How-To is a Huge Industry Online
By Anna Johnson on July 16th, 2009I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the recent article in The New York Times about the ‘how-to’ online video industry. It was music to an information marketer’s ears. Or music lyrics to an Information marketer’s eyes. Or… you get the picture!
For the most part the article focused on one of the main players in how-to online video – Howcast Media. Howcast is kind of like YouTube but specifically focuses on ‘how-to’ videos and requires each video to meet specific quality and entertainment standards. In other words, the average amateurish YouTube video is unlikely to make the grade.
According to The New York Times Howcast has around 100,000 videos, divided into 25 broad categories, in its library. It has produced some videos itself, and obtained others from contributors to the site.
The videos cover everything from ‘how to type faster on your iPhone’ to ‘how to get through airport security’ to ‘how to use Twitter’. According to Howcast, its videos were played more than 20 million times in June 2009 across its distribution network, which includes YouTube and the Apple iPhone.
Howcast is using an advertising based business model, where it aims to sell ads against the traffic generated to the site. (Tip: they may want to consider selling premium videos in the future if the revenue from advertising proves insufficient…)
In any case, the growing popularity of Howcast attests to the legitimacy of the how-to information business and specifically how-to online videos. Now, where’s my camera…
Source: Julie Creswell, “How to Start a Company (and Kiss Like Angelina)” The New York Times, July 11, 2009
