DailyMotion a Friend to Indies

While YouTube continues to dominate the online video world in terms of total views and posts other sites are looking for ways to distinguish themselves.

One site, the European transport DailyMotion, is trying the indie films route.

According to Mashable:

“Now the video-sharing site is taking things a step further with the inclusion of full length films in its new section, called Cinema Dailymotion, according to 901am. This is an online screening series for viewers to watch streaming, full-length films and documentaries.”

Of course, they’re certainly not the first site to do this it is nice to see them working to focus on the sort of films viewers might not be able to get anywhere else.  Sure, the big blockbusters will always have a the biggest draw but there are also multiple ways to access those films.

This strikes me as another example of finding large niche markets that can be targeted with premium content.  The value of these markets will depend on their size to some degree but the type of content DailyMotion is pushing would seem to attract the sort of richer demos advertisers love.

Niche Video and 1000 True Fans

I checked out a new web series called The Battery’s Down today.  It’s not the world’s greatest contribution to the form but for everyone who considers themselves a musical theater geek it’s a pretty fun little ride complete with Broadway star cameos and insider humor.

The point, however, is not to make a critical review of the show but to point out that the idea of 1000 True Fans is a way to look at why one might make a show as specific and clearly not mainstream as The Battery’s Down.  As Kevin points out in his essay, the idea is to develop 1000 fans willing to give you $100/year through one method or another (subscription, donation, merch, etc).  He adds that this figure needs to scale up for the number of people directly involved.

So, looking at something like Battery, if the core group is between 5 and 8 people committed to gaining 1000 fans each for the show they should be able to clear $500,000 – $800,000 a year.  Now, I realize this isn’t an easy thing to accomplish but I think that focusing on niche groups who hunger for entertainment made just for them is a step in the right direction.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbutXzJ_I3o]

AOL Thinks More is More

AOL has announced that it is going to launch a whole bunch of new “niche” sites in the coming year.  This is definitely a big trend right now but Mashable says:

“That’s quite an expectation for a company even of AOL’s size, and it appears to be a furthered effort of monetizing web content with the support of online advertising efforts. There haven’t been any more details released in regards to Wilson’s statement, but surely the niche market has regained a bit of its appeal with improved efforts for behavioral targeting and integrated social media. Who knows? This may even have some involvement with AOL’s open mobile platform.”

Many are not sure sure this is the right direction.  LostRemote points to some thoughts from VentureBeat:

“Meanwhile, VentureBeat has this to say about AOL’s strategy: “It’s hard to feel excited about a company that hopes to succeed simply by putting more of its product on the web rather than focusing on improving the sites they already have. It’s the old quantity versus quality argument.”

There are definitely arguments to be made on both sides but at the end of the day it feels to me that AOL is not going to be able to provide the sort of unique and compelling content that drives the sort of niche viewers they’re hoping to grab.