SocialNext

Pepsi Hosting Online Super Bowl Party; Will Anyone Show?

Pepsi is hosting a multi-platform, interactive online Super Bowl Party hosted by Will Arnett (Arrested Development, 30 Rock) and Andy Rickter (Late Night with Conan O’Brien) for people who “have nothing to do on the Super Bowl”.

It’s certainly an interesting concept. The site features an intro video from Will Arnett (Nicely embedded in HD by the way) inviting people to the event.  It also allows users to interact with each other by uploading their own videos to Pepsi’s YouTube Channel. There will be guest appearances by YouTube’s “most famous celebs” and there’s even a link to add people to the Pepsi’s event page on Facebook.

While this is a very cool idea it doesn’t seem to be gaining traction. As of this post Will’s intro video only has 44,181 views and the follow up video has only 216 views (yikes!). The Facebook Event page reinforces this perception with only 213 RSVPs. That’s not a lot for a party that goes from 7 AM to Midnight. (Really? That long?)

I believe this missed the mark because it focuses on people who don’t participate in Super Bowl Sunday. Will also brands these people “losers” which doesn’t help. Plus I think YouTube assumed their YouTube celebrities would promote their appearance. That doesn't appear to be the case. I searched around YouTube and couldn't find anything.

It seems this would be a bigger hit if Pepsi fused it into the Super Bowl as opposed to playing against it. Perhaps it could be part of an alternate Half Time event or part of the pre-game coverage. This would allow you to market to the vast majority of Americans who watch the Super Bowl and would allow Pepsi to showcase the best content they have as opposed to trying to fill 16 hours of time.

Monty Python Scores Big on YouTube

 Several months ago legendary sketch comedy group Monty Python launched an official YouTube channel featuring their sketches plus interviews and other unreleased material with links to where to buy their work on Amazon in the video description. 

The result? According to Fast Company sales of Monty Python DVD on Amazon.com rose a staggering 23,000% percent.

That is pretty darn impressive and I think the key here isn’t that their material is online…it’s that their material is on YouTube.

YouTube has the largest user base of any video site and everyone knows how to embed and send YouTube links. By harnessing the capabilities of the site and directly interacting with their fans they’ve achieved an unheard of sales increase. Plus, how many new people have been exposed to their work as a result of this initiative? Probably a lot.

Too many times companies are concerned with the advertising that would play next to their content. The Python example shows that they should be more concerned with how the internet can grow DVD sales and expand and motivate a fan base. A motived fan base will impact the bottom line a lot more than trying to sell ring tone ads next to content.

I hope my other favorite sketch comedy group, The Kids in the Hall, is listening.

YouTube Testing Hulu Features

YouTube has copied one of my favorite features on Hulu.com – the site they so infamously referred to as Clown Co.

Above the video on YouTube there is a light bulb button which will “Turn Down the Lights” and darken the rest of the screen. [screen shot at left]

It doesn’t seem to be on all of YouTube’s videos yet so it must still be in testing.

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YouTube Features Inaugural Addresses; Except Carter

To celebrate the inauguration of President Barack Obama YouTube is featuring the Inaugural Addresses of former presidents on the front page.

It’s a great look at history and the different speeches these men gave: FDR in 1933, Truman in 1949, Eisenhower in 1953, JFK in 1961, Johnson in 1965, Nixon in 1969, Reagan in 1981, H.W. Bush in 1989, Clinton in 1993 and George W. Bush in 2001.

The only president that seems to be missing Jimmy Carter. I found it here doing a search. All the featured videos are on CSPAN's YouTube Channel so perhaps it was a deal for CSPAN rather than an attempt to feature all the former presidents with a recorded inauguration.

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Heroic US Airways Pilot has Facebook Fan Page

Capt. C.B. Sully Sullenberger is the pilot of the US Airways jet that crashed into the Hudson River this week. Thanks to his heroic actions all 150+ people aboard survived.

I’m sure Sullenberger will be reaping rewards for his superb job: promotions, media interviews, Facebook Fan Page. Wha?

That’s right Sullenberger has a Facebook Fan Page with over 34,000 fans.

That’s more fans than Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner (3,000), the Microsoft Zune (7,501) and even more fans than the entire airline he works for, US Airways (1,574)!

So congrats to you Capt. Sullenberger! I know all the Friend Requests are great now but just wait until they all start SuperPoking you.

YouTube Now Recommending Subscriptions

 YouTube now has a new recommendation feature.  When users subscribe to a channel YouTube will recommend “related channels” for the user to check out. [picture at left]

In this example when I subscribed to DrunkHistory YouTube recommended two other channels: clarkduke and maplestreet.

It appears the recommendation engine is based around the video descriptions as opposed to the type of channel it is.

For example, clarkduke and maplestreet are Director Channels while DrunkHistory is a Comedian Channel. However, since all three channels feature Michael Cera YouTube considers them relevant to each other.

It’s a great way for users to find new content they might not have otherwise found and another way to increase page views for YouTube.

Report: MySpace Working on Webmail

TechCrunch is reporting that MySpace is building its own webmail product to compete with Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and others.

I’ve thought for a long time that MySpace is essentially creating a portal built around social networking and this is another step in the right direction. Webmail will further ingrain users into MySpace and create a ton of page views to sell advertising on.

MySpace doesn’t get a lot of respect but all they’ve done is create a profitable site with loads of opportunities for advertisers without alienating their group of users. That's pretty darn impressive.

YouTube Ruining User Experience; Opens Door for Competition

YouTube as always had a tough time dealing with users uploading copyrighted material. They’ve tried deleting it, offering free music to replace the copyrighted audio with and other measures.

Now they’re just muting the videos. That’s right. NO SOUND.

I’ve read lots about it from multiple sources but no one has mentioned the fact that this will ruin the YouTube user experience!

The average user doesn’t know, or care, about copyright issues – they just want to see (and hear!) a video. Perhaps after finding a few of these they’ll wonder what the heck is wrong and check out another site like Veoh.

It may not be that dramatic but if you take away loads of content people want and add a creepy element to the user experience what else could you expect?