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Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Making Money, the How-To Way
Learning how to turn a flashlight into a laser is not a top priority for most people. Yet Kip Kedersha's step-by-step instructional video that teaches how to do just that has been seen online by more people (1.88 million) than live in Manhattan (about 1.6 million).
Mr. Kedersha's online library of 94 videos includes tips on how to chill a Coke in two minutes, simulate a gunshot wound and start up a PC quickly.
Many of the clips have been played hundreds of thousands of times, turning Mr. Kedersha into the top earner on Metacafe, a video-sharing Web site that pays the makers of popular videos. In little more than a year, the site has written him checks totaling $102,000.
That puts Mr. Kedersha, a 50-year-old video producer from St. Petersburg, Fla., near the front of the latest online stampede: the rush to capitalize on the popularity of how-to videos on the Web.
"You never know when something like this is going to go away," Mr. Kedersha said. "I better ride the wave."
Some 25 years after "Jane Fonda's Workout" topped the home-video charts in the United States, Americans' fascination with instructional videos has shifted to the Internet, where a virtually unlimited amount of shelf space guarantees there is something for everyone.
Do-it-yourself tips, self-help, cooking and beauty advice, sports and musical instruction are all available in a smorgasbord that offers the serious alongside the satirical, the humorous and the esoteric. Viewers can learn how to swaddle a baby, grow plants hydroponically or teach their cat to use the toilet.
"Almost everything we sell requires education and explanation and instruction," said Richard Revis, the co-owner of Black Jungle Terrarium Supply in Turners Falls, Mass., who is featured in more than 30 videos on how to feed, breed and care for poison dart frogs.
Most clips tend to run a few minutes or less — but not all. In a series of videos running a total of more than five hours, an Australian veteran of the Vietnam War demonstrates in minute detail how to build a replica of a working Sherman tank at two-fifths its original scale.
Plenty of entrepreneurs and financiers are hoping that the wave Mr. Kedersha has begun to ride is a long way from cresting. In the last two years, investors have put tens of millions of dollars into start-up companies with names like WonderHowTo.com, VideoJug, Howcast, ExpertVillage and Graspr, which are all hoping to become the YouTube of how-to video clips. Of course, a good share of these videos are on YouTube itself. And traditional media companies like Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Scripps Network are putting much of their own how-to content online.
These start-ups have attracted former television executives and veterans of Internet giants like Google, Yahoo and MySpace. Most of them readily admit that, as with many Internet fads, profits remain elusive for now.
Scores of independent video producers, experts and self-styled experts are, meanwhile, vying to make a name for themselves in hopes of sharing in the expected profits. Plenty of others are making how-to clips just for fun or for a few minutes of Internet fame.
For Meghan Carter, 23, how-to videos offer the chance to turn her love of home decorating into a career. Early last year, she began driving around the country to conduct on-camera interviews with experts on subjects ranging from concrete countertops to green homes. Gradually, she grew more comfortable in front of the camera and began taking on the role of expert herself.
In April, she began posting her "girl next door meets Martha Stewart" videos on YouTube under the name AskTheDecorator, and the clicks started coming. Her 87 tutorials include how to make a bow (81,000 views) and how to fold towels so they look just so (43,000 views).
"That one really surprised me," Ms. Carter said of the towel folding video. "We were playing with new cameras and did it for fun. Out of nowhere, it skyrocketed in popularity."
Ms. Carter is following in the footsteps of her father, Tim Carter. Mr. Carter's Ask The Builder franchise, which is more than a decade old, includes a nationally syndicated newspaper column, TV appearances and a popular Web site. Ms. Carter has a long way to go to catch up, but she is upbeat about her prospects.
"It's not a real income kind of money," Ms. Carter said of the advertising revenue that YouTube shares with her. "But I have no doubt it is going to take off at some point. We hope that in three years we will have a critical mass of videos that will help us turn a substantial profit."
Sites like ExpertVillage and Howcast are approaching the production of how-to videos as something of a manufacturing process. Working with hundreds of independent video producers around the country, ExpertVillage has created 90,000 how-to videos and is adding about 12,000 every month. Its "channel" on YouTube has 73,000 videos, far more than any other.
"It's what the Internet screams for," said Byron Reese, founder of ExpertVillage. "People get up in the morning and type, 'how do I treat a sprained ankle?' 'how do I get a bee sting out of a kid's arm?' "
Last year, ExpertVillage was acquired by Demand Media, a Los Angeles-based company whose chief executive, Richard Rosenblatt, was the chairman of MySpace's parent company before it was sold to the News Corporation.
Freelance video producers, like Paul Muller of Miami, sign up for assignments on ExpertVillage's Web site. Mr. Miller's favorite topics are performing arts, martial arts and fitness. He said he often used Google to find experts on any subject. Since he earns $20 a clip, the trick to making money is figuring out how to do multiple clips quickly. "I prepare the expert ahead of time," he said. "It is crucial that they have a list of 15 to 20 short segments."
The qualifications of the so-called experts vary widely. Michael Sanchez, a 34-year-old stand-up comedian and video producer from Chicago, found out about Howcast on Craigslist. He picked up a handful of assignments to earn "a little extra cash here or there," he said.
Mr. Sanchez says he does not drink and does not cook much, but that did not stop him from creating clips on how to cure a hangover (25,000 views on YouTube and 1,000 on Howcast) and how to make brown rice (only 465 views). He also enlisted his girlfriend for a video on how to kiss with passion (227,000 views on YouTube and 4,600 on Howcast).
"I'd be curious to know why people are clicking on them," Mr. Sanchez said. "I would never go to a Web site to watch how to do things. I'm more apt to read about it."
But Stephen Chao, the chief executive of WonderHowTo, a site that aggregates instructional videos from across the Internet, says many of the clips are as much for entertainment as they are for instruction.
"To me, it is a window into something I never thought about," said Mr. Chao, who helped create shows like "America's Most Wanted" and "Cops" when he was a top executive at Fox. "I find it the most thrilling combination of video that I can find." For Mary Leon, 35, of Salinas, Calif., ExpertVillage has become a source of both entertainment and instruction. She said she had used the site to learn new hair-cutting techniques, crocheting, how to decorate and paint her new home, how to set a table and how not to overpack for a trip to Spain.
"Oh my gosh, I've watched a lot of videos," Ms. Leon said. "They are not trying to sell you anything. It's just how-to. That's what I love about it."
It is not clear that the genre will turn into big business. But some media executives suggest that how-to videos may be just the thing in a slowing economy.
"People want to do more things for themselves," said Wenda Harris Millard, president for media at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. "It is kind of timely."
