Metacafe has always been about you – our vibrant community of talented video producers and discerning viewers. More than 25 million people around the world now visit Metacafe each month (that’s a lot!). Many of you have told us that you keep coming back because you know you can always find something entertaining – and you can find it quickly. But you may not realize what a big role you play in defining the Metacafe experience of less clutter, more entertainment. So here’s how you can continue to power our site:

• You conduct the auditions – Metacafe has a pool of 80,000 volunteer reviewers who take a first look at the thousands of videos submitted to the site each day. Not only do reviewers filter out inappropriate or uninteresting videos, but they also ensure that every video gets a chance to be seen and reviewed (an audition!) The more reviewers are entertained by a video, the faster it will get exposed to the larger audience. Learn about becoming a reviewer.
• You help us find the best – Almost every video site asks viewers to rate videos. But did you know that only 1 out of 100 viewers actually does it? At Metacafe, we work hard to figure out what the other 99% of viewers think. We consider dozens of factors that tell us just how entertaining a video really is. In addition to the star ratings, we look at how much of a video most people watch, how many forwarded it to friends, how many watch it more than once, and many other behavioral indicators. All this adds up to a video’s VideoRankâ„¢ which is the 3-digit number you see above every video.
• You choose what gets featured – We use a video’s VideoRank to determine where it appears on the site – with the highest-ranked showing up on the top pages, as “recommendedâ€? videos, or in the section that pops up after you watch a video. In this way, we expose the most popular videos and make it easy for viewers to find those they’re most likely to enjoy.
• You decide the rewards – The exposure these top-ranked videos receive helps propel them into our Producer RewardsTM program, which is open to all creators of original content. This equal opportunity system gives every producer a shot, and it’s your positive reactions that reward their best work. Thousands of videos are earning money on Metacafe, and 12 producers have each made more than $10,000 since we launched the program last fall.

Here’s a video from one of our producers, Dane Boedigheimer, that provides a little more (entertaining) insight:

Metacafe - People-Powered Entertainment - A funny movie is a click away

Bottom line, we just think that every video deserves the opportunity to be seen, and we make sure each viewer’s opinion is heard. It’s entertainment – powered by people. It’s what we stand for. It’s what we do. It’s something you’ll be seeing more of in the weeks and months to come. Here’s to you!

Hi all,

Looking for an easy way to showcase all of your Producer Rewards videos? Let me introduce you to the newest feature on Metacafe: User Channels. From now on, your video page is actually your own channel with an easy URL to showcase your favorite Metacafe videos in one place.

When you click on the Channels tab, Metacafe’s regular sorting options are available, such as Highest Rated and Most Discussed. Now we’re introducing a new sorting tool: Show only Producers. By clicking on this option, you can view only channels that contain original material by Metacafe’s producers.

One of the advantages of these user channels are subscriptions. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, from now on, whenever you find a channel that you like, you can subscribe to it and receive email notifications every time the channel is updated. It’s the easiest way to keep up with your favorite creators, too!

Have you ever watched a great video on Metacafe again and again? Now you can save your favorite Metacafe videos in your channel so you and all your friends – and subscribers – can watch them too! Just click on the Add to Favorites icon appearing above your favorite videos on the video page.

The channels contain tons of cool features, such as avatars, extended stats including honors, quotes, information, and channel comments.

Your channel is a representation of your personality, your creations, and your favorite videos. So get to work and express yourself!

Hi everyone,

The summer is upon us, and with it come all of the latest blockbusters. Metacafe has joined with Universal Studios to create a special channel where you can make your own Bourne Ultimatum trailer in honor of one of this summer’s most anticipated movies, The Bourne Ultimatum, starring Matt Damon.

Just click on the Bourne Ultimatum tab and use Metacafe’s fun and innovative took to re-cut scenes from the movie to create your own movie trailer. Send it to your friends and family, and watch trailers made by your fellow Metaholics.

So go ahead and show us what you’ve got – click on http://www.metacafe.com/bourne/ and be a part of what will be one of this summer’s biggest blockbusters!

Think you deserve a spot on Metacafe’s home page? How about another one in the Unfiltered section of Metacafe Studio? Well…prove it!

If you’ve been toiling away feverishly on the perfect original video for Producer Rewards, only to land up on page 17 of the Most Recent catalog, this is your big chance. We can’t promise you instant Hollywood attention or millions of dollars, but we can get you well on your way to a Producer Rewards deal with the amount of traffic your video will get.

We’ve already had some great submissions from Hersheymagic2, creator of his bimonthly Metacafe News series, and “weblebrity� Nalts has been churning out his hilarious interviews of Metacafe producers for us.

So what else are we looking for? First of all, it HAS to be original, in both the no-copyrighted-content-we-hate-lawsuits sense and the creative/innovative sense. There’s a time and place for how-to and iPod hack videos – this isn’t it.

We want scripted (or improv) videos that are funny, thought-provoking, or just plain interesting. We’re not asking for big budget productions and special effects, but we do want videos that are well-written and thought out. If you’ve started a web-based video series, even better. We love to see user-generated shows.

If you think you have what it takes, give us a shout at studio@metacafe.com and send us the link to your video. You may just end up on the front page!