Content Will Follow The Money II - AdviseAninja
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post called Content Will Follow The Money that basically asked a question. Why would people create great content for free and distribute it for free on youtube when revver demonstrated the ability to generate a nice wad of cash for video makers. And although I did not question a ninja directly on this issue, for fear of my life, I was talking creatives like him, I mean, ninjas shouldn’t be hawking t-shirts to try and make ends meet. If Zefrank can serve his stuff on revver and make a few bucks from his creative energies, why not. These guys are creating great shows on a consistent basis, unbelievably Zefrank creates a new, original, bitingly funny bit every day.
Well, anyway, it looks like I should call my site “adviseAninja” because it looks like they’ve just taken a revver like approach and just stuck a little interstitial towards the end of their show on youtube.
I think this is certainly early days in figuring out how to create value through videos online, and in some ways if you are creating episodic content and you build an audience then advertising makes sense as a way to finance that effort. The tricker situation is when content is created that is a “one hit wonder”, like lightning we can’t predict what will be the next hamsterdance, or big red button, etc. How about some “viral patrons”, patrons of the arts that finance the experimental. In the end Viral is very much like art, unique, original, unpredictable, often purposeless, misunderstood, and often beautiful. How do you sponsor lightning?
3 Comments, Comment or Ping
finn
You’re right, we can’t predict the next viral phenomenon. In my opinion one of the biggest failings of “big media” in trying to harness social media, consumer created content, and so on is trying to do just that. They’re always trying to create “the next big thing,” usually with abyssmal results.
So, what’s a marketer to do? I think the answer might lie in creating long-term relationships with viewers/consumers. That might take the form of episodic content, or maybe just a brand that (like MTV) is synonymous with relevant, smart content that serves as an umbrella for whatever content they want to put out there. So if, say, Warner Bros wants to make a viral piece to promote an upcoming film, they partner with this brand to leverage the credibility it brings- again, like MTV did with Xbox.
Just my $.02.
Jul 6th, 2006
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