State of the Vlogosphere, Vol 2 – Trends in Online Video
For our 2nd “State of the Vlogosphere” (see 1st State from March 2007 here), in addition to some of the “where are the video blogs?” questions, we wanted to look into the following trends:
- Why are video producers setting up their own sites? How are they using sites like YouTube?
- What is mainstream media doing in the vlogosphere?
Where are the video blogs?
According to the data collected by Mefeedia, video blogs are at:
Key Trends since March 2007:
- YouTube down: the percentage dipped from 11.1% to 9%. Fewer vloggers on YouTube? No, just an increased amount of vloggers on YouTube appear to also be setting up their own video blogs via blogging platforms, thus causing an overall decrease in the YouTube percentages.
- Independent Websites up: increased market share from 56.9% to 61%. More and more producers are going independent and trying to attract audiences from a variety of different video sharing sites.
- Blip.tv up: the popular videoblogging hosting platform, increased from 11.6% to 14%.
The shift to creating your own video blog and using more content-creator-friendly services such as Blip.tv and Wordpress’ “Show in a Box” should not be a surprise, particularly for content creators looking to produce online video as a business. Your own video blog site allows you to set the terms of what, when and how people view your work and gives the content creator the ability to monetize through advertising and sponsorship. Of course, to attract an audience, YouTube and other video hosting sites are great places to post content that promotes the creator’s own website. This enables video producers to capture an audience and try to draw that audience to their own website.
The other benefit to video producers is branding and ownership. As Jay Dedham, a videoblogging pioneer and vlogger at RyanIsHungry.com explains “Having my own blog allows me to control the context of my videos. Ownership is clearly mine. I can learn to interact with my viewing community since i have full control over my site. You can’t do these things on sites like Youtube.”
Mainstream Media and the Vlogosphere
NBC, ABC, CBS, Sony, Fox – mainstream media has been entering the vlogosphere in many ways over the past several months. What are all of the mainistream media players doing with the new low-cost distribution methods and “hip, cool” online video audience? Since our last “State of the Vlogosphere”, there have been a lot of announcements made - here are a few highlights:
- NBC and Fox announced a Joint Venture to compete against YouTube. The new site will feature licenses content from NBC and Fox libraries.
- CBS Interactive has launched toe “Interactive Audience Network” which will push out CBS content across many websites rather than forcing people to come to CBS.com.
- CBS Interactive also acquired the business video blog Wallstrip, meaning that mainstream media is also looking into the “cool, hip” content and the web producers who understand the importance of web syndication.
- NBC continues to output “webisodes” (web episodes - why not just call it a video blog!) through The Office and other web episodes of their shows.
- Grouper, a video sharing site acquired by Sony Pictures a year ago, recently renamed itself to Crackle and launched an original content discovery site. The site will feature quartlerly contests to pitch Sony executives with the promise of cash prizes and the possibility to land a TV pilot through Sony Pictures Television.
- MySpace announced that it is teaming with the FOX network and the Producers Guild of America to seek out television pilots through the “Storyteller Challenge“. The partnership could provide a shortcut straight to TV.
- Sony Pictures Television and MySpace launched their minisode network, which includes everything from the original Fantasy Island to The Partridge Family into shortened six minute clips.
These trends point to an important trend: the difference between a Web Show and a TV Show is becoming less distinct. As Mike Hudack of Blip.tv explains “an inflection point is coming up where these two converge.” Soon in the future, we won’t be talking about a “TV Show” and a “Web Show”, we will just be talking about a “Show”.
Clearly, sites like Mefeedia are important as online video explodes onto more and more indie video sites, video hosting sites such as YouTube and MySpace, and mainstream media video series such the minisode network and NBC webisodes. Consumers will need easy tools to discovery and collect great video from any site and any platform, and be able to watch that video on any device, TV, and player they want to.
Vlogosphere Statistics
| Number of Videoblogs | 23,010 |
| New Videos per day | 4,159 |
| Ave. Episodes per Vlog | 10 |
Methodology
Since 2004, Mefeedia has been collecting data on video blogs. We collect this data in an objective, fair manner from video feeds throughout the internet. Any video blog can be included in Mefeedia’s Directory by providing a adding a MediaRSS feed to our directory.
About Mefeedia
Mefeedia is a social discovery site for online episodic video. Mefeedia brings together video feeds from any video site and any platform, allowing you to create a personal channel of video from these feeds, which can then be watched on Mefeedia, in iTunes or other media player, on your mobile device, or anywhere you would like. More about us.
See more in:online video, state of the vlogosphere, trends, videoblogs
July 31st, 2007 at 11:34 am
[…] More Video Producers Using Own Websites; Mefeedia notes 61 percent of its video feeds now coming from independent websites, compared to 57 percent in March. (company blog) […]
August 1st, 2007 at 10:15 pm
[…] Some independent online video makers have complained about what they’ve lost by choosing a site (generally YouTube) to host their content. Sure, they build an early audience and tie into a network of creators and watchers, but they don’t own those viewers and it’s difficult to port them elsewhere. Meanwhile, their video host builds its own traffic and revenue/valuation on the back of their good video. The solution, and an increasingly common choice, is to set up your own domain and try to drive all your watchers to it. […]
August 8th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
[…] Major media networks have been focusing on their online audiences more and more over the last few months, and quite a few of them have taken steps toward flooding the Web with their programming. In case you need a refresher on all of the recent initiatives, here’s a sketch (courtesy of the Mefeedia blog) of what the networks have been up to. […]
March 18th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
This is such a great article to read because everything about it makes sense. Even these other people that have commented on it value and know the opportunities that are coming along with online video content. I’ve been noticing the huge trend of big studios, and indie filmmakers going this route, because it’s such a great marketing tool to use. Big companies go after this market because they know that’s where all their consumers are. And indie filmmakers are really on the forefront of this because they’ve revolutionzed how we’re all getting our entertainment. So I’m all for it.
I work with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and we are looking for the next great indie filmmaker. We are looking for the best in online programming, and will honor that person on this year’s Primetime Emmys. Yes, THE Emmys. So all you filmmakers out there submit your work before April 7th to be considered for this prestigious award. This could be your big break! Just head over to http://www.emmys.com to find out more information on how you can take part in this amazing opportunity.
Does anyone plan on submitting their work?