Okay, well that is a long way away, you can see the beginnings of such a movement through Youtube's latest entertainment push. Youtube is outright approaching celebrities to create their own branded channels, and fill them with short-form (3 minute) video. What's more, Google/Youtube is offering to back these branded channels, forfeiting all property rights to the artist/celebrity and build a shared-revenue model based off of the advertising sold within the channels.
Okay, but wasn't this always available? Well yes, but it's harder to lure any talent to the "mischievous cats and groin shots hub" without putting up some money. Youtube is doing that, and stating that they will back celebrities to the tune of $5MM per channel. Wow, that ought to get the will.i.am, @aplusk and Seacrests of the world interested, right?
If fact those three are interested, but why wouldn't more celebrities be into such an offering? At John Battelle's Signal LA conference will.i.am stated that himself, Ashton Kutcher and Ryan Seacrest were the only celebrities that are thinking about new technology and how it will change the performances, videos and any artistic expression that they do in the future. Now that is probably an exaggeration, but with a movement towards connecting fans and celebrities online, it seems that more and more actors, musicians, athletes and artists should be embracing this avenue.
We see it on Twitter already, that's probably the easiest one for celebrities to embrace. Especially those that monetize themselves through services like Ad.ly. We see it on Vevo, where musicians can continue to see big numbers of viewers for their expensive video productions online. We also see it through a number of blogs, fan pages and even b-roll shoots. So it is happening, and this is what Youtube is banking on right now. They have the proven platform, they have the numbers and now they just need the killer content. It's no surprise that Youtube is now competing with cable and network tv in a lean-back environment within a consumer's living room. There is a real need to make Youtube a destination among the masses, and not just a viral "did you see this" pass-along experience. I think they're hoping that attracting real celebrities and artists to the platform will do just that.
My Take: Bringing celebrities closer to the fans that ultimately make them celebrities, is a growing trend. Maybe Aston Kutcher saw it first, but there are many, many more that would like to build such a connection with their fans, and continue to turn a profit while doing so.
No comments:
Post a Comment