Monday, October 30
Wendys' Stealth Ads Creating Big Stir on YouTube
At first glance they don't appear to be commercials for the fast-food chain, but YouTube users have discovered that Wendys is behind three videos recently uploaded to the video-sharing site. Not everyone is thrilled with the news.
Brightcove Takes on YouTube; Bows Ad, Syndication Networks
Online video solutions firm Brightcove on Monday launched a consumer-destination site in an effort to compete with video-sharing sites such as YouTube, as well as an advertising network and syndication.
Check it here.
The WSJ reports:
The Brightcove Network has been in test mode for months and already is being used by media and entertainment companies such as Reuters Group PLC, Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks, and Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Until now, only content owners selected by Brightcove could use the network. Now any media company or professional video-content owner will be able to launch a Web video channel at Brightcove. Web sites looking for video can then see what is available at the Brightcove marketplace. The content owner, Brightcove and the Web sites would then share revenue generated from ad sales and sales of the videos.
Brightcove's launch comes as programmers and Internet companies are scrambling to figure out how to make money from the millions of movies, TV programs and other videos flooding the Internet. Earlier this month, search titan Google Inc. agreed to buy YouTube Inc., the video Web site that attracts the most visitors, for $1.65 billion. Analysts who have been briefed on the Brightcove Network say it has little chance of catching up with YouTube as a consumer destination. Also, other sites, such as Revver Inc. and Maven Networks Inc., offer Web distribution tools to video owners.
Brightcove also is launching a consumer site, brightcove.com, today that will initially have hundreds of thousands of videos provided by its 1,000 or so programming partners. The site will have a search engine that will enable users to troll the Internet for other videos. Brightcove also will give Web-site owners the technological tools to solicit videos from their users, a form of content made popular by YouTube and similar sites.
Video owners who post their content on Brightcove will be able to insert their own ads or ads sold by Brightcove's sales force. Brightcove also has distribution deals with other video Web services, including AOL Video, Yahoo Inc.'s Yahoo Video Search and blinkx, so content owners posting on Brightcove can opt to have their videos linked to those services.
Check it here.
The WSJ reports:
The Brightcove Network has been in test mode for months and already is being used by media and entertainment companies such as Reuters Group PLC, Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks, and Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Until now, only content owners selected by Brightcove could use the network. Now any media company or professional video-content owner will be able to launch a Web video channel at Brightcove. Web sites looking for video can then see what is available at the Brightcove marketplace. The content owner, Brightcove and the Web sites would then share revenue generated from ad sales and sales of the videos.
Brightcove's launch comes as programmers and Internet companies are scrambling to figure out how to make money from the millions of movies, TV programs and other videos flooding the Internet. Earlier this month, search titan Google Inc. agreed to buy YouTube Inc., the video Web site that attracts the most visitors, for $1.65 billion. Analysts who have been briefed on the Brightcove Network say it has little chance of catching up with YouTube as a consumer destination. Also, other sites, such as Revver Inc. and Maven Networks Inc., offer Web distribution tools to video owners.
Brightcove also is launching a consumer site, brightcove.com, today that will initially have hundreds of thousands of videos provided by its 1,000 or so programming partners. The site will have a search engine that will enable users to troll the Internet for other videos. Brightcove also will give Web-site owners the technological tools to solicit videos from their users, a form of content made popular by YouTube and similar sites.
Video owners who post their content on Brightcove will be able to insert their own ads or ads sold by Brightcove's sales force. Brightcove also has distribution deals with other video Web services, including AOL Video, Yahoo Inc.'s Yahoo Video Search and blinkx, so content owners posting on Brightcove can opt to have their videos linked to those services.
Eyespot Raises $3.7 Million in Funding
Eyespot Corp., the leading provider of easy-to-use video editing and mashups applications, today announced that it has closed its Series A funding of $3.7 million. The preferred series offering was led by Gabriel Venture Partners. Other participants include Express Ventures and executives from MP3.com and DivX. The funding will enable the company to further develop its online and mobile products as well as execute its strategy of providing video platform technology to major media companies.
MySpace Implements Unauthorized Copyrighted Music Content Filtering System
MySpace.com today announced it has licensed technology from Gracenote, a leader in global digital entertainment technology, that will allow MySpace to block unauthorized copyrighted music audio recordings from being posted on its site.
Utilizing Gracenote's MusicID audio fingerprinting technology and Global Media Database, MySpace will review all music audio recordings uploaded by community members to their profiles. The technology enables MySpace to identify copyrighted music audio recordings in the Global Media Database for designated rights holders, allowing MySpace to block the uploading of such works.
Utilizing Gracenote's MusicID audio fingerprinting technology and Global Media Database, MySpace will review all music audio recordings uploaded by community members to their profiles. The technology enables MySpace to identify copyrighted music audio recordings in the Global Media Database for designated rights holders, allowing MySpace to block the uploading of such works.
Greenspan Flips for Flurl
With his venture capital firm LiveUniverse, Intermix founder/MySpace developer Brad Greenspan has purchased a majority stake in online video search engine Flurl.com.
Friday, October 27
Apple + new patent = iPhone speculation
Apple Computer Inc. won a patent for a speech-recognition technology
earlier this week, fueling speculation that the iPod-maker is laying
the groundwork for a future "iPhone."
Warner to Distribute Music Vids via Brightcove
Warner Music Group, home to labels including Atlantic, Elektra, Rhino, and Warner Bros. has hooked up with online TV service Brightcove to give customers on-demand access to Warner's music–related video content. Warner videos include artist interviews, live performances, behind-the-scenes footage, and of course music videos. Warner will be using Brightcove's web-based embedded video player, which can be customized to fit each artist or label. Brightcove's service supports advertising. Warner will be sharing the ad revenue with Brightcove.
Photobucket Adds DivX Media Format to Let Users Share and Publish High-Quality Video
Photobucket, the online personal media company where over 27 million people create, manage and share their digital lives, today announced a partnership with DivX a leading digital media company. Photobucket's users will be able to upload and share personal videos using the high quality DivX video format, and enjoy the flexibility of playing their personal videos on one of the millions of DivX Certified consumer electronics devices in the market today.
Thursday, October 26
News from the Venice Project
The web TV project, being planned by founders of file-swapping service KaZaA and internet phone program Skype, is code-named Venice and will soon - within a month or two - begin providing TV programs to broadband consumers, reports Reuters. "This is a system where people with professional content can put it out (online). And that can be anybody," Friis is quoted as saying.
He said he has "a lot of people" negotiating with TV production companies worldwide, adding, "We don't want any more lawsuits" - a reference to KaZaA, which was used by people to illegally share copyrighted songs.
He said he has "a lot of people" negotiating with TV production companies worldwide, adding, "We don't want any more lawsuits" - a reference to KaZaA, which was used by people to illegally share copyrighted songs.
MySpace, TBS Sponsor Video Comedy Contest
The competition is heating up for online video talent. Following Yahoo's launch of a video talent contest on Monday, TBS and MySpace on Wednesday jointly announced a separate video competition focusing on stand-up comedy.
Study: One In 10 Watches TV Online
62% of Web users who view TV online watch news clips, while almost half view entertainment, according to a TNS survey. The majority--53%--said they view TV online by streaming it for free, while 49% said they have downloaded shows for free.
Wednesday, October 25
PureVideo networks re-launches Stupid Videos
PureVideo Networks, and online video publisher known for its PureVideo
video search engine, has launched a new version of StupidVideos.com.
Coca-Cola Joins Exploding Soda Craze
The Coca-Cola Company has unwittingly played a starring role in one of this year's biggest viral video hits--the exploding Diet Coke-Mentos clips, which show soda spurting out of bottles doctored with Mentos mints. Now, the company is formally embracing the phenomenon. Coca-Cola has forged a deal with Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz, the two creators of the first Diet Coke-Mentos clip. This week, Coke unveiled its most recent "Coca-Cola Challenge," which asks consumers to submit video.
Unlike previous versions, this challenge is introduced by an exploding-soda video produced by Grobe and Voltz, who run the viral video production studio EepyBird.com. The challenge, dubbed "Poetry in Motion," calls on Coke drinkers to create interesting or entertaining videos using run-of-the-mill household objects. Coke will also host Grobe and Voltz's upcoming video on Oct. 30.
On May 31, Grobe and Voltz posted the original Diet-Coke Mentos explosion clip on video hosting site Revver. As of Tuesday, the video has been seen over 6 million times, according to Revver, and has inspired thousands of imitators. A recent YouTube search on "Diet Coke and Mentos" turned up 3,282 hits.
Unlike previous versions, this challenge is introduced by an exploding-soda video produced by Grobe and Voltz, who run the viral video production studio EepyBird.com. The challenge, dubbed "Poetry in Motion," calls on Coke drinkers to create interesting or entertaining videos using run-of-the-mill household objects. Coke will also host Grobe and Voltz's upcoming video on Oct. 30.
On May 31, Grobe and Voltz posted the original Diet-Coke Mentos explosion clip on video hosting site Revver. As of Tuesday, the video has been seen over 6 million times, according to Revver, and has inspired thousands of imitators. A recent YouTube search on "Diet Coke and Mentos" turned up 3,282 hits.
DaveTV Launches B2B Video Platform
Dave Networks, which runs video-sharing site DaveTV, has started a white label service that allows businesses to create custom video sites. The business-to-business platform lets organizations set up community sites with social features such as profile pages, blogs and user-generated video tailored to particular brands or affinity groups.
Tuesday, October 24
Google offers personal searches
Users can generate cash from their custom search engines. A bespoke search engine that can be included on people's websites or blogs is the latest offering from Google.
Google Custom Search Engine, as the tool is known, allows users to choose which webpages to search.
Google Custom Search Engine, as the tool is known, allows users to choose which webpages to search.
Monday, October 23
ClipBlast! Unveils VideoView
Leveraging its position as the premier video search engine to span the Web in its entirety, ClipBlast! (www.clipblast.com) today unveiled ClipBlast! VideoView™, a weekly benchmark of video supply and demand online. When it debuts on Nov. 6, ClipBlast! VideoView will serve as a snapshot of both what America is watching online and what content providers are making available, on the Web, for the country to watch. Each weekly report will highlight the previous week's top clip, as determined by ClipBlast!'s patent-pending technology. Initially focused on the U.S. market, ClipBlast! VideoView will go global during 2007.
The Google Effect
Too much has already been written about the Google/YouTube deal--from the jokes on late night TV to Mark Cuban's firestorm ("only a moron would buy YouTube") to fears of a fire hose of copyright suits to breathless recounting of the numbers. But, aside from all the hype, it's important to understand how the deal impacts the online video advertising industry.
Credibility
The quick win for online video advertising is the generous boost it receives as a category--from the large dollar amount paid to the Google brand. As the largest acquisition ever made by Google, it brings the significance of online video front and center and gives the industry a lot of good buzz. This is a classic case of a rising tide lifting all boats.
This is a major wake-up call to traditional TV advertisers that there is BIG money in online video and that advertising will play a huge part in its success. As Google has invaded both radio and print, this may very well be its entrance into the television model. However, instead of working within the established distribution channels, it is creating its own proprietary channel and will be able to dictate the laws that govern it.
The perception of online video has been weighed down by YouTube's reputation for illegal videos, questionable content and homemade videos of random people doing idiotic things. Now, with the Google brand, that perception is well on its way to changing. If Google can continue to address the copyright issues (YouTube had already made significant progress with most of the major media providers on the copyright front) and improve the indexing, searchability and necessary filters, advertisers will begin to feel comfortable that their messages won't be tarnished.
Searchability
Google's mission statement: "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Google is really, really good at search. But in order to provide good search tools, it needs a significant supply of material to search. Google builds its algorithms to improve searching with more data to search. But Google Video just wasn't giving it enough to work with.
So the YouTube acquisition gives Google access to the mother lode of online video, and I think we can all expect to see vastly improved video search now. Improved video search helps the industry by driving traffic and enhancing the user experience. Advertisers can benefit as well from the development of real-time contextual ad placements. To many, this is the holy grail, but it is certainly not perfected yet. Whether it's incorporating metadata, speech or image recognition or another method altogether, the ability to match a targeted video ad with a relevant piece of content is extremely valuable. The next step would be to analayze segments of content within a single long-form clip and then insert ads near those targeted portions.
Brandability
Google is very good at providing a robust tool set for advertisers to auto-bid on ad inventory. These tools are very useful for "direct response" advertisers. But they're not as proven for traditional "branding" campaigns. Traditional brand marketers account for the majority of ad budgets--and those budgets are moving online in droves. According to Advertising.com, the biggest growth in online advertisers is coming from brand-focused advertisers (32% in 2006, up from 26.5% in 2005).
Brand marketers are more sensitive to their brand image and require more human (salesperson) interaction and customized packages. The Google "machine" for direct response works very well for advertisers who are trying to spend $1 and make $2. While the nature of their sales process may change, it is certainly a shift from their proven model.
So whatever else you may hear about the Google/YouTube deal, it's a big win for the online video advertising industry. It brings credibility, searchability and access. Although it's not as clear-cut yet for brand marketers, the deal will start to clean up the perception of the online video space, which will go a long way toward raising advertisers' comfort levels.
(Source: MediaPost's Video Insider)
Credibility
The quick win for online video advertising is the generous boost it receives as a category--from the large dollar amount paid to the Google brand. As the largest acquisition ever made by Google, it brings the significance of online video front and center and gives the industry a lot of good buzz. This is a classic case of a rising tide lifting all boats.
This is a major wake-up call to traditional TV advertisers that there is BIG money in online video and that advertising will play a huge part in its success. As Google has invaded both radio and print, this may very well be its entrance into the television model. However, instead of working within the established distribution channels, it is creating its own proprietary channel and will be able to dictate the laws that govern it.
The perception of online video has been weighed down by YouTube's reputation for illegal videos, questionable content and homemade videos of random people doing idiotic things. Now, with the Google brand, that perception is well on its way to changing. If Google can continue to address the copyright issues (YouTube had already made significant progress with most of the major media providers on the copyright front) and improve the indexing, searchability and necessary filters, advertisers will begin to feel comfortable that their messages won't be tarnished.
Searchability
Google's mission statement: "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Google is really, really good at search. But in order to provide good search tools, it needs a significant supply of material to search. Google builds its algorithms to improve searching with more data to search. But Google Video just wasn't giving it enough to work with.
So the YouTube acquisition gives Google access to the mother lode of online video, and I think we can all expect to see vastly improved video search now. Improved video search helps the industry by driving traffic and enhancing the user experience. Advertisers can benefit as well from the development of real-time contextual ad placements. To many, this is the holy grail, but it is certainly not perfected yet. Whether it's incorporating metadata, speech or image recognition or another method altogether, the ability to match a targeted video ad with a relevant piece of content is extremely valuable. The next step would be to analayze segments of content within a single long-form clip and then insert ads near those targeted portions.
Brandability
Google is very good at providing a robust tool set for advertisers to auto-bid on ad inventory. These tools are very useful for "direct response" advertisers. But they're not as proven for traditional "branding" campaigns. Traditional brand marketers account for the majority of ad budgets--and those budgets are moving online in droves. According to Advertising.com, the biggest growth in online advertisers is coming from brand-focused advertisers (32% in 2006, up from 26.5% in 2005).
Brand marketers are more sensitive to their brand image and require more human (salesperson) interaction and customized packages. The Google "machine" for direct response works very well for advertisers who are trying to spend $1 and make $2. While the nature of their sales process may change, it is certainly a shift from their proven model.
So whatever else you may hear about the Google/YouTube deal, it's a big win for the online video advertising industry. It brings credibility, searchability and access. Although it's not as clear-cut yet for brand marketers, the deal will start to clean up the perception of the online video space, which will go a long way toward raising advertisers' comfort levels.
(Source: MediaPost's Video Insider)
Paramount Pictures Sells Movie Downloads On AOL
Paramount pictures has started selling full-length movies on AOL, joining other major studios including 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. Films available for download on AOL at prices ranging from $9.99 to $19.99 include recent and older movies. With the addition of the Paramount titles, AOL now sells more than 300 movies from the major studios.
MTV Vet Launches Travel Video Site
Formally launched today, Travelistic aims to be the YouTube of online travel, where people can post videos and share travel experiences and tips using social networking features like tagging and user profile pages.
Friday, October 20
Fox Draws 20% Of Streaming Video Market
U.S. Internet video streaming market in August
Fox Interactive 20% (39.5M streams, 35.5 streams/user)
Yahoo 11.8% (39.9M streams 20.6 streams/user)
YouTube.com 9.9% (35.5M streams 19.4streams/user)
Viacom Digital 4.1%
Time Warner Network 3.4%
Total: 6.98B streams; audience growth: +4% (64% US population)
(Source: ComScore)
Target Sponsors New Video On ELLEgirl.com
ELLEgirl, which earlier this year shuttered its print operations in
favor of online-only distribution, will relaunch Monday with original
video, mobile text alerts and new personalization features. The video
clips will include a series about four readers who hope to break into
the modeling industry, a segment about women students at a Tufts
University engineering program, and previews of the Fox television
show "The O.C."
Merrill Lynch Recommends aQuantive
The securities firm recommended investors begin acquiring shares of
aQuantive, citing it as strong play as marketers accelerate the shift
in marketing expenditures to digital media.
Thursday, October 19
Viacom Signs Deal With China's Baidu
Media giant Viacom will provide television and music video content to
a major Chinese internet provider.
Google To Pocket 25% of Web Ad Spend
In a new report from eMarketer, an online market research firm,
online search giant Google is on track to pocket 25% of the United
States online ad spend for calendar year 2006. This kind of dominance
over the online market is unprecedented.
Social Network for 'Opinion Drivers' Debuts
Hotsoup.com, a social networking site aimed at "opinion drivers" who wish to debate political issues, debuted today.
Check it here
Check it here
Undertone Networks Clients See Uptick With Online Video Advertising
Undertone Networks, a premier online advertising network announced today that it has launched a new turnkey online video advertising solution, Undertone Video. Video services from Undertone now include the addition of pre-roll video to its advertising network, allowing brand and direct response customers to improve their online advertising effectiveness.
American Airlines, Cingular Wireless, and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company are the first advertisers to work with Undertone Video. Based on the initial results, Undertone Video delivered brand exposure along with click through rates of as high as 3.5%.
American Airlines, Cingular Wireless, and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company are the first advertisers to work with Undertone Video. Based on the initial results, Undertone Video delivered brand exposure along with click through rates of as high as 3.5%.
Wednesday, October 18
Jambo Launches Video Jambo-ree for Publishers
Jambo Media, publisher of JamboTV.com, a video portal for news and
entertainment, has launched the Jambo Video Network, a service that
lets web publishers incorporate video into their sites.
The network lets publishers embed video into an existing page, just
like they would embed an advertising banner. It also lets publishers
create a separate page strictly for video. Jambo is banking on online
video's power to draw visitors back to a site, and hopes that both it
and its publishers can earn extra revenue in the process. The videos
are free, supported by pre-roll advertising, with Jambo and the
publishers splitting the ad revenue.
VideoEgg Expands Sales Team
VideoEgg Tuesday announced the addition of three new executives to
its sales team, adding a vice president of sales, a director of
network development, and an account executive.
Universal Sues Video Sites Bolt, Grouper
Universal Music group took aim at video-sharing sites this week, with a copyright infringement lawsuit against Bolt Media and Grouper Networks. The lawsuit charges the sites with hosting Universal-owned clips, and seeks $150,000 damages for each piece of infringing content.
"User generated sites like Grouper and Bolt, that derive so much of their value from the traffic that our videos, recordings and songs generate, cannot reasonably expect to build their business on the backs of our content and the hard work of our artists and songwriters--without permission and without in any way compensating the content creators," Universal Music said in a statement.
(...) Grouper--acquired by Sony for $65 million six weeks ago--denied that the company violated Universal's copyrights.(...) Grouper complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which contains a "safe harbor" provision that protects Web hosts from liability if they remove copyrighted material when owners complain. A Bolt Media spokeswoman also stated that the company always takes down any copyrighted clips as soon as it's notified of complaints.
Source: MediaPost.
"User generated sites like Grouper and Bolt, that derive so much of their value from the traffic that our videos, recordings and songs generate, cannot reasonably expect to build their business on the backs of our content and the hard work of our artists and songwriters--without permission and without in any way compensating the content creators," Universal Music said in a statement.
(...) Grouper--acquired by Sony for $65 million six weeks ago--denied that the company violated Universal's copyrights.(...) Grouper complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which contains a "safe harbor" provision that protects Web hosts from liability if they remove copyrighted material when owners complain. A Bolt Media spokeswoman also stated that the company always takes down any copyrighted clips as soon as it's notified of complaints.
Source: MediaPost.
Yahoo Launches New Search Ad Platform
Yahoo CEO Terry Semel announced Tuesday that the company's long-awaited new ad-serving platform, known as Panama, had gone live. Semel, who made the announcement during a conference call discussing third-quarter earnings results, said the company has started asking U.S. advertisers to switch to the new system.
Tuesday, October 17
Social Network Users Becoming Immune to Ads
At least to members of social-networking sites, recommendations from friends and fellow users of social-networking sites now carry more sway than traditional media, a new study finds.
Study: Out-of-Context Behavioral Ads Convert Better
A new report by BlueLithium's BL Labs finds that behavioral ads result in higher click-through rates when shown in a contextually relevant category, but are more likely to lead to a conversion when viewed out of context.
CNET officially launches TV Web site; signs deal with Verizon
CNET Networks announced the official launch of CNET TV (www.cnettv.com), a Web site that telecasts news and product reviews. CNET also announced a partnership with Verizon Communications to distribute CNET's video segments through on-demand television. CNET has similar deals with Cox Communications and TiVo Inc. for its videos.
Yahoo to Buy AdInterax
Yahoo Inc. said Tuesday it agreed to acquire AdInterax, which helps companies make and manage online advertising that incorporates animation and video, for an undisclosed amount.Yahoo said buying the Troy, N.Y.-based company will help it provide rich media advertising creation and campaign management tools to marketers. Fysix Corp., doing business as AdInterax, developed tools for building floating animations, expandable banners and streaming video. The technology also offers tracking and reporting capabilities.
Instant Media Signs Pact with Universal Studios Home Entertainment to Offer Movie Downloads via Broadband
Instant Media (I'M), a privately-held technology company pioneering Internet TV, announced today that it will offer movie titles from Universal Studios Home Entertainment, utilizing I'M's recently released commerce capabilities to allow viewers to download their favorite movies over the Internet. The agreement with Universal Studios Home Entertainment is one of many that will enable I'M to make available a wide variety of blockbuster movies and popular television shows to consumers who download the free I'M player at www.im.com.
Monday, October 16
CBS and Yahoo
CBS and Yahoo unveiled yet another variation. A new deal between the companies calls for Yahoo to start offering news clips from 16 local CBS affiliates. Each will offer between 10 and 20 news video clips per day, while Yahoo will sell ads and share the revenue with CBS.
Media Titans Pressure YouTube Over Copyrights
Some quotes from a WSJ article, this week end:
"(...) But lawyers for the group of media companies, which includes News Corp., General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal and Viacom Inc., have concluded that YouTube could be liable to copyright penalties of $150,000 per unauthorized video, people familiar the matter say. Viacom believes that pirated versions of video clips from its cable channels -- including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon -- are watched 80,000 times a day via YouTube. At that rate, potential penalties could run into the billions of dollars. Time Warner Inc. hasn't joined the group, but has also warned YouTube about what it considers to be the site's repeated infringement of its copyrights. In an interview that appeared in Britain's Guardian newspaper Friday, Time Warner Chief Executive Richard Parsons made ominous hints about what course he would pursue if YouTube doesn't agree to a deal.
(...) On the one hand, they fear its size and clout. On the other hand, the media companies know that Google can be a valuable partner in distributing their content around the Web and also in drawing advertising. Indeed, Google already has separate links through partnerships and ownership stakes to a number of media companies, a fact that could ease the companies' negotiations with YouTube.
(...) So far, YouTube has struck deals with TV companies NBC Universal, CBS Corp. and with most of the major music companies, including Warner Music Group Corp., Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group and Sony Corp.'s and Bertelsmann AG's joint venture. YouTube is building a system that would help automate identification of videos containing copyright material on its site, and allow the content owners to get a portion of any related ad revenue.
(...) According to John Palfrey, an intellectual-property professor at Harvard Law School, media companies will argue that YouTube shouldn't fall within the safe-harbor protections of the copyright law because, among other reasons, YouTube is deriving direct financial benefit from the infringement."
"(...) But lawyers for the group of media companies, which includes News Corp., General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal and Viacom Inc., have concluded that YouTube could be liable to copyright penalties of $150,000 per unauthorized video, people familiar the matter say. Viacom believes that pirated versions of video clips from its cable channels -- including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon -- are watched 80,000 times a day via YouTube. At that rate, potential penalties could run into the billions of dollars. Time Warner Inc. hasn't joined the group, but has also warned YouTube about what it considers to be the site's repeated infringement of its copyrights. In an interview that appeared in Britain's Guardian newspaper Friday, Time Warner Chief Executive Richard Parsons made ominous hints about what course he would pursue if YouTube doesn't agree to a deal.
(...) On the one hand, they fear its size and clout. On the other hand, the media companies know that Google can be a valuable partner in distributing their content around the Web and also in drawing advertising. Indeed, Google already has separate links through partnerships and ownership stakes to a number of media companies, a fact that could ease the companies' negotiations with YouTube.
(...) So far, YouTube has struck deals with TV companies NBC Universal, CBS Corp. and with most of the major music companies, including Warner Music Group Corp., Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group and Sony Corp.'s and Bertelsmann AG's joint venture. YouTube is building a system that would help automate identification of videos containing copyright material on its site, and allow the content owners to get a portion of any related ad revenue.
(...) According to John Palfrey, an intellectual-property professor at Harvard Law School, media companies will argue that YouTube shouldn't fall within the safe-harbor protections of the copyright law because, among other reasons, YouTube is deriving direct financial benefit from the infringement."
Friday, October 13
Internap to Acquire VitalStream
Combination Will Unite Performance Network Services Provider with Video Streaming and Content Monetization Leader
(...) Internap will issue approximately 11.9 million shares of common stock in respect of outstanding VitalStream common shares, which will represent approximately 26% of the combined company's shares. (...)The transaction is valued at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $217 million. (...) The combined company will result in: Internap holding a market leadership position delivering streaming media content; Internap's ability to access the high-growth streaming media and on-line advertising segments; The strongest, most complete product line in content delivery solutions, content monetization, and on-line advertising; Significant new organic growth potential coupled with cross selling opportunities.
(...) By combining the two companies' product lines, Internap will be able to meet the needs of customers seeking to both deliver rich media content to their users and monetize that content. The combination of VitalStream's content delivery services, content management tools and particular expertise in Adobe (formerly Macromedia) Flash technology, with Internap's high performance route management network, will enable the new organization to easily address the needs of enterprises seeking to deliver large format media files in a streamed environment. The combined offering will be the strongest and most comprehensive available in the industry today.
(Source: YahooBiz)
(...) Internap will issue approximately 11.9 million shares of common stock in respect of outstanding VitalStream common shares, which will represent approximately 26% of the combined company's shares. (...)The transaction is valued at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $217 million. (...) The combined company will result in: Internap holding a market leadership position delivering streaming media content; Internap's ability to access the high-growth streaming media and on-line advertising segments; The strongest, most complete product line in content delivery solutions, content monetization, and on-line advertising; Significant new organic growth potential coupled with cross selling opportunities.
(...) By combining the two companies' product lines, Internap will be able to meet the needs of customers seeking to both deliver rich media content to their users and monetize that content. The combination of VitalStream's content delivery services, content management tools and particular expertise in Adobe (formerly Macromedia) Flash technology, with Internap's high performance route management network, will enable the new organization to easily address the needs of enterprises seeking to deliver large format media files in a streamed environment. The combined offering will be the strongest and most comprehensive available in the industry today.
(Source: YahooBiz)
Thursday, October 12
Google Makes Friends with Macs
Google has launched a blog and a website geared specifically to users of Apple's Macintosh computers. Both sites feature a shinier Mac-centric Google logo that matches the feel of Apple's current design motif. Currently, Google's new Mac page lists several of Google's Mac-specific software downloads like Google's Mac widgets and the Mac versions of Google Earth and Picasa uploader.
Check it here.
Check it here.
Will YouTube be sued?
Here's an abstract from an interview given by Electronic Frontier Foundation's Fred von Lohmann to John Battelle:
"(...) when most people think about potential legal liability for YouTube, they are thinking about potential copyright risks. And although nothing in the Internet legal realm is entirely certain, YouTube looks to be on relatively firm legal ground. Unlike some more aggressive companies (like the old Napster), YouTube has the benefit of a set of special "safe harbors" created for online service providers as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). If your activities fall within the safe harbors, as defined in Section 512 of the Copyright Act, you can't be liable for money damages for copyright infringement based on those activities. There is a different safe harbor for each of the following activities: providing network access ( e.g., your ISP), caching, storing material on behalf of uses (e.g., web hosting), and providing information location tools (e.g., search engines and linking).
One of those DMCA safe harbors was designed to protect providers of hosting services. When it was passed, Congress had big web hosting services in mind, but the rules work just as well for video hosting services (like YouTube), blog hosting (like Blogger), and music lockering (like MP3Tunes). There are a number of requirements that a hosting provider must meet, but the most important one is the implementation of a "notice-and-takedown" policy. YouTube has such a policy in place, allowing copyright owners to notify it of infringing videos and taking them down promptly upon receiving such a notice. Other requirements include implementing a policy of terminating "repeat infringers," which YouTube also has, and registering a "copyright agent" with the Copyright Office, which YouTube has done.
The outer boundaries of the DMCA safe harbors are still being hammered out in court (porn vendor Perfect 10 has been leading the charge on behalf of copyright owners on this legal front). And it's not just YouTube that is interested in these legal fights -- because any legal precedents undermining the safe harbor would put Google, Yahoo, AOL, MySpace, eBay and others at risk--the biggest Internet players have a stake in the outcome. But so far, so good for YouTube. It looks like YouTube is working hard to keep its boat in sheltered copyright waters. (...)"
For the full interview, click here.
"(...) when most people think about potential legal liability for YouTube, they are thinking about potential copyright risks. And although nothing in the Internet legal realm is entirely certain, YouTube looks to be on relatively firm legal ground. Unlike some more aggressive companies (like the old Napster), YouTube has the benefit of a set of special "safe harbors" created for online service providers as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). If your activities fall within the safe harbors, as defined in Section 512 of the Copyright Act, you can't be liable for money damages for copyright infringement based on those activities. There is a different safe harbor for each of the following activities: providing network access ( e.g., your ISP), caching, storing material on behalf of uses (e.g., web hosting), and providing information location tools (e.g., search engines and linking).
One of those DMCA safe harbors was designed to protect providers of hosting services. When it was passed, Congress had big web hosting services in mind, but the rules work just as well for video hosting services (like YouTube), blog hosting (like Blogger), and music lockering (like MP3Tunes). There are a number of requirements that a hosting provider must meet, but the most important one is the implementation of a "notice-and-takedown" policy. YouTube has such a policy in place, allowing copyright owners to notify it of infringing videos and taking them down promptly upon receiving such a notice. Other requirements include implementing a policy of terminating "repeat infringers," which YouTube also has, and registering a "copyright agent" with the Copyright Office, which YouTube has done.
The outer boundaries of the DMCA safe harbors are still being hammered out in court (porn vendor Perfect 10 has been leading the charge on behalf of copyright owners on this legal front). And it's not just YouTube that is interested in these legal fights -- because any legal precedents undermining the safe harbor would put Google, Yahoo, AOL, MySpace, eBay and others at risk--the biggest Internet players have a stake in the outcome. But so far, so good for YouTube. It looks like YouTube is working hard to keep its boat in sheltered copyright waters. (...)"
For the full interview, click here.
Google Docs & Spreadsheets
The last one from Google:
"Google Docs & Spreadsheets is a web-based word-processing and spreadsheet product that makes it easier for people to create, manage, and share documents and spreadsheets online. Google Docs & Spreadsheets integrates Writely and Google Spreadsheets into a single, easy-to-use product that takes an innovative approach to a very specific problem in the productivity-software space: enabling people to manage and collaborate on the documents and spreadsheets they rely on in their personal and professional lives, no matter where they are or when they need to access them."
"Google Docs & Spreadsheets is a web-based word-processing and spreadsheet product that makes it easier for people to create, manage, and share documents and spreadsheets online. Google Docs & Spreadsheets integrates Writely and Google Spreadsheets into a single, easy-to-use product that takes an innovative approach to a very specific problem in the productivity-software space: enabling people to manage and collaborate on the documents and spreadsheets they rely on in their personal and professional lives, no matter where they are or when they need to access them."
Merrill Lynch: Digital Ads To Grow 30%
MediaPost reports:
"BROKERAGE HOUSE MERRILL LYNCH WEDNESDAY lowered its overall ad forecast to 4.7 percent U.S. growth, down from its previous projection of 5.1 percent. But Internet advertising is expected to continue to show strength, as advertisers shift budgets to emerging media, including mobile advertising, games, and video on demand. The brokerage house predicted that online advertising, excluding newspaper online classifieds, would grow at 29.4 percent--up from its previous projection of 29.1 percent."
"BROKERAGE HOUSE MERRILL LYNCH WEDNESDAY lowered its overall ad forecast to 4.7 percent U.S. growth, down from its previous projection of 5.1 percent. But Internet advertising is expected to continue to show strength, as advertisers shift budgets to emerging media, including mobile advertising, games, and video on demand. The brokerage house predicted that online advertising, excluding newspaper online classifieds, would grow at 29.4 percent--up from its previous projection of 29.1 percent."
InfoSpace Sheds 40% Of Staff
After recently losing a key carrier client, mobile media supplier InfoSpace Inc. announced plans to lay off 250 employees, or 40 percent of its workforce. InfoSpace last month said that one of its major wireless carrier customers--believed to be Cingular--would stop buying ringtones and graphics from InfoSpace and pursue direct relationships with record labels in early 2007.
Wednesday, October 11
iTunes Offers PBS Shows
PBS is making its popular shows including "Nova," available on Apple's iTunes download store. New additions to iTunes include "Antiques Roadshow," "Now," and "Scientific American Frontiers," plus kids' shows "Arthur," "Cyberchase," and "Fetch!"
Tuesday, October 10
Google developing enterprise ad serving product and SEM services
(...) Our due diligence suggests that Google is in the process of building a large scale enterprise ad serving product, which the company plans to offer for free to publishers and advertisers. While we don't have any knowledge of the timing of the product release, we have confirmed with two Top 50 Internet publishers and a channel partner that the project is well underway. If successful, we believe a widelyadopted ad serving product could give Google valuable data on pricing, click through rates, and conversions in the broader branded/display market. That kind of information could help Google launch its nascent display advertising initiative and accelerate the monetization of network display advertising inventory.
We have also learned from industry sources that Google is building out a "massive India-based account management team that will perform much of the work that SEM firms currently handle," including keyword generation, ad copy creation/testing, campaign structuring, ROI analysis, landing page testing, and bid management. (...)"
(Source: JMP Research)
We have also learned from industry sources that Google is building out a "massive India-based account management team that will perform much of the work that SEM firms currently handle," including keyword generation, ad copy creation/testing, campaign structuring, ROI analysis, landing page testing, and bid management. (...)"
(Source: JMP Research)
YouTube in Universal Music, CBS Video and Ad Deals
Universal Music Group and YouTube have ended their digital-rights/copyright dispute and signed a distribution deal; YouTube also signed a strategic content and advertising partnership with CBS.
Microsoft Inks Web Video Search Deal with Blinkx
Microsoft has partnered with Blinkx to use its video search technology on Live.com and some parts of its MSN site.
Merrill Lynch Neutral On ValueClick
Merryl Lynch debuted coverage of ad network ValueClick, giving the company a "neutral" rating in its inaugural report. Merrill Lynch research analyst Lauren Rich Fine wrote that she sees benefits in ValueClick's large ad network of more than 13,500 Web sites, but also views the prospect of competition from Google, Yahoo and MSN as a potential drawback.
"The scale of ValueClick's network now makes it an important buy for many advertisers," stated the report. But, the report continued, Google has started selling display ads, while Yahoo and MSN also appear poised to offer display ads to their publishing partners. "Google, Yahoo and MSN's financial resources certainly are much greater than ValueClick's," Fine wrote. The report, however, stopped short of predicting that ValueClick would be crowded out of the ad network market. "The Google's, Yahoo's, and MSN's of the world might have other bigger fish to fry," stated the report. Merrill Lynch also predicted that ValueClick stands to gain from the continued migration of ad dollars to the Web. "Dollars are coming from other traditional mediums such as newspapers, magazines and TV, but the medium is also expanding the pie," states the report. "ValueClick will benefit from this secular shift as it focuses on continuing to educate and assist advertisers about how to best use the medium and reach their target audiences."
(Source: MediaPost)
"The scale of ValueClick's network now makes it an important buy for many advertisers," stated the report. But, the report continued, Google has started selling display ads, while Yahoo and MSN also appear poised to offer display ads to their publishing partners. "Google, Yahoo and MSN's financial resources certainly are much greater than ValueClick's," Fine wrote. The report, however, stopped short of predicting that ValueClick would be crowded out of the ad network market. "The Google's, Yahoo's, and MSN's of the world might have other bigger fish to fry," stated the report. Merrill Lynch also predicted that ValueClick stands to gain from the continued migration of ad dollars to the Web. "Dollars are coming from other traditional mediums such as newspapers, magazines and TV, but the medium is also expanding the pie," states the report. "ValueClick will benefit from this secular shift as it focuses on continuing to educate and assist advertisers about how to best use the medium and reach their target audiences."
(Source: MediaPost)
Exalead
Here's a brand new B2C search engine: http://www.exalead.com
They have an Overture backfill for paid search listings, and the 70
persons team expect to generate 5M Euros in 2006, more than twice
their 2005 revenue. Created in 2000 in France, they have been
focusing on selling their search capabiliites to banks, and various
french institutions.
Monday, October 9
PureVideo Networks Unveils PureVideo Search
PureVideo Networks, operator of popular video sites, StupidVideos.com (comedy) and GrindTV.com (action sports), today unveiled the Company's first utility, called PureVideo Search (www.purevideo.com ). Still in beta, PureVideo Search is the Internet's first meta search engine for video, combining the accuracy of a crawl-based search with the timeliness of a feed-based search, and returning the most comprehensive and relevant results from the entire Web. PureVideo Networks' proprietary analysis determines rankings, displaying each result with an associated thumbnail image and a link to view the video at the respective publisher site.
YouTube 2.0
Forbes reports:
"(...) there are a couple immediate challenges posed by [the Google] transaction. First off, there's some explaining to be done to Google's new partner News Corp. Google agreed to pay News Corp. $900 million dollars to put its advertising systems to work on MySpace and other Murdoch-owned web sites. Despite some differences, YouTube and MySpace are both after the same thing -- pulling together communites of users and getting them to post content. Are they on a collision course? Seems likely.
"(...) there are a couple immediate challenges posed by [the Google] transaction. First off, there's some explaining to be done to Google's new partner News Corp. Google agreed to pay News Corp. $900 million dollars to put its advertising systems to work on MySpace and other Murdoch-owned web sites. Despite some differences, YouTube and MySpace are both after the same thing -- pulling together communites of users and getting them to post content. Are they on a collision course? Seems likely.
The other problem that may be coming is the likelihood that YouTube is going to keep Google's lawyers and engineers very busy trying to keep copyrighted material off the site or fighting with copyright holders. Again, despite many promises that all of this is going to get worked out, the problems -- both legal and technical -- are substantial. And thus far, no one has any real answers.(...)"
In-Banner Video Advertising
By Jeremy Lockhorn, on ClickZ:
"(...) Multiple Videos and Seamless Expansions: Movie studios have been using in-banner video for years. It's a natural for them. And it's probably the one instance where I'll grant you that taking a :30 TV spot (the trailer) and running it in a banner is a decent idea. But I wouldn't leave it at that. Make it more immersive and engaging. They're experimenting there as well with lots of expanding ads, often with multiple videos, trailers and clips. Many feature downloads such as screensavers or desktop wallpaper. Most do a great job at providing some value in the form of entertainment and additional unexpected information to the consumer in exchange for attention, all without being too intrusive.
(...)
Branching Ads: Recently, I've seen a few examples of TV spots repurposed and enhanced with interactive extensions. The spot plays, but at the end of 15 or 30 seconds it provides choices about where to go to next. It's kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure book. One for a pharmaceutical product featured a spokesperson doing his normal gig. But as the ad wrapped, three members of the production crew came over to ask the spokesperson questions about the drug. You're then given the choice to click on any of the crew members to watch video of his question and the spokesperson's answer. It winds up feeling a little disjointed, but it's a great first step towards more interactive, engaging video. At least it's miles better than simply taking the TV spot and throwing it into a 300 x 250 banner.
Original Video: It's still extremely rare to see video in a banner that was been shot specifically for that format. There are a host of excuses for this. Production's expensive, reach is limited, video quality is weak, broadband isn't growing fast enough, the consumer experience can be bad, why pay all that money for something that's not guaranteed even to be watched amid the clutter, etc. Suffice it to say I use "excuse" very deliberately. (...)"
"(...) Multiple Videos and Seamless Expansions: Movie studios have been using in-banner video for years. It's a natural for them. And it's probably the one instance where I'll grant you that taking a :30 TV spot (the trailer) and running it in a banner is a decent idea. But I wouldn't leave it at that. Make it more immersive and engaging. They're experimenting there as well with lots of expanding ads, often with multiple videos, trailers and clips. Many feature downloads such as screensavers or desktop wallpaper. Most do a great job at providing some value in the form of entertainment and additional unexpected information to the consumer in exchange for attention, all without being too intrusive.
(...)
Branching Ads: Recently, I've seen a few examples of TV spots repurposed and enhanced with interactive extensions. The spot plays, but at the end of 15 or 30 seconds it provides choices about where to go to next. It's kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure book. One for a pharmaceutical product featured a spokesperson doing his normal gig. But as the ad wrapped, three members of the production crew came over to ask the spokesperson questions about the drug. You're then given the choice to click on any of the crew members to watch video of his question and the spokesperson's answer. It winds up feeling a little disjointed, but it's a great first step towards more interactive, engaging video. At least it's miles better than simply taking the TV spot and throwing it into a 300 x 250 banner.
Original Video: It's still extremely rare to see video in a banner that was been shot specifically for that format. There are a host of excuses for this. Production's expensive, reach is limited, video quality is weak, broadband isn't growing fast enough, the consumer experience can be bad, why pay all that money for something that's not guaranteed even to be watched amid the clutter, etc. Suffice it to say I use "excuse" very deliberately. (...)"
VitalStream falls on MySpace shortfall
Shares of VitalStream Holdings Inc., which provides products and services for transmitting digital media over the Internet, fell Monday after the company forecast a significant reduction in revenue from its largest customer MySpace beginning in the fourth quarter.
Irvine, Calif.-based VitalStream's stock fell 43 cents, or 6.1 percent, to $6.57 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq. Shares have traded between $3.36 and $13.70 in the past 52 weeks. VitalStream said News Corp.'s MySpace plans to develop its own in-house media streaming technology. The popular social networking site made up 31 percent of VitalStream's third-quarter revenue, the company said.
Irvine, Calif.-based VitalStream's stock fell 43 cents, or 6.1 percent, to $6.57 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq. Shares have traded between $3.36 and $13.70 in the past 52 weeks. VitalStream said News Corp.'s MySpace plans to develop its own in-house media streaming technology. The popular social networking site made up 31 percent of VitalStream's third-quarter revenue, the company said.
Google to acquire video site YouTube for $1.65 bln
Web search leader Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG - news) on Monday said it agreed to acquire top video entertainment site YouTube Inc. for $1.65 billion in stock, putting a lofty new value on consumer-generated media sites.
The deal, the first to value one of the new crop of user-participation Web sites at more than $1 billion, combines two of the most popular Internet brands: Google, synonymous with Web search and rapid innovation, and YouTube, a Silicon Valley upstart that has spearheaded the video-sharing craze.
The deal, the first to value one of the new crop of user-participation Web sites at more than $1 billion, combines two of the most popular Internet brands: Google, synonymous with Web search and rapid innovation, and YouTube, a Silicon Valley upstart that has spearheaded the video-sharing craze.
Google Beefing Up Video Ad Sales Team
Google is seeking to fill a newly created position of director of video advertising, responsible for leading the search giant's video ad sales. The move appears to signal that Google intends to significantly boost its efforts to monetize and distribute video. Earlier this year, Google began offering click-to-play video ads on the network of sites where it sells contextual advertising.
(Source: MediaDailyNews)
(Source: MediaDailyNews)
Google Announce Record Label Agreements
First, WMG:
"Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE:WMG) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) today announced a strategic business relationship designed to give Google users the ability to stream on-demand WMG's extensive music video collection for free, through an ad-supported revenue sharing agreement, or to purchase videos online for download.
Starting this month, users in the U.S. can watch any of the thousands of music videos, artist interviews, "behind-the-scenes" footage and other artist-related content from WMG on Google Video. In the coming months, users can also access audio-visual content from WMG through Google's partner websites in its AdSense network. In addition, Google will develop technology that, when implemented, will enable users to include certain content from companies such as Warner Music Group in the videos they create and upload to Google Video. "
Then Sony:
"SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG today announced a strategic business relationship designed to make the music company's expansive music video collection available for online streaming at no cost to users. Starting this month, users can watch thousands of videos from SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT on Google Video. In the coming months, users will also be able to access content from SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT artists through Google's partner websites in its AdSense network. "
(Source: Yahoo News).
"Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE:WMG) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) today announced a strategic business relationship designed to give Google users the ability to stream on-demand WMG's extensive music video collection for free, through an ad-supported revenue sharing agreement, or to purchase videos online for download.
Starting this month, users in the U.S. can watch any of the thousands of music videos, artist interviews, "behind-the-scenes" footage and other artist-related content from WMG on Google Video. In the coming months, users can also access audio-visual content from WMG through Google's partner websites in its AdSense network. In addition, Google will develop technology that, when implemented, will enable users to include certain content from companies such as Warner Music Group in the videos they create and upload to Google Video. "
Then Sony:
"SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG today announced a strategic business relationship designed to make the music company's expansive music video collection available for online streaming at no cost to users. Starting this month, users can watch thousands of videos from SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT on Google Video. In the coming months, users will also be able to access content from SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT artists through Google's partner websites in its AdSense network. "
(Source: Yahoo News).
Friday, October 6
Catching The VIBE: Targeting The User-Generated Video Space
The last Behavioral Insider newsletter is all about behavioral targeting and UGC.
"That social networks and user generated content are the current frontier of online advertising is widely agreed. Yet beyond that consensus, thorny questions abound. First, there's the question of whether UGC, especially video, can ever become an appropriate venue for branding. Second, there's the issue of whether advertising can meaningfully and non-intrusively fit into the UGC community environment. (...)At least part of the answer lies in learning new ways of targeting for the UGC space(...)."
"That social networks and user generated content are the current frontier of online advertising is widely agreed. Yet beyond that consensus, thorny questions abound. First, there's the question of whether UGC, especially video, can ever become an appropriate venue for branding. Second, there's the issue of whether advertising can meaningfully and non-intrusively fit into the UGC community environment. (...)At least part of the answer lies in learning new ways of targeting for the UGC space(...)."
TurboNick 2.0 Lets Kids Manipulate Content
Nickelodeon has launched a mash-up product for the latest version of its broadband hub, TurboNick 2.0, giving visitors access to a variety of Nickelodeon assets, including video clips, audio and photos, along with tools that allow them to create unique scenes using their favorite Nick characters.
MySpace Founder Seeks Buyout Probe
Brad Greenspan, founder of former MySpace parent company Intermix Media Inc., Thursday asked the federal authorities to investigate the company's $580 million acquisition by News Corp. In a report posted at the site www.freemyspace.com, he claims that MySpace is actually worth somewhere around $20 billion.
Google Is in Talks to Buy YouTube
The WSJ reports:
"Google Inc. is in talks to acquire online video site YouTube Inc. for roughly $1.6 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. The discussions are still at a sensitive stage and could well break off, this person says.
A spokeswoman for closely held YouTube could not be reached for comment. A Google spokesman said, "We don't comment on rumors and speculation." Rumors of such talks were reported earlier on the TechCrunch blog.
YouTube is a poster child for a new generation of startups, which is surging thanks to the growth in usage of the Internet and online advertising. Founded in February 2005 in a garage by three twentysomething alums of eBay Inc.'s PayPal electronic-payment unit, YouTube quickly built a huge consumer following for videos online.
Now users watch more that 100 million videos daily, and the site's market share tops that of similar services from the likes of Google, according to some research firms. In recent months, the company has tried to profit from its popularity by expanding the types of ads it sells to include videos on its home page and reaching out to media companies to defuse the threat of legal action against it.
Rumors circulated earlier this year that some major media companies expressed interest in buying closely-held YouTube. CEO Chad Hurley said at the time that the company was not for sale and an IPO in the future was a possibility.
YouTube has stood out from the growing corps of online video services for its simplicity. YouTube serves up videos from its Web site directly or from other sites where people insert them, generally not requiring users to download any special software. It also let consumers display its videos on other sites, such as blogs or personal pages on News Corp.'s popular MySpace social networking service.
Last month, the San Mateo, Calif., company announced a new system to give media companies more control over the video on the site and to address their fears that others will profit from consumers' piracy of their content. Warner Music Group is the first entertainment company to embrace the system. It will post its catalog of music videos on YouTube and collect an unspecified percentage of the revenue from advertising appearing alongside them."
"Google Inc. is in talks to acquire online video site YouTube Inc. for roughly $1.6 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. The discussions are still at a sensitive stage and could well break off, this person says.
A spokeswoman for closely held YouTube could not be reached for comment. A Google spokesman said, "We don't comment on rumors and speculation." Rumors of such talks were reported earlier on the TechCrunch blog.
YouTube is a poster child for a new generation of startups, which is surging thanks to the growth in usage of the Internet and online advertising. Founded in February 2005 in a garage by three twentysomething alums of eBay Inc.'s PayPal electronic-payment unit, YouTube quickly built a huge consumer following for videos online.
Now users watch more that 100 million videos daily, and the site's market share tops that of similar services from the likes of Google, according to some research firms. In recent months, the company has tried to profit from its popularity by expanding the types of ads it sells to include videos on its home page and reaching out to media companies to defuse the threat of legal action against it.
Rumors circulated earlier this year that some major media companies expressed interest in buying closely-held YouTube. CEO Chad Hurley said at the time that the company was not for sale and an IPO in the future was a possibility.
YouTube has stood out from the growing corps of online video services for its simplicity. YouTube serves up videos from its Web site directly or from other sites where people insert them, generally not requiring users to download any special software. It also let consumers display its videos on other sites, such as blogs or personal pages on News Corp.'s popular MySpace social networking service.
Last month, the San Mateo, Calif., company announced a new system to give media companies more control over the video on the site and to address their fears that others will profit from consumers' piracy of their content. Warner Music Group is the first entertainment company to embrace the system. It will post its catalog of music videos on YouTube and collect an unspecified percentage of the revenue from advertising appearing alongside them."
Thursday, October 5
PodZinger to Launch Video and Audio Ads, Share Revs
Web-based audio and video search engine PodZinger announced it will launch its own ad platform and begin offering podcast and other content partners an ad revenue share program.
See it here.
See it here.
Fotolog Gets $4M
Photo-sharing site Fotolog has raised $4 million in venture funding from BV Capital and 3i, the company said Wednesday. Fotolog, which has 4.7 million members, will use the money for new products and services aimed at growing the user base.
Wednesday, October 4
Showtime, Yahoo Partner to Stream Series Online
Partnering with Yahoo, premium cable network Showtime will stream select episodes of some of its series online, hoping to add new subscribers by exposing viewers to the series in a new medium.
Media M&A Activity Headed for Record Year
Despite some economic concerns, media and information industry mergers and acquisitions activity remained vibrant through the third quarter, according to the The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc.
UGC Video Update - How It Will Be Safe For Advertisers
From the latest OnlineSpin:
"(...) There are three primary ways in which I've heard of companies developing tools to ensure the safety of advertisers in this space. The first methodology is based on peer review. In this model, a set of meta-data for the content--primarily video content--can be created based on the reviews or any set of review information posted and maintained by the viewer. It relies on the engagement of the audience, but has proven successful for other sites, especially those that are in the form of the Wikipedia. This model requires ongoing maintenance by the audience, which can be viewed as a pro or a con--but is certainly useful, because as the environment changes the meta-data can be updated to reflect audience tolerance.
The second model I've come across is when a technology catalogues the content on the page surrounding the UGC and hypothesizes that the content of the video is related to the content surrounding it. This model would seem to be relatively easy to build, and its logic is clear, but the problem is that it needs to cross-reference the data for the multiple of pages where the content is located and then merge the data to ensure proper classification. This process is extremely important when cataloguing for search. This model would appear to be sound, even if it requires that a fairly robust database be maintained to ensure its effectiveness.
The third model I've heard about is similar to the second, but rather than the content surrounding the video being catalogued, it's the pages linking to the video. This seems to be most applicable to YouTube and the other sites where other viewers consistently link to the video content from other sites, but do not host the videos themselves. This model also appears to be the most scalable--although once again it requires that the spiders be in place on a consistent basis to ensure that the content is updated regularly. (...)"
"(...) There are three primary ways in which I've heard of companies developing tools to ensure the safety of advertisers in this space. The first methodology is based on peer review. In this model, a set of meta-data for the content--primarily video content--can be created based on the reviews or any set of review information posted and maintained by the viewer. It relies on the engagement of the audience, but has proven successful for other sites, especially those that are in the form of the Wikipedia. This model requires ongoing maintenance by the audience, which can be viewed as a pro or a con--but is certainly useful, because as the environment changes the meta-data can be updated to reflect audience tolerance.
The second model I've come across is when a technology catalogues the content on the page surrounding the UGC and hypothesizes that the content of the video is related to the content surrounding it. This model would seem to be relatively easy to build, and its logic is clear, but the problem is that it needs to cross-reference the data for the multiple of pages where the content is located and then merge the data to ensure proper classification. This process is extremely important when cataloguing for search. This model would appear to be sound, even if it requires that a fairly robust database be maintained to ensure its effectiveness.
The third model I've heard about is similar to the second, but rather than the content surrounding the video being catalogued, it's the pages linking to the video. This seems to be most applicable to YouTube and the other sites where other viewers consistently link to the video content from other sites, but do not host the videos themselves. This model also appears to be the most scalable--although once again it requires that the spiders be in place on a consistent basis to ensure that the content is updated regularly. (...)"
Fox Streams Prime-time Shows On MySpace.com
MediaPost reports:
"Fox Tuesday placed already-aired episodes from the current season of "Bones," "Prison Break," "Standoff," "Vanished," "Justice," "Talk Show With Spike Feresten," "'Til Death," and "The Loop" on MySpace.com and Web sites of 24 local affiliates. Many of these shows currently are in re-runs this month, or will be preempted for the Major League Baseball post-season games.
"Fox Tuesday placed already-aired episodes from the current season of "Bones," "Prison Break," "Standoff," "Vanished," "Justice," "Talk Show With Spike Feresten," "'Til Death," and "The Loop" on MySpace.com and Web sites of 24 local affiliates. Many of these shows currently are in re-runs this month, or will be preempted for the Major League Baseball post-season games.
Toyota, Burger King and Lionsgate Films are sponsoring the free streams, with Toyota's Yaris the exclusive sponsor for the local affiliates' "Prison Break" streams. Shows will have pre-roll ads as well as ads that run between acts of the shows--although total ad time will be much shorter than during TV broadcasts. While the specifics vary by show, generally, each program will be accompanied by one 15-second pre-roll ad, and one-hour shows likely will have three ad breaks with one 30-second spot in each."
Undertone Networks Rolls Out Video Solution
Undertone Networks has launched a new turnkey online video advertising solution that aims to allow brand and direct response customers to improve their online advertising effectiveness. Undertone Video, a pre-roll video solution, increases the level of consumer engagement with clickable video and companion ads for 15 and 30-second spots.
Ad Infuse, Mondo Media Introduce Ad Platform for Video Podcasting
Mobile advertising solution provider Ad Infuse has announced a partnership with Mondo Media to create a new advertising platform for podcasting. Using Ad Infuse's technology, advertisers will be able to insert 15-30 second pre-roll video commercials prior to each animated short in the Mondo Mini Shows Podcast Network.
The partnership allows Ad Infuse to sell to a wider range of advertisers while allowing them, in turn, to reach the specific audience they are interested in, pace their buys evenly throughout the campaign, and refresh creative at any time. Ad Infuse and Mondo Media are currently running pre-roll ads for seven clients in categories that range from retail and gaming, to consumer technology.
(Source: Adotas)Tuesday, October 3
100 Leading Media Companies' Revs Reach $268B
Internet and cable helped propel a 6.6 percent increase in U.S. media revenue, which reached $268.48 billion for the 100 leading media companies, as compiled by AdAge's annual report.
Fox Shows to Air on MySpace, Fox TV Sites
News Corp. on Tuesday said it will be offering full episodes of Fox TV shows on MySpace and local Fox TV websites.
ClipBlast! To Distribute Video Search Engine
VIDEO SEARCH ENGINE CLIPBLAST! WILL start distributing its search engine to other Web sites for free, the company is expected to announce today. ClipBlast!, which indexes videos and organizes video libraries, will make a downloadable version of its search box available for free to Web publishers. ClipBlast's move comes several weeks after AOL announced the company would distribute its video search engine for free.
Bengals Kick Off Fan Video Site
THE CINCINNATI BENGALS HAVE BECOME the first NFL team to launch a site where fans can post user-created videos. The new video site, hosted by technology firm ViTrue, which runs user-generated promotional sites for clients, will be part of the Fan Zone section of the Bengals team site ( www.bengals.com).
Web-Video Spots Present Dilemma For Advertisers
the WSJ reports:
"(...) Some Web video sites, such as YouTube and Google, are mindful of consumers(...). Neither runs pre-roll advertising. But that isn't the case at many other popular Web outfits, including Yahoo, AOL, MSN and MTV's Overdrive, where pre-roll ads are plentiful. To pre-roll or not to pre-roll? It is a rising debate on Madison Avenue and in the Internet community. As video Web advertising starts to take off, pre-roll spots are an increasing source of ad dollars for Web sites that accept them. But by running the spots, sites run the risk of losing viewers to pre-roll-free rivals.
"Over time, users might choose to go to sites which don't have these kinds of ads," says Gokul Rajaram, a director of product management at Google. The search giant decided to eschew pre-rolls after discussions with advertisers and online publishers about the potential for pre-roll ads to drive viewers elsewhere, he says. Google doesn't yet sell video ads on Google Video, but it has tested "post-roll" spots that run at the end of a video.
YouTube executives weren't available for comment. The video-sharing site runs banner ads and also gives advertisers the opportunity to run video ads that users can click on if they are interested.
(...) Time Warner's AOL, for instance, believes spots of no longer than 15 seconds work better, and doesn't think its users should have to see several pre-rolls over the course of a single video-watching session, says Kathleen Kayse, an AOL Media Networks executive vice president. Some, such as CBS, run pre-roll ads with short videos but use so-called mid-roll ads -- appearing in the middle of a program -- for longer segments.
General Electric's NBC Universal runs pre-rolls on its Web sites, but also suggests advertisers experiment with various lengths and other formats, says Peter Naylor, the company's senior vice president of digital media ad sales.
Executives at ad agencies and Web concerns say Web video advertising needs to evolve. Pre-rolls may not disappear, says Yahoo's chief sales officer, Wenda Harris Millard, but, "I don't think this will be the majority of video advertising online, by far."
"(...) Some Web video sites, such as YouTube and Google, are mindful of consumers(...). Neither runs pre-roll advertising. But that isn't the case at many other popular Web outfits, including Yahoo, AOL, MSN and MTV's Overdrive, where pre-roll ads are plentiful. To pre-roll or not to pre-roll? It is a rising debate on Madison Avenue and in the Internet community. As video Web advertising starts to take off, pre-roll spots are an increasing source of ad dollars for Web sites that accept them. But by running the spots, sites run the risk of losing viewers to pre-roll-free rivals.
"Over time, users might choose to go to sites which don't have these kinds of ads," says Gokul Rajaram, a director of product management at Google. The search giant decided to eschew pre-rolls after discussions with advertisers and online publishers about the potential for pre-roll ads to drive viewers elsewhere, he says. Google doesn't yet sell video ads on Google Video, but it has tested "post-roll" spots that run at the end of a video.
YouTube executives weren't available for comment. The video-sharing site runs banner ads and also gives advertisers the opportunity to run video ads that users can click on if they are interested.
(...) Time Warner's AOL, for instance, believes spots of no longer than 15 seconds work better, and doesn't think its users should have to see several pre-rolls over the course of a single video-watching session, says Kathleen Kayse, an AOL Media Networks executive vice president. Some, such as CBS, run pre-roll ads with short videos but use so-called mid-roll ads -- appearing in the middle of a program -- for longer segments.
General Electric's NBC Universal runs pre-rolls on its Web sites, but also suggests advertisers experiment with various lengths and other formats, says Peter Naylor, the company's senior vice president of digital media ad sales.
Executives at ad agencies and Web concerns say Web video advertising needs to evolve. Pre-rolls may not disappear, says Yahoo's chief sales officer, Wenda Harris Millard, but, "I don't think this will be the majority of video advertising online, by far."
Monday, October 2
TV Still Favorite Medium To Watch Videos
Video isn't that popular on the Internet, says a study commissioned by the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau. When it comes to video usage on alternative platforms, it doesn't even make the top five. In surveying some 2,100 people between the ages of 12 and 54, results show that the computer/Internet usage for video is far down the list of most important activities. The highest usage is for search. Next comes playing games, then visiting news-related sites. In fifth place is listening to music. Sixth is visiting social-networking sites. After that comes watching video. The study found that 60 percent of people prefer watching TV to computer activity, and 65 percent of the time when compared to a video iPod or a PlayStation. Some of the audience groups that prefer to watch video on TV versus mobile devices were a surprise: teens and young men.
(Source: MediaPost)
(Source: MediaPost)
Video Ad Firms Hit Fast-Forward
Media Post reports:
WITH WEB VIDEO NOW DRAWING TV-like audiences, a herd of companies are jostling to meet the growing demand for ads accompanying online videos. Venture-backed startups are vying with online ad networks, ad networks are pairing with video-savvy boutiques, and Internet giants such as AOL and Google are gearing up their own video ad-serving efforts. No wonder that 15- and 30-second spots that run before videos are typically commanding CPMs of $15 to $30--among the highest on the Web.
But the scarce inventory driving up CPMs is also slowing faster expansion of video advertising. Marketers remain reluctant to place their brands alongside user-created videos of questionable content and quality. None of that has stopped emerging video ad companies from reaping big venture capital dollars. "Broadband penetration and speeds are sufficiently high to enable high-quality video and ads--that's not something you could say as recently as two years ago," said Warren Lee, a partner at Canaan Partners, which recently led an $8.4 million investment in video ad-serving firm Tremor Network. (...). Young companies such as Tremor, Brightcove and PostRoller are touting their video technology expertise to compete with existing Internet ad serving networks. "Delivering video across a network of publisher sites is significantly more difficult than delivering a text or banner ad," said Lee. He noted that video ads, for instance, must be able to run on a variety of formats including Flash, Windows Media Player, Real Media and QuickTime. "There's a lot more that can go wrong," he said.
Video startups are also focusing on particular markets to nurture nascent video ad networks online. For its part, Tremor is bypassing the biggest Web sites to target less trafficked ones in the auto, finance and entertainment categories. "That's where a lot of the volume and opportunity is," said Jason Glickman, chief executive of Tremor. He said the company has a network of about 150 sites on which it serves in-stream ads, including WhitePages.com and RedOrbit.com. Similarly, PostRoller so far has cultivated mainly video-centric sites such as Blip.tv, Streetfire.net and WeakGame.com for serving video ads. Started earlier this year, PostRoller is already serving more than 2 million video and static ads daily to a network of 25 sites, according to founder Tod Sacerdoti. He estimates that less than one-third are video ads, because many sites prefer less intrusive banner ads. The dubious content of some sites also keeps branded advertisers from buying video ads. Hewlett-Packard and Netflix are two prominent video advertisers with PostRoller, said Sacerdoti, who previously started Plaxo. Both Tremor and PostRoller are gearing up their sales force to build up their networks. Tremor is especially aggressive, planning to triple its sales staff to 15 by year's end.
Large, established ad networks aren't just standing by. Advertising.com earlier this year acquired independent video ad company Lightningcast and in June Google began offering click-to-play video ads on sites in its content network. A month ago, ValueClick--the second-largest ad network--moved to upgrade its video capability through a partnership with video ad specialist EyeWonder. As video advertising grows, the demand for third-party verification by ad-serving services will only increase, according to analyst Denise Garcia of WR Hambrecht & Co., who covers ValueClick and other Internet ad firms. That means big ad networks will continue to team up with or acquire video ad shops if they don't have the expertise in-house.
But both emerging and established ad networks are currently constrained by a dearth of professional video content of the kind that brand advertisers want. About 95 percent of the inventory of video pre-roll ads were sold out through April, according to an AccuStream iMedia Research study. "Inventory still exceeds supply for professional video and it's going to stay that way for a while," said Hambrecht's Garcia.
Advertising.com's In-Stream Video Network, which has inventory of 200 million pre-roll video streams each month, is about 80 percent sold, according to Elicia Brand-Leudemann, the network's director of marketing. She explained that it can operate more efficiently than other networks, in part, because it's constantly adding new inventory. She said that until advertisers have more control of what content their ads will be associated with, they will be wary of user-generated content. At the same time, video-sharing sites such as YouTube have to be mindful of alienating their users if they start to impose greater control over content to create a more friendly environment for advertisers. Members could end up migrating to any of the dozens of competing video sites. For its part, Advertising.com is trying to strike a balance. It has agreements with sites such as YouTube and MySpace to place video ads, but only on landing pages within the sites that have no user-created video. "The quality and content of the sites is very important," said Brand-Leudemann.
WITH WEB VIDEO NOW DRAWING TV-like audiences, a herd of companies are jostling to meet the growing demand for ads accompanying online videos. Venture-backed startups are vying with online ad networks, ad networks are pairing with video-savvy boutiques, and Internet giants such as AOL and Google are gearing up their own video ad-serving efforts. No wonder that 15- and 30-second spots that run before videos are typically commanding CPMs of $15 to $30--among the highest on the Web.
But the scarce inventory driving up CPMs is also slowing faster expansion of video advertising. Marketers remain reluctant to place their brands alongside user-created videos of questionable content and quality. None of that has stopped emerging video ad companies from reaping big venture capital dollars. "Broadband penetration and speeds are sufficiently high to enable high-quality video and ads--that's not something you could say as recently as two years ago," said Warren Lee, a partner at Canaan Partners, which recently led an $8.4 million investment in video ad-serving firm Tremor Network. (...). Young companies such as Tremor, Brightcove and PostRoller are touting their video technology expertise to compete with existing Internet ad serving networks. "Delivering video across a network of publisher sites is significantly more difficult than delivering a text or banner ad," said Lee. He noted that video ads, for instance, must be able to run on a variety of formats including Flash, Windows Media Player, Real Media and QuickTime. "There's a lot more that can go wrong," he said.
Video startups are also focusing on particular markets to nurture nascent video ad networks online. For its part, Tremor is bypassing the biggest Web sites to target less trafficked ones in the auto, finance and entertainment categories. "That's where a lot of the volume and opportunity is," said Jason Glickman, chief executive of Tremor. He said the company has a network of about 150 sites on which it serves in-stream ads, including WhitePages.com and RedOrbit.com. Similarly, PostRoller so far has cultivated mainly video-centric sites such as Blip.tv, Streetfire.net and WeakGame.com for serving video ads. Started earlier this year, PostRoller is already serving more than 2 million video and static ads daily to a network of 25 sites, according to founder Tod Sacerdoti. He estimates that less than one-third are video ads, because many sites prefer less intrusive banner ads. The dubious content of some sites also keeps branded advertisers from buying video ads. Hewlett-Packard and Netflix are two prominent video advertisers with PostRoller, said Sacerdoti, who previously started Plaxo. Both Tremor and PostRoller are gearing up their sales force to build up their networks. Tremor is especially aggressive, planning to triple its sales staff to 15 by year's end.
Large, established ad networks aren't just standing by. Advertising.com earlier this year acquired independent video ad company Lightningcast and in June Google began offering click-to-play video ads on sites in its content network. A month ago, ValueClick--the second-largest ad network--moved to upgrade its video capability through a partnership with video ad specialist EyeWonder. As video advertising grows, the demand for third-party verification by ad-serving services will only increase, according to analyst Denise Garcia of WR Hambrecht & Co., who covers ValueClick and other Internet ad firms. That means big ad networks will continue to team up with or acquire video ad shops if they don't have the expertise in-house.
But both emerging and established ad networks are currently constrained by a dearth of professional video content of the kind that brand advertisers want. About 95 percent of the inventory of video pre-roll ads were sold out through April, according to an AccuStream iMedia Research study. "Inventory still exceeds supply for professional video and it's going to stay that way for a while," said Hambrecht's Garcia.
Advertising.com's In-Stream Video Network, which has inventory of 200 million pre-roll video streams each month, is about 80 percent sold, according to Elicia Brand-Leudemann, the network's director of marketing. She explained that it can operate more efficiently than other networks, in part, because it's constantly adding new inventory. She said that until advertisers have more control of what content their ads will be associated with, they will be wary of user-generated content. At the same time, video-sharing sites such as YouTube have to be mindful of alienating their users if they start to impose greater control over content to create a more friendly environment for advertisers. Members could end up migrating to any of the dozens of competing video sites. For its part, Advertising.com is trying to strike a balance. It has agreements with sites such as YouTube and MySpace to place video ads, but only on landing pages within the sites that have no user-created video. "The quality and content of the sites is very important," said Brand-Leudemann.
Amazon’s Recently Launched Video Site Unbox Has Problems
Amazon.com launched its version of online video sharing less than a month ago. Already now the industry sources, including a PC-World staff blog, are reporting the service is suffering substantial teething problems. (...) When it was launched a few weeks ago, Amazon promised clients smooth passage both buying and renting streaming content. However, to keep delivering on that promise or to actually make good, Amazon is already offering a software upgrade to its video player. Apparently this is because of feedback it has received. "Clearly the service had its problems, but it also appears as if the company is paying attention and is willing to act quickly to try and remedy them", writes PCworld in its blog.
So what's actually gone wrong? Quite a number of things, it appears - problems during downloads, difficulties in fast forwarding and rewinding as well as time-consuming licensing agreements. The upgrade is meant to consider all of these issues. What's more, the company is offering its registered users a refund of USD1.99 in the form of a credit.
(Source: BizReport)
So what's actually gone wrong? Quite a number of things, it appears - problems during downloads, difficulties in fast forwarding and rewinding as well as time-consuming licensing agreements. The upgrade is meant to consider all of these issues. What's more, the company is offering its registered users a refund of USD1.99 in the form of a credit.
(Source: BizReport)
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