Do people WATCH web shows?

F

FatBird19

Well-known member
My friend has written a 7 part web series that I'm really excited to be Producing.
We're getting ready to shoot the first 2 episodes in October and we've got a small producing team together to do the legwork (still looking for a DP).
But before we put a bunch of time into pre-producing and raising $10K, I wanted to hear some thoughts and feedback from you guys about web shows in general.

Are there any web shows that you currently watch? I really miss "We Need Girlfriends" on Youtube when it was still around; it legitimately was a good quality web show that I looked forward to every episode.

What could make you MORE interested in watching web shows?

Is there anywhere online right now that you believe has a strong community for web shows that we should target?

Any feedback is appreciated. I really believe in the scripts and the actors we've already cast are amazing.
We're trying to make intelligent/responsible decisions with this film though, as much as we're excited about it.

Thanks,
-J
 
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I love watching web-shows if they're well made ie interesting story, good camera work, actors etc.

Lonelygirl15 was awesome too, probably one of the biggest with over 300 some episodes.



Cant say the same for my 11 episode, no-script, stoner web series:
www.youtube.com/kungwootv

I like the last few episodes but most of the series is kinda goofy.


Edit: As for websites to use, I suggest just sticking with YouTube, Vimeo and possibly create a website for it too.
 
I used to watch "Break A Leg" all the time. That was really well done. Just happened across it on iTunes looking for something to watch on a plane (on my Touch). It hooked me and I couldn't wait to see the next episode.

Other than that, not a big fan. Tried to watch "Star-ving"on Crackle, but couldn't get into it.
 
I really liked "David Forgets" it's a comedy, and that genre seems to have unrivaled success on the internet. Everyone likes to laugh.
 
GregPorter said:
I love watching web-shows if they're well made ie interesting story, good camera work, actors etc.

Lonelygirl15 was awesome too, probably one of the biggest with over 300 some episodes.

Cant say the same for my 11 episode, no-script, stoner web series:
www.youtube.com/kungwootv

I like the last few episodes but most of the series is kinda goofy.


Edit: As for websites to use, I suggest just sticking with YouTube, Vimeo and possibly create a website for it too.
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How many episodes did it take for you to get into lonelygirl?

And when I have some time later, I'll watch a few episodes of your series. :beer:
 
Mister Stocks said:
I really liked "David Forgets" it's a comedy, and that genre seems to have unrivaled success on the internet. Everyone likes to laugh.
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*sigh* Me too. Agreed. Which is tough cause' it's an action drama we're making.

Do you think there's a market for THAT online?
 
You have to find the right marketing angle. If so, there's a market for everything.

As a rule, keeping it short helps online. More importantly, get people interested. I highly recommend attempting viral marketing ahead of time with as much community involvement as possible. Leave a lot of mystery to gain attention. You can't just put it out there and expect them to watch, with the exception of some very rare occasions.
 
Casalen said:
You have to find the right marketing angle. If so, there's a market for everything.

As a rule, keeping it short helps online. More importantly, get people interested. I highly recommend attempting viral marketing ahead of time with as much community involvement as possible. Leave a lot of mystery to gain attention. You can't just put it out there and expect them to watch, with the exception of some very rare occasions.
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Very true. Thanks.

Can you think of any web video examples that have done a good job at pre-release viral marketing?
 
Yeah dude, there are a couple Web Series I watch

Yeah dude, there are a couple Web Series I watch

Hey man, this is a good topic, and something I wonder myself.

I run a user generated short film website, Rootclip.com and I can safely say that we have an active community that does in fact visit the site daily, and also create and view the content being produced.

I am a fan of a web series called 'Valley Peaks' which is a satire about reality shows like 'The Hills' it's funny as hell.

So, I think if your WebSeries is quality and marketed well, you should have viewership.
 
rootclip said:
Hey man, this is a good topic, and something I wonder myself.

I run a user generated short film website, Rootclip.com and I can safely say that we have an active community that does in fact visit the site daily, and also create and view the content being produced.

I am a fan of a web series called 'Valley Peaks' which is a satire about reality shows like 'The Hills' it's funny as hell.

So, I think if your WebSeries is quality and marketed well, you should have viewership.
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I'll check out Rootclip later, as well as Valley Peaks, when I have some time. Thanks!

I think one of our major concerns is that there are only 7 episodes, and my fear is that won't create enough time to gain viewership.
It's also drama/action in nature, and 11min per episode, which is harder to get an audience for than short comedy sketches.

One thought I had was to launch the first episode or 2 at a film festival rather than online to gain a viewership fanbase. Slightly different audience and setting who should be more interested in investing the time into a dramatic series, and then follow the rest online. Thoughts?

How many active members would you say your community is? Do they give you feedback on what you've done and what they'd like to see next?

Do you have any idea how your viewers initially found your website? I know getting found is perhaps the greatest challenge with web video; once that happens with good content, word of mouth should work its magic.
 
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There was we series where the characters from the Street Fighter video game were old and washed up. Dhaslm was cabbie, Zangief was a janitor. It was fantastic. But I lost track. That was the only one I watched on a regular basis.
 
FatBird19 said:
How many episodes did it take for you to get into lonelygirl?

And when I have some time later, I'll watch a few episodes of your series. :beer:
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Well because of the way that series worked, they started it off as if it was a random youtube girl blogging about her day then they started developing a story.

If you watch Episode 1 then Episode 300 you will literally go "Okay... what?"


It just depends on the story though, Even though Lonelygirl started as a video blog I still seemed to get sucked it, was it the pretty girl? What she had to say? I'll never know but it was a very neat and smart plot/twist they had in the series.
 
We entered development on a web series a month ago. We pulled the plug. And I'll tell you why.

Average time spent watching one video is ~3 minutes.
Average american spends 4 hours watching online video.
Most popular youtube videos views are falsely generated.

I can't find the report I had now. But fact of the matter is, we quickly realized that the internet hasn't yet been established as a place to make your break.

No one can really figure out how to make money on it. Even the networks are not making great returns on web content. Which is why I would say, look into youtube statistics before you put 10k into a project with no real way of getting an ROI.

Those popular videos get that way because of view inflation, which is something that youtube has yet to address making ratings next to impossible to nail down.

However, at the same time, everyone is trying to figure out how to make video work online. I have a meeting next week to talk about online video, it's future, and if it is a feasible distribution technique.

But either way, best of luck on it.
 
It's tough, gonna tell you now. I'm working on a web series (geeks underground), now I'm not saying it's an amazing piece of work, and I'm not saying we're not without our faults (plus we release episodes every few months), but needless to say it's hard to get viewers, even just to get people to watch it in the first place is tough enough.

I mean people still have a certain mentality when it comes to videos online "oh look, it's a squirrel on water skis!" I have friends/family that I told about my online web series, and when I bring it up in a conversation they say "oh, I still have to see that"...

Putting 10K into a 7 part 11min each web series doesn't sound like the best idea. If you don't expect any money back, then sure, but the length of the videos are problematic as well. My web series is usually 6-8 minutes, and that's often too long as well. We're going to finish up the series as is (long episodes and all), but I know that any future work that I do I'll try to keep shorter for the net.

As for the film festival idea... not sure if it's wise. You might get more chance of getting a come-back audience on the net, but it can't hurt to do both.
 
Answers

Answers

FatBird19 said:
One thought I had was to launch the first episode or 2 at a film festival rather than online to gain a viewership fanbase. Slightly different audience and setting who should be more interested in investing the time into a dramatic series, and then follow the rest online. Thoughts?

How many active members would you say your community is? Do they give you feedback on what you've done and what they'd like to see next?

Do you have any idea how your viewers initially found your website? I know getting found is perhaps the greatest challenge with web video; once that happens with good content, word of mouth should work its magic.
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--The Filmfest route is not a bad idea, however you'd probably have to market the hell out of it in order to get people to remember to go back to your site when they are online. I am very skeptical of advertising that is 'away from the computer' as there is memory involved and a hope that users that see your advertising remember to visit your site later on.

--Traffic is healthy at Rootclip, and through user comments on videos/blogs and the Forum, the users are very vocal. Team Rootclip has a reputation within the community at our site that we listen to suggestions and the community isn't afraid to speak up when necessary. The community drives Rootclip, and without them we are nothing.

--When we started, we signed up for the StumbleUpon service. We had a small advertising budget and utilized it there. It was a good way to get infront of a lot of eyes. Most didn't stick, but some did.

Let us know over at Rootclip when you're ready to show off your work!
 
I put one together with some people on the development team for the project to analyze the market on youtube to try an determine if it was a viable market and also determine the risk factor and potential ROI. I wish I knew where it went. I only remember a few of the stats. And I know that we couldn't place an ROI. In fact, we had zero way of making money back even using previously established incentive systems on say mega-video.

However, if you look at a youtube series ROI as sheerly intellectual capital along with networking and resume work - then maybe it's worth it. But a lot will fall into marketing and production values and sticking an audience.

And I've yet to make the move to Twitter. So I have no idea what DM me means. :)
 
Thanks for the reply Mattykins. DM = Direct Message on Twitter.

Personally, I feel WebVideo on YouTube is going to be hard to monetize, as YouTube is just a central place to post video. There is no 'point' so to speak, so getting a targeted (valuable) audience will always be difficult. Branding campaigns could potentially do well with the massive audience numbers YouTube draws, but thats about it, in my opinion.
 
Thanks clip for the info. I've been holding off on Twitter until I have something to actually say. So on that end, I am really behind the curve.

And I think a lot of people agree with you. Everyone wants to make money on it. But no one can figure it out. The networks are losing money on their internet streams. And very few people have actually started making a living on youtube alone.

Evidently we have some experts on this thing coming into a class sometime within the month. So once I get some more info from them, I will be happy to share.
 
I was talking to a friend yesterday and he believes that web content won't become mainstream until someone connects the internet and TV. I agree.

The web is a 'doing-based' experience. I get on the web to get stuff done, not really to just sit there and watch things. Though I will watch 1hr of Lost every week online, I'd still rather sit back and watch it in front of my larger TV.

If maybe some key companies like Netfilx and Hulu pushed for a way to get their content on TV's easily for the average consumer then we would see a more accessible way for web shows to become popular.


The other major issue of course is content quality. I go into whatever I watch on the web assuming that it will be bad, because it usually is. I'll watch Lost online, but I know that's coming from a trustworthy studio. I think it's going to take some great indie content being created in order to build people's confidence in web distribution, even if it means that this great content won't be widely watched but will instead pave the way for future good content.
 
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