Vlogs?

Video blogs, also known as vlogs, are becoming more and more popular. If you're lucky enough then you'll develop a fan base that will return to your site on a regular basis. If I were an online advertising expert I would only advise my client to associate themselves with this type of medium in the rarest of occasions. For example, the newest video rant is by someone named Chris Crocker. If you haven't seen it click here. Apparently he has a huge fan base, with someone like him or another blogger/vlogger like Perez Hilton, I would go ahead and tell my client to advertise with them, as long as the pairing made sense. One look at the Perez Hilton blog and you can see that he owes most of his income to advertisers, and about once a week he posts a thank you to all of his advertisers and asks his readers to check them out.

Blogs or Vlogs that I wouldn't advise a client to associate would be something like the one you're reading. I'm not a "professional" blogger like Perez Hilton or Chris Crocker (photos to the right). I'm not hosting this blog or trying to make a living off of it. One look and you can see that I'm not in this for the long haul. As far as whether or not this type of media is evolving I would say definitely. Strategy can be involved, but I think for the most part most blogs/vlogs aren't going to end up being profitable. I think advertisers were smart to pair themselves with Perez Hilton because the writer, Mario Laveindera, is branching out to other aspects of the entertainment industry. I'm not sure if his other ventures will be as successful as his blog, but if they are then this will inevitably bring more readers to the blog which will in turn give his advertisers more exposure. The Chanel campaign is something that I really enjoyed reading about. Even though I have never heard of any of the blogs that it is associating itself with, I'm sure that readers of them would be interested in the new Chanel fragrance. One look at them and I think most people would tend to agree.

As for Chris Crocker, some may find him annoying, I know I do, but apparently someone thinks he's can make them lots of money. He just signed a development deal with the production company 44 Blue. Fantastic!