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Video player comparison, is Youtube a good solution for my Listing?

I recently was speaking to some Realtors about video upload possibilities. The most common response is, oh yeah I just uploaded my video to http://www.youtube.com/

That always makes me cringe because it seems like it's such an ineffective way to effectively market your property. Not to mention the fact that it's ACTUALLY against their general terms of agreement to profit from doing so. Read Rule #4 and tell me what you think that means?

http://www.youtube.com/t/terms

YouTube states the following as RESTRICTIONS.... "use of the Website or its related services (such as the Embeddable Player), for the primary purpose of gaining advertising or subscription revenue"......

We all know that the chances of YouTube.com coming after Joe Smith Realtor is probably not going to happen but, do you really want the possibility of them biting into your 6% commission to happen after the fact? Other things that would worry me as a Realtor and Home Seller would be my beautiful listing / home next to the majority of inappropriate material on YouTube.com. Believe me, I LOVE YOUTUBE! I think the boys @YouTube (Chad and Steve) are AWESOME and are pioreers in social media. However, I question if it's a place to display Real Estate. Throw in the fact that there really isn't a great way to search for that material you just uploaded and I would be guessing you have a bigger problem instead of a solution for displaying you Real Estate Listing.

Is the quality what you demand? That should be the hope anyways right? I think it's pretty "clear" which quality is better for your Listing.... Tell me what you think.... These are EXACTLY the same video.... Please tell me if you notice the difference or which would be better for your $750,000 Listing?

More details available at ZIPVO.com.

To me the answer is CLEAR.... Although YouTube is an EXTREMELY powerful and popular social media platform, it's obviously not the best choice as a Real Estate Agent. Still the jury is not out about the idea to aimlessly send videos and content to any and all sites that will accept video. Not to mention sites like Trulia and Zillow even though they accept those feeds / content doesn't mean it will EVER take precedence over MLS content. I would say a better idea is to upload your video / content to a dedicated Real Estate Website that does video and does it well! :-) Do you http://www.zipvo.com/ ??????

Posted by Greg Afarian on 09/08/2008 04:10 PM

Comments (15)

Video Quality in the ActiveRain Channel

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15 Comments on Video player comparison, is Youtube a good solution for my Listing?

SEP

2008

Quality is nice..but when you are the largest video site to date as youtube is....it is not going to be avoided or not used. Used both and many platforms is what we do..that is like spreading your bets on the routlette table. Don't rely on one..just like mentors. Don't have just one..have many!

Ive heard other agents posting on YouTube with decent results. I figure it reaches the largest internet video audience and its a universal player that doesnt require any additional downloads or technical skills for people to view.

Hey Andrew, I agree... It shouldn't be your only solution... Nice analogy, why is it I always lose at the roulette table :-(

I think a lot of agents use(d) Youtube because it was really the only kid on the block. Now that there are better options geared specifically for real estate (like Zipvo!), I think that will change.

Tina in Virginia

Hey Mike, Did you read there terms? Just throwing it out there... It's against their policy and restriction.

http://www.youtube.com/t/terms

Greg, it would not be just Realtors they would have to go after according to their terms. I agree with placing your video with as many sites as possible. Like having multiple blog sites.

Frank, yes your right and just trying to bring that fact to the table. I think the real question is, with all the inappropriate material on youtube is that the place for your real estate listing?

Why is there such a difference in quality with the 2 videos? I upload stuff to youtube and it looks exactly like the original video.

Shane... That's the quality of a video after Youtube is done compressing the file, both were the original files.... We have worked hard on the compression and playback quality. Also 16:9 is in the works....

Hi Greg - I would agree that the quality is much better on Zipvo. I think perceptions unfortunately can be taken advantage of. What I mean by that is this...If I am on a listing appointment and tell the seller that I am going to maket their home on Youtube they will probably recognize the name Youtube. I could say I will also be marketing the home on Zipvo and they will probably say " I have never heard of that".

I am sure that Zipvo is a better platform for Real Estate and will most likely become more recognized. You know you have me as a fan:)

If what you saying about their policy is true why would the Real Estate shows have an integration feature with Youtube?

Hey Bill... Thanks for the great comments... Not much you can say there about the popularity of YouTube :-) I am just wondering about this as a big gray area and the policies as you can see they have in place. Again, I am a HUGE fan of the guys over there @YouTube! (I'd like not consider us as the YouTube of Real Estate

As for quality and players, I would think the simple answers would be to use a player like ours and embed those listings on other sites. The roulette analogy is a great example however, I do question the inappropriate and sometime gross content that could be next to your listing.

PS... I failed to mention that after viewing your video on YouTube (anyones video) there are other videos that come below that video to try and persuade the user to click on those videos and leave your content...

ZIPVO, Real Estate Media Network

I use Zipvo for all my real estate listings and local reviews. The difference is a much better quality video with better sound and more embedding options to market your video with Zipvo than with YouTube. I still use YouTube for my everyday stuff, but I Zipvo definitely is my choice for real estate.

Kudos to Greg and James on this great real estate media network that they've built.

Hey Jessica... Thanks so much for the kind words :-)

SEP

2008

Greg, Amazing difference I have been using them all and well the quality on most is tough, I do remember someone addressed the YouTube for real estate TOS with UT and they posted some kind of clarification. Darn if I can find it now - when I do I will send it on to you.

SEP

2008

Brett Shaw from Cyberhomes:

Most people don't see the difference in quality of a video because all of the videos on YouTube are of that quality (or seem to be). With the buzzword "YouTube generation" flying all over the place, it would make sense to put the home video on the site. I'm sure that there will be more viewings on sites like Zipvo, but like Bill said, most sellers have heard of YouTube and know of its popularity.

We are only at the beginning stages of real estate video marketing and it will advance quickly.

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