I got a sponsor!

Some exciting news on the CHS front, we got our first CHS-V advertiser!  Healeo has been advertising on CHS for a while now, but they've decided to move their advertising specifically to my video series there.

CHS-V is already building (and engaging) an audience by delivering timely, ground level video journalism and documentary-shorts focused on Capitol Hill.  I know that Capitol Hill is an attractive market for advertisers, so if hyperlocal ad-supported online video can work anywhere, it's here.  For ad supported video to work, obviously, I'm going to need to get views.  In this case that will often mean attracting viewers beyond just this neighborhood, and even beyond Seattle.  Lucky for me, Seattle and Capitol Hill specifically are centers for innovation and creative minded people, so I know finding topics with wide appeal won't be a problem.  Past episodes of CHS-V have already been featured on national and international blogs, and are regularly featured on various city-wide blogs, and even film festivals.  Any ad messages would be carried through all theses mediums.

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to integrate the ads into the video. The only thing I know is, I DO NOT want pre-roll ads before every video.  If I'm not that interested in the video, pre-roll ads can be a deal breaker, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way.  This is my first shot at integrating ads into my work so I'm sure there'll be some trial and error but I'm hopeful that we can make this work.

Below is the first video with the 'presented by Healeo' post-roll at the end.  Tomorrow, I plan on testing out a more prominent (but hopefully not intrusive) ad placement.