Video Creators Should Own Sites
May 13, 2007 by Mike Abundo
Filed under Computers
While superdistribution creates breadcrumb trails that lead much-needed traffic to your primary site, online video creators would do well to make sure they own their primary sites.
When Christine Gambito first uploaded a video to YouTube, she had more in mind than sharing her creative side with strangers. The creator of the humorous one-woman online series HappySlip wanted to support herself without leaving her young son with strangers. She viewed online video sites as a way to become a stay-at-home actress, able to reach mass audiences without traveling to theater rehearsals and commercial auditions. “I think that really truly from the beginning there was a hope that I could make money,” says Gambito.
While Gambito was thrilled with the May 4 announcement that Google’s YouTube will share ad revenue with her and a handful of other top creators, her goal is to make money without the site. For budding Internet celebrities like Gambito, the real value of posting videos to YouTube and others like Revver is the potential to drive traffic to her own site, where she can reap the full financial benefits from her work. “You can’t sell your DVD on YouTube,” says Gambito.
Until today, I didn’t know Christine had a son. Knowing that makes her quitting nursing for online video all the more remarkable. Take it from a girl who feeds her kid through online video: if you want to make money in e-showbusiness, make your own site.
(Via Kevin Nalts.)
This idea that video content creators should have their own web sites is a no brainer. Why are so many blogs and news feeds reporting the idea as some kind of revelation?
Having your own site is no guarantee that you’ll convert views to sales. You still have to work just as hard marketing, promoting and keeping an eye on the bottom line.