YouTube: What Does Google Need? Money?
July 13, 2014
I read an exclusive to Thomson Reuters. I must admit I was a bit confused about what Google is or is not doing with YouTube.
You can find the “exclusive” (for the time being) at “YouTube Weighs Funding Efforts to Boost Premium Content—Sources.” This is, because it carries the Reuters’ logo, a “real” news story I presume.
The story jumps out of the gate with the suggestion that Google needs money. Digital video is the new living room for couch potatoes. If Google needs money, it the firm’s ad revenue flow insufficient to realize Hollywood-style fancies.
Here’s a passage I marked:
YouTube is by far the world’s most popular location for video streaming, with more than 1 billion unique visitors a month, far surpassing Netflix Inc and Amazon. But it is trying to lure more marketers for premium video advertising, boosting margins as overall prices for Google’s advertising declines.
There you go. But we learn that the special channel investment was a less than stellar success:
YouTube set aside an estimated $100 million in late 2011 to bankroll some 100 channels, though it never confirmed amounts spent or other details. Beneficiaries of that largesse included Madonna and ESPN, as well as lesser-known creators. Reuters was one of the companies that received funds for a channel. But few of those have garnered much mainstream attention
Is it possible that the write up suggests that when Thomson Reuters tried out the dedicated channel thing with YouTube, the test was a belly flop.
I find video ads are sort of an annoyance. In fact, I can’t figure out how to make them go away. My solution is to not look at the video. I browsed some videos of the SU 27 and did not encounter ads one day. Try this query on YouTube and on Google Video:
“su-27”.
Here’s what I saw today.
Link is http://bit.ly/1ycyteQ.
Variable ads. Errors. Then a few videos of the only fighter aircraft that can do a cobra. Unfamiliar with the move? Ask around for a fighter pilot up on slick moves.
I was baffled. Is Google hunting for investments or is Google just doing Google moon shot thinking? My take on the write up is that Google is flipping rocks, looking for money.
Why?
When the online ad world shifts more aggressively from online search ads to other types of marketing, Google has to find a way to deal with its looming crossover of revenue and costs. Amazon is struggling with the same issue. I find giant, dominant, digital entities interesting. One is never sure of their motives whether it is a “real” journalism outfit or an online ad company.
What’s happened to search? Oh, right, I forgot. The new Google was Google Plus and social search. How did that approach to search (text and video) work out? Why are there two video search systems available? Is Google in sync with the couch potato market and the hot buttons of Hollywood moguls? I don’t know.
Stephen E Arnold, July 13, 2014
SharePoint Videos Debuts Visual SP
June 3, 2014
A good support system is important to those who are responsible for implementing or maintaining a SharePoint infrastructure. Some users turn to SharePoint-Videos for professional SharePoint education and support delivered through online and DVD-based courses. In their latest offering, SharePoint-Videos unveils an on-demand help system. Read more in the press release, “SharePoint-Videos Debuts VisualSP, Enterprise Edition, an In-Context, On Demand Help System for SharePoint with Usage Analytics.”
The release begins:
“SharePoint-Videos has added an Enterprise Edition to its suite of VisualSP™ help systems for SharePoint. This product includes all of the features of the Express version of VisualSP, together with metrics on actual usage of the VisualSP system by SharePoint users at either the farm, web application, or even site collection levels. The usage information, which can be viewed by the day, or by the week, or even by the month, includes a set of metrics, which are each compiled from a count of clicks on the VisualSP ‘Help’ tab on the SharePoint ribbon.”
This kind of support is essential, and it is important to find the format that best suits your organization. Stephen E. Arnold has made a career out of covering all things search, including SharePoint. He shares his findings on ArnoldIT.com and his SharePoint feed is full of tips and tricks that benefit SharePoint users at all levels.
Emily Rae Aldridge, June 3, 2014
News for the Non-Reader
May 23, 2014
Zeef is a new video publishing and distribution service that is still being developed and improved. Videos are becoming more and more popular, as users are inundated with a deluge of daily information. Zeef explains more about who they are and what they do on their “About” page.
It explains:
“With so much information online, finding the right product or service can become a time consuming and difficult task. ZEEF combines human (expert) knowledge, performance and customer ratings to help consumers find the best products and services online. We are still working hard on developing our product ZEEF.com.”
One area in which video struggles and continues to fall behind is search. All you have to do is visit YouTube and try to find something specific in order to be faced with a lack of successful indexing and findability. So while Zeef looks like a great resource for those who want to put video out onto the market, there’s still no relief for those who need to search through existing content and pull video out.
Emily Rae Aldridge, May 23, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
New ArnoldIT Search Video: Jargon and Its Impact
April 23, 2014
Stephen E Arnold’s new enterprise search video is no online. You can view the six minute video via YouTube. The lingo and argot generated by enterprise search vendors helps make sales. An unfortunate side effect is confusion and obfuscation. Is a product really a “killer”? Do you need linguistics, semantics, and analytics to find a presentation by the CEO? The short video, based on a talk given by Mr. Arnold at a conference in Boston several years ago, strikes at the heart of a fundamental problem for procurement teams—Figuring out exactly what a system can really do.
Kenneth Toth, April 23, 2014
SharePoint Video at SPTechCon
April 22, 2014
The SharePoint Technology Conference takes place in San Francisco, starting today and running through the end of the week. Virtual Strategy covers some of the vendors and exhibitors in their article, “SharePoint-Videos.com Invites the SharePoint Community to Visit Booth 607 at SPTechCon in San Francisco.”
The article begins:
“SharePoint-Videos.com (SPVideos), provider of online SharePoint training, consulting and end user support, will exhibit at SPTechCon, San Francisco next week. From Thursday, April 24 – Friday, April 25, SharePoint-Videos.com invites attendees to stop by booth 607 for a number of exciting activities.”
Stephen E. Arnold of ArnoldIT.com is a longtime leader in search and covers not only SharePoint, but also the third-party solutions that users are increasingly turning to. He finds that companies like SharePoint-Videos can improve adoption and efficiency as they can simplify the bulky and complicated software so that users and managers are more confident and satisfied.
Emily Rae Aldridge, April 22, 2014
Unlocking The Key To YouTube Success
April 18, 2014
YouTube has its own celebrities that have become famous from their videos. It has long been a mystery about how they obtained their Internet celebrity status and how an individual could attain it. Search Engine Watch explains the history and mystery of YouTube content in “YouTube Reveals The Secret Formula To Content Marketing Success.”
Google’s managing director of brand solutions Suzie Reider has given key insight into how to create YouTube content and the future of advertising in The YouTube Creator Playbook For Brands. The new playbook contains updated information and new insights on the best ways to utilize and create content that will be watched.
It doesn’t stop there. The Google Head of Audience Development YouTube Vanessa Pappas offers advice on how to use YouTube for advertising and branding.
“Pappas then says, ‘To demystify what makes these top channels tick and help you better understand how to create a successful strategy for your brand on YouTube, we developed the new YouTube Creator Playbook for Brands. Similar to the Creator Playbook, which has helped over 2 million of our creators grow their audiences, the Creator Playbook for Brands walks you through the steps to help you create, plan, and implement a YouTube content creation strategy; from tips on how to create videos to video promotion.’”
There is not an exact formula for YouTube success, but there are strategic plans budding YouTube stars and organizations can make to increase their video appeal. The best videos, though, are usually short and funny.
Whitney Grace, April 18, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Old Media Scripps Buys Newsy for Digital Video Platform
December 17, 2013
An article on TechCrunch titled Scripps Buys Newsy For $35M to Expand from TV and Newspapers to Digital Video explains the acquisition of Newsy, the media startup that is a digital video news platform, by Scripps, the TV and newspaper magnate. A Youtube video heralds the subsidization of Newsy, which should be made final in the beginning of 2014.
The article explains:
“This is about Scripps… buying an asset that gives it a digital video component to complement its existing TV and online services — effectively a bridge between the three areas where it already does business if you also count newspapers. It also gives the company access into an audience that consumes their news (and video) on devices like tablets, and has largely turned away from some of those more traditional platforms where Scripps still bases a majority of its business.”
Old media is on the move (quite old, Scripps was founded in 1879.) The company spent 35M on the acquisition, which it believes will bring them into the next generation of digital audiences. Newsy’s ad-supported videos are presently sent through web, mobile, tablet and certain TV platforms. The article suggests that the partnership Newsy had with AOL, Microsoft and Mashable may continue, but the companies haven’t announced their plans yet.
Chelsea Kerwin, December 17, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Video App for SharePoint 2013
December 10, 2013
Add-ons for SharePoint are popping up left and right. SharePoint is a huge platform with lots of capabilities, but it does not offer every capability for every enterprise. Qumu adds their name to the long list of add-on providers with their Qumu video app. Advanced Television covers the story in their article, “Qumu launches Qumu Video App for SharePoint 2013.”
The article begins:
“Qumu provides SharePoint users with a superior video streaming experience, comprehensive video transcoding, advanced filtering, unrestricted scalability, live video webcasting and more. The Qumu integration focuses on leveraging native SharePoint services, such as SharePoint workflows and content retention policies, allowing SharePoint to treat video content as a unique content type, minimising IT complexity and cost.”
Stevphen E. Arnold of ArnoldIT, a long time leader in search, often covers SharePoint – its strengths as well as its shortcomings. And while SharePoint may not yet be all things to all people, Arnold has noted that customization does improve adoption and satisfaction. Add-ons may be the sustaining force for SharePoint 2013.
Emily Rae Aldridge, December 10, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
New Approach to Music Videos from Bing
November 20, 2013
Microsoft is gathering music video tendrils from around the Web and consolidating them in a special section of Bing. The Next Web announces, “Microsoft Revamps Bing Music Video Search with Inline Results from YouTube, Vimeo, MTV, Artist Direct, and More.”
Reporter Emil Protalinski relates:
“The company says [the feature] has been built from the ground up to simplify exploring, discovering, and browsing the best music videos available on the Web. The service showcases content from leading video sites, including YouTube, Vimeo, MTV, Artist Direct and more. Microsoft also notes it features over 1.7 million songs, 70,000 artists, and a half a million albums, which aren’t exactly impressive numbers, but they’re nothing to scoff at either. This release strives ‘to provide the most comprehensive set of videos possible spanning genres, decades and geography.'”
Protalinski provides a couple of screenshots to illustrate the functionality. The write-up explains that one can hover over an entry to see a preview, as well as stream content directly from Bing. It also includes an “album view,” which may seem obsolete to some but is sure to become essential for many music aficionados.
This service sure is nifty, and terrific for music lovers and video fans. But what about more substantive (but less lucrative) content—will other disciplines receive similar Bing treatments? Somehow, I doubt it.
Cynthia Murrell, November 20, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
New Google Video Endeavor May Prove Successful
November 16, 2013
Google has had a stream of unsuccessful projects, but All Things D tells us about how “Google Launches Helpouts, A Live Video Tutorial Service” that is a great idea and it is surprising no one has done it before. Helpouts is a new service that offers users the ability to view live video tutorials, instructions, and services via the Hangouts streaming video platform.
Other Web sites have already tried conquering the helping market, such as eHow.com, but the instructions often lack a personal touch and usually only publish content that has been copied and pasted. Helpouts could fill a gap where people get the personal help touch that the Internet lacks. Helpouts is not a free service, people will pay for the information with a flat fee or a per minute rate. Google will take 20% of the total, though.
The downside:
“It’s easy to pick holes in Google’s Helpouts pitch right off the bat. Though the company assures that it vets all of its partners and instructor participants, that’s hardly a scalable solution, over time — the tackling of which Manber wouldn’t elaborate upon. And you’re basically required to be locked into the Google-verse to use Helpouts; the service requires you have a Google+ account and, for now, an active Google Wallet account.”
YouTube also exists with its own free instructional videos. Google hopes that more than people needing everyday help will use the service. The company wants professional developers and even company brands to use it as a way to network and target consumers.
Will it work? It might. It probably will have its series of success and failures, but the biggest downfall is that people will have to pay for the content. Google needs to make the content better and original to get people to cough up the bucks.
Whitney Grace, November 16, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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