Commentary

Web Series Creators: Stand Up And Be Counted

What do marketers know about Web video? The industry is currently measured and ranked by its platforms and networks. Youube is viewed as the top media property. And companies like comScore and Nielsen are trying to measure the total viewing audiences across all platforms and devices. All of this information is helpful for agencies and advertisers trying to understand how to engage with Web video. But there is more to understand about this medium.

Unlike previous media revolutions, Web video is not controlled by a few providers and distributors. It's not run by the studios, the networks, or platforms, but by the creators themselves.  And unlike other forms of media in which the few control the many, these creators will only continue to grow in stature. When it comes to Web video, marketers today need to admit that content creators represent the most powerful media entity. Here's why.

Original Web video creators own their own audience. They can speak to them directly, anytime they want. Whether through a new video, comments, voting, posts, or tweets, nothing is holding these creators back. Their success depends on the quality of their content, and whether or not the audience likes it. If the content is loved, the audience grows. And if that content is frequent, the audience grows even faster.

What's more, every platform, including YouTube and blip.tv, provides its creators with metrics and tools to understand its audience. So not only can creators speak directly to their audience, but they also have data for invaluable insights. When I see renowned creators like Phil DeFranco or Shay Carl meet fans in person, the fans, who understand who these creators are, immediately bond with them.

This happens partly because engagement is organic to Web video creators. Having grown up on lean-back entertainment that did not allow for interaction and participation, the new creators are all about getting their audience engaged with their content. Plus, in the Web video ecosystem, feedback is instantaneous and direct. The more that creators engage with their audience, the more the audience responds -- which leads to an upward spiral in audience development. Ultimately, no layers of producers, distributors and executives can get in the way of that audience interaction.

Here's another reason that content creators are so powerful. The freedom of producing your own series means that you can release whatever you like, of whatever length, whenever you want. There's no episode season limits, or run of show requirements. If you want to produce a three-minute video or a five-minute-and-13 second video, you can. It depends only on your content, and whatever length suits it the best.

To date, the common wisdom has been that shorter content is better. But even that no longer holds true. Audiences today are consuming longer and longer videos. In many cases, longer is exactly what they're looking for.  And as we are starting to see with the top independent creators, now any kind of content has a chance to succeed. New formats are being created every day, from the unscripted to scripted, funny or dramatic;  it's all starting to work. The promise of Web video is starting to be realized: the democratization of media!

And ultimately, as the Web video ecosystem evolves further, content creators will gain even more control. Once agencies and advertisers can discover, compare and buy Web video easily and at scale, the power truly shifts to the original Web video creators. For those about to create, we salute you.

5 comments about "Web Series Creators: Stand Up And Be Counted".
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  1. Chris Stinson from Non-Given, August 10, 2011 at 2:35 p.m.

    While I agree with much of what you wrote, to me, one of the most misleading things is "Audiences today are consuming longer and longer videos". While what they are watching is a "video format", it is mostly traditional content (Movies & TV shows) via the web. Those longer 'video' really should be imo counted as watching TV online, rather then watching anything that I would consider being a web video.

  2. Mark Burrell from Tongal, August 10, 2011 at 3:37 p.m.

    the issue is still that creation of content doesn't cost zero time or zero capital. As a creator, one must assess how much capital and risk to take on based upon potential audience, exposure, opportunity and money. The current "Creators" re incredible, in my opinion still underpaid based upon their audience size. Based upon the current economic model, it wil be difficult for them to invest more in production with some marketing and production support.

  3. Deborah Brozina from Making Change, August 10, 2011 at 4:12 p.m.

    While I would agree with Mark Burrell that the current economic model is shaky, those of us who remember HBO when they started see parallels in how they expanded.

    What is key right now is that the level of overhead in web-originated work is so low. No development departments, there aren't 15 producers. Read the credits of any cable-TV show lately? The overhead is incredible and a big drain on the profit potential. In this medium, we can add overhead when appropriate, not because it's baked into the system.

  4. Bruce May from Bizperity, August 10, 2011 at 5:34 p.m.

    You are lumping all forms of video content into a single bucket. The web currently supports only free content, except for Hulu which monetizes content with a traditional television model (inserted commercials). The web has supported only short form content primarily because the revenue was not there for long form content. As long as we are giving content away it really doesn’t matter whether it’s long or short form video. We are not talking about Hollywood level production values. It’s all cheaply produced and distributed for free to the viewer without any significant ad revenue. Pre-roll commercials can’t support long form content. If you are a television producer that’s a no win situation. If you are producing content to market or promote yourself and your business that’s just fine. So that’s what we have. The ecosystem is not that far away from providing an interstitial commercial (video ad insertion) system similar to what Hulu built for itself. That will be an earthquake in the entertainment industry. For the rest of us who are only interested in promoting our business with free content, webinars, and low cost video (mostly talking heads), web video is entering its heyday. We are all getting better at the skills required to get in front of a camera and speaking well about what we do and what we know but there is a much bigger story here that is not that far into the future. Stay tuned for the next video revolution.

  5. Jeff Koenig from digiriot, INC, August 10, 2011 at 7:12 p.m.

    @Chris Stinson: it's not misleading. While traditional TV and Film certainly due impact the averages, they are not the sole causality for extended viewing times.

    Mike Hudack, CEO of Blip.tv (which specializes in serialized web video, no TV/Film and no "viral" clips) stated in a June, 2010 WSJ article:

    "The average episode of a Blip.tv show is about 14 minutes long, up from six minutes a year ago. That has attracted more ad dollars, which tripled in the fourth quarter of last year from the third quarter, Mr. Hudack said."

    Full article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704749904575293140111348612.html#ixzz1UfZ2en00

    And that was over a year ago. Having spoken with Mike about it since then, their numbers continue to trend upwards. With over 100MM views a month, it's not a small sample size, either.

    Audiences (and advertisers) are trending towards longer form online video. TV and movie viewing simply exacerbates that trend and makes 10-15 minute+ videos more acceptable.

    @Paul Kontonis
    Great article, Paul.

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