Tim Schmoyer of ReelSEO talks with Kevin Nalty, affectionately known on YouTube as Nalts, about some of the differences between viral videos and evergreen videos.

“I’m what you would call ‘Twitter famous’… Meaning, not famous.” Well, I guess there is always Zombo.com.

Press Release:

Blip.tv Launches New Website and Surpasses 3 Billion Video Views

The Site, Designed to Satisfy Viewer Demand, Facilitates the Discovery of Original Web Series

New York, NY May 17, 2011 – Web series network blip.tv today announced the relaunch of its website, marking a new era for the company. The site has been recast as a consumer-facing destination where viewers can discover, watch and share the best in original web series. Blip.tv also announced today that it has reached more than three billion views to date, making it one of the Internet’s largest independently owned and operated video properties. Blip.tv is now on pace to reach one billion views per quarter.

Since 2005, blip.tv has worked closely with the world’s top web series producers, advertisers and distribution platforms with the mission of making original series scalable and profitable. With the introduction of blip.tv’s new site, the company continues to enhance its offerings to producers and talent and is now enabling viewers to easily discover the most entertaining series on the Web.

““Until now there hasn’t been a single website dedicated to showcasing the most entertaining series on the web. Today we are launching that site,”” said Mike Hudack, CEO and co-founder of blip.tv. ““We’re focused on helping people discover the best original series and allowing producers to build sustainable series for the long-term. The launch of this site helps us achieve both of these goals and marks a turning point for blip.tv and the emerging industry of original web series.””

Episodes and shows featured on the new site are hand-picked by blip.tv’s dedicated team of editors and organized into sixteen categories, including comedy, drama, sports, fashion and videogames. Viewers can also choose to watch shows that are popular, trending or new to the network. The new site also includes an enhanced video-friendly search experience that easily guides viewers to exactly what they’re looking for.

Producers of hit series including Day[9]TV, Red vs. Blue, Smosh, Nostalgia Critic and Old Jews Telling Jokes, who are already part of the blip.tv network, will benefit from the redesign as it will provide a key platform for expanding their audiences and interacting with advertisers in new and exciting ways.

The new site enables producers to build and broadcast their social media profiles, organize their content libraries and engage with fans in a clear, bright and well-organized environment. Producers now have the ability to drive traffic to other shows by recommending ones they believe their fans will also enjoy. Producers can also, for the first time, customize their graphics on blip.tv to create film quality Show Posters that develop series’ own brand stories and provide arresting visuals that viewers will love.

In addition to new opportunities for producers and fans, the new blip.tv site offers advertisers new ways to engage with web series fans. Opportunities include home page takeovers, channel sponsorships and standard IAB display advertising units. T-Mobile USA is the official sponsor of the blip.tv site launch.

““This new site is all about bringing professionalism, organization and curation to a currently chaotic medium,”” said Damian Bruno, the new website’s General Manager. ““We focused first and foremost on helping fans find the most entertaining series to enjoy, and we made sure to do it in an orderly way that supports the needs of audiences, producers and advertisers. Today’s launch represents the starting point for blip.tv to build a site that’s immersive and that houses the best in original Web series.””

Over the next six months, blip.tv will roll out additional features and new products. For more information please visit http://blip.tv.
About blip.tv

Blip.tv is the place to discover the best in original Web series from both professional and up-and-coming producers. It gives viewers free access to a wide variety of dramas and comedies, series about sports, videogames, food, fashion and more, and makes it easy to find what you want when you want it. The company currently distributes series to iTunes, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, roku, Verizon FiOS, TiVo, Sony TVs and elsewhere. Blip.tv hosts more than 300 million video views per month and shares all advertising revenue with producers on a 50/50 basis. Please visit http://blip.tv for more information.

Forums (currently called Discussions) are areas in each Group for having discussions, ask questions or show off your work. If you haven’t explored the site, Forums are one of richest and most engaging sections. Each Group has the ability to have a Forum and any Member can create a Group or join other Public Groups.

So, check out these crazy “WTF?” topics and join the discussion!

Full Metal Disney

Baby Corn

Worst Line Ever

Monkey Brained THOUGHT of the microsecond!

As Seen on TV – a tribute to doing it wrong

Hunter S. Thompson’s Idea of a Perfect Breakfast

Bangladesh version of ”The Incredible Hulk”

Turkey and Bacon Sandwich

Serenading Unicorn

Rebecca Black’s Friday

Difficult by Uffie

Improv Everywhere: Mp3 Experiment Seven

Doodling in Math Class

NYT: Whiskey, your only defense against diseases from space

Video Projection Mapping Creates Illusion of Dancing, Singing Building

Dr. Frankenstein Now a Hospital Administrator

VelociPastor

Is there a Hustler for kids?

Linnea Quigley’s Horror Workout

Epic Rap Battles of History

Wat a Wonderful Day

Thought I would start the day with some irony.

3 Words: Costumed Monkey Waiters

Smile.. DAMN IT!!!

The Learning Channel ???

Safety Video

Slow Mo Food Fight Video by G-Stone Recording Artists

”purple car”

Bollywood’s ”Robot” – Coolest Movie Ever?

Two Roads to Courage

Best Headline Ever

Well there’s this….

Laundry Day

Blowing up a microwave by cooking a sealed bottle of liquid

It’s so Cold…

TEBAATUSASULA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Twisted TV Intros

These stunts are amazing!

Embedded in a Charlie Chaplin film – a proof of time travel?

Digital Cameras are just too confusing

Extreme Shepherding

Teddy Bear Invasion

Goodwill Store Gets a Guns, Drugs, Explosives In Their Donation Box

Pssst…The End

In case you’re not a fan boy and don’t have it etched permantently in your memory, here is the original Inception trailer:

Title

Star Wars Inception Edition

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Dumb & Dumber Trailer - Inception Style (By NURV.com)

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DORA THE EXPLORER in INCEPTION: Incepción Trailer

Title

Christmas Vacation Trailer - Inception Style (By NURV.com)

Title

The Big Lebowski - Inception Style Trailer

Title

Space Jam Trailer - Inception Style

Title

Superbad Trailer - Inception Style

Title

Step Brothers Re-Cut, Inception Style

Title

Kick-Ass Trailer Re-Cut to Inception Trailer

Title

500 Days of Summer recut as a thriller

Title

300 INCEPTIONs - Inception Trailer 3 Style Mind Heist

Title

The Dark Knight Trailer - Inception Style

Title

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows trailer (re-edit w/Inception trailer music)

Title

Gladiator - Inception Style Mind Heist

Title

Star Trek Trailer - "Inception" Style

Title

The Matrix [Inception Trailer]

Title

Blade Runner - Inception Style

Title

Jurassic park Trailer - Inception Style

Title

Back to the Future Inception Style

Title

Austin Powers Trailer - Inception Style

Title

Shutter Island Trailer Inception Style

Title

Pirates of the Caribbean Trailer Inception Style

Title

Ace Ventura Re-Cut Inception Trailer

Title

Lord of the Rings - Inception Style

Title

Seinfeld Inception trailer

Title

Ghostbusters Recut Trailer

Title

Billy Madison - Inception Style

Title

Office Space: Inception Style

Title

Ronception

Title

The Office Inception Edit

Title

Team Inception: Dream Police

Title

Iron Man Trailer - Inception Style

Title

Vanilla Sky Inception Style Trailer

Title

Gangs of New York Inception Style

Title

Inception Trailer - South Park Style!

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Slap Shot - Inception Trailer 3 Style

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Pokemon Apokelypse Inception Trailer

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One Tree Hill ¦¦ Inception Trailer Music Style ¦¦ 3x16

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Evil Dead 2 Trailer - Inception Style

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The Shining Trailer - Inception Style

Title

Avatar Trailer (Inception Style)

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Smallville Trailer - Inception Style

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Fight Club Inception Style

Title

Breaking Bad Trailer (Inception Style)

Title

Rudolph Trailer - INCEPTION Style

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Burger Wars: Rise of the King - Inception Style Trailer

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Princess Bride Inception "Trailer"

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Step Up 3D... INCEPTION STYLE.

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TRONception trailer 2 (Tron trailers with Inception music)

So it looks like only 49 will embed, but we are not changing the damn title now. Go here to see them all.

Since the dawn of the interwebs filmmakers looked to it as a new magical tool that may finally allow us to breakdown traditional walls opening up a whole new world. We all envisioned a future of social collaboration, new financing models and open distribution. So are the walls coming down or are we just creating new ones?

We are a long way from any sort of filmmaker utopia, but there has been some small progress since the days when AOL would flood your mailbox with CD-ROMs. One of the biggest steps forward was the development of viral videos. Finally open distribution! But, of course the 800 pound sneezing panda in the room is; how do you make money off this shit?

Google to the rescue! You know, that little mom and pop company with the slogan “do no evil.” Google (who owns YouTube, Adsense and your soul) came to the conclusion they couldn’t continue to make billions off of your videos without eventually having to throw a few crumbs to the actual content creators.

In a effort to help starving filmmakers Google decided to create a “Partner Program” using Adsense to pay Youtube video creators a small percentage of ad revenue (derived using a secret algorithm). This partner program is only open to a very small group of content creators (derived using a secret algorithm).

Sounds like a good start, so what’s the problem?

At any point Google Adsense can freeze your account and stop payment on your check if their computer believes (derived using a secret algorithm… see a trend?) you violated the Terms of Service.

Now of course you can’t run a site that big and have humans watch everything. With millions of assholes trying to run scams they need to be somewhat diligent. No one is denying them that, but this about what happens after the Google Cyber Cops send you that auto-generated email of death.

Before we go any further…..

This article is not about Google/YouTube removing videos (that’s another story). This is a case where the videos remained, they just stopped paying the creator (I know, they have never paid you anything at all, but that again is another story).

In his article “Adsense, no sense at all -what it’s like being sacked by a computer…” Dylan Winter (“97th biggest reporter on YouTube ever”) outlines how Google froze his account, took back money he already earned in his account and stopped payment on another check; all without proof of volition or even telling him what rule he violated.

On Monday the 13th of December – two weeks before Christmas – I was sacked by a Google algorithm.

It sent an email to me and summarily killed my main source of income. No humans were involved in this process at all. It was, literally, the most inhumane letting go I have ever experienced.

As well as ‘letting me go’ the Google Algorithm also confiscated all my earned income October 31st to December 13th. Tough indeed – and no human has ever done that to me; they have always paid me for work done.

Then twio days before Christmas I got a letter from my bank saying that the check for October – worth £1,700 had been stopped. That is £3,700 gone from my family fiancés in the two weeks before Chisitmas.

Welcome to the world of Google. Kafka would be proud of Google, whilst Orwell would be perfectly unsurprised.

Here is the first email Google sent him:

Hello,

After reviewing our records, we’ve determined that your AdSense account poses a risk of generating invalid activity. Because we have a responsibility to protect our AdWords advertisers from inflated costs due to invalid activity, we’ve found it necessary to disable your AdSense account. Your outstanding balance and Google’s share of the revenue will both be fully refunded to the affected advertisers.
Please understand that we need to take such steps to maintain the effectiveness of Google’s advertising system, particularly the advertiser-publisher relationship. We understand the inconvenience that this may cause you, and we thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.

If you have any questions or concerns about the actions we’ve taken, how you can appeal this decision or invalid activity in general, you can find more information by visiting www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=57153

Yours sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team

Here is his reply to Google:

I filled in the tiny boxes on the link they gave me and submitted the following answers:

27_TrafficSources: they are subscribers. I promote the site through keepturningleft on YouTube and by being active in the sailing forums in the UK, USA and Australia. This is a classic 1,000 true fans operation. They are keen sailors and they are watching my well produced sailing films

28_AdvertiserValue: sailors who love sailing and who have heard about the films from other sailors

29_UserIncentive: Some of them click adverts to support the films – they have emailed me and told me so. I tell them not to but to only click on adverts that are of interest to them

31_InvalidActivity: I have two sources of Adsense revenue – the main one is from my YouTube space that has 1.5 million hits a month. Dylanwinter1. Films about trucks; one has had 13 million hits.
#7 – Most Viewed (All Time) – Reporters

#92 – Most Viewed (All Time) – Reporters – Global

Impossible for me to influence clicking on that site. 50,000 hits a day.It gets a click through rate of between 1 per cent and .5 per cent.

The subscription sailing site gets a higher rate – much higher after I post a new film – extremely erratic but I have no idea how such sites should perform. I only have this one website – www.keepturningleft.co.uk

The sailing website www.keepturningleft.co.uk is a small subscription only website. I cannot control their clicking activity however, it is a download site so they have to wait for the films to buffer. One man did email me to tell me that he looks at the adverts while waiting for the films to buffer.

Many of them have turned off their adblockers. One man said that he had saved himself £50 on his boat insurance. For some of them these are the first sailing related adverts they have ever seen.

I also have an Amazon box on the site – that brings in about £80 a week at the moment.

A sailing advertiser has bought space on the site and is extremely pleased with the response.

I will quite understand if you decide to kill the Adsense account for the sailing website if, as you report, it is producing some weird click-through patterns – however, disabling Adsense for my YouTube activities seems counter-intuitive. I am very happy to provide you with a login for the website so that you can assess it for yourself

Yours sincerely, etc etc

Google’s reply to his appeal:

Hello,

Thank you for your appeal. We appreciate the additional information you’ve provided, as well as your continued interest in the AdSense programme.

However, after thoroughly re-reviewing your account data and taking your feedback into consideration, our specialists have confirmed that we’re unable to reinstate your AdSense account.

As a reminder, if you have any questions or concerns about your account, the actions we’ve taken or invalid activity in general, you can find more information by visiting

www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=57153

Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team

Outrageous TOS agreements are nothing new on interwebs, but Google takes the cake.

The Adsense contract is a beautiful piece of work. One of my subscribers is a lawyer. She looked at the contract and said “wow – this is a beautiful and incredibly expensive piece of work. These guys employ the best.” Her advice? Don’t bother fighting Google.

Let’s take a closer look at Google’s Adsense terms:

• Google reserves the right to refuse participation to any applicant or participant at any time in its sole discretion.
• You may not create a new account to use the Program after Google has terminated this Agreement with You as a result of your breach of this Agreement
• Engage in any action or practice that reflects poorly on Google or otherwise disparages or devalues Google’s reputation or goodwill.
• Google reserves the right to withhold payment or charge back Your account due to any of the foregoing or any breach of this Agreement by You.

Every company has the right to set their own rules, including not allowing you to use their service. I’ve always hated it when someone goes on about how some private company censored them. I would always think, it’s only censorship if it’s the government. If you don’t like their service don’t use it. After all, there are other video hosts that pay content creators, such as Revver and Blip.tv (stop laughing).

But….

Has Google become more powerful than governments? They surely are on the internet.

I don’t think Google is evil or has some secret plot to defraud and destroy filmmakers. They create lots great products I use everyday. I also believe they will play a important role in advancing indie film (and already have). They just need to be reminded from time to time not to be evil.

The content industry has convinced industry in general that extremism in copyright regulation is good for business and economic growth. In this talk, Professor Lessig describes the creative and profitable future that culture and industry could realize, if only we gave up IP extremism.

http://www.computersandsociety.net/

http://remix.lessig.org/