There’s a contest over at MySpace. It’s called Crash the Super Bowl and it’s a contest to win a record contract and a 60 second video to be played at the next Super Bowl. The contest is down to 10 artists and the clock is ticking down in this round of voting.

Kina Grannis, one of the 10 artists still in the running, is working hard to win. She has her blog, Two Weeks for Kina, going full steam and she has made a play to get out the tech vote using social media marketing. With the help of Digg, TechCrunch and Robert Scoble she seems to be breaking out with the tech fans. The Cute Girls Sing Awesome Song About Digg post at Digg has over 4000 votes as I write this and is the top post of the day. TechCrunch has picked up the story, Scoble has added the post to his shared feeds and Kina should get a lot more support from the tech fans. In the time it took to write these few lines the post at Digg has climbed to 4,185. The views at YouTube have climbed to over 36,000.

Here’s the video Gotta Digg

And the lyrics:

When I’m feeling lazy, at school or when I work
I sneak to my computer, and then I like to shirk
I don’t go online shopping, I don’t email with my mom
I open up my browser, and go to digg-dot-com

Chorus: Gotta digg, gotta digg, gotta digg
Gotta make this story big!
Did you hear that awful sound?
Another server’s down!

I always dig up Apple, and I bury Microsoft
But when I said I was a girl, all the diggers scoffed
And when I see those stories about Senator Ron Paul
I don’t even RTFA; I just digg them all!

Chorus: Gotta digg, gotta digg, gotta digg
Gotta make this story big!
Did you hear that awful sound?
Another server’s down!

The fanboys can be tiresome, they always are outspoken
And if you’re listening Kevin Rose, the comment system’s broken!
I know digg isn’t perfect, but be thankful for what we’ve got
It’s just like daddy always says: “At least it’s not Slashdot!!!”

Chorus: Gotta digg, gotta digg, gotta digg
Gotta make this story big!
Did you hear that awful sound?
Another server’s down!

So why not, vote for Kina.

Technorati Tags: Kina Grannis, social media, digg, social media marketing, crash the super bowl, discovery, music

Craig’s NewYorkBusiness.com is reporting that old media hits the skids as new models roil market. The report describes how TV viewership is down at NBC by 11%, at CBS by 10%, and ABC is down 5%.

From broadcast to print to music, New York’s old media companies stumbled in the face of the chaos brought about by new media in 2007. The future of some of the city’s most venerable companies and brands looks suddenly shaky.

We have entered into a new era for television and the industry just does not seem to understand the shift. Like the print and music industries before them they are struggling with a business model that is not prepared to do battle in these new times.

These networks have enjoyed 50 years of consumer attention surpluses and now must face the consumer attention shortage. It is a market share battle for attention that requires the industry to reconfigure itself, lower costs and expand production across medias all at the same time.

The current writers strike and other upcoming labor issues is like the auto industry’s struggle with lower cost competitors and the UAW’s attempt to protect high paying jobs in the face of non-union based lower cost competitors. Both sides had lots of economic rational to protect their entrenched positions, but it came at the expense of their long term health.

Lower cost competitors are swamping the media market with content and taking share from traditional players. The Guild and management are locked in a battle over how they will share what may be very diminished returns if they don’t get back to work soon. They need to get focused on growing the pie or there won’t be much left to fight over.

Technorati Tags: network tv, tv viewership, writers’ strike, attention

The British Monarchy have created a channel on YouTube. Queen Elizabeth ll’s Christmas day video will now be available on YouTube at the Royal Channel. It will be interesting to see how long it takes other world leaders to realize that they have a direct channel to the people via the internet. Who needs CNN when you can have your own channel.

Technorati Tags: YouTube, Queen Elizabeth, Royal Channel, online video

Nokia has produced a fun little video that tries to define Web 2.0. Nokia defines Web 2.0 as being all about connecting people. It makes sense coming from Nokia given their focus on mobile communications, but I think they’ve got it right. To much is made of all the technology and not enough about people’s basic desire to connect and know other people.

In a post I made a while back, I think it is all about people communicating with people.

It should be obvious that since the invention of runners to carry messages it’s been about people communicating with people. Mail, telephone, email, IM, texting are all killer apps that have been about people communicating with people.

That’s why social networking is important. It’s not about the documents or what the documents are about, it’s about the people and what the people are all about. And yes, we do need a way to figure out how we are all connected other than telling everybody every time.

Thanks to Gigaom for bringing the video to my attention.

Technorati Tags: Nokia, web 2.0, social networking, video

It’s been a really big week for funding of online video companies. Kyte.TV, which provides a platform for publishing your own interactive TV channel, has picked up $15 million series B from Telefonica, Nokia, DoCoMo, Swisscom, Holtzbrinck and DFJ, adding on to an earlier round of $2.25 million. Robert Scoble broke the news in an interview with Kyte’s CEO.

Yesterday, UStream.TV, which provides a free, web-based platform for live video broadcasting, announced an angel round funding from Band of Angels and Western Technology Investors for an undisclosed amount, as well as funding from a “leading Japanese investor” and an “very prominent Dallas-area billionaire.” and provided an interview over at Mashable. Red Herring is also reporting that Ustream completed a $2 million angel round and that U.S. General Wesley Clark joined its board.

PaidContent.org reports that P2P video platform Vuze, formerly known as Azureus, has raised a big $20 million third round led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from previous backers Redpoint Ventures, Greycroft Partners, BV Capital, and Jarl Mohn. You can hear an interview with Gilles BianRosa, CEO of Vuze, that I did at Digital Hollywood.

PaidContent.org is also reporting that Ooyala, a Mountain View, CA-based provider of video distribution infrastructure, has received a big first found of funding from Sierra Ventures. Ooyala Backlot is a video management platform that gives you control over the delivery, organization, analytics, and monetization of your online videos.

Technorati Tags: Kyte.TV, Vuze, Ooyala, UStream, Sierra Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Redpoint Ventures, Greycroft Partners, BV Capital, Jarl Mohn, Wesley Clark, Telefonica, Nokia, DoCoMo, Swisscom, Holtzbrinck, DFJ

The Los Angeles Times has an article about striking writers in talks to launch Web start-ups.

Some of the writers see the opportunity that the strike is creating for online video ventures. They are drafting business plans and meeting with venture capitalist’s like Accel Partners.

Some of the writers who are drafting business plans said that if the strike had lasted only a week, they would have just gone back to work. But now they’ve had time to plot strategy — and to realize that a prolonged strike with reruns and reality shows filling the airwaves might allow them to grab a wandering audience.

“The companies are pushing us into the embrace of people that are going to cut them out of the loop,” marveled one show runner who is tracking the start-up trend but not participating.

“We are one Connecticut hedge-fund checkbook, one Silicon Valley server farm and two creators away from having channels on YouTube, where the studios don’t own anything.

This strike will definitely have a negative impact on TV and accelerate the migration of viewers to the web. It seems like a great time for the writers to be starting online ventures. The talent is available and the tech investors see the opportunity.

Facebook director Jim Breyer, a partner at Silicon Valley venture firm Accel Partners, said he was weighing deals that would rely on Facebook’s platform. “It is likely we will make investments in Los Angeles screenwriter/content-oriented companies in 2008,” he said.

Some are going to take the risk and if they are successful it could turn into a stampede from the TV to the web.

Technorati Tags: writers strike, Hollywood, online video

Rex Wong, CEO of DAVE Networks, met with me at Digital Hollywood. DAVE Networks provides white label social networks. That means that DAVE Networks provides the infrastructure to power sites like America’s Funniest Home Videos, Stargate’s Community and Dave.TV. The users of the sites don’t see DAVE Networks, they see the customer’s brand. The customers get the benefits of offering a wide range of social community tools to their users.

 

 Digital Podcast 20 [11:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2071)

The system provides the tools to deploy a custom social broadcast network, including

• Self publishing
• Video upload, download, rating, comments
• Blog, video blog, moblog
• DAVE points system
• A modular player can be customized with your brand and embedded in user’s MySpace, blog or web page
• User contests

Rex also told me about an exciting new project that DAVE Networks has launched called Next.TV. NEXT.TV, a competitor to the much hyped Joost, is a new Internet TV service that delivers over 50 channels of high quality TV content. NEXT.TV’s content is sponsored by advertisers so that you can get premium TV content for free.

NEXT.TV will be available initially in October 2007 on HP consumer notebooks. A version will also be available to the general public shortly thereafter for download of which you can sign up to be part of the Private Beta Program by signing up at www.next.tv.

Technorati Tags: DAVE Networks, Rex Wong, Next.TV, IPTV, online video, video, Digital Hollywood

In a world where competition for attention is growing faster than ever and consumers get to skip the ads if they want, will advertisements as content save the day for advertisers? It’s not clear yet, but there is a growing body of evidence that it can and is being done by advertisers, both big and small.

The Wall Street Journal provided five case studies today of advertising as content, and all done by small companies.

1. Blendtec’s Will It Blend

Blendtec is in the blender business. One day the marketing guy sees the enginneering guy test blenders with chunks of wood. The net result is one of the most successful Ads as Content campaigns, Will It Blend.

The video series is so popular they are now selling it as a DVD for $9.93.

Straight from the success of YouTube.com, Will It Blend has been known as an internet marketing sensation, viewed by more than 30 million people. Now for the first time ever, you can take home the glory, passion and power of Blendtec CEO Tom Dickson with his blending antics on the first 50 Will It Blend videos, including Will It Blend facts and behind the scenes footage.

Not only has it been successful as content they say sales of blenders have shot up 500%.

Here’s the video of one of my favorites Will It Blend: the iPhone edition.

2. MJ Safety Solutions Bullet Resistant Backpack

MJ Safety Solutions MyChildsPack is a bullet resistant back pack. The video is serious with lots of explosions and guns firing. YouTube reports that the video has been viewed just under 25,000 times at the time I write this. The company reports that it has sold over 1,000 of these backpacks at $175 each.

3. All Natural Maine Root’s Free Range Root Beer

In this video campaign, All Natural Main Root is marketing the fight against corporate root beer and of course their alternative: Free Range Root Beer. Sales have gone up from $500,000 to $3,000,000 year over year. Maine Root paid $20,000 for the campaign. Not a bad return from some viral videos.

FreeRangeRootBeer.com is dedicated to stopping corporate root beer “by any means necessary.” Non-violence is our modus operandi. We spread our message mostly through non-violent protests, but also use root beer “breakouts” to free root beer from their bondage in their inhumane storage facilities. We’re on a path of peace, love and organic root-based beverages.

Here’s the SugerCane Shuffle from the SugerCane Gang - fans of Maine Root.

4. Make Magazine’s Weekend Projects

Make Magazine takes a different approach. They not into comedy or even trying to sell you something. They provide How To videos that focus on things you can do over the weekend. Think of what Popular Mechanics or Popular Electronics could have been if they got the web. The other benefit for Make is that the videos have sponsors so they get to advertise their website and re-advertise someone else’s product at the same time. Is that like re-gifting?

5. Moe’s Southwest Grill

Moe’s Southwest Grill decided to get the customers to do the work. They held a contest for a “Burrito in Every Hand” campaign. The winner gets 2,860 vouchers good at Moe’s. They got 40 videos and over 200,000 visitors to the website set up for the campaign. They say sales have gone up, but no details and they expanded their email mailing list by over 200,000.

And here’s a link to the Notorious M.O.E. and Nacho Daddy video, the winner of MOE’s contest.( sorry,I could not get the player to publish -)

So there you have it. Some great, well maybe not great, content that deliver the goods as advertisements. There’s some good lessons for content producers in here and for advertisers as well. It’s time to think differently.

It’s too bad the Wall Street Journal doesn’t understand what it writes about as I would have provided a link to the WSJ story, but it’s behind a walled garden. And I would have provided a link to to the Wall Street Journal video on makes a video go viral, but it had too many ads to make it bearable.

The journal should also get the news that viral is not only about getting a great funny, useful or how to video, its about working the system to get to the top of the most viewed video list. Here’s a link to TechCrunch’s Secrets to Viral Videos. Too bad there’s so much gaming and shady practices involved.

If you know of more case studies, let me know.

Technorati Tags: viral video, online video, advertising, ads as content

ZML.com is positioning itself as the movie version of AllofMP3, a Russian service that provided downloadable music on the cheap. They claim over 1,500 movies, such as Transformers, Live Free or Die Hard, The Bourne Ulitimatum and lots of other big tiles with prices starting at $1.99. The service requires registration and a prepaid account using Visa or Mastercard. Downloads are billed against the prepaid account.

According to ZML, they have lots of hot movies that are playable on iPods and just about every device.

Over 1500 movies of premium DVD quality

Thousands of hot movies that you dare to watch. Movies are playable on various devices including iPod, PDA (HandHelds), PC, DVD & DivX players. Lowest prices on the web ever. Start downloading movies from $1.99 only! Absolutely no limits. You can download as much as you want with incredibly high speeds. No additional software required. Click on a link, download a movie and watch it on your favourite player.

Sounds good, but there’s a catch. The catch as reported by NewTeeVee

ZML.com isn’t licensed by any of the Hollywood studios. The site is selling hundreds of blockbusters anyway, referring to a collective licensing agreement with an obscure Russian rights holders agency.

And here are the details from ZML’s terms of service:

6 Copyrights
6.1 All materials presented on this site are available for the distribution over the Internet in accordance with the license of the Russian Organization for multimedia and Digital Systems (ROMS) and intended for personal use only. Further distribution, resale or broadcasting is strictly prohibited.
6.2 The Site remunerates the fees for every downloaded File in accordance with the license agreement.
6.3 All trade marks, trade names, company names, slogans, logos, and any other copyright items, which can be seen on the Site pages in various contexts, are the property of their respective owners. You have no right to copy, distribute or use them without written permission from the owners.
6.4 The Client has no right to download any Files from the Site if this violates the law of his country.
6.5 The Site Administration can not control actions of each Client therefore the Client is responsible for any illegitimate use of the Site’s materials or/and Services

Wow. This is a nightmare for Hollywood and another blow to the copyright. I’m sure there will be lawsuits filed, if they haven’t been filed already.

The problem is that this seems to be legal in Russia according to AllofMp3 who is reporting court room victories in their copyright infringement suit.

On 24 October a district court in Moscow has confirmed the “no copyright infringement” verdict.

Earlier this year, on 15 August 2007 AllofMP3.com was acquitted of all charges brought up by IFPI. Consequently the Federation filed a protest on behalf of the labels. This protest was declined last week. This time IFPI promised to go as far as the Supreme Court.

I wish the music industry and Hollywood good luck in protecting their copyrights. However, this is the sad, but unfortunately accurate reality of digital media. Movies, music, news all need new business models that allow content to flow openly AND money to be made by the creators of the content when it flows openly. There’s only way to fight blatant ripoffs like ZML in the long run, turn them into profit opportunities for the originators of the content.

Technorati Tags: movies, online video, drm, piracy, downloadable movies, ZML, AllofMP3

Anne Keegan of Vividas met with me at Digital Hollywood to discuss streaming full screen high definition video.

 

 Anne Keegan: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (3473)

Vividas provides technology and services that enable video streaming live or on demand, full-screen and up to high-definition quality. Vividas’ technology allows the user to view content over a variety of bandwidths without needing to install software.

Vividas’ technology offers an array of online video streaming options. The technology can be used for pay-per view movies, live events, Internet television, corporate advertisements, movie trailers and more.

The Vividas PPV technology provides filmmakers an easy to implement, high-quality presentation that, unlike other competing technologies, requires no player download and plays instantly in full-screen on virtually every computer. Vividas technology has powered a number of previous online film successes such as “The Secret,” for which Vividas received a Webby Award nomination.

The Vividas technology completely changes the economics of movie distribution providing both the streaming and also the payment infrastructure. A great example of how Vividas can provide a pay per view infrastructure for movie producers can be found at Home:The Movie.

“As an independent filmmaker, we had to get through many gate keepers with ‘Home,’ the final one being distribution. Formerly, if a filmmaker couldn’t get through that gate, the film went on the shelf,” said filmmaker Dawn Scibilia. “Because of the Internet and Vividas, that final gate is nonexistent and we can deliver ‘Home’ directly to our audience. The quality of the video is good and will only get better, it’s an affordable solution and the fact that it plays automatically and in full-screen are all big pluses as well.”

And here are some links to some great high definition movie trailers that show off Vividas in action.

It’s exciting to see what Vividas is doing as it is the kind of technology that will ultimately completely change the video value chain. Watch out Hollywood.

Technorati Tags: video, streaming, video value chain, video distribution, pay per view, ppv, digital hollywood