Lawrence Gee | Marketing, Internet, Creativity, Strategy

Commercials on User Generated Video

As more people spent time watching video clips on YouTube instead of TV, can the inclusion of commericals be far behind?

On the web today, you see advertising everywhere - on personal webpages, news sites, search pages, blogs, email, etc.  The next step is clearly video.  Someone will commercialize a way to easily insert advertising into user generated video.  Whether it be before, during, or after, commericals will start appear on these videos. 

This new pay-per-view model will finally reward viral video creators.  Why shouldn’t the fat kid making funny noises benefit from our amusement?

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Not just another Obama YouTube Video

This Monday marks the first time that UGC (user-generated content) will be used to ask questions in a political debate.  Videos have been submitted via YouTube and the questions will be edited and selected by CNN.

This begs the question if this will be any different then any other debate.  The questions will probably not be the true questions that popular America wants to have answered but rather a water-down, edited version.  Instead of using the web as a submission tool for questions, wouldn’t it be better utilized as a voting tool to determine the most pressing issues?  That way instead of having a 3rd party like CNN pick the questions, questions are asked based on popular vote.

Going a step further, all the candidates responses to the questions should be posted online as well where they can be shared via websites like YouTube and rated by users.  It would be great to see how America rates the candidates responses versus the political “experts”.

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The Social Bandwagon

Being honest with your customers is key to getting the relationship you want out of them — that being long-term, loyal, consumers.  Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook were meant to give the Internet community a way of sharing ideas, creating interaction, and making connections.  Blogs and UGC (user generated content) sites like Youtube were meant to be authentic and allow individual expression.

When companies enter these communities, build product pages, and plant videos, are they still being honest with the intentions of these sites? Are companies just jumping onto the bandwagon to say that they have a Web 2.0 presence?  Alas, companies are not likely to stop strategizing and entering onto these sites but unless they create authentic connections with their customers, it’s unlikely to translate into more sales.

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