Monday, February 2, 2009

Weekly Review: Online Video & Advertising News 1/26/09 - 1/31/09

I meant to post this weekly review over the weekend but it got pushed back out to today. There was a lot of news about online video publishing and advertising. What works? Who has the secret to success? How old media is in decline and new media use continues to rise? Where can you watch the best HD streams? What should we expect this week?

January 26, 2009

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Web Series Still Struggle to Hold on to Audiences - Advertising Age - Digital Survey of 50 Top Web Series Finds Loss Of 64% From First Episode To Second by Michael LearmonthIt's a big shift from early web series, where any promotional budget was used to launch of the first installment of a series, only to see a huge drop-off for episode two. "You get press and great placements at launch, but then the noise drops off and the word-of-mouth drops off," said Paul Kontonis, CEO of For Your Imagination, producer of "Break A Leg" and other series.

AdAge:Online CPM Prices Take Tumble

Are Online Ads Doing Better Than Expected? Or Just as Bad as We Thought? | Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD

Retailers Take Note: Video Sells! - eMarketer Every retailer knows the importance of moving product, but online the idea may be taking on a whole new meaning. According to comScore, the number of online shoppers who watched retail videos grew 40% in a single year.


Video Usage in E-Commerce: The Best Is Yet to Come - eMarketer

eMarketer: E-Commerce Vids Up 40% « NewTeeVee
A new report from eMarketer says that the number of online shoppers who watch retail videos grew by 40 percent last year. A product video or demo can give consumers a sense of how an item actually works, and eMarketer writes that e-commerce video can reduce abandoned shopping carts and increase sales. However, eMarketer goes on to say that more online retailers aren’t adopting video because of the high cost of in-house production. Thankfully, there are a ton of startups in this space who are more than willing to produce an online retail video (and take your money). In fact, we forgot just how many there were until we started writing this post:
  • TurnHere creates custom videos for businesses and has been around for awhile
  • Shopflick lets users upload videos of their own wares (like eBay with video)
  • EyeView produces and optimized online product demo videos
  • SundaySky’s platform creates automatic and dynamically-updated videos and is targeting e-commerce sites
  • One True Media’s SpotMixer tool lets businesses create their how-tos and customer testimonials
  • Invodo is a white-label video provider focused on retailers and manufacturers
  • StudioNow is a marketplace for freelance production that will create videos for businesses

Ecommerce Video Will Take Off in 2009 - New Report Shows that Product Videos Work! - ReelSEO - The reason for this is that video can bring brands, products and services to life in a way that text and static images simply cannnot. As a result, we see that online video tends to offer high conversion rates as it offers a more compelling experience for users and can often provide the neccessary last push that a customer needs to actually make a purchase. With the retail sector, a few companies have experiemented with product video marketing as another method to drive sales and traffic to their ecommerce sites. According to research from Internet Retailer, less than 60% of retailers surveyed had video on their websites in 2008. However, online merchants are making search engine optimization and video their top web site design priorities for 2009, with 43.3% of merchants stating that they will update their e-commerce sites with video this year.

Secret Kissing Scene Slipped into New Media Minute

Does anyone know where the broadcast networks stand when it comes to making original series for the Web? You’ll get a different story if you talk to CBS, ABC or NBC. CBS pulled the plug on original Web series WallStrip and Moblogic in recent months, so what exactly are CBS’ plans for original Internet fare? The New Media Minute will tell you.

Cisco Takes Stake In Video-Indexing Startup - 2009-01-26 08:01:00 - Multichannel News
Makes Undisclosed Investment in Digitalsmiths, Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 1/26/2009 1:01:00 AM MT Cisco Systems has invested an undisclosed amount in Digitalsmiths, a startup that develops video indexing, analysis and publishing technology. Ben Weinberger, founder and CEO of Digitalsmiths, said the two companies began discussions late last year about working together. Specifically, Digitalsmiths has collaborated with the Cisco Media Solutions Group, which is marketing products to media and entertainment companies.


January 27, 2009

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Break Pushes Original Content…Again « NewTeeVee

Break Media Achieves Record Growth in 2008 and Launches Creative Lab to Focus on Original Content Development Break Media, the Internet's premier entertainment community for men, today announced highlights of its growth in 2008, as well as the formation of an internal development and production organization named the "Creative Lab." This new team, consisting of proven writers, directors and producers, will be dedicated to creating original content on behalf of branded advertisers as well as humorous content for Break Media's growing audience base of men aged 18-34. The Creative Lab will immediately benefit from access to Break Media's 60 million unique monthly visitors, one of the largest male-skewing focus groups for content development and test marketing


'Veggie Love': PETA's Banned Super Bowl Ad

Vid-Biz: Prop 8, SAG, Recycling « NewTeeVee

MediaPost Publications - Breaking Out: Break Media Forms In-House Production Studio - 01/27/2009 The burgeoning online video marketplace is expanding fast, but it still lacks the kind of breakout hit programming that will give it the status of network TV in the minds - and pocketbooks - of advertisers and agencies. Los Angeles-based Break Media wants to change that. The spunky online programmer aimed at men 18- to 34-years-old, has formalized a new in-house production department that will work with advertisers and agencies to produce both branded advertiser content, as well as its own original programming. The hope is to create the kind of signature programming that will help put Break's sites on the map, along with the rest of the online video medium. The goal is to use the new in-house studio to create upwards of 40 new, originally produced campaigns this year, or about 150 individual episodes of video programming," says Break Media CEO Keith Richman.

Contentinople - Aditya Kishore - Google Takes Viral Video to Another Level
Google is trying to buddy up to major media conglomerates with a new strategy, according to some reports. Silicon Valley blog TechCrunch says Google has decided to share advertising revenue with owners of videos posted on its YouTube property, even if they are not the ones uploading them. The idea is that if a consumer posts video content from a TV show, then any ad revenue that YouTube generates from that clip will be shared with the legal rights holders of that video content. Google would rely on its Content ID system to identify such content on YouTube.


January 28, 2009

Which HD video Web service is the best? | Webware - CNET

Around this time last year we put together a comparison of various video sites to determine which ones had the best overall quality and user experience. Since then, high-definition-capable digital cameras and camcorders have taken off, and several major video hosts have rolled out official support for wide-screen, super high-quality Flash video in response. So we think the time has come to take another look at what these sites are offering now and crown a new leader in the realm of HD video. The six sites we're putting head to head are: YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, DailyMotion, SmugMug and Blip.tv.


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Secrets of my success: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings - Jan. 28, 2009
Netflix and the online video economy - FierceOnlineVideo




Glam Snaps Up AdaptiveAds


ComScore Report: Fastest-Growing Sites And Top-Ten Advertising Magnets
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January 29, 2009

Traditional Media Use Stabilizes as Online Rises - eMarketer
Traditional media usage by Internet users in the US remained largely steady in 2008 after falling in 2007, judging by respondents to a Ketchum and USC Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center survey conducted in late 2008. For instance, less than two-thirds of respondents said they watched major network TV news, about the same as in 2007 but down from the 71% who said so in 2006. Traditional media use leveled off while use of shopping and social networking Websites rose sharply, increasing their attraction for marketers. Shopping sites, for example, more than doubled in popularity to be visited by 35% of Internet users in 2008. Ketchum and USC Annenberg also noted 44% of shopping site visitors read consumer reviews and comments, expanding the sites’ influence.

“If you look at sites like Amazon, for instance, and read through the product reviews, what you’ll find is not only are people posting their thoughts via consumer-generated reviews, but they are also responding to each other’s comments,” said Nicholas Scibetta, Ketchum partner, in a statement. “The effect is the creation of pockets of social networks found all over the Web.”

Media Used by US Internet Users, 2006-2008 (% of respondents)

These changes are not a big surprise to those who have been following Internet users and usage. Not only has the number of online consumers continued to rise over time, but the number of hours they spend on the Internet has climbed as well. Harris Interactive said that US Internet users spent an average of 14 hours online per week as of October 2008, which was double the average user’s online time in October 2001.

Average Time Spent Online per Week by US Adult Internet Users, 2001-2008 (hours)




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Anthony Ha / VentureBeat:
Flash and AIR: Record downloads, winning platform race — Adobe Flash, the company's platform for web applications and video, is already on virtually every computer everywhere, but the latest version is on an even faster track to world domination. Flash Player 10 and AIR have been downloade



January 30, 2009


YouTube’s Chad Hurley: “We Have The Largest Library of HD Video On The Internet.”
It is early days for HD video on the Web, but already we are starting to see jostling for position in this nascent part of the Web video market. Less than two months after YouTube started streaming high-definition videos in a major way, CEO Chad Hurley is now claiming bragging rights as the biggest HD video site on the Web. At a panel today at Davos, he said:

We feel we have the largest library of HD video on the Internet.

If you look at YouTube’s HD category, five pages with about 100 HD videos come up. Hulu’s HD gallery, in contrast, only has six videos. Vimeo’s HD gallery has 178 712 videos. But CBS has at least 1,000 (and it is not clear how many of those are on YouTube in HD quality).


Adaptive Ads homepage
MediaPost Publications Glam Media Acquires Startup AdaptiveAds 01/30/2009
Media and advertising network Glam Media has acquired display ad targeting and optimization startup AdaptiveAds. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"AdaptiveAds gives us the ability to offer targeted ads by daypart, local targeting, and to change creative based on where ads are served," said Samir Arora, chairman and CEO of Glam Media. "We didn't have those capabilities before now."

In addition, AdaptiveAds' self-service ad technology will become the platform for GlamAds, a new self-serve brand advertising system focused on premium display ads.

"The platform is already up and running, but we'll take the next two quarters to tailor it specifically for agency clients," Arora said. "We hope to roll out a complete dashboard for agencies by mid-year."

Although it's too early to determine the real value of Glam's latest acquisition, analysts said it was wise to be investing in targeting and optimization technology.


What Works in Online Video Advertising? - BusinessWeek
Advertisers and Web publishers have embarked on an ambitious quest to learn which types of Web video ads best deliver eyeballs and clicks


January 31, 2009

The White House on Vimeo

1/31/09: Your Weekly Address from White House on Vimeo.

Neilson Study Shows More Video Ads on ABC.com “OK” with Users - ReelSEO
The more ads the merrier on ABC.com, according to new research Disney-ABC TV Group commissioned from Nielsen Media Research. While many online video providers boast of limiting commercials to enhance the viewing experience, the Disney-Nielsen study found that doubling the ad load in a full-length program shown on ABC.com didn’t decrease customer satisfaction.
Hollywood Studios Taking on Online Video - ReadWriteWeb
While sites like YouTube and Hulu may have rights to limited content from Hollywood, Studio 3 Networks plans to take online video to a new level with epix, a service that will offer in excess of 15, 000 films and television shows across multiple platforms. This "next-generation entertainment service" is expected to launch as a premium movie channel in the fourth quarter of 2009 but will be offered to online subscribers first, with an expected Web launch in May.

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