Morning Fun – Winston Churchill Remixed

Maybe because the sun is out and the sky is blue but I thought it would be nice to start the day with a great example of how the art of the remix deserves to be recognized as original art and not just a series of thefts.

I present to you, Winston Churchill, Remixed:

Meet CinemaCube – An MPAA Nightmare

The device pictured to right is BrightView’s CinemaCube and, if they are aware of it’s existence, it is giving those in the MPAA nightmares.

The device plugs directly into a user’s TV and uses any USB storage device (from thumb drives to external hard drives) to store data. On the surface, that means you could watch your home movies or view photos.

The CinemaCube is also comes with a built-in BitTorrent client, meaning users can access the online file sharing service. It’s also networkable, letting users can grab files (ranging from music to video to photos) from a remote PC to view on their television.

The device, which supports HD content up to 720p and comes with an HDMI port, is on sale now for $89.99.   LINK

I don’t have much to add except that it’s one more reason the MPAA and the major movie studios should be spending more time a new distribution model than on suing sites like The Pirates Bay

YouTube the New Local News?

As I learned on Beet.TV:

Just about a week ago, YouTube introduced a new functionality which surfaces up local news video which corresponds to the location of the user’s IP address.

This is a pretty cool little innovation that could eventually become a serious source for local news and events.  Right now, the service is limited to videos uploaded to the “news” catagory which is a little bit of a bummer but means the selections won’t be overrun by completely irrelevant content.  It also means that, for now, the majority of the content is resourced TV content.  However, it has the potential to become a hub for citizen journalists and those looking for coverage from a very local source.

With more people gaining access to video-capabable phone able to post nearly seamlessly to YouTube the possibilities start to become very compelling.

Even more exciting on the theoretical but not too far off front (yes, that’s a front) is the growth of phones with the ability to use services like Qik to literally live-stream to the web from virtually anywhere in the world.  Imagine whole populations with these sorts of abilities and the idea of tuning in for the news takes on a completely different meaning.

5 Lessons from the Death of 60Frames

THR is reporting that the UTA digital content off-shoot 60Frames is shuttering.

60Frames joins a growing list of companies formed to cash in on digitial video content.  Most of these companies have failed.  While a downturn in the economy is one reason, there are bigger lessons to be learned.

Here are five lesssons to be learned from the death of 60Frames:

1) A big killer to 60Frames, according to THR, was the “sluggish nature of the dealmaking.”  This is a hurdle I am constantly facing in my daily work at Crossroads.  It often takes months to negotiate a deal for as few as four episodes of an original webseries.  Not only is momentum lost but the eventual legal fees often overshadow the inital budget for the project.  Everyone involved in the creation and distribution of original web content needs to consider drastically simplfying the paperwork.  A 50-page deal memo might make sense for a multi-million-dollar TV series but not for a webseries with an budget of less than $100,000.

2) 60Frames claims to have producer over 30 original web series.  How many can you name?  I track this stuff and all I can come up with is Blood Cell and that one they sold to HBO about the carpet salesmen.  The point is that, while it is possible to reach millions of viewers online you still have to let them know you’re out there.  That’s why movie studios spend as much marketing a movie as they do making the movie.  Never once have I seen a legitimate marketing budget and plan for the release of a webseries.  The myth of going viral is just a myth.  Word-of-mouth is nice and we all like getting Diggs but that is not a marketing plan.  Until we see companies seriously investing in marketing we will never see a webseries gain the sort of following seen by popular TV shows.

3) Making good content is hard and it is harder still when there is a “throw it up and see what sticks” approach to making hits.  Just because you can make a show doesn’t mean you should. Too many of the original webseries just don’t have enough going for them to engage the viewer beyond one or two episodes.  Considering how many expensive TV shows fail, it isn’t surprising to see many webseries fail as well, but I think the rate is even higher online becuase their are fewer checks-and-balances in terms of quality and less at risk in terms of investment.

4) Online original content development and production is not a multi-million-dollar venture right now.  60Frames, and many of their one-time competitors, simply raised too much VC money with no legitimate hope of recouping that investment considering the economic realities of the online video business.  If you want to make a go of it, you must design a company that has low overhead and very little bureaucracy so that you can move fast and react quickly.

5) Access to talent is great but if you don’t combine them with great developers than it is a wasted investment.  Too many webseries by stars are “passion projects” that have no hope of going anywhere.  Don’t sacrifice quality or vision just to get names involved.

Fly on the Back of a Hawk

Ok, this post is a bit of a stretch in terms of being a “media musing” but it’s Friday and this video is so cool.

Take flight on the back of a hawk with a perfectly positioned tiny video camera.  Make sure to click “HQ” and go fullscreen if you want the full effect.

I guess my media musing on this is that it is a fantastic example of modern technology combining with nature to provide us at home with a truly special moment.  Not only that, but this moment can be experienced by people all over the world.  All because this guy with a hawk thought it would be cool to share.

The trouble with lots of old media companies is that they are so focused on a bottom line that they forget how cool it is to share.

Anyhow, here’s the video (thanks Neatorama):

If a TV Station Goes Online-Only is it Still TV?

Cory Bergman over  on Lost Remote makes an interesting proposition:

What if a TV station did the same? After all, many in the industry now concede that some markets can only sustain two or three TV stations in the near future. For those who can’t survive, what if they shut down the station and re-emerge as a lean-and-mean local media company with a focus on non-linear video? Clips would be published to the web, mobile and cable/satellite VOD.

This got me thinking about what makes a TV station what it is and how it would be changed moving to an online-only distribution model.  For starters, there is the whole question of streaming live and simple providing programming on demand.  When one looks at local TV networks the main draw is the local news.  This program still holds value in today’s marketplace because NBC Nightly News can’t cover the whole world and your neighborhood.  This leaves a real opening for the local networks.  However, it is still news watched mostly by an older generation less likely to follow the format online.

The big question is, aside from the news, what could an online-only local “TV” network truly offer?  As anyone who has been involved with running or maintaining a video-content driven site will tell you, it is extremely difficult to maintain a high enough traffic rate without a constant flow of new material.  The bread-and-butter of most local networks is the shows they syndicate, but that will not be of much option  online where most of those shows are already available.

There are clearly massive opportunities online for original video content but I am not sure porting the local TV network is going to be the way to go.

(via)

EBay + Video = Idea Who’s Time Has Come

Just yesterday I was discussing with my parents that it was too bad there was no video integration on EBay for sellers.

Not only would a video of an item potentially provide the buyer with a more complete view but would allow the sellers to try their hand at being real advertisers. I imagined that EBay should do a deal with 12Seconds since that would give them an existing archetecture and limit just how long a video could be.

It’s an idea that must be in the air since I discovered a very similar take over on the excellent PSFK blog:

One obvious way to address these fears and uncertainties is to include a video player where people can post footage of both themselves and their products.  But as far as we’ve seen, there has yet to be a serious push to include video content on auction sites. If you visit eBay, for example, you’ll see an interface that allows you to post pictures and descriptions, but there is no video player to be found.

That’s why we were happy to find that users of video sites have created their own solutions. YouTube has an online auction channel, YouAuction, that offers a way for sellers to showcase their goods in detail and in motion. Ebay users can then include the video link in their auction posts, giving the buyers a bit more assurance about the potentially risky purchase they’re about to make.

I like YouAuction but still think a direct integration on the EBay site would be extremely effective and help set Ebay apart from the growing number of competitors.

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NBC Direct – One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

One of the few things that keeps me downloading TV shows from “illegal” P2P sites is that the networks, while offering up great content via streaming, have been quite stingy when it comes to downloading shows for viewing on portable devices.

NBC is trying to move in that direction with the introduction of NBC:Direct.

Windows only: Sure, almost all the offerings on NBC Direct can be watched at streaming site Hulu. But if you’re an HD fiend and want offline access, NBC Direct’s player might be worth checking out.

NBC Direct is definitely powered by DRM and ad-powered software, so if you’re not cool with that, well, you probably know a few other places to look (like, er, Hulu). But if you dig the idea of subscribing to, and downloading higher-quality videos of your favorite NBC shows, it’s not a bad way of getting them guilt-free. (via)

There are still ad breaks, which is fine, but the continued presence of restrictive DRM, being Windows-only and far from “one-step” means that it is unlikely to stem the tide of pirates.

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Seth McFarlane and YouTube are Back and It Feels So…Lame

Much has been made about the YouTube deal with Seth “Family Guy” McFarlane in which Seth creates VERY short, occassionally funny animated pieces and they are combined with a McFarlane-esque pre-roll ad (this time from Priceline) and distributed via Googles video ad network.

This seems to be working pretty well for them in terms of overall views but I find the presentation to be, well, a total ripoff.

As an example, check out this episode:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xI0OobsRh8&border=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

If you were paying attention you might have noticed that the pre-roll ad was about 20 seconds and the actual cartoon was also about 20 seconds.  That’s a pretty crappy ratio of sales to original content.  It doesn’t help that the original content is just kinda funny, if that.

I can’t imagine this is a format that will work for most online webseries.  While people do whatever they can to avoid ads on TV they are not going to put up with having to sit through an ad that is as long as the program they wanted to see in the first place online.

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Playboy Tries Out Interns, Tries to Look Relevant

Playboy has definitely faced some challenges over the past few decades, not the least of which is that now, thanks to the internet, getting a chance to see a pair of naked breasts just isn’t that big of a deal and certainly not worthy of payment.

Sure, some will claim Playboy has always been more than boobs, and while it is true that they have had some incredibly good people write for them in the past they have never been a business built on literary laurels.

With Hef on his last legs and his daughter stepping down as head of Playboy Industries, it is a big moment for the company.  Will they be able to reinvent themselves for a new generation or will they suffer a fate similar to that of newspapers made irrelevant in today’s webby world?

If Playboy’s first original webseries is any sign of things to come I can’t say that things look good for their future.

“Interns” follows three 20-s0methings who are taking part in a seemingly fabricated internship at Playboy.  Instead of taking a tongue-in-cheek approach like, say, ESPN has done with “Mayne Street,” “Interns” plays it straight, hoping that somehow young people will be excited to see just how dull and tedious it really is to work for a magazine publisher, even with all the bunnies hopping around.

Since this is an attempt to get more mainstream there isn’t even any nudity in the series.  In fact, it is clean enough that MySpace hosts their dedicated channel.

Every webseries faces a similar challenge: how to break through all the noise and distraction and get a dedicated audience to follow along over a number of episodes.  So far, “Interns” is getting just over 100,000 views/episode over on MySpace.  Considering the name recognition and potential these numbers seem pretty low.  Check out the most recent episode and you’ll understand why…

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.765454&w=425&h=350&fv=m%3D48787544%26type%3Dvideo%26a%3D0]

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