INTERNET VIDEO -- REVVER

Revver.com is a new site that hosts user-made videos. They have a simple and attractive model for advertising, for leveraging distribution, and for revenue sharing.

At the end of each video, they place a still frame advertisement. Viewers can click on the still frame for a video with more advertising information. This model of video advertising is very attractive, because it is unobtrusive. Yet, if the advertisement is for a valuable product, it will be seen. In the magazine world, for example, whenever there is something new and valuable -- a new technology, perhaps, or new fashions -- customers may buy a magazine more for the advertising than for the editorial copy. The Revver model can be very successful if they tap into this type of advertising.

Advertising revenue is shared 50/50 with the content producer. In addition, Revver encourages syndication of its content. So that Revvered videos (videos processed through Revver to add advertising) can be shown on many sites. Revver shares 20% of the advertising revenue with the syndicators on whose site the video was seen.

Revver has just made a deal to show Revvered videos on Verizon.

Revver itself is new and still has some shakedown to do on its site. The sign-up process has some glitches. And after I uploaded a video it did not tell me to add meta-information, even though the meta-information is required before a film can be posted. I had to sign in again and look around, before I got to the place where meta-information is added.

At the moment, the number of videos on Revver seems relatively small, and traffic on Revver itself seems small (judging by the number of views of the posted videos). I don't know about traffic on associated sites.

The method of search for videos is no better on Revver than it is elsewhere. More work is needed on all the user-generated video sites to make it easier to find videos you want to watch.

Whenever money is involved, and sometimes when it is not, the legal agreements you click on when you register need to be read carefully, sometimes by a lawyer. For example, some sites seem to offer you money, but when you upload you discover that they are actually TAKING AN OPTION TO BUY your video (and all its intellectual property rights) when you upload it. (YOU MAY NOT WANT TO DO THAT!) Most sites explicitly leave you with all the intellectual property rights in your video. When you upload to Revver, you are accepting a Creative Commons license.

My advice: CHECK WITH A LAWYER BEFORE YOU CLICK ON AN AGREEMENT TO UPLOAD YOUR VIDEO.

So far, my impression of Revver is very positive. They still have work to do on the user-friendliness of their site, and they need to attract more traffic and more videos. But I like their model, and I would like to see them succeed.

Here's the video I posted on Revver:


QPORIT: VLOG 2006-10-07 Penelope Cruz & Volver