Remember Andrew Baron who created the first huge vide-blog show Rocketboom.com, is back with an exciting new startup called Magma. The site, which is in beta stage, is a kind of video-aggregation system where one can track the most popular videos even as they're uploaded and drawing interest.
From what I read at TechCrunch, it's far from complete, his system, but worth waiting for!
Showing posts with label rocketboom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rocketboom. Show all posts
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Vanity Fair's BlogOpticon Shows Unbearable Whiteness Of Vanity Fair's Ad Placement
I just saw a link from Nikke Finke's DeadlineHollywood Daily to Vanity Fair's "BlogOpticon" , which has what it considers to be "relevant" and "well-read" blogs.
They've got a good set of blogs divided into four squares on a kind of scale grid. Some of my favs are there, like Valleywag. But you know what kills me, with the exception of Michelle Malkin, who's an Asian Woman but who writes as if she wishes she was a White conservative spinster, there's no other obvious blogger of color and none who are Black.
Now, it's not because there are not blogs out there who are popular and written by people who happen to be Black, like me. But it points to a kind of blind eye to the fact that if a person's Black, and they're blogging, they don't have to write about "Black matters" to be read.
It reminds me of James Woods' line in Oliver Stones' Nixon, where he says "There's that Negro saying Negro things!" Well I think some people expect "Negros" to say "Negro" things, so they can categorize them. And when they don't then they're a "Black Conservative."
How retarded.
How and why this freaking list.. was formed is beyond me and fairness (read on), but it's here. I feel sorry not for me, but for bloggers like Natasha, the East Cost law student -- as of this writing -- who has the wonderful blog "Young Black and Fabulous" about Black celebs. Oh, so you say that's a "Black Blog", well how the hell do you explain "Stuff White People Like?" It's a blog designed to draw White People to read it by making fun of White People. You know, many people don't even know what that term is. Well, what it is are people who don't consider themselves "of color". And that certainly shows up in this Vanity Fair chart.
Makes me wanna puke.
Vanity Fair writes that it's picked the "most influential blogs" -- gimme a freaking break. Ze Frank lost his steam a long time ago. Rocketboom.com is a has-been vlog. Hey it was the first, but let's face it, it's surrounded by a sea of new vlogs that draw viewers, like Renetto on YouTube.
Rocketboom's seen better traffic days, especially around the time the great Amanda Congdon was there. Joanne Colon's run as "Hottest Woman on The Internet" was replaced by a bevy of women in nude photos, like Lindsay Lohan, to fully-clothed female bodybuilder Kristy Hawkins.
And click on Rocketboom.com -- what do you see? A damn pop-up ad for..Vanity Fair. So let me get this straight -- the "most influential blogs" are really just those that have ads regarding Vanity Fair.
If Vanity is "the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others" then Vanity Fair's playing true to form. But it seems to be saying that it's only attractive to White People.
Maybe I'll think twice before laying down money for a VF in the future.
They've got a good set of blogs divided into four squares on a kind of scale grid. Some of my favs are there, like Valleywag. But you know what kills me, with the exception of Michelle Malkin, who's an Asian Woman but who writes as if she wishes she was a White conservative spinster, there's no other obvious blogger of color and none who are Black.
Now, it's not because there are not blogs out there who are popular and written by people who happen to be Black, like me. But it points to a kind of blind eye to the fact that if a person's Black, and they're blogging, they don't have to write about "Black matters" to be read.
It reminds me of James Woods' line in Oliver Stones' Nixon, where he says "There's that Negro saying Negro things!" Well I think some people expect "Negros" to say "Negro" things, so they can categorize them. And when they don't then they're a "Black Conservative."
How retarded.
How and why this freaking list.. was formed is beyond me and fairness (read on), but it's here. I feel sorry not for me, but for bloggers like Natasha, the East Cost law student -- as of this writing -- who has the wonderful blog "Young Black and Fabulous" about Black celebs. Oh, so you say that's a "Black Blog", well how the hell do you explain "Stuff White People Like?" It's a blog designed to draw White People to read it by making fun of White People. You know, many people don't even know what that term is. Well, what it is are people who don't consider themselves "of color". And that certainly shows up in this Vanity Fair chart.
Makes me wanna puke.
Vanity Fair writes that it's picked the "most influential blogs" -- gimme a freaking break. Ze Frank lost his steam a long time ago. Rocketboom.com is a has-been vlog. Hey it was the first, but let's face it, it's surrounded by a sea of new vlogs that draw viewers, like Renetto on YouTube.
Rocketboom's seen better traffic days, especially around the time the great Amanda Congdon was there. Joanne Colon's run as "Hottest Woman on The Internet" was replaced by a bevy of women in nude photos, like Lindsay Lohan, to fully-clothed female bodybuilder Kristy Hawkins.
And click on Rocketboom.com -- what do you see? A damn pop-up ad for..Vanity Fair. So let me get this straight -- the "most influential blogs" are really just those that have ads regarding Vanity Fair.
If Vanity is "the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others" then Vanity Fair's playing true to form. But it seems to be saying that it's only attractive to White People.
Maybe I'll think twice before laying down money for a VF in the future.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Blip.tv's Mike Hudack Brokers Deal With Rocketboom - Ads In QuickTime Videos A First
I got this from ClickZ as it's 2:45 AM and I'm too tired to blog it myself. Props to Mike.
Rocketboom’s quirky video blog now contain clickable video ad overlays that might mark the first time such ad units were created in QuickTime, according to those involved.
The ad campaigns are the result of a deal between Rocketboom and blip.tv, an online network that hosts, distributes, finds sponsors for and shares revenue with independently produced programs. Blip.tv is also now hosting Rocketboom segments, serving its RSS feed and syndicating it to other online video portals, said blip.tv co-founder and CEO Mike Hudack. Other shows on the growing site include Wallstrip, Geek Entertainment TV and Alive in Baghdad.
The first ad campaign to accompany Rocketboom episodes is for the second season of Comedy Central’s The Sarah Silverman Program. Blip.tv worked with New York ad agency Deep Focus to broker the deal. In addition to the QuickTime video ad overlay, the campaign includes post-roll videos for the Silverman show.
Blip.tv personnel began working with counterparts at Rocketboom several months ago and built the infrastructure needed to transfer Rocketboom’s hundreds of episodes to blip.tv, said Hudack. It also developed what Hudack calls “pioneering new technology” needed to serve the Silverman campaign ads.
Hudack said he believes it’s the first time anybody has created interactive QuickTime overlay ads that behave similarly to the more common Flash units. “Historically, with Flash video on the Web you can pretty much do anything you want, but QuickTime is more complicated and more difficult to work with,” he said. “QuickTime is not an authoring environment." He said the overlay comes up within a few seconds of the initiation of a video and has a close button..
Hudack declined to share early results, but he said the partnership is "seeing good viewership numbers and good impression numbers.”
The QuickTime overlay works in iTunes and Miro. In his blog, Hudack praised “the brilliant Dennis Backus of Apple’s QuickTime team and Josh Paul of Aweli” for their work on the project. He also said Rocketboom co-creator Andrew Michael Baron, “wouldn’t settle for just any QuickTime advertising implementation” and “insisted on something groundbreaking.”
Blip.tv has 10 employees, three of which are involved in ad sales, working with “a number of different agencies and brands.”
In a statement, Deep Focus Media Director Eric Druckenmiller observed Rocketboom and Sarah Silverman are a good match since they feature “unique content” appreciated by both of their audiences. Hudack agreed, noting, “Everybody is trying to figure out how you take the content we deal with and match it with advertising” that resonates with the fans. He said many programs hosted by blip.tv have avid followers who are notified regularly when a new episode is available. “Some of these people get shows delivered on a daily basis,” said Hudack. “They develop a real relationship with the host or hostess.”
Also important is finding ways to serve advertisements that are as non-intrusive as possible, he said. The video overlays being used on Rocketboom are an example of this in that it gives viewers “the opportunity to learn more and, if they are not interested, to kind of tune it out or, if they want, to close it."
Rocketboom’s quirky video blog now contain clickable video ad overlays that might mark the first time such ad units were created in QuickTime, according to those involved.
The ad campaigns are the result of a deal between Rocketboom and blip.tv, an online network that hosts, distributes, finds sponsors for and shares revenue with independently produced programs. Blip.tv is also now hosting Rocketboom segments, serving its RSS feed and syndicating it to other online video portals, said blip.tv co-founder and CEO Mike Hudack. Other shows on the growing site include Wallstrip, Geek Entertainment TV and Alive in Baghdad.
The first ad campaign to accompany Rocketboom episodes is for the second season of Comedy Central’s The Sarah Silverman Program. Blip.tv worked with New York ad agency Deep Focus to broker the deal. In addition to the QuickTime video ad overlay, the campaign includes post-roll videos for the Silverman show.
Blip.tv personnel began working with counterparts at Rocketboom several months ago and built the infrastructure needed to transfer Rocketboom’s hundreds of episodes to blip.tv, said Hudack. It also developed what Hudack calls “pioneering new technology” needed to serve the Silverman campaign ads.
Hudack said he believes it’s the first time anybody has created interactive QuickTime overlay ads that behave similarly to the more common Flash units. “Historically, with Flash video on the Web you can pretty much do anything you want, but QuickTime is more complicated and more difficult to work with,” he said. “QuickTime is not an authoring environment." He said the overlay comes up within a few seconds of the initiation of a video and has a close button..
Hudack declined to share early results, but he said the partnership is "seeing good viewership numbers and good impression numbers.”
The QuickTime overlay works in iTunes and Miro. In his blog, Hudack praised “the brilliant Dennis Backus of Apple’s QuickTime team and Josh Paul of Aweli” for their work on the project. He also said Rocketboom co-creator Andrew Michael Baron, “wouldn’t settle for just any QuickTime advertising implementation” and “insisted on something groundbreaking.”
Blip.tv has 10 employees, three of which are involved in ad sales, working with “a number of different agencies and brands.”
In a statement, Deep Focus Media Director Eric Druckenmiller observed Rocketboom and Sarah Silverman are a good match since they feature “unique content” appreciated by both of their audiences. Hudack agreed, noting, “Everybody is trying to figure out how you take the content we deal with and match it with advertising” that resonates with the fans. He said many programs hosted by blip.tv have avid followers who are notified regularly when a new episode is available. “Some of these people get shows delivered on a daily basis,” said Hudack. “They develop a real relationship with the host or hostess.”
Also important is finding ways to serve advertisements that are as non-intrusive as possible, he said. The video overlays being used on Rocketboom are an example of this in that it gives viewers “the opportunity to learn more and, if they are not interested, to kind of tune it out or, if they want, to close it."
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