Versaly Entertainment

I have been attending and speaking at industry events throughout my managerial career, spanning 12+ years now.  In the digital media industry, Digital Hollywood is one of my favorites.  These conferences are somewhat on the small size, but very well-run and with an A+ attendee list.

The next Digital Hollywood conference is next week, in Hollywood, CA.  For more info, see http://www.digitalhollywood.com/LASpring08Agenda.html.

I am a guest panelist on the “Movies, TV and Video for Mobile - Entertainment & Information Programming Jumpstarts the Revolution” session.  For more info, see http://www.digitalhollywood.com/08DHSpring/DHSp08Tues16.html.

Although I have spoken on panels with similar titles in the past, I always bring new information gathered from Vmbc.tv mobile video programming experiences.

Video is consumed on mobile and on the web basically from 2 types of app’s.  One is a plain video portal and the other is a social networking site.  Whether on-deck, off-deck, web, mobile or whatever…tons of people watch videos on video portals and social networking sites.

I discussed viewer acquisition and viewer retention in one of my past blogs.  I feel that the opportunity to market a video channel on a social networking site in order to drive viewership has a clear set of tasks.

(1)   Create videos the mass audience wants to watch (or large niche audiences)

(2)   Create videos with a good production quality…both audio and video

(3)   Create enough videos to capture a audience over time

(4)   Create a huge friends network by actively inviting and accepting invitations

a.      Do this on multiple sites

b.      Do this with multiple profiles

Item 4 above can be as costly and time consuming as the first 3, but if done well…a video channel can receive top viewership position.

How that is done…well…that is the “secret sauce” J.

The session agenda includes the challenges of creating and producing video form mobile.  I feel the challenge is more about reaching the audience and building a strong viewership.

Once there is a large following on a social networking site, the video channel can migrate to a plain video portal, and continue to attract and build a large audience.

A criteria for the on-deck video portals, like Verizon’s Vcast and Sprint’s Media Player, is for the video channel to bring its own audience and marketing plans.  Social networking is absolutely the path to this success.  Social networking is absolutely a viable marketing strategy for the always-connected mobile generation. Many of you already know this…the rest of you…take note.