Episode 40 — 5 Second Films

[admin 330]

According to Ben Gigli of 5 Second Films, making friends with your fellow content providers is imperative to having success online. We took that advice before he even gave it and had him on The Wolf Den to discuss Youtube monetization, understanding content platforms, and the impossible task of predicting merchandise success. Joining him is Dave Mancherje, our financial guru, who helps us understand Amazon Affiliates, AdSense, and everything else intimidating to industry newcomers.

[stk 2]

Great episode. Ben Gigli was quite insightful and seems incredibly knowledgeable of the digital space. The Youtube initiative sounds awesome. It will be interesting to see what you do with the visual aspect. On a side note, how about STRONG-ARMING Harris into writing some subtle Earwolf jokes in Parks and Rec episodes? (product placement) I am sure there are probably some licensing issues at bay, but that would be some great exposure. Finally, now that pesky Halloween is out of the way, I think you guys should come up with a comprehensive "Holiday Wish List" of what the hosts/guests/Ear Wolf employees would recommend for the holidays (books, dvds, itunes audio, movies etc) that can be bought on Amazon.

[jeffullrich 652]

Great suggestion Steve, I'll see if we can put that together!

[Merick 28]

I love 5secondfilms, but I stopped watching after a while because it was so inconvenient to watch the huge backlog. It looks like the new site makes that a bit easier, though, so thanks for letting me know about it.

[sdotconnelly 0]

Hey loved the episode and don't regularly watch 5 Second films but always enjoy their shorts when I see them. But I think Freddie Wong would be a great guest on the show if he ever gets a time. His content is amazing and I am sure he would have an amazing story. Like they said he is probably very busy but it would be awesome to hear what he has to say about online content.

[robstraws 16]

Glad to hear earwolf is getting some youtube action in. Can't wait for some awesome video content!

[jeffullrich 652]

@Rob - It won't be awesome video content I'm afraid, at least not yet, it will be more like an audio slide presentation. Baby steps.

[SeveralCircles 426]

Dear Jefferson, two suggestions in light of this episode:
1) Ben talking about pre-orders made me realize: in the future, when you're planning on launching new t-shirts and other products, might it make sense to use a message board poll to help pick designs? I realize you can't really have an artist draw up two images, but you could survey the fanbase to see if people prefer a certain colour or shirt style - or maybe you'd find a total lack of response and cancel that design altogether (or, to be optimistic, maybe people would go so apeshit you'd order extra). This could also be used to gauge interest in, say, sweatshirts vs hats.
2) There are times when I'd like to share a particularly funny clip from a show on Facebook/etc, and there's no easy way to do that (beyond saying "hey, go this site, and click this link, and fastfoward to this time", which is 2 steps too many to make anyone listen). That seems a bit crazy. I realize that cutting out multiple clips and making youtube vids for each one takes a bunch of work, and that work needs to be worth it to bother, but I'd have way more ability to share your content with friends and acquaintances if I could dish it out in bite-sized format. I don't mean this as a complaint; ultimately it's up to you to decide if it's worth adding to the engineers' work pile to increase fans' ability to promote you, but it's a thought.
2b) Would it be worthwhile to set up a video camera to get a clip of CBB, the way Totally Laime and NNF do? At least when a Name is coming who won't mind appearing on video. It seems to me like the most effective gateway for those unfamiliar with podcasting.

[SeveralCircles 426]

Case in point: my roommate is a huge Amy Mann fann, and he liked her appearance on WC when I finally got him to listen to it, but he didn't bother to track down a link or listen to any of it until I stood in a room with him and played a little bit of it on speakerphone from my iphone.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is, I have an iphone. #Fulloutbrag

[SeveralCircles 426]

Wow, #2 INSTANTLY moot.
That or you took my suggestion and ran with it in a BIG way.