The Rise Of Geek-Focused Online Video Networks
from the and-the-geeks-shall-inherit-video? dept
There's been a really interesting trend going on recently. For all the talk about how the entertainment industry must be dying (it isn't), a whole bunch of internet-aware celebrities are wholeheartedly embracing the internet as a new video platform -- and this includes a bunch of folks we've written about before. The first to make a big splash was Felicia Day, who already has been hugely successful in building a massively popular online-only video program, while also being thoughtful about new business models. On April 2nd, she and some friends -- including folks like Wil Wheaton, Veronica Belmont and Paul & Storm, -- launched the awesomely named Geek & Sundry, which includes both her existing show, The Guild, and a variety of others (including Wheaton's Tabletop, which looks awesome).That same day, Chris Hardwick, of the Nerdist (or, I guess we should now call it "Nerdist Industries") launched his special YouTube channel with a variety of shows of its own:
While some of the programming is based on already-existing Nerdist properties, most of it has been specifically conceived for the Nerdist YouTube channel. For instance, "Face to Face with 'Weird Al' Yankovic" brings in the beloved song parodist (and frequent Nerdist guest and contributor) to interview celebrities, and "Ain't it Cool News with Harry Knowles" will adapt the infamous film gossip site to a filmed talk show. Hardwick will also host "Chris Hardwick’s All Star Bowling," a bowling competition/comedy show with a nod to Hardwick's father, champion bowler Billy Hardwick. Nerdist will also stream episodes of the legendary sketch show "Kids in the Hall," with new interviews and segments hosted by Hardwick.While I note that there's a lot of overlap between these two worlds (Wheaton and Hardwick are good friends and used to be roommates, and I'm pretty sure Hardwick is friends with Paul & Storm too), it seems pretty cool that they're both starting to flood YouTube with cool content.
The Nerdist YouTube channel will also incorporate adaptations of Nerdist podcasts, and plenty of wild cards, most notably: "Neil Patrick Harris’ Puppetopia," "Gif Gif City," "Cute Things Exploding," "Weird Shit From Japan," "Untitled Rob Zombie Project" and "Star Talk with Neil deGrasse Tyson," a video version of the podcast hosted by the famed astrophysicist.
Amusingly, when I first started writing up this post, I was going to mention all of the cool things that Kevin Smith has done with his Smodcast network, but I was realizing that was just audio. Well, no matter. Just as I was reading up on the details of the other two networks, I saw the news that Smith was launching Smodcast Internet TV -- his own online video network too! Perfect timing, Kev.
Like both of the other networks, the plan here is to take some existing shows (in this case, from the Smodcast network), and then add some new ones as well.
Who knows if all of these (or any of these) will survive, or even thrive. But, the awesome thing is that they can do these things and just see what happens. They don't need to go through gatekeepers. There are no gatekeepers anymore. They can blaze their own path and find out for themselves what works and what doesn't work -- and we're talking about a bunch of folks who all have pretty long histories of really embracing what the internet allows, so I'm excited to see where these experiments go, and I'd imagine we're going to see plenty more like this. Some will succeed, some will fail. But you have to be blind to think that creativity or the industry is struggling. People who can't help but create cool and amazing things suddenly have many more tools at their disposal for creating, distributing, promoting (and, yes, monetizing) content than ever before, and tons of new opportunities are opening up.
Anyone who thinks that the entertainment industry is in trouble isn't paying attention. The rest of us are over here checking out all sorts of cool new content, which didn't require a big studio exec deciding whether or not it deserved to be on TV.
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Filed Under: chris hardwick, kevin smith, nerdist, smodcast, video, wil wheaton
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As people on slashdot keep complaining, they don't want a video that explains how something works, because then it takes too long to watch since you must watch it at the pace of the video. You want text explaining how it works because then you can read it at your own pace and usually that's much faster.
Television is much too time consuming.
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If it's over 3 minutes long, it needs a transcript attached.
that being said, i watch tv when i've got a baby in hand or soemthing, because juggling a book, a bottle, and a 6 month old is just a bitch.
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: )
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It is going to be a revolution I tell ya, also some players allow indexing of time, meaning you can bookmark the exact point that interests you.
I say this because I do love all the how it works, is the only reason I watch more internet video than TV.
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The difference here is that the viewer chooses when and where they view the content. On top of that, it's a niche market that most major TV networks wouldn't touch with a 10 foot barge pole - and would come out with something semi-geek focussed like The Big Bang Theory rather than something the market actually wants if they did.
The innovation with the new technology isn't because the technology itself is insanely more advanced than what came before - it's the way it connects people with the content they actually want.
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The rest of us? Talk about broadbrushing the world with your personal view. The rest of us must refer to you and 6 of your friends, and not much else. Even the widely covered press release video (embedded in many places) isn't pulling very big numbers - although more than a Marcus Carab video, I guess.
Seems like this is the most popular network for socially inept blog operators. Otherwise, it's not get a bunch of tune ins.
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"Even the widely covered press release video (embedded in many places) isn't pulling very big numbers"
It may escape your low logical ability, but so what? I haven't watched the YouTube video myself. Nor do I need to. The coverage of the release has led me to the site without needing to view the actual video. I click on the link to a site, not some marketing bullshit. That's how advertising works in the modern world - people don't fawn over whatever "official" channel you release things through, they go their own way.
"Seems like this is the most popular network for socially inept blog operators. Otherwise, it's not get a bunch of tune ins."
Waaah! *I* don't like it therefore the business model fails! Don't you ever get tired of being wrong like this?
Two questions: is the site losing or making money, and do the people who do tune in enjoy the content?
Those are the only 2 questions that matter. If they're making money and their audience is satisifed, who cares what a self-righteous idiot like yourself thinks?
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Yet you have no problem with Mike suggesting that "Anyone who thinks that the entertainment industry is in trouble isn't paying attention.", and that the "rest" of you are watching this. Yet, the viewership doesn't support that idea at all.
Come on Paul, be the bigger man - apply the same level of scrutiny to Mike that you do to people you don't agree with.
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I don't think so dude.
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That's true, believe it or not. The industry is changing, the market is changing, the *consumers* are changing. People don't tune into TV at a pre-arranged schedule any more, and more and more content is moving online in one way or another. If you don't take that into account, you're done for. Guess what people aren't doing when they use services like this? Watching the crap your glorious corporates are producing...
"Yet, the viewership doesn't support that idea at all."
Yes, I know you love this game. Cherry pick figures, whine about suggestions of new models, then reject them because someone didn't become a millionaire overnight. Boring. By the time this kind of thing is successful enough to become truly mainstream, it will already be too late for you to catch up.
Oh, and what is the "viewership" by the way? I'd like to see figures, not some bullshit guess based on the number of views you think a particular commercial had.
"Come on Paul, be the bigger man - apply the same level of scrutiny to Mike that you do to people you don't agree with."
I do. I've never known him to be as ridiculously, obnoxiously, loudly and repeatedly wrong as you morons, though. I'll call him out if ever he is as wrong as you people, but I doubt it will happen.
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I don't know what's the point of being the bigger man. Don't own a computer but sued by the RIAA? Be the bigger man! Don't have any porn but get a settlement demanded by John Steele? Be the bigger man! Perform only original music but have to pay the PROs? Be the bigger man!
Seriously, your definition of being the bigger man means bending over and taking it.
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Source: (YouTube) Geek & Sundry - The Guild: I'm the One That's Cool
You are now the uncool one dude the geeks are ruling the world today, knowledge is the thing that the 21th century man want to acquire to hunt for his survival and you babbling douche just don't have the brains for it.
You got owned in SOPA by all those people who you hate so much that must really have hurt your feelings.
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Source: (YouTube) Geek & Sundry - The Guild: I'm the One That's Cool
You are now the uncool one dude the geeks are ruling the world today, knowledge is the thing that the 21th century man want to acquire to hunt for his survival and you babbling douche just don't have the brains for it.
You got owned in SOPA by all those people who you hate so much that must really have hurt your feelings.
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Kiddin, sorry about the double.
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N.
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TWiT.tv?
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Slashdot TV is another one that promises.
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Re: TWiT.tv?
TWiT.tv is cool, but I always think of it in a somewhat different class. That's more tech. These new networks are more about entertainment... but with geeky folks who get the internet.
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God I just open Openstreetmap on the weekends now or I lose myself in drawing those little lines everywhere and creating 3D models for buildings.
That is what I need TV shows for to keep me away from those other addictive things on the internet LoL
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Duh
More and more people are watching TV on the web and so they are naturally going to be drawn in to new services. The fact that creative people no longer need to wait for the network gods to acknowledge them should be a hint to the networks. Get in while its new and start making deals with all these creators.
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Re: Duh
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They plan to play various board games and show people a quick example of how they are played. While part of the reason for the show is to show that people who play board games aren't all geeks, but it also opens the door in an accessible way for people to understand a board game more than just reading a box blurb or reading an online review.
You don't have to be a huge Wil Wheaton/Felcia Day fan to enjoy the show, it helps draw interest if you know who they are, but you can see people sitting down and playing a game for fun outside of a "commercial" for the product setting.
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"Entertainment?"
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Nothing is dead
Amateur theater is booming either at venues or seen as a YouTube video.
What has changed is now all forms on entertainment no longer need someone with deep pockets to finance projects.
I see today as being akin the the Rock & Roll explosion of the late 50's when small labels recognized the potential of the new music and low behold the same people who are fighting the Internet today are the very same who fought R&R back then.
What happened back then and will happen again is that eventually the protestors will succumb.
In 40 years time today will be looked back upon in the same fashion as us "oldies" look back at those early days of R&R.
To me this time is the 50's for today's generations.
Now back to my PC, Android phone, WiFi TV, VOIP and all the other exciting tools of this day.
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TWIT.TV was the original
And let's not forget Revision3.com too.
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O.T. Tech question
I had a multisession CD of jpgs created with Roxio. The CD messed up (as multisession CDs sometimes do). I was able to turn the contents of this disc into an ISO file. All sessions seem to be intact. What I'd like to do is turn these ISO files back into the folders and jpgs they're supposed to be, but I haven't found any software that will do it. I've tried several programs, but no luck so far. (I didn't try ISOBuster because, last I saw, ISOBuster won't work with Roxio-created things.)
Anybody else ever faced this? Does anyone know of any software that will solve my problem?
Thank you.
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Re: O.T. Tech question
In Windows you need a program to mount the ISO(I think not sure) or a optical unit emulator(CD/DVD player).
Wikipedia: Comparison of ISO image software
7zip is open source but can only handle ISO files not any of the other proprietary formats if it is a true ISO file and not a proprietary image format that should do it, if not there are others. You can look on the table above, and see which ones would handle Roxio files.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinCDEmu (GPL)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDemu (GPL)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_120% (proprietary)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDRoller
Now here is the thing to make an ISO file use one of the forensic tools available.
DDrescue for example.
http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/Ddrescue
Using the common tools you get standards that open in any operating system and not just on the proprietary software.
Youtube: Recover a data disk with ddrescue
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Confused
If anything this should be an eye opener to all other businesses and should be a footnote in history on how not to ignore your customers when they ask with one voice for you to change the way you do business because of innovation in the marketplace.
History will show that they made multiple mistakes that were repeatedly pointed out to them but which they ignored, I did not think i would ever see this day but to be honest it was always going to happen overnight and not over a long period. I am sure they will still fight but now i know that no matter what laws they buy or what lies they tell they are irrelevant to the future of entertainment on the internet and probably on tv and cable when more quality shows are produced in small studios or basements. This is what change is about this is why there is a saying that the customer is always right, ignore them at your peril. What a wonderful day this is.
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INDIE TV, Films, Music, Books, Art will I hope slowly destroy the MAFIAA by Offering Non-Greedy Suit, No DRM, and No Lobbying of Governments to take away our Rights.
Screw You Big Content !
I have Censored you from my Wallet for life.
Oh and to those who think I will cave in to buy that new Game of Thrones or Star Trek or Whatever.................well I am very Patient and can always buy stuff Used if I really wanted to actually watch Hollywood things.
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