When Points Get Missed

August 1, 2007 · Comments

Todd Cochrane refuted my post on what media makers should do next by calling it short-sighted. The problem is, Todd missed my point, and then has his energized community explaining just how wrong I am.

My main points (to save you the reading):

  • Be a production company not a show. Meaning, build your stuff so it can be segmented, sold, or otherwise.

  • Watch the big guys. See where the money is spent.
  • Improve your quality. Crap won’t cut it any more.
  • Learn how to work with advertisers. If you’re looking to make media, you need to know how to place ads. (or have a business models).
  • Become a businessperson, or hire one. If you’re just creative, you need a business head. Either you or someone else.
  • The Future of Internet Video —

Here’s where Todd digs in. I said that blogging is still nascent, but big media is nosing in all over the place. If you want to make money blogging, you’ve gotta be top shelf. I said that audio is pretty much owned by the pros these days. If you’re an indie producer, I’m recommending you go to video. *(Remember this later because this is where Todd was upset). I said that videobloggers have to go from making video to telling quality video film stories.

*Todd responds:

My first reaction is who is he kidding and here is why I say that. Today I am able to consume media if I want every waking hour I have. I can consume media while driving to work, in the shower, while at the gym and anyplace else I am capable of listening to Audio you cannot say the same for Video.

At best I have time for 1–2 very short video clips a day, maybe on a coffee break of at lunch. If my employer caught me watching videos during work hours I would be penalized severely. Some would be fired. In todays work environment Audio is generally acceptable to have playing.

Also Video is very hard to do well. Anyone can do Audio and only a small portion of people can do Video. The same is said that Anyone can consume Audio anyplace anytime where video largely cannot.

( See the whole post here).

Huh?

He’s absolutely right. Consuming audio is easy. Producing audio is easier than producing GOOD video (we can fight over this, other people). But that wasn’t my point. And okay, YOU can’t watch video in a day, but that isn’t related to my comment about the marketplace overall.

So, I commented back. But it never got posted. It could’ve gone to spam. Happens on my blog plenty, and if someone doesn’t tell me they tried, I don’t do a great job of actively checking the spam filters. I browse, but whatever. 38,154 spam comments a day doesn’t make me excited to go fishing.

So, I commented again. In case my comment gets lost again, here’s what I wrote on Todd’s blog:


I made one comment already, but it was never approved or posted (lost in spam?).

Todd made a great post up here, but it doesn’t match what I wrote in MY post.

My post was saying that if someone were intending to make money off their media, then I wouldn’t recommend an independent producer start off an audio podcast.

My post: http://grasshopperfactory.com/cbc/media-makers-next-steps/

I’m not downing audio podcasts. I’m subscribed to 67 at present. I listen to them all the time on the way back and forth to work, while I’m outdoors, and when I’m at an airport (which seems too frequent).

I’m saying that media makers looking to make a dime off their podcast have to consider the marketplace as a whole right now.

@Kevin Crossman – I produce several audio and video products, but am not maintaining a regular podcast at present. Instead, I’ve chosen to support the ecosystem at large by starting and supporting the PodCamp events (podcamp.org).

I hope this one gets through.

So, yeah.

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  • Talk about bad irony. I bitched and moaned that my comment to Todd must've been marked as spam, and it turned out I cleaned MY spam catcher and found his. Oh dear. Sorry.

    Todd, if you're writing checks to people in the thousands for audio, I stand corrected. Everyone making audio, rush to Todd and take his advice. Please. I love my podcasting friends, and if you can all start picking up loot, go for it.

    And I'm not being facetious. If that's the trick, have at!

    My point is that I want everyone to jump in and start figuring out how they're going to make their money. If you've got it, Todd, fork it over. : )

    Thanks for commenting.
  • I believe I understand your point, especially as someone who has decided to take the very route you are speaking. I think it has to be observed that internet media (podcast, video, blogging) are basically mimicking film/tv, radio, newspapers and looking at the success of these platforms you can get an idea of what attracts the masses. I myself listen to a lot of podcast but I'll have to admit I do anticipate the video podcast much more. Plus if I am correct aren't you directing this toward the individual who is looking to make a living or make money from this platform? If so, I totally agree that video is the way to go because film and television aren't going anywhere. Knowing this my intentions are not to necessarily overtake these platforms but to make the playing field leveled or to work together crossing platforms.
  • Do you prefer to a) read things b) listen to things c) watch things ?

    We too often fall into the trap of proclaiming one media better than another, when all have equal pros and cons. A long time ago we had newspapers, radio, and television. Well, heh, we still do, the death of said media has been greatly exaggerated.

    Some people sat in the yard gardening with AM talk radio blaring. Some people sat on the porch with their coffee reading the paper. Others watched the evening news in their slippers.

    Instead of relying on my old 'do all media if you can and beat the argument' meme, I would like to point out issues of international audiences. Text is the easiest to translate, audio the hardest, and video, well interesting that one... Visual context changes a lot. I can probably figure out what's going on without even understanding the audio... if there are words at all.

    The smiling face of a child is pretty much universal.
  • I guess that it depends on what team you are on.

    Certainly team YouTube didn't care at all about the quality of the video, nor did the 30 million people who were watching videos there.

    That mass of eyeballs got them 1.6+ billion dollars.

    @Justin Nearly 5 million podcast listeners, not sure how many served http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/12727.asp
  • Thank GOD it's more difficult to produce good video than good audio. That should mean fewer people will wade into the video field, and therefore make it easier to FIND quality video content...

    Except for the part where YouTube serves up 100 million videos per day... Surely not all of them are what we'd consider "quality."

    Meanwhile, anyone have any numbers on how many audio podcasts are served up every day?
  • Chris I'll look for your comment in the spam catcher and unspam it. Early in my post I said that I largely agreed with some of your points and that I have been talking about this for a while now.

    But to advise people to not try and make any money off audio is again very bad advice. I right checks to Audio podcasters each month in the multiple of thousands of dollars. Some of those we represent are making as much as $12,000 a month on Audio. The number of people making this kind of money are small but the number of people making a grand or more a month is very significant on independently produced media.

    It is MUCH easier to make money with Audio then Video currently is again this based upon the checks we cut every single month. So I think that the advice you give from a person who pays podcasters is still very short sided.

    The major brands may control iTunes but hey iTunes is not the only audio distribution point we largely see iTunes slowly becoming a non player for independent audio consumption and distribution.
  • kat
    maybe it's a future vs. current time debate?
    a few comments are regarding *now*.
    i took yours to be where the *now* is headed.
    the future.
  • Speaking for the Luddites of the world who, like me, are still on dialup (fully half of all Internet users) text is still a wonderful communication tool.
  • Chris, I agree with you. There is a lot of money to be made in video, and studios can't move in a nimble enough way to supply it all. That leaves a space for your several hundred friends (and probably lots more people) to fill the void.
  • Thanks Chris, Sue, and Dave. I appreciate your comments.

    I'm not saying video's not easy to do, though. I'm saying that I think the MONEY is going to video right now, and that independent producers aren't out there seeking video products.

    Chris, I can't give you a survey or stats. I can tell you from months and months of talking with podcasters and video types, from reading the news about PodTech and other companies through 14 different news sources that cover the Internet media space, that I'm getting this impression.

    Believe me, everyone's welcome to shrug it off and do what you're doing. I'm making a point on where I think the market is going, because I have several hundred friends who are hoping to quit their day jobs and make money from this.

    Quite right on everyone's counts.
  • Hi Chris,

    This is such a complicated subject and we're talking about it at quite a high level here. That being said, I agree with your main point about the market for audio content becoming saturated by pro content.

    I'm not sure that producing video is for everyone, because it's about an order of magnitude harder than audio to do well. However, indie video producers have a distinct advantage over TV networks and film studios in one sense. They are not signatories to the various production unions and guilds (SAG, AFTRA, WGA, DGA, etc.). That is to say, their productions are inherently expensive, and so business models are being built around recouping costs and adding internet distribution as a new revenue window.

    This is why episodes of "Lost" are sold on iTunes and streamed on ABC.com. As a video podcast, "Lost" would be incredibly popular. By it's extremely weak as a business model for the studio.

    The flip side is that technology has become cheap enough that for under $25K or so, the average person can put together a pretty decent video camera/lighting/audio package and a top-notch editing rig. 3-D modeling/rendering and motion graphics software is extremely affordable these days as well.

    The net effect is that upstart video producers can put together product of pretty substantial quality and not have to deal with as much direct competition from the big boys as do audio producers at this point.

    - Dave
  • Susan Murphy
    Chris Brogan, once again you've hit the nail right on the head. There are definitely two camps out there right now, the audio and the video. The same is true in traditional broadcast media. Arguments can be made for the effectiveness of both.

    The truth is, nobody knows how this will really play out. But my guess is that once Internet video can be easily consumed using a regular TV (and isn't a luxury for those who want to shell out for an Apple TV or XBox, etc.) people will start to see the true value in video over audio.

    Currently most of my video watching occurs on my TV set, not on my computer screen. Let's say I watch, oh, 4 hours a day of TV (I don't, really, but lets say I do). The TV I watch is what is offered through my cable box, nothing more. But throw podcasts up on my TV screen and things change. No more reruns of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "CSI" for me. Now all the content I want is right where I want it. Sitting in a box in front of my sofa.

    Chris, you make a very valid point and definitely are showing the big picture possibilities that exist here. I can't wait to see how it all plays out!
  • Wow.

    I missed the point the first time around, too, and didn't even notice. However, I didn't get all fired up about it.

    My first thoughts about that point (the other points I had no problem with) were that 1) I have almost no time for video, but I listen to audio several hours a day. Why would other people be different? 2) My show would be a bunch of talking heads, so why on earth would I want to go video? I can see isolated cases, but in general, I feel it would be a waste of bandwidth and production time.

    But if you're saying that video is where the money is, that's another thing altogether. A very powerful point that should be heeded. Any chance you've got some numbers on that?

    Thanks for the post!

    - Chris
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