Video Junkee vs Vidcon
Flew up to Sydney this weekend to attend Junkee’s first conference called ‘Video Junkee’. When it was first announced, I was intrigued and thought of it as a mini Vidcon or Vidcon-lite, but after the two days, I think it actually might be better than Vidcon.
To be clear, I went to Vidcon in the US last year and had an awesome time. It would be hard not to. However, even though there were tons of different panels for creators and industry alike, a lot of the programming was geared towards vlogging. How to monetize as a vlogger, build a following as a vlogger, light a video as a vlogger. All very useful tools - if you’re a vlogger. From memory, there was only one web series panel that I found.
Video Junkee on the other hand was all about creators who had or were interested in creating narrative series online, whether that be Youtube, Netflix, SBS or ABC iview. In short, exactly what I was interested in hearing and learning about. While the Youtube panel with some of the biggest creators was very useful, it was one of the lesser attended sessions, indicative of the type of clientele for this conference.
With Vidcon Australia starting for the first time in September, it will be really interesting to see what kind of audience they get. Youtube is still big here, but not like it is in the States and we have way less ‘Youtube stars’. Vidcon programming is geared towards vloggers and one man bands, not the more traditional industry present in Australia. While I want Vidcon to shake up the old fashion viewpoint, I think it would also be beneficial to change their usual programming to better suit the Australian industry.