Video #1:
In this clip we hit up the GDGT Launch Meetup party to find out what the coolest tech and gadget gifts are for 2009, and chat briefly with company founders Peter Rojas and Ryan Block.
Video #2:
In this clip we get a peek at the latest in the Blackberry Curve family with a look at the new 8520 smartphone. I also asked Blackberry about the Apple iPhone rivalry is affecting them, though it’s worth noting Blackberry’s sales since the iPhone launched have soared exponentially.
Video #3:
In this clip we check out the 2009 GDGT Launch Meetup to get up to date on the latest tech gadgets including head-mounted HD camera (Contour HD), printers and portable TV.
Video #4:
In this clip we talk with a Playstation fanatic for his top 5 games and Al De Leon from Sony Playstation to find out whats in store for the PSP in 2010.
Don’t hold your breath, I know I won’t.
But after seeing projections for online video advertising slashed from $1.35B to a paltry $550M earlier this year by eMarketer, I think media companies and investors are getting the idea: UGC isn’t going to do the trick, marketers want professional content.
SONY acquired Grouper a few years ago for $65M, rebranded it Crackle is now putting in a big push behind it with the announcement of a bunch of new shows tomorrow. It will be interesting to see where SONY takes Crackle in the months and years to come. Check out WatchMojo.com’s channel on Crackle here… But you can bet one thing: this is one step in a clear trend in the video industry on the Web.
I won’t name names since we partner with some and have confidentiality agreements in place, but expect many more similar companies announcing their own plans where they bolster professionally produced content in an effort to move away from UGC…
‘Twas 2005, IGN had just acquired my old company, AskMen… and I was being marginalized, so I was looking for something to do. One day on a flight to NYC, I happened to read about one Rocketboom: an online video blog, or vlog, in BusinessWeek.
I never really got Rocketboom, but the concept of producing low cost video for the Web was intriguing. I never really liked the “one person talking in front of a camera, pontificating, day in, day out” model but I knew that there could be more to it. So while the programming is not my thing, giving credit where credit is due, Rocketboom was indeed a trailblazer… and Sony - who just bought the 50% of Sony BMG it did not own - was looking (I presume, of course) to bolster its original content programming for Crackle… who is one of the many companies trying to gain traction in a YouTube-dominated world.
We all heard about the saga between the principals… and lo and behold, once left for dead, Rocketboom comes back to strike a seven-figure deal with Sony.
Rafat Ali pokes fun at Sony’s bizarre move. All I have to say is this makes sense, in a crazy way:
- no way would Rocketboom do speculative deals that don’t really pay the bills, here they lock Sony in to commit real dollars, something I’ve been urging content owners to do;
- no way would Sony acquire the whole lot now, before knowing if this will stick to the walls;
- But in this economic backdrop, no way would Sony’s Crackle want to start from scratch and start creating content for the web either. Here they lock up a big name - albeit somewhat in need of a fresh coat of paint - that they believe will get advertisers and users excited.
From our Top 10 Predictions from 2008, here is #6:
6- Video Content: Build, then Buy
2007 marked a year where many media companies attempted to build video content offerings, 2008 will see some acquisition activity as traditional media companies look to scale by buying into the space. This will surprisingly allow some print media companies to have more robust video content offerings on their web sites than TV companies, who continue to view the Web as a threat to their core TV advertising revenues.
Will Rocketboom stick on the wall? I don’t know. I’m biased: WatchMojo.com’s genre of content is radically different. But CBS is having challenges selling Wallstrip to its advertisers… though CBS’s audience is about 50, on average, and they know and are comfortable with 60 Minutes.
Anyway, as crazy as it seems, this is a sensible solution for both companies.
Will Sony renew? Time will tell. All I know is these kind of deals make me happy; even more so than CBS’ decision to buy Wallstrip (Howard - told you you sold too soon!)
But, who cares what I say, let’s go to the horse’s mouth, Rocketboom co-founder Andrew Baron. More on the deal here.
When Guba’s CEO resigned, he said that YouTube had won the game in online video… we said that the times would get harder for second tier sites because Google would not be able to make YouTube even stronger. VC activity in the space slowed down, as exits became less obvious. Today we’re seeing the fragmentation of online video file sharing services: Veoh is moving into one area and Sony becomes the latest to carve a niche:
Sony is trying to edge into Internet videos with a Web site to be introduced today called Crackle that will feature short segments by aspiring filmmakers, many of whom Sony paid for their productions.
Crackle is the latest incarnation of Grouper, a Web site that began as a way for people to share music, photos and videos with friends. It transformed itself into a YouTube clone and was bought last August by Sony Pictures Entertainment for $65 million. At the time, Sony said Grouper would be focused mainly on user-created video, which it hoped would spur the use of its home video equipment.
But this approach had little traction in the market. There was a lot of competition, especially from Google’s YouTube, which has become the center of user-created videos. Moreover, Sony found that advertisers did not find user video very appealing.
So it decided that higher-quality videos would enable it to stand out in the market and attract advertisers as well. “We have been moving away from YouTvand toward higher-quality content,” said Josh Feltzer, the founder of Grouper who is now co-president of Crackle, “by rewarding the aspiring producer versus the person who wants to share a video of a wedding or of someone jumping off a roof.”
We wish Sony well, but having paid $65M for Grouper which is a rounding error for the Japanese-based giant, Sony has a lot of wiggle room. The writing on the wall for smaller, privately held assets is less rosy: Revver too sought to be a place for aspiring filmmakers, even offering to share in the ad revenue it generated.
We’re not sure how much traction Revver had, as manifested by the management shakedown late in 2006, and since YouTube has begun paying its content owners too, I doubt many content owners will find a need to be on Revver, Crackle, etc., because market leaders tend to offer more upside to content owners alone than the sum of laggards do in aggregate. Of course, YouTube does not ask for exclusivity, so there is nothing stopping a content owner to allow both Revver, Crackle and YouTube to host their videos in exchange for content.
But as we can see, the time to invest in platforms and infrastructure is long over, for sure the contest continues, but to win, you need content. That’s the next great area of focus… we at WatchMojo.com sort of saw this coming a year ago and that is why we invested aggressively in building a library of high quality, low cost video clips. We syndicate our content across a plethora of distrubution points… but over time, as we too have to manage our resources, it’s natural to think that the only file sharing sites that will get content are those who yield solid returns: be it in audience or in revenue. Branding doesn’t pay the bills, of course, but it does build brand equity which over time is required to generate advertising revenue on our site. So if you follow that rationale, ultimately the file sharing sites that will be relevant will be those who can generate ad revenue for their content partners.
For services like Grouper/Crackle and YouTube, that are now part of a larger entitry, this gives them an edge in that devoid of such revenues, they can survive and thrive to some extent.
But, I do anticipate a further shakedown for independent and privately held file sharing sites that need to start showing their investors a glimpse of a path to profitablity, let alone an exit strategy.
PLAY
