I caught up with Hunter Walk, a key executive at Google Video who had previously run Google’s AdSense.
My visit coincided with the launch of the new EepyBird exploding Diet Coke bottles. Fun clip and quite popular with 1.6 million views, but what does it mean? Well, it marks the first step by Google in helping small video producers monetize content by inserting advertising into clips.
Up until now, Google Video has largely helped big content producers make money through paid download of individual segments. They have done limited advertising, notably post-roll ads for HP on the Charlie Rose Show.
Hunter tells Beet.TV that Google will soon place ads in clips created by a variety of small producers and on select user-generated content. (I wonder if this will be in case for YouTube, but no one at Google will comment on YouTube matters until the transaction actually closes.)
Hunter also shared some insight into how Google Video searches video on the site. He outlined the three components: searching metadata or the text surrounding a post, community information meaning comments and rating of clips, and other sorts of content analysis including speech to text. He alludes to more edgy technology when he referred to processing "search signals that we fold into search ranking and discoverability."
Touring the Googleplex with Andy
Since I had my trusty camcorder and some time on my hands, I did some sightseeing of the marvelous architecture of the Googleplex.
And, yes, I can confirm that the mens rooms have those fancy Japanese high tech heated toilets which, er, clean you up. I did not tape ’em — this is a classy show, you know.
The music you will hear on this segment is by the brilliant Remy Le Boeuf, a 20-year old saxophonist who attends the Manhattan School of Music with twin brother Pascal, a pianist and composer. The guys are from Santa Cruz. Thanks Remy for allowing us to use his wonderful composition.
Must Read — Here’s a really valuable book by Scott Kirsner, noted tech writer and blogger of Cinema Tech, for all of us figuring out how to succeed in the online video world. The title is "The Future of Web Video: Opportunities for Producers, Entrepreneurs, Media Companies and Advertisers" It’s available on Lulu to be downloaded as PDF for $14.95. Worth the dough.
Here’s Scott and his book
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NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE DECLARES: SUNDANCE IS HISTORY. STAND-UP IS OVER. THE FARM SYSTEM FOR COMEDY? YouTube"….check out this story from Sunday’s New York Times Magazine about the new "Online Auteurs" by Matthew Klam. Looks like some vloggers are getting some mainstream visibility they deserve. Visit the Ninja guys in LA and Ze Frank in Brooklyn. Really cool story.
Here’s a photo of Ze Frank, who was profiled in the New York Times
Photomontage by Zachary Scott published in the yesterday’s NYT Magazine.
