Category Archives: Business

Advertising, Business, Online

Blogging and Youtube videos unlikely to earn much income

The author of the excellent Micro 4/3rds Photography Blog reveals the numbers behind his blog – and with blog ads, commissioned sales links and Youtube videos with ads, the combination earns very little money.

Source: Micro 4/3rds Photography: Blog economy

Most of the top video channels on Youtube got started very early back when it is alleged most channel creators gamed the system to increase viewership [1]. While some recent arrivals have achieved viewer success, it may take years to achieve a reasonable following, or money spent on promotion. It is said that even for the successful Youtube channels, the creators most creators must also sell ancillary products (notably music but also t-shirts, hats, etc).

So why blog or produce Youtube videos? For many of us, do these as a hobby. We enjoy sharing helpful information with others. For example, I publish a popular tutorial blog on programming in App Inventor (See App Inventor 2: Learn to Code!). Other reasons include emphasizing one’s credentials in the subject, to advertise one’s skills to potential clients, to be involved in a social web of people with similar interests, perhaps to sell related products and services, and more.

Footnote – The “old” way Youtubers Got Views

[1] Many Youtubers figured out the way to get viewed – and obtain subscribers – was to generate lots of fake views to jump up high on the “Most Viewed” lists. In the early years of Youtube, it was easy to do this: copy the video player embed code 100 times on an HTML page and just keep reloading the page!  (This “feature” was disabled long ago!)

Appearing on the “Most viewed” lists increased visibility and views rapidly. Others say that nearly all of today’s successful channels, which started in the 2005-2008 first three years of Youtube, got there by manipulating view counts.

In 2012 or 2013 Youtube seems to have made changes in the search system that caused viewership of minor channels to fall. Starting about 2 years ago, views of my own videos fell sharply – and I no longer post much on Youtube, having instead migrated to Flickr (Flickr supports videos too!) On Flickr I often get as many views in a day as I would see – ever – on Youtube 🙂

3D, 3D Tech, Business, Money

NY Times says big screens and 3D are coming back

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Interestingly, the new 3D blockbusters are targeting adult viewers:

Hollywood’s major studios are preparing to flood festival screens and commercial theaters with an unusual, year-end wave of grown-up movie spectacles — shown in the 3-D or large-screen format that is usually reserved for action blockbusters with younger audiences.

Source: Hollywood Uses Bigger Screens to Tell Sophisticated Stories – The New York Times

3D, Business

Theater owners says now selective in what 3D movies they will show

A local movie theater owner says he is selective in what movies he will show in 3D, noting that a 3D film needs to be shown in both 2D and 3D options, taking up theater seat space. He now only shows 3D films when he thinks the use of 3D is used appropriately to add value to the story and will generate a good return on investment.

The story says 1/4th of population watched a 3D movie in 2014 while the overall percentage declined (which could be due to fewer 3D movies or theaters showing 3D). However, young viewers up through age 24 increased their 3D viewing during 2014 and was otherwise unchanged for several adult age groups.

Source: Movie customers big drivers of what is shown in 3D