From the announcement, “Comprehensive statistics about your videos are now only a click away. Of course, Viddler Analytics answers even more questions than those above. How much storage has my account used this month? How much video bandwidth have we used so far? Am I close to my account level threshold yet? These questions, and others, are very important to our Business level accounts.” The partner analytics provides more “social” stats around comments, total video views and individual video stats.

To use the Viddler analytics tool, you must be a business or partner customer. Business accounts start at $100/month. When I attempt to load the analytics tool I am redirected back to the Viddler home page. They should probably change that to redirect to a page describing the analytics option and how to get access to it.

I love seeing more stats and analytics around the content I create so I welcome a new set of video metrics. Now I guess I need to create more videos…anyone see the BloggerKing lately?

Here’s an overview video of how the analytics tool works:

If you upgrade to a Vimeo Plus account, the source files will be stored as long as you are a pro member. Vimeo notes that they will continue to store the MP4 file that is used in the video player. A Vimeo Plus subscription is $60/year.

From the Vimeo announcement, “Please understand that this is not a devious scheme to force you to upgrade to Plus. This was a hard decision to make, but we make these changes to ensure Vimeo’s longevity so that you *can* use it for free.”

I wanted to see what the policy is regarding storing source files at another popular video hosting service so I spoke with Viddler’s technology evangelist Colin Devroe. Colin noted, “Our current and past policy has always been to keep original sources for as long as an account is active. We’ve recently begun to either delete, or archive, videos from accounts that haven’t had any activity in as long as a year – to help reduce costs. Although our policy may change in the future, we’re confident that we can keep original sources for as long as an account is active rather than for a specific duration after upload.”

This new Viddler service is direct competition for recently launched 12seconds. If they add text and video comments, it could be strong competition for Seesmic. Earlier this year, Seesmic followed Viddler into the video blog commenting space.

Viddler recently launched a fully-customizable player and Viddler Vidgets. Here’s an example of a 15s video from RandomSarah:

Update: Sarah had no idea how she would use 15s an hour ago and now she is addicted to it:

The big news is that at the event they will launch a fully customizable player. The Viddler logo can be swapped out for your logo (we do that here on CN now). The video can link to your site instead of linking to Viddler which will drive traffic back to your site instead of to the Viddler video page. There apparently will also be some iTunes integration. All of these changes are very positive and add to what I consider the best overall video player on the market. It’s good to see that they listened to my suggestions. :-P

Next, I’d like to see a video mashup application which allows me to inject an intro/outro into each video I upload. This way all I need to upload is the "meat" of the video. This would also help with re-branding the videos at anytime because the mashup would happen in real-time as the video is streamed to the viewer. That’d be hot.

Viddler could also add kyte-style branding by allowing a “frame” to wrap the videos with the producer’s branding. Again, that’d be hot. If they really want to get freaky, they could allow the video producer’s ad network to be inserted into the “frame” and it could follow as the video is embedded if the producer chooses.

Check out Viddler CEO Rob Sandie and Technology Evangelist Colin Devroe in the video below talking about both announcements. Watch for the cheap pops about halfway in when they throw a "vaynerchuk" out to the crowd.

Viddler recently launched Vidgets which are a collection of video widgets. Earlier this year Viddler launched a Facebook app.

As I create more videos and have more discussions with online video talent, the conversation seems to move many times to finding the optimum hosting and distribution structure for video. I want to make sure my viewers never hit a dead end and can easily find other videos to view from the series. Since at least half of my videos are business-oriented, the idea of putting them on YouTube and hoping for the "viral effect" is not attractive. Earlier this year I wrote about the online video market here in NYC and I see it continuing to expand today.

Currently I am using Viddler almost exclusively for my videos. I like Viddler because their player allows for in-stream commenting and their upload function is easy-to-use. I find the uploading function on YouTube to be absolute crap, can’t they even offer an upload status bar?!? For the purposes of this discussion, we will only discuss pre-recorded video content and not live services (Mogulus, Ustream) or mobile video streaming (Kyte, Qik, Flixwagon).

I get the idea behind services like TubeMogul which put your content everywhere and I will probably look at doing this as well. But it’s critical from my standpoint that you select a video sharing/hosting partner to work with in which you can build your video brand. This means that the player that’s used on the video creator’s site remain consistent over time. Some video content creators are being paid to use services and I see this trend continuing as the video creation market expands and hosting networks fight to get out of the commodity business.

There are a number of indie video stars on the scene today. I’ve selected Justine and Gary Vaynerchuk to use as examples with regards to how they use various video hosting networks for their videos and shows. When I check out Justine’s Web site, she seems to use YouTube as her first choice and it’s clear that this strategy has helped her with growing her brand. Justine has over 18,000 subscribers on YouTube. These subscribers drive massive views to her videos. She uses Viddler as well for some videos and all of her videos are distributed there as well. Gary Vaynerchuk at WineLibraryTV uses Viddler for the main player on the site. Gary also has a distribution deal with Revision3 which publishes a shorter wine show on Revision3 and other video hosting providers including YouTube.

There are more options than ever for video hosting – from the most basic YouTube through working with distribution partners like ForYourImagination who can produce, record and package the shows. Viddler, Vimeo, Veoh all sit in the middle and I’d consider blip.tv a "show" distributor.

Below is the setup I have been considering for the videos I create on CN. My goal is to find the best combination of:

• reaching the largest audience
• using the best technology
• using a player with good usability for the viewer
• outside distribution to as many sources as possible
• tracking and analytics
• ability to monetize the videos over time — either with cpm views or finding a sponsor

Business Shows:

These are videos I shoot of product demos and also include our interviews like the one we shot with Dina Kaplan last week. I am looking at using blip.tv for these videos. blip.tv can offer me a gallery player to allow viewers to watch any video they like. blip.tv also has an advertising network and also works with shows to find sponsors. This is very attractive to me – especially in the beginning. blip.tv will also distribute the shows to iTunes which could work relatively well for creating loyal viewers.

Fun Videos:

These videos include the Twitter Song and How to Effectively Quit Blogging. I see continuing to post these videos on Viddler because the interactivity and community there is a perfect fit for these videos.

Conclusion

I’d love some feedback on my thoughts and suggested video network usage for CN. What am I missing in creating the right mix? The next mission is to get a better video setup and move away from my tiny Canon Elph to something a bit more professional.

Editor’s note: I am not paid (nor have I been) for using any video service to-date.

Creating a Vidget is pretty easy although the code doesn’t show up until you hit preview which is in another colum – bit odd on the usability. Below is a Vidget I made by searching for iPhone videos featuring iJustine. It’s a "list" Vidget – there are also playlist and reel Vidgets.

What would be interesting to know is if the vidgets are automatically updated as new content that matches your selections is added to Viddler. Also it would be great if you could order the videos as you prefer. For example, I may want the video placed in the 3rd position to actually show up first. Would give the Vidget more of a storyline.

Considering that the Vidget code combines HTML and the Flash Viddler player, they are missing a golden opportunity for some heavy search engine optimization! Why not slap a simple "This Vidget Built By Viddler" or "XYZ Vidget Built By Viddler". All of the cool kids are doing it – see Scribd or Docstoc for good examples.

Limelight says they had DOS attack, but they lost all power as well… not entirely sure.. but should be up soon

Follow SandieMan on Twitter for the latest service updates. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that Viddler has been down.  Sandie has also posted a blog entry about the outage.

We recently wrote a column explaining how important it is to have a status page/blog where users can visit to know what’s going on with outages and maintenance. Viddler just learned an important lesson – don’t host the status page/blog on the same servers as the main service!

Update 9:15pm Eastern – Viddler is back – resume watching quality video product.

comScore

Google moved up another 2.6 share points to 38% of all videos watched. The real telling statistic is that YouTube visitors watched an average of 50 videos each over the month. No one else comes close to this in the lead pack as Microsoft Sites comes in second with nearly 10 videos per user. More videos per user mean more ability and options to monetize over the session. In total videos watched, Fox Interactive came in second followed by Yahoo Sites, Viacom Digital and Microsoft Sites.

Another juicy bit in the report is that the average online video viewer watched 235 minutes of video. Wow. And with live video slowly taking off, this number will only continue to increase.

*Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks. Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video.

Viddler technical evangelist Colin Devroe has all of the details on the distribution partnership.

In all seriousness, this is an exciting deal for Viddler. It’s good to see them continue to sign on partners and with their existing base of Web celebs, they on a great road towards mainstream adoption. Will Viddler be the one to challenge YouTube eventually as a video host? Viddler seems to be the only video host to be working on innovations and technology advancements.  The Viddler player kicks the arse of all other video players. 

Now we know why Kevin Rose was at the Viddler dinner at SXSW. He sat at the grownups table with Rob from Viddler and Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback.

The Viddler Facebook app shows your videos plus the latest videos from Viddler and the daily highlighted videos. It appears to handle widescreen videos as well. Developer evangelist Colin Devroe tells me that soon search functionality will be added. You can also add videos into Viddler directly from inside Facebook.

The only weird things I’ve noticed so far are:

• while you can view both Facebook comments and Viddler comments, if you comment on the Facebook application, the comments go to the Facebook side. I’d like to see these integrated somehow – you know how I feel about comments all over the place!
• when the first video ends and you navigate inside the video — the page doesn’t update which could cause some weirdness when you try to comment and it ends up on another video incorrectly.

If you would like an invite, you need to be my friend on Facebook – click here to friend me. Once you’ve done that, send me a message on Facebook and I will get you an invite straight away. Facebook limits invites to 15 a day so it might take a few days to get to everyone – be patient!

The new Seesmic video commenting system is live on Techcrunch (one of Seesmic’s investors). Here is a screenshot from a post on Techcrunch:

Unfortunately my video camera isn’t unpacked yet so I can’t test it. Michael Arrington from Techcrunch commented last week that he has a lot of trolls and losers who comment on TC and that he spends an hour every day removing comments. What will it be like now that there will be video?

I am guessing that if you post a video comment using the Seesmic plugin, it will create a thread in the Seesmic application. Will video comments help save Seesmic? Perhaps it will help as I’ve suggested before that I like the idea of being able to contribute in the fashion you prefer on a blog (audio, video, text). With Loic’s smile and charm, I am sure that many blogs will install the plugin which will lead to greater visibility for Seesmic. As for the Seesmic app itself, I still struggle as to why video is a better medium for a messageboard than text is.

Joning the Viddler team as the new Community Leader is Brandice Tolson. Tolson is one of the most active people using Viddler and I think it’s a good move. Lastly, intern Kyle Slattery is now full time as Lead Social Developer.

The other update is product focused. Viddler has updated their Wordpress plugin and it’s now more than just video comments. It’s a tight tie into Viddler where you can see the featured videos and search for videos to insert inside of a Wordpress post.

Here’s a video overview Devroe created explaining the updates. Caution: if you get sea sick, you might not want to view this video.

Earlier this week Mashable installed a new plugin from Viddler that allows site visitors to comment on articles using video. In 24 hours I’ve watched about 30 video comments.

Why do I believe the combination of blog/cms is stronger than Seesmic? Because it allows the content publisher and his or her audience to interact, each in their own preferred medium. I may prefer to start in text, John wants to reply with video, Mary with audio, Rachel with text. Together we are forming a combined discussion that doesn’t force us into one medium, be it text (currently for most blogs) or video (as Seesmic does).

To make this model perfect, we need three things. Audio recording capabilities, mobile commenting and video/audio transcription. The transcription is important because if users will contribute in their preferred method, they should be able to consume in as many ways as possible. These new input and ouput options could bring real innovation to the blog space which has set relatively still for a couple of years.

And how will the live video services (Qik/Flixwagon) be able to play in this new blog realm? I believe Seesmic is working on live video as well.

Perhaps Seesmic could offer a plugin similar to what Viddler is offering to enhance their current video offering. Viddler has a variety of innovative features but lacks the YouTube buzz and take rate. If they could figure out how to bundle the video commenting plugin into a variety of blog and CMS platforms, it could help elevate and provide a strong distribution model for Viddler.

What’s your take? Are video comments the future? Do you prefer the Seesmic video threading to the traditional blog setup?

So which celebs were there? iJustine, Rocketboom’rs Andrew Baron, Joanne Colan, Ellie Rountree, Kevin Rose, Jim Louderback, Sarah Meyers and I met the guys behind the Viddler programming and design which was great. The most heated discussion came when Justine began to ask everyone what their favorite candybar is. Twix won while a frozen Charleston Chew came in a close second.

Here are some of the photos from the evening with my captions:

Now how do I get that sticker on the Diggnation laptop?

Can the wine man actually do what he says he does on the tv show?

I made a joke – everyone laughed

"You see Gary and Sarah, that’s Allen over there from CN, I’ve just got to meet him!"

Viddler = peace

"Gary dude, I am working here!"

You see people, the smell tells me it’s a combination of shoe leather and a ripe canteloupe.

It’s like a better version of Seesmic because it allows me as the author to provide text and let users reply in their choice of text or video. Now they need to enable mobile access somehow so if a user reads a post on a mobile rss device, they can easily reply with a video reply. The videos play in a mini-Viddler window inside of the Wordpress blog.

Currently the plugin is only available for Wordpress but I have demanded a Drupal version! 

Here is an example of how the comments look when someone comments via video: