Yooouuutuuube and Other Oddities

I remember when I first learned about YouTube, I didn't think it would catch on. I didn't think people would take the time to CREATE videos and I certainly didn't understand WHY they'd even have the desire. Sure, I had seen videos online. But All Your Base Are Belong To Us wasn't on a video-sharing platform, so why would we ever need one?

Well, clearly I was wrong.

We love the creation, the attention, and the relative fame. In an era of Idol, reality TV shows, and YouTube, we've learned to recognize the "easy way" to fame and appreciation. With YouTube in particular, we were introduced to a whole new area of social currency, and everyone who was anyone seemed to jump on board.

Fast-forward to April 28th, 2009. An independent programmer/designer out of NY named David quietly released Yooouuutuuube, a kind of kaleidoscopic visual remix of any and all youtube videos based on each sequential frame. (For a great post about the details that make up Yooouuutuuube and an interesting discussion about compelling data mining on this platform, check out Misentropy's blog.) I got a chance to ask David a few questions via email and learned a few interesting bits about Yooouuutuuube and it's success.

I saw that you link to the original YouTube video. Are you affiliated with YouTube?

No, I am not affiliated in any way whatsoever with YouTube.

In your own words, what is the purpose of YooouuuTuuube?

Yooouuutuuube doesn't really have a purpose.

What kind of traction have you been getting? I found out about the site on Twitter (thanks, @nguyenduong!) and a friend of mine found out on Digg. Do you track hits? Unique visitors? Time spent?

The site has received 376,670 unique visitors since it launched. The average time spent on the site is 2 minutes and 30 seconds. This means I have wasted roughly 1.8 years of humanity's time.

I couldn't help but laugh. This was pretty much the kind of answers I'd expect from the creator of a program like Yooouuutuuube. But this overwhelming success of a small, independent project definitely points out a few lessons for us:

• As consumers, the mash-up/remix phenomenon remains, with more opportunities out there to be realized. Now if only David could find a way to monetize...
• We're drawn towards platforms that facilitate our own creations. Since Yooouuutuuube allows you to choose how many rows and columns and what kind of effects you see when it plays your video, we get the feeling that WE'VE created this incredible eyegasm, though in truth we owe it all to YouTubex3's infrastructure and programming. 
• Programs that don't require extra experience, knowledge, or equipment will grow far more quickly than those with more barriers to entry. David made it incredibly simple--what can your programs do to remove some of these barriers?
• Misentropy reminds us that we can use YouTubex3 for data as well as entertainment. This means that our innovations may have secondary benefits. I'm reminded of the box of Baking Soda sitting in my cupboard right now. How many boxes do you think they've sold based on its alternate benefit? And having discovered the alternate benefit, what did they do? They advertised it.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite iterations of YouTubex3--the Alice Remix Remix. Warning: Contact high is imminent upon viewing. It's about 2 minutes long but will play on repeat.

Try your own at www. yooouuutuuube.com and let me know what you think. What else can we learn from YouTubex3?

Sponsored Video Streaming: A Series

It's no secret that there have been quite a few growing pains within both the entertainment and advertising industries with the overwhelming increase in online video content. It seems that the entertainment industry has tried a number of solutions, from trying to shut down anyone sharing the content (and this goes all the way back to Napster), regulating the content by sharing it themselves, and finding ways of using it to their own financial benefit. This final solution has certainly been met with its own roadblocks (we all grimly remember the 14-week writer strike) but it seems the dust is finally starting to settle and some truces have been called.

Many of the major networks began streaming some of their shows online with full episode players, including ABC, Fox, The CW, CBS, and NBC. Not all were as quick onto the train, but now most channels offer their shows in this way. Some only have a few episodes, while others have entire series. Some require that you be a registered member, and others let you flit in and out at your pleasure. And MANY frustratingly only will show you previews and clips, driving you to your television, however begrudgingly.

More recently, Hulu came out as a new hub with sponsored content much like the network sites. 

Even more recently, CBS has decided to take this further by finding viewers where they already are. In a new partnership with YouTube, CBS is sharing full-length shows on the site with ads before, during, and after the videos, allowing both CBS and YouTube to cash in on the online viewing trend.

But what about Surf the Channel, Ninja Video, and all the sites these hubs collect their content from? The world may never know...

...but until then, there's a lot going on with these sponsored episodes. Some innovative, some boring, some downright maddening--it's time we look at what works, and what's gotta go.