Crowdsourcing ads can be found on YouTube under "contests." A company puts out a theme and filmmakers make a commercial on spec. Now, Poptent, a startup company, is targeting crowdsource ads by charging companies $25,000 to put up their call for ads. The filmmakers run off and make ads ON SPEC, then the company chooses one or more spec ads for $5,000-$7,500 each.
I have mixed feelings about this business model. On the one hand, it's decent money for a contest. On the other hand, the company makes $25k, the filmmaker makes $5k-$7.5k. With the YouTube contests, the filmmaker can usually upload your commercial onto YouTube and get the exposure whether or not you win the contest. I suspect that with Poptent, if you don't win, you probably can't let it loose in the wild due to trademark and image issues. Thus, it's winner take all and the loser gets nothing but a dent in his/her checkbook and a waste of time.
On the third hand, Poptent just launched their public beta a few days ago so there should be very little competition right now...
Susan Ee
http://feraldream.com
LA Times has an interesting article, "Ad agency turns plugs into programs." The lines between ads and webisodes are blurring so much that you can't tell which is which anymore. Some sponsors are paying for entire programs without insisting on commercials or even product placement. From a program perspective, it's awesome -- who wouldn't want a sponsor to pay for your entire program without making your actor put on their deodorant at regular intervals? But long term, I have to wonder if the sponsors might realize that nobody associates that cool program with their product. There's only a sliver of overlap where the interests between the parties coincide and I believe you need to walk a fine line within that overlap to make this a viable, long term funding model rather than a passing gravy train. Not saying it can't be done, just saying that filmmakers need to be vigilant (but not too vigilant) about what the sponsor is getting out of the relationship.
Regardless, it'll be good while it lasts...
Susan Ee
http://feraldream.com
Great ad. This is worth checking out: Shake it
]]>Check out Storybid. It's an auction house for advertisers to sponsor your film. The ad industry is shifting and they're looking for alternative ways to get their product out there. One of the experiments a lot of companies are doing is associating their products with online videos. If anyone tries this out, let us know how it went for you.
Cheers,
Susan Ee
The Washington Post has an interesting article today on Internet ads with respect to videos: CBS's live coverage of NCAA's March Madness. It says that from 2003 to 2005, CBS showed March Madness coverage on the Internet on a subscription basis with prices ranging from $10-$20 for the whole tournament. In 2006, they showed it for free but required viewers to register. They got 1.3 million registered viewers and $4M in ads. This year, CBS dropped the registration requirement and made it available from its online rival ESPN.com and other websites. They got over 4.7 million viewers and $23M in ads.
Very interesting. It's still hard for me to sometimes wrap my head around this give-it-away-for-free-and-make-more-money concept.
Susan Ee