In this week’s episode, Bryan Eisenberg speaks with Metacafe co-founder Arik Czerniak about the past, present and future of online video. Since 2003, Metacafe.com has become one of the most popular user-generated video sites. Actually, they’re one of the biggest websites of any kind, with around 30 million unique visitors, and a massive half-billion streams — every month.

In just a few years, the company has seen a lot of change in the video market, from Google’s YouTube acquisition to an influx of competition from newer startups. Through it all, the company has stayed true to its vision, letting fans upload videos of refrigerators that can launch a cold beer right into your hand.

What could be better than a beer-launching fridge? Well, unlike YouTube — which has made some gestures to share the wealth — Metacafe pays the folks who submit video as much as thousands of dollars per month.

Bryan & Arik discuss:

• Why the video market is no longer just for skateboarding dogs.
• The rise of Metacafe, and user-generated content in general.
• How to make a living by submitting video to Metacafe.
• Viral marketing, and how to create videos that people want to watch.
• The “micro-boredom” epidemic, and how to fix it.

Click here to listen to Arik Czerniak & Bryan Eisenberg

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If you have any follow-up questions for Arik, let us know in the comments and we’ll do a follow-up post with his answers!