Why fix what isnt broken? CaptureYourFlag.com is an interview show. It bills itself as, a resource to help individuals find fulfillment in their career and personal journeys. Sound familiar? We already have this with TED.com, bilconference.com, and others. You may wonder what could possibly be wrong with a few inspirational interviews. Someone may very well say something that could light that spark in your creative mind. Sadly, the site is destined to fail in the depths of youtube with ZERO views.
This site doesnt add anything to the interviewing world. It doesnt reach out and interview people who may not normally have a chance to speak at a bigger website or conference. This site equates to an overly long interview (40+ minutes in some circumstances), with not very interesting people, and a look that resembles a local cable access interview show.
The site is poorly programed, and as of November 9, 2010, is running ads on its videos. Im fine with advertisements generally. However, when they are running ads from September 2010 that showcase the season premiere of GLEE (Fox), thats when they arent relevant to your audience. You know they probably dont have an advertising deal, and are pushing stock ads to convince advertisers that they have BIG NAMES that advertise on the site.
When I hit play/pause/stop while the advertisement is playing, the advertisement (30seconds long) keeps playing while the video starts in the background. GREAT! Now Im watching an interview I cant see, with audio from both the advertisement and the interview mixing in the background. The last note is, REPLACE THE HOST!! He looks like his career went down the drain. Hes balding, has poor clothing choices, and just looks uninteresting.
So how do we fix this?
1. Come up with something unique that makes your site stand out.
2. EDIT your interviews! You only need the good parts. Remove the mums, buts, uhhhs, and please, the less face time from the interviewer, the better. [The study, published by online video metrics solutions provider, Visible Measures, finds that 20% of viewers abandon a video within the first ten seconds. By the time the video reaches the 60-second mark, nearly half (44.1%) of all viewers have gotten distracted and wandered off].
3. Fix the programming on your site [see advertising video issue above]. Use high-resolution graphics too, please. I should not see digital artifacts in your LOGO.
4. Why is there is a light in your set. It makes all your images look funny in your tiled view. Please make your set look like it isnt from a local, zero budget cable access show from the 80?s.
5. Replace your current host or pay for him to have a day at the spa. The energy from your host is lacking. If the host isnt filled with energy and isnt engaging, then what audience member is going to be engaged by the content?
So, my question is this: Who thought this was a great idea and who gave them money!?
http://www.captureyourflag.com/
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