dynamically change as the surrounding wi-fi signal strength fluctuates. Clothing for the Web 2.0 generation!
3G mobile owners can now enjoy massively improved YouTube content on the go. YouTube has also added more videos that can be viewed on the mobile platform – a huge leap from the 100 or so videos held previously. You can now view your account, your own uploaded videos and your favourite videos. Further usability has been added so it is now possible to comment, rate, and share directly from the mobile website.
Through m.youtube.com nearly all mobile phones, that support streaming video, can view YouTube videos.
We spoke at “New Trends in Online Travel Behaviour” last Friday, a great conference hosted by Ireland’s leading online travel agent, ebookers.ie
Cybercom shared some of our key learnings from a number of travel industry case studies. We were joined by the likes of Eamonn Fallon (DAFT.ie), Mark Henry (Tourism Ireland) and Alex Gibson (The Media Show). All the presentations are due to be uploaded to TravelMedia.ie this week.
The digital landscape came a long way in 2007, breaking into new grounds and new media on several fronts. The quarterly magazine Contagious examines the most innovative exercises in branding design, technology and popular culture for the global marketing community. This year they have released an extremely comprehensive guide to the Most Contagious 2007 campaigns
So what makes the cut for 2007?
If 2006 was the year of User-Generated Content, then 2007 was the year of Social Media, and the mammoth development of the social media phenomenon proved almost too much. Never before has so much been placed in the hands of the consumer, forcing brands and advertisers alike to adapt to an environment where a product can be made or broken with the creation of a simple Facebook group.
Advertising used to be about things. Now it’s about conversations and relationships. Brands have finally started to twig that providing useful tools and services can be more effective than one dimensional marketing messages that belong in the last century. However, the shifting of the proverbial goalposts has begun to dictate the creation of useful content on genuinely engaging platforms. The Dark Knight ARG continues to have us jibbering like demented schoolchildren, the Cadbury’s drumming gorilla brought a smile to even the most stone cut face and the advent of the iPhone may be the pivotal point in the golden age of mobile communications.
To promote its spicy crunchy Hot Wings, KFC is donating $260,000 to charity on behalf of the first football player to do an end zone Chicken Dance during the Super Bowl.
KFC has chosen this figure as the cost of 3 seconds of Super Bowl advertising time. The company has said this is a way for it to go against conventional advertising strategies. In conjunction with this, KFC have also launched a website to promote the contest to the public, encouraging them to post their own chicken dance videos. The website also includes a little dance from the Colonel himself.
According to the recent Simmons Research‘s ‘Multi-Media Engagement’ study, consumers were an amazing 47% more engaged by ads they watched during TV programes shown online then ads shown on a traditional TV set. Consumers were also 25% more engaged with the actual content of the TV show online compared to viewed on their TV set.
Simmons research was gathered by asking consumers to rate media on trustworthiness, inspirational value and other factors.
The increase in engagement online was also present for magazines, where consumers were found to be 18% more engaged by ads in online versions of magazines and 15% more engaged in content online rather then in print.
The survey was conducted online and by telephone in the US from October 2006 to September 2007.
User-generated video (UGV) scored 22.4 billion views in 2007, up 70 percent over 2006′s 13.2 billion views, thanks in part to the growing presence of semi-professional and professional content within UGV environments.
YouTube partner channels, for example, accounted for 10.6 percent of cumulative site views generated over the past year. Moreover, semi-professional content grabbed a 47.5 percent total share on MySpace TV, and the Screen Bites category on Crackle.com generated a 17.5 percent cumulative share of total views.
Among other top-line findings:
- YouTube added 831,147 videos to its library in 2007 (net of all video retired or removals).
- A total of 1,176,123 actually viewed videos were added to libraries (net of all videos removed) by the group of UGV sites noted below
- An analysis of a selected group of UGV sites reveals average views per video of 10,695.
- Crackle.com was the market leader in generating views per video at 216,596, accomplished by emphasizing professional content.
- Almost 20 percent of total views generated in 2007 were delivered by videos published in 2006 or before (Yahoo Video was one of the exceptions, opting to focus almost exclusively on videos published in 2007).
Sites audited included AOLUncut, Broadcaster.com, Crackle.com, Ebaumsworld, LiveDigital, Metacafe, MySpace TV, Revver.com, Vsocial.com, VEOH.com, Yahoo Video and YouTube, among others.
The RJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research), the UK’s official body in charge of measuring radio audiences has released survey results that indicate 80% of all downloaded Podcasts are listened to on a computer and not mobile audio devices. Though the full survey results will not be out until the end of the month a few interesting facts have been published:
- 4.3 million adults have downloaded or subscribed to a podcast
- 80% listening at home on their computer, rather than a portable media player
- On average, each listener downloads one or less podcasts per week
- The most popular time to listen to them is the evening
- Most people do listen to the complete podcast
A similar survey is not currently planned for Ireland.
