by Drew Baldwin on October 10th, 2011
Today Blip.tv released the findings of the largest research initiative to date focusing on original web video.
The study, performed by Dynamic Logic, offers insights into how, when and where blip.tv audiences are consuming online video, and has strong implications for the future of televisiona and online video. The study’s results shed light on viewer attitudes towards online advertising, the extent of cord cutting, and the prime hours for original series viewing.
Key findings include:
Viewers are cord cutting. Online video consumption is rising as TV viewership is shrinking: compared to six months ago, viewers are watching nearly 9% less cable television, and increasing online content viewing by 26%. Online programming consumption on Mobile and video game platforms is up 19% and 18%, respectively.
Original online series are being watched during prime-time hours. Findings show that 8-11 pm is the most common time period for people to watch. 6-8pm is second most common.
Advertising is more acceptable for original online series than for television streamed online. The research showed that for blip.tv’s audiences, 43% reacted positively to pre-roll advertising on original online series, whereas only 30% reacted positively to pre-roll advertising on television content streamed online.
The average viewer of online series is 33 years old, and college educated. And the viewers are evenly divided between men and women.
“We commissioned this study, the largest research project to date on viewers of original series, to gain a deeper understanding of how and when people are engaging with online content,” said Dina Kaplan, Co-Founder of blip.tv. “It’s clear from the research that web series fans are beginning to watch less television, while at the same time increasing the amount of content consumed on the web. It’s also significant that our viewers are more accepting of advertisements on web series, perhaps because fans are grateful to the advertiser for making the show possible. That’s a very different mindset, for a viewer, than seeing an ad on a show that was originally created for television.”
The study was conducted via a survey among 1,500 blip.tv viewers. Blip.tv recently completely overhauled its website, positioning itself as a destination site with curated programming and more appealing design elements. Last month, added subscriptions to enhance the viewer experience and increase views.
by Marc Hustvedt on October 10th, 2011
The floodgates of reality series on the internet are undoubtedly wide open at this point. I wondered, back in March of 2010 when Hulu launched its first original—the unscripted If I Can Dream—if we were seeing the start of a web reality rush. It was after all, their ironically higher cost than say cheap scripted fare that had kept them off the intertubes for the most part.
Flash ahead to today, when Yahoo’s entire slate of seven new original series are all in the hosted or reality camps. The new entrants will compete for attention on the network against the daily newsy Who Knew? which sits on the top spot as Yahoo’s most watched original series of all time, besting out the previous topper, TV recap series Primetime in No Time.
One newcomer, Ultimate Proposal, is already standing out with an impressive 1.75 million views and 2,700 comments in just five days since its launch last week with its first episode (watch below). It’s an audience-conspirator format, where we are all in on the rouse in which an eager would-be fiancée devises an elaborate proposal for his (or her) spouse-to-be. Like say, a young artist Kenny creating a faux art show in a gallery twisting and turning its way to the payoff of one final masterpiece surrounded by friends and family all there to watch the teary-eyed ingenue get popped the question.
The series is unmistakably aimed at women viewers, and getting an arguably hunky—or so the All My Children fans have assured me—Cameron Mathison to host the series didn’t hurt the cause.
by Joshua Cohen on October 10th, 2011
The US space shuttle program concluded its 30+-year-long exploration of the troposphere and beyond with the successful launch of Atlantis on July 8, 2011. Today, YouTube will begin its own exploration of the troposphere and beyond with the launch of YouTube Space Lab.
Lenovo – who has a 16 year history with NASA by way of the multinational computer company’s line of ThinkPad laptops – is partnering with (presumably) the galaxy’s largest video sharing site and providing the monetary support for YouTube’s Space Lab’s online destination and real-world challenge.
In cooperation with Space Adventures (an entity with a vision to “open spaceflight and the space frontier to private citizens”), NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Lenovo and YouTube launched a “worldwide initiative that challenges 14-18 year-old students to design a scientific experiment that can be performed in space.”
Interested teens need only upload their idea to Youtube.com/SpaceLab for a chance to win a spot amongst the six regional finalists, who will all receive a trip to Washington, D.C., a Zero-G flight, and a Lenovo ThinkPad. From those half dozen regional winners, two global winners will be chosen, both of whom will have their experiments performed 250 miles above Earth at the International Space Station (ISS) and also win either a trip to Japan to watch a rocket blast off for ISS or a training session in Star City, Russia with some cosmonauts (aka the coolest contest prize ever).
by Angelique Toschi on October 8th, 2011
Ask A Ninja co-creator Kent Nichols spoke this past Monday at the monthly TransmediaLA event. He shared his knowledge about cultivating a core audience of true fans as well as changing modes of distribution by drawing on his knowledge gained from both creating a hit web show and working for Partner Outreach at Blip.tv.
Consistency. A key piece of advice that Kent stressed over the course of the evening was that in order to become a success and grow a large audience there is a need for a consistent and constant flow of content. “If you are not producing at least 20 episodes of your narrative show that is probably not going to be enough. You need a certain mass of content to find that audience, and that needs to be put out there,” Kent said. “And that is just narrative content … you need bonus content, reward content that will drive people back to your domain site.”
by Drew Baldwin on October 7th, 2011
Mattel’s Monster High fashion doll line as teamed up with the Kind Campaign on a new animated online series to kick off October Bullying Prevention Month.
Monster High is Mattel’s third most popular selling doll line after Barbie and Disney Princess, and the brand includes an original online series, a clothing line, books, and even a TV special. Monster High’s heroes are a gang of misfit teenagers and their freaky flaws. Total upload views on YouTube are nearing 40 million, with nearly 45,000 subscribers.
Lauren Parsekian and Molly Thompson, the creators of a grass roots anti-bullying movement the Kind Campaign, are collaborating with Mattel on Monster High. The partnership has significantly expanded the impact of the Kind Campaign, which would reach thousands of girls on its national tour. “People think we have such a large staff, but it’s been a struggle,” Parsekian told the New York Times. “Reaching a million girls can take a lifetime.”
The duo have appeared in a recent episode of Monster High, in which monster versions themselves teach the students about respecting one another through a recreation of an actual Kind Campaign assembly.
by Joshua Cohen on October 7th, 2011
Football and war should never be equated. Any human who isn’t Kellen Winslow Jr. nor hopped up on the adrenaline from catching seven passes for 88 yards in a sporting event and whatever levels of testosterone are present in a 6’4” 240lbs all-star collegiate athlete knows that. And though football and war sometimes tragically kinda cross paths, no “football as war” analogy is ever appropriate.
That’s why I sort of get a funny feeling about the companion series for Electronic Arts upcoming video game release Battlefield 3.
The first-person shooter puts players in charge of a military campaign “set near the Iran-Iraq border, where the US Marine Crops is fighting the Poeple’s Liberation and Resistance.” EA will release the title on October 25. In preparation for that release, EA is marketing the game by way of the three-episode web series Battlefield 3: Operation Gridiron, which will culminate in a cable broadcast finale October 24 on Spike TV.
The original web series was filmed in a “top-secret location” and stars professional NFL players Drew Brees, Clay Matthews, Jared Allen and Larry Fitzgerald and a few Navy Seal Team Sixers teaming up and facing off to compete in “realistic challenges pulled straight form the gritty war scenarios players will face” in Battlefield 3.
In terms of being an entertainment product for 15 to 35-year-old men used to market another entertainment product for 15 to 35-year-old men, Operation Gridiron looks like it will be the most engaging and successful companion web series ever. All-star athletes, professional football, video games, war and amazing production quality make for one helluva compelling combination. Still, the whole property leaves me feeling a little off.
Aside from the implicit association the series makes between war and football, that feeling has little to do with the content of the series. If anything, EA and the stars of Operation Gridiron go to great lengths to show a good amount of deference towards America’s armed forces. “Taking to the battlefield in these real-life war settings was really exciting and eye-opening,” said Brees. “Every day men and women face challenges similar to what we tackled in this show but with potential dire consequences. Filming this show once again reinforced my respect for the soldiers who fight every day for our freedom.”
by Drew Baldwin on October 6th, 2011
Revision3 just added another YouTube star, Ty Moss, to its cadre of tech experts like Soldier Knows Best, Tekzilla, and TechnoBuffalo.
Moss, a 19 year old from North Carolina, is an up and coming YouTuber whose channel tysiphonehelp has racked up nearly 45 million upload views and over 160,000 subscribers. The new Rev3 show, Ty’s iHelp, focuses on the world of Apple products, covering iOS devices, jailbreaks, Cydia tweaks, news and reviews, and rumors.
Ryan Vance, Vice President of Programming and Production at Revision3, met Ty at CES. He wrote on the Rev3 blog, “[Ty] became famous for his jailbreaking videos and has continued to build his passionate audience base through his informative and like-able manner. Ty is a past competitive skater, publishes a personal vlog, and is definitely a rising star (plus he owns a monkey. Yep). We’re extremely excited to be working with Ty and helping him take his content to the next level!.”
by Joshua Cohen on October 6th, 2011
Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody has a celebrity talk show web series. It first aired back in July 2010 and is called Red Band Trailer because it’s taped out of Cody’s 19’ Airstream International and the title is a kinda clever play on the film industry term “red band trailers,” which don’t adhere to content guidelines established by decorum and the Motion Picture Association of America. And that makes for a very good analogy for Cody’s interviews. They don’t adhere to content guidelines established by decorum or people like Piers Morgan!
Cody interviews famous individuals like Adamy Brody and Chelsea Handler with (as I said in my original assessment) a healthy mix of non sequitur storytelling and classic celebrity Q&A delivered by way of cute, sometimes too cute, smart and self-deprecating tones.
Unfortunately, you can’t currently find the Brody chitchat, or the one with Handler, or any of Cody’s Red Band Trailer interview from season one of the program anywhere online. Fortunately, that’s because Lexus’ LStudio picked up the show and just debuted a start-studded sophomore season.
The original home of Lisa Kudrow’s Web Therapy will also now be the exclusive online destination for consuming Cody’s Red Band Trailers. Celebrities slated for the second season include Jack Black, Zooey Deschanel, Joel McHale, Amanda Seyfried, Sarah Silverman, and a few more.
Here’s John Krasinski and Cody in the season premiere, discussing molten gold in the zeitgeist and paddle ball with New Kids on the Block:
