Blip.tv gives videomakers a chance to be a star

— -- Everybody's in show biz.

Just ask Dina Kaplan, a co-founder of Blip.tv, the video website that distributes some 38,000 homegrown shows across the Web, and splits ad revenue 50/50 with the folks who make them.

"We target anyone who wants to make quality content and doesn't want to pitch the show to a network TV exec," says Kaplan, Blip's chief operating officer. "There's a lot of great content a network exec might say no to that could be an excellent and profitable Web show."

Blip is an online video network that on paper competes with the likes of YouTube, Hulu and Veoh for viewers, but it's a different animal.

It's actually a video-distribution service. People upload their video shows to Blip, which syndicates them to video sites such as AOL, Yahoo, MSN and elsewhere on the Web. About 1 million "episodes" have been uploaded to Blip.

Blip attracted 13.2 million viewers in January, according to measurement service Quantcast. But few stopped by at Blip.tv to watch the 32.6 million video streams, says Mike Hudack, Blip's CEO. Ninety-five percent of viewership was on other websites and blogs — which is how Blip likes it.

Blip was formed in 2005, with the basic idea that on the Web, anybody can be a video star. Its shows are devoted to everything from gaming and comics fandom to tips on woodworking and making won-ton soup. What you won't see on Blip are amateur videos like those seen on YouTube and other video sites.

The private company, which has 19 employees, hasn't made a profit. Blip's shows also can be seen on Internet-connected Sony Bravia TV sets and on Verizon's cable-TV-like Fios system. It just cut a deal to bring Blip shows to TV sets via TiVo, beginning later this spring.

"This is the convergence everyone has been talking about," Kaplan says. "It's so much more comfortable to watch on the living room couch than an office chair, so why not have the option?"

But can just anybody be an Internet star and make money via Blip?

Kaplan says Blip has paid out checks ranging from "tens of dollars to tens of thousands," depending on viewership. The checks are the content creator's portion of ad revenue.