Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and it's working too for DanceOn, a YouTube Channel that's quickly piling up the views. Buoyed by the success of TV dance competitions such as "So You Think You Can Dance?" and "Dancing With the Stars," the new-ish YouTube network that's part of the video site's original content push is tracking to hit 10 million views for its "Dance Showdown" dance competition show that launched April 5 and runs through the end of this month. Already at more than 6 million views, "Dance Showdown" pits YouTube celebs such as Obama Girl and HotforWords …

It may be tempting for brands to look at Pew's recent figures on teens and online video use and make frenzied moves to target teens via video sites. After all, the researcher reported just last week that one-quarter of teens 12 to 17 upload video to the Web, and 13% of teens live stream videos for others to watch, in a study of about 800 teens conducted last year. Does this mean brands marketing to teens should rush out and slap ads on video-sharing sites? Maybe. But maybe not.

Consumer packaged goods marketers upped their spending in online video in the first quarter of 2012. CPG has been the top category in online video by most accounts including the latest analysis from online video ad technology firm Videology reporting that the CPG category rose to 37% of the total online video ad spend for the first quarter of 2012, up from 32% in the fourth quarter of 2011. Those figures come from ads Videology served.

As more marketers, businesses and brands convert their existing creative and TV spots to online video, they need to bear in mind several issues that relate to production, ad management and talent rights. Web video is still a relatively new medium so it's a smart idea to map out potential pitfalls, and solutions for them, before starting. I asked Extreme Reach, an online video ad and distribution firm, for tips on how marketers can make sure they've buttoned up rights and quality issues before they go live with a Web video campaign.

Recently, my son wanted to see a different TV show than the one his sister was watching on the big screen. I said he could watch his show somewhere else and he pointed out that his sister was using the TV. I laughed and said "Every screen in this house is a TV." And they are. We don't have cable service and the ten-year-old TV set we have doesn't tune in broadcast channels. So whether it's the big screen, a Mac computer, a tablet or a mobile phone - any device with a screen is equal in my house. They …

Ah, the dreaded apple in the lunchbox quandary. As anyone who's ever tried to send a kid to school with apple slices for a snack knows, kids just don't like to eat apples when they brown. Sure, you could put a whole apple in the lunchbox, but for some reason, today's kids seem to want their fruit pre cut. (Don't get me started on this!) Alas, there is a solution. Slice the apple, but then "reassemble" it and keep it together with a rubber band.

Amazon has made a big business in part because of its recommendations. Customers who bought this also bought that has proven tremendously helpful for book readers, as well as consumers searching out cameras, pet toys and other products on the world's biggest shopping site. Netflix, similarly, has grown its business because of suggested movies and shows.

Social video viewership jumped 40% in the first quarter of 2012 over last year, driven in large part by the popularity of the "Kony 2012" video and also by Super Bowl ads online. Videos created by brands generated 1.3 billion views for the quarter, which is also a more than three times gain over the first quarter of 2010, said Visible Measures in its latest social video quarterly report.

I'm still not convinced that digital video needs an upfront, but I will say this - if you're going to stage one, you better introduce some new shows. And that, at the very least, is what the big Web giants have done so far at the Digitas NewFront, a two-week Web video fete featuring presentations by Yahoo, AOL, Hulu, Microsoft, YouTube and others in front of agencies and brands in New York.

The mobile video ad market will surpass the online video ad market later this year. That's a bold prediction, but it's one Tod Sacerdoti, CEO of ad network BrightRoll is making based on ad requests he's seen. "It's happening fast and people are not quite comprehending the speed. By the end of this year we are pretty confident that more than half of all digital video ads will be mobile," he said.