the blip.tv blog

This Thanksgiving, there’s more than one big turkey at Mason’s...

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:33:39 -0500

This Thanksgiving, there’s more than one big turkey at Mason’s place.

A Life from the Inside Thanksgiving special from KATR Pictures.

Hear the original music from this short at the KATR blog.

We're hiring an account manager for the New York territory

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:03:00 -0500

Are you great at ad sales? Do you have relationships with the New York agency community? Ready to close new business, grow existing business and beat aggressive revenue targets? Have you spent the last couple years selling ads on the Interwebs? Ready for your next challenge?

If so we’ve got a job for you! We’re looking for an Account Manager to join our sales team. The position will be based in New York and will focus on the New York agency community.

You’ll be part of a small but quickly growing national sales team that currently covers everywhere from Seattle to Florida. Current clients include Toyota, History Channel, Chili’s, Hornitos, TJ Maxx, Nikon, Canon and, of course, more. And we’re just getting started.

This is an awesome opportunity to help build a really big business, deliver real value to advertisers and — most importantly — help make independent Web shows sustainable. You’ll be changing lives and making it possible for people to pursue their passions. It’s an amazing feeling.

You can apply through LinkedIn or e-mail evan AT blip DOT teevee to apply. Include a resume and a short cover letter. Make sure to mention Tumblr in your e-mail (ideally in the subject) so that we know to pay extra special attention.

We’re also still looking for an excellent ad ops person to make sure we execute well on all the campaigns our sales team is selling. Let us know if you’re that person or know that person.

"You have a central question that asks a yes or no answer — this is the entire idea of your..."

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:00:40 -0500

“You have a central question that asks a yes or no answer — this is the entire idea of your show/screenplay/whatever. Will the boy be able to come back from the past (Back to the Future)? Will Will Smith & Co. stop the alien invasion (Independence Day)? Will sport Asian people successfully drift (Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift)?”

- Making a Web Series: The Story, The Outline, The Script

Yuri Baranovsky is funny guy and I couldn’t resist quoting this passage. Despite making with the jokes, this is a very useful post that should be read by anyone making a web series. So useful that I’m going to link to it on blip.tv’s support page.

(via ericmortensen)

Making more money on blip.tv

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:32:00 -0500

The blip.tv sales team has been crushing it. So much so that for the first time in our history we’re set to serve an ad for every single available impression on almost every show that’s opted into advertising on blip. The only exception? Postrolls. We’re not going to be serving very many postrolls. So you’ve got to be opted into preroll and overlay in order to take advantage of our sales team’s crushing it.

Advertisers include Best Buy, Chili’s, MetroPCS, Toyota Scion, Canon, Nikon, The History Channel and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And more.

This means that it’s time for show creators to opt into more advertising formats and take other steps to maximize their revenue. Because there’s money to be had! There are shows on blip who are already using blip ad revenue to help pay the rent and even live on. Results will, of course, vary. Some shows make only a penny. Other shows make tens of thousands of dollars.

So read Optimizing your show’s revenue on the blip.tv support site. Then go and opt into preroll and overlay ads. There are high quality, high paying ads available for you.

We're looking for an ad operations rock star

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:20:00 -0500

Blip.tv is looking for an ad operations rock star. Our sales team has been crushing it and we need an operations star to also crush it.

The position is Director of Advertising Operations. The right person will work daily with sales, content, technology and our executive management team along with our advertising partners to execute all aspects of ad ops and trafficking. We use FreeWheel for our ad serving, so familiarity with them is a major plus. Expertise in DART or Atlas is easily transferrable, though.

Our expectation is that you’ll make ad ops and trafficking look easy. We also expect that you’ll make our clients (agencies like Starcom and Digitas and Initiative, brands like TJ Maxx and Scion and Nikon) really happy.

And here’s the kicker: not only will you be part of building a really big business, you’ll also be helping great companies sell great products. Most importantly, though, you’ll be helping make independent Web shows sustainable. You’ll be changing lives and making truly independent media truly sustainable. If that isn’t exciting I don’t know what is.

We’re 18 people in a SoHo loft and one guy out in California. We’ve got a really collegiate culture and we buy lunch for everyone every day. We’re backed by some of the Skype guys and by Bain Capital Ventures. We serve more than eighty million video views a month across a massively distributed network which includes YouTube, Vimeo, iTunes, TiVo, FiOS, NBC Local Broadcast and Sony Consumer Electronics (TVs and Blu-Ray players). We work with more than 50,000 independent Web shows.

We are building the next-generation television network. Read more about blip, take a tour of the Show Creator Dashboard and check out our EPK.

If you’re interested please drop me an e-mail (mike AT blip DOT teevee) with your resume and let me know that you found out about this opening on Tumblr. It’ll be points in your favor. And if you know anyone good please make an introduction.

blip.tv on the roku at NewTeeVee Live. (Thanks to roku and the...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:29:05 -0500

blip.tv on the roku at NewTeeVee Live. (Thanks to roku and the great folks at NewTeeVee.) Photo by Zach Harris.

Revenue Reporting Running Behind

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:10:00 -0500

Revenue reporting is currently running behind, which means you may be seeing revenue reported as “zero” from October 31st on. Don’t worry though, all revenue is still being recorded and will be available for review in the Dashboard sometime on 11/10.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. If you have any questions, please open a case at support.blip.tv or send an email to support/at/blip.tv.

UPDATE: Ad revenue reporting is fully caught up. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Thanks to everyone who joined the blip.tv bash last night! And...

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:19:47 -0500

Thanks to everyone who joined the blip.tv bash last night! And big thanks to Sabrina Chapman for making the event possible, and to the Mocca Lounge for great hosting. (Photo courtesy of SBE Photography.)

Revenue Reporting Down for Maintenance

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:14:00 -0500

Revenue reporting is currently down for maintenance, which means you may be seeing revenue reported as “zero” from October 31st on. Don’t worry though, all revenue is still being recorded and will be available for review in the Dashboard once maintenance is complete.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. Please email support/at/blip.tv or visit support.blip.tv with comments/questions.

UPDATE: Revenue statistics are now being calculated and should begin reappearing in the Dashboard. Thanks for your patience.

Coming soon to a Dashboard near you: a new episode grid and...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:35:26 -0500

Coming soon to a Dashboard near you: a new episode grid and vastly improved playlists. Expect this to drop in about a week.

Meanwhile we have a new release going out at 3:30 today. It includes a slew of bug fixes, a stats collection upgrade, upgraded Facebook integration (support for Pages!) and a few upgrades that should make videos start faster (especially on autoplay).

81 million

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:42:35 -0500

blip.tv hosted 80.8mm video views in October. Thank you to all of the uber-talented people creating great shows: this number is about you and the power of independent media.

Life From The Inside’s classic Halloween special...

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:01:48 -0400

Life From The Inside’s classic Halloween special “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Mason”

“Even the most beloved Halloween special ever made has a horrifying dark side.”

Congrats to Jennifer Schooley and the entire organization behind...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:36:04 -0400

Congrats to Jennifer Schooley and the entire organization behind Podcamp Pittsburgh. We were proud to sponsor the conference, 362 people strong, and just wonder about that Hulk Hogan nametag…

Customer Support Upgrade

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:31:00 -0400

Customer support is a key part of our business. But it’s not just a way to help users quickly solve problems. It’s also a great way to connect with people and learn how we can best help them produce the next great web series. That’s why we’ve decided to upgrade our customer support system.

You’ll still be able to get great support via email at support@blip.tv, but now you’ll be able pursue additional options via the Web at support/at/blip.tv, too. I think you’ll find the new system to be a significant improvement. Please leave us a comment letting us know what you think about the transition and stay tuned for more info.

Network Outage

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:49:00 -0400

We’re once again having some trouble with our main Internet provider. Their engineering team is working on the problem and should have it resolved shortly. Apologies again for the inconvenience.

Update (1:46 AM): The problem has been resolved and we’re back.

Network outage

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:04:00 -0400

Our main Internet provider has acknowledged that a key piece of network equipment failed about 1 hour ago. I’ve been working with them and the facility to track down the problem.

Their engineering team is working on the problem and should have it resolved shortly.

Update (12:52 AM): The problem has been resolved and we’re back.

This feels good. If you’ve earned money on blip.tv this...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:50:45 -0400

This feels good. If you’ve earned money on blip.tv this quarter and haven’t set your PayPal address please do so now.

tanya77: Hey Dudes and Dudettes, I did a segment with the...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:33:03 -0400

tanya77:

Hey Dudes and Dudettes, I did a segment with the excelllent “Project Rant” team. They take all those online comments people think will never be heard aloud and ask actors to recite them Genius. Check it out.

Tubefilter thinks the Roku might just be “Web TV’s...

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:28:00 -0400

Tubefilter thinks the Roku might just be “Web TV’s Backdoor to the Living Room. “NewTeeVee says it is “simple, small, and has an easy-to-justify price tag of $99.“ We say, “Go to the dashboard and apply for Roku distribution today!”

Learn more about the box at roku.com.

Anyone But Me Returns for Season Two on December 15th Catch up...

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:50:00 -0400

Anyone But Me Returns for Season Two on December 15th

Catch up on season one via Sony Bravia televisions and Blu-ray players, Verizon FiOS, Boxee, numerous spots around the web and, of course, anyonebutmeseries.com.