Web sites that allow SMB’s (including Brokers and Agents) to create online video advertisements seem to be springing up all over the place.

You’ve got sites like Mixpo who let you create an video ad from start to finish (see ActiveRain Launches (Silently) New Video Platform), players like WellcomeMat that let you host your completed videos (see WellcomeMat Goes Social), players like Turnhere which will create a video for you, players like Spotrunner which let you customize canned footage (see Success with Spot Runner?) and players like Sprout (see
Sprout Lets You Build Single Property Widgets) and RealEstateShows and Slide (see Splash Some Flash On Your Site) that let you create an interactive Flash based slideshow.

If there’s any doubt that video based advertising will soon come to dominate the ‘Net. Fuggadaboutit, it’s already here.

The latest company to hit the street is SpotMixer- who, like Mixpo, allow you to create a whole video advertisement online, without any need for expensive video editing software. SpotMixer is from the folks at One True Media, a company I first wrote about a couple years ago (see Creating a Killer Listing Presentation, Part II).

Seems like they had so much interest from businesses in their platform that they spun out SpotMixer as a separate entity for SMBs to create their video ads.

The platform really is very slick. You can mix still photography, video, titles music and audio voice overs to create a video ad (you can see some examples here) very quickly.

One thing I really liked about SpotMixer was their use of templates. Realizing that most users wouldn’t have time to create a presentation from scratch, SpotMixer has provided dozens of ready made templates you can just drop your media into. The best part is that they samples are based on mood rather than industry – so rather than having thousands of “real estate” ads that all look the same, you can choose a template based on the brand image you wish to portray (trusted, elegant, vibrant, fun, etc.).

Once you’ve created your video ad you can embed it in your web site, blog or social network profile; you can also download it as a high-rez movie and even order DVD copies of your masterpiece. SpotMixer also promises in the very near future you’ll be able to send that video add to local television partners as well.

One month’s access to the platform (to create unlimited ads) is just $79.

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If you haven’t realized yet that online video is a force to be reckoned with… check out this graph from a recent report by Hitwise.

During the week of February 3, YouTube’s traffic surged above the combined traffic to all of the television network websites. [emphasis mine]

I find this amazing – especially because, in general, I find YouTube saturated with a ton of garbage and weighed down by terrible navigation. Furthermore, their site wide search is basically unusable – unless I have the exact URL of what I want to watch, trying to find content on YouTube is next to impossible. (This is something I’m hoping their partnership with Google will fix shortly.)

Nevertheless, those traffic numbers don’t lie and this an impressive statistic.

One way YouTube can fix this situation is to to silo their videos into different channels. Not unlike how a traditional cable provider does really. And they’ve already begun to do this, like the deals they’ve made with NBC and the
National Hockey League (Go ‘Nucks!).

So it begs the question then, who will be the first to roll out a real estate video portal on YouTube?

Existing real estate video sites like RealEstateChannel.ca are a natural, more polished evolution of the homes channels you often see high up on the cable dial of your local cable provider. But they don’t even come close to offering the potential reach that YouTube does.

It seems to me that any of the Realogy brands (Coldwell Banker, Century 21, Sotheby’s etc.) might have the cachet (and deep pocketbooks) to pull this off. RealLiving would be a good candidate too – it shouldn’t be too hard to repurpose the videos they’re having produced by MLPodcast (see Real Estate Video is Here to Stay, Video Podcasting Maybe) so they could fed into a branded YouTube page.

The secret to creating a successful real estate video portal will be to make sure the videos are placed in the proper geographical context (state, county, neighborhood) and figuring out a way to present viewers with the most relevant videos to them individually (i.e. extensive filtering options).

For more on this, read The User As The Center Of The Universe: Integration Of Real Estate Video And Geolocation by For Sale By Locals

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The Wellcomemat Blog just posted a behind the scenes look at Doug Heddings‘ (of True Gotham fame) video shoot. Doug’s presentation is one of my favorite examples of how to show a property online.

Watch how they put it together.

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Local media sites are in the fight of their lives for relevancy right now. Both newspaper and TV stations are scrapping it out for local online audiences and the advertising revenue that those eyeballs can generate.

A new report released today from Borrell Associates (Executive Summary is a free PDF download) reveals that, strangely, print media are doing a much better job of generating revenue from video advertising on their sites than the local television counterparts.

They also predict that by 2012, video ads in addition to paid search ads, will dominate these local sites. More interestingly for readers of this blog, real estate is being eyed as a key vertical for growth.

Online competition between newspapers and broadcast TV stations – the leaders in local advertising – will intensify this year as both sides develop Web-based video products. The clash will focus on automotive advertisers initially, though real estate, health and employment are prime targets as well.

This growth in online video advertising likely means video production companies like Turnhere (who can produce “Advertorial” type videos) are well positioned to capture some of this new market.

It also means there’s probably going to be a huge demand for some sort of service that will help negotiate placement for video ads on all these local sites (i.e. a Spotrunner for the local web). I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this is something that Google makes a move into shortly.

Realtors eyeing a real bleeding-edge way to differentiate themselves in the local market should consider video advertising. You’ll be the first on the block, but if Borrell’s right, the rest won’t be far behind.

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