Increase in Online Video Streaming

Apparently Americans have taken to streaming TV show and movies online like ducks to water, according to the increasing online viewing stats.

I was particularly interested by the following line:
"This is more than two times the levels measured in September 2008, and indicates that - fueled by ad-supported websites that make it happen..."

They think that it's ad-supported websites that make it happen. Which would beg the question whether it was a good decision by various big players, notably Disney and Rupert Murdoch, to be making users pay for content online in the future.
Is the uptake good because it's free? Or because people actually want to watch these programmes and are willing to pay for them as well?

The monetisation of the web, whether it be video, news or music is a particularly hot topic at the moment, and one that I don't think anyone really knows how it is going to pan out. I'm sure that what people are willing to pay for will vary in different industries.

http://www.marketingvox.com/hulus-growth-fuels-rise-in-online-video-streaming-044799/

Hulu news

Hulu is now big. It's official:
http://www.marketingvox.com/hulu-cracks-top-3-online-video-sites-for-first-time-043940/

And they finally signed that deal with Disney. More excitingly Disney bought 30% of Hulu:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124110275139073305.html

http://www.tvweek.com/news/2009/04/disney_decides_to_dance_the_hu.php

YouTube introduces statistics export

YouTube's Insight tool now lets you export your statistics to CSV, which you can then in turn import quite simply into Excel or Google Docs.

http://mashable.com/2009/04/29/youtube-insight-export/

YouTube's blog post:
http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=IH_EDPBv7Ng

Online video standards updated

IAB have published a set of standards or best-practices for online video.
They recommend the correct size, positioning and length of the following:

• Pre/mid/post-roll adverts
• Interaction in video adverts
• In-stream overlay adverts
• Branded video player skins
• Companion adverts
• Product placement and brand funded content
• Video adverts in social media
• Video sub-sites
• In-text video adverts

IAB standards:
http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/onlinevideomarketing.html


A couple of articles on the subject:
http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=65259

http://www.nma.co.uk/iab-updates-best-practice-guide-for-online-video-advertising/3000364.article

More and more videos online

I think we all know this already, but here are the stats to back it up. More people are posting and watching videos online than ever. Read the report by Nielsen below.

I think most attempts to monetise online videos will fail. YouTube was so successful because it was free and doesn't force any advertising down your throat.
ITV's idea of prepending every video with an advert, will just drive people to other sites mirroring the content, which don't have ads that are as intrusive.
I think the only way to advertise successfully to people on these sites, is with highly relevant related content on the side, after the video clip, in related videos and in sponsored links.

Article:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/nielsen.php

The Nielsen Report:
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/nielsen-news/online-global-landscape-0409/


EDIT:
See they can't even make any money from Susan Boyle!
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/youtube-and-partners-miss-out-on-boyle-bonanza/

Eager for Iger?

Eager to know what Disney's new CEO, Bob Iger, has to say? Well read all about it below. Indirect mentions of the Hulu deal abound:

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090402/live-disney-ceo-bob-iger-at-the-cable-show/

More on the Hulu / Disney deal:
http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090402/hulu-makes-room-for-a-third-disney-deal-coming-soon/

News in the world of video sites

Firstly YouTube are planning some changes. I guess it had to come at some point if they were going to make any money ever. The changes essentially centre around separating premium and user content in the future and changing the navigation to a tab scheme.

http://www.clickz.com/3633218

Interestingly they will re-design their player to be more like Hulu's. Which leads us to them also touching on the story of where Disney will be doing putting media online. It looks like Hulu is the place. Obviously this only affects the US at the moment, as most Hulu content is not licensed elsewhere.

Read more below:

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090330/disneys-decision-hulu-youtube-or-something-else/

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cotown-hulu28-2009mar28,0,7839088.story

Hulu news

Hulu is big. Looks good, just a shame you can't get most content in the UK.

Highlights:

...News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox is getting close to a deal to bring Disney’s (DIS) ABC into the fold.

It’s now the biggest video site that isn’t YouTube.

VideoCensus pegs the site’s February traffic at 309 million video views.

It’s not just a video site, it’s a social network

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090312/hulu-bigger-friendlier-still-missing-two-networks/