VS.

I first learned of Demand Media in a Wired magazine article by Daniel Roth. I found out about HowCast when I was trying to re-wire a telephone jack. Both companies are trying to earn money by providing people with videos relevant their search queries.

Demand Media’s path to monetize is based on publishing video as fast as they can match content to advertisers. CEO Richard Rosenblatt maintains online content is not worth much. His company’s algorithm assigns value to the lifetime value of a given term. This valuation gives priority to topics that will be sought after regardless of time (news items don’t have a long self life.)

The content Demand Media produces is determined in-part by information obtained through Google AdWords (content is produced based on the terms popular among advertisers.)

HowCast CEO Jason Liebman believes quality holds long-term value. The company spends far more money per video (on editors and writers) than Demand. The question becomes which model will last. My bet is on a hybrid. Mixing Demand Media’s findability with HowCast’s quality content.

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