Surprise, surprise, Revision3 is actually in business to make money. And it’s not all that inexpensive to produce the fine high-quality entertainment you’ve come to know and love.
Sure, we’re not producing Cavemen or Bionic Women (thankfully). But it does cost real money to pay for producers, the studio, and Martin Sargent’s private masseuse and personal makeup consultant.
That’s why we have show sponsors, and that’s why the best way to support the shows you love is to buy products and services from those sponsors. However, just as we’re blazing a new trail in internet television, we’re also working overtime to be just as innovative with advertising and show sponsorships.
So that’s why, later this week, we’re going to be among the first Internet video networks to roll out an innovative new way for marketers to support Revision3. It’s from Google, and it’s called AdSense for Video. Of course it has a catchy TLA, and AFV promises to help us to keep delivering all those great shows for free, day in and day out.
You’ll only see these new advertisements when you stream our shows using the built-in flash player on our website. Every now and then, but only once per video, you’ll see an ad from Google pop up on the bottom of the video player. Do nothing, and it’ll stay there for a minute. However, with a simple click you can make it quickly disappear.
Also, on some of our shows, you’ll see ads pop up after the video comes to an end. Feel free to click liberally on both the bottom-based and those end-of-video ads – you’ll be supporting Revision3 with every click!
Now I know some of you will be shocked, shocked to find that we’d even consider running advertising like this. There’s a certain purity of essence of Revision3 videos, and these ads do tend to impinge on those precious show moments. But understand that we do need to bring more money into Revision3, so we can keep the lights on. We’re also just testing these new ad formats. Who knows, they might not work at all, or they might be so heinous that we decide to rework them.
For those of you who hate change, and find this type of advertising morally or intellectually reprehensible, I say relax. Grab yourself a glass of rainwater and grain alcohol and give ‘em a try. You might actually find something worth clicking on.
If you really can’t stand them, I’ve got a quick alternative. Try downloading one of our shows, instead of watching in the flash player. At least for now, those downloads remain pure.
Oh, and thanks for supporting Revision3, and thanks again in advance for supporting our sponsors.
Finally, a word of caution. If this doesn’t work, we may well have to revert to Plan B: PBS-style pledge drives to raise enough money to keep your favorite shows alive. And believe me, nobody wants to see a cranky, overtired Martin Sargent begging for spare change hour after hour, like some cheap floozy on the street corner, while Gator sits in the background, alternately fondling and licking a terminally cute Hello Kitty phone, all the while jamming it up against his ear while he takes your pledge and steals your credit card number. Consider yourself warned.
– Jim Louderback, CEO
Tags: blog
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 4:21 pm and is filed under Announcements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Personally, I download the HD versions of the show so this doesn’t bother me at all. I wonder though, how many people actually watch the videos using the flash player? I’m guessing it’s a higher percentage than I thought, but it’d be cool to know.
I download. I only stream Lil Internet Superstar and the occasional Tekzilla Daily.
This post really screams “Rev3 is struggling for cash.” Care to ease my uncertainty?
Don’t worry Harris. We’re fine. But we are in business to make money, and I’m not sanguine about our ability to charge viewers for our great shows.
So… we need advertising.
I watch the sorter shows, like the daily bits and the Gazette in the Flash player, but my longer big 5 (Diggnation, Systm, Tekzilla, PixelPerfect, TRS) I download and watch later.
Also, for revenue generation, Jim, do you guys get anything for the show t-shirts sold through Jinx? I really don’t see that stuff promoted around this site at all. If anything I’d say that might be a line to expand - there’s already Systm, diggNation and theBroken shirts walking around my school (Art Institute of CA - right here in SF… need a 3D animator?) - why not got the whole branding 9 yards and give us beanies, lanyards, bumper stickers, etc.?
Or perhaps the SomaFM model - *donate* $20, we’ll send you a *free* shirt? (Silly wording, but I love em anyway)
Just thoughts.
I subscribe on Itunes. But lately I’ve been watching them on the website. Why? You may ask. Quicker to watch and lately I’ve been dusting off previous episodes and rewatching them. I love the chat feature while watching rev 3 tv section. I don’t mind a little google between me and my Jessica. I do click stuff on digg.com just cuz i know it helps, so i don’t mind doing that here. So even if you download and don’t stream stop by and click a couple. Maybe we can start get Martin some ram for his state of the art built tough computer.
oooooo office depot im gonna check ram prices
Ah, the true reason for the “live” rev3 broadcast finally rears its head.
Well, I for one NEVER watch the flash player. I don’t understand why anyone would choose the flash over downloading the file. I can still watch the file as I’m downloading it anyway with players like VLC and KMPlayer.
Anyway, I actually would prefer to see the telethon type donations. I wouldn’t mind forking over $200 a year or so.
I’m all for in-video bottom banner ads. Rev3 needs to make bank and I’ll gladly click on them while I watch any of the shows.
Btw…I’m a big fan of the new larger video player on the site. I usually catch up on Rev3 shows during my lunch break and downloading the files to my measly 40GB drive just doesn’t cut it.
Keep up the good work! A few more shows on Rev3 and the cable box goes away for good.
i agree with redkat85, i would love to see more things to buy from rev3, i love my rev3 t shirt and i still sport my ctrl alt chicken shirt even tho you guys killed it! But come on where is my tekzilla gear, also i have a friend who bought the same computer sticker Patrick has after seeing it on the shows, what if you went to a truman show style ads, where things in the show you can purchase thru your website and that will help bring in the cash, i know trs kinda does this with amazon already. Just my thoughts, i don’t want to see rev3 turn into tech tv and get bought out and turned into a big pile of crap.
I certainly don’t disagree at all with this move. Revenue is a must for every company especially media. I felt just fine with the “Membership” platform and would still support Rev3 through that mean again if it were offered. Something to consider… At any rate, I download almost all of my content too, with the exception of the mini shows.
Keep up the good work. Rev3 has a lot to offer yet!
I love Revision3 and I will back it up all the way… However, this does sort of confirm my comment in the forums about the company growing to big, to fast. I don’t hardly even watch tv anymore, just rev3. Like I said, I will back this site up all the way, however I hate the phrase (In business to make money.) I know it’s true but there’s something about that phrase that makes my skin crawl. I would much rather believe that you guys make it for the sheer love of it.. Sadly the world doesn’t work like that
Anyways, On a side note, you guys could use that new live feed to actually do a live pledge drive, and allow people to send in money via paypal….. Thank about it Jim.. Set up some good acts wail have Martin begging…. I’d pay to see that.
I think this is a bad move. I only download the HD episodes, so it won’t immediately effect me (until you decide to add this crap to download episodes, thats when I stop supporting your network).
I’m with the donation/marathon idea personally. I’d much rather donate to you guys than be subjected to vile advertisements. I’d also like to see more products/clothing to buy based on your shows. That would be a great way to make more income.
I’ll say it, if you can’t figure out a way to adapt and make money without degrading the quality of your shows by using annoying ads (which I what I consider these), then even though I love my TRS and Diggnation, I’d rather see the company fail.
Chris T Be realistic. Your getting free programing off the Internet for 30 seconds of some text at the bottom of the screen. I think this is a good move because I enjoy seeing quality web video and hate seeing great things die for money reasons.
Ah, I was wondering when you guys would start to try to make some money. With any other company, I would be worried; but I known that rev3 will make these ads as unobtrusive to the content as possible.
While donations by members are great, they likely wouldn’t cover rev3 operating costs. I have always liked rev3 because it wasn’t subscription based. I also enjoy the way sponsors are integrated into the various shows. I believe that the new overlay ads are the next, necessary step in making rev3 profitable. In fact, I think relevant ads might actually add to the value of the content, especially in shows like TRS and Tekzilla (for example, when Dan talks about a movie on TRS, the ad might take me to a site where I can purchase the DVD of that movie).
I would like to see your shows on DVD one day.. Just make sure they have loads of extra features and make sure they are set at 20 bucks a season… I don’t by tv shows over $20 a season… $25 max. I would also like to see more merchandise for sale. And not just shirts and Hats. Go crazy.. Revision3 pens, Blankets, coffee cups, (Kevin Rose Kool Kit??) Internet Superstar Holographic images. Gator on one side, Martin on the other. Or Martin going from regular cloths to his dream coat outfit… I’D BUY THAT. But I will support you guys til the end, as long as you dont go to a subscription service… Think of it this way… You pay for cable tv and you have cable… But if you make rev3 subscription only, it would be… pay for internet– No revision3…. Pay even more get the content….– Have it? Who would pay 2 bills when they can watch Television all in one bill? So do what you have to do to bring us great content…. But just make sure it stays great content and don’t let the ads take over the show. I’m fine with 3 commercials per show, Open, middle, End, but more than that begins to get annoying. Expectually if the show is less than 1 hour long.
How dare you even consider running ads like this? I am shocked!
I watch on the flash. I watch at work and switch back and forth between working and typically just listening to the episode.
No biggie on the ads. As was stated, it’s a quick click to get rid of, but most of the time I don’t enough know they are there.
Keep up the good work!
I would like to know WHY you deleted my comment. I was just wondering why you are encouraging people to click the ads, which normally is against the Adsense TOS even though I see you try to do it indirectly by saying “Feel free to click liberally”.
I would see why you would ignore my question, but why would you delete it?
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