PeopleTube? Finding A Way to Cage the YouTube Monster

How many magazines throw branded versions of themselves and their scant video offerings onto YouTube in the hopes of riding the media sharing and social network craze? Have you seen some of the sad traffic some of these major print brands attract? How media companies get into the user-generated eco-system without seeming like over-dressed interlopers is the question of the moment. One answer is to sponsor a contest that lets users of these systems do what they love to do most, make media about themselves.

The People.com Red Carpet Report contest at YouTube is a strong execution that the partners say has grabbed hundreds of thousands of views as YouTubers submitted short samples of their own red carpet interviewing talent. Now in stage two of the judging, the contest has filtered down ten finalists for open voting. Editors and professional interviewers made the first cut to ensure editorial integrity to the process, and sponsor Revlon has a prominent sponsorship that includes interviewing tips.

The enture model is a smart way of leveraging the YouTube vibe without surrendering to its vagaries and chaos. Keeping disciplined, editorially driven frames around user-generated content will be the key challenge for media brands as they enter this world. The interested of advertisers still need to be served. A clean-well lit place with predictable, high quality material is guaranteed here. But at the same time the raw energy of users and grassroots talent still pokes through.