Om Malik anounced a new venture today called NewTeeVee Station, an editorial driven guide to online videos:

...NewTeeVee Station is your guide to online video, pointing you to hot new memes, following the emerging stars of the web, and just generally indexing this new entertainment medium. Whereas in the past we covered online video shows like Ask a Ninja, Obama Girl andWallstrip from a business perspective, now we’re also reviewing content for content’s sake...

....NTV Station features editorial reviews of online videos written by a team led by Liz Shannon Miller, who comes to us from Variety and the Daily Reel. We eliminate the static and bring to you videos that are actually good — but also the stuff that’s so bad it has everyone talking... When you visit the front page of NTV Station, you’ll see in one glance what’s hot at that very moment. Our editors monitor the online video universe and refresh the site with new videos throughout the day. A special widget developed using the VodPod API allows you to scroll through all of our past video picks....

I am a big fan of sites trying to make some sense of all the videos out there. In a past, I wrote a hotly debated post where I asked when would someone create an online HBO equivalent, and gang all the best video shows to one site. This is a form of content discovery in my opinion - a way to bring the best videos to my computer screen. Would Om answer my prayers?

Challenges ahead

Value

There were several initiative in this area, one of them was Jeff Pulver's Network2.tv. While N2 was aiming at being a definitive guide to all episodic video on the web, it seems that Om's effort is a mix of being IMDB and an editorial driven site, that does some filtering for the audience. What I am missing here is a clear value proposition, or, in other words, what exactly should I expect - the best videos? The hottest videos? All the "good" videos?

Definition of Quality

One of the trickiest issues in the world of online video is the definition of quality. How can the editor in NTV know what's good for me? Though philosophical in nature, it is a major challenge, that I'd love to hear Om's opinion about.

User Interface

Last but not least, user interface is one of the biggest challenges in online video today. Looking at the current interface of most video recommendation sites, one would see the same scroll down page with x amount of videos. This interface works for YouTube, but in my opinion should be improved. NewTeeVee is built as a blog, and as such it is well designed. As a video interface - not so good IMHO:

1. Almost one-third of the screen is dedicated to promotion, ad space, and other money making machines.

2. Viewers need to scroll down in order to see recommended shows.

3. Video player is covering a small amount of the screen - while it is supposed to be the dominant experience

4. Users need to click at least twice to start playing a video

My belief is that online video interfaces should be, well, video interfaces. I'd like to see a site with a dominant video player, where users could navigate and find the best videos for them. This way, the video experience is the dominant one, and not the textual interface.

I hope that Om will be successful in this project - the web certainly needs one!

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Shel Israel and Loren Feldman are fighting. Yep, a good old, ego driven, social media fight.

This clip started it all:

and Shel responded by saying

Now Matt, let's talk about GlobalNeighbourhoods.tv, which you deemed "unwatchable" because of my ineptitude as a videographer and because you think my interviews are unfocused and boring.I think you are being a bit harsh on the interview skills. I have lots of experience over a good number of years interviewing all sorts of people and my work has been historically well received. But what is true is that I suck as a videographer and my worries about that have so far hurt some of the five video clips we have posted.

The fact is that FastCompany.TV is being treated as start up, which is exactly what it is. That means low budget. While FastCompany is talking with several companies, there is no sponsor yet. The top priority for what we will do with a sponsor is to get an AV professional to work with me on a format for the show and to be with me for all my interviews. This will allow me to focus on the interviews themselves, and area where I am pretty confident.

Shel - I am all with you. It is hard to do good videos. But, in the Internet, you can make great looking videos with simple equipment. That's the whole thing with videobloggers. Kathryn did a low cost production which looked great. Galacticast guys are shooting in their living room, and their show looks great as well.

There are some basic things that can help - editing, editing, audio and editing. It can be done with your own Mac. Nothing fancy. So let's not blame lack of budget for all the things that are wrong with Internet video. I think there are couple of other things there too...

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In a previous post I compared the feature set of some of the key live video platforms such as BlogTV. In this post I'd like to explore together with you, how can videobloggers leverage live platforms. By saying videobloggers, I am referring to creators who are making episodic content, that is produced professionally or semi professionally.

What is so special about live shows? I believe there are 4 main characteristics that make live vlogging unique:

1. Real time interaction - unlike blogging, where readers and bloggers interact a-synchronously, in live video platforms, one can chat with the broadcaster and others directly. this option opens a wide range of creative abilities.

2. Coverage of time critical events - sport and political events are great examples of media that losses it value as time goes by. If you don't watch a football game live, knowing the score at the end of the game reduces your emotional reaction to the game itself. So, live coverage adds value to the media,

3. Expansion of the experience to those who couldn't attend it

4. Capturing the energy of a live event.

So how could vloggers utilize this technology in order to augment their regular shows?

Here are some of my thoughts:

1. If you are vlogging about music, it's a no brainer - shot a live gig, or interview the artist for a live Q&A session. This subject matter is the one that can benefit the most from this technology.

2. The same goes for politics. Q&A with a candidate, and streaming of a live debate with viewers comments are two simple ways to leverage this technology and enrich an already existing vlog

3. Live broadcasting can reduce production costs, especially of talk shows. I was looking into this topic in the past, and found that you can reuse live materials to create an edited version of your show. This way you can benefit in two levels: first, you are having a live talk show, that interacts with the viewers. Second, you reduce shooting time, as now you have the material for the edited version. Jonny is doing a great job in this field.

4. In a dramatic show, creators can do a special event of a live episode. Kathryn did a whole show like that, and I am certain that Andrew Lipson have a lot to contribute to this. However, even if one episode is done live and the rest is pre-recorded, producers can create an event around it, generating buzz from the fact that the episode is unfolded live and viewers can interact with the actors.

What are your thoughts? How can vloggers leverage this medium to enhance viewership of their shows?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_LQU2-GOXY]

They are glad to be alive too