Peter Hirshberg, one of the sharpest guys in the biz, told me he is flabbergasted by the rapid emergence of the video blogs. He reflected on the remarkable growth of vlogs from his first exposure to the budding form just 18 months ago.
In framing the state of video blogs, he uses the “Long Tail” metaphor (the super hot book by Chris Anderson about how technology and other factors have leveled the playing field for businesses. We attended the ultra hip Manhattan book party a few weeks back.)
He says that there are some big fish at the head of the “Long Tail” or curve, like the Huffington Post which has just launched a video blog about the media — and the emerging Beet.TV (he said it!).
But there will be many opportunities for smaller vloggers to find their audiences at the “tail” of the trend. He says smaller vloggers will inevitably rise up and find an audience.
In framing the bigger picture, he references the challenges facing Hollywood producers. He says that consumers are not just changing their consumption by using devices like Tivo or video iPods, they are becoming producers.
Thank you Peter! You were the very first person I interviewed for Beet.TV way back in April. That interview was really important in gaining currency for my vlog. So, thanks for being a part of Beet.TV since the beginning, and thanks a million for some pretty darn nice references to Beet.TV in this interview! Wow!
Interesting, Innovative Political Vlog on Huffington
Ned Lamont, the challenger to Senator Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic primary has launched a video blog. He explains his POV and asks the public to upload their video commentary via YouTube. There are a few showing up on YouTube. The vlog appears on Huffington Post, or they are promoting, I can’t quite tell. I haven’t spent much time on it, but it looks really interesting.
Technology has really been key in this challenger’s efforts which have helped propel him in the polls into in a tie with the senior senator. Joe Trippi told us about the Lamont’s campaign on Beet.TV last month.
Where’s the money for us vloggers? For many of us wondering how these video blogs will be monetized, pre-roll commercials will be part of the mix. When you go to this vlog, you will see a 15 second "pre-roll" ad for Microsoft appear before Lamont speaks.
— Andy Plesser
Online Video. Vlogs, Technorati, Peter Hirshberg, Ned Lamont, Huffington Post, Consumer Generated Content, Joe Trippi, Monetization of Video Blogs
