Power Video

Free Credit Report from Ben Stein

It's not often that you encounter a talking squirrel or see Ben Stein slingin free credit reports but in this humorous video by Fliqz customer, FreeScore.TV you get it all. Cute little mascot and a slick site implementation, click here to see more.

Fliqz loses CEO

The Fliqz CEO is no longer Benjamin Wayne but rather, the "YouTube Is Doomed" guy according to Simon Dumenco of AdvertisingAge.

http://www.fliqz.com/aspx/pressdetail.aspx?PressId=136

In an article posted yesterday to AdAge.com Simon interviewed Benjamin touching on his highly controversial piece in The Business Insider back in April regarding the megalith's projected $470M loss in 2009.

Aside from the hoopla, the in depth piece also includes conversation regarding online video ROI and how marketers can measure returns. Have a read at the links above.

Enjoy online video.

A firm grip on UGC.

Fliqz customer, Dogster.com has had a UGC (user generated content) presence on their dog social network from early on in their product strategy. People love their dogs, so much so that they'll film them doing anything, anything at all including working out on a treadmill (see video below). Is it useful? Are you a better person having viewed the video? Probably not, but I laud anyone's passion and if you're passionate about your dog then by all means, shoot video and share your creation with one of the best dog lovers communities on the Internet today.

Enjoy online video!

Bust a move with VirtualTourist

Fliqz customer VirtualTourist always has intriguing videos from around the world displaying exotic destinations, bountiful beaches, and on occasion Zulu dancers. In this video we are privileged to experience, first hand, the tribal dance of the Zulu in a video uploaded from a VirtualTourist user. Check out the lil fella in the front trying to get his groove on...

Focus on What Matters

Let others dive into pointless debates about whether online video is destroying traditional TV. There are more important things to worry about. Such as, how can you make money in your online video efforts? Sure, it's nice that Hulu has gotten so popular, but how does that help you?

For the rest of us, the growth of online video means focusing on the nitty gritty of marketing and content delivery. Good content ideas alone won't guarantee your video will be seen.

On May 11, Streamingmedia.com will host a Content Delivery Summit in New York, which will focus on all matters relating to content delivery networks, including contracts, TCO, advertising, and analytics. It's the type of unglamorous, down-in-the-trenches information that's necessary for making sure your online videos are working for you.

Most of the news you'll see about online video will focus on the high-profile entertainment aspect. But your success will come down to things like CDN analytics and search engine optimization. We've been hosting our own series of webinars to help you with these issues (see clip below), and we will continue to do so. Because passively uploading clips on YouTube is not an online video strategy.

Find more videos like this on B2B Power Exchange

The Bangles Reunite with Fliqz

That's right, the Bangles are back on tour and you can watch them streamed through Fliqz on the Bangles web site. Are you feeling it? Manic Monday, Walk Like an Egyptian, Eternal Flame...see below.

And check out the new Coast Guard Channel video portal which launched recently, they've done a very nice job laying out their gallery on the 24/7 Video channel with a clean UI. Also new to the Fliqz video platform in the past few weeks is Yoga Journal. They have a nice multimedia channel displaying informational podcasts, and instruction videos.

New customer live, the WHIR

Top-tier webhosting information network, the WHIR (web host industry review), recently signed on with Fliqz to power their TV channel, WHIR TV. They've done a very nice job laying out their TV channel with the player front and center, a slick srcolling playlist to the right, and commenting built into the page.

theWHIR is comprised of theWHIR.com Web site (including WHIR TV and WHIR Blogs), WHIR Newsletters andWeb Host Industry Review magazine. Each is geared toward two specific audiences: Web hosting consumers including businesses seeking Web hosting services, and Web host industry professionals keeping abreast of developments in the world of Web hosting and/or further developing their Web hosting operation.

Stop by their site to learn more and to watch a few shows and be sure to let us know how Fliqz can help you get your online video solution live today.

What Will the New Year Bring?

We're not much for making new year predictions. It's too easy to look foolish at the end of the year when you look back and see how much you got wrong. Besides, so many others are making online video predictions of their own. You can read some of them here, here, here, and here.

So no predictions from us. But we do want to know what you would like to see happen in the online video space in 2009. A standardized ad format? Better video search? Got something on your wish list? Let us know in the comments section.

And happy new year to all of you.

NBC on Video Ads: Doom! Gloom!

This Wall Street Journal article about NBC Universal's chief warning of a slowdown in online video ads has been causing quite a stir.

NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker's money quote: "The most surprising thing to us is how fast the digital marketplace has come to a standstill in the fourth quarter."

The recession is the most obvious explanation, though the article states some reasons we've been discussing here for a while, including the lack of a standard ad format. Also, some marketers are beginning to balk at $40 CPM rates for high-end video content.

There's no doubt that once-exuberant expectations have been tempered. But NBC.com and Hulu are hardly the only games in town. Maybe advertisers are simply leery of spending money on repurposed television programming. There's more high-quality original content online, and that will only continue to grow. And the more viewers gravitate to Internet video, the more marketers will make online video a big part of their ad strategies.

Video = Customer Satisfaction

There's been a lot of talk lately about how current economic conditions will affect online video efforts. We've even been running a poll asking when you plan to make video part of your strategic roadmap. Now, the folks at Gartner are predicting that businesses will have to make video an integral part of their content strategies.

"The popularity of video among consumers will fuel a similar interest in video within enterprises," according to Gartner. Noting the rapid growth of online video use, the research firm warned that "enterprises that see such growth as irrelevant to their operations risk alienating themselves from customers who start to request video communication services."

This means more companies will be looking for robust, easy-to-use video management solutions (we have one in mind, of course). But for any business wondering whether video should be on your strategic roadmap, more and more evidence indicates that it will be absolutely necessary.