Is online video more than just YouTube? What do you think?

WebProNews caught up with the CEO of Revision3, Jim Louderback, at the Blogworld Expo in L.A. where he discussed his optimism in regards to the future of online video. He told us that there were 4 major platforms that people need to be thinking about in terms of online video.

The first is, obviously, YouTube. The video giant is just that – a giant. It has created multiple opportunities for people in the online video space and, with its latest move, hopes to create more. Last month, the company announced that it was adding more than 100 channels of original content from media companies and celebrities including the Wall Street Journal and Madonna.

According to Louderback, these new channels will raise the bar of professionalism on YouTube. In addition, he believes they will raise the “perceived value” for advertisers. He thinks that YouTube will package this new content with the big online video players, such as Revision3, in order to build itself into a multichannel bundle similar to Comcast or Viacom.

However, Louderback told us that, even though YouTube is the “next big platform as TV gets disintermediated,” there are other platforms that need to be focused on as well. Secondly, he believes that Apple should be taken seriously as a video platform because Apple developed iTunes, which produced podcasts and multiple online video outlets. He suspects that they’re working on “something” else as well.

“When Apple does ‘something,’ things happen,” Louderback points out.

The third platform that Louderback thinks people should be acknowledging is Microsoft. Already its Zune product runs content across Xbox and Windows, and with its new Metro OS rolling out soon, Louderback sees this content coming to phones, tablets, PCs, and potentially, TVs.

Lastly, he thinks that Amazon belongs in the video platform game. He told us that Amazon’s Kindle Fire would be the biggest selling consumer electronic device and that it would “revolutionize the way we consume media.”

Although he didn’t categorize it as a platform yet, Louderback hinted that Facebook could become a potential player going forward.

Do you agree with Louderback that these other companies are video platforms that we need to pay attention to? Let us know.

For 5 years, WebProNews has partnered with BlogWorld and New Media Expo, the world’s first and largest new media conference, in an effort to broadcast how new media can grow your business, brand, and audience. Stay tuned to WebProNews for much more exclusive coverage.

For most, online video is just the “big DVR in the sky“, as CEO of Revision3, Jim Louderback, recently told us. People visit sites like Hulu, CBS, TV.com, etc. to play catchup, because that’s where you go when you’ve missed them the night before. Louderback went on to say:

“There is this whole other part of online video where people are trying to create stuff that looks like television. Like comedies, dramas, news… but that’s done at less of a budget or more focused and targeted and the people doing it are able to be more experimental. There is a lot of experimentation that can happen with video when you break out of that structure… when you blow up that bottle that it’s contained in.”

So is the experimentation with online video a good thing? In this case yes. Louderback says that we’re seeing more professional stuff going in, it’s easier to create, the tools and compression are getting better, and it gives talented people the ability to go out and cover things in their own way.

During his interview with WebProNews at the Blogworld Expo, Louderback stated:

“You couldn’t do this on TV, but you can do it here, build an audience and make it as long as it needs to be. You don’t have to hit a network timeout, you don’t have to hit a particular advertising break, if I’m boring… you cut me off and we’re done. I think that’s great because it allows the creativity of people before that had to be focused. They had to go to New York / L.A., you had to pay your dues, you had to sit within these rigid formats, and now you can do it in Lexington, Kentucky.”

For the most part, network TV and online video are both getting better and better… but they’re both still trying to figure out what they want to be when they grow up and where they should intersect.

For 5 years, WebProNews has partnered with BlogWorld and New Media Expo, the world’s first and largest new media conference, in an effort to broadcast how new media can grow your business, brand, and audience. Stay tuned to WebProNews for much more exclusive coverage.

Jim Louderback, CEO of Revision3, was surprised when he found out that MediaDefender was behind the attack that took down their whole network over the weekend. MediaDefender used Revsison3 BitTorrent tracker for the fake torrents they upload to BitTorrent sites.

In a detailed blog post Louderback writes," Media Defender was abusing one of Revision3′s servers for their own purposes – quite without our approval. When we closed off their backdoor access, MediaDefender’s servers freaked out, and went into attack mode – much like how a petulant toddler will throw an epic tantrum if you take away an ill-gotten Oreo."

Louderback continues, "They saw us as a ‘distributor’ – even though we were using BitTorrent for legitimate reasons. Once we shut them out, their vast network of servers were automatically programmed to implement a scorched earth policy, and shut us down in turn."

Louderback says the FBI is looking into the matter and that MediaDefender executives have admitted to being behind the attack. Media Defender says it has since taken steps to make sure it won’t happen again.

In the end Louderback does not believe that MediaDefender deliberately targeted Revision3 but did point out that the company has a history of using their servers to launch denial of service attacks against distributors.

Revision3 delivers podcasts like Diggnation and The GigaOM Show, both popular within the techie niches that follow the entertaining, informative hosts of those shows. Their popularity puts emphasis on the point Louderback made during his keynote, in response to a questions.

When asked if shows without hosts can be successful, Louderback cited the importance of the host in the podcast:

If you are doing the long format, you want to give them someone that can be their friend; they need to connect. The relationship through the videoscreen with the host really drives the viewers.

Louderback touted Revision3 as a television network for the Internet. That old media reference may look odd, but the site’s operation mirrors his view. “No new media makes the old media obsolete,” he said. “What it does is (new) changes (old).”

Whatever the new media does, let’s hope it does so without pre-roll advertising, which Louderback does not like. He’d like to see more ad formats, with content that people find interesting.

He expressed a take on ad networks and their suitability for podcasts. There are great ones that can help a smaller operation. When it grows, the podcast can bring on its own network instead.

WebProNews anchor Kara Ratliff contributed to this report.

Editor’s Note: Steve is a former blog partner of WebProNews. As such, we held off on this story for a couple of days to await comment. That comment hasn’t come, but we imagine it’s like asking a star running back how he feels about fumbling. Fair enough, right?

A week ago, at 5:44 a.m., Rubel posted on his Twitter page the following:

PC Mag is another. I have a free sub but it goes in the trash

It’s a short pair of sentences long on impact: short because Twitter is for stream-of-consciousness blogging with entries limited to 140 characters; impacting because Rubel is a big player at Edelman, a PR firm representing Microsoft, Palm, Mozilla, Adobe, among others that like PC Magazine’s 11 million subscribers.

That takes it well beyond an idle (public and permanent) statement to 1,600 Rubel Twitter-thought followers (isn’t interesting we live in a time where people can subscribe, basically, to your every thought as you type them? Is that narcissism, idol worship, boredom, or progress?).

CNet was the antecedent to "another," posted at 5:43 a.m., when Rubel asked if anybody still read them. CNet doesn’t appear to have been offended.

But PC Magazine Editor in Chief Jim Louderback was incensed at the remark, posting a long response on Strumpette.com (Strumpette boiled it down to "systemic Tourette’s.") Louderback, who promptly canceled Rubel’s free subscription, asked if an Edelman boycott would be overacting:

But then I started thinking about what this means for our relationship with Edelman. One of the company’s top execs had stated, in a public forum, that my magazine (and by extension, my audience) was useless to him. He wasn’t even interested in seeing whether we’d covered one of his clients. Did the rest of Edelman think like Steve? Were we no better than fishwrap to the entire company?

Rubel was quick to post an apology on his "Micro Persuasion" blog:

I learned a valuable lesson. Post too fast without providing context and it can elicit an unintended response. While the item is true, it does not reflect my full media consumption habits. I subscribe to PC Mag RSS feeds and have linked to several of your publication’s online articles over the three years I have been writing this blog. Further, I have linked to articles from eWeek, your sister site.

Rubel’s been light on the blog posting this week, and seems to have stopped Twittering altogether. His last post was dated and timed 8:40 p.m., April 18 (note to self: to solidify alibi, sign up for Twitter account), less than 24 hours after he posted his apology.

The length of time between Twitters is significant since Rubel has been a fairly constant Twitterer for some time.

Some other, now sadly ironic, Rubel Twitters in hours before the overreaction (yeah, overreaction, because everybody goofs up from time to time):

Someone told me they miss my feverish twittering. Damn work; damn you. kidding. I love my gig. 06:28 PM April 11, 2007

Quote of the day: "Be excellent to each other." 05:58 AM April 12, 2007

Not trying to be a downer today, but read this. Execs wary on 2.0. http://tinyurl.com/22aeb5 08:19 PM April 16, 2007

How come no one’s talking about "The Secret?" It’s becoming one of the biggest viral memes of all time. It started as a web movie. 06:47 PM April 10, 2007

Okay, so the last one’s not really ironic, just wanted to say, "because it was better the first time when it was called The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale." A lot’s changed in fifty years, but some things haven’t.

Keep your head up, Steve, and remember Mr. Peale’s advice, as paraphrased in Amazon’s book description: Faith in yourself makes good things happen to you.