Super-distribution with TubeMogul

By 02/21/2008
Super-distribution with TubeMogul

I’m sure you’ve heard of the fancy-sounding super-distribution.  Sounds like a secret tool for content creators with loads of cash but, truth is, we can all be super-distributors.

TubeMogul already has big-name online producers like Vuguru, Next New Networks, For Your Imagination and CBS Interactive hooked with it’s free service, so what other tricks does the young super-distributing company have up its sleeve?

To promote our shows/brands, most of us want to distribute our videos far and wide to video sites across the internet, but uploading and managing dozens of sites would take days for each video.  TubeMogul has the solution with its cross-distribution and tracking: upload your video to TubeMogul and, with a single click, distribute to about a dozen sites including YouTube, Google, Yahoo, MySpace, Brightcove, Revver and DailyMotion.  That’s just the beginning.  TubeMogul offers a host of valuable services, the most important of which are completely free.

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Convenience and distribution are important, but TubeMogul’s ability to collect standard tracking and statistics makes it a valuable tool for video monetization, says Web-TV studio head Paul Kontonis.

So why should you, as a content creator, be concerned with viewership data?  Let CEO Brett Wilson explain…

Content creators are like baseball managers.  Stats are important to measure overall performance, but also as a way to assess individual players.  We provide stats on both the publisher and video level.  To abuse the baseball analogy even more, our stats are cross-industry.  This allows content creators to understand the performance of their videos in different ballparks (like YouTube versus DailyMotion), and adjust accordingly.  In baseball stats are the basis for compensation.  Content creators also need third-party aggregated stats to share with advertisers, investors and sponsors.  And lastly, to hammer home the analogy ad nuaseum, like in baseball, stats are fun and motivational.

Wilson started TubeMogul in 2006 with fellow UC Berkeley grad-school classmate and online video buff John Hughes.  The successful entrepreneurs have built their company by “listening to customers and doing what they ask.”

Advertising and sponsorship have become predominant modes for web video monetization.  TubeMogul offers unique value to advertisers by enabling a system of content-targeted advertising.  By collecting cross-site data, TubeMogul will not only draw brand interest to the new medium but, perhaps more importantly, will “provide advertisers with query tools to seek out relevant content creators based upon a set of selected criteria.”

As brands become more prevalent in online video — as in MySpace’s Roommates series pictured above — TubeMogul positions itself to link brands with the media its target demographics are watching.

Lets say Nike wants to reach users who are fanatic about basketball.  Who’s producing content relevant to basketball fans?  TubeMogul is positioning itself to answer this important question.  What advertisers would be attracted to the content you create?  TubeMogul could match you to potential advertisers.

Also, advertisers, investors and others will eventually be able to search through a directory of creator “profile pages” to find good matches for their money.

Wilson’s favorite online video content?

I watch as much as I can being a busy entrepreneur, husband and father.  A few shows that I check in on include Goodnight Burbank, Average Betty, and WallStrip.  I also get a lot of my news via online video, and the Obama Girl is not bad either.

Pretty good taste, I’ve gotta say, but he’s obligated to like Wallstrip.  Howard Lindzon, whose blog inspired Wallstrip, is a lead investor in TubeMogul.  If Mr. Lindzon’s previous investments are any indication, TubeMogul is certainly one to watch.

TubeMogul is not alone in the video distribution and analytics space.  Vidmetrix offers strikingly similar services and its recent acquisition by Visible Measures combines the ease of distribution with some formidable behavior-tracking tools that web advertisers need badly to match ads to the right people.

It’ll be interesting to see how this race shakes out.

By the way, full disclosure, we use TubeMogul for our video series.

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