OT: Google paying videographers!!

Wes C. Attle wrote on 10/31/2006, 3:53 AM
The article I link below points to a great trend for many of you creative types in this forum. Google is paying the Diet Coke Mentos home video producers most of the Google Ad revenues in return for letting Google video host their 2nd video release.

Also note it says that MetaCafe is already paying video producers $5 for every 1,000 views of their posted videos.

The Google buyout of YouTube is rumored to complete soon. I expect this to become a very big thing in the future business model of online video. Most of you talented folks already have an upper hand on the average Joe with the the $299 video camera. Also good news for demand of affordable products like Vegas!

I honestly think several of us will make some money very soon from this new trend. It is a positive sign for all those that worried about the YouTube trends. Maybe soon we can see how all you professionals stack up against the 16-year old webcam crowd when it comes to video popularity. :-)

Here is the link to the story: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6130881.html

Comments

farss wrote on 10/31/2006, 4:57 AM
I'd suggest trying to extrapolate where this all ends.

Worst case scenario.
Google and YouTube take over.
Cinemas gone.
Free to air and pay TV gone.
Home cinema dies due to lack of content.

Just remember every viewer minute is one viewer minute less available for your next serious production.

Everyone is either watching postage stamp sized 5 minute videos of I don't know what or busy making them. The only products Google can get paid advertsing for are dial in pizza, who needs anything else when they never have to leave their house.

Bob.
Jay Gladwell wrote on 10/31/2006, 5:55 AM

Just remember every viewer minute is one viewer minute less available for your next serious production.

I have to disagree. Quality and substance will always win out over that which is shallow and inferior.


Wes C. Attle wrote on 10/31/2006, 5:56 AM
I think a few folks had the same dark predictions when VHS/Beta released and started home video rentals. I see it a different way than you:

-Dozens of sites grow popular, giving the viewer many choices and communities, but often offering the same content as already happens today.
-Broadband gets better (already 100 Mbps in Japan), compression technology gets better (MP4 etc) and full screen & TV size viewing becomes the norm.
-Full feature documentaries and other movies begin to penetrate these sites, for free, funded by ads. Indy film makers are no longer subject to filtering and censorship by corporate movie studios or clickish film festival committees. They can let the masses view their creation easily.
- The medium to deliver home cinema becomes online video sites. The diversity and consumer choice increases by gazillions.
- People who make good short or long videos can make money. The trend starts now and quickly explodes in 2007.
rchristiejr wrote on 10/31/2006, 7:09 AM
Wes, I agree with you and believe it will happen. This same thing has happened in the music community. Indies can make a decent living by working hard and controlling their directions.
fwtep wrote on 10/31/2006, 7:51 AM
Jay wrote: "Quality and substance will always win out over that which is shallow and inferior.

Wow, you obviously don't follow the box office numbers.


And Farss, cinemas will not disappear no matter how much access to media we have at home. Theaters are a social thing. At the very least, think of it this way: Teenagers will always want to get out of the house, and movies are a cheap, fun way to do that. Restaurants have not disappeared now that we have supermarkets.
Coursedesign wrote on 10/31/2006, 9:25 AM
If you want to get paid good money for shooting video, go ask some politicians why we vote on Tuesdays.

For a current U.S. House member, you get $300 for a post on YouTube or other videosharing website.

A sitting senator or governor: $500.

A vice president, current or past: $2,500.

President, current or past: $5,000.

Shoot between now and Jan. 31, post and submit your link per instructions at http://www.whytuesday.org.

A legitimate organization that is very concerned about the embarrassingly low voter turnout in this country, that they think is very much related to the decision to put it on a workday.

They have already snagged lots of cool pols, and of course the reasons for Nov. 7:

By November, harvest was usually over but harsh weather hadn't set in. Saturdays were workdays for farmers, Sundays were for church, and Wednesday was market day in most towns. Considering it might take a full day to travel by horse to a polling station, Tuesday in early November became the choice.

That was in 1845, and nobody thought to update it as times changed.

farss wrote on 10/31/2006, 1:48 PM
There is one piece of net tech that I do find interesting, BitTorrent.
As this comes out of the closet it does provide an economic way to distribute uncompressed HD content, even at 4K!
vitalforce wrote on 10/31/2006, 2:15 PM
Coursedesign, thanks for the bit of education on Tuesday voting days. Interesting.

Although--if you avoid the days with other commitments and it might take a day by horse to get to a polling place, why not travel Thursday and have voting day on a Friday? Maybe Tuesday allowed you to stay in the local inn and go to market the next day, Wednesday.

This year, let's have a new motto for voting day: Trick or Treat!