Online Videos - How much ad revenue?

Man, honestly, write a book about something and sell it online. Unless you ARE going to be the next YouTube or have somewhere in the area of 200K of funding to start this new online business -- yeah, you're better off writing a book about something you know (or, for that matter, having an iPhone app produced for 500 bucks) and selling it.

It's just -- what you're thinking about, honestly, I just don't think it happens. Or, it happens, but it happens to people with TONS of start up capital. Facebook, YouTube, MySpace -- not happening even on a marginal scale, IMO.

And the ONLY way to make ad revenue is if you have a user BASE. That is, the same people coming back again and again on a daily basis to YOUR SITE (I mentioned DeviantArt before but DVXuser is a decent example on a smaller scale).

So you need to have a MEMBERSHIP style site. You need to give them new content numerous times DAILY (like, say, a forum), and you need to have loads of $$$ if you're not offering something hyper-specific like Videocopilot (which makes its money SELLING stuff, not being a popular site).
 
yeah, maybe selling books would be better.

i'm trying to figure out how to get from one place to another:
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I know what it costs, I know what the revenues for a viral video are... it's astounding, but I cannot publish it...

Google will send you an email if your video receives over 1,000 hits in the first day. The you can join their ad program and see what the CPM is.

People who published viral videos on YouTube will never tell you just how much money they made from it, as the idea is to make it look like it was all done for the spirit or the sport of it.

Funniest is, it's the blokes with a WebCam video that get the highest CPM, not someone who shot something that is pleasant to look a with production value.
 
Depending on who "You" are, there's really not a big gap between those two positions. Your projects will probably still be underbudgeted and based on a lot of favors.
 
My first suggestion would be to check out Scott Kirsner's book Fans, Friends and Followers which is about how people have leveraged the internet to make money. Scott also has a blog called CinemaTech which is worth following as well, IMO.

When I read FFF basically what I got out of it is that many of the successful people profiled in the book were individuals (fewer people to pay), doing very entertaining but low-budget stuff (low overhead) that had hardcore fans helping them out for free (building sites, offering couches to crash on while you are touring, etc.,) and they had other revenue streams to pull from such as speaking engagements, concerts, selling instructional material (ex. a successful artist selling 'how to' books/videos), merchandising, etc.,. In many cases what went up on the internet (be it a song or a short comedy clip) was essentially a loss leader for one of these other revenue streams. Also many of these people hosted their media on someone else's servers.

Unlike with TV, which has pretty fixed distribution costs w/regards to scale, on the internet the more popular you are the more bandwidth you need and the more expensive your hosting becomes. YouTube, for example, spends around 1 million dollars a day on bandwidth and that's one of the reasons they are yet to be a profitable venture for Google. YouTube also has trouble selling ads because of the inconsistency of quality, and legality, of their content.

Hulu, on the other hand, does only about 1/10 the traffic of YouTube so they don't have nearly the same overhead costs and Hulu serves up 'premium' content so a much higher percentage of videos on Hulu generate ad revenue. But even then Hulu is struggling to hit the break even point (and they are considered the site to beat when it comes to internet video ad sales). I don't know about you but that makes me take pause. I mean, all Hulu does is distribute some of the most popular TV shows around and they're struggling to make profits. Imagine if Hulu, or YouTube for that matter, actually had to pay the production costs of all the videos they serve up.


W/that being said everything seemed impossible until someone made it possible.


-Andrew
 
thanks for the post, Andrew.

it does seem impossible to depend on ad revenue if one is to start small. maybe ad revenue isn't
the way to go at all. but, i cannot ignore the likes of "The Annoying Orange" over at youtube.
i think the average view count is ~1.5 million. The show is produced by Gagfilms .
On their home page, it states:

In addition to making hilarious viral style internet videos, Gagfilms is a full service, award-winning professional video production company! Not only that, but we've also teamed up with Atomic Tango to bring you the best high quality video production and top notch internet marketing!
Click to expand...

on their "Production" page, it states:

And for those that want guaranteed exposure, we are excited to introduce "A Sure Thing!"

"A Sure Thing" is our video production and promotion package that guarantees 20,000 views on YouTube for any video we produce for you. If your video doesn't get those 20,000 views, you won't owe us a cent. How can we make this guarantee? Easy. Social media partner Atomic Tango has 15 years experience in interactive media and marketing. Gagfilms has a YouTube fanbase of 70,000 fans, with 16 videos scoring over a million views each.
Click to expand...


i've been thinking about merchandising, too. i think it's an attractive alternative. i can easily see
"The Annoying Orange" selling T-Shirts, for example.
 
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Okay, so, what does 20,000 views get you? That's not an overly ambitious goal (depending on what period of time we're talking about). I've had videos hit 20,000 views in a few days before. That netted some subscriptions and fans, and a few "conversations" that ultimately yielded nothing – but no more than a dollar or two in actual revenue. Now, this was before I read Kirsner's book (I second the recommendation) and in the same situation today I'd probably be better prepared to capitalize on it... but I still wouldn't count on it changing my life in any substantial way.

Views are important, but they're nothing on their own. Converting views into merchandise can be a nice perk, but count on a very low conversion rate unless you've got something that just screams "I want one!"
 
cool, i just checked the ~35 page preview of Fans, Friends $ Followers. i skipped to "Exploring the New Business Model", of which three were presented in the preview. It states that "The complete book continue s to discuss six other business models."

for those of you who've read it:
since i'm a fan of free information, is the book worth the $12 for the ebook download?
will it truly be insightful, or will i hit a brick wall?

can i find the information contained therein elsewhere?

thank you!
 
You're contemplating launching a very risky business that you hope will net you, and everyone else involved, a living wage but you are being uptight about $12 to buy a book that has been recommend twice, seriously? :tongue:

FFF won't reveal the secret to striking it rich on the internet because there is no secret to give. What it does do is profile a number people who have successfully leveraged the internet to make money. If you want a better idea of why Homestar Runner and JibJab have succeed where so many others have failed get the book. If you want a better idea of how DJ Spooky and Curtis Ellis ("King Corn") leverage the internet to get more exposure for their projects you should get the book.

If you plow through the internet long enough you'll probably be able to piece together the gist of what's in the book but how many hours are you willing to spend on the internet to save $12? As the geek saying goes, Linux is only free if your time isn't worth anything.


-Andrew
 
valid remarks, adkimery.

it's just my philosophy about information and the internet. i'm certain that there are no secrets in the book, but that's why i asked.

i might just get it for the convenience, though. the reviews on amazon are promising.
 
Ironically, the thought process you're going through now with whether or not to buy this book is the same reason so few people make a living online... there are so many alternatives now to just paying the money. If you wanted to you could probably find the whole PDF somewhere and download it for free.

So look at it this way: you liked the sample that was given away for free, so if you'd like to support artists who are trying to make a living producing creative work and distributing online, then pay the man! You won't be disappointed (although Andrew is absolutely correct: there's no formulas or magic beans in the book, just case studies and some advice that may or may not work for you).
 
i didn't mean to sound that i'm skimpy or anything. if it's a good book it's a good book.

i'm sure it'll be worth more than the 2 pack of smokes that i'd be killing my lungs with regardless.

thanks for the tip.
 
thanks for the link!

and i'm reading Fans, Friends & Followers. pretty good. excellent, actually. it has all the information i need as related to the topic of this thread (and beyond).

ah, so many options!

i will probably reach an epiphany in a week or so. lets hope it's a good one! (and a cheap one)
 
Fahad said:
for those of you who've read it:
since i'm a fan of free information, is the book worth the $12 for the ebook download?
will it truly be insightful, or will i hit a brick wall?

can i find the information contained therein elsewhere?

thank you!
Click to expand...

I've been following this thread closely, I instantly picked up the book and I'll be happy to let you know how it is.

Keep in mind though I bought it instantly because the guy that wrote it is like you and me, it's self published through creatspace... through word of mouth a guy told a guy who told a guy all the way till the poster above mentioned it and put up a link... and then I purchased it based off nothing but the recommendation of a person I don't know but who's advice sounds good and he post on a forum with a higher percentage of "knowledgeable" post then most.

Kind of a mini case study of the subject, haha.

*edit..... sorta forgot I wasn't on the last page yet when I posted..... what a dork
 
haha cool man.

yes this is indeed a case study. i'm trying to figure out all i can about this online video stuff.

there's nothing better than word of mouth, for sure.
 
NewTeeVee definitely has some good material, much of it written by my friend Liz. If you're specifically interested in the web series arena, also check out Tubefilter.
 
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