The concept of digital media is different for every individual. The same goes for the concept of success and failure. However, what many people may look upon as failure, digital media has a large potential. Why am I mentioning this today? Because after 60 episodes, Visual Avenue’s show, Craving Confidence is ceasing production.
It’s disappointing for everyone involved, but, it has been one of the best learning opportunities for me personally, and I hope for the rest of the team as well.
For those starting out with web video, I’d like to highlight a couple of pointers. You’re free to use them or ignore them. But, after producing over 100 episodes in less than 52 weeks across 3 of our shows, I hope you give them some value:
- Digital media is a new industry. What defines success and failure is unknown. However, the end of a show is by no means a failure.
- Numbers matter, but, getting millions of views still requires aggressive promotion.
- The most difficult factor, after monetization, is sustaining a show. As a team, there will be numerous arguments, but, at the end of the day, it’s important to make it work — if you desire to do so.
- Online video is still not prime-time. Less than a dozen shows are consistently making a profit.
- Don’t forget the money. If you’re running any show as a business, don’t forget to ‘follow the money’. Use subscriptions, AdSense, etc. to generate some cash flow.
At the end of the day, producing online video is easy. Promoting it, and making money, is still a challenge for 2 reasons:
- The consumer audience doesn’t care about online video.
- The advertisers need to see a better ROI.
