"THE BEST OF ONLINE VIDEO SITES"
A STUDY ON WHAT'S GOOD AND WHATS CRAP:
(Recommendations for online video junkies and marketers)

Marketing on Online video sites - the best of!
A quick study of the best that online has to offer.
Weeding out the online video posting garbage sites and looking at what sites are worth your time.

300 ONLINE VIDEO SITES ANALYZED - 47 REMAIN

INTRODUCTION:
It was not too long ago that myspace was the new buzz term flying around and suddenly everyone was anxious to build up there online friends status. When someone had mentioned YouTube, I was buzzed out and wrote it off as another up and starter. Suddenly it seemed almost overnight, (although it was many months later ) I was hearing about how average Joe's had become popular due to some unique video posting that was circulating among internet channels.

Then it occurred to me. Web surfers had found a new outlet for online entertainment. Of course for every cool clip there are hundreds of couch directors and handheld mishmash but now and then something interesting turns up. Blame it on the networks with all the "reality" spinoffs they force down our throats. I still remember the days of sitcom lunacy and scripted entertainment. Although there is hope. Shows like "Heroes", "The Office", "Dexter", "Supernatural", "Reno 911" and "Masters of Horror" fill my weekly TV agenda. So add to that now the online film makers. Those who supply us with entertaining content that we can enjoy in at the comfort of work, our offices and boredom.

In the interest of checking out a new marketing portal and wanting to know out of the 300 plus sites that had emerged which ones would "really" be worth my time spent uploading video marketing materials, I set out on a 2 week journey.

THE ANALYSIS STEPS!
It entailed compiling a list of what lists were available of all the online video sites I could find.
Step 2 - signing up for accounts
Step 3 - preparing a collection of files that I would upload in hopes of determining which sites were most compatible and user friendly
Step 4 - Analyzing for ease of upload, ability to handle files and those that could handle at least a 100MB limit

THE WINNERS - FOR NOW!
This is the list I weeded down to after several hours of uploading, checking results and dealing with the variety of interfaces.
The Winners (for now)!

YouTube
Guba
Yahoo Video
MySpace
MetaCafe
Google Video
Revver
DailyMotion
Blip
Bright Cove
AOL Video
Veoh
iFilm
GoFish
EyeSpot
Buzznet Video
Seven Load
Grind TV
Grouper / Crackle
Break
Heavy
Vimeo
VSocial
Motion Box
Atom Films
Dabble
eSnips
Imeem
JumpCut
Facebook
PhotoBucket Video
ClipShack
FlixFocus
Flixya
Ganges
VidiLife
Ipernity
Kewego
LiveVideo
LuLu TV
Nelsok
Self Cast TV
Viddler
Video Bomb
VMix
You Are TV
Bloody Disgusting (Horror content only)

THE LOSERS
Now without giving a site-for-site analogy I can tell you that the ones that were eliminated suffered from one or more of the following characteristics:
A) Inadequate upload maximum (usually limited to 10-25 mb's - inadequate for any uploader)
B) Account sign ups that would verify and still not allow access
C) No uploading features ( merely a channel viewer of some sort)
D) Even after waiting for a 15 min to hr file upload - no sign of uploaded files in the account
E) A beta version that worked poorly or just plain lack of functionality. What I called the "built-and-abandoned".
F) A site that "charges" for your upload - pay to post--ugh!- next
G) A multi loader that simply didn't work
H) A lack of user input such as description, change of title or tags
I) Complex user scenario that even after 20 minutes still didn't make sense
J) A specialty such as cooking, that although served purpose was only geared to a small niche market.
K) A foreign only site, that was clearly not meant for the USA.

$1.99/1st yr. domains from Yahoo! Now its not about money any more.

Rather than listing them and hurting any efforts underway, (as many were clearly in beta modes) I chose to just eliminate them from the master list. The one thought that did come to mind was this.......
Many of these were started in a hurry to jump on the online bandwagon. When the competition became overwhelming, the sites were somewhat abandoned in unfinished modes as a result. Thus the result was too much with too little to offer consumers..

AIDS OR OTHER SOLUTIONS
Now after this exhausting trek thru hours of scrutiny there are some solutions for making your life a little easier!
It appears that software packages are "starting" to undergo development, but I didn't feel like investing in them at this time, till I knew more about what was the best. Rather I concentrated on finding free methods.

One such solution was a nifty little site called: "Tube Mogul"
http://www.tubemogul.com/

Tube Mogul - a free site, lets you upload your clip and simultaneously distribute it to 9 top sites all at once!
The great thing is you can log out, check back on it later and it works in the background.
Why couldn't it be this simple for all the sites?
I'm sure that question will be answered soon.

In the mean time, enjoy your surfing and film, film, film!!
Written by MIKE BOHATCH © 2007 Eyes of Chaos