4 Buzzworthy Video Bloggers Worth Subscribing To
January 11, 2011 
Author 
In In 2009 I wrote about why video blogging hasn’t taken off (at least, not at the scale of text-based blogging). The essence of the thread wasn’t to bash video. Just the opposite, video is an exciting and dynamic medium: if a picture says 1,000 words a video says 10,000. The thread simply shared some of the inherent limitations of video, such as:
- You can’t scan video like text, making it not as quickly consumable
- Video requires more time than text to produce, edit, upload & publish
- Not as easy to quote from video as text (text is simply, copy-paste)
- Video content itself is not searchable
With that said despite not taking off at the scale of text (YouTube says 50,400 hours of video uploaded a day – or “uploading hundreds of thousands of videos” according to the fact sheet vs. Twitter seeing 90 million Tweets per day and Technorati says 900,000 blog posts as just two examples of text), video continues to get hotter and does appear to be hitting a tipping point:
Data via YouTube
There’s thirst for this content too: ComScore is reporting upwards of 84% of internet audiences consuming video.
The stats paint the story of both increasing supply and demand of video content (both professional and amateur, for entertainment and business).
So who is doing it right from a video content perspective? I thought I’d share some of my favorite, buzzworthy video bloggers with creative shows.
Gladstone
Content archetype: commentary on pop culture, music and media
Purpose: to be snarky and point out the absurd.
Show name: Hate By Numbers
Sites published on: Cracked.com, Asylum, also published on YouTube
Community size: publishes various sites, but videos tend to attract several hundred thousand views minimum
Ray William Johnson
Content archetype: commentary on viral videos.
Purpose: share up-and-coming viral videos or help push undiscovered videos.
Show name: Equals 3
Sites published on: YouTube
Community size: 2,619,060 subscribers
Rand Fishkin
Content archetype: whiteboard explanations of topic
Purpose: help digital marketers become more successful, thought leadership for his company
Show name: Whiteboard Fridays
Sites published on: SEOmoz.org
Community size: 80,000+ RSS readers
James Rolfe
Content archetype: commentary on classic, bad video games
Purpose: make fun of poorly produced/hysterically bad games
Show name: Angry Video Game Nerd
Sites published on: GameTrailers.com, YouTube
Community size: 545,910 subscribers to YouTube
You’ll note the following about these shows/personalities:
- All of them found a formula and stuck with it
- Good video bloggers build community, take comments into the mix and engage with their fans. Ray who has – the 2nd most subscribed to channel on YouTube responds to fan comments across channels (he even responded to my Tweet).
- Creativity and personality are key to video – even Rand who is talking about SEO (which some consider dry) makes it interesting.
- They all take the time to make high quality content and are also focused on being interesting above all else.
Overall thoughts on web video
- Video is not a one time event – you wouldn’t just create one blog post and be done with it. How does that build community? It doesn’t – and that’s the point. Which is why it’s always a bit funny to me when companies try to make one video, push it to “go viral” and be done with it. That’s not how the web works for any content formats if you’re looking to build equity in the world and create an audience.
- There is a lot being uploaded to video channels, so you’re going to have to work hard to stand out.
- Likely you’re not going to stumble upon the right archetype for a show off the bat – but that’s the beauty of the web. Why not try a bunch of different stuff, fail like crazy and see what starts to catch on. Then refine as you go. Web content needs to be iterative, you shouldn’t bank so much on getting it perfect out the gate – rather focus on shipping. With that said, don’t sacrifice being interesting, useful or entertaining with everything you do.
- Need more tips on video? I’ve written a post at TopRank blog discussing video content marketing (Lee Odden also does a great job with video here there, too).
As Skellie said – video is your chance to be a pioneer, and I agree. It’s an opportunity that’s out there for those with personality and willing to put it on display for the world to see. What are you waiting for?
Allie @ FaqSoftware replied | Jan 13, 2011 (8 comments)
Video Blogging can be helpful for some if there is also a transcript of what is said. There are some successful videos that become viral but it will depend on the content too and if you’re that kind of person who absorbs things better through audio and video, this is for you.
Ariane Fisher replied | Jan 14, 2011 (2 comments)
Great post, especially the importance of high quality content.
Regarding your comments about video not being searchable, that is apparently changing. See the comments by Mark Robertson of ReelSEO here http://www.thedailymba.com/2010/12/27/telling-your-business-narrative-via-video/
Costa Rica replied | Jan 23, 2011 (2 comments)
I have been watching Rand on SEOmoz.org for years now, glad to see him getting some love on your blog also.
I am definitely going to have to check out your other recommendations. Thanks!
Karen replied | Feb 10, 2011 (1 comment)
I can definitely see how it takes more preparation to create a video blog than it is to write any other post. Video blogs can be very useful and creative in their content, and I see how it is crucial for the content to be interesting, in order to create an audience.It’s nice to know that there are video blogs out there for different purposes, just like regular blogs.