TubeMogul Marketplace = Wow (The Game Continues To Change)
Posted on 8:09 am by Paul ColliganThe Tube Mogul Marketplace launched this morning. This one is a major major game changer - and something producers need to examine, and be part of. TubeMogul is so much more than “the free Traffic Geyser” now.
The concept is simple (we’ll hit the implications in a minute). They call it “a dating site” for online video producers and advertisers. It is a place to see aggregate numbers for players in online video where the numbers that matter are the numbers in total - something we all should be looking it.
To give you an idea of it’s power, first visit Chris Pirillo’s profile. Chris is an online video madman and has the numbers to prove it. But notice this: 97% of his audience comes from YouTube - nothing bad (and impressive numbers) but let’s talk the “bigger world” here.
(As of the time I wrote this) just under Chris in numbers (in the Tube Mogul Top 40) is the always fascinating iJustine. YouTube is just 35% of her audience. Where most would just compare YouTube to YouTube numbers and call Chris the clear “winner” (not that these two are in any kind of battle (of course they are going for the same demographic)) but this isn’t the case at all. iJustine is everywhere, and has the numbers to prove it.
She’s always been that way but now she can do what she does best - produce content. She can now just point people to her marketplace page to show advertisers her reach.
So there are 2 sides to this Marketplace: the “buyer” and the “producer” (my terms - not TubeMogul’s). I want to talk both of them here.
The obvious game here is advertising. Those “buyers” looking for properties to hawk their wares on need a place to get (verifiable) numbers on who is doing what. They can do no better than the Marketplace. If you notice on the home page, they can even search by audience and category (although those contact points are entered by the producer so review accordingly).
But where this get’s really interesting for me is in the producer side of the house.
What if iJustine decided just to stick with YouTube on account of their market share? She wouldn’t be on this top 40 listing. Content producers need to be just that, content producers, not people aligning themselves with a certain technology of platform.
But this is bigger than iJustine.
There are a number of content producers (and “networks”) that are playing a very dangerous game of keeping everything to themselves. This includes everything from individuals who live by the “you’ll never catch me anywhere but via Podcast” to full networks with millions in venture financing that want to keep everything inside of their walls for “tracking purposes.” That has always been a bit of a silly and short-sided strategy but with elements like the Marketplace, it is now becoming downright dangerous.
I understand the arguments for keeping things in house and as big of a numbers freak as the next guy but I have to wonder at what point distribution and tracking on other networks becomes more valuable than the ability to keep everything close.
If you don’t think all of these networks are working on ad insertion models (will TubeMogul lead them in this?), you’re not paying attention.
If you think it’s smarter to wait for them to perfect everything while the iJustine’s of the world grab the attention at all these other sites, … I have to question that strategy.
Thoughts?
7 Comments »
September 4, 2008
lawton chiles said:
So, are you saying that TM is better suited to take a bigger share of the market away from “do it all” services like TrafficGeyser?
Is there a benefit for professionals to use TubeMogul over TrafficGeyser?
Should we use both?
I agree that learning to watch and interpret your data is key. DOING something with the data is a whole other ball of wax.
September 4, 2008
Julie Perry said:
GREAT post, Paul. As the original (now former) writer and host of TheBoaters.TV, I can tell you that we had tremendous success using the similar video distribution service, Traffic Geyser, to distribute our episodes on every online video sharing site they offered (as well as every Podcast channel). Note: This was June thru Dec ‘07, and I’d yet to come across Tube Mogul. Still, other than not having access to the nifty tracking data (and having to deal w/ an occasional technical issue regarding our uploads), I was able to distribute just as far and wide with Traffic Geyser.
Regardless of the service used, let me address your point here about the fact that it’s the numbers in total that matters: Because I was the VP of sales & marketing for TheBoaters.TV, as well as for its sister site, TheBoaters.com, I was in charge of selling the ad space for the show. When I put together our media kit and began approaching potential advertisers, I blew them away with the fact that we distributed across so many channels. We went so far beyond just our own vlog, YouTube & iTunes, and even if they questioned how much traffic these other sites were getting, I got them to understand that that wasn’t the point. Any one of those sites could explode in popularity any day (and note: we began seeing large audiences on DailyMotion, Blip, Veoh, Vimeo, and Revver very quickly), not to mention the search engine power this gave our advertisers when our videos were tagged and accompanied with their product name, description, and site information. We could blast their message out there on such a large and varied scale, and THAT allowed us to start selling the ad space.
This TubeMogul Marketplace is a fantastic new feature, as it allows for a quick check-in to see how a show or video is performing across all the channels (which sure beats what I had to do to get accurate counts, which was to log into 22 online video sites to see how we were performing). Better yet, it allows potential advertisers a one-stop shop to gauge the success of a show without having to rely on the advertising sales person’s data. A HUGE time saver, and a feature that will certainly change the game quite a bit. If I were still in control of TBTV, I’d be all over it. The fact that advertisers can come on there and search by audience and category is huge, too.
Again, great post and insight into this ever-shifting world of new media. Bravo!
~Julie Perry
September 4, 2008
Justine said:
Great post! You’ve definitely made a lot of great points.
It’s very interesting to see how people consume their media. It’s not about where WE want to put our content, it’s where everyone else wants to view it.. and we need to appeal to them.
September 6, 2008
Stephanie Ciccarelli said:
Paul,
Thank you so much for mentioning this new service from TubeMogul.com and explaining it so well. It really is helpful when an expert takes the extra time to advise and not just announce.
We are considering the use of a media submission tool and had checked out both Traffic Geyser and TubeMogul and, frankly, I didn’t have the time to differentiate the two. Your post has helped me move toward a decision.
Gracias!
Stephanie Ciccarelli
Voices.com
September 9, 2008
Stefaan Lesage said:
Hi Paul,
Great post about TubeMogul. I’ve only recently discovered this service after an invite from someone to beta test something
I’m really looking forward to this service.
I’m only a small video podcaster in Belgium, but this MarketPlace can provide me with the numbers I need to convince potential sponsors. It is also a relatively easy way to spread my video’s over the internet.
Until today, I just used LibSyn and my own site to promote my video content. Two weeks back I added 7 episodes of my Video Tutorial Podcast to a few different sites using the TubeMogul service. Suddenly I noticed a lot more views generated through Video Service sites like Reverr, Howcast, DailyMotion, … Suddenly I felt the urge to submit my videos to even more sites, which was something I wouldn’t have done in the past.
From what I see, there are so many potential viewers out there, but sometimes they can’t seem to find the way to your site. The TubeMogul service has allowed me to bring my videos a bit closer to those folks.
Regards,
Stefaan
September 10, 2008
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September 17, 2008
Richard Day said:
I totally agree with you. TubeMogul is easy to use, free, at this time, and a great way to get your word out. One of the cool things about video is that you can take the audio out of it and republish it as a podcast. Great economy of effort.