Flash isn't redundant yet says YouTube

This YouTube blog entry explains why Flash isn't redundant yet and what it provides that HTML5 can't do yet. It's an interesting read:

http://apiblog.youtube.com/2010/06/flash-and-html5-tag.html

YouTube to try out skippable pre-roll ads

YouTube have been experimenting all different kinds of advertising in their videos. Over the ad, next to the ad, during the ad, before the ad - they've tried it all.

I've previously said that I thought that YouTube would lose people if they put pre-roll ads onto their site. YouTube seem to have agreed, as they stopped testing them. But they are back with new pre-roll testing, however this time it will be skippable with a "No thank you" link. I think that this is far more likely to survive, as it has on other file sending sites, such as zshare and relay it. Maybe they've found a happy medium here? I still think that relevant ads alongside content are the way to go. Make them highly relevant and of a high standard and people are more likely to be interested and less likely to be annoyed.

Useful implementation of augmented reality

The US Postal Service are doing the first useful implementation of augmented reality that I've seen. You can find out which size bracket your parcel falls into. You can see a video of how it works here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpS3LeCiCtc

I've seen fun uses of it, the best being the music video for Ride My Star:
http://www.julianperretta.com/ride_my_star/

More information here:
http://www.marketingvox.com/augmented-reality-technology-brings-useful-service-to-usps-044353/

Pre-rolling on YouTube

YouTube are going to trial pre-roll ads in the UK. I'm dead against this and I think it's one of the things that has made YouTube so successful is a lack of these forced ads. I guess this trial will see some large scale feedback on the subject.
Personally I think the way forward is highly targeted ads, like facebook provides. The video that someone is watching can mean far better targeted ads, than I currently see on YouTube.

Read more:
http://www.marketingvox.com/youtube-pilots-pre-rolls-across-uk-network-content-044166/

BOO! The Sound of Twittering?

Is AudioBoo the sonic version of Twitter? In the three months since it launched it's become the popular way to say something online. Stephen Fry using it must have been a springboard for its success. But then again our very own Mr Mason has AudioBooed already, which can only have increased its popularity:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/11729-eye-of-the-tiger

Will people find vocally twittering as popular as the 140 characters? Only time will tell, but with iPhones becoming ever more popular, it's probably easier than typing in the 140 characters.

Read more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/may/26/audioboo-youtube-twitter

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

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/

Full length YouTube?

YouTube is in talks with Sony about serving feature films. Is this the way forward for YouTube? Can in compete in the streaming film market?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10212585-93.html

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

Free music players

An interesting article discussing some Youtube free music players and the surrounding issues.

http://nextlevelideas.com/2009/03/dropplay-v-muziic-is-free-music-here-to-stay/