Online Video Mega List UPDATE1

Below are recent additions to my Online Video MegaList. This list is intended as an overview of video websites that are significant to digital content creators and digital content consumers. Learn where to upload your clips, where to find online video entertainment, where to find progressive multimedia, how to monetize your content and more. See the full list which is organized into categories such as Infrastructure, Upload Sites, Entertainment, Tools, and more.

• PLYmedia: Development, design, manufacturing and deployment of an interactive, multi-dimensional web video platform.
• jetvision: Jetvision provides immediate access to all your content in a single web video player that’s customized to match your existing website.
• VideoClix.tv: VideoClix’s original clickable video authoring software segmented, tracked, tagged and categorized objects within videos.
• VUVOX: VUVOX is an easy to use production and instant sharing service that allows you to mix, create and blend your personal media – video, photos and music into rich personal expressions.
• LANDLINE TV: A comedy video site that is "comically relevant...for about a week or so."
• Syndicaster: Syndicaster is adding several online distribution options for local TV stations, including the ability to publish video clips to YouTube, AOL (via Brightcove), Yahoo and other sites. Syndicaster is an online editing and video-clip management service that allows TV stations to broadcast any news clip and repurpose it for the Web by publishing it to their own Websites or through its sister service ClipSyndicate (both Syndicaster and ClipSyndicate are divisions of Critical Media).
• VidPay: A white label platform for sponsored video campaigns, helping video advertisers reach their intended audience.
• ActiveVideo: ActiveVideo Networks brings the full Web-media experience to TV, using well-established Internet and On-demand infrastructure. With 24 issued patents, ActiveVideo provides a mature, stable platform with infinite programming possibilities.
• Intruders tv : The leading provider of valuable insights through their unique approach to capturing Innovators on video.
• Kyte: Kyte is an end-to-end, online and mobile platform for the production, distribution and monetization of video content.
• ffwd: This video recommendation engine has just released its API to developers.
• Sling Media: Cool digital settop boxes that stream cable from your house to your computer. They will soon release an iPhone app that gives instant access to Cable TV and Tivo while roaming.
• Another settop box is Roku who will soon have a new product to Stream Netflix and Amazon video on demand.
• The Fancast Store: Online video store with a respectable selection of modern films.
• STRIKE.TV: Born out of the writers strike, designed to challenge members of the Writers Guild to create original programs for the Internet. The ad revenue profits go to the Writers Guild Foundation Industry Support Fund.
• Dailymotion: Video upload, sharing and categories.
• Heavy: Early-comer online video company focused on creating entertainment experiences for various demographics.
• Mixpo: An online video advertising technology company based in Seattle.
• mywaves: The largest free mobile video destination for consumers, attracting over 5 million unique visitors monthly to its free mobile video service.
• VideoSurf: A site for users to search, discover and watch online videos.
• Ooyala: Manage, monetize, syndicate and analyze your online video. Founded by two seasoned Google veterans.

See the full Online Video Mega List.

TV on the Computer

2009 is shaping up to be a huge year for online video. Check out the audio story and associated web page from All Tech Considered, the weekly segment on NPR's All Things Considered.

"Web video is growing up -- we're way past one-shot silly videos on YouTube -- and as more content grows online, we're seeing a real convergence between what's available on TV, what's available online and what we'll be able to stream back to our TVs from the Internet."

I notice many people in the media addressing the issue of watching video on the computer vs. watching it on the TV. The fact that is emerging is that many viewers are searching for good programming with their computer and watching it on their TV. Increasingly they are either connecting laptops to their TVs or using other media center devices. 2009 will see many more options such as the new LCD TVs with built-in Netflix coming soon from LG or other web-enabled TVs from the likes of Apple and Yahoo.

Also, don't miss the NPR.org All Tech Considered section.

Analyzing, Indexing, Reading and Interpreting Online Digital Video Content

The advances in online video keep coming. It's a good thing, too, since video is quickly becoming one of the most popular online pastimes. As comScore notes, three out of four American Internet users regularly watch videos. In September, 146 million people watched an average of 86 videos each.

With so many videos online, new tools are popping up to help users sift through it all. For example, VideoSurf (see photo above), will actually analyze every frame of online videos from YouTube, Hulu and numerous other popular sites. The software analyzes faces and elements in the videos so that when users search for something like Johnny Cash, the results will bring the user right to the exact frames of video where Johnny appears. It works great.

Another spooky technology is from a company called called DigitalSmiths who describe themselves as follows, "Digitalsmiths is an innovative video indexing and digital content publishing technology provider serving major Hollywood studios, web video destinations, media companies and advertisers. The company’s proprietary computer-vision based video indexing, search and interpretation algorithms empower content owners and publishers to efficiently monetize their digital video content, and advertisers to automatically target ads to thematically relevant video content."

The New York Times has written a review of such sites called "Zeroing In On Your Favorite Video Clips".

Also, check out the video below from the PBS series Wired Science. Scientists are using facial recognition software to help Autistic kids learn how to interpret emotions by reading facial movements and visual cues. Wild stuff.

I Want My Three Minutes Back

"I Want My Three Minutes Back, the new documentary film from Chuck Potter, is a look into the world of online video.

The film follows the lives of three YouTube video creators. Kevin Nalty (“Nalts”) is a 37 year-old marketing professional, father of four, who is obsessed with online video.

Nick James (“Nickynik”) is a 47 year-old struggling filmmaker, father, surfer who despite having some connections in the Hollywood scene, still struggles with trying to make it in the film business.

Cory Williams (“Mr. Safety”) from a small town in California’s central valley, moves to Los Angeles to see if he can make the transition from online video fame to traditional media success."

Interactive Online Movies and User Narative Control

Bandwidth and video technology enable online video producers to mix and match video clips in real time. This means that viewers can click on video to alter the action or storyline. Users steer the narrative by making choices along the way. User navigated content. Some recent examples show just how seamless and full-screen these experiences can be.

Survive the Outbreak is an interactive horror film which allows viewers to make their own life or death decisions with zombies.




NOLAF.org is a wild Tostitos brand entertainment story labyrinth created by Element79 and Mekanism. It is successfully compelling and is able to weave the brand into a Monty Pythonesque tale of crusaders who are fighting against fun. I hope Tostitos is feeling that taking a marketing chance with their budget has proved worthwhile. I can consume this kind of advertising.

The Orange Underground is an interactive video site combined with user-generated videos. A Cheetos ad campaign.

And some groups are pushing the video interaction even further. For example, GPS Film is a location-based mobile cinema. "Using a GPS-enabled PDA or mobile phone, artwork selects clips based on location. As the viewer travels, the movie is revealed. The result is a new type of film experience that is tied to the movement of the viewer. Similar to a game, GPS Film tells stories by exploring an environment… but by taking it off the computer and back into the real world."

Microsoft Surface Test Drive

Today I got to test drive a Microsoft Surface machine while visiting their Issaquah campus. It is kinda like my iPhone, but you can't put it in your pocket. Believe me, I tried.

The sensitivity and immediate feedback was really amazing. The physics of moving virtual items around the table was fascinating...it really responded well. Ok. Who's gonna buy me one?

Hulu and Joost: Head-to-Head Video Battle

Hulu and Joost, two of the top online video entertainment sites, are improving their services at a very fast rate. Hulu is allowing viewers to embed videos in their personal blogs while Joost has dropped the stand-alone software and launched a browser-based player. Below are some articles about the two companies. Also check out the recent Nielson video census chart (above).

Free, Legal, and Online: Why Hulu Is the New Way to Watch TV (Wired Magazine)

Hulu Launches All Kinds Of Stuff To Keep You Defocused On Joost (TechCrunch)

New Widgets At Hulu; We Talk To CTO Eric Feng (TechCrunch)


About time: Joost to launch browser-based player (CNET)

Online Video 2.0: Rules of Engagement

Check out the latest white paper from PermissionTV. (Download PDF: "Online Video 2.0: Rules of Engagement") It is a great overview of the state of online video.

"A recent study from ABI Research estimates the number of viewers who access video via the Web will nearly quadruple in the next few years, reaching at least one billion in 2013, while Forrester views streaming video advertising as the fastest growing segment of the interactive ad market and predicts it will hit $7.2 billion in 2012."

The Future of Online Video

On the occasion of Google's 10th birthday, Chad Hurley (CEO and Co-Founder of YouTube) commented on the future of online video. Did you know that 13 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute!?

Chad says, "In ten years, we believe that online video broadcasting will be the most ubiquitous and accessible form of communication. The tools for video recording will continue to become smaller and more affordable. Personal media devices will be universal and interconnected. Even more people will have the opportunity to record and share even more video with a small group of friends or everyone around the world."

Top Technorati Techie Talks TV at TED

Entrepreneur, blogger, marketer and digital culture historian Peter Hirshberg gave a great talk about computer/TV convergence at a recent TED-related conference, EG 08. In addition to being an executive and a writer, he also serves on the advisory board of Technorati. Check out the video above where he charts the history of the internet along side the history of TV.

Read his blog about disruptive culture and technology.

He is also a trustee at The Computer History Museum.

Internet Meme Timeline Widget

This is a fun little widget that has been floating around the web. Zoom in and step thru the history of internet-based memes that have virally traveled cyberspace. Then go out and start your own memes.

Remember The Dark Side of the Rainbow, The Spot, All Ur Base, Subservient Chicken and The Tron Guy? And have you been Rick Rolled? Study up!

Make your own timeline at Dipity.com.

How-To Videos Online

A huge sub-genre of online video is the "How-to" video. On the one hand, I welcome this development because many of the videos are useful, fun and informative. On the other hand, any hack with a video camera and a self-inflated view of what they can teach the world is now empowered to digitally lecture the globe. Let the learning and teaching begin!

5min
A place to find short video solutions for practical questions and a place for people to share their knowledge.

HowCast
User generated content that is produced by the HowCast professional video team as well as freelance associates.

Wonder How To
A community-fueled, search engine and directory for free how-to video, with an index of more than 100,000 videos.

Instructables
Instructables is a web-based documentation platform where passionate people share what they do and how they do it, and learn from and collaborate with others.

Sutree
SuTree is a knowledge community and an aggregator of instructional &
educational videos.

VideoJug
Life explained, on film. A comprehensive library of free factual video content. Professionally-produced, high definition.

ExpertVillage
Professionally produced and researched videos, to answer everyday questions with. More than 120,000 videos.

eHow
A platform for you to share your knowledge with others. Clear instruction and high-quality video.

3D Animation Gets Gooder and Gooder

A host of new 3D animators are cranking up the quality bar. Check out these examples of cutting edge technical and creative wizardry.

Emily: She's not real
Image Metrics (the production company that created the animations for Grand Theft Auto) made a splash this week with Emily, created using their new 3D modeling technology. It captures the movements and expressions of real actors and re-creates it all in the computer in a creepy way.

Oktapodi
A student film about amorous octopi from Gobelins, the French school of visual design that has produced tons of amazing animators.

Also, don't miss the "making of" video.

Big Buck Bunny
Big Buck Bunny is an open source movie made with open source software from The Blender Foundation. They created this movie under a software development type model, all to promote the use of their tools.

Check out the "making of" video.

My Morning Jacket Music Video
For their song, Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt. 2, My Morning Jacket had the creative team at Mixtape Club create an amazing 3D animation.

Online Video Mega List

Web video has achieved mass-market popularity. This compilation of links serves as a taste of what's available. Move over, YouTube. You've got company. I will continue to add to (or subtract from) this list as time goes on. Leave comments if I've missed any good ones.

Upload Sites

• 12 Seconds TV: Upload and share short video, like Twitter for video.
• Blip TV: Upload your own or watch other people's videos. Solid set of monetization tools. Great player.
• Cruxy: Post your video, track your buzz and make some dough.
• Current TV: A global television network that gives you the opportunity to create and influence what airs on TV.
• Dailymotion: Video upload, sharing and categories.
• FlixWagon: Broadcast live video from your mobile device.
• HelloWorld: Online studio tools for posting video, live video and video email.
• LiveVideo: Original and exclusive content, weekly video contests, customizable video streaming community.
• Magnify.net: Community video platform. Hosting of pages and videos.
• MetaCafe: Video entertainment powered by you.
• Mogulus: Live broadcast platform on the internet. Mobile features and interactive chat.
• MotionBox: Family-friendly video sharing and storage.
• MySpaceTV: Mega portal/community.
• Qik: Stream live video from your phone.
• Phanfare: Family-friendly private video sharing and collaboration.
• Revver: upload your video and get advertising revenue.
• Stickam: Web video conferencing, live streaming and lifecasting.
• Treemo: An online media sharing community with a mobile component and a "green" slant.
• TubeMogul: Independent video producers use this tool to distribute to multiple platforms, monetize their assets and track their stats.
• Ustream: "Live interactive video for everyone."
• Veoh: From home videos to premier internet television content. From Michael Eisner. Also has a media player.
• Viddler Web application to upload, enhance, and share digital video.
• Vimeo: Slick upload and share site with robust software and player.
• VUVOX: VUVOX is an easy to use production and instant sharing service that allows you to mix, create and blend your personal media – video, photos and music into rich personal expressions.
• Vuze: Upload or watch high-def videos.
• ZigiMe: Social network where users can upload video.

Infrastructure, Software & Hardware

• Adobe Media Player: Finding, cataloging and watching your videos.
• adotube: Publisher-centric online video advertising platform that enables you to generate revenue by showing brand-name ads in your video content.
• Amazon UnBox: The ecommerce giant begins to experiment with online delivery of entertainment content.
• BitTorrent: Trade huge files with your peers.
• BrightCove: Large-scale internet TV platform.
• CinemaNow: Movies. Buy, Rent, Burn. Online.
• CastTV: Video search, attempting to index every video on the web.
• ClipSyndicate: Search licensed, professional content, embed a channel widget in your site and earn revenue.
• DigitalSmiths: Video search technology. Publishers can register and generate ad revenue.
• Dotsub: Any film, any language. Wiki-type citizen translation tool for video.
• Dragonfly: Your customized video network. Trackable. Monetizable.
• Ekko.tv: Instantly start a video chat with two of your friends.
• Feed Room: Enterprise video solution. Provider of technology to corporations and media sites.
• jetvision: Jetvision provides immediate access to all your content in a single web video player that’s customized to match your existing website.
• Kaltura: Open source video management tools for individuals and organizations.
• Kyte: Kyte is an end-to-end, online and mobile platform for the production, distribution and monetization of video content.
• Mixpo: An online video advertising technology company based in Seattle.
• Maven Networks: Online video advertising solution.
• MoveNetworks: TV 2.0. Web streaming technology and services.
• Ooyala: Manage, monetize, syndicate and analyze your online video. Founded by two seasoned Google veterans.
• Origin Digital: Video application service provider, syndication, reporting, multi-platform.
• Overlay.TV: Enrich, monetize, and share online video with animations, comments, products and hyperlinks.
• PermissionTV: A digital video distribution platform with tools to monetize and track your video assets.
• PLYmedia: Development, design, manufacturing and deployment of an interactive, multi-dimensional web video platform.
• Red Lasso: Search national and local TV broadcasts, make clips, share the clips.
• Another settop box is Roku who will soon have a new product to Stream Netflix and Amazon video on demand.
• ScanScout: In-stream video ad network for publishers and organizations.
• See Too: Privately watch videos with a buddy on the internet.
• Sling Media: Cool digital settop boxes that stream cable from your house to your computer. They will soon release an iPhone app that gives instant access to Cable TV and Tivo while roaming.
• Snackfeed: Snackfeed is a tool that lets you track your favorite videos and watch what your friends are watching.
• SwarmCast: Multi-stream platform provider for HD and live distribution
• Syndicaster: Syndicaster is adding several online distribution options for local TV stations, including the ability to publish video clips to YouTube, AOL (via Brightcove), Yahoo and other sites. Syndicaster is an online editing and video-clip management service that allows TV stations to broadcast any news clip and repurpose it for the Web by publishing it to their own Websites or through its sister service ClipSyndicate (both Syndicaster and ClipSyndicate are divisions of Critical Media).
• Tremor Media: Monetize your video (for companies and individual publishers).
• TVTonic: Watch, subscribe and manage video content. Designed to be used with a remote on Windows Media Center.
• UV Layer: Search and discover video. Create thumbnail walls as visual storage.
• Veodia: Platform-as-a-service video broadcasting tools.
• Veotag: A service that allows you to display clickable text on your audio or video files.
• VideoClix.tv: VideoClix’s original clickable video authoring software segmented, tracked, tagged and categorized objects within videos.
• VidPay: A white label platform for sponsored video campaigns, helping video advertisers reach their intended audience.
• Visible Measures: Deep and relevant measurement of internet video audience behavior.
• Yuxt: Social video bookmarking, list creator, playlist tools.

Content & Entertainment Portals

• Acceptable: Watch. Vote. Create. Their judges decide which submitted clips are acceptable to be voted on.
• ActiveVideo: ActiveVideo Networks brings the full Web-media experience to TV, using well-established Internet and On-demand infrastructure. With 24 issued patents, ActiveVideo provides a mature, stable platform with infinite programming possibilities.
• AllOfTV: An archive of streaming TV content on the web. A site with this range of free content is surely going to be shut down soon.
• AtomFilms: A source for independently produced, online entertainment for ten years.
• BabelGum: "TV experience, Internet Substance." High-resolution and full-screen.
• Beet TV: Business news about the media revolution.
• Blinkx TV: 26 million hours of searchable video and major partnerships with dozens of media companies.
• Crackle: A Sony Pictures Entertainment Company formerly known as Grouper. A multi-platform video entertainment network and studio.
• DubiousTV: Seattle-based producers of online shows.
• The Fancast Store: Online video store with a respectable selection of modern films.
• ffwd: This video recommendation engine has just released its API to developers.
• Heavy: Early-comer online video company focused on creating entertainment experiences for various demographics.
• Hulu NBC Universal and News Corporation joint video venture. Many popular TV shows and movies available full-length and full-screen.
• HungryFlix: Feed your portable device. Purchase with micropayments.
• Intruders tv : The leading provider of valuable insights through their unique approach to capturing Innovators on video.
• Joost: All the things you love about TV, fused with all the fun and interactive power of the internet. From the guys that brought you Skype and Kazaa. Full screen. Downloaded client.
• JumpTV: Free live TV from all over the world on your PC.
• LANDLINE TV: A comedy video site that is "comically relevant...for about a week or so."
• Live Universe: One of the largest online entertainment networks from MySpace founder Brad Greenspan. Video, Social Networking & Music.
• MeeVee: Traditional TV listings and online video from hundreds of sources. Personalized guides to surface new programming choices based on individual interests.
• mywaves: The largest free mobile video destination for consumers, attracting over 5 million unique visitors monthly to its free mobile video service.
• Neovids.tv: Production company that creates, acquires, and distributes online video content.
• On Networks: Producing tons of original content. Original programming for original people.
• MojoHD: High-def online site owned by Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner among others.
• Podaddies: Advertising solutions for video publishers.
• Revision3: Discover, watch, subscribe, discuss. Original shows.
• Rocket Boom: Daily internet culture news video program.
• STRIKE.TV: Born out of the writers strike, designed to challenge members of the Writers Guild to create original programs for the Internet. The ad revenue profits go to the Writers Guild Foundation Industry Support Fund.
• Tilzy.tv: What to watch on the web. Guides and reviews.
• VideoSurf: A site for users to search, discover and watch online videos.
• ViralVideos: Displaying the web's most shared viral videos.
• WellcomeMat: Local personalities and professionals use video to highlight real estate, cities, neighborhoods, parks, schools, events and local businesses.
• WorldTV: Create your own channel by assembling videos from the web or watch other people's channels.
• Zattoo: Live TV on your PC from all over the world.

Progressive

• DIY Video Summit: DIY video in the age of digital media.
• FreeSpeech.org: Campanion website of the progressive TV channel. Politics, culture and social issues.
• FORA.tv: "The World is Thinking." Political, social and cultural issues via web video.
• TED: Technology, Entertainment, Design. 18-minute speeches from progressive luminaries.

Other

• For Your Imagination: A content production company, creative video studio and marketing team.
• WallStrip: Videos about how cultural trends effect the stock market.

Updated April 26th, 2009.

Online Video Advertising Growth

It seems that every time another research firm predicts the size of the online video advertising market, another firm turns around and makes a higher prediction. The realities of the market and the ever-increasing adoption of online video is proving that the predictions are too low. The only thing we can be sure of is that advertising for online video will be huge! This is great news for all of us content creators...if there is money in the market, funding for shows will continue to increase.

Lehman predicts $2.4B in U.S. Video Ads by 2010. See the TechCrunch post.

Parks Associates predict $6.6B in Online Video Ads by 2012. See the NewTeeVee post.

Forrester predicts $7.1B in Online Video Ads by 2012.

Fifty Percent of US Population will Watch Online Video in 2008

Not everyone agrees. "Expectations for online video ad revenue growing faster than the evidence"

Opportunities for Content Creators

Andrew Baron, creator of Rocketboom, recently talked to Beet.tv about the numerous opportunities that exist for digital content creators. Now, more than ever, individuals and small shops can make a living creating original programming for the web and mobile devices. He talks in detail about how to approach entrepreneurial efforts in the fields of digital film making, story development, online video and web show production.

The Rocketboom folks just announced a seven-figure distribution deal with Sony this week, so this is a content team that knows what they are talking about.

NYT Article Takes Pulse of Web Video Scene

A great recent article in the New York Times titled "Night Life Reprogrammed" explores the nightlife and social scene that has sprouted up around the next-generation web industry that is newly emerging. Special emphasis is placed on web video companies and their interactions with the industry and the world at large. The article mentions a bunch of great internet video content and entertainment sites such as the following:

• Wine Library TV
• Video blogs like Downtown Diary and Pop17
• Digital media production company Dinosaur Diorama
• Online video entertainment pioneer Blip.tv
• Hip Hop video blog Ill Doctrine
• NY Video 2.0

For more companies like this, check out my 4-part series about digital media content sites "They Promised Us Convergence".

Metacafe Partners with Web Video Content Creators

AdAge is reporting that the web video entertainment company Metacafe has partnered with a dozen content-creation companies including 60 Frames, Aniboom, CelebTV, Collegiate Images, Comedy.com, Comedy Time, Diagonal View, GamePro Media, Howcast, SXM, Wannahaves, and Young Hollywood.

"It's important for content creators that they not only have their work distributed as broadly as possible but also that they team with publishers who can help ensure their videos reach the right viewers at the right time," Scott Bushman, vice president of content for Metacafe.

Digital Media Content Business News

When I started this blog over a year ago, it was to cover stories in the still-emerging digital content industry. This world of online entertainment and digital delivery is now mainstream, and continues to grow. Popular old-school media companies have begun to embrace the new delivery channels and content-creation techniques. Take the recent examples below as proof.

• PaidContent.org parent company, ContentNext, has been acquired by Guardian News & Media.


• HBO has decided to offer digital versions of its content on iTunes.
  
  
• Media industry grand-daddy CBS Buys digital pioneer C|NET for $1.8 billion.


• Disney Online Creates New Team Focused on Online Virtual Worlds, Communities and Games


• Online-Video Firm Revver Is Acquired by LiveUniverse.


• The new Vivendi multimedia service, called Zaoza, will deliver content across multiple devices and encourage users to share


• Hollywood continues to go digital. Lions Gate Entertainment has decided to strike a deal with Google to share advertising revenue from YouTube clips of it's films.

Digital Media Entertainment Studios

As a producer and consumer of digital media, I find it encouraging to see such a healthy crop of newfangled filmmakers. These are companies dedicated to creating content pieces for digital distribution. Like studios set up to create TV or movies, the internet studios are generating new works and releasing them to a mass audience.

For example, the makers of LonelyGirl 15 have transformed themselves into "EQAL (pronounced “Equal”), the social entertainment company dedicated to redefining the way we interact with content and with each other."

"Worldwide Biggies is a Digital Entertainment Studio that’s redefining entertainment by creating hit properties for young adults and the digital family."

"Next New Networks is a new kind of media company, creating micro-television networks over the internet for targeted communities, bringing together elements of tv programming and internet philosophy to allow viewers to contribute, share and distribute content."

Generate is "new content for a new generation. With the entertainment industry undergoing a seismic shift in reaction to the rapidly changing consumption habits of the youth and family audience, we recognize there now exists a unique opportunity to create a forward-thinking company that understands both this audience and their increasing demand for content across multiple platforms."

60 Frames is "a company specifically focused on financing and syndicating web content, in an environment where artists maintain creative freedom, significant profit participation, ownership and control over their properties. 60Frames provides financial, legal, creative, physical, marketing and distribution resources to professional artists who wish to create original, high quality programming for the internet and other digital media platforms."

Vuguru is Michael Eisner's company that is producing high-quality digital entertainment properties. Learn more about this in my recent post from Eisner's recent keynote speech.

Endemol is a thriving production entity that creates powerful content for all media platforms. They've done Big Brother and Deal or No Deal and are focused on both traditional and emerging technologies.

Stage 9 Digital Media is an ABC TV offshoot focused on creating digital programming for internet audiences. They are syndicating rapidly to YouTube, Hulu, Zvue and even on the Xbox among others.

"Electric Farm Entertainment is a digital studio for the development of intellectual properties across multiple platforms." They are the studio creating Gemini Division, the online sci-fi series available at the NBC website.

"Medialink helps professional communicators and the media engage their intended audiences with compelling video and audio distributed via the Web, television and radio. We produce award-winning video and audio content that is promoted and distributed to broadcast and broadband media outlets"

Vint 'Father of the Internet' Cerf Re: Online Video

Check out the great interview with Vint Cerf on BeetTV. He has not only won every techie award in the universe, but he's been steering strategy at Google since 2005. He has interesting things to say about the future of online video, which he predicts will involve more downloading and less streaming.

The Conference on Creativity & Technology

Highlight video of our recent trip to the CRE8 Conference in Orlando this spring.

Microsoft Silverlight Presentation by Brian Goldfarb part 1

(Install Silverlight to view this video.)

The video above is part one of a keynote speech given by Brian Goldfarb of Microsoft at the 2008 CRE8 Conference. I attended the conference in Orlando and you can review my earlier posts from the show.

A cultural change is afoot at Microsoft, where the oft-neglected designer is finally getting a long-craved-for hug from the Borg. This time it really seems like they are serious about respecting user experience and good human-computer interface design best practices. For instance, Microsoft is part of the OpenAjax Alliance and they have even launched a full-on designer community.

Check out his presentation to learn about Microsoft's new approach to the entire "ecosystem of developers" which involves "collaboration between teams of partners". Microsoft is not only trying to provide tools to do tasks, but they are also addressing the need for workflow solutions. How do teams work closely together, freely exchanging ideas, files and deliverables? With the new products, a designer can open up a project that has been coded by a developer and vice versa.

Goldfarb leads teams dedicated to building upon Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), their unified application framework. Among other things, it allows developers to apply basic windows functionality (like spell check) into multimedia applications.

He spoke broadly about general changes in Microsoft culture and practice. He mentioned that their server is now standards-based, and the "browser is getting better, I promise".

He shared a variety of example Silverlight sites from their Gallery, including Break.com, HSN,and the mind-bending "Deep Zoom" technology on the Hard Rock Cafe site.

At the time of this presentation, Microsoft was seeing over one million downloads a day of the Silverlight plug-in.

The new products support HD video, adaptive streaming solutions, XAML, and DRM-ready features. Read my post about a recent all-day Silverlight training event I attended at Microsoft to learn more about all this stuff.

Goldfarb stressed that they are building demand. Now they need creative people to develop the supply. To that end, they are offering 10 gigs of free hosting! The video above takes advantage of this. They are encouraging the developer network by providing a free place to get started.

Silverlight is driving plugin adoption by offering content developers a free hosting and streaming service: "Microsoft® Silverlight™ Streaming by Windows Live™ is a companion service for Silverlight that makes it easier for developers and designers to deliver and scale rich media as part of their Silverlight applications. The service offers web designers and developers a free and convenient solution for hosting and streaming cross-platform, cross-browser media experiences and rich interactive applications that run on Windows™ and Mac."

Video Publishing Platform Wars

comScore Video Metrix, the king of media statistics, tells us that more than 10 billion videos are viewed per month in the United States. In March 2008, there were more than 11 billion!

As has been written about numerous times on this blog, there are dozens of companies trying to corner pieces of this market. One of the biggest is Brightcove, who recently revamped their services and site. They describe themselves this way, "Brightcove empowers content owners—from independent producers to major broadcast networks—to reach their audiences directly through the Internet. At the same time, we help web publishers enrich their sites with syndicated video programming, and we give marketers more ways to communicate and engage with their consumers."

Recently a Seattle-area start-up has begun to challenge the mighty Brightcove. Delve Networks, formerly called Pluggd, published a direct challenge on their blog this week. They are going after Brightcove's corner of the video market and appear to be doing quite well.

The online battle for video platform domination rages on! It'll be fun to watch.

Microsoft Digital Advertising News

YuMe, a company dedicated to delivering ads across all platforms, has recently made a big deal with Microsoft to provide services and sales for digital video distribution. The video above is an interview with the Yume founder by Scobleizer.

In similar news, Microsoft just bought Navic Networks, a company that delivers advertising to digital television platforms. Read about the deal at The Seattle PI.

To learn more about the impending switch-over to digital television, read my earlier post T-Commerce, Digital TV and the Digitization of Content.

PDFs with Video

15 years ago Adobe had the foresight to launch a format that was cross-platform, cross-browser and behaved the same on different computers and printers. Today the PDF document format is a major standard for those of us who consume and distribute content on digital platforms.

This month they added support for video! This is great news for digital content creators and distributors. Although it is simple for us to post video on YouTube or a million other services, the fact that we can now create context for our video is exciting. Sure, we can embed video into our websites. But, more and more, destinations on the web are becoming irrelevant. In the early days of the web we were attempting to attract eyeballs to a particular URL. Today, even though portals are a solid business model, we are increasingly seeing the content travel to the viewer rather than the other way around. Now we can package video content up nice and neat and deliver it to our audience.

Learn more at the Adobe site. There is also a good story on The Murcury News where they describe it this way, "along with adding video to documents, Acrobat 9 is intended to let users create professional-looking "portfolios" - combining text and graphics with video, 3-D representations and other applications - and store them as a .pdf file that will appear the same to anyone who views or prints it."

Cre8 Day 3: Michael Eisner, the Master Digital Story-Teller

Yesterday the Cre8 Conference kicked off with keynote speaker Michael Eisner, former CEO of Disney. He is a consummate story teller and master business man. Here are some of the creative ideas he shared.

Think inside the box.
Make sure the box is the right size.
Micromanage it.

Eisner is a notorious micro manager. Often this is a negative connotation, but for him it worked. He even called the front desk of our resort this week to complain about the shampoo and conditioner. Where were the easily-readable designs he instituted during his all-seeing reign?

He had great stories of his film-world adventures. There were the flops like 1980's "Raise the Titanic". Producer Lord Lew Grade once said of the over-budget fiasco, "It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic."

There were the hits like "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Apparently that scene where Indiana Jones shoots the sword fighter came about because Harrison Ford had digestive problems as they were getting ready to shoot the final fight scene. Spielberg finally said, "Oh, just shoot him and you can go home." And thus was born a classic comedic scene where once was a planned battle scene.

He's doing some exciting things now-a-days. His new company Tornante is making short-form entertainment for digital distribution on mobile and Internet platforms. His son makes advertisements and is spending $1.3 million for 30 seconds. Eisner and his new stripped-down crew are spending $1,200 for 30 seconds. He called the Internet "creative experimentation." He's making "story-driven Internet video." Tornante is creating series like "Prom Queen" thru his company Vuguru.

He's a major stake-holder in Veoh, one of the top 30 sites in the US and the video site with the longest "engagement metrics" (people watching videos for more minutes than other sites). He also recently bought Tops, and is re-vamping the 50 year old brand best known for baseball cards and Bazooka Joe.

He talked about consistency and managing every little detail. Find out what the brand stands for and what it doesn't stand for. How big is the box? When he joined Disney, the international division was translating/dubbing the films with startling inconsistency. Huey, Dewey and Lewie were often being voiced by the same actor. Mickey had a different voice (and thus personality) in every country. By the time he left, you could barely tell the international versions of the films apart except that the characters were speaking in different languages.

He quoted famous industrialist Thomas J. Watson who once said "If you want to succeed, double your failure rate." Eisner also said that "to punish failure is a good way to encourage mediocrity. Fearful people will settle for mediocrity."

He sounds like he is having fun. He says he's making it up as he goes along. The Internet is a story-driven medium. He is a self-described Internet addict. He's helping to create a new form of distribution and learning how to generate programming for the Internet. His vision for the next 20 years is that digital is the place to be, the Internet will overtake all mediums as the distribution platform for modern story-tellers.

They Promised Us Convergence, part 4

The great plodding march toward complete convergence continues. TV and movies are merging with the digital world. This series on my blog tracks many of the companies, creators and video sites that have joined this quest for convergence. Below are links and quotes about many of the sites I didn't cover in parts 1, 2 and 3.

The goal of CastTV is "to index every video on the web (from YouTube to iTunes, and everything in between) and to help users find videos that matter to them."

"Viddler is a fresh, creative web application that lets you upload, enhance, and share digital video quickly and easily inside your web browser. Sharing your story. Making search results relevant. Bringing users together."

"LiveVideo is where you want to be to find original and exclusive content, weekly video contests, and great videos. Essentially, LiveVideo is your ultimate video destination on the web. We are a customizable video streaming community that allows users to watch, upload, search and share videos, allowing you to have a completely interactive video sharing experience!"

Stickam is "driving the next wave of business communications with rich media meetings that liberate users from time and geographical constraints." They provide "Web communication services... designed for the delivery of multimedia Web communications."

Qik lets you "stream live video fast to the world. Right from your phone."

MoveNetworks is calling themselves TV 2.0.

"WorldTV is an entirely new concept in the world of web video. More than 10 years in the planning, it realizes a long term vision to empower anyone, anywhere to become their own media mogul, and to create their own fabulous TV Channel."

Adobe Media Playerlaunched a media player that works great for finding, cataloging and watching your videos.

Also see my recent post about the DIY Video Summit.

Remember that the deadline for the mandatory shift to digital television draws ever closer. See my recent post T-Commerce, Digital TV and the Digitization of Content.

The set top box market continues to take in new players. "VUDU is the revolutionary new movie on-demand service that provides instant access to more than 6,000 movies and TV shows, with hundreds of titles in high-definition. Whether you're in the mood for a top Hollywood new release or an art-house classic, VUDU lets you rent or purchase and starts playing faster than you can grab the popcorn." FOXTEL has a pretty great box. And this month also saw a widly publicised rumor that Blockbuster Video is about to announce a set top box of their own and this rumor appears to be true.

Maven is "the power of internet TV" and was bought by Yahoo for $160M. "Introducing the first and only complete online video advertising solution to dramatically increase video advertising inventory and revenue via new ad formats, an intelligent and dynamic video ad insertion engine, and sophisticated video ad inventory management tools."

Live Universe, the latest venture from MySpace founder Brad Greenspan, bought Revver, in February 2008. LiveVideo.com is another project by Live Universe.

BuddyTV is "original and fresh coverage on TV Shows, TV News, TV Spoilers, Live TV Commentary, TV listings, Forums, and Community."

"MeeVee is the first destination to bring together traditional TV listings and online video from hundreds of sources in one place. Using innovative new technologies, MeeVee has changed the way viewers find TV programming and online video by enabling them to personalize their guides to surface new programming choices based on individual interests."

Beet TV continues to crank out great video coverage of many of these topics.

Mogulus is "giving users the power to create live, original television programming, all done on their own global broadcasting channel."

PermissionTV will give you the tools to monetize your video assets.

ViralVideos displays "the web's most shared viral videos."

YouTorrent, is a meta search engine that finds you bit torrents.

Stay tuned for more in this ongoing series. Check out the previous posts:
They Promised Us Convergence, part 3
They Promised Us Convergence, part 2
They Promised Us Convergence, part 1

The Convergence Culture Consortium

Ever since I was in high school in the 1980s, I've been hearing about the coming convergence of digital media, TV and online networks. I'm not talking about the Harmonic Convergence or the Convergence Goth Festival or even the Italian rock band. I'm talking about the merging of all media into a great blob of ones and zeros.

In 2008 we are closer than ever before. I feel it in the fiber of the web. This blog is dedicated to bringing you insight and commentary on digital culture and converging media. To that end, check out the links below for a great bunch of MIT gurus and their blogs, podcasts and conferences.

"The Convergence Culture Consortium (C3) explores the ways the business landscape is changing in response to the growing integration of content and brands across media platforms and the increasingly prominent roles that consumers are playing in shaping the flow of media. C3 connects researchers and thinkers from MIT's Comparative Media Studies program with companies looking to understand new strategies for doing business in a converging media environment."