Let’s face it, the low hanging fruit on YouTube is pop—music, TV, reality stars, blockbusters—whatever is consuming an uneven share of our vocal chords makes for prime targets in online video. Hundreds of channels looking for material to program in a relentless deluge of almost 24/7 video. But sometimes, it’s the zig while other zag that scores some heavy attention.

Instead of taking on their usual suspects of viral video stars, YouTube stars and trainwreck TV stars, The Fine Brothers opted this week to shift into some hard news for their Kids React web series. The Bros. went right for it, Osama Bin Laden. To be fair, the video was actually President Obama’s speech to the nation from last Sunday night announcing the death of the infamous terror leader, but the subject was still a sharp one.

The video (below) already has over 800,000 views on YouTube since its release on Sunday, with a staggering 17,499 comments. And mainstream media have been all over it—TIME, Entertainment Weekly, CBC, Jezebel, The Huffington Post, SF Chronicle and CBS News.

Rafi and Benny Fine didn’t shy away from some rather heady questions, like “How did you find out that Osama had been killed?”, “How did it make you feel when you found out?”, “What do you think of people celebrating his death?” and “Should they release the pictures?”

“He’s a camper, like in Black Ops,” answered 12 year-old Landon Gilley about Bin Laden’s shadowy terror tactics. Others replied with more measured answers, “I don’t think that they should [release the pictures] because maybe others will hate us even more,” said 9 year-old Elle Nicoletti.

10 year-old William Sherman, who comes off remarkably mature for only a decade of life behind him, shot some behind the scenes video (below) of a recent Kids React shoot. His camera work suggests he may have picked up the coffee itch a little early, but as he reminds us, he’s only 10.

Tubefilter: Were you surprised at how broad the interest would be in the Bin Laden episode?

The Fine Brothers: We did this episode due to feeling it was an important moment in history to capture from a child’s point of view to teach us all something vs. thinking of it as a video that will reach across demographics and websites/traditional press etc. That being said, we anticipated this to be big thanks to our built-in audience, reputation, success of the show thus far, and knowing how to market, but we’d be lying if seeing Glenn Beck discuss the entire episode on his program was something we expected would happen. As the show evolves it is proving itself to be relevant in a much larger way than just online.

Tubefilter: Did you have any internal hesitations about doing the episode, especially with kids?

FB: No hesitation whatsoever. As long time viewers of us can attest to, we can be among the most controversial producers on the web, and are passionate for social issues/social change as well as social satire. When the President made his announcement, we already had a scheduled shoot a couple of days later, so we knew we had to do it, and also knew the amazing kids we have on our show would open our eyes to things we never even anticipated, and they certainly did.

Let’s remember though we created and direct the show, it is fully and completely unscripted and raw, and it’s the kids that should get the same amount of kudos for this and all episodes. Their thoughts and opinions make us think as much as they entertain us, and showcases something we have firmly believed our whole lives, that kids have a voice that we should be listening to, and what they say can impact the world in ways adults can’t. Especially as we’ve cultivated a young audience for our other content as well, we’ve learned the way to reach kids is to not dumb things down or talk down to them – let their opinions, their voice, their perspective guide you. This show is a testament to that and we stand by it.

Tubefilter: Do you think you’ll try more hard news topics with your videos?

FB: It has always been the intention with KIDS REACT to be a source to peek into our current time in history through the eyes of children, and though thanks to it currently being only on the internet/YouTube we play more on virals and memes, but from the very first episode we were discussing politics and President Obama, and in other episodes discussed homelessness, etc. This episode is not the first time we have dealt with serious subjects, though clearly this is a much larger issue to the world at large, and also with us now being a weekly show and one topic a week, allowed us to really dig deeper. So the answer is yes, expect more real world issues to appear as the show continues, though fear not, most of the time your favorite virals and YouTube stars will be featured on the series as well.

Tubefilter: Do you think this is the most popular of the Kids React series?

FB: No. The most popular episode is the Kids reacting to Rebecca Black’s music video “Friday”, which continues to showcase just how big “Friday” really continues to be. That said, this episode has gotten the most press from traditional media than the other episodes, and every week the show seems to pop up somewhere new. Big thanks to the many websites and blogs that have supported the kids and the show from episode 1, we look forward to the continued growth of the show, and capturing America in this time in history through the eyes of the next generation. Big things hopefully to come!

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, Featured, News, News-Current Events, Production Companies, YouTube by Marc Hustvedt
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Live web shows have one insurmountable hurdle every time they fire up the TriCasters and go live—alerting would-be viewers, wherever they may be grazing, and wooing them over to their stream. Television has spent years building up the notion of appointment viewing, anchored by daily Primetime programming (8:00 to 11:00 PM), that became a fixed piece of the American daily schedule. But as the internet and DVRs disrupted appointment viewing, moving us to a VOD-centric video culture where everything is (or should be) on demand at all times, the rise of live web shows has been stuttered as it tries to find footing with the modern viewer.

Ustream is the heavyweight in live video viewing, reaching more than 50 million unique people each month with live streams of everything from Bald Eagles to balding princes.

Now the company is doubling down on Facebook with the launch of its impressive new App this week, that lets producers insert themselves into the social firehose, for free. Before, Ustream charged for such a custom application, but now it’s going for scale as channels can directly link within Fan Pages. One nifty feature, “Fangate,” requiring viewers to ‘like’ a show’s fan page before viewing the show.

Other key features of the new Ustream Facebook app:

Remind Me
The ability for a user to opt-in to email reminders for an upcoming event within 2 clicks using Facebook Oauth.

Showcasing Upcoming Events
Showcasing other broadcaster’s content directly in your Facebook account
You can showcase other broadcasts found on Ustream directly in your Facebook page.

Could this help tip the tide of fickle online viewers, and the brand dollars that chase after them, towards more live web shows? So far brands do not seem to be clamoring for more live web series, according to some industry experts.

“It’s not predictable,” says CJP Digital’s Wilson Cleveland, “and that makes many brands nervous. Brands like to see things coming and be prepared.” Add to that confusion amongst the consumers about what is worthy of breaking them from their other online activities like email, Twitter and Facebook status updates. “Live implies a sense of urgency, that you must be watching something, and that’s not necessarily the case for talk shows,” adds Cleveland.

But larger events do seem to be in favor with brands, especially finales and one-off events like concerts. The Royal Wedding scored over 100 million views on YouTube last month, and President Obama’s town hall on Facebook also won big with fans. Early adopters of the new Ustream Facebook app, like artist Will.i.am seem to be happy.

Live stream of online network This Week In, which at the time of publishing was just starting This Week in Startups, has found a business in niche web shows, though most views still come from the on-demand episodes on YouTube.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Facebook, Live Streaming, News, Web Series by Marc Hustvedt
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When individuals with means and an entertainment background first discover a piece of online content that makes them realize the dogs on skateboards analogy no longer defines the medium, they undoubtedly conceive of a few business ideas that at first seem novel and easy to execute, but soon appear hackneyed and incredibly difficult.

One of those business ideas is the New Media Destination/Incubation Studio. The thought process goes like this: “Wow! People are creating a ton of great stuff to watch online! I’ll just aggregate the best of it on this website with a clever name and pay for super talented people to create more online videos to screen on this website with a clever name. Some of the videos will obviously go viral and others we can incubate online and then sell to television. Did a zombie just nom on my head? Because this is a no brainer! Zing!”

The execution of that business idea takes the form of now defunct sites like Independent Comedy Network, 60Frames, Super Deluxe, and Dot Comedy and now currently killing it sites like Funny or Die.

The original online playground of Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Chris Henchy first functioned as a video repository for Ferrell, McKay, and company’s comedic impulses while hurrying up and waiting on multi-million dollar movie sets. But soon after its launch, the site transformed into the go-to destination for culturally relevant comedy and celebrities seeking refuge from their own images and a helluva lot of viewers who like to watch their attempts.

Funny or Die currently attracts 17 million monthly visitors who watch about 50 million videos per month on the site. That kind of audience doesn’t put them in the Top 10 Charts of comScore’s US Online Video Rankings (Hulu currently holds the #10 spot with 27 million unique monthly visitors), but that kind of audience coupled with the brand’s star power and an investment stake from HBO does lead to entertainment opportunities outside the confines of new media.

In a profile of Funny or Die by Deborah Vankin at the LA Times, the reporter notes HBO just green-lit a third season of the TV series Funny or Die Presents. That’s in addition to Jon Benjamin Has a Van, a new half-hour comedy show ordered from FoD by Comedy Central, Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, a low-budget feature film with the alt-comedy stars from Adult Swim and those Zach Galifianakis vodka commercials, a handful of other television and feature films in various stages of development, a book publishing arm “still in its exploratory stages,” and a vision of Ferrell’s to one day premiere feature films on the site.

Somewhere between the upload of The Landlord and this Herman Dune music video starring Jon Hamm and a makeshift muppet, Funny or Die accomplished what so few other New Media Destination/Incubation Studios could. Real traction, real viewership, the establishment of a brand, and the successful development of properties across multiple platforms. Sure, the site benefited from great investors and incentivized celebrities, but so did similar entities whose websites are now claimed by cybersquatters.

A production philosophy based on quick turnarounds, “low impact” writing and acting, and relevant material gave Funny or Die the ability to constantly output content that entertains and resonates with audiences. This helped them grow their own audience, which helped the company make the jump to other platforms. The only other online destination to have huge success online and successful (or at least meaningful attempts) at television and film is CollegeHumor. The CollegeHumor Show and Prank Wars aired on MTV, films are rumored to be in the works, and their book is a must have for any soon-to-be college coed.

And wouldn’t you know, the two organizations have similar philosophies towards video. Super-fast production schedules, timely content, and a lot of it. Any readers who just discovered online video and want to become new media moguls should take note.

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, Featured, Funny Or Die, News by Joshua Cohen
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Yesterday, YouTube announced the addition of 3,000 movie titles from major motion picture studios to its rental service. That gives the internet’s largest video sharing site a sum total of somewhere around 6,000 films available for users to stream for a fee. That fee ranges anywhere from Free to $3.99 for a 24-hour viewing window.

The new titles come from distribution deals YouTube made with Warner Bros., Universal, and Sony and feature classics – like “Caddyshack, Goodfellas, Scarface, and Taxi Driver” – along with recent selections – like “Inception, The King’s Speech, Little Fockers, The Green Hornet and Despicable Me” – some of which will be made available on the same day as their DVD and Blu-ray release.

The movie title acquisition is part of YouTube’s multi-pronged approach to bring higher quality content and longer viewing sessions to the site.

The recent purchase of Next New Networks and subsequent launch of YouTube’s Creator Institute and Next Up highlight how the company is attempting to foster talent internally in hopes of elevating on-the-rise content creators from the level of popular amateur to well-known professional. The addition of popular studio films rounds out YouTube’s content offerings, helping it create viewing experiences for its 143+ million monthly visitors, regardless of whether or not those visitors want to watch homegrown online videos, indie films, or blockbuster releases.

6,000 titles is certainly a start, but it pales in comparison to Netflix’s 100,00+ offerings by mail and tens of thousands of streaming selections. YouTube still has a ways to go to seriously compete with the company that’s been delivering major motion pictures to the masses since 1998, but it does have one leg up on its competitors. Massive, insane reach.

Those 143 million monthly US visitors eclipses Netflix’s 23 million US and Canadaian subscribers. Netflix stock is up 6 points since Monday, but I’d get bearish on the company very quickly if and when YouTube makes more of these kind of announcements and increases its studio partners and premium offerings.

Filed under: Featured, News, YouTube by Joshua Cohen
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Amy Hiedemann and Nick Noonan met while studying at Boston’s Berklee Collegee of Music (the Alma mater of members of such bands like the the Dixie Chicks, Dream Theater, and Aerosmith). The now engaged couple (sorry single boys and girls!) of six years this September first collaborated on school projects in Back Bay in 2008. Stints with other bands didn’t work out after graduation, so the duo decided to try their luck as as a pair.

Karmin (a neologism created by Nick and Amy that means “song,’ with altered spelling to hint ‘karma’”) is the couple’s band’s name, under the banner of which they uploaded their first video to YouTube in August of 2010. What started off as reengineered renditions of pop songs sung over a six-string and a wooden box, taped live in recording sessions with budget music video interstitials are now reengineered renditions of pop songs shot beautifully from a single camera angle capturing the whole of Amy and Nick’s insane musical abilities.

In nine months, Karmin has racked up 225,000+ YouTube subscribers, putting them in 75th place on the Most Subscribed All Time list for Musicians. Their talent and quick rise to online notoriety (their recent cover of Look at Me Now has been watched over 11 million times) attracted the likes of Ellen, Best Buy, and this guy.

I caught up with Karmin while Nick and Amy were in NYC to play a gig at Best Buy’s Union Square store and meet with a number of labels to decide where they’re going to take their talents. We talked about the band’s beginnings, inspirations, haterz, and what’s in the pipeline.

Filed under: Featured, Interviews, Music, Web Series, YouTube by Joshua Cohen
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Today My Damn Channel launched Versailles (pronounced Ver-sales), a new original comedy starring David Hunt, Fred Willard, Martha MacIsaac, Eve Gordon, and featuring William H. Macy and Patricia Heaton.

The weekly 8 episode series is about a brother and sister who broadcast public access talk show You’re In Sports! from the basement of their local library in order to “live out their fantasies and escape the legacy of their dearly departed mother, a TV star and B-movie actress.”

Hoyt Hoogerhyde (Willard) finaces the public access sports talks show for his wife Summer Tickler-Hoogenhyde (Gordon) and her grown sibling Colin Tickler (Hunt). Hunt’s real wife Heaton plays the late mother, ’60s era B-movie actress Evelyn Anders (whose career included films No Phone of Her Own, It’s In The Jeans, Please Don’t Frug on My Bippy, Kill, Hippie! Kill! Kill!). Evelyn’s former student is hilariously portrayed by William H. Macy, as himself.

Versailles is produced by FourBoys Films (co-founded by Hunt and Heaton) and is directed by Hunt. New episodes on Mondays.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Comedy, News, Web Series by Drew Baldwin
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Whether you’re promoting a movie or generating buzz for a new toothpaste, chances are that you’ve reached out to YouTube talent in the last few months.

Listen in on any PR agency pitch, studio marketing meeting or digital content panel and you’ll undoubtedly hear the talk turn to a “YouTuber Strategy.” To Hollywood’s credit, YouTube talent are becoming the norm in any meaningful social media and digital marketing plan where the goal is to have users interacting with your content on their own terms and through their own networks. But why hasn’t this mania extended beyond the PR department? Sure there have been some wildly successful exceptions, but more often than not using this talent for more than promotion and content discovery has been anecdotal.

To traditional media execs, the “emerging” talent on YouTube and its platform remain, well, emerging. With a mixture of envy, adulation and fear, these execs cast a curious eye toward YouTubers. But promotional value alone short-sells the incredible authority YouTubers have as cultural touchstones and next-gen programmers.

Here are some hard-earned lessons from a former traditional media exec; what we’ll call the “5 Things Never To Say To A YouTuber.”

1. “You’re a YouTuber!”

“YouTuber” is thrown about with great moxie in the press but really is a maligned term within community. Try influencer, talent, host or social video curator. The term “YouTuber” lessens their scope as programmers across a panoply of platforms. The smartest YouTube talent have realized that they need to create multiple networks to build communities of scale. They’ve embraced platform-shifting touchpoints from Ustream, mobile, DailyBooth, Twitter, Facebook and location-based services. In a nomadic media world marked by on-demand consumption, the YouTube audience is increasingly migratory and expects their YouTube stars to be just as portable.

2. “Aren’t you going to delete these comments?”

Still leaning on command and control over messaging? When a brand steps into the YouTube world, it automatically cedes control of the conversation. Like it or not, the over-hyped YouTube “secret formula” of views, ratings, comments, favorites and video responses depends a great deal on the quantity, not quality, of feedback. In addition, YouTube talent understand that viewer participation is the driver of content creation, and that community expression when coupled with wide distribution are becoming just as important as the content itself. They’re not programmers as much as providers of tools and platforms, letting their communities create on their own and program themselves.

3. “You’re like a cable channel!”

While the audiences of top YouTube talent swallow most cable networks whole, it’s a discredit to liken YouTube talent to a clunky linear broadcast media model. In fact, they’re reinventing the whole notion of what a “channel” means. They are the first to create a true programming “experience” defined by a personalized media experience combined with a social context. Such a model promotes participation, creates new places to host conversations and allows sharing and mixing of content. Their whole notion of programming is dynamically packaged and re-packaged video on the fly.

4. “Do me a favor! Will you give a shout to my movie/webseries/cousin’s band?”

You wouldn’t ask an MSO to throw you a freebie, would you? It isn’t your friend’s high school radio program despite the deceptively informal platform. Top YouTube talent are more than vloggers and webseries creators, they’re meaningful distributors who must be treated with the same respect as any massive distribution platform. These are sophisticated businesses with integration rate cards just like you would find in any other premium content offering multi-site, multi-channel audiences.

5. “Let’s make a viral video!”

While engaging YouTube talent with a big following is the closest thing you can get to a sure thing in creating a viral mega-hit, more often than not, it’s still a mixture of dumb luck and cultural capriciousness. Viral video in and of itself is not an online strategy. Marketers’ engagement with YouTube talent shouldn’t be about a single video but rather about finding ways to find a format that can build communities. Look at the top 10 videos on YouTube this month. While the viral one-offs are there, most are from users who’ve built a fan base over the course of several years. Consistency, sustainable viewership, and relevance to current events are the DNA behind those rare videos that squeeze through to the pop culture transom.

We’re well beyond the petri dish as to what YouTube talent and their communities can offer. Who’s next to embrace them?

John Reding is Director of Digital at FishBowl Worldwide Media and Co-Executive Producer of CuteWinFail. (Top photo by iJustine.)

Filed under: Articles, Guest Editorial, YouTube by John Reding
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Magnum is a Unilever-owned mostly European ice cream brand known for its chocolate covered vanilla ice cream bars on sticks and risque ad campaigns of ladies in semi sexually suggestive positions eating chocolate covered vanilla ice cream bars on sticks.

This year, the powers that be at the 14-year-old brand finally decided to seriously enter the US market (though they long used US stars to market their wares overseas). They tapped renowned German designer and creative director at haute couture fashion house Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld to create a series of online films featuring The O.C. star Rachel Bilson to promote the launch. Obviously.

There are three shorts in the online video campaign. All star the calming and soothing effects a Magnum ice cream bar (now available at your local grocery store in six flavors including Classic, Almond, Double Caramel, Double Chocolate, White and Dark) can have on an incredibly attractive individual who is either chased by an excitable mob and equally attractive significant other, has a tough time being photographed, or is in need of a muse. The videos also all highlight why Lagerfeld is an household name in the fashion – and not film – industry.

Magnum’s online film series is pretty to look at, but it terms of story, it’s plain vanilla. You’d think Lagerfeld could conceive of something more creative than to portray the item he’s advertising as the focal point of, and catalyst for change in his characters and commercials, but I guess unapologetically putting the brand front and center is part of his forte.

If my decision to eat chocolate coated vanilla ice cream in bar form was based purely on online video marketing campaigns, I wouldn’t need more than five seconds to go for that Klondike bar.

Filed under: Branded Entertainment, Featured, News by Joshua Cohen
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It’s Mother’s Day! Good job, moms! I’m sure your children are celebrating your special day with appropriate gifts (especially if you live in Norway and not especially if you live in Afghanistan) and those children are not at all recovering from yesterday’s activities of drinking too many mint juleps and shouting “Pants on Fire!” at one another while wearing funny hats by now looking around the web for some last minute eCards to send your way.

That is a totally random example that I just made up and isn’t the personal experience of the individual who is writing this post, but if you happen to have that experience there’s one website you can always count on.

JibJab has been fulfilling your last-minute eCard needs since the site debuted its Sendables section in October 2007. This year the company that brought you The Rapping Founding Fathers has no less than 15 video eCards and 17 picture eCards especially made for today. Here’s a screen grab of the moving picture one I created for all the Anglophiles/un-Americans in the audience.

You can create your own personalized eCard that your old lady is sure to enjoy and forward along like it’s a list of inspirational quotes by joining JibJab for $12 a month, or about the price of three of those old school paper cards. Plus, if you’re still recovering from an absurd amount of delicious mint juleps and bright sunlight wreaks havoc on your hangover, you can do it all from the friendly confines of your computer. Love you, mom!

Filed under: Comedy, News, Production Companies by Joshua Cohen
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Jerry Seinfeld—perhaps inspired by Seinfeld character Jackie Chiles’ original web series on Funny Or Die (which received the comedian’s blessing)—has launched his own web series coinciding with the 30th anniversary of his first national broadcast appearance.

The series, Jerry Seinfeld Personal Archives, features daily clips from Seinfeld’s 30 years of stand-up performances and appearances on television. Each day features three new clips selected by Seinfeld himself. The catch? They are only available for 24 hours before they are replaced by three new clips.

Personal Archives spans Seinfeld’s entire standup career starting from the ’70s, and includes appearances on talks shows hosted by Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, David Letterman and Jay Leno, and his classic stand-up performances from Seinfeld.

Seinfeld explains:

When I was ten years old, I started watching stand up comedians on TV. I fell in love with them and I’m just as fascinated with stand up comedy today. When I started doing TV, I saved every appearance on every show I did. I thought it might be fun to go through all of it and pick out three bits each day that still amuse me for some reason or another. I’ve also included stuff I’m doing now, and I’ll be adding new stuff as I go.  Somewhere out there are ten year olds just waiting to get hooked on this strange pursuit. This is for them. I’m just hoping somehow it will keep this silliness going.

To kick off the series today, Seinfeld presented three bits: “The Fattest Man In The World,” a clip from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson from 1981 (his first appearance), “Do The Horses Know They’re Racing?” from the 1998 HBO Special I’m Telling You for the Last Time, and “No Room In The Newspaper” from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson from 1990.

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, Featured, News, Web Series by Drew Baldwin
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Rumors had been circling of a retreat from web originals over at Sony’s 4-year-old online video network Crackle, as the usually heavy flow of short-form web series that would be its bread and butter over the past few years had dried to a trickle. Previous short-form (sub 10-min episode) web tentpoles like The Bannen Way, Angel of Death and Jailbait had found a business a morphing themselves into whatever medium was buying. But not enough to greenlight dozens of them this year.

Then comes a bit of a bombshell yesterday afternoon in Variety, as Eric Berger, Executive VP of digital networks at Sony Pictures Television who oversees Crackle and other properties, announced the network was moving to a long-form strategy. It’s a pivot for the network, citing a shift in the marketplace and amongst its own audience who had grown fond of the site’s heavy helpings of ad-supported (aka: free) television and film content. Full episodes of Seinfeld, Married with Children and Bewtiched are featured heavily now alongside thousands of full-length feature films like Ghostbusters, 21 and The Da Vinci Code.

“As more and more long form content comes online, not just on Crackle but in general,” Berger tells us, “and you look at our portfolio of TV and movies, as well as the platform expansion, into not only mobile but onto tablets and connected TVs like Roku, Google TV and Sony Playstation, where viewing takes place on the large screen, it leads us to longer form content as the natural fit.”

That, and the international markets for TV and DVD content, a key part of Crackle’s sales strategy for its originals, is evolving. The Bannen Way, which saw a healthy DVD run as well as a some international TV pickups, was re-cut as a 90-minute feature. But now longer individual episodes, “where where the characters and story can breathe a bit,” as Berger notes, seem to be more in demand both internationally and on EST (electronic sell-through) partners like iTunes.

Three new half-hour-long projects, still in script phase at this point, were announced with plans to go into production this summer for fall releases:

• Monster Heist from Ghost Whisperer creators of Kim Moses and Ian Sander about a creature (non-human) group of thieves

• a currently untitled paranormal series, reportedly in an anthology “in the vein of The X-Files,” from Sons of Anarchy producer Chris Collins

• Strand Street, from Milo Ventimiglia, Kevin Townsley and Russ Cundiff, about “a rookie undercover cop who infiltrates a gang in his childhood town”

While the latest crop of creators announced for the longer form projects all have some traditional TV under their belts, Berger said they are still looking at projects from more internet native creators. “The internet natives really know this platform really well,” he added. “We’re going to look at them for sure—ideas can still come from everywhere.” He also noted that even with their TV pedigree, the creators also have a firm grasp on creating for the internet. Ventimiglia, for example, has had numerous web series released inlcuding comic/sci-fi fanboy face-off series Ultradome on MSN.

The new longer-form projects will be produced in the “same range” as the previous web tentpoles like Bannen and Angel of Death, which came in around $1 million budgets each. With an anticipated 4 to 6 episodes in the order, that comes to around $7,500 to $11,300 on a per minute basis assuming a standard 22-minute episode.

Ad Loads

As for the fate of short form series on Crackle, they appear to be coming to an end, with the exception of a few still in the development pipeline. The only one Crackle would confirm at this point is Issues, from creators Matt Oates and Josh Cook, an animated/live-action comedy featuring the voices of Seth Green, Rob Riggle and Eddie Kaye Thomas.

Longer form video also leaves room for more ad inventory, and even with the current library of longer episodes, the ad loads still remains lighter than television which packs 8 minutes into every half hour. “Today for our longer form content, you have an ad break about every 10 minutes,” said Berger. “So the breaks are similar to TV, but the ad load is lighter. It’s one ad every 15 seconds. We’ll start to increase the number of ads that are appearing in those breaks. ”

Still Male Leaning

When Crackle initially came under the Sony banner after the studio’s purchase of Grouper back in 2007, the site re-branded as a predominantly male-leaning network targeting the saturated, but lucrative, 18-34 male demo. Now, with the roll out of more library TV and movie content, that seems to be shifting upwards. “It’s still the sweet spot, but it’s probably at the higher end of that. When we started it was probably at the lower end. As the market for online video has expanded in the last few years, it’s now at the higher end.”

“We always say it as a male sensibility,” Berger adds, “not so male on-the-nose that it would alienate women.”

Branded Still in the Picture

Crackle has been rather reserved thus far on its foray into the booming market of branded entertainment, which other networks like MSN and AOL have jumped all over. Aside from the Schick-sponsored Clean Break last summer, they have opted away from letting brands drive their storytelling. But Berger notes that they are still open to them and are talking to several brand partners about upcoming projects.

“We’re trying o be relatively choosy about the right content,” he notes, “The story and who it’s appealing to is as important as anything. When you find the right audience and right brand it can work, but there aren’t a ton of those. We’re still very up for doing more of these.”

It’s got to make sense, it can’t be a commercial it can’t be an excuse to do something scripted.

Filed under: Articles, Crackle, Crackle (Sony Pictures Television), Featured, Web Series by Marc Hustvedt
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Kentucky’s three most notable exports are baseball bats, bourbon, and horses. The premiere event of the year venerating the latter will take place this Saturday, May 7 at 5PM EST at Chruchill Downs in Louisville.

The 137th Kentucky Derby will feature a full field of 20 horses with names more befitting Twitter handles than multi-million dollar animals racing around a left-handed track for what’s called “the most exciting two minutes in sports.” The top contenders are Uncle Mo (this guy’s favorite), Stay Thirsty (this guy’s favorite), Twice the Appeal (this brand’s favorite), and Pants on Fire (this guy’s favorite).

That should be all the info you need to know for casual conversations about this weekend’s race, but if you’re wanting a crash course in Derby-related whatnot for conversation centerpieces at your fancy pants Derby party with Boyz II Men(?!?), these online videos should do the trick.

The Wall Street Journal’s sports reporter Reed Albergotti visits two-time Derby-winning jockey Chris McCarron’s horse rider training facility in Lexington, Kentucky. Albergotti learns the importance of wall sits and not eating, while coming away with a great insider’s tip on how to pick the Derby winner. Go for the horse with the jockey with the biggest quads.

Mint juleps are the beverage of choice for any red-blooded Derby watcher. Here, Yankee cocktail master Eben Freeman shows you how to mix one up.

The official Kentucky Derby YouTube channel isn’t necessarily an entertainment hotspot, unless you’re looking for footage from historic derby races and practice runs in anticipation of this weekend’s big event. There’s no official, sanctioned live stream of the race, so if you want to see the action from Churchill Downs online, this channel and the material on KentuckyDerby.com are the best you’re going to get.

After you’ve watched the above, it’d probably a great idea to your use your newfound derby knowledge for something useful, like gambling on the race. You, too, could be a big winner.

Filed under: Featured, News, Sports by Joshua Cohen
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