Video and Audio Services at RedMonk

Today, once again, I got caught not having a ready write-up of the video and audio services we increasingly do for clients here at RedMonk. While this isn’t an official write-up, I thought I’d at least take a crack at it so I don’t have to re-write That Email for the 50th time.

In summary, we produce sponsored audio podcasts, do moderated screencasts, and produce sponsored videos. Much like our white-paper reselling, the sponsorship here essentially means the right to re-use the material however you want rather than the right to tell us what to say. Most of the work in doing these comes from the production aspects – recording and editing – rather than the interviews and content itself.

So, what are some examples of each of these?

• IBM’s EGL on System z – back in 2006, James I talked with a passel of IBM and KBC people about the use of one of Rational’s products, EGL, to help one of their customers, KBC, to develop for their mainframes.

Eclipse Europa Screencasts – mid last year, we did a series of five screen casts (on EMF, DTP, Mylyn, BIRT, and Equinox) on the topic of Eclipse Europa components. These are our so called “moderated screencasts,” where-in I sit down with a (usually quite technical) person and we go through a demo of the project with me asking questions and starting topical discussions through-out.

• Eclupse Equinox Screencasts – late last year we did another series of screencasts around Eclipse’s Equinox platform. This was a mix of moderated screencasts and one video interview.
• Microsoft TechEd IT Forum Interviews – Microsoft had James and I come out to TechEd in Barcelona last year to do a series of 5 interviews around the System Center product line.
• Atlassian Partner Screencasts – finally, we’ve been working with Atlassian on a series of screencasts around the different 3rd party products that work with Atlassian’s JIRA platform. So far we’ve produced one for VersionOne and TaskTop.
• James on BriefingsDirect with MyEclipse – James was a guest on a BriefingsDirect.com podcast on the topic of one of our client’s, MyEclipse, offerings for WebSphere developers.
• The Sun Identity Buzz Podcast – I’m a co-host on the Sun Identity Buzz Podcast. This is a bit different in that I don’t do production for this, I just call in and participate in the agenda crafting.

The list above are just the sponsored (read: we were paid to produce them) audio and video we’ve done. There’s a slew of straight up podcasts we’ve done from RedMonk Radio, to our new weekly series like RIA Weekly and the IT Management Podcast, to all of the video we do for RedMonkTV.

What We Do

So, if you’re looking to work with RedMonk on a podcast, video, or screencasts, what do you “get”?

First off, the process is the least painful for you as possible. That is, it’s “turn-key.” Essentially you show up for the 30-60 minutes it takes to record it, and that’s it. We do all of the recording, editing, other production, and distribution.

Much like our white-paper distribution rights selling, the arrangement make with sponsors is to let them post the content where ever they like: on their web sites for example.

Clearly, there’s some topic setting that’s done as well. For example, while I was part of the selection of which Eclipse projects to highlight, obviously they had to be on the topic of the Europa release or Equinox. And, when we did the Microsoft TechEd videos, we obviously were going to talk about PowerShell over XBox.

The Bias Question

Now, the question inevitably comes up of bias and getting paid to say how awesome some client is in these things. I always feel like that kind of question is like being asked the old “so how long has been since you’ve stopped beating your wife?” saw, but I’ll try to address it anyhow. I could tell you that I’m a good guy and that you can trust me not to sell out, but you wouldn’t be asking if you’d believe an answer like that, true as it may be.

The thing I try to do with these – and it may sound self serving – is to have as little preparation on the agenda front as possible. My goal is record the equivalent of a briefing where I’d be sitting there pestering and asking people questions to clarify. Rather than being there to express some sort of judgement on my part, I just want to understand what’s going on.

Now, in unsponsored podcasts (read: ones we don’t get paid for that we do for fun and for the greater RedMonk Community), we tend to be pretty loose with my judgement throwing. And while I may say something looks “interesting” or “exciting” (’cause it usually does) in a sponsored media bit, that’s far, far from saying, “clearly, people should be giving the finger to competitor XYZ and giving you, sponsorer of this podcast, well over six figures just to be in the same room with you.”

Any other ideas?

I actually like doing podcasts, videos, and screencasts a great deal as evidenced by all of the three that I do client or no. Indeed, I’ve had a great time with my own weekly podcast, DrunkAndRetired.com for almost 3 years now.

Working with clients to these kinds of things is, thus, always enjoyable. If you’re a client (or would like to become one ;>) and interested in this, I’m happy to talk more about it. Even better, if you have new ideas for “new media” types of things to work on, I’m all ears (and eyes I guess).

Disclaimer: Eclipse, Microsoft, Atlassian, MyEclipse, and Sun are clients (obviously). Also – beware! – we use adult language over at DrunkAndRetired.com.