Big business is often very slow on the uptake. When a new media arises it often takes the monoliths of the publishing world many months or years to recognise it, but in the end they always do. In the end their brand of crass commercialism, middle of the road pap and anesthetic entertainment seeps into every crevace.
This was driven home to me today whilst browsing a few music videos. On the right hand side of the Youtube webpage are four "Director Videos", these are just videos posted by Youtube users who have been elevated to 'director' status. Really this just means that they have proven themselves competent at making interesting videos that people want to watch. I have often enjoyed clicking around the director videos. Just watching people being people; demonstrating impressive musical feats, quirky skills, amusing monologues and unlikely inventions.
I was disappointed, therefore, when I looked at the right hand side of the screen today and found the following four videos:
The four 'director' accounts are:
Sn00pD0ggyD0gg -- A YouTube user created by Snoop Doggy Dogg's marketing department in order to showcase his latest rap record
CBS -- A YouTube user created by CBS TV's marketing department in order to showcase their new television shows
TheEllenDegeneresShow -- A YouTube user created by The Ellen Degeneres Show's marketing department in order to showcase the Ellen Degeneres Show
TheWeinsteinCompany -- A YouTube user created by The Weinstein Company's marketing department in order to showcase a trailer for their latest (utterly anodyne) action movie
It never fails to make me sad when the advertising execs finally catch up with a new (well, not so new now) phenomenon like this, and begin to systematically flood the available 'advertising space' with their wares.
I woul be very interested to know how much it costs to turn your user into a director...
This was driven home to me today whilst browsing a few music videos. On the right hand side of the Youtube webpage are four "Director Videos", these are just videos posted by Youtube users who have been elevated to 'director' status. Really this just means that they have proven themselves competent at making interesting videos that people want to watch. I have often enjoyed clicking around the director videos. Just watching people being people; demonstrating impressive musical feats, quirky skills, amusing monologues and unlikely inventions.
I was disappointed, therefore, when I looked at the right hand side of the screen today and found the following four videos:
The four 'director' accounts are:
Sn00pD0ggyD0gg -- A YouTube user created by Snoop Doggy Dogg's marketing department in order to showcase his latest rap record
CBS -- A YouTube user created by CBS TV's marketing department in order to showcase their new television shows
TheEllenDegeneresShow -- A YouTube user created by The Ellen Degeneres Show's marketing department in order to showcase the Ellen Degeneres Show
TheWeinsteinCompany -- A YouTube user created by The Weinstein Company's marketing department in order to showcase a trailer for their latest (utterly anodyne) action movie
It never fails to make me sad when the advertising execs finally catch up with a new (well, not so new now) phenomenon like this, and begin to systematically flood the available 'advertising space' with their wares.
I woul be very interested to know how much it costs to turn your user into a director...
