Screw Viral Videos? We Agree.

September 2, 2010 By 2 Comments

Jim Louderback, CEO of Revision3 Internet Television, posted this week “There, I Said It: Screw Viral Videos” and we couldn’t agree more.

If there’s anything we’re learning from experience in social media, it’s that deeper, longer lasting relationships with viewers, visitors, and commenters matter most. It’s that whole quality versus quantity concept. Heard of it? But, not surprisingly, Louderback says “online video creators, advertisers, and producers have an unhealthy fascination with viral videos, and that obsession is dragging down the entire industry.”

I like how Louderback reminded us, though, that “successful producers bind an audience to their creation, building an insatiable hunger for the next installment, next episode, next post.” If you think of it in terms of your favorite television program, you might have a favorite episode or one that really stands out (representing the outstanding or viral video), but what keeps you tuning in week after week is the continuity, character development, and that good ol’ “what’s going to happen next?” feeling.  Same goes with online video.

“Ten predictable episodic shows that deliver a consistent 100,000 views an episode is far easier to plan for an monetize than a channel that has a one-in-100 chance of catching fire — and a 99-in-100 chance of bombing,” says Louderback. For similar reasons, although admittedly none of our video productions have yet reached the 100,000 view mark, we constantly educate our clients in the strange paradox of quality versus quantity of viewers and quality versus quantity of video production. From our perspective, high quality viewers and high quantity of online video is the secret recipe.

“So what’s an advertiser to do? Stop chasing viral, and start looking closely at online video that delivers repeatable, measurable and sustainable views,” says Louderback.  And we agree.

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About Rocky Walls

With more than 10 years’ experience in digital content creation, as CEO of 12 Stars Media Productions, Rocky works with companies to create online video content for use on websites, blog posts, email marketing and social media profiles.

In 2009 he received a nomination for the Most Influential Social Media Up & Comer and in 2010, 12 Stars Media was nominated as Indiana's Most Ethical Company at the Indiana Social Media Summit.

Rocky also currently serves as one of the first five Honorary Commanders of the 434th Air Refueling Wing at Grissom Air Reserve Base and regularly serves in a leadership capacity as a member of Business Networking International (BNI).

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Rocky Walls

Thanks for the comment Richard. Good perspective on the Old Spice campaign. Regarding the block quotes, I don't use block quotes unless the quote takes up five lines or more (I believe that's standard practice - http://www.englishdiscourse.org/block.quotes.htm). I always welcome and appreciate feedback about both content and writing style. Thanks again!

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Richard

I agree 100% that Viral should never be an initial goal and only a happy occurrence if it does happen. One thing I take issue with with the original post is calling the Old Spice thing a success. While there was initially numbers put out to show that it increased sales, it later came out that rival brands had bigger increases without anything like this and that this was a heavy usage time for deodorant and lots of coupons were also out there. When Internet Dollars ( http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/165195/ ) have an actual exchange rate then maybe this will prove to have actually been worth the money but from the looks of it, while it may give brand recognition I think in the end if that doesn't turn into real dollars it doesn't really matter. Think about all the cool commercials you remember as a child of products that no longer exist.

Also on personal note, might want to use
around some of the larger quotes and change up the styling slightly because it was really hard to tell what was from the article and what was your own. There were big chunks of both and I had a hard time following it in the current format. But that could just be me looking at it. :)

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