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Everyone offers a customizable video player experience and that’s what we’ve come to expect from our online video platforms. Today, Vzaar takes that notion one step further and is now offering a completely customizable video pages allowing you to brand not just the video player but the entire video and portfolio pages for your content ..

Another week, another fresh batch of the most popular videos. Some are from brands–and this week, we have an excellent selection of great branded videos for you–and others are from individuals.

You simply can’t have your finger on the pulse of the viral video audience–their wants and needs as viewers–without keeping an eye on the current crop of popular videos. Brands and individuals find viral success every week, and each one can help teach video creators and marketers how to hone their craft and engage their audience.

I spend a lot of time on this site, and with clients, talking about how important it is for brands and businesses to think about creating online video content as opposed to merely making ads. The branded videos that go viral and gather all kinds of social activity–shares, comments, likes, forwards, etc.–are the ones that don’t look and feel like traditional commercials

I always send various videos that I collect throughout the week for this column to friends and family, and it usually gives me a pretty good indication of whether or not the column has a good cross-section of different video types and tones.

According to new research commissioned by Unruly Media , viewers are far more likely to recall a brand name and engage with an ad’s message if a branded video has been recommended to them by a peer. The survey, conducted by Decipher Research to measure the effectiveness of social video advertising, found that social video recommendations had a direct impact on traditional brand metrics and ad enjoyment. The new research found: Brand recall and brand association rose 7 percent among viewers who had peers recommend the videos versus viewers who found it by browsing; 73 percent of respondents who viewed a peer-recommended video recalled the brand when prompted versus 68 percent of viewers who had browsed to the video directly; There was a 14 percent increase in the number of people who enjoyed the video following a recommendation versus those who had discovered it by browsing; People who enjoyed a video were 97 percent more likely to purchase the product featured in the video

This week's online video news was dominated by web series talk. For instance, we have a retrospective on the BMW web series, The Hire, which was way ahead of its time. We also have some articles about a new Tom Hanks web series, the future of branded video content from Coke, and a story about a YouTube star signing a big new deal

It was a pretty big week for online video fans, as CES 2012 kicked off and a wave of new video gadget announcements began. We also heard some big predictions from key companies at CES, like YouTube, who said that soon 90% of all web traffic will be video. But something else happened this week that maybe didn't get as much press: brands and individuals and small businesses and artists used the power of online video to reach new fans and spread their message.

The first week of 2012 proved to be a strong one in the world of online video, as the new year did nothing to slow down the clever brands and amateurs piling up the views with creative videos. This week we have a few bloopers that captured viewers' attention, some branded social video campaigns, a collection of repurposed video and collages, and a bit of a wild card category called Party Mix--which just so happens to contain my favorite video of the week