It was a massive year for online video in 2011, which saw our community’s content from Spidvid exceed 1 million views on UnleashVideo in 2011.

This is my 4th straight year making predictions for the online video space. If you want to see how my predictions fared in other years here’s 2009, 2010, and last year’s 2011 list. For my 11 predictions last year, I rate them a 8/11 which is pretty decent. Let’s see how I fare this year.

12 online video predictions for 2012

1. Yahoo invests $250M into original video content – Yahoo has a new CEO and seems to be getting more and more focused on online video. I think that Yahoo takes a big step towards re-establishing their corporate identity and it’s in the video space.

2. Standards for views and ad creatives are finally implemented – There is still lots of confusion as to what constitutes a video view online, and 2012 will be the year where a standard will be set. Some people think that if a video starts that’s a view, while others think a whole video must be watched for it to count as a view, clarity will come in 2012. Every video ad company seems to have their own formats but this will end as ad standards will be put in place for video, much like display banners abide by now.

3. Mobile video explodes – I’ve been predicting this for a few years and every year mobile video traffic seems to double it’s viewing audience thanks to increased penetration of iPhones, Android based phones, and tablets.

4. Apple’s “iTV” makes OTT mainstream – There are a bunch of great “over the top” products out there for your TV including; Apple TV, Roku, Boxee, and others, but as Steve Jobs says they are just hobby businesses well at least for Apple to date. But in 2012 Apple is going to be releasing TV’s in the 30″-50″ range which will sell like crazy to Apple’s raving fans, and these iTV’s will dramatically increase consumer’s use of iTunes for purchasing video content.

5. Social TV - More and more people are watching TV and sending out tweets about what they’re watching, their perspectives on what they’re seeing, and engaging with other passionate viewers. Social TV will be huge in 2012 as Twitter and Facebook create tighter relationships with the TV networks.

6. HTML 5 – This seems to be the format of choice long term even though it’s still in its infancy right now compared to flash. This format is much more dynamic than all the others and will ultimately become #1, but not until 2015. HTML 5 will see more growth than ever before in 2012.

7. YouTube will buy a company – The world’s largest video sharing site continues to build out its ecosystem both through building features internally, and acquiring technologies externally. YouTube is growing up and is stepping outside of Google’s shadow, and 2012 will be the biggest year ever for YouTube. If you are tired of YouTube coverage now, you haven’t seen anything yet!

8. Hulu gets acquired – There was a ton of speculation that Hulu would be acquired throughout 2011 but it never happened, but in 2012 it will. I’m going to double down on my Yahoo prediction and say that Yahoo buys Hulu to become a serious online video player.

9. Netflix gets acquired – There was also lots of speculation that Netflix would be acquired in 2011, but again much like Hulu nothing happened. Netflix has seen its subscriber base and stock price dramatically decrease since its pricing model changed, but it’s still a strong brand in the streaming video space. I’m going to call Netflix is sold, but not at a price that its CEO, board of directors, or investors are overly happy with.

10. Google Plus delivers big views – Facebook and Twitter drive huge video views as social video emerges. Google Plus’s social network is exploding and as a result it will become a major player in delivering video views, especially to its toddler site, YouTube.

11. More online video stars get movie deals – Famous Fred of YouTube got a deal with Nikelodeon to star in “Fred the Movie” which did quite well from what I heard. There will be more of these kind of deals happening in 2012, mainly to the YouTube partners who have strong character personalities like Fred possesses.

12. Remote video collaboration takes off – With more and more cloud based video editing platforms emerging, along with matchmaking sites like Spidvid emerging, 2012 will be a year that many video creators and talent open up to the possibility of bringing on external talent to their teams and using new tools to help manage those projects.

If you have a 13th prediction to add then please add it below!

Cheers to 2012 which will be online video’s biggest year yet!

Other online video predictions can be found on Media Post, VidCompare, ReelSEO, TubeFilter, New Media Minute, and Streaming Media.

Jeremy Campbell Lists, Rant Apple, Apple TV, Boxee, film collaboration, Fred, Google Plus, HTML 5, hulu, internet video, iTV, movies, Neflix, new media, online video, online video predictions, online video stars, original video, Roku, social networking, social networks, Social TV, streaming video, TV shows, video ads, video collaboration, video entertainment, video predictions, video views, web video, Yahoo, YouTube

There has never been a better time in the history of mankind to create videos, and there has never been a lower cost way to market your videos to viewers across the world than now.

Most of us are on the popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, but from the updates and tweets I read on a regular basis, very few people leverage these marketing outlets effectively.

I’m not saying that I’m a social network marketing genius or anything but I pay close attention to the links my followers click on, and which ones they don’t. I think that promoting your videos via social networks is a great opportunity to take advantage of, but perhaps the biggest tip I can offer is to not always be pushing your own content, you need a mix of other’s work too. In order to receive attention you need to provide attention, so your posts can’t be about you constantly shouting out to the world “look at me, look at what I’ve done, look at what I’ve created.”

Some key benefits for promoting your videos through social networks:

• Increase awareness and interest in your videos
• Establish and develop positive word of mouth
• Grow your viewing audience
• Save money on advertising, the main cost is a time investment
• Develop a grassroots following and fan base.

When promoting and marketing your videos through online social networks you need to really focus on using good metadata. Your title is the most important piece of metadata for each of your videos, so you will want to choose a title that’s so irresistible that viewers can’t help but click on your link. Video descriptions are also very valuable pieces of content so provide interesting information, and be sure to include a back link to your website or blog. Tags usually get overlooked by many video creators but can have a dramatic impact on view count. I know of a video creator who tagged their video “thriller” the day before Michael Jackson died and the very next day the video reached 1 million views. That was purely luck and timing, but this should help you understand the importance of tagging your videos. Take the time with metadata because what many video creators do is spend hours creating their video, and then spend less than a minute on their metadata which is bad because this is how most viewers discover new videos to watch.

For maximum effectiveness it helps to use a solid team approach when promoting videos through multiple social networks. If you want to build or join a team to help create and market a video, why not get a Spidvid profile and leverage the talent of our production community.

Jeremy Campbell Lists, resources audience, exposure, film production, marketing, new media, promoting, social leverage, social media, social networks, team production, video collaboration, video production, viewers

It’s been under a week since we launched our public beta and to date we’ve been impressed with all of the new video creators, actors, writers, directors, videographers, editors, and others who have signed up to become members of our community. Today I’m going to outline how you can easily create a quality Spidvid profile so that other members of the Spidvid community know that you’re for real, are a quality individual, and are ready to collaborate with them on video production projects.

How to pimp out your Spidvid profile

1. First you need sign up to get a Spidvid account.

2. Check your email account for an email from us and then click on the activation link provided.

3. You are now in your Spidvid account. Next click on the Edit Profile link which takes you to the page where you get to upload your picture, tell your story, provide information about yourself, and include links to your site, blog, and/or social networks.

4. If you are a professional be sure to select (by clicking check boxes) what specific talents you have i.e. an actor, writer, videographer, editor, director, music artist or whatever else you may be involved in.

5. Be sure to upload the best possible picture of yourself because this image will not only show up on just your Spidvid profile, but also on every UnleashVideo.com video page that you were a team member of.

Additional Information

My Website(s): Here you list all of the websites, and social network profile links you want to. For each one you have type it and then separate each one with a comma. i.e. I have http://Twitter.com/JeremyCampbell, http://Facebook.com/JeremyCampbell, http://Spidvid.com, http://UnleashVideo.com.

My blog(s): Same as above except list the link to your blog, or blogs if you write posts on more than one site. Again, separate multiple blog links with commas. Have a video blog? If you do then embed some of your top video blog posts here. If you don’t have a blog then no worries just leave this section blank.

My RSS feed(s): Have an RSS feed link or links for your site or blog? Here’s where you want to list them.

My video(s): This is perhaps the most important section to your profile because here is where you can embed videos which you have created, and helped to produce in the past. Have you uploaded videos to YouTube, Metacafe, Revver, DailyMotion, or other video sharing sites? Great, just copy and paste the video’s embed code here. If you have more than one video you can space the embed codes out so the videos display one above the other on your profile page. You can also just insert links here if you don’t want to embed the videos directly on your profile, but we would recommend placing them here so other members can click play and watch them without leaving.

Summary: Provide a short introduction about yourself, a paragraph or two will do. Show off your creativity, talent, and what type of video production projects you’re interested in being a part of on Spidvid.

I’m passionate about: Everyone is passionate about something and if you’re a Spidvid member that likely includes producing videos. Some other passions could be sports, celebrities, family, pets, or hobbies. People want to connect to others who share their passions so be sure to include at least one.

Education: If you graduated from college or university you should say which one or ones, and what your diploma or degree is in. I’m a two time college dropout (in business marketing and computer programming) so I openly stated that information in this section. School didn’t interest and engage me, but entrepreneurship certainly does.

Work experience: List past jobs and if you have one your current job. If you are a contractor or freelancer you can also communicate that information here as well. If you prefer not to then that’s fine if you want to leave this section blank.

Honors and awards: Are you proud about your past accomplishments? If you were acknowledged for something in your life then please share it here in this section. I look forward to reading about the successes in your life.

That pretty much does it, follow these easy steps and you can have a quality Spidvid profile that tells the world who you are, and what you stand for. If you have any questions about creating a profile then please be sure to contact us, we would love to hear from you.

Jeremy Campbell News about, actor, blog, director, edit profile, editor, how to, information, links, music artist, new profile, pimp out, social networks, spidvid, story teller, video creator, videographer, websites, writer, your story

As the holidays rapidly approach we are excited to be soon sending out private beta invites to everyone who’s on our list. If you are a video creator, actor, director, writer, producer, story teller, animator, or have other talents for producing video content, then be sure to visit our site and submit your email address.

We intended to send out invites last week but the relaunch of UnleashVideo, the exclusive video sharing site for our private beta, has taken longer than anticipated to complete. The good news is that additional tweaks and features are being added to Spidvid in the meantime, so your initial experience with our platform will be better than even we thought it would be.

The plan now is to send out the invites on Christmas Eve (December 24th). Who said that gifts shouldn’t come before Christmas Day anyways?

If you get time over the Christmas break between some much needed R&R be sure to take the time to put together a solid Spidvid profile. We accept copying embed codes from YouTube and other sites where you may already have produced video content and information about yourself. Also don’t be shy to do some copying and pasting from your favorite social networks like Facebook or LinkedIn to save time creating your Spidvid profile.

There will be a blog post next week where we explain how to pimp your Spidvid profile because it’s so important as a video creator needs to show that he or she has leadership qualities to build and manage remarkable production teams which results in quality produced content, and it’s important for professionals so that creators can see what qualities and talent he or she can add to content. So if you’re not already subscribed to our new posts by email or RSS be sure that you are one way or another, or you may miss out on some really exciting stuff.

Do you want an early Christmas present this year? Quickly head over to our site, click the ‘join our video production community’ on the left hand side, provide your email address, and look for an email from us on Thursday.

One last thing… good luck with your last minute Christmas shopping, if you are already done then give yourself a big pat on the back you non-procrastinator you.

Jeremy Campbell News actors, beta, Christmas, collaboration, community, connection, directors, embed, Facebook, gifts, holidays, invites, join, LinkedIn, narrators, new media, presents, producers, production team, social media, social networks, spidvid, video creation, video creators, video production, writers, YouTube