Larry Kless' Weblog: curation

Showing posts with label curation. Show all posts

Thursday, May 19, 2011

blip.tv: "We're Building the Next Generation Television Network" - Mike Hudack, CEO, blip.tv

Blip.tv was founded six years ago in May 2005, by a group of five friends who love web series, and has grown to become one of the Internet’s largest independently owned and operated video properties. CEO and founder Mike Hudack says that what they've doing all along is building the next the generation television network. Since it's founding, New York City-based blip.tv has cultivated some the world’s top web series producers, advertisers and video distribution platforms with the mission of making original series both profitable and scalable. This past week, blip.tv relaunched its new blip.tv destination site to better curate and promote the best original web series on the site and make them more discoverable. Additionally, blip.tv announced that it's reached more than three billion views to date, and on pace to reach one billion views per quarter.

I caught up with Hudack at NewTeevee Live 2010, where he discussed the founding of the company, its vision and where he sees it going. Hudack says the world has fundamentally changed since the early days of NBC in the 1940s, which was originally founded to sell TVs, and that we've gone from an economy of scarcity where you can only put out one show at a time, to a world where you can put out any number of shows. He attributes this to the less expensive production costs, which has given rise to a new generation of stars and producers.

"There are more independent show producers today than there have ever been in history," says Hudack, "and that will keep happening, and our job is to make those shows sustainable and profitable over the long term, and scalable – help people go from 10,000 people watching to a 100,000, to a million people, and some people really make money."

Thousands of shows are using the platform and distribute to most of the video Internet, including YouTube, AOL, MSN, iTunes, and to the TV set through partnerships with Roku, Google TV, Boxee, Verizon FiOS, TiVo, Sony TVs and others. Blip.tv works with advertisers to associate brands with the targeted audiences of web series and shares all advertising revenue with producers on a 50/50 basis. Top show producers on blip.tv have made over $500,000 in revenue in 2010, with largest check paid out to a producer at $143,000 in Q3 2010.

Some of Hudack's favorite web shows include, The Philip DeFranco Show, Old Jews Telling Jokes, Big Book of Lies and Status Kill, all of which he says are some of the best examples of what you can with web television today. His advise to anyone interested in producing a web show is to pick something that you are fanatical about, and that the best shows are the ones people make for themselves.

"The other thing that's so important is need to pick white space," suggests Hudack, "so if you make another police procedural drama people are going to say, "oh, I can watch CSI, NCIS, Law & Order", you name it. But if you make a show for an audience that is not being served well by the traditional entertainment system and it's something you're passionate about – you will be successful, I promise. You gotta work hard too."

Just a year ago blip.tv raised $10.1 million in funding and has been growing very quickly building out the platform, adding global sales teams all over the US and in London, and in the last year rapidly transitioning to HTML5. For Hudack, it's been remarkable to watch this industry grow into an industry, because it wasn't here before and he says it's not there yet, but getting there. Right now there are a number of sustainable web shows and more and more people are consuming web shows as their prime time viewing as they shift from television to the web.

"The Internet is a very different place than television," Hudack says, "and we are literally building a television network for the Internet, instead of a television network for television."

About blip.tv
Blip.tv is the place to discover the best in original Web series from both professional and up-and-coming producers. It gives viewers free access to a wide variety of dramas and comedies, series about sports, videogames, food, fashion and more, and makes it easy to find what you want when you want it. The company currently distributes series to iTunes, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, roku, Verizon FiOS, TiVo, Sony TVs and elsewhere. Blip.tv hosts more than 300 million video views per month and shares all advertising revenue with producers on a 50/50 basis. Please visit http://blip.tv for more information and follow blip.tv (bliptv) on Twitter.

About Mike Hudack

Mike Hudack is a co-founder of blip.tv and serves as the company's president and CEO. He is responsible for blip.tv's overall business strategy, focusing in particular on community relations along with syndication, distribution and advertising partnerships. Prior to blip.tv, Mike worked as a developer and administrator for the National Hockey League, where he managed the team responsible for one of the biggest IT projects in the history of the League — consolidating and re-developing the NHL's internal applications, which serve hundreds of employees using dozens of technologies. Mike also developed the content management system for NHL.com and redesigned the software used to bring scores and statistics from dozens of simultaneous hockey games to fans in real-time.

Mike has spoken at SXSW, Streaming Media West, Beyond Broadcast, the Open Media Developers Summit, TelcoTV and dozens of other conferences and has served as a guest lecturer at NYU and elsewhere as an expert on video, blogging and citizen journalism. He has created and maintained more than a half dozen independent media projects, including warstories:CC, warblogs:CC and the Index of Evil. His independent projects have been covered by the Washington Post, USA Today, the PBS Newshour, NPR and Forbes, among others. Follow Mike Hudack (mhudack) on Twitter

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Monday, April 11, 2011

But What About the Content? Curation, Aggregation, and Creation

Perhaps the biggest pain point for many organizations isn’t getting their video online, but rather getting their video created in the first place. Whether you need to create your own content, have your customers or employees create it for you, or collect it from other sources, there are ways to get high-quality video content on your site without breaking the bank. At the Online Video Platform Summit, this session, "But What About the Content? Curation, Aggregation, and Creation", examines the growing field of video curation and aggregation services, as well as offer pointers for getting your own content made quickly and inexpensively. According to panelist Steve Rosenbaum, an evangelist on the power of curation who recently released his new book, "Curation Nation: How to Win in a World Where Consumers are Creators", we are drowning in data and curation is the only way to remain competitive in the future. Rosenbaum says that information overload has led to publishers to shift from being an authority, to curating a conversation.

One of the main topics of discussion focused how video quality could affect your brand. Speaking as a long-time filmmaker, Bruce Alfred said it's important to hire a professional video producer – who both knows the art and craft of visual storytelling and technical competencies to create high quality video – if you want break through all the noise out there. With more than 35 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, having a professional produced video helps distinguish your brand as high quality professional content and not just another amateur Flip camera production. Eric Larnard of Thomson Reuters said that video is a structured communication in a narrative format with key messages and calls to action. But that's not all -- getting your video to right audience that you're trying to communicate with using the right combination of curation, aggregation and syndication tools is just as important as content creation itself.

Rosenbaum said that quality is in the eyes of the audience and that website owners should think about what they are trying to accomplish with their site and how video can help meet those goals. While professional video helps empower your brand, there still could be a place for authentic user-generated videos to help build community around your site though contribution and site traffic. Joseph Rueter of Curation Station emphasized that it's all about your goals and strategy and that if the aim is true it will reach the right audience regardless of quality and that usage correlates to value.

Watch the video below for more of the discussion.

Speaker bios

Paolo Tosolini, Social Media and Online Video Consultant, Enterprise & Partner Group and Microsoft Services, Microsoft (Moderator)
Paolo is an Enterprise Social Video consultant with a passion for people and creative ideas. At Microsoft, he focuses on the utilization of social media, online video and enterprise podcasting to foster employee knowledge sharing within the company. Prior to this role, Paolo worked in several other groups at Microsoft including Enterprise & Partner Group, MSN and Office, where he managed the Office 2007 partner early adoption program that resulted in more than 500 partner solutions developed at launch. Paolo also blogs and podcasts about Italy and travel. Follow Paolo Tosolini (tosolini) on Twitter

Eric Larnard, Global Head, Multimedia Communications for Financial Markets, Thomson Reuters
Eric Larnard is presently the Global Business Head for Thomson Reuters’ Multimedia Communications Services business specializing in the Financial Markets. Eric’s business empowers video and online communication in one of the world’s original online social networks: the Financial Markets. Eric has over 10 years of experience driving information-based businesses within the financial industry, empowering communications between corporations, investment banks, financial advisors, research analysts, and institutional investors. Prior to heading the Multimedia Communications Services business, Eric led Thomson Reuters’ mobile application development initiatives for the financial markets space, developing a deep, primary-source insight on mobile behaviors and expectations within professional communities. Prior to this Eric grew Thomson Financial’s First Call research and analysis business, and helped drive Thomson Financial’s StreetEvents business from its infancy to $50mil in annual revenue. Eric resides in suburban Boston and is the proud father of eight children under the age of 12. Follow Thomson Reuters (thomsonreuters) on Twitter

Steve Rosenbaum, CEO and Founder, Magnify.net
Steve Rosenbaum has been at the forefront of emerging media technologies, curated content and storytelling styles since he founded his media company in the early ‘90s. Always focused on empowering emerging filmmakers, and providing tools and outlets for new voices, Rosenbaum is acknowledged as one of the early innovators in both Video Journalism and User-Generated Video. Magnify.net is Rosenbaum’s launch - a video publishing platform that allows web sites, media companies, and content entrepreneurs to empower their communities to embrace User-Generated Video. Currently Magnify.net powers over 2,000 channels of User-Generated Video, and is working closely with a wide variety of media makers, communities, and publishers in evolving their content offerings to include content created by, sorted and reviewed by community members.

Prior to launching Magnify, Rosenbaum was involved in a variety of initiatives supporting the development of user generated content. In 1995 he Created MTV UNfiltered, a program that put the very first user-generated video on MTV. During his career in mainstream media, Rosenbaum produced films for A&E, Discovery, TLC, The History Channel, National Geographic, Court TV, Trio, HBO, VH1, MSNBC, and CNN. As a feature Director, he is best known for his film “7 Days in September”, which chronicled New York’s reaction to the 9/11 attacks. Follow steve rosenbaum (curationnation) on Twitter

Joseph Rueter, Co-Founder, Curation Station
Being the son of a contractor means a couple things: You grow up with a sense of wonder as well as an interest in building and making things better. That background, in addition to studying Theology, Philosophy, and Design gives Joseph a unique lens into the way ideas are formed and executed. Joseph applies his expertise in thinking and making to business and digital products to create "awesome" ideas and ways forward. Curation Station, one of those "awesome" ideas, is a web based software service co-founded by Joseph. It provides a tool kit for organizations to select and "play" relevant online content on their websites much like DJs do for radio stations. Additionally he serves on the programming boards of the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association and Minnesota’s TED event, TEDxTC. Joseph enjoys Twins baseball and drawing connections between baseball, strategy and business. He and his wife are raising their newborn daughter to have the same sense of wonder that was much a part of Joseph's childhood. Joseph's client experience includes: Marshalls, 3M, Allianz Life, PwC, XM, Pillsbury, Jostens, CPPNA, Cadillac and Best Buy. Follow Curation Station (curationstation) on Twitter.

Bruce Alfred, President, Cobblestone Inc.
During his 25 years in the business of non-fiction media, Bruce Alfred has produced works for broadcast, web, corporate, and non-profit clients including PBS, A&E Television Networks, and Mayo Clinic. Alfred founded Cobblestone in 1995, and his projects have taken him from the operating room to the board room, from a Somali immigrant community to the south of France. One of his better-known documentary projects was a four-hour mini-series on the group of French impressionist artists. Alfred led all creative processes on The Other Revolution: The Impressionists, which became one of A&E Television’s most sophisticated and successful Biography programs. The series continues to sell well on DVD, and has been rebroadcast multiple times. Projects prior to his establishment of Cobblestone include his role as coordinating producer for Ken Burns' Baseball, the eighteen-hour series for PBS.

Alfred has long embraced emerging technologies when such technologies open new doors in production and distribution. As streaming video on the web became practicable, Alfred saw the challenge and opportunity in delivering a highly satisfactory results-oriented web video experience. As a consultant, Alfred analyzes and interprets web video news, technologies, and modalities for small and medium business clients advising on web video strategies, and optimal delivery methodologies and resources. Since moving away from the New York City area in 2003, Alfred has lived in balmy southern Minnesota (nearly equidistant from New York and Los Angeles) with his wife, four medium-sized children, two small cats, and one big dog.CobbleStone Films is an independent cinema company that is committed to discovering and producing intelligent films that are artistically inventive, brassy and have the potential of being financial and critical successes. Follow bruce_alfred (bruce_alfred) on Twitter.

The Online Video Platform Summit is a two-day event designed to help organizations of all types, not just those for whom video is their core business. Held on November 2-3 in conjunction with
Streaming Media West in Los Angeles, the Online Video Platform Summit is designed for video publishers of all types and sizes, whether small businesses looking to publish content for the first time, independent entertainment content creators, large media organizations, or anywhere in between.

Related:

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

But What About the Content? Curation, Aggregation, and Creation

Perhaps the biggest pain point for many organizations isn’t getting their video online, but rather getting their video created in the first place. Fear not; whether you need to create your own content, have your customers or employees create it for you, or collect it from other sources, there are ways to get high-quality video content on your site without breaking the bank.

At the Online Video Platform Summit, our session, "But What About the Content? Curation, Aggregation, and Creation", will examine the growing field of video curation and aggregation services, as well as offer pointers for getting your own content made quickly and inexpensively.

Confirmed speakers for this session include:

Steve Rosenbaum, CEO and Founder, Magnify.net
Steve Rosenbaum has been at the forefront of emerging media technologies and storytelling styles since he founded his media company in the early ‘90s. Always focused on empowering emerging filmmakers, and providing tools and outlets for new voices, Rosenbaum is acknowledged as one of the early innovators in both Video Journalism and User-Generated Video. Magnify.net is Rosenbaum’s launch - a video publishing platform that allows web sites, media companies, and content entrepreneurs to empower their communities to embrace User-Generated Video. Currently Magnify.net powers over 2,000 channels of User-Generated Video, and is working closely with a wide variety of media makers, communities, and publishers in evolving their content offerings to include content created by, sorted and reviewed by community members.

Prior to launching Magnify, Rosenbaum was involved in a variety of initiatives supporting the development of user generated content. In 1995 he Created MTV UNfiltered, a program that put the very first user-generated video on MTV. During his career in mainstream media, Rosenbaum produced films for A&E, Discovery, TLC, The History Channel, National Geographic, Court TV, Trio, HBO, VH1, MSNBC, and CNN. As a feature Director, he is best known for his film “7 Days in September”, which chronicled New York’s reaction to the 9/11 attacks.

Joseph Rueter, Co-Founder, Curation Station
Being the son of a contractor means a couple things: You grow up with a sense of wonder as well as an interest in building and making things better. That background, in addition to studying Theology, Philosophy, and Design gives Joseph a unique lens into the way ideas are formed and executed. Joseph applies his expertise in thinking and making to business and digital products to create "awesome" ideas and ways forward.

Curation Station, one of those "awesome" ideas, is a web based software service co-founded by Joseph. It provides a tool kit for organizations to select and "play" relevant online content on their websites much like DJs do for radio stations. Additionally he serves on the programming boards of the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association and Minnesota’s TED event, TEDxTC. Joseph enjoys Twins baseball and drawing connections between baseball, strategy and business. He and his wife are raising their newborn daughter to have the same sense of wonder that was much a part of Joseph's childhood. Joseph's client experience includes: Marshalls, 3M, Allianz Life, PwC, XM, Pillsbury, Jostens, CPPNA, Cadillac and Best Buy.

Bruce Alfred, President, Cobblestone Inc.
During his 25 years in the business of non-fiction media, Bruce Alfred has produced works for broadcast, web, corporate, and non-profit clients including PBS, A&E Television Networks, and Mayo Clinic.

Alfred founded Cobblestone in 1995, and his projects have taken him from the operating room to the board room, from a Somali immigrant community to the south of France. One of his better-known documentary projects was a four-hour mini-series on the group of French impressionist artists. Alfred led all creative processes on The Other Revolution: The Impressionists, which became one of A&E Television’s most sophisticated and successful Biography programs. The series continues to sell well on DVD, and has been rebroadcast multiple times. Projects prior to his establishment of Cobblestone include his role as coordinating producer for Ken Burns' Baseball, the eighteen-hour series for PBS.

Alfred has long embraced emerging technologies when such technologies open new doors in production and distribution. As streaming video on the web became practicable, Alfred saw the challenge and opportunity in delivering a highly satisfactory results-oriented web video experience. As a consultant, Alfred analyzes and interprets web video news, technologies, and modalities for small and medium business clients advising on web video strategies, and optimal delivery methodologies and resources.

Since moving away from the New York City area in 2003, Alfred has lived in balmy southern Minnesota (nearly equidistant from New York and Los Angeles) with his wife, four medium-sized children, two small cats, and one big dog.CobbleStone Films is an independent cinema company that is committed to discovering and producing intelligent films that are artistically inventive, brassy and have the potential of being financial and critical successes.

The Online Video Platform Summit is a two-day event designed to help organizations of all types, not just those for whom video is their core business. Held on November 2-3 in conjunction with Streaming Media West in Los Angeles, the Online Video Platform Summit is designed for video publishers of all types and sizes, whether small businesses looking to publish content for the first time, independent entertainment content creators, large media organizations, or anywhere in between. You can register online for the OVP Summit or Streaming Media West show and get $300 off Streaming Media West with the discount code of DRF1.