Stampy Cat Started Playing Minecraft When The Kids Did, Hence His Success

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by Jessica Klein

Called “the Mr. Rogers of Minecraft” by Entertainment Weekly, Stampy Cat creator Joseph Garrett stands out among the countless Minecraft video creators on YouTube for his family-friendly content. He told Rhett & Link about how he came up with his Mr. Rogers-esque routine on this week’s “Ear Biscuits.”

To give some background, Garrett posts multiple kid-targeted Let’s Play style videos a week, the most regular of which focus on Minecraft. His main Minecraft video series takes place “in his lovely world, {link no longer active}” and it always starts off with Garrett’s character, Stampy, in his bedroom, giving his token greeting, eating cake for breakfast, and then going to his “love garden,” which includes mentions of audience members who have created fan art for Stampy.

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This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

Joyus Raises $24 Million To Do More ‘Shoppable Videos’

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by Sahil Patel

Joyus has raised $24 million to bring its “shoppable videos” to more platforms across the web.

The financing was led by Marker LLC and Steamboat Ventures, a venture-capital firm affiliated with Disney. Existing investors including Accel Partners, InterWest, and Time Warner Investments, also contributed to the round.

The San Jose-based company said it will use the new capital to invest in product, engineering, and expanding distribution for its video network.

If you’re not familiar with Joyus, it’s one of a small group of companies doing “shoppable videos.” Essentially, it works with brands to produce videos for fashion, beauty, health, and lifestyle products that women would want to buy. It has its own interactive video player, which is available on its website and across a number of sites owned by publishing partners such as People, AOL, Hearst, Real Simple, Hollywood Life, and others. The company takes about half of the revenue generated from purchases, with publishing partners also getting a cut.

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This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

Oculus Story Studio Brings ‘Really The First Character’ To VR

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by Jessica Klein

Oculus’s Story Studio has announced its second film, Henry, about a hedgehog who wants nothing more than to be able to hug his friends without hurting them.

Described as a film containing “really the first character in virtual reality” by Edward Saatchi, a producer at Story Studio, “Henry” takes viewers inside of the hedgehog’s animated world, starting in his home on his birthday. The film brings virtual reality to a more whimsical place than is generally presented by the medium, which often favors science fiction over heartwarming, family fun.

Here’s a little preview of Henry, including commentary from its Story Studio creators…

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

Vimeo Enters Subscription Video Business With New Tools For Creators

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by Sahil Patel

Vimeo is offering a new way for individual video creators to make money on its platform — as part of a broader expansion the company has planned to get into the subscription video business.

The company, which has long eschewed the ad-supported model, has released a new set of tools for creators to sell and control monthly subscriptions across Vimeo’s distribution footprint. This means that creators can now offer subscriptions via the Vimeo On Demand storefront, Vimeo’sPublisher Network (which includes more than 100 publishers offering curated libraries to their respective audiences), and on any website using Vimeo’s embeddable HD player.

Creators will also retain a lot of control over how their subscriptions work. With the new tools, they can set pricing, offer subscriptions worldwide or restrict them to select countries, and offer their fans additional perks such as free subscription trials, free episodes, and exclusive bonus material.

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This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

How Netflix Can Do So Much More Than Pre-Roll Ads

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Today Motherboard reported that Netflix is testing out running advertisements that run before and after a user watches a video, showing that Netflix is caving a bit to pressure to have more of a Hulu/HBO-like model. In fact, there have been predictions that Netflix would have to look into this form of advertising to be more profitable at some point.

As Netflix’s growth continues to be strong with an acute focus on acquiring and retaining users by way of creating their own content, this move seems like a huge step back, not just for Netflix, but for advertising, too.

“Internet TV is divorced of the need of advertising revenue because we can develop direct relationships with the consumer,” said Neil Hunt, Netflix’s chief product officer back in May of last year. Hunt even went on to say that marketers will have to “find a different place to advertise.”

For a company who has been eager to advertise their shows through immaculate use of native advertising, I find it curious that they are not seeing the opportunities for brands to “advertise” within their own content.

Why make over-the-top services look more like linear TV Why not innovate and push back You’re marketing to consumers who were raised on ad-skipping through TiVo and now they’re doing the same thing with YouTube adblockers. It doesn’t matter how long, short or entertaining your spot is, they are skipping it. The very reason why users are electing to opt for paid streaming services is so that they no longer have to deal with the intrusion. It’s only a matter of time before users find a way to get around those too.

Michelle Phan Boosts Beauty Vloggers With Ipsy Open Studios

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YouTube’s biggest breakout beauty guru, Michelle Phan, has launched a free program for other beauty entrepreneurs to have access to tools and advice to advance their careers. The program is under the brand Ipsy, which is a monthly beauty product sample service with over 1 million subscribers and more than $150 million in revenue annually.

Ipsy Open Studios will provide those who want to follow in Phan’s footsteps with not just studio space, but audio and lighting equipment, an editing suite and mobile apps and digital tools. Michelle Phan and staff will provide mentoring both at the studio and through Google Hangouts.

Over 1,000 participants so far are vying for spots in the free program, as the platform could be immensely helpful in building important skills and business relationships.

“Those are the people creating the next generation of beauty brands. If we can provide a platform for all these beauty creators as they’re growing up and getting more famous, it builds an affinity between us and them,” said Ipsy co-founder and CEO Marcelo Camberos.

“I’ve built the roadmap for the past eight years for any beauty creator,” said Phan. “It’s something I had to build out, and now I want to go into the next stage of my career and mentor other creators and pave a new road.”

When Phan had started her venture, the YouTube beauty guru as we know it wasn’t a community and brands hadn’t yet conceived of the influence beauty vloggers now hold.

“The sphere of influence is shifting entirely to digital content creators. For years, the beauty brands have been creating their own beautifully produced content and putting it up on YouTube and Instagram, but the problem is no one was watching it. Now, they’re recognizing that Michelle and her peers have the influence and authority,” said Jennifer Goldfarb, Ipsy co-founder and president.

 

Snapchat Raises A Lot Of Money, A Few Months After Raising A Lot Of Money

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by Sahil Patel

Snapchat eventually wants to be known as a media company. The Los Angeles-based startup now has even more money to make that possible.

According to a filing with the SEC, Snapchat has raised $537.6 million from a group of 35 investors in the past few months, and hopes to raise as much as $112 million more as part of a massive $650 million round. Even without the additional capital, Snapchat has raised more than $1 billion in the past year alone; it raised more than $485 million in a Series D round that closed at the end of 2014.

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This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

OrangeCon Is a Zero-Sum Game Promotion for Netflix

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by Allen Weiner

The Next Big Con

Following in the footsteps of sports card collectors, comic book fan-folks and sci-fi geeks, Netflix is turning one of its most popular shows, Orange Is the New Black into a “convention” which will celebrate the start of the fourth season of the show and everyone associated with it. Unless memory fails me, TV shows aren’t generally honored with such tributes until they are off the air (or streams). Those behind The Brady Bunch, Leave it to Beaver, and even Star Trek used to hold events in which aging stars were dragged out to sign autographs while devotees dressed up in their dorkiest celebrity getups to take a stroll down memory lane.

OrangeCon is a zero sum game for Netflix, but a low-risk one at that. If it works, it will be replicated, duplicated, and ripped off by lots of networks and producers across all forms of gatherings The notion of closing the gap between star and fan (or fantasy and reality) can be big business. Or not.

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This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

ION Dives Into Twitch’s Top Streamers

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When you think of Twitch, you tend to think about it being a video game-dominated streaming platform, but that’s not the case. As Twitch is looking to diversify, it’s top streamers are becoming varied, too. From anime and poker to the World of Warcraft streamers you expect to see, brands are big on collaborating with the best Twitch has to offer.