The folks at libertarian magazine Reason recently launched Reason.tv, a site focusing on videos promoting “free minds and free markets.”  The site is already quite content reach, featuring dozens of videos.  The highlight is the “Drew Carey Project”, starring the well-known comedian and tackling a number of hot-button political issues like NAFTA, drug legalization, and eminent domain.  All in all, this is a great example of a well-done site that works on a publishing model rather than a brand marketing model.

Big news coming from Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers:  soon we’ll be able to choose from a “nearly infinite variety” of top-level domains (instead of being restricted to old workhorses like .com, .org, .edu, etc.)  So perhaps we’ll see a greater variety of video-friendly extensions in the near future, like .movie, .film, .show, or .network.

Last July, Mercedes-Benz launched what I think is probably the slickest of all the current branded video sites online: mercedes-benz.tv.

The site features Mercedes-oriented programming 24 hours a day, with separate channels focusing on lifestyle, cars, sports, history and innovation. And the execution is incredibly impressive: really high quality video, broadcasts in German and English, a wildly innovative (in a good way) navigational scheme. I’m looking forward to seeing how the site progresses from here on out.

This report is almost a year old, but still contains some enlightening statistics on the exploding growth of video on the web.  From the report:.

• 57% of internet users have watched videos online and most of them share what they find with others.
• 19% do so on a typical day.
• Three-quarters of broadband users (74%) who enjoy high-speed connections at both home and work watch or download video online.

Will It Blend? is a web video-driven viral marketing campaign from Blendtec, a company that makes industrial strength blenders. Each episode consists of founder Tom Dickson attempting to blend various items, including an iPod, golf balls, cubic zirconia, and a McDonald’s Extra Value Meal.

The campaign has been a huge success, landing the founder of the little known company on such national television programs as the Today Show (where he blended a half a chicken with Coca-Cola before feeding it to Meredith Viera) and the Tonight Show (where he successfully blended a rake handle.) Between YouTube and the Will It Blend? website, the videos have been viewed more than 100 million times. According to the company, “The campaign took off almost instantly. We have definitely felt an impact in sales. Will it Blend has had an amazing impact to our commercial and our retail products.”

This article on NYTimes.com raised my eyebrows, as the ISPs (remember the term - Internet Service Provider) set price tiers based on Internet bandwidth consumption. My initial reaction is indignation, after all, what is the $100/month high speed cable access for? The industry started pricing for connection speed and now are they planning to add additional charges on top of that? And it can’t be good for online video – it’s adoption and growth as a unique media format.

But perhaps it helps distinguish web video from the mass media, providing a competitive differentiation. We have the largest TV and movie producers distributing content and expanding their revenue sources on the backs of the Internet revolution. There is no doubt that watching full screen video online has enhanced the interactive experience, but if someone wants to watch a 2 hour movie, maybe they ought to get back on the couch. Perhaps the medium is better served by short-form, episodic video content with more opportunities for interaction – as long as it still plays in real-time.

I could argue either way, and of course prefer full speed, unlimited usage for free, but somebody has to pay for something.

Hockey is by far my favorite sport, but the NHL has struggled for years with a narrow regional appeal and small but hardcore fanbase. Over the last several years, the NHL has tried to expand its appeal by expanding to sun belt cities, curtailing brawls, and adding gimmicks like the shootout. In the process, however, they may have alienated the hardcore fan that still supplies the core of their revenue and remembers fondly the days of rock ‘em, sock ‘em, old time hockey.

With the launch of NHL.tv, the league has got something for the true hockey fanatic: a seven channel digital network featuring original content, highlights, updates, interviews, news conferences, and more. Channels include “The Hockey Show”, “Livewire”, and “The Playoff Channel”, in addition to channels featuring oldies and archival footage. Advertisers include Bud Light, Cisco, and Dodge.

Check out this article from the NY Times for more info.

Another recent article in the Times talks about how “lunchtime has become the new prime time” for web video. With millions of office workers around the country looking for a mid-day diversion, sites that feature video have been seeing massive traffic spikes when employees take a break for their afternoon sandwich.

What’s interesting is that media companies are now responding to the trend by actually releasing new content and webisodes to leverage the natural tendency for traffic to spike at noon. In addition, producers are now charging higher advertising fees for programs that launch at lunch, thereby turning the time slot into a web-version of prime time.

The subject of a recent article in the New York Times, Crescent Heights is the new web series put out by Procter & Gamble to promote their Tide brand. I think the content on this one is a bit flimsy (or maybe I’m just the wrong demographic), but it’s interesting and inspiring to see a consumer goods giant like P&G experimenting in this space. Could we be going back to the golden days of television, when literal soap operas ruled the airwaves?

Here’s an interesting post from Silicon Alley Insider talking about the various ways that different web video properties count a “view”. The big question that companies are still trying to work out is whether a view is counted every time a video is launched, or whether to count only one view per IP address. The problem with the former is over counting, as a view can be registered each time a single person watches the same clip. The problem with the latter is undercounting, as often times many people can share a single IP.

It’ll be interesting to watch how this gets sorted out over the coming months and years.