Monday, May 20, 2013

GTChannel Newsletter - May 2013

May 2013

GTChannel Partners

Welcome to the first GTChannel partner newsletter.  Our goal has always been to establish a direct and interactive communication with our community.  We will be producing the newsletter on a regular basis to provide valuable info and opportunities to our partners, but what is also important is an acknowledgement of all our partners’ hard work. Like you, we began as automotive content creators.  We fought all the battles that you are fighting through, and it was because of this that we understood the need to build a community like the GTChannel Network.  It is really cool to watch this evolve.  We've had extensive interaction with many channels out there, and heard all the stories: the ups and downs, the successes and failures.  It is great to see the network working—and the momentum is gaining. 

Our endeavor won't happen overnight, and all of you will have to work your tails off alongside us, but it is working.  We will build up audience, views, and revenue.  And that is the name of the game.  We are growing fast in all aspects to better manage the opportunity we have before us.  We are working on numerous sponsorship deals for our partners.  We are developing a powerful content management platform that will make your life easier, and provide a slew of new revenue-generating opportunities. We'll have capabilities to deliver your content outside of the YouTube ecosphere to find new dollars, a forum for all our partners, and even our own classifieds to offer production services, equipment rental, and even license footage to other partners. Brick by brick, we are building more and more initiatives to blow the minds of every other content creator on YouTube.  We'll even have the non-automotive guys wishing they had such an opportunity, and every other network trying to follow our lead. Heck, we even have YouTube asking how we are doing things!

This newsletter serves as our community's voice, so please suggest any features or information that you'd like to see published in the newsletter.  The power and success of our community as a whole will come from cooperation and dialog of our members.  This is an evolving newsletter, and we are in the earliest of stages of it, so speak up and share any ideas you may have.

As a companion to this, we will be republishing all of the newsletters and info on our blog > http://gtchannelpartner.blogspot.com/ (Please make sure to go to the blog and subscribe.)

          GTChannel Team


Quick Notes


A couple of reminders:

*  Please turn in your Welcome Kits when you have time. You can direct these to partner@gtchannel.com, or feel free to send them to me directly > Scott@gtchannel.com.

*  Within the Welcome Kit, we provided some "Starting Line" tasks.  These are little adjustments you can do right away as you upload new content to you channels.  We've found a lot of success with these simple tasks.  You can find these in the Welcome Kit Page 6.  But to refresh...

1. Turn in Logos.  
This is a big one.  We are utilizing the logos for press, promotions, in-video mentions, etc.  For some of you we've heard that you need a cheaper software than Photoshop, I found two that might be useful.




    * Longer read, but worth the time.  

Please let your Crew Chief know if you have any problems.

Community Action


This section of the newsletter is all about activating each of our channels.
This will include tips & tricks, as well as (like this one) requests of each partner to assist us in moving your channel ahead.

This Month's Action:   PROMO videos.



All of us at here at GTChannel are excited to be part of the network with you.  It’s time we let the world know the quality and diversity of our content.  Starting in June, we will be featuring promos and trailers of your great work on our own channels and in turn, we also encourage cross-promotion across your channels.  

Some of you have already started working on these, with many already in-house.  These promos will be invaluable for several reasons.  The first is a calling card for your channel. Each promo should be a video "Trailer" that tells the audience what your channel is all about.  This is your chance to sell your channel and convince the viewer to click SUBSCRIBE.  You've all seen movie trailers; what makes you want to see the movie? You all watch 100s of promos each week on television; what makes you want to tune-in.  That is the same message these promos should provide. Is it "the only place to see...", "The best channel for ..."  You know the identity of your channel and why people should watch, now use the promo to tell them.

The second is the many uses of the promo.  GTChannel is programming featured partner pieces on our owned/operated channels, which is a nice way to get discovered by a new audience.  We are also working on a co-op of channels where you are featured on their channel and vice-versa.  The promo is also a requirement for ONE CHANNEL.  We'll have more on this soon, but when we ask all to convert to ONE CHANNEL, each new viewer will see your promo first.  YouTube has lots of documentation on how this increases subscribers and we agree it is the way to go.

What do we need?

1. 30-60 second promo video file. See promo guidelines below


2. Promo Submission Sheet (text file, word doc, excel)

  • Your Name:
  • e-Mail:
  • Channel Name:
  • Channel URL:
  • Description of Channel:
  • Tags:



Deadline for participation in June’s program is May 31st.  We’ll need the Info form filled out and your 30-60 second promo delivered via Google Drive no later than May 31st.


Video Guidelines 

Length: 30-60 seconds

Music: Please use only cleared music

Size: 1920x1080 or 1280x720 (please do not provide a standard definition file)

Frame Rate: 29.97(59.94), 30, 25, 23.98, 24

Scanning: Progressive frame only.  Interlaced will not be accepted.  If your promo is 1080i please de-interlace before submitting.

Audio: Stereo (we can't support 5.1)

Video Codec: Apple Intermediate, ProRes (all variants), Avid (all formats), 8 or 10bit uncompressed, H.264 (I frame only and with a high enough data rate that no compression artifacts are visible)

File Types: QuickTime MOV, mp4, m4v

Delivery Method: Upload to Google Drive and share with partner@gtchannel.com

GTChannel Update


Our goal with GTChannel Update is to provide some news and info related to our community's growth, success, and accomplishments.



Our team was shepherded out to YouTube's big BrandCast event in NYC earlier this month.  This is a gathering of content owners, networks, and most importantly, advertisers.  The event's message duplicated our own thinking that our market and potential is growing fast.  It has also confirmed all our efforts in targeting the audience that we are all seeking out.  We are doing things right.  A great event with lots of connections to automotive related sponsors and advertising agencies.  We look forward to converting these discussions into real world projects for all our partners.

While in NYC, Taro Koki (our co-founder) was fortunate enough to share several hours of a private meeting with the YouTube management.  He went to battle with many of the concerns that all content owners have with YouTube, and specific efforts that would help our community on GTChannel.  We are very lucky to have been received in this way, and it is a pat on the back for all of us that YouTube is standing up and listening to GTChannel. 



GTChannel was one of the first and few partners that applied and was accepted into the YouTube Space program.  You can read about it on the link above, but in short, it is a Los Angeles production facility that was created to encourage content owners and networks to utilize for producing in studios shows.  We recently got a tour at the opening and it is a very nice facility.  We are looking at the opportunity to produce our "Partner's Round Table" show at the space, and we are working with YouTube to identify how we can make this available to the GTChannel community.  It would be a long trip for most, but for those in the neighborhood, this could provide a lot of valuable resources.




Our GTChannel team will be in Palm Beach, FL for the “Formula D – Invasion” event next week (May 31-June 1).  We hope that all those in the area will come to the event and look for our black/pink GTChannel T-shirts or hats.  We'd love to meet you in person.

Hot Partners

Here is a section to throw accolades to your community partners.  I could provide fifty different mentions, such as offers from partners to push GTPlanet's hot release of GT6 game play footage on their Facebook (unprompted!).  I thought, "This is how this community is going to succeed." (250k views later!) This is where we give some props to the partners that have gone above and beyond, shown amazing growth, or just have a fantastic video

Please support your fellow partners, and Subscribe
                      - it all comes around.


Now that is generous.



No particular video, but Theon (BkBootKrust) let us know that he'd like all his revenue and proceeds to go to the Relief for Japan charity.  If anyone deserves some accolades it is our man Theon.  Well done!


Gran Turismo 6 Gameplay Video: KTM X-Bow R at Silverstone International Circuit


A shout out to Jordan who literally spanned the globe to attend the release event for Sony's GT6 reveal.  GTPlanet was one of the very first to show a morsel of the new game.  That is dedication.  Well done Jordan!


 

Irwindale 1/8th Mile Thursday Night Drags 5-16-13

by tyndago

This one is for me.  This is like a montage of all my previous cars—VW  Bug, Plymouth Scamp (Dart), and my favorite (I stand alone)—Chevy Vega.  In this case, a station wagon Vega.  Amazing.





Jyuroku.com 2013 Promo Trailer


Since our “Action” this newsletter is promos, what better use of the Hot Partners than presenting Chad's amazing promo for FindingJDM.  If you want a good sample of how to cut your promo, this is it.  We've had numerous great promos come in, but not only was this great, we also saw a huge spike of subscribers when the promo was featured.  Well done.





As a companion to this, we will be republishing all of the newsletters and info on our blog > http://gtchannelpartner.blogspot.com/ (Please make sure to go to the blog and subscribe.)