The Business Side of Video-TV to the Web, How Advertising/Sponsorship is Changing

Recordable video has been around since the 60’s, beginning with Kinoscope, which was more film-like than video and today we preserve our memories via harddrives. We’ve talked about how one day video will be available primarily on huge servers, YouTube being the most popular “world-server” today.

What does this mean for the business side of television? The traditional system of selling ad time for commercials seems to be giving way, or at least making room for a system of posting a video online and simply having clickable boxes or banners take you to the advertiser’s website.

Is this good or bad for the video business? Looking at it one way, less commercial production means less video contracts for production companies as computer/web technology merges and in some cases takes the place of video production.

Looking at it another way, the opportunity for video production is beginning to head into another “boom” period! Though the above scenario of web clicking is in some cases taking over from video production companies producing commercials, other opportunities are arising.

Streaming video, that phenomenon where video is broadcast “live” across the web, is growing! People love the idea that their relatives can see their wedding ceremony even as companies teleconference to people on the other side of the world to people who can’t make it to a meeting at a business’s home base.

What about the profitability of video being streamed online? Say you have a cable TV show or simply a show or segment produced in your home with industrial or consumer video equipment? What if not that many people are finding your video on YouTube or blip.tv?

Sites such as tubemogul.com allow you to upload a video there and they will in turn automatically transfer your video to a plethora of other video uploading sites! This will surely translate into more “hits” for advertisers and more cash for both advertisers and web/video content creators. Today is a very exciting time for not only video producers and companies, but for consumers and businesses who have more opportunities than ever to make video work for them!

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What Makes an Audience Care?

What makes a good film or video? What engages you as a viewer? What separates the good from the bad or mediocre? Before we answer that, first, another question. What makes a good movie? Film analysts have found that it's not the special effects, car crashes, shock value, violence or sex that makes something we watch good or bad. It's two very simple things. 1. the story. 2. the characters.

An example of what I'm talking about is the second Tomb Raider movie. Nobody went, despite the action, special effects and the star power and sex appeal of Angelina Jolie.The movie disappeared very quickly! Why? A horrible script and not a real human being the audience could root for!

Ok, that's a movie but you know what? The same thing applies to every kind of film, video, webcast, etc. If someone's taping a wedding or quinceañera, to satisfy the audience, the videographer must show the human drama of getting ready at the house, rushing to be on time, etc. This element makes the actual event that much more satisfying. A commercial? We all remember the Dunkin Donuts "Time to make the donuts" man getting to work at 5am, or the cavemen who get insulted by the "so easy, even a caveman can do it". Both of these have lead characters the audience can get behind, as well as a "plot". The plot is the reason the character has to do something. The Dunkin Donuts man HAS to make the donuts for all the customers who want them. The cavemen WANT the insurance people to stop equating cavemen with simplicity for their ad campaigns. Or go back to the Trix cereal rabbit! He wants to get the tricks, only to be stopped by those two obnoxious kids saying "Silly rabbit! Trix are for kids!"

Even reality TV has their plots, heroes and villains. Good guys/girls, plot and character. Who's hooking up with who, or who's betraying who behind their back? Think about it.

So if you're shooting a video, however it's done, by yourself or hiring a company, keep in mind that you want your audience to identify or root for a main character, and have a story to tell. These are what makes an audience, ANY audience watch and care!

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