When surfing the Net are you actually aware of “online video advertising?” Perhaps the safest answer is “it depends who’s looking” since the Net caters to both mass audiences as well as many special interests.

For example, take the 100 million plus YouTube views that Britain’s-Got-Talent singing sensation, Susan Boyle, racked up in a matter of days. Her exploits attracted a truly international audience - pity that YouTube and ITV didn’t have an advertising deal in place while the masses were watching.

(Especially with Google Adwords also supporting video ads on a cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) basis, there’s a ton of keyword driven money stuck in ‘pause’ mode while these media titans get their act together.)

Anyone following the ongoing and sad(?) decline of the print newspaper advertising model knows that the fourth estate are not taking this lying down. Most all the major newspapers and magazines have invested heavily in an online presence and offer advertising spots ranging from text ads to video billboards. But the darkening economic outlook and a new realism on ad revenue estimates means that the average online video CPM of 20$ will probably have to drop to around $8 to be competitive with average US TV rates.

(Source: A survey done by video Ad company BrightRoll.com, as reported in techcrunch.com. http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/27/brightroll-video-ad-rates-dropped-12-percent-in-first-quarter-and-the-pre-roll-is-still-king/)

What’s even more astonishing about Brightroll’s survey is the apparent attempt by mainstream media ad executives to shoehorn the popular ‘pre-roll’ 30 seconds TV ad slot approach into an online video equivalent. How do they know it works so well on the Net? Who are these pre-rolls targeted at? Just two questions that come to mind

Some more savvy Net advertisers are following a different path. Rather than push web viewers into a pre-roll ad, they’re taking advantage of major trends such as online casual gaming to insert branding ads into the games - in return for free access. They’re also picking up on online demographics such as the increasing numbers of female gamers.

For the most part we’ve been talking about industry heavy hitters here - both the advertisers and the video networks have deeper pockets than the many indie video producers who’ve had the Net to themselves up until recently. To adapt and survive, the most creative are working with active communities online (particularly bloggers) to create appealing web shows that influence rather than prod to consume.

Regards,
Mark McClure

So you’ve got a video exclusive on some A-list celeb’s latest antics? Or your pet pig’s on camera taking a mud bath… in your bath! You might even be a citizen journalist with a video clip exposing a juicy scandal or cover up. Just how do you get your story out to the world and get paid for your efforts?

One way’s to go direct to the mainstream media. Many try approaching TV stations with their scoop - but those folks usually don’t pay. Others contact newspapers and soon find they’re being politely strong-armed into surrendering worldwide exclusive rights for a pittance.

And a minority takes up with a stock footage agency - a middleman - and lets these (usually) professional negotiators wheel and deal with the media buyers. Naturally, they’ll take a cut from your profits. For some agencies the price is fixed for a 5 to 30 seconds clip because their business model’s more about quantity. That mean unless you’ve shot a UFO in Time’s Square or Bigfoot in your living room, you’ll probably not get much in the way of ‘fair value’.

Ladies and gentlemen, fear not - for Gollygoose.com is stepping out onto the worldwide waddle! We’ve come up with an online auction-based site for almost anyone (18 and over) to buy and sell media clips. Naturally, we’re focused on video content but also open to bringing legitimate buyers and sellers together for photos, animation, text and audio.

Sellers and buyers choose from 3 annual membership plans to list their video clips. You get paid when an auction ends and the buyer confirms they’re happy with the media clip. GollyGoose recommends PayPal for transactions but we’ll also support US Dollar check payments.

Keep in mind that proof of copyright ownership is very important to both buyers and to GollyGoose. Play by the rules and sellers will find it simple to auction off your unique media product based on the 7 options of licensing available. Or you can set things up for a buyer to choose ‘Buy It Now!’ - in that case you can get an instant sale.

GollyGoose Team