Pixability offers short-term solution for video production

From mainstream news outlets to entertainment sites, video is being both monetized and leveraged to engage audiences. According to an eMarketer report, 84.1 percent of U.S. Internet users watch online video, with 72.3 percent watching video advertisements. By 2012, the number of online video watchers is expected to rise to 88 percent of all U.S. Internet users.

While most media outlets want to be part of that experience, many may not have the budget to hire a video production team. What to do?

Here's a short-term solution: For $600, video production service provider Pixability will send you a Flip video camera along with a return envelope. Shoot the footage you need and return the Flip camera to Pixability, which will work with you to define your story and edit the video. The MIT-founded startup promises a professionally edited video with “music, titles and transitions” branded with your logo in the intro and at the end.

While paying $600 a pop is no way to build an archive of videos to populate a website's video channel—especially when video editing software iMovie is included on Macs and Final Cut Pro can be had for a one-time price of around $1,000—having a few professionally produced videos on your site could illustrate the level of production quality you expect as your staff gets comfortable conceptualizing, shooting and editing video content.