About Viral

The Most Viral Person on the Internet

The article’s title is a giant claim considering the measurement system online hasn’t been standardized.  BUT, I urge you to find someone more infectious on the internet than Lady Gaga.

She has become a mega star in the last year and if you thought Susan Boyle was huge check out Gaga’s social network.  Her Twitter and Facebook are both in the millions in terms of followers and fans.  There is no point in listing the current number on either of these networks because that figure’s growth is so large any attempt would be quickly become outdated with her next release.

What I will do, to give some perspective on Gaga’s online fame, is show you how she has elbowed her way to the top.

In a recent article I outlined how the landscape of the YouTube’s all time most viewed content has shifted with the introduction of Vevo.   Vevo has taken some key top players off the top of the YouTube chart and left room Gaga to climb to the top with her incredibly successful song Bad Romance.  In a few days time she will surpass Charlie bit my finger as she has closed the gap to be within 1 million views of the famed Brit.

Charlie Bit my finger  again- 178 018 293
Bad Romance – 176 812 357

Why is relevant?

Charlie bit my finger has been online for years whereas Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance has only been available for months. Kid clips individually just can not compete with the viral nature of music.

Cheers!

Note: the tactic of including “Vevo” in Lady Gaga’s channel name and allowing the label’s music to be played through the Vevo advertising system while still including it on the YouTube all time chart means the song is double listed unlike any other top performing song.  Avril’s “Girlfriend” does have the tag but is not listed on the YouTube all time most viewed chart.

Where Does Online Video Stand Now?

After reading a recent AdAge white paper assembled by Michael Learmonth it’s clear that major shifts are still to come. As much as people feel they understand the landscape of the media world, there are still some big unknowns.

Here are a collection of stats and quotes pulled from the white paper that have to do with the evolving media industry. The white paper also includes a brief reference to viral videos and essentially comments on their illusive behaviour.

It’s NOT a Revolution BUT an Evolution!

What we are witnessing isn’t competition between TV and the web; it’s the merging of interactive video and TV.

Major stumbling block for web video is the inability of the biggest TV advertisers to make a direct comparison between the effectiveness of TV and the effectiveness of an equivalent buy online

Media Companies…[are] ready to distribute on the web and offer web video to marketers but they’re not ready for that to replace what’s happening on TV

Viewers in the US spent an average of 12.2 hours watching online video (November)

The average length of the videos they watched more than doubled

Advertising

Internet advertising represents $699 million of the $24 billion U.S online ad business

TV is 66 billion dollar industry (US)

Where’s the Cred Online?

The two leading metrics companies differ substantially in their reporting – Comscore and Neilsen’s videocensus

Comscore – YT owns 40% of US video market
Neilsen – YT owns 60% of US video market

The “Cool” Demographic on Television is Melting

TV’s median age reached over 50 years in 2008

The Pirate Dilemma Still Exists in Full Force

20% of 18-24 years olds said it is acceptable to download tv shows free and without ads

Does YouTube have a Viable Business Model?

10 million [is the] monthly rate at which YouTube is now monetizing its homepage – has ability to pull in 400 K a day

YouTube has indicated that it is selling ads against more than 10% of its video streams in the US” – Up 6%

YouTube serves about 1.3 billion videos per day (worldwide)

YT estimated to turn a profit in 2010 if not already

*(reason of speculation is based on the their unknown operating cost)

YouTube and Pro Content

Hulu’s relationship with pro content providers (exclusive deals) make it difficult for YT to get access to pro content.

Hulu serves up over 900 million views a month in the US (November 2009)

Total video views in the US are over 30 billion (November 2009)

Online Video CPM’s in a Nut Shell

YouTube – $15
Espn – $22
Vevo – $25-35
Hulu – $35- plus
ABC.com- $45 – Plus
CBS March Madness ON-demand – $70
Wall street Journal video – $75-100

Cheers!

Is Vevo the Answer for Online Music Videos?

If you haven’t check Vevo out yet you really should.  Just over 2 months ago YouTube and some of the major music industry players (Sony, Universal and EMI) got to together and launched their answer to a consistent debate about their music content being stolen through the YouTube platform.  Did it work?

Well that depends on who is asking the question.  I can tell you that the strategic move of all their music video content from the main YouTube platform into another has shaken up the charts and reworked their business model.

First off, The avid user will now notice that the YouTube chart consisting of the most viewed music videos of all time has lost some of its leading content.   Avril Lavigne’s Girlfriend was the most viewed music video of all time on YouTube and stayed on the top of the chart through 2009.  Now it no longer appears on YouTube…What happened when they flicked the switch?

Well YouTube’s All Time chart started to look like it did back in early 2009.  Original viral videos like Connie, Paul Potts and guitar made it back on to the first page as the music juggernauts transfered their music to Vevo.  It also gave music videos not associated to  Sony, Universal or EMI the chance to climb to the front page as well.  Miley Cyrus being one of those artists now has 3 songs on the front page.  Pitbull took his song and ran with it too.

So how have the songs like Girlfriend under Sony, Universal and EMI fared on Vevo.  Well, the magic of the Vevo platform being run by YouTube allowed for the songs to keep their view count and carry on their online legacy.  The Vevo All Time chart now looks very similar to the charts we put together when we were separating the content on YouTube’s chart, only now Lady Gaga has completely taken over.  For the first time in over a year Lady Gaga may surpass Avril to claim the title of the most views on a single video.   In a  few months Lady Gaga accomplished what it took Avril almost 2 years to obtain.

This  begs the questions of whether it is simply that Lady Gaga is  the next Madonna or whether video consumption patterns are changing.  Maybe both…

So that was how the charts got mashed up but what do they accomplish by switching platforms.  Well there’s a slightly more engaging interface, it’s more focused on the visual aspect, it’s easily compatible with other Google run accounts and has easy buttons to favorite and create playlists.   Is that enough?  The ads meshed into the business plan are played between videos and are easily skipped plus the annoying factor that the site is limited to Sony, EMI and Universal content rather than a consumers on demand search of all content may inhibit the adoption their looking for.

What puzzles this cat is that YouTube Partners get paid per view so why would they not create customized channels within YouTube and attach ads to all Sony, EMI and Universal content rather than splitting the traffic between two platforms?  The functionality of Vevo can easily be inserted in to YouTube suggesting some kind of new functionality would come with the release of a new platform.  Not so much.  You still can’t do a search on Vevo without interrupting your music experience which tells me they still haven’t got a grip on the total in-browser music experience online.

Cheers

PS. Vevo currenttly has an Alexa rank of 4078  (Websitegrader.com Feb 26th)

Update Feb 27th:  Ads also flash up in the lower part of the videos frame similar to YT.