hess media report

The Castaways Teaser

Ben Hess — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:25:43 PDT

Stew and I have been working on this for a while, and we're now pitching the show. We'd love comments about this teaser - does it engage? Are you hooked? If you have a pre-teen or teen, please show them ... they are our core demographic!

Click To Play

Book Trailer - Real Animal House

Ben Hess — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 23:55:43 PDT

Stew put this together for his client, writer Chris Miller. Book videos are becoming all the rage and this one's excellent:

ABOUT Moving

Ben Hess — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 23:10:28 PDT

It's almost over - in the past months, I've been selling a home, searching to buy a new one, moving into a new office, and helping a client move out of their office. Now it's on to unpacking and getting settled in.

Here's one way to monetize moving hell - and have some fun along the way. I've been producing - and hosting - several of these for About.com. Take a peek:

(note - cropped for blog presentation, click this post's link for the full size video at about.com)

CASE STUDY: HD Production with Panasonic HVX200 and Final Cut Pro

Ben Hess — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 06:32:54 PDT

Cinematographer Shane said at midnight Sunday night, "One day we'll look back on these early tapeless days and laugh."

I hope to the HD Production Gods he's right. Cause right now, low budget HD production for an event has some major issues. I use the qualifier 'at an event' because we're not dealing with a controlled set. This was verite, documentary, run & gun, MTV-news style coverage. If we'd had a controlled set, we would've had better access to DC power (and hopefully a larger budget).

Imagine a cluttered office the size of a large closet. In this office are the usuals - Desktop Mac, files, file cabinet, boxes, crap. In our case, this office was for the facilities manager of the venue, 111 Minna Gallery. All security personnel, assistant managers, and other staff were in and out of the office throughout the event. Despite this chaos, we were graciously given real estate on the corner of the desk (huge props to them, by the way). Two digital photographers were also using the office to transfer their pics to a MacBook - this crammed office shoulda been in an Apple commerical. We had our trusty MacBook (props to Devorah for the loan), 400 GB external firewire drive, and firewire hub crammed on the desk ... why?

We're shooting DVCPRO HD 720p with the Panasonic HVX200 - so approximately 1GB per minute of footage. We hoped to shoot somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 to 3 hours of footage over the 8 hour long event. The only way to manage this amount of data is to record to the FireStore Portable Direct to Edit Recorder, which will hold 100GB of data. So we figured only 1 or 2 data transfers throughout the day.

Except the transfer time is somewhere between 150% and 175% of real time (100 GB would take between 50 and 75 minutes). Since we only had one FireStore, we couldn't afford to be down that long. So we shot in shorter chunks and transferred data three times during the event and once after. We ended up with approx 150 GB of HD footage - and it looks so, so, so damn good.

But getting the data transferred from the Panasonic .mxf format to Quicktime isn't as straightforward as you think. First off, one of the Firewire 400 ports on our external Seagate drive was bad ... good thing I had a Firewire hub ... because the MacBook has only one Firewire 400 port and we're trying to hook the Firestore and the drive to the computer simultaneously.

And then our Final Cut Pro is Version 5.0.1 but only Version 5.0.4 and newer support the import of the .mxf format. We'd run some tests prior to the shoot and knew we could see our clips like this:

but we could not use FCP to covert them to Quicktime .mov files onsite. We knew we'd have to wait until we could run them through FCP 5.0.4 post-shoot.

The last issue to mention - and the most frustrating - is the FireStore. It's menus are straight out of 1983's War Games. They are completely unintuitive. But the UI issues paled in comparison to the battery issue. Our FireStore FS-100 has an internal battery, so we couldn't keep one charged and swap it with a dead one. We had to stop shooting to charge the FireStore several times, because the battery would deplete within an hour to ninety minutes at most. (our assistant camera / utility crew member Kyung was phenomenal!) We finally resorted to plugging in a 30' stinger to a cigarette lighter / DC converter (thanks to Toms Shoes and their truck!) and bringing interviewees to us instead of catching them in the crowd.

In the waning thirty minutes of the concert, we resorted to shooting on the two 4GB P2 cards in the HVX200 instead of the FireStore. However, due to pre-production tests, we knew that getting data off the cards was finicky - only the perfect storm combination of correct Mac OSX version, correct FCP version, and laptop model would enable us to import the .mxf files cleanly. We resorted to using FCP's Capture Now to bring in the interview on the P2 card (thus, creating the Quicktime .mov cleanly).

Not to mention our SD mini-DV camera that we fed directly from the two sound boards as our primary band / DJ audio source. Because these two boards and related stages were in different locations, we were constantly moving the camera and sticks. In a perfect world, we would've had two fixed cameras, in secure locations.

But at the end of the day, the HVX200 takes some pretty, pretty pictures ... which I hope you'll see soon!

Choose GOOD - the San Fran Block Party

Ben Hess — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 23:06:01 PDT

GOOD Magazine - media for people who give a damn - is hosting a free, all-ages block party in San Francisco this Sunday, July 15. Join GOOD at the 111 Minna Gallery for an explosion of booth vendors, an outdoor stage and a unique combination of the best food, living, and music in The City!

Bay Area Pictures is filming the event for GOOD, so you might just be seen on-camera doing something good.

Performances by A-Trak, Diplo, Kid Sister, Vin Sol, Squeak E Clean, Richie Panic, Blake Miller of the Moving Units, Bedtime For Toys and more

All Ages Welcome to the Choose GOOD Block Party and for subscribers only, so please subscribe before you RSVP. Note that 100% of your $20 subscription fee goes to one of twelve charities, listed on the subscription page.

Bay Area Pictures - Updated Site Live

Ben Hess — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:56:19 PDT

Out with the old, in with the new. Website that is !

Funny how most small business owners, especially service providers, focus on their own web presence last. And when you tackle the project, it always, ALWAYS, takes longer than you think. Despite best efforts in project definition.

We've added more samples of work, a more concise description of our services, and more clarity of purpose - short form video, documentaries, and original programming.

Take a look. And as always, comments welcome!

Girls Rock! The YT Promo Machine

Ben Hess — Mon, 21 May 2007 11:13:44 PDT

Like hundreds of other indie filmmakers, documentary film producers Arne Johnson and Shane King submitted the trailer to their new, unreleased film, Girls Rock!, to YouTube. Posted in mid-January, the trailer racked up a respectable 6,000 views over a three month period. However, someone in YouTube's programming caught wind of the trailer and decided to feature it on the home page last night. In less than twelve hours, the trailer has been viewed more than 35,000 times and the filmmakers's site is being swarmed (but not swamped!) with new traffic.

Trailer below, courtesy of YouTube, Shane, and Arne. And check out the film's site - given it's subject matter, girls under 18 dealing with, well being under 18, you'll have to sign-in to post a comment on the home page blog.

REVIEW: Internet Video Production services

Ben Hess — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:33:30 PDT

We've moved from the online distribution of user generated content to the creation and distribution of professional and corporate programming. Several services. such as Blip.tv, Revver, and Brightcove, have tried to help indie producers monetize their programming with varying payment models based on pre-sold advertising and number of views.

With the increasing entertainment and production value of user-generated video, new services are attempting to apply these digital video production techniques to corporate America. TurnHere, originally a real-estate, travel oriented online video site (old tagline Short Films, Cool Places), has now relaunched as the definitive source of Internet Video prodution with its network of 'qualified' TurnHere, contract-for-hire filmmakers.

Utah based Podango has launched Podango Productions in San Francisco. With a history in radio production and podcasting, Podango now claims video production services for corporations of all sizes, ad agencies, and PR agencies.

HMR predicts more entrants - and more flameouts - in the digital, internet video production space. Visual storytelling takes many shapes and the requirements of a corporate video are unique, as are the needs of a music video, as are the needs of a Video News Release. This one size, fits all I-can-shoot-a-clever-travel-video approach won't be around for the long-tail.

It's an Anti-Social, Virtual World

Ben Hess — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:20:22 PDT

What do you say in a world where millions live a virtual second life, where video games are the leading entertainment medium, where mobile, always-on communicators keep us connected ... but isolated in our own bubble.

Take the typical home environment ... individuals plugged in to different devices, participating with different screens, and not communicating directly. Today's teens form and break relationships online, they have plethora of social networking services available, and they communicate with an increasing variety of electronic mediums - text messaging, instant messaging, and now a virtual world, Second Life and Teen Second Life.

Organizations are using Second Life as a virtual meeting place - watch out WebEx - but, what does it say on a societal level that people are so unhappy with their day-to-day, that they need to spend hard-earned $$$ on a virtual existence?

HMR is first to admit - we haven't spent too much time in SL or playing MMO (massively multi-player online games) - so perhaps we're speaking out of turn. Perhaps today's realities of Middle Eastern strife, genocide, and American political unrest demand a new form of escape. But if society is moving toward a virtual lifestyle, what happens to 'real' issues?

pulvermedia: conferences, alliances, petitions oh my!

Ben Hess — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:59:24 PDT

Jeff Pulver and his pulvermedia inc. are all over the wild west of online media. Self-billed as:

the leading integrated media company that specializes in building communities and providing marketplace access through its unparalleled blend of trade shows, publications, web channels, and progressive cutting-edge media,

pulvermedia is now in San Jose hosting the Video on the Net Conference. In addition to some usual speakers and panels (Niklas Zennstrom from Joost, Jeremy Allaire from Brightcove, iconic Silicon Valley investor Vinod Khosla), pulvermedia and VON have launched an aggressive industry initiative, the Video on the Net Alliance. The Alliance is

a global consortium of Internet-based video content and application providers, vendors and enablers, and other affiliated entities and individuals helping to drive innovation and deployment of Internet-based video. The Video on the Net Alliance is committed to fulfilling the promise of Internet-based video by promoting a pragmatic and light-handed regulatory approach and public policy environment based on self-governance and public-private partnerships to address social issues in the use of Internet-based video.

In parallel, Jeff Pulver's Network2 - an attempt to provide law & order, or at least accessibility, to the plethora of online video offerings - filed a petition with the FCC this morning saying in part:

Network2 respectfully petitions the Commission to declare that Internet Video, including in particular the service provided by Network2, is not subject to regulation under Titles III or VI of the Communications Act as broadcasting or cable services, and that the Commission does not intend to impose new regulations on Internet Video.

THR recommends hopping on pulvermedia train by reading Jeff's blog, or signing up for a newsletter. Alongside Mark Cuban, we can't think of a more active voice in the online media industry today. Jeff is certainly out to make a buck, but his various endeavors are also attempting to impact policy of the 21st Century's entertainment and information delivery medium - the internet.

REVIEW: Old Media goes Vlog --> onBeing

Ben Hess — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 02:49:31 PDT

Every once and a while, we uncover a gem amidst the morass of online video available these days. In this case, our gem wasn't shining from a new broadband service or IPTV channel - instead, it's buried in the online version of the venerable Washington Post.

OnBeing represents the new form of journalism, from some seasoned pros. It's personal, it's thought provoking, it's insightful. From the writer and producer Jennifer Crandall and the onBeing site:

onBeing is a project based on the simple notion that we should get to know one another a little better. What you’ll find here is a series of videos that takes you into the musings, passions, histories and quirks of all sorts of people. The essence of who they are, who we are.

There will be a new video every Wednesday, so check back often. In the meantime, feel free to add your thoughts to the comments section and tell us about someone you’d like to see in onBeing. Over time, we should end up with a pretty cool community.

Here's one our favorites from the series (so far!):
http://specials.washingtonpost.com/onbeing/#010207-4v-GioE.1

Peer to Peer Power

Ben Hess — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 08:14:56 PST

You've surely witnessed the red carpet reception that Joost has received (see our review of Joost's Beta, codename The Venice Project). Over the past few months the P2P brainchild of Skype founders Niklas Zenstromm and Janus Friis has been a feature in nearly every single web publication. However, Peer to Peer technology is being harnessed by several other promising CDN underdogs- featuring a variety of features from high definition capabilities to exclusive content partnerships. Here a few notables:

Bit Torrent: powered by Bit Torrent

This original P2P network is making a second coming- this time with a new user friendly interface and the ability to rent mainstream movies and television shows from select studios. This revamped version is sure to be a pleaser for both Hollywood as well as the users who already downloaded the software in BitTorrent's freeloader days.

Jaman: powered by Cascade

Jaman provides an online community that features an impressive library of global cinema. The content is sorted uniquely by country and offers many films that would be hard sought after without this service. Jaman also provides group creation for world cinema connoisseurs to discuss and recommend genres and films.

Open Media Network: powered by Kontiki

OMN is a non-profit that provides a ton of free and premium content that ranges from pulp video blogs likes Rocketboom to high brow public access programming like Scientific American. They also offer a variety of educational and entertaining kid's shows from public access.

Zudeo: Powered by Azureus

Zudeo touts partnerships and content from BBC Worldwide, G4, A&E and National Geographic. They have an easy to use browser that contains everything from movie trailers and computer animation to short films.

Web TV gone green

Ben Hess — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 15:13:48 PST

EQ.tv, or the Equilibrium Project, is a burgeoning web TV site with the purpose of raising awareness and funds for ecological sustainability. Harnessing user-contributed content, EQ.tv plans to inspire a digital movement toward a better global environment.

Currently the site is not fully functional, with only a few dozen films available for viewing. However, the site’s environmental enthusiasm seems very large. With the promise of upcoming community features to connect eco-friendly users around the world and easy to use playlist capabilities, EQ.tv has the potential to become a giant green advocate.

EQ.tv works in conjunction with two other Oregon-based sites: ‘The Mobius’ and ‘The Equilibrium Institute,’ which respectively provide support in digital production and eco-awareness. EQ.tv is sure to be a forerunner in a mass of other internet TV sites that realize the importance of delivering significant online content. With so much trash floating around the web TV world, it’s really nice to see some sites dedicated to cleaning up the real world.

REVIEW: branded entertainment goes MINI

Ben Hess — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 11:50:15 PST

How do you follow-up the online branded entertainment hit "The Hire" from BMW Films starring Clive Owen? Create another online episodic of course, this time with actor Bryan Callen (Scary Movie 4 and lots of TV work - 7th Heaven, NYPD Blue, Law & Order, Fat Actress) and director Todd Phillips (Old School, Starsky & Hutch) featuring the trendy, souped-up MINI (Mini-USA is owned by BMW).

The Automobile Channel reports that:

The campaign will also have a prominent place in the viral community, leveraging unique partnerships with digital media in addition to print and broadcast. Starting this month, "Hammer & Coop" will have a solid presence on popular online sites Second Life, MySpace and YouTube. The characters will be incorporated into Second Life's "online society" on March 15, the trailer and video components will be available on YouTube after February 20, and a custom profile has been created for "Hammer & Coop" on the popular social networking site MySpace. In addition, advertising content will be available on podcasts and mobile phones (through iPod Infuse and Mobile Video on Demand).

Despite this aggressive online marketing campaign, the Hammer & Coop episodes are not available for embedding in blogs so unfortunately you'll have to leave THR and visit their site. In the spirit of Starsky & Hutch, the episodes are campy, action packed, and fun (though we liked The Hire's suave, Bondlike approach to suspense and action).

REVIEW: Heavy Metal in Baghdad on VBS.tv

Ben Hess — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 23:39:43 PST

The online series 'Heavy Metal in Baghdad' is a breath of fresh air - actually more like a terrified, exhausted gasp. In five short docudrama episodes the series does well to diverge from the ‘embedded journalist in Iraq’ video segments that we’ve become so used to on CNN and Yahoo’s online series Hot Zone. The series follows VBS.tv affiliates Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti on a perilous tour of Baghdad to seek out Iraq's only heavy metal band- Acrassicauda.

Though seeking out a heavy metal band in Iraq seems a unique idea, and warrants the title of the show- the true originality of the series stems from Alvi and Moretti's vantage point ... or lack thereof. They don’t have the clout of a high powered news organization around Baghdad. We begin to see this drawback on their less-than-V.I.P. entrance into the city: routed like stowaways through Erbil, Kurdistan and nearly rejected from a Baghdadi hotel frequented by the mainstream foreign press.

Though the two hipsters are never tossed into a gunfight or thrown to the ground by a roadside bomb, the current chaotic state of Baghdad is ever-present. The violence, tension and fear are all front-and-center of this series, exposed in post-curfew explosions and quick glimpses of AK-47s.

VBS.TV does very well to host this type of short series. Launched by Spike Jonze of Adapatation and Being John Malkovich feature film fame, VBS.tv is a free online broadband network ala MTV's Overdrive and CBS's Innertube (see last year's THR review). In this case, VBS' videos are delivered by content pioneer Brightcove. VBS continues the counter-culture trend of its print magazine parent ‘Vice’ with over a dozen programs like ‘Heavy Metal’ that see the world with fresh, edgy perspective.

Viewing the content is easy and fast, and navigating the site is just as effortless. With expanded programming that touches on unique and interesting topics, VBS TV may just achieve their slogan – ‘Rescuing you from television’s deathlike grip’

IMA's Public Media - Camera, Laptop, and a Vision

Ben Hess — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:33:51 PST

Unconventional media veteran Michael Rosenblum delivered the keynote this morning at the IMA's Public Media 2007 conference. Michael’s tenet is that today’s digital video cameras are the modern equivalent of Gutenberg’s printing press – media is democratized. So what is PBS and NPR going to do about it?

Following a brief talk from new PBS SVP, Interactive Jason Seiken (who has been on the job for a month and doesn’t have strong answers yet), Michael challenged the 800 PBS, NPR, and public broadcasting professionals in the room to reconsider their business. And not to be afraid of change. He said that you’re not in the television and radio business, you’re in the media business with the mission to get out in the community, cover stories, package them, and get them online.

Michael has a colorful career in traditional television with WNET in New York, KRON in San Francisco, and the BBC. He helped launch Al Gore’s CurrentTV and has been a tremendous proponent of citizen or video journalism. He now has training institutes around the world, bootcamps for aspiring video journalists.

I was reminded of the early DIY videoblogging pioneers such as Steve Garfield, Andrew Baron (Rocketboom), and former San Jose Mercury News reporter Dan Gillmor who left the Merc last year for do-it-yourself local news.

How will formal public broadcasting incorporate these ‘radical’ thoughts? There is an increasing sense of urgency amongst the community to get engaged with online media, social network, and community building. But as Michael reminded the audience, the window to get engaged is closing and there’s a video journalism steamroller bearing down which could put PBS and NPR in the same camp as the railroads.

REVIEW: HellHoles on AtomFilms

Ben Hess — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 07:09:23 PST

Clever. Entertaining. Laugh out loud funny. These are just a few of the superlatives for Efram Potelle and Kyle Rankin's dark comedy.

We'll go on a limb here: Hell Holes represents the future of online episodics. Delivered in short, tight 4 minute webisodes, Hell Holes is the story of a cheap, slightly perverted slacker who rents a rundown trailer ... which happens to be a gateway to Hell.

The show succeeds because of its strong story, clever writing, and stunning computer graphics, but instead of going on and on simply take a look for yourself. It might just be the best 4 minutes you spend online all day.

A Truly Interactive Quest

Ben Hess — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 11:10:13 PST

The Bay Area's KQED NPR and PBS station recently launched one of the most innovative online programs we've come across. Called Quest, the series is billed as A Different Kind of Science and Nature Adventure:

Direct from the Quest site:

KQED's QUEST is a new multimedia series about the people behind San Francisco Bay Area science and environmental issues and how their work is changing the way we live. Do you know what is in your own backyard?

This non-fiction series is the first THR has seen truly integrating audio, video, and interactive content all around a central theme. If you are a parent or have any interest in Bay Area scienetific and environmental issues, you'll be glad you spent time on their site.

Bay Area Pictures Temp Reel v3

Ben Hess — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:00:03 PST

Click to Play

Thanks for feedback on pace, imagery, audio, running time, whatever ... this reel will live on the home page when complete!

CES Report: Size Matters

Ben Hess — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 01:45:45 PST

The theme at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show is small, internet delivered files on large, flat panel LCD televisions. The goal for 07 - deliver video (tv or film) as high quality as possible (perhaps true 1080i HD), in the smallest file size possible.

Sony made a confusing announcement about streaming HD content from AOL, Yahoo!, and it's own Grouper, apparently only for those with a T1 at home. Hewlett Packard announced a complete Digital Home strategy, including a MediaSmart Server and MediaSmart TV. And Sling Media expanded their Sling Box offering.

Not to be outdone, Steve Jobs and Apple took the consumer electronics world by storm ... and they weren't even at CES. At the perennial Apple lovefest aka MacWorld, Jobs debuted the very cool AppleTV and even cooler iPhone. And, oh by the way, the company is no longer Apple Computer ... just Apple. (THR empathizes with the thousands of Appleites slaving away in the now unhip Mac business units, while the iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV folks get all the glory.)

As more pay-per-download services graduate from Beta (coming soon, The Venice Project and MSN's SoapBox), expect more convergence between your computer, gaming system, and home theater.

Cyber Star Update: Amanda's Back

Ben Hess — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 00:00:51 PST

Fresh off her Ford Escape and Environmental Countdown sponsored American road trip, Rocketboom 1.0 host Amanda Congdon is back online in a new hip, vidblog styled current events riff called ... Starring Amanda Congdon.

What the name lacks in creativity, the show is off to a running start with sponsorships in place, most notably with Blip.tv and Amanda back at what she does best - hosting an entertaining, tounge-in-cheek video blog.

REVIEW: The Venice Project

Ben Hess — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 00:47:39 PST

In 1999's The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story Michael Lewis writes about serial entreprenuer Jim Clark's quest to help define, create, and launch the next, gigantic technological breakthrough. Clark did just that with Silicon Graphics, Netscape, and Healtheon.

Seven years later, with high tech off life support and rising like a phoenix, Clark has been replaced with newer, younger entrepreneurs - Yahoo!'s David Filo and Jerry Yang, eBay's Pierre Omidyar, Google's Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and YouTube's Chad Hurley and Steven Chen.

Given the latter's recent $1.65B sale to Brin and Page's Google, all eyes and venture capital dollar have been examining the online media space for the next 'new new thing.' And former Kazaa and Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom have released a sneak peek beta of their unparalleled internet TV service - The Venice Project (TVP).

TVP's recently launched beta is slick in user experience, content, and video quality. THR found the installation incredibly intuitive and the ability to access a range of commerical, recognizable programs, quite easy and fast. TVP's User Interface (UI) team seems to have borrowed heavily from Apple's OSX widgets, enabling personalization of the TVP UI with a clock, comment board, and rankings amongst other goodies.

THR has only tested TVP on a Windows XP machine and looks forward to the experience on Mac OSX. But after a brief test drive, I'm convinced TVP is THE next killer app in the crowded, red-hot online media / internet TV market.

Online Media M&A Update 3: Yahoo! Acquires Bix

Ben Hess — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:35:40 PST

Privately held online contest site Bix is the latest in Yahoo!'s acquisition spree - Yahoo! has acquired Flickr, del.icio.us, Upcoming.org and Jumpcut over the past eighteen months and MyBlogLog, Kenet Works, and Bix in the past 24 hours. The Bix deal is expected to close in March, but terms were not disclosed.

Carly Mayberry at The Hollywood Reporter also notes:
Yahoo! will retain Bix's 16 employees, while Bix founder Mike Speiser will become VP community at Yahoo! in its Communities, Communications and Front Doors group, where he will drive such products as Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! 360, Yahoo! Photos and Bix.

Bix has a slightly different spin on the social networking, user generated content craze. They host and enbale user created contests (which reminded me of Am I Hot or Not?) on a range of topics - karoke, video, photos, whatever. Here's a singing faceoff to whet your appetite.

Yahoo!Video vs. Google Video/YouTube Bix contest anyone?

Fund It, but will they come?

Ben Hess — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 19:30:25 PST

In conjunction with Sunday's San Jose Mercury News article, detailing Q3 06 Bay Area Venture Investment reporter Constance Loizos highlights equity investment in the online media space across North America.

Her angle is that the future of online media will resemble today's cable TV programming - ad supported and slicker production value. VCs want a return on their investment, especially after the recent online media M&A activity, and advertisers want to capitalize on the traffic of the social media networking sites like YouTube and MySpace.

Investment is flowing into start-up broadband channel services including Denver based ManiaTV, San Francisco based Revision3, and LA based RipeTV, each of which is producing web-original serial shows. Many of these are taking a page from print mags Maxim and Stuff by targeting 18-24 year old males and others are creating more informative web-only programming Revision3's In Digital:

Also highlighted by Loizos, Boston based Brightcove ($21.5M in funding) and Maven Networks ($30M in funding) are competing to power and distribute monetized media for content libraries such as NBC's National Broadband Channel (NBBC), CBS's College Sports Television Network (CSTN), and Warner Music.

THR predicts more private equity investment in the online media space over the next two quarters along with ongoing consolidation as the Old Media networks broaden their own online channels to compete for the fragmented but growing, online video audience.

CyberStars, Take 3: United Talent Agency hops online

Ben Hess — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 06:45:26 PST

One of Hollywood’s top five talent agencies has created an online unit devoted to scouting out up-and-coming creators of Internet content - particularly video - and finding work for them in Web-based advertising and entertainment, as well as in the older media.

read more | digg story

As THR referenced earlier this summer, CyberStars are building their loyal, niche online fans. Now, with UTA Online, CyberStars may have more than their 15 minutes. Or maybe they'll have their 15 minutes, but over and over again, to larger and different audiences.