Video On The Go

TheVideoInk.com Video On The Go August 2014

August 2014 Video On The Go Issue 9

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Video on the go

Can You Build a Business in Six Seconds? 4

BatDad: Vine’s Caped Crusader Keeps It Real 10

Brittany Furlan: Vine’s Queen of Comedy 8

Vine Star Princess Lauren on Her Latest Brand Deal 17


Founder Jocelyn Johnson

Editor-in-chief Sahil Patel

Contributors Michael Varrati Jessica Klein

Designer Karen Almonte

VideoInkNews VideoInkNews Videoink videoinknews videoink

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Can You Build a Business in Six Seconds? 4

Mobile Video Continues to Make Gains 6

6 Mobile Technologies That Will Make

You Look Appwards 13

Brittany Furlan: Vine’s Queen of Comedy 8

BatDad: Vine’s Caped Crusader Keeps It Real 10

Fanta Takes to Vine and CollegeHumor for

New Branded Comedy Series 14

Vine Star Princess Lauren on Her Latest 17

Brand Deal

TheVideoInk.com Video On The Go August 2014 4

It’s no secret that, after You-Tube, Vine is the social video service that everyone has its

eye on. Relatively a baby in the world of video on the web, the service, which was launched by Twitter in June 2012, recently crossed 100 million active monthly us-ers.

But the appeal of Vine isn’t only in the overall number of people who are using it. In a fashion strikingly similar to YouTube, the service is a home to a new breed of digital stars — artists who

are amassing large and highly engaged fan-bases, six seconds at a time.

Unlike YouTube, though, Vine isn’t directly monetizable. There are no ads running in front of Vine videos, which means stars on the service have to resort to other methods if they want to leverage their audience to build a viable business.

Based on numerous industry people we’ve spoken to, a Vine star could make anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000 for a branded Vine video. It’s a pretty wide range, and certainly not a strict one — determined by factors such as number of followers, the level of engagement, and/or if the video is part of a larger campaign.

“The going rates for buying Vines are pretty impressive and constantly growing,” says Mi-chael Fasciano, VP/director of social content at DigitasLBi. “I think compensation and mar-ket value is on the uptick.” For comparison, last year, an Ad

Age article reported that the Vine-focused agency GrapeStory’s talent makes anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 per brand video.


So certainly, a top Vine creator could make money without leaving the micro-video plat-form. But certainly not at the level of other stars who have built a presence across the digi-tal landscape.

“Vine in and of itself is a specialized platform,” says Fasciano. “People can spend days — if not weeks — planning out what the actual Vine is going to be. Perhaps more so than Instagram video, and certainly more than You-Tube and vlogging, Vines really requires a more methodical pre-production process.” That could certainly eat away at the number of hours a star can de-vote to creating branded con-tent, as well as their own regu-lar, non-branded videos.

“I think that for talent in the

modern world, yes you may consider yourself a Viner, but you are also doing a lot of oth-er things than just Vining,” says Fasciano. Like any creative person, most Vine stars have ambitions that go beyond six seconds.

Brittany Furlan’s goal is to eventually be a movie star, and thanks in large part to the audi-ence she has cultivated online, she recently booked an appear-ance in an upcoming Zac Efron movie.

“Every day, I become more and more impressed by the reach of it,” says Furlan. “That’s why these companies like Para-mount, Universal, etc. are hir-ing me. That’s why all these brands are hiring me to pro-mote things, because they see the power of [digital], they see how it reaches people.”

But the fact remains, while Vine can be a great creative outlet for budding digital stars, for many, it remains a gateway to some-thing more — just like every other digital platform.“I think it’s so important to be living on all these different en-vironments and all these plat-forms,” adds Jonathan Skogmo, founder and CEO of Jukin Me-dia, which works with Vine stars like Logan Paul and BatDad. “I’d say the same thing about a YouTube personality.”

So, the question again, can you build a business in six seconds? Short answer: Yes, because it’s just the beginning.


When it comes to mobile video, the common refrain has been that consumption far out-

weighs monetization. But the tides look to be turning, even if a lot of work still remains.

According to data recently released by FreeWheel, a video-ad tech company serving TV networks and digital video publishers alike, mobile — which we are defining as smart-phones and tablets — accounted for 20% of all video ad views in the second quarter. Year over year, smart-phone video ad views grew 93% while tablets increased 26%. (This data is based on ads delivered by FreeWheel on behalf of its clients, which gener-ated 50 billion views in the first half of 2014.)

What’s interesting is how smartphones and tablets are becoming functionally differ-ent with respect to the type of content viewers prefer on each device.

Unsurprisingly, smartphones are a goldmine for short-form videos. According to Free-Wheel, 65% of smartphone ad views were on videos shorter

than 20 minutes. Tablets, meanwhile, go the other way, with 63% of ad views happening on videos longer than 20 minutes. In simpler terms, smartphones are for “snacking,” while tablets are rapidly becoming another TV screen.

Could this be an issue for digital-na-tive video companies, most of which primarily offer short-form content?

FreeWheel’s data shows that long-form video ad view growth outstrips


short- and mid-form, increasing 35% year-over-year versus 17%. It’s easy see to why: Long-form offers a view-ing experience that resembles televi-sion, with multiple ad breaks in the middle. Content providers are taking advantage of this, with the average mid-roll break now spanning 3.7 ads and 98 seconds, up from 2.7 ads and 68 seconds in Q2 2013.

Short-form, understandably, accounts for 81% of all video ad views from digital-native video publishers, with mid-form coming in second at 11%.

Combine all these stats and it would suggest that un-less digital-native publishers expand into long-form pro-gramming, mobile will be a tough nut to crack, right? Not necessarily.

“I think it’s an important distinc-tion that smart-phone and tablet are not necessari-ly created equal,” says Brian Dutt, director of advisory services at Free-Wheel and author of the report. But that doesn’t mean videos on smart-phones can’t be monetized. “If it’s premium content — professional-ly produced and created by leading publishers — I

don’t think there will be a huge dis-tinction between short and long.”

TV advertisers are generally more likely to start with long-form because it’s the same exact experience, Dutt adds. But eventually, as more buyers expand to digital, the types of content they buy against will diversify.

And FreeWheel has data to support that. In Q2, 41% of videos on smart-phones were armed with pre-roll ads, an increase of 51% from last year. Comparatively, 47% of short-form

videos on tablets had pre-rolls, a year-over-year growth of 32%.

The type of creative could play a major role in the continued growth of mobile video advertising. Publish-ers have begun to tailor advertising experiences to the device, says Dutt. For instance, short-form publishers are 22% more likely to use 15-sec-ond spots on mobile than on OTT devices, which makes sense consid-ering the type of content most people watch on each screen. Overall, 65% of ads on smartphones are 15 seconds long, while the split on tablets is an even 50/50, once again reflecting the different cases for each device when it comes to watching video.

With its increased function as a private TV screen, the percentage of ad dollars going to tablets should only grow. Smartphones should also attract ad spend as advertisers get in-creasingly comfortable with spots on the device. After all, the data shows that people will sit through pre-rolls — completion rates on short-form and mid-form content stood at 73% and 82%, respectively.

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A lot of people are like, ‘Vine’s just an app.’ Well, you can think what you want, but

it’s changed my life. It’s pretty powerful.”

For digital megastar Brittany Furlan, this proclamation of the power of Vine isn’t just conjec-ture, it’s an empirical fact.

With 7 million subscribers (and growing), several key partner-ships, and a slew of lucrative branding associations, Furlan’s become a veritable force of na-ture on the scene. Furthermore, her celebrated comedic skills and admirable business savvy have all but ensured that, unlike the app that made her famous, she’ll be sticking around for much longer than six seconds.

To an outsider, it almost reads like a definitive tale of over-night success. In actuality, Fur-lan reveals that her discovery of the app that would change her life came in the midst of a time when she was struggling to make her voice heard.

“I came by myself to LA to act when I was 17 years old,” Furlan tells me. “I struggled for a really long time. I did theater and improv comedy around town. I did two TV shows before Vine: I was on a show on E! called ‘Reality Hell,’ where I pranked people, and I did a show on Lifetime with Vivica Fox, which was an-other prank show. I had a background in comedy.”

Features


“I was between auditions and things were rough,” she continues, “and I saw Vine advertised on Instagram. I was like, ‘Oh cool, what’s this? Another app? Well, I have time.’ I think the creators of Vine had intended it for people to take one or two second tidbits of their day, and then the full six seconds would be a way to show your whole day in six seconds. But, I was just like, ‘I’m gonna be myself.’ I wanted to do goofy characters and things, because that’s just who I am. So, I got on there, and I did these little posts…and people just started following me. It was weird and shocking, my following went up about 10,000 a month! It just grew and grew, and now I’m at 7 million.”

Simply by sticking to her guns and being herself, Furlan majorly contributed to changing the face of Vine into the growing digital entertainment platform it is today. Her rapidly increasing audi-ence propelled the audacious performer to become, for a time, the number-one most-watched personality on the app, and her quirky brand led to key partnerships with ICM Talent Agency and Endemol Beyond.

Initially teaming with Endemol for their “SNL”-esque sketch comedy show “SHFTY,” Furlan further parlayed her deal with the company into a separate deal for her-self, proving her ability and understanding of an audi-ence who just can’t get enough.

It’s a quality that also caught the attention of noted star and “Buffy” alum Seth Green. An early advocate of Fur-lan’s, Green had been adamant about working with the Vine superstar, and she reveals that his support is now potentially leading to the next phase in her career.

“One of my friends was also friends with Seth Green, and they showed him my videos. He called me and was like, ‘I love your short form comedy, I think you’re really good at it, why don’t you come write for ‘Robot Chick-en?’’ thought it was a great opportunity. This was before I was making any money off of Vine, and it was an amazing offer, but I didn’t think I was ready to go into a 9-to-5 job yet. He said, ‘I totally understand, and I respect that choice, just keep in touch with me.’ Fast forward to a few months later, I’m at 5 million followers. I reached out to Seth, and said, ‘I haven’t talked to you in a while, but things have gotten crazy.’ I really want-ed to do something with him, but I wasn’t really sure what we should do.”

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Features

BatDad: Vine's Caped

Crusader Keeps It Real


Everyone knows that behind the cowl of the Bat is a man with the initials B.W. However, for fans of Vine, those letters are more like-

ly to stand for “Blake Wilson” than they are for “Bruce Wayne.” Known to millions in the digital

realm as “Bat-Dad,” Wilson has carved out a niche for himself as the caped crusader of solid parent-ing, doling out countless videos of gruff-voiced guidance for his four children.

A viral sensa-tion, BatDad

caught the attention of a plethora of media out-lets when he made his debut last year. Despite this, Wilson maintains the sudden visibility was never really part of the plan.

“I’m 30 years old, and I honestly can’t stand so-cial media,” Wilson tells me. “I never got behind Twitter, I have, like, 50 Facebook friends, I just never got into the whole thing. I wasn’t really planning to jump on the bandwagon. I was busy with work and my kids, it wasn’t something I was really looking for…but when Vine came out, it was different than everything else. It just real-ly grabbed my attention. Vine, to me, was a lot more fun than spending time on any other social media application. What people were creatively doing in a short time span is what grabbed my attention.”

While he admittedly had a newfound interest in

the latest social media app, Wilson still never thought it would be a device that would change his life.

“It was a complete f luke. It wasn’t planned,” he says. “We were going to another toddler’s birth-day party about a year ago, and we ran into Target to pick up a present. I saw the cowl, bought it, and when we got in the car, I put it on. I called myself BatDad, and just started making silly videos. It went from there. There was not a lot of thought put into it, we were just doing some-thing goofy and having fun. It just picked up speed on its own.”

Regardless of initial intent, Wilson’s social media persona struck a chord with the masses. With a gravelly cadence, millions began to tune in as BatDad shared integral life tidbits with his chil-dren. By referencing one of pop culture’s greatest personas, Wilson managed to catch the attention of those who recognize the dynamics of daily living requires as much heroics as the improbable world of comics.

A sensation, BatDad came to the attention of Jukin Media, which he eventually partnered with, extending his brand even farther into the digital space.

“We thought there was something interesting about BatDad,” says Jonathon Skogmo, CEO of Jukin. “We saw him rise through the ranks, and we really enjoyed his content. We thought he was a perfect example of an inf luencer that we could turn into a targeted brand.”

Through his partnership with Jukin, Wilson has seen a visibility via integrated branding that he admits he never thought was even possible.


“When I first started doing Vine, it wasn’t even a year old yet. I didn’t see much advertising ini-tially, because obviously, advertisers were wait-ing to see if anything would happen,” he says. “It’s something I never expected.”

…and yet, despite expectations, his persona has turned many heads, including coming to the attention of DC Comics, home of Batman him-self — a fact which seems to please the parental purveyor.

“As a kid, I was always into comic books, and I see all the movies that are made,” Wilson tells me, relating that he feels honored DC seems to be into what he’s doing. “It is pretty cool, and I often think about how people relate what I’ve done to Batman. It’s kind of crazy.”

Beyond a nod of approval from the iconic com-ics imprint (as well as Warner Bros, who preside over Batman’s cinematic side), BatDad was given the chance to further contribute to his part in

Bat history when DC asked him to partic-ipate in several vid-eos for the company’s YouTube channel last year. More than just a fun novelty, Wilson’s entertain-

ing brand of parenting has now become an offi-cial footnote in the legacy of one of pop culture’s most known characters.

Still, even with validation from Batman’s home base, the social media averse Wilson suggests

his particular brand of fame still requires some adjustment.

“I do feel overwhelmed. If I’m on too much…if I stay on Vine, if I stay on Instagram, and I read all the comments…it DOES get over-whelming,” he says. “But, my life hasn’t changed dramatically. I get recognized

every once in a while, but nothing crazy. The first couple months were a lot crazier than they are now, when things went viral and everyone was talking. A year a later, it’s calmed down.”

But, the calming tide doesn’t seem to be of con-cern to Wilson (who, we must note, still pulls in millions of viewers).

“When it comes to BatDad and social media, I am 100%, completely content with where it is right now,” says Wilson. “My family and I are good, we’re very fortunate for where we are and to be able to have the life that we have. I’ve always said this was just for fun, and that’s true. I’m having a good time, but if it went away, we’d survive. This is something we can all look back on and laugh at later down the road. It just comes to down to the fact that when things go viral, everybody wants a piece of it, and then it settles down. That’s how I look at it, and there’s not a single thought in my mind that this is somehow going to be our future. So, I just want to protect my family, keep our business, and keep having fun.”


Mobile Technologies Creators and Content Providers Should Try

For digital video creators who want to go mobile, Beachfront Builder has a simple solution — literally. The technology automatically creates an app when a creator inputs his or her username, uploading all of the videos on that channel to the new mobile app.

ShowMobile is a “mobile entertainment network” (read: an app) that lets fans interact with creators, as well as fellow fans, all in one place. Comprehensive creator-fo-cused social feeds bring Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook pages and content together in one place.

Tango started as a messaging app. Last June, it launched Tango Channels, a unique component that can help video creators and networks bring content closer to the consumer on mobile.

TouchCast allows users to put multiple types of media together on a single, interactive screen. For example, a vlogger can insert elements like social feeds, videos, web-pages, and polls into their videos, which viewers can then interact with while they’re watching the video.

Targeting the creative sect, Victorious wants to help those who already have a digital platform to quickly and painlessly turn it into a mobile app. The company has consulted with a number of top YouTube creators to develop its technology.


Fanta Takes to Vine and CollegeHumor for New Branded Comedy Series

Coca-Cola drink brand Fanta is embark-ing on a new Vine-centric branded comedy series called “Fanta for the

Funny” in partnership with CollegeHu-mor.

Starting today, Fanta and a few Vine stars it has partnered with will release week-ly comedy videos consisting of various six-second Vines stitched together. While focused on comedy, these clips will also focus on topics that teens care about, including sports and music, while also “channeling” Fanta’s “More Fanta, Less Serious” mantra, the brand said.

To create the videos, Fanta has enlisted the services of three Vine stars, Alli Cattt, Jason Mendez, and Mighty Duck, who will serve as the campaign’s “executive comedy team.” The trio, which collectively reach more than 3 mil-lion followers on Vine, will oversee a crew of seven Viners to create and share content. The team will also encourage users to post Vines based on the theme of the campaign,


which could make it into the official weekly “epi-sodes.”

“Today one-in-three teens doesn’t just want to be famous, but they believe they will actually be fa-mous, and they are inter-acting with Vines at twice the rate of other audiences in search of humor, enter-tainment, creativity, and conversation,” said Racquel

Mason, AVP Fanta and Fla-vors, in a statement. “‘Fan-ta For The Funny’ unites teens around their shared desire for fame and their shared passion for humor, while allowing them to be themselves and to connect their way.”

Running for six weeks, “Fanta for the Funny” will be available on CollegeHu-mor.com, and promoted

across Fanta’s social chan-nels. The content will also be supported with adver-tising across major digital networks, according to Fanta.

Fanta partnered with agen-cy 360i to build the cam-paign, with Starcom Me-diaVest Group handling the buy. The cost of the cam-paign is in the seven fig-ures, according to AdAge


News

British Vine Star ‘Dapper Laughs’ Scores TV Show with ITV

With each episode comprised of a series of sketches, “Dapper Laughs On the Pull” will follow O’Reilly as he hits the streets to provide single men tips on how to “pull” (pick-up women).

Vine Star Shawn Mendes Quickly Climbs to the Top of iTunes

15-year-old Mendes released his first EP and in less than 40 minutes, it climbed its way to number one on iTunes with the help of the almost 26,000 people watching his live stream of the album, whom he asked to help “get this bad boy to number one.”

Per the deal, she will work with Endemol Beyond USA to pro-duce original con-tent for YouTube and other platforms. The first project is a new online series based on an “adults say the darndest things” concept developed by Furlan.

From Vine to TV: Alx James Signs with Reality-TV Producer Collins Ave

He will now work in tandem with Collins Avenue and Content Media Corporation, the producer’s content and distribution partner, to develop reality projects.

Endemol Beyond USA Signs Vine Celeb Brittany Furlan


Vine Star Princess Lauren on Her Latest Brand Deal

Vine creator Princess Lauren (real name: Lauren Giraldo) has regularly managed to do something that most comedians constantly

struggle for — being hilarious in a matter of six seconds. The Vine star is only 16, but she’s al-ready gotten the attention of major brand Clean and Clear, meaning she will serve as brand am-bassador for their campaign to empower girls, #SeeTheRealMe. The campaign focuses on girls in pursuit of their passions (forget about acne — this is about strong women).

Giraldo speaks both English and Spanish, reach-ing a total of 2.9 million followers on Vine. This frames her as an attractive partner for brands, and she already boasts sponsors who will pay her just to share their videos with her large audience. We got to ask Giraldo some questions about her involvement in the Clear and Clear campaign and her life on Vine in general. Here’s what she had to say.......

Check out the full interview at www.thevideoinknews.com

5QS ....


Recap! VideoInk Presents… Mobile Video and Vine


For the full reap of the eventvisit www.thevideoink.comKeyword: Recap


Pluto.TV Adds More Top Digital Video Players to Lineup

Pluto.TV just announced a slew of new channels and content on the platform, all from major digital content companies in-cluding Complex Media, Fullscreen, Spin-Media, Popsugar, and HitFix. The new content will cover categories like gaming, fitness, music, news, and pop culture.

Joining videos from the likes of Funny or Die, the Young Turks, and traditional televi-sion programs, the following content is now launching on Pluto.TV:

Legendary Acquires Felicia Day’s Geek & Sundry Digital Studio

Legendary Entertainment has acquired Felicia Day’s Geek & Sundry business, which spans a production company and a network of channels on platforms like YouTube and Hulu. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

As part of the acquisition, Geek & Sundry chan-nels will be added to Legendary’s newly formed digital network, which the studio describes as a “fully-supported platform providing advertising, marketing, audience development, and production infrastructure to digital brands and talent.”

Waywire Networks, a service focused on providing video curation and discovery solutions for digital publishers, has hired Ben Fisher as it new chief technology officer. Previously, Fisher has served as a software engineer for multiple tech companies as well as Comcast.

Russell Simmons’ All Def Digital Raises $5M from

Greycroft, Others

All Def Digital, the urban culture-focused dig-ital media company from hip-hop mogul Rus-sell Simmons, has raised $5 million in a Series A round led by Greycroft Partners. Additional investors include Shari Redstone’s Advancit Capital and E.ventures, as well as Nu Horizons, which is a fund jointly established between Simmons and Kimora Lee Simmons-Leissner.

Waywire Names New CTO, Adds Netflix’s Product Chief to Advisor


“Because of the power that virality and the community have, YouTube has become the go-to place.” -- Shira Lazar, What’s Trending

“We love looking to YouTube to find talent for our programming. It has to do with au-thentic voices and stories.” --Erika Nardini, AOL Advertising

I think shareability is far more import-ant. About 75% of our traffic is driven by social. When someone shares a vid-eo, it’s much more powerful because it’s an endorsement.”--Jonathan Perelman, Buzzfeed

Jim Louderback leaves Rivision3

Untitled Hires Relativity Exec Kendall Rhodes

Brian Felsen moves to AdRev

Doug Scott Joins WME IMG

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