A Small part of Cutcaster's Value Proposition

Similar to the benefits a stock exchange brings to an otherwise un-transparent stock market, a centralized, organized and regulated environment would provide a number of basic services for registering members and processing transactions in digital media that do not currently exist in one online package. Oversight, efficiency in execution, transparency, listing standards, asset protection (DRM; copyrights), centralized billing, transaction history, and most importantly the ability to quantify demand to determine fair value pricing, are the primary components.

Moreover, when all trading activity occurs in one location, the transactions themselves become easier to monitor, track, and analyze. Together, this valuable “market data” can be consolidated and then transmitted to both the internal community or sold to outside third-parties. This information dissemination should help create a fairer trading environment, as sellers can control their inventory by segmenting the market to achieve the highest sales prices, while buyers interact with the creator community by bidding for and requesting content.

Currently, there are a hodgepodge of different systems, services, and web platforms that make connecting content creators and media buyers in an effective and dynamic way all but impossible. There have been some attempts (Mochilla.com, for example), but these have tended to only focus on the professional space (i.e., connecting professional artists with major film studios and media companies). Cutcaster will instead focus on the entire spectrum of amateur and profesional buyers and sellers; we simply want to be a home for the monetization of user-generated content.

A Small Part of Cutcaster's Value Proposition

Similar to the benefits a stock exchange brings to an otherwise un-transparent stock market, a centralized, organized and regulated environment would provide a number of basic services for registering members and processing transactions in digital media that do not currently exist in one online package. Oversight, efficiency in execution, transparency, listing standards, asset protection (DRM; copyrights), centralized billing, transaction history, and most importantly the ability to quantify demand to determine fair value pricing, are the primary components.

Moreover, when all trading activity occurs in one location, the transactions themselves become easier to monitor, track, and analyze. Together, this valuable “market data” can be consolidated and then transmitted to both the internal community or sold to outside third-parties. This information dissemination should help create a fairer trading environment, as sellers can control their inventory by segmenting the market to achieve the highest sales prices, while buyers interact with the creator community by bidding for and requesting content.

Currently, there are a hodgepodge of different systems, services, and web platforms that make connecting content creators and media buyers in an effective and dynamic way all but impossible. There have been some attempts (Mochilla.com, for example), but these have tended to only focus on the professional space (i.e., connecting professional artists with major film studios and media companies). Cutcaster will instead focus on the entire spectrum of amateur and profesional buyers and sellers; we simply want to be a home for the monetization of user-generated content.

Thoughts about an Online Content Revolution

An online content revolution is drastically changing the traditional media and distribution landscape. The market for online content, especially video and audio, is growing at an extraordinary pace. Fueled by open standards for digital media, the deployment and continually falling costs of broadband access, the explosion of user-generated content populating the Internet, the growth of broadband, mobile, set-top boxes and digital recording devices in addition to the advancements made in Digital Rights Management software, digital video and still-image content is becoming more widely available and easier to access.

The one obstacle these technological advancements have failed to properly address is how to efficiently monetize online content. In the past, aggregators and content providers worked only with traditional means of media distribution including through television, theater releases, DVD/VHS purchases and rentals. Moving content to the Internet has presented itself as a new, highly efficient medium to view and distribute digital media and ultimately is helping to build new ways to promote, build revenue streams and other non-traditional monetization mechanisms.

Indeed, we are witnessing the long-term trend away from the inefficiency of legacy delivery and the associated sub-par customer experience of the legacy model. New digital media start-ups and their emerging technology will gradually complement and possibly replace traditional television business models in the future. Now anyone with a camera and a desire to produce content can record, upload and distribute their work over the Internet. This type of access used to be just a fantasy for most content creators, but now it is fast becoming a reality.

Clearly, the emerging standard for video and information is on-demand, à la carte interactivity: consumers being able to find, download, store, recall and transfer content of their choice on virtually any platform or device. Digital interactivity will be the driving force to unlocking the bottomless content in this Pandora's box. However, search and filtering is the means by which to find and manage the data, television program, movie, music or other content of choice. One cannot exist without the other in this brave, new media world.

What price is fair for your photos or videos?

Do you ever wonder if you could be making more on your content? Or where there are more buyers for your content? Are you even able to reach these people. Does it ever bother you that you could be overpaying or searching too long for the content you are buying?

One of Cutcaster's mission is to find the correct price for your content and explain to you better how the entire digital content marketplace works. We call it a "Bloomberg for Digital Media." A place where all information on the market can be accessed and level the playing field between perception and reality. To start, Cutcaster wants to tell you who the buyers and sellers are, what they are creating or looking for and what they are willing to sell it for or pay for the right to use it. This should be available to anyone in the marketplace. Not just the people with big budgets and consultants to tell them what to do. We want to create a complete transaction history to help people understand this marketplace that is changing many of the old characteristics of media.

If you want to learn more sign up at Cutcaster and we can help you price or pay the right price for your media.

TV Guide announces Online Video Awards winners

TV Guide announced the winners in 18 categories for its inaugural Online Video Awards. Is it me or are a lot of the winners of this year Online Video Awards dominated by large networks?
Even among the nominees, many of the major broadcast and cable networks were represented along with other entertainment sites including Funnyordie (my favorite is Pearl the landlord which if you haven't seen you must), SuperDeluxe and YouTube. The winners were chosen by fans on TVGuide with over 1.75 million votes cast, and by TV Guide editors. I'm not sure how their votes were weighted.

Congrats to all the winners!

List of Video Tools for Journalist

Angela Grant over at News Videographer posted a comprehensive list for Journalist to use for training, editing, sharing, distributing, hosting and search. I'm going to send her a few companies that we have worked with and liked very much, which she can add in the next time she does a review.

You can see her list of tools/sites here.

Tools for Photographers, Videobloggers and Musicians

If you haven't seen this comprehensive list of tools for the above mentioned people over on Mashables you should check it out. With the explosion taking place in online media, a list that covers the sites catering to people interested in online media is so valuable.

The entries were compiled from previous Mashable articles - see the links at the bottom of their article for further reading.

Next time, with everyones help, Mashable will include, Cutcaster.

One of them that I think they missed is MOO, which I believe will be a big hit with the photo and image community in the near future. Cutcaster would like to reach out to innovative and upstart companies like this in the future.

Can user generated content be used in ad campaigns?

It wasn't long ago that no one had heard of User Generated Content (UGC). It hasn't taken long though for advertisers to realize they resonate with their target audience and are a great staging ground for a focus group study. Just in the past year or so UG commercials have sprinted onto the scene and created a stir throughout the advertising world. Advertisers from Dorritos to Dove to Malibu Caribbean Rum have held contests to find user-created videos to use as commercials. These types of commercials, and the buzz surrounding them from different media outlets that cover them and the people that talk about them, shows that the advertising world is embracing the advantages of viral marketing.

How does an advertising agency decide whether going in front of their brand with a clip from YouTube is a good idea and won't get them fired on the spot? How much convincing does it take a brand to trust the advertiser that it isn't as big a leap of faith as they think it is to use the content in a campaign? We saw what happened with Virgin Media and using CC Flickr photos. They did it the wrong way and are now paying for it in legal headaches and a botched campaign.

The pros and cons of a UGC campaign have been discussed at length all over the Internet and across boardrooms. It's our opinion that, using UGC in an advertising campaign can be very cost effective. In most cases, the creators are paid as if they are an actor and give up a lot of the rights to the video. That saves a brand a lot of money.

Why wouldn't the creators license the videos to the brand or advertiser to use? It seems like they are short-changing themselves the value of the clip. If you had a hit on YouTube and a major brand came to you and said they wanted to use it, what would you do?

Scott Kirsner- The Future of Web Video

This is a fabulous e-book and one that I studied over and over. If you haven't already picked up your copy of Scott Kirsner's book on the evolving landscape of online video production, syndication and monetization, he recently updated his first version with a new edition and you should really check it out if your future involves online video in any form. To pick up a copy of the 2nd edition of this must read online video bible go to Lulu Stores or Cinematech.

If anyone has read the book, I'd love to have a chat about how you liked it and if it was helpful.

F8- Mark Zuckerberg Speaks about Facebook and future with 800 developers.

If you have a little bit of time, this is a pretty incredible video of F8. Mark, in front of a crowd of 800 developers in San Francisco, clearly outlines the growth, future and new platform for developers to work and make money on Facebook. He's a bit nervous at first but who wouldn't be at 23. Very cool new developments and nice work.

DailyMotion...

So the popular French video site is launching a US-based site with a pretty fancy team of MTV veterans and will even seek to pay content-producers. DailyMotion has Google in its sites and is seeking to dominate the second-place spot behind YouTube. I personally think they're great...and the newly assembled team is going to pose a unique challenge to YouTube and everyone else in the industry. Their model of paying for content hasn't really been proven, but they are definitely going to be a company to reckon with competitively.

Online editing?

Does any semi-pro or good amateur really use online video editing as part of their day-to-day experience with digital media. Let us know because we want to learn what type of functionality one would want alongside an online media marketplace. According to this post, Cuts.com was just purchased after only 4 months since launch -- and of course Jumpcut.com was also taken out, so we can only assume someone up in corporate thinks this space is really a growth area.

How to Promote your Videos on the Net?

It's really tough to get views and publicize your work on the Internet with the plethora of videos out there vying for peoples' attention. Trying to get your video to go viral or even seen can be a seriously daunting task. Attracting that an audience will increase your views and in your case on Cutcaster your sales and publicity.

Kevin Nalts had a really good write-up on techniques you can do to get traction with your audience and get your name out there.

My conclusion is that he posts a lot of interesting points. I really agree that the best tactic to get a following is to post a quality video response to a videographer who has a large following, promote your videos on a lot of different networks to get views and create a lot of good and targeted material. In addition to Kevin, I think that ads on the videos at this point are a bit of a turn-off for people. Also Kevin has to do a better job on describing these techniques or giving more in depth tips ie. Get Honored. How does one best achieve the goal of getting honored, Kevin?

And remember it take a bit of patience and a lot of hard work.

Getting paid for online video.

There has been a number of Internet sites that have popped up which promise to pay you for your content and offer the solution to monetizing video online. Some seem to offer a lot of value and are good ideas while others seem like "get rich quick" fads. I've been pouring over there the last two years and this is a list of some of the services out there with a brief description. The links are to their offerings so you can see more. Let me know your thoughts if you have used them or know of any other good services.


Blip, Big fan of Blip and it's user interface. I know one of the founders who is very savvy and great innovator. Disclaimer-My sister is an investor in Blip
Metacafe, Emailed them a week or so ago about licensing videos. I have not heard back from them yet.
CustomFlix, Seems like this site is a good option for indie filmmakers looking to sell their content alongside some featured Hollywood films. I've heard from some people that it is tricky to get visability on their site.
GreenCine
Revver, They were the first true video sites that split advertising revenue with users. While no one got rich they were an innovator. I'm told that you get paid based on the number of times someone clicks on the ad at the end of your video.
TurnHere Interesting company and idea. Does profiles for local businesses and areas and pays a set fee for produced content.
Atom Entertainment
Brightcove One of the "gorilla darlings" in the industry. Gives a few options for monetization. I have found it a bit confusing lately that they have been promoting their site as a destination instead of a Content Delivery Network aka TV to Internet broadcasting.
LuLu, bit of a clunky site but still offers a few interesting ways to monetize your video content
Grapefix
Eefoof Shares advertising revenue with the creators.
Panjea, my old neighbor in NYC, Arthur
Si-Mi
Cruxy
Dovetail I get more emails from these guys then anyone i know. I didn't like that I had to download a piece of software to view content. They offer Producer accounts which are free and pay a dime for each download.
Break
Expert Village
Google Video
DivX Has an interesting pay-out model.
EZTakes
Current TV Some people don't like it but I am a fan. Not a great way for making money though in my opinion. More for casual watching.

I know that there are a number more. Please list them in the comments below. Thanks

More Ways to Monetize Video

Great write up over on Master New Media which I wanted to point out again. I've read this first one and was a big fan of it. Thought it was interesting but not ground breaking but does show a wide variety of content and how it can be monetized. ScottKirsner has a great list of Sites that Help Video Producers Make Money, with a link to the author's excellent ebook The Future of Web Video: Opportunities for Producers, Entrepreneurs, Media Companies and Advertisers


Rev2.org has some good tips for monetizing online video


Robin Good discusses Revver in more detail in Video Advertising Marketplace Bets On User Contributions: Revver. I've never been a huge fan of Revver but it's def one way people are making money with their content.


Jensense.com discusses How Google Should Monetize YouTube With AdWords & AdSense.


I've always been a fan of Robert and read his blog almost everyday. The Last Podcast discusses Robert Scoble's Problems with monetizing online video.

PaidGamePlayer

Zac McGrath, one of my best buddies, is launching his site PaidGamePlayer or PGP or PGPizzel to those in the know. Chaz, his partner, and he have been working day and night to get this to be the premiere casual gaming community on the internet. I've tetsted it out and really enjoyed the user experience as well as the excitement of potentially earning an income playing games I would do normally for free.

Casual gamers please check it and be on the look out for this site which has amazing potential to help you make some extra money while doing something you love. We're expecting a lot of good things out of Zac and Chaz so Good Luck.

Licensing with MetaCafe?

I tried this same licensing experiment again with MetaCafe. Apparently you can license clips on their site. It doesn't give any information on the site about licensing User-Generated content but forces you to email an address for producers rewards.

I emailed them about this clip on wednesday and still havent heard back. There has to be a faster way to do this if I really needed the clip.

The Coming Earthquake!

The Digital Journalist posted a very interesting article on video becoming the main means of acquisition in photography. It's very interesting how news organizations can grab frames from the video they capture in the field to post in their print editions and then stream the video footage from their websites. It's another example of videos importance in the coming years and the opportunity for photojournalist.