Video Blogs: The Next Step

CNN Money and Business 2.0 have an article about video blogs today. I think video blogs are the next step in organising user generated content.

From the article:

"With the proliferation of devices like the video iPod, the vlog boom is on. As of March there were more than 6,500 vlogs, says directory Mefeedia.com, compared with fewer than 300 a year earlier.

And there's good news for vloggers who want to monetize their fame: Advertisers are getting more comfortable with online video spots. In the United States, Internet video ads brought in $225 million in 2005 and are expected to break the $1 billion mark in 2008, according to eMarketer, a New York research firm. "Vlogs are very targetable," says eMarketer analyst David Hallerman. "They're small, but they have a niche audience."

True to its unconventional style, Rocketboom auctioned off its first week of ads on eBay (Research). Bidders were warned that Rocketboom would have complete creative control over the spots. TRM, an ATM sales company based in Portland, Ore., won with a bid of $40,000. In exchange, Baron and Congdon shot and aired five 60-second spots featuring Congdon in two roles: an ATM sales rep in superhero garb, and a masked villain trying to blow up TRM.

Of course, Madison Avenue firms aren't lining up to buy ad space just yet. After all, this is a quirky, do-it-yourself medium where content ranges from the sublime to the unwatchable. "There isn't enough critical mass for us to go to a client and say, 'This is something that's going to work for you,'" says Charles Pinkerton, partner at New York-based Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners' the Media Kitchen."