PixelMEDIA

For a real long time you would have thought that Youtube was the only game in town. Their web presence was absolutely staggering. But let me ask you this: How many videos of frat boys drinking multiple beers in ten seconds from a giant beer syringe do you really need to see before you feel like you’ve seen them all? Youtube never seemed to be much good for anything but that sort of video. As soon as cable and TV networks started cracking down on clips of their shows popping up on Youtube, the site became a wasteland of teenage camera phone antics and the average Youtube user seemed to be out for that sort of experience. In spite of Wired Magazine declaring Youtube the future of television and Newscorp paying out the nose to buy it, it’s certainly not for everyone, particularly if you’re trying to reach a much more sophisticated audience.

Let’s say you have something that transcends Youtube’s demographic. You have a short with a slick production and maybe even an actual budget. Online video sharing services have risen to the occasion in terms of presentation and community building that goes beyond the fairly narrow confines of your average viral video. As a matter of fact, these new contenders are even giving the previous champ a run for its money.

First up is Vimeo. Vimeo is Facebook to Youtube’s Myspace. A slick design and an older audience define it best. The social media angle, which allows users to create a personal profile, find people with similar interests and videos, link up with friends and upload their own videos to their space is hardly a novel approach but it’s a very easy system to use and share, it is free of clutter and not dominated by advertisements. It also features higher bitrates and resolution that result in a sharper looking video. For instance:

http://www.vimeo.com/1227202

Next up is Viddler. Viddler isn’t quite as sophisticated as Vimeo and actually features a bit of crossover from the camera phone crowd but it supports higher resolutions than Youtube, is browsable from the homepage which is something that Vimeo does not support but the key ingredient that makes Viddler such a unique entry into the online video sharing arena is the ability to leave comments on the timeline of any given video. You have the option to not allow these comments on your videos but this defeats the purpose of even using Viddler in the first place. As the video plays, the player runs over pips on the timeline and in pop-up videos fashion, displays a little, unobtrusive blurb at the bottom of the clip containing the comment, the user’s name and their avatar.

http://www.viddler.com/explore/ScamSchool/videos/5/

Finally, there’s Brightcove. Brightcove is not unlike any other video site out there but its mission isn’t so much a social media application as it is a place to host video and create your own branded video player. You’re at the mercy of the service using the free player, which imposes few limitations on the user but features advertisements. They’re hardly obnoxious ads but they’re still ads nonetheless. A sales team is on hand to relieve you of those ads (and your money) and produce a player featuring your logo and links to your website. On the downside, the player is quite large and adjusting height and width in the embed code will resize the player but crop the video area in the process. Still if you have the real-estate on your site and you’d like your branded imagery and links syndicated along with your video, Brightcove is an interesting option to pursue.

http://www.brightcove.com

The video sharing arena grows every day. These are just a few of the interesting up and comers but beneath them is a sea of contenders waiting for their shot at the title. I didn’t even touch on Vuze, the latest incarnation of the Bit Torrent application/media player formerly known as Azureus, Hulu which features TV network and cable content and the ability to clip your favorite bits and share them nor have I mentioned Red Lasso which looks to turn the entire concept of online video on its ear by allowing you to clip any video on any site and share it amongst your friends. Youtube was just the tip of the iceberg. An exciting tip, yes, but a look below the water’s surface reveals the bigger picture.

Tags: brightcove, viddler, video sharing, vimeo, youtube

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.