Bookmark Vlog Blog
Feb
21
Vlogs: Influence and Money
Filed Under Money & Marketing
In an article by Heather Green from businessweek.com, after going through a basic roundup of what vlogging is and what’s happening in the vlogging world, she gets onto more interesting aspects - namely, what the future holds.
So what does this virtual frenzy add up to? There are hints of what the renewed interest in online video, spurred by vlogging, could mean for aspiring directors. By taking advantage of the technology popularized by video bloggers, more indie filmmakers will likely reach a wider audience.
This is true, I think. Online short films by indie film makers started to bloom in the late ’90s, but never really took off for the general public. Not that they ever would, or that they ever will, but they can surely have a much larger audience than they presently have. Vlogging, indeed, just might change that. Once people begin to get used to watching short vlog clips, they will more easily gravitate to the short little indie films. I can also easily imagine these independent short film sites being good advertisers on vlog sites. The article goes on to mention this business side of things:
Creating such an audience will likely spawn new business models. The biggest impact could be the creation of on-demand services, a sort of alternative TiVo (TIVO ) online. If video RSS takes off, it would present just one more diversion from the established media. And like text blogs, it would be a diversion that evolves outside of the control of big media.
Other outgrowths, including video blogs that make money through selling ads or DVDs, are likely in time. Some isolated examples already exist of homegrown works that were initially shown online before being turned into commercial DVDs. The most famous example is Broken Saints, a 24-part animated fantasy series that attracted a cult-like following during its run online from 2001 to 2003.
Although she seems to be mixing things up here a little - selling ads on a site is a very different thing from selling the video (i.e. the site content) itself, it does raise an interesting question about how vlogs will be affected by money. And you can bet anything you like, that they will be affected by money. Will someone ever try selling a “best of” collection of their vlogs? Who knows? If someone gets famous enough, I guess it’s possible. But that’s not likely happen. Or if it ever does, it won’t be a way for most. But the question of video advertising will be interesting to watch (i.e. ads in the vlogs themselves). Some say that it will be too intrusive and that people will be turned off. I’m not so sure. As long as the ads aren’t too long. We have grown accustomed to ads in TV, and even before movies (though those still annoy the hell out of me). In an age where DVRs (digital video recorders) like Tivo let you skip ads altogether, companies may be very hungry to throw money at vloggers as they grow ever more popular. Like text bloggers, or even webmasters at regular old websites, if you love doing something and someone is going to give you money so that you can do just that and not something else, the ad money will be hard to turn down.