Revver: advertiser-driven videos?
Steven Starr, Founder and CEO, was co-creator of MTV's "The State" and worked as a Hollywood agent, and now applies his advertising savvy at Revver.
Revver describes itself: "Revver connects creators, viewers, and advertisers in a sponsorship marketplace for online video.”
Revver is very advertiser-friendly, and suggests that video creators be the same. According to Revver’s FAQ:
How much money can a video earn?
It's hard to predict how popular your video will be ahead of time, but popularity is what earns you money. The more times your video is watched and a viewer clicks on the ad, the more money you will make…
How advertiser-friendly your content is will definitely impact on how much you make. If you create an extremely popular video that's relevant to a particular type of product, advertisers will likely bid more to associate with it, and you'll make more money.
To date, Revver’s most successful video clip is, in fact, “an extremely popular video that's relevant to a particular type of product.” The video is actually named after two products and the two products are the "stars":
"The Extreme Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments”
What happens when you combine 200 liters of Diet Coke and over 500 Mentos mints?
Not surprisingly, Mentos has subscribed to all the ad inventory on the video clip. Diet Coke, however, has simply forwarded promotional giveaways.
Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz are the not-quite-amateur creators of the video clip viral sensation; “The Extreme Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments” has garnered over 4 million views.
Grobe and Voltz are experienced performers, they appear in the “Early Evening Show” at the Oddfellow Theater in Buckfield, Maine. The owner of the theater, Mike Miclon, filmed the video clip.
The video clip is the culmination of several months of planning and collaboration. Its success also supports Revver's success. The site plans to come out of “beta” next month.
Grobe and Vlotz have made appearances on"Late Night With David Letterman" and "The Today Show."
The massive exposure and viral success of their video clip has reportedly yielded approximately $25,000 in ad revenue share from Revver for Grobe and Vlotz.
A June 12 Associated Press report tells the story of another video clip posted at Revver, which is yielding much more modest results:
“Gotcha!" is a one-minute vampire movie that has gotten more than 1,600 hits since its 23-year-old director posted it on Revver at the beginning of the month.
The mini-flick is one of five that Ben Leavitt, who attended NYU's film school, has uploaded using Revver's system that attaches ads to videos and then splits the advertising revenue 50/50 with creators. Leavitt, who's made about $30 so far, said he was drawn to Revver because of the potential to earn some cash from his self-described 'ridiculous work.'
‘For doing nothing, that's pretty good actually. I would've done it if there wasn't money involved, but the money is certainly appealing, he said.’
ALSO SEE: Now playing at YouTube? 'Coke and Mentos' vs. 'Lazy Sunday'