Vloggies Event: Making it Open. Are Videobloggers Better Off One Year Later

This is a post that I made to the videoblogging list that answers Ken Nichols  question about the Vloggies this year and will it be open or a PodTech event.  This was in response to Kent questioning the vloggies trademark and role of an industry awards event.   I believe in the independent video movement.  Fact is the vloggies last year was a success for everyone involved including PodTech- we’re proud of that.  This year we are interested in making it open.  

——-

Kent,
Last year the Vloggies was a PodTech event designed to bring together artists and video developers. You remember Ken because you were part of the growing group trying to make a living while developing kick ass content. We invested heavily in that and brought in sponsors who wanted to be part of the ecosystem. Today new sponsors are coming in to the industry and the existing advertisers continue to sponsor (fund) shows and video development across all networks. I’m proud of all the energy and industry momentum that was a result of PodTech’s investment in the Vloggies.

Is the industry better off than it was a year ago?? A lot of videobloggers are much better off this year than last year as the result of everyones creative work. The sponsors *are* recognizing it with dollars. This is the result of hard work by the industry not by one company but everyone involved in pioneering videoblogging – from the founding group to vloggercon to Vloggies to Pixelodeon. In between many companies have been formed and new producers are joining and participating on a global scale. I see this as a great thing. In fact new organizations like the Association of Downloadable Media are forming to promote new advertising models around video and audio. The industry is growing and viable business models are developing.

That being said I’m very much looking at the Vloggies as an open industry event. PodTech isn’t trying to exploit this event or try a ‘land grab’ as you say. I’m exploring and having conversations with partners about the format of the Vloggies this year. Although we trademarked the term we are happy to work with any group with ideas to make it open like we did last year.

We are in business to make money and do the right thing to grow with the industry. As a company we do make good business decisions and make some mistakes. Yeah a photo was accidentally used and some people didn’t get their Vloggies on time – our bad but not intentional. If more great content can continue to come out from video pros (on PodTech or other network and sites) and more advertisers continue to accelerate their sponsorship and advertising efforts then I’m happy and the mistakes don’t seem that bad. At the end of the day we are all part of a growing ecosystem and the goal of PodTech and the Vloggies is working with our peers in this ecosystem.