With the viewership of online video and social media sites on the continued rise it is no surprise to see that brands have flocked to the web over traditional formats and for the first time in the UK brands have spent more money advertising on the web than on television.

In the first six months of 2011 web advertising rose by 13.5 percent to 2.26 billion pounds giving it a 27 percent share of the market. There has been a 100 percent increase in web video advertising with the fast moving consumer goods sector spending big on web ads and a massive increase in social media campaigns, all of these factors have contributed to the winning market share.

Within the realm of Internet advertising, the use of display format ads has increased by 18.5 percent due to the increased demand for online video advertising.

" The spectacular growth of video and social media powering brand display is key to online achieving a record share of 27 percent," commented Internet Advertising Bureau Chief Executive Guy Phillipson.

"FMCG advertisers were relatively late to the party, but now firmly established as the second highest-spending category, they clearly have all the proof they need to invest in line with the medium's share, and enjoy healthy returns from cross-media campaigns."

Want to know how to get the most out of your web video marketing? Check out our blog for the best advice.

 

The online videos broadcast by ABCNews.com will now feature news stories from Yahoo.com in a merger that brings together a combined monthly audience of over 100 million unique users.

The popular US News programme: Good Morning America will be one of the ABC highlights to be shown on Yahoo.com, which is said to be the most popular news website in the US. Co-Anchor George Stephanopoulos interviewed President Barack Obama as the first piece of web video content for the joint venture. Readers of both the Yahoo and ABC sites submitted questions for the interview, which can be found on the Newsmakers site.

This brand new platform is set to feature American news favourites such as Katie Couric and Diane Sawyer representing an amalgamation of Yahoo and ABC News content. This latest deal was actually started back in 2005 when ABC agreed to provide Yahoo with video news reports.

However, for Ben Sherwood, President of ABC News this latest development is a whole new ball game:

"This relationship will give ABC News an unrivalled ability to reach across the web, combining Yahoo's vast distribution and cutting-edge technology with our award-winning journalism. For years, we've proudly proclaimed that more Americans get their news from ABC News than any other source.

"Going forward, we will greatly expand this leadership by building a connection with a whole new online audience."

Find out how creating videos for your organization with Spectrecom can help boost your website and your business.

 

 

How to revive an ailing franchise? Online video. The Mortal Kombat series initially graced our small screens and games arcades throughout the nineties, shocking and delighting to great excess with its hyper-violent and bloody visuals.

Over the years the makers have gone on to produce many sequels varying in quality and popularity as well as two live action films and a television series. Recently the focus has returned to the gaming arena with the most recent iterations of the MK series garnering much praise since their release.

The latest version of the game was preceded by a web video series shown on the popular gaming website Machinima. The series entitled Mortal Kombat: Legacy was an offshoot from a short film directed by Kevin Tancharoen entitled Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, which made for $7,500 attracted attention to a franchise that although loved by many had been in the cinematic wilderness for some time…and with good cause.

However, the down to earth realism of Tancharoen’s vision coupled with the inclusion of classic characters and motifs including Johnny Cage, Shao Khan and Scorpion’s much beloved battle cry of “Get over here!” made it compulsive viewing for all gaming fans and created a massive viral sensation; the total views on YouTube are currently upwards of 30 million.

Now in an effort to return Mortal Kombat to the big screen, New Line Cinema have hired Tancharoen to direct a Mortal Kombat feature film on the basis of the success of the web videos. “You don’t have to squint too hard to see how it could make a good movie.” Said New Line president Toby Emmerich.

Have you got a web series? Keep our blog bookmarked to find out all the latest online video news and get tips on making your clips a success.

If you wanted to watch a web video of tortoise getting intimate with a shoe, YouTube has been the number one platform for online videos showcasing the sublime to the ridiculous for some time. Whilst it was initially designed with the average user in mind it has in recent years been taken over by corporate channels, companies and television networks all hungry to get in on site and more importantly get a piece of the staggering amount of views that flood in on a daily basis.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the site and its owners Google are currently putting the finishing touches on a massive content push with various studios and networks to the tune of $100 million. Here are some of the potential new partners according to the WSJ: NewsCorp, Warner Bros. Fremantle Media, Tony Hawk and Verso Entertainment.

With advertising prices at an all time low it is likely that the studios will plan on releasing a slew of pilots as well as programmes that would benefit from the online platform, such as reality formats with their voting and gossip needs.

If you want to keep up with the gossip in the video production world why not follow our Twitter feed.

 

Paparazzi spoilers and secretly filmed web video uploads throughout the shoot have plagued the third and final Batman film in director Christopher Nolan’s sequence, with a plethora of media having already been released to the delight and lament of fans in equal measure.

The web video of Christian Bale’s crusader battling with villain Bane played by the seemingly ubiquitous Tom Hardy has already garnered much attention across various online video websites, but the latest in this long line is the revelation of Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman costume.

Considering the incredible costume work achieved in the previous films including Heath Ledger’s now iconic Joker garb and downright frightening Scarecrow hood, the leaked images of the latest Catwoman are sadly a little disappointing.

Nolan has transferred the gritty realism of Frank Miller and Alan Moore’s incarnations of the Batman universe into his films and therefore a foray into the camp glamour of the original Michelle Pfeiffer latex and stitches was never really on the cards but this bland wetsuit style ensemble is definitely lacking something…though it does come with some little ears.

Pending some more paparazzi interference we’ll have to wait until July 2012 to find out if the costume gets a tail. For now here’s the absolute tease of a first trailer:

Find out more about how movie trailers get a viral video boost on our blog.