Ten Hard-Learned Secrets about Online Video Advertising - Walter Sabo

WebStars are gifted performers who conceive and produce videos watched organically by millions of fans, daily. They distribute their videos on sites where they can attract an audience, including yours.

HITVIEWS places brand products and messages inside videos made by WebStars. The brand becomes a positive part of the show. Gary Slaight, Media mogul and visionary says, "Internet stars are the future of the medium."

Bob Weinstein, Producer of THE KING'S SPEECH immediately invested and called us "The new studio system. Brilliant."

Randy Michaels, former CEO of the Tribune Company says, "You figured out how to put product placement in user generated content. Brilliant."

Here are the top 10 secrets about online videos and online video marketing that I'll pass along for free. If you want more information please contact us.

1. MOST ONLINE VIDEO IS WORTHLESS. Every minute, 41 hours of video are uploaded. 99.9 percent of those have fewer than 300 lifetime views. On average, a WebStar video has 330,000 views day one.

2. THE COMPUTER IS NOT A TV. Not obvious. Bloated ad agencies continue to make spectacular, expensive videos in well catered Brooklyn studios that no one watches.

What is missing? Interactivity. If a video does not engage all of the functions of a computer, it is rarely popular. WebStars intuitively and scientifically know how to engage their audience on a computer.

3. SLICK IS NOT COMPELLING. Slick doesn't pull the same online crowds as not-slick. There is a voyeuristic, authentic thrill to seeing video that is technically raw. There is also the practical matter which is...

4. YOUR AUDIENCE DOES NOT HAVE THE NEW MACBOOK PRO AND T-3 LINE. To most of the world, the first words of an online video are "buffering now." If the bit rate on a video is too high, if it is HD, it will take too long to load for your customers to watch it.

5. PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRMS and EVENT MARKETING COMPANIES LEAD THE KNOWLEDGE PATH. The greatest pleasure in running HITVIEWS is the daily experience of working with the modern public relations firm: Edelman, Ruder Finn, Catalyst, Porter Novelli, and Weber Schandwick. Executives like Ed Adler, Mark Braff, Andy Pray, Brian Edelman and Nick Godfrey. PR firms are where brands can go to get objective data on online video's effectiveness. MKTG'S Charlie Horsey and Brenda Narciso at Seattle's Rally Group have their pulse on the future.

6. JOHN MOORE OF MULLEN, BOSTON is the smartest guy in the room.

7. Be highly suspicious of people named George. Having nothing to do with George, people dressed the coolest are absolutely not the coolest thinkers. Watch, instead, the ones in the Brooks Brother's suits who don't talk much, they get it and they can say, "Yes."

8. THERE IS NO LONG TAIL. It's a myth. 81% of all views to an online video take place within the first 72 hours. This is good. It allows a company to manage exposure to videos as they do a broadcast commercial.

9. BEWARE THE DARK ARTS OF MEASUREMENT AND METRICS. There is a hunger for standardization of online video measurement. I hope that doesn't happen. I know, it's crazy talk, but if standardization happens too soon---and now is too soon---qualities that are easily measured will be more highly valued than those that are not. The qualities that are not easily measured may, in fact, have the greatest value.

10. ONLINE VIDEO made by top WebStars have more viewers in a single day than any cable channel.

Watching a fresh video made by a WebStar, a WebStar we helped to earn a living from their artistic gifts, is a true thrill. Thanks to our investors and clients for the privilege and to Jack Myers for his endless support.

Walter Sabo is the founder and creator of Hitviews. HITVIEWS is a company serving brands that wish to reach millions of customers using online video created by WebStars. Walter can be reached at walter@hitviews.com.

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