KickApps Extends Partnership with Advertising.com

From mediapost:

ON-DEMAND SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM KICKAPPS has extended its partnership with AOL's Advertising.com to include its Lightningcast video ad-serving system. The new integrated platform combines KickApps' community-building services with Advertising.com's Lightningcast video ad-serving system in an effort to help publishers serve ads via editorial and user-generated video content on their KickApps-powered social media sites.

"Publishers want to co-mingle their professionally produced content with the user-generated video, because it gives them more inventory to run advertising," said KickApps CEO Alex Baum, a former president of JumpTV, who previously spent eight years in a senior programming role at AOL. "What's changing and driving this trend is--user-generated stuff is driving a CPM that is comparable to premium content as long as it's properly targeted."

KickApps provides sites of all sizes with a range of building blocks that include user-generated content, social networking, video players, Webcam applications, widget-building, media/member management and reporting.

Corporate users and Web masters can mix and match building blocks from the widget library to crate a more customized or branded solution.

Advertising.com's Lightningcast platform was designed to help Web publishers insert, manage and track ads that are incorporated within their videos. The new integrated solution will now enable KickApps affiliates large and small to generate their fair share of advertising revenue from their sites.

The New York-based KickApps' tools have powered a successful Procter & Gamble Tag Body Spray community effort. Within six weeks of launch, it drove 772,400 page views and 260,000 unique visitors, according to KickApps.

My43.net used the tools to raise monthly site traffic by 30% with no on-air promotion. Other companies using it include AFL Network, Cycling.tv, and National Lampoon, Universal Music/Interscope and others.

KickApps is also serving targeted ads to relevant audience clusters, allowing for the monetization of sites.

KickApps is backed by Spark Capital and Prism VentureWorks. Its board members include former Liberty Digital and E! Entertainment CEO Jarl Mohn and former MTV and NFL President Sara Levinson.

ROO Group Announces Strategic Realignment, Appointment of New CEO

New York (December 19, 2007) - ROO Group (OTCBB: RGRP) announced today that the company has entered into an Executive Management Agreement with KIT Capital pursuant to which it has agreed to appoint Kaleil Isaza Tuzman as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer commencing on January 9th, 2008. Mr. Isaza Tuzman will succeed Robert Petty, who will retain the office of Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors and Founder.

Mr. Isaza Tuzman, 36, is currently the President and Chief Operating Officer of JumpTV Inc. (JTV: AIM, TSX) where he is responsible for managing the Company's day-to-day operations including global business development, sales, marketing, network operations and product development. As previously announced, he will be stepping down from his operating position at JumpTV on or before January 8th, 2008, but will remain on the board of that company.

ROO also announced that four independent members of the company’s board of directors – Simon Bax, Stephen Palley, Scott Ackerman and Doug Chertok – have resigned. The Company’s Board of Directors is expected to appoint Isaza Tuzman as a Director and the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Upon Mr. Isaza Tuzman’s appointment, the Board will consist of three directors which will include current board members Robert Petty and Robin Smyth, Executive Director. In accordance with the terms of an Executive Management Agreement, Isaza Tuzman will have the right to appoint up to four new independent board members to fill vacancies on the Board of Directors, subject to shareholder approval. Isaza Tuzman, is also investing in the Company through an affiliated entity.

Mr. Isaza Tuzman has been brought on to rationalize the existing business and position ROO to become the leader in IPTV infrastructure services—through both organic growth and strategic acquisition. The company is already one of the leading distribution platforms in the online media space and is the premier solution for IP-based Video-on-Demand. The ROO Video Network is watched by millions of viewers and supported by a wide-range of premium advertisers.

“We are very pleased to welcome Kaleil as our new CEO,” said Robert Petty, Chairman of ROO. “Kaleil brings the experience and insight needed to lead us through this next stage of growth. He has a proven record of helping companies achieve their fullest potential and we are confident that his deep knowledge of our sector, operational discipline and leadership skills will enable us to generate value for our shareholders.”

Mr. Isaza Tuzman stated, “ROO is at an inflection point in its development. The massive growth in the demand for high-value, IP video content, coupled with the need for leading edge platform provisioning puts this company in a very enviable position. I believe that with greater emphasis on exclusive content, TV broadcaster relationships and the best quality distribution tools, ROO will become the leading player in the provisioning of video over the Internet. In my view, a focused B2B strategy is what is needed to build a profitable company in the sector. ROO’s commitment to this path—coupled with our shared vision of potential industry consolidation---has been critical to my decision to invest in and manage the company."

Under new management, the company plans to:
·Leverage expertise in international media to expand client and partner base;
·Reduce costs and implement cost control policies company-wide,
·Achieve profitability as quickly as possible;
·Assess and prioritize product development initiatives;
·Assess corporate branding;
·Assess and execute strategic acquisitions consistent with the IPTV platform provisioning strategy, including the development of live-streaming and mobile distribution capabilities.

As part of the strategic realignment, ROO also announced today that it has completed a recent reduction of 21% of its workforce. This decision reflects the substantial completion of ROO’s platform and automated distribution tools, which have made the company more efficient and reduced staffing needs.

“ROO has now entered a new phase of development,” said Robert Petty, Chairman of ROO. “We have substantially automated our operations, allowing us to function as a leaner, more effective company.”

Mr. Petty concluded, “I would like to thank our independent board members for their contributions to our organization. As a result of their guidance, we are now a stronger, more efficient company.”

As part of the Executive Management Agreement, KIT Capital Ltd., an entity controlled by Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, has been granted the right to purchase up to 51% of the preferred class of shares in the Company at US$0.38 per share. KIT Capital has the option to invest up to US$5 million in common shares of the Company at US$0.16 per share, a 15% premium to the closing price yesterday, December 18th, 2007.

Utilizing Limelight Networks and Microsoft Technology, Blockbuster Premieres First Studio-Backed Broadband Movie

from streaming media:

TEMPE, ARIZ. (December 17, 2007) - Limelight Networks® (Nasdaq: LLNW), the leading content delivery network (CDN) for digital media, today announced that Blockbuster Inc., a leading global provider of in-home movie and game entertainment, has exclusively selected Limelight Networks’ rich media CDN and Microsoft Silverlight to provide the technical streaming capabilities for the first studio-backed feature streamed in its entirety - JACKASS 2.5 - to be distributed directly online by Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment, MTV New Media group from MTV Networks and BLOCKBUSTER®.

Available for free, courtesy of BLOCKBUSTER, at blockbuster.jackassworld.com beginning December 19th through December 31st, 2007, the U.S. online distribution of JACKASS 2.5, an event made possible by the recent acquisition of Movielink by Blockbuster Inc., leverages the power of Limelight Networks’ CDN and Microsoft Silverlight.

“This ground-breaking event underscores our commitment to providing customers with convenient access to media entertainment, whether it’s through our stores, the mail or through new technologies,” said Keith Morrow, chief information officer for Blockbuster Inc. “Combining the CDN performance and scalability of Limelight Networks with the power of Microsoft Silverlight should deliver a compelling and high-quality viewing experience to online viewers of JACKASS 2.5.”

The release of JACKASS 2.5 taps into a market which is believed to be a driving force for online digital media consumption today. In search of the right solution to power the movie premiere, BLOCKBUSTER turned to Limelight Networks and Microsoft as two leaders in online media delivery.
“BLOCKBUSTER is taking a great step forward in making Hollywood digital,” said Brian Goldfarb, group product manager in the developer division at Microsoft Corp. “Using Silverlight for this initiative will provide consumers with an outstanding, high-quality experience in online entertainment.”

“BLOCKBUSTER is making history by driving the studio-backed release of JACKASS 2.5 to an audience whose lifestyles are continually influenced by the latest online innovations,” said Dave Hatfield, senior vice president of products, marketing and sales at Limelight Networks. “Limelight Networks’ infrastructure was built for these types of large, rich media streaming events. Coupled with our strong relationship with Microsoft and its leading-edge Silverlight platform, BLOCKBUSTER could not have a better solution and team supporting this project and helping them in their efforts to deliver a dynamic entertainment adventure to consumers.”

Streaming JACKASS 2.5 is open to anyone in the U.S. 17 years or older whether they are a BLOCKBUSTER member or not. And best of all, it’s free. Available December 19th through December 31st, go to blockbuster.jackassworld.com, download the free Microsoft Silverlight media player and with a few quick steps, you’re watching the movie.

About Limelight Networks
Limelight Networks is a high-performance content delivery network for digital media, providing massively scalable, global delivery solutions for on-demand and live Internet distribution of video, music, games, software and social media. Limelight Networks’ infrastructure is optimized for the large object sizes, large content libraries, and large audiences associated with compelling rich media content. Limelight is the content delivery network of choice for over 1,000 companies, including many of the world’s top Internet, media and entertainment companies, including Microsoft Xbox LIVE, Sony Playstation 3, Akimbo, Amazon Unbox™, Belo Interactive, Brightcove, “BuyMusic” @ Buy.com, DreamWorks, LLC, Facebook, FOXNews.com, IFILM, ITV Play, MSNBC.com, NC Interactive and Valve. For more information, visit www.llnw.com.

Safe Harbor Act Disclaimer: All forward-looking statements contained in this release are made within the meaning of and pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements other than statements of historical facts, including but not limited to statements concerning the performance and scalability of Limelight Networks' CDN, notably its ability to deliver large, rich media streaming events, and other statements concerning the plans, intentions, expectations, projections, hopes, beliefs, objectives, goals and strategies of management. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed, projected or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that the results expressed, projected or implied by any forward-looking statements will be achieved, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date hereof and are based on the current plans, goals, objectives, strategies, intentions, expectations and assumptions of, and the information currently available to, management. The Company assumes no duty or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason, whether as the result of changes in expectations, new information, future events, conditions or circumstances or otherwise.

IAC To Employ Brightcove Platform For Web Video

WEB VIDEO COMPANY BRIGHTCOVE HAS reached a deal with media company IAC to provide IAC's properties with a platform to create, manage, publish, distribute and monetize video on the Web. Ticketmaster, Citysearch and 23/6 are among the first IAC brands to use Brightcove's service. IAC has been a minority stakeholder in Brightcove since December 2006.

Under the agreement, any IAC business can use Brightcove's on-demand platform to publish video content to their sites, manage syndication and viral distribution, integrate advertising and launch independent or integrated consumer media campaigns.

ClipBlast Unveils "Remote Control for the Video Web"-

LOS ANGELES, Calif (December 11, 2007) - ClipBlast! (www.clipblast.com), the premier Web-wide video search and navigation platform, today announced the release of ClipBlast! Version 3.0. Acting in effect as a “remote control for the Video Web,” the new release represents a major enhancement of ClipBlast!'s video search platform, with improvements that promise a richer, easier and more relevant experience for advertisers and content providers -- and the video viewers they aim to reach.

At the heart of ClipBlast! 3.0 is the Intelligent Index™, which matches the content of the ad with the content of the video. Rather than relying exclusively on the content provider's description and metadata—which can be subjective or even nonexistent— ClipBlast!'s Intelligent Index uses proprietary technology to categorize content in real time more effectively, thereby delivering both more relevant search results and highly targeted ads.

The Intelligent Index simultaneously addresses the issue of “how to get found” and provides a monetization model for online video. The ClipBlast! 3.0 platform gets “smarter” with every video it indexes. The more videos added, and the more metadata ingested into the platform, the better the platform becomes at recognizing, organizing and drawing correlations among related data -- which leads to smarter search results.

For the content provider – which can now extend its reach well beyond its own site -- ClipBlast! 3.0 literally raises a video's IQ. For advertisers, ClipBlast’s Intelligent Index can mean increased revenues, thanks to the ability to serve highly-targeted ads in conjunction with smart content.

"ClipBlast! 3.0 provides a way for advertisers to take true advantage of the ever-growing Video Web,” said Gary Baker, ClipBlast! founder and CEO. “Our Intelligent Index not only leads to better, more accurate search results for the viewer, it also creates a situation where advertisers can get their message, in a vibrant, living format—in front of viewers who are paying attention a particular topic.

“ClipBlast! 3.0 leverages the collective input of the community to hone contextual searches,” he added. “And because the Intelligent Index ensures higher quality video search, ClipBlast! 3.0 advances the state of the art in contextual search. Like a remote control unit, it places the entire Video Web at your fingertips.”

Video Advertising 3.0
ClipBlast's 3.0 platform does for Video Web advertisers what pay-per-click programs did for the early generations of online marketers -- it gives advertisers an innovative way to get their relevant message directly in front of a viewer who's expressed interest in a subject.

“Because our search results are both smart and highly refinable, advertisers can pinpoint specific user targets and serve relevant ads at the exact moment the viewer has shown interest,” Baker said. “This kind of one-to-one advertising – occurring within a one-to-many medium -- offers unparalleled opportunities for advertisers.

“Intelligent indexing represents a sea change in the video search paradigm,” he noted. “Until now, a video creator could name a video anything, and could describe that video in any way -- but the content within the video may have nothing to do with what the creator says. ClipBlast! 3.0 looks at both the information the creator provides and the information the video itself provides -- the images, the speech, the text -- and returns results accordingly. It's simply a more holistic and less subjective way of indexing video — and, ultimately, it ensures a better experience for everyone the Video Web touches."

Today’s announcement follows the launch of the ClipBlast! Video Widget at DEMOfall07 in late September. The ClipBlast! Widget is a Web-wide video search and navigation tool that resides on the desktop, enabling search, navigation, browsing and viewing of the Video Web without having to launch a browser or visit a specific website.

The ClipBlast! platform searches the entire Web for available content, continuously providing video web viewers with up-to-date, personalized video content, no matter what the source. ClipBlast! indexes more content providers than anyone on the Video Web.

Five Technical Issues Hampering Online Video Growth

Posted on seeking alpha.com:

For many years, the online video industry has always had some who like to point to limitations on the technology as being the excuse and reason why the industry is not grow as fast as some may like. For years it was people complaining that video quality is not good enough, that it's too hard to deliver and too difficult to scale. Today, those arguments are no longer valid. The technology is here today to have great quality video, to deliver it with performance and to reach as big of an audience as today's business models support.

But when it comes to online video advertising, there is a valid argument that the technology today does not have the functionality that is needed for us to see video advertising growth on a faster scale. Will we get there? Yes. But it's taking longer than it should due to these ten technical and industry issues:

There is no set standard for the length of an ad based on the length of the content. We all get ads at 10, 15 and 30 seconds in length for both long and short form content, with each content site doing it differently. And in some cases, like I outlined with Yahoo!, some sites deliver different ad lengths in the same piece of content. What a bad user experience. How can we expect viewers to get use to watching ads when the experience is different on each site?
Many times, ads are delivered at a lower quality and smaller window size than the content itself. This is a trend I am seeing more and more of lately. I click to watch a video that is encoded at 300 or 500Kbps but the ad I get before it is only encoded at 100kbps and the ad only fills up a fraction of the video window. What a poor experience. For instance you are given a 320x240 window but then the ad shows up as 240x180. The only reasoning behind this that I can think of is that it's cheaper to deliver the ads this way since they are at a lower bitrate and/or the agency encoded all of it's ads at only one bitrate. It looks like crap.
There is still very little being done in the way of targeted ads. Due to many technical issues, ads are still being churned out and delivered to web users with almost no insight into what the user wants to see or more importantly what the user should see based on their location. I always use the example of how I see Crispy Creme donut ads yet the closest Crispy Creme to where I live is 43.3 miles away in Milford CT. I know some ad platforms are doing more and more with targeting, but still not enough. This needs to be figured out faster. If you can't deliver ads based on a persons interests, geographic location or even gender, then the majority of these video ads are completely being wasted. It's no wonder the pre-roll ad format is dying.
Reporting metrics. Where are they? It seems that every ad network I talk to all measures and records user metrics for ads very differently. What is the problem here? Not being able to give advertisers back the reporting they want, thereby enabling them to try and come up with their own metrics to judge if their campaign was a success or not is like shooting the industry in the foot. No service, product or offering is worth anything if you can't give the person who is paying for it the data they need to analyze if they should keep paying for it. The ad vendors make this WAY too difficult. For instance, if you look at the top six to eight vendors websites who provide these services, why can't you download a product sheet from their website that shows exactly what type of reporting is offered? Why are they hiding this info and keeping it mysterious?
CPM rates. Ok so this one is not a technical issue but it is one of the biggest problems in the industry. Why is it that no one is willing to say what they get per CPM for online video ads? I ask content owners all the time, I ask the portals, I ask the major networks and to date, I don't know of a single specific example I could tell someone of what the rate is. I could not point you to one major content owner and say I know what price they are getting for CPMs rates and no one shares this info. Yes, everyone says it's between $10 and $60 and that's completely useless. All of the major studios keep telling us how well they are doing online with their content and how well the advertisers love to sponsor it and how much growth they are seeing yet, none of them will give any numbers, to anything. Short-sided thinking folks. You know how many content owners actually have good content worth syndication or licensing but don't as they have no idea what type of rates they can get? There is such a lack of information in the market for CPM rates and no one is doing any educating of the market. It's a losing proposition for everyone when this information is hidden away as if it's some sort of patented trade secret. They always have excuses like the one where the major broadcasters say advertisers are buying ads across many different platforms and they can't break out the P&L from just one platform like the web. What crap.
I'm certainly not the first person to point out some of the technical problems the online video advertising industry is facing and I won't be the last. We all see the potential that online video advertising holds and see the many ways that content owners and portals are embracing all forms of online video ads for pre-roll, post-roll, in page, in stream etc.

Part of the problem is the industry itself but a good deal of the problem lies with the technology of the entire ecosystem for video ad creating, selling, fulfillment, delivery and tracking. I'm as big a fan as anyone when it comes to ways that content can be monetized, but the industry as a whole needs to do a lot better job of working together to create as much in the way of standards as they can.

Most video sites will be "roadkill"

from iMedia:

If you're having trouble keeping track of all the new video sites, you may not have to worry. At the NewTeeVee Live Conference, Dennis Miller of Spark Capital predicted that most video sites wouldn't last very long, according to a Financial Times blog post.

"There's too much money chasing too few ideas," Miller said. "There is already roadkill and there will be massive roadkill ahead."

George Zachary of Charles River Ventures was even more pessimistic.

"I think it's a humongous mistake to invest in content," Zachary said.

For Zachary, the solution is to aggregate and distribute existing content, something he praised Bebo for doing. Earlier this month, the social network announced Open Media, which allows broadcasters like CBS and the BBC to distribute content across its network.

AOL takes Truveo video search worldwide

AOL extends video search site as part of strategy to switch its focus
from providing Internet access to helping people find and view content

AOL, which is trying to grow its online advertising business
worldwide, has localized its video search site for eight countries and
added two languages for its India portal, the company said Wednesday.

AOL has extended the local versions of its Truveo video search site to
France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Spain, Taiwan, and the United
Kingdom. Within two months, versions will be launched for Australia,
Brazil, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, Russia, and Turkey, the
company said.

Truveo came under AOL's wing in early 2006, and the company has sought
to grow the site as its traffic figures have risen with increased
demand for online video.

Unlike Google's YouTube, Truveo doesn't store content but instead
indexes it from sources around the Internet. Truveo can pull some
videos into a window embedded in its Web site, or direct users to
where the video is hosted. Truveo also groups videos by category, and
AOL has created some localized popular categories, such as
cricket-related clips for India.

AOL's main site for India is in English, but the company said it has
added new content channels in Tamil and Hindi that cover news,
astrology, and movies. AOL said more than half of Indians who are
active online users -- about 30 million people -- prefer reading in
their own native language.

AOL, which is owned by Time Warner, is trying to change the focus of
its from providing Internet access to helping people find and view
content. The company had seen a sharp drop in subscription revenue,
which still counts for the majority of its profits.

Earlier this month, AOL said it would cut 2,000 jobs worldwide, or
about 20 percent of its workforce, while building up its online
advertising business. It recently acquired three online ad firms and
started Platform A, a new subsidiary in charge of selling online ads
across its Web properties.

Online Marketers Joining Internet Privacy Efforts

Most consumers are familiar with do-not-call lists, which are meant to
keep telemarketers from phoning them. Soon people will be able to sign
up for do-not-track lists, which will help shield their Web surfing
habits from the prying eyes of marketers.

Such lists will not reduce the number of ads that people see online,
but they will prevent advertisers from using their online meanderings
to deliver specific ad pitches to them.

Today the AOL division of Time Warner will announce a service of this
type, which will be up and running by the end of the year. Other
programs are likely to be articulated soon, as online advertisers
prepare for a two-day forum on privacy to be held by the Federal Trade
Commission.

AOL says it is setting up a new Web site that will link consumers
directly to opt-out lists run by the largest advertising networks. The
site's technology will ensure that people's preferences are not erased
later.

There is a silver lining for marketers, however: the AOL site will try
to persuade people that they should choose to share some personal data
in order to get pitches for products they might like. Most Web sites,
including AOL, already collect data about users to send them specific
ads — but AOL is choosing to become more open about the practice and
will run advertisements about it in coming months.

Consumers who have already seen some benefits from online tracking
systems — in the form of movie recommendations from Netflix, perhaps,
or product recommendations from Amazon — might warm to AOL's argument.

"Instead of having interruptive ads, instead of jarring things that
will grab your attention, things are hopefully tailored to be suitable
to your experience," said Jules Polonetsky, the chief privacy officer
for AOL. "We think tailoring advertising content in a way that is
useful is a good proposition."

Whether consumer privacy groups and other advertising companies agree
with AOL's philosophy will become clearer tomorrow and Friday at the
event put together by the F.T.C., the agency that monitors advertising
for deceptive and unfair practices. The gathering will feature privacy
officials from Google, Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft, as well as experts in
the field of behavioral targeting, which is the delivery of ads to
people based on their online habits.

Advertising companies fashion their behavioral targeting models
differently, but generally the practice involves linking demographic
information and Web site visits. Under the practice, people who read
articles about babies would receives ads for baby gear even when they
move on to read articles about stocks, for example. Much of the
information is gathered anonymously, without links to people's names.

Consumer advocacy groups have in the past asked the F.T.C. to set up
some kind of do-not-track list for the Internet, but the commission
has been hesitant to issue regulations that might slow innovation on
the Web, said Eileen Harrington, deputy director of the agency's
Bureau of Consumer Protection.

"We all love the Internet, and the last thing we want to do is suggest
that the government would step in here in a way that would take that
away from consumers," Ms. Harrington said. "We haven't reached
conclusions on any of these questions. The big news here for us is —
and maybe it seems obvious when you say it fast — is that advertising
has changed dramatically."

Since 2004, companies have more than doubled the amount they spend on
ads on the Internet, shifting that money away from more traditional
outlets like television, radio and print publications. Companies will
spend $20 billion this year on Internet ads, the Interactive
Advertising Bureau, a trade group of Web publishers, estimates.

The growth has been fueled in part by technologies that enable
advertisers to use data about consumers on the Internet in ways that
were not possible in older media. Traditionally, viewers and readers
have been shown the same ads in the same places at the same times, no
matter their age, gender or interests. Advertising was designed for a
mass audience, leading to decades of water-cooler humor about that
funny commercial last night, shown to everyone who tuned in.

But to many consumer brand companies, making different ads for
different people is a better way to reach prospective buyers — and the
Internet captures enough data for them to do so.

AOL executives say they are happy to give people a way to keep their
Internet habits private, even though that would undercut AOL's own
behavioral targeting efforts. In July AOL acquired a behavioral ad
network company, Tacoda, that has been promoting opt-out options to
users for a year.

"We all have to build toward a future where we are delivering ads
people want and not just ads we want people to see," said Dave Morgan,
the founder of Tacoda who now works at AOL. "The only way to do that
is to listen to consumers."

Hulu adds Sony, MGM, launches test

Hulu, an online video service formed by two media conglomerates, will
begin a private test on Monday with two new partners in one of big
media's most ambitious attempts to court viewers wherever they spend
time.

The joint venture of General Electric's NBC Universal and Rupert
Murdoch's News Corp, which earlier had trouble persuading other big
content producers such as Viacom Inc and Walt Disney Co to join, now
adds shows from Sony Pictures Television and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Studios Inc., Hulu executives said.

The long-awaited free, advertising-supported service makes its debut
as consumer interest over watching video clips and television shows on
the Internet.

Despite Hulu's high powered backers, the service has drawn skepticism
among media and Internet executives, who have struck out on their own
by offering shows on its own sites and are either selling shows on
Apple's iTunes or offering it for free on other.

But these companies have yet to garner the hundreds of millions of
viewers on such services as Google Inc's top online video sharing
service YouTube.

"We are still in inning No. 2 in the whole game of online video,"
Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey said, employing a baseball
metaphor.

Ahead of Hulu's anticipated public launch early next year, NBC
Universal has stopped offering its shows for sales on iTunes and
pulled its channel off of YouTube.

On Monday, Hulu will offer about 90 TV shows from the four companies
and smaller partners ranging from current prime-time hits such as
"Heroes" and "The Simpsons" to vintage shows "Miami Vice" and "The
A-Team."

It will also make about 10 feature films available including "The
Breakfast Club" and "The Blues Brothers."

Shortly after the test begins, these shows will also be made available
on a handful of the biggest online distributors Time Warner Inc's AOL,
Comcast Corp, Microsoft's MSN and Yahoo.

"Given that they're late, I have to admit that they've actually
delivered more than I expected," said McQuivey.

McQuivey pointed to the site's ability to let users share and embed
entire shows or movies everywhere on the Web as surprising features to
be offered by a service controlled by media companies who have spent
its entire history directing where and when its shows can be accessed.

NOT YOUTUBE KILLER

Although framed in the press as big media's "YouTube-killer," Hulu
Chief Executive Jason Kilar, a former Amazon.com executive, said the
site aims to make it the premier destination for full length shows and
movies.

"We want to stand for a high quality approach to the content," Kilar
said in a phone interview on Friday, who drew a distinction from
YouTube's offering of video clips.

Viewers could easily mistake the site for another dot-com start-up:
one would be hard pressed to figure out who its corporate sponsors are
as Hulu's minimalist design is stripped of network logos and largely
consists of a white background with thumbnails of the shows adorning
the screen.

Videos are played in wide-screen format on the top of the screen, with
an options to dim the entire screen, view it full screen, or as a
separate smaller box separate from the site.

One distinguishing features created by a team that consists almost
entirely of executives from the Internet and technology industries,
addresses an issue that is unique to its service -- the ability to
find a spot within a show that a viewer wants to share.

The ability to share video or embed video clips of a funny or
interesting moment on a show have existed legally and not for years on
services like YouTube that restrict the uploading of videos to ten
minutes.

But access to full length shows presents a new problem -- finding the
right moment.

Viewers can adjust a slider at the bottom of the video window to clip
the exact spot within a show -- a particularly funny skit on "Saturday
Night Live" for instance -- to send or embed on another Web page.

Hulu also confirmed Providence Equity Partners has invested $100
million for an undisclosed stake in the company. Earlier, media
reports said the stake valued the company at $1 billion.

New Site!

http://www.thedailyshow.com/

nice new site...

Eyeblaster Simplifies Video Ads

Today Eyeblaster announced Channel Connect for In-stream Video, a
scalable and wholly integrated solution that transforms the process of
delivering online video ads. Pre-, mid- , post-roll and overlay ad
formats are all supported through Eyeblaster Ad Campaign Manager v2.0.

A recent eMarketer report forecasts online video ad spend will rise
89% in 2007 and reach a total of $4.3 billion by 2011. Still, despite
these numbers, online video continues to be and underutilized
advertising opportunity. The report continued that for every $100 US
marketers spend on television ads this year, only $1.10 will be spent
on video ads online.

Eyeblaster has joined with Brightcove, to provide Brightcove
publishers the ability of this new advertising solution. Chris
Johnston, director of ad product management at Brightcove said
"Eyeblaster has a long history of innovation in the rich media
advertising space. We are excited to bring the new Eyeblaster
capability to publishers using Brightcove to distribute and monetize
their Internet video content."

Chanel Connect for In-stream Video also supports publishers using
Windows Media playlists and other video players. CEO of Eyeblaster Gal
Trifon said that the previous "…lack of standardization meant that
agencies had to ship multiple video files – or even raw video tapes –
to individual publishers in order to satisfy the countless specs. To
complicate the process further, ads were also run and managed through
internal proprietary ad servers, making consolidated third party
reporting unavailable to agencies."

The solution standardizes video assets, enabling agencies to change
and optimize the creative on the fly. Both standard and enhanced
metrics are then made available to the agencies through Eyeblaster
Analytics.

PacketExchange Brings New Radiohead Album to Fans around the Globe in Record Time

British band Radiohead made its brand new album 'In Rainbows'
available for download to fans across the world this week. By doing
this, Radiohead posed a bold challenge to the traditional music
industry's business model by offering its new album via digital
download at a price open to fans' discretion.

With the music world's attention focused on the launch, the hosts of
Radiohead's official download site, w.a.s.t.e, needed a solution that
guaranteed uninterrupted delivery of the album. By selecting
PacketExchange, the leading provider of private high-speed internet
networks, w.a.s.t.e was able to bypass the public internet and its
bottlenecks, and enable fans to download the album 100 times faster
than via the public internet.

"With such a prestigious band as Radiohead, and such an important
release, we knew that we had to call on the services of a company who
could perform this delivery without a hitch. Fans had committed money
upfront for their download and were therefore entitled to get it as
soon as it became available and quickly. Ultimately people's
experiences on release day had to be the music and not the delivery,
and PacketExchange exceeded our highest expectations," says Julie
Calland, at Radiohead's band management company, Courtyard. "The
Radiohead album launch would have not been possible without
PacketExchange."

PacketExchange has been working with a number of partners utilizing a
combination of complementary delivery platforms to ensure 100%
guaranteed reliability and delivery of the album. PacketExchange
worked closely with w.a.s.t.e to understand their requirements and
developed the optimum solution for both the initial surge of demand
after launch and ongoing demand in the future. Following the launch
this week, users will have guaranteed access to Radiohead's album 24/7
directly over PacketExchange's eXpress service.

"If this album was sent over the public internet, it would have
bounced back and forth significantly slowing down the download. This
can have serious implications on the overall user experience and
jeopardize Radiohead and w.a.s.t.e's reputation," says Kieron O'Brien,
CEO of PacketExchange. "A recent survey we commissioned shows that on
average users wait no longer than ten seconds to get the content they
want so speed is absolutely fundamental."

Fox News Digital, Scripps Networks, Ogilvy, 24/7 Real Media, Digitas and DoubleClick Among Industry Leaders Joining Maven to Redefine Internet TV Advertising

Maven Networks, a leading Internet TV platform company, along with
several titans of the advertising, media and technology worlds, today
announced the formation of the Internet TV Advertising Forum, an
industry collaboration founded by Maven Networks to define
next-generation online video advertising standards. Inaugural members
of the Forum include Fox News Digital, Scripps Network, Ogilvy,
Digitas, TV Guide, 4Kids TV, Microsoft Corp., DoubleClick and 24/7
Real Media. The industry collaborative was established to help solve
the challenges and deficiencies associated with current online video
advertising models.

The goal of the Forum is to develop and standardize effective online
video advertising solutions that create engaging and appealing user
experiences as well as innovative and scalable monetization
opportunities. To accomplish this, Forum members will leverage
comprehensive research, development and usability testing of new ad
formats and technology capabilities to address the challenges
associated with launching successful Internet TV advertising
campaigns.

Maven today also announced the launch of the Maven Internet TV
Advertising Platform which will serve as the group's online video
advertising format foundation [see separate release]. This
breakthrough technology platform features cutting-edge new ad formats,
a dynamic and intelligent ad insertion engine, and sophisticated
inventory management and forecasting tools. The combined power of the
platform's feature set will help enable media publishers to unlock new
ad inventory and exponentially increase ad revenues. With Forum
members' insights, Maven will leverage the input of major industry
players to create a universally-supported, third party ad
server-compatible online video advertising platform.

"Online video advertising has so much potential yet it is not where it
needs to be today," said Hilmi Ozguc, Founder and CEO of Maven. "And,
no single segment of the community has been able to successfully
overcome the challenges posed by pre-roll video ads, the current
dominant format. Rather than build a proprietary solution in a vacuum,
we wanted to bring together key members of each industry segment
contributing to and benefiting from online video advertising to
develop a comprehensive and effective outcome that works for all media
companies, advertisers and consumers."

The Internet TV Advertising Forum will meet regularly to complete
several projects ranging from an in-depth research project designed to
identify and test various new video ad formats to the development of
technical capabilities that meet the individual needs of each market
segment participating in the collaboration. The results of this
research project will be made public by the end of 2007.

"We are seeing incredible pent-up demand for online video advertising,
not just the pre-roll model, but also for a new, more effective
model," said Jeff Meyer, SVP of Interactive Sales for Scripps
Networks. "Scripps Networks has taken a lead role in innovating
advertising online and on-air, and the Forum collaboration will
instantly provide a more deeply engaging consumer and advertiser
experience across all of our category-leading online lifestyle
properties."

Adotube Raises the Bar with New Online Video Advertising Standards

Adotube recently unveiled its latest online video advertising tool,
powered by Adotube Media Player technology, that allows advertisers to
deliver non-intrusive, demographically targeted advertisements through
video in Flash format. One of the outstanding features of Adotube's
In-Video Media Player is that the advertisements do not disrupt the
user experience.

Adotube's technology seamlessly integrates opt-in offers from leading
advertisers into video from any flash video source. Publishers can use
the space on a video stream in the same way advertisers use space on a
simple Web page.

"Our core philosophy at Adotube is to respect the Internet user.
Instead of Internet users being bombarded with advertisements that
interrupt their video viewing experience, with AdoTube's In-Video
Media Player, users who want to view ads can do so simply by rolling
their mouse over the ad's logo," says Leo Grzhonko, president of
Adotube.com.

Those advertisers and publishers who opt to use the In-Video Media
Player can quickly and easily integrate ads into video using several
lines of JavaScript code with an embedded tag or link. Advertisers who
register with Adotube are issued a unique advertiser ID, which can
then be used to download a Java plug-in.

"In-Video Medial Player is truly a revolutionary marketing tool that
can benefit everyone involved – the advertisers, publishers, and the
users themselves," Grzhonko says.

Metacafe And Peerbox Team Up To Offer User-Generated Videos On Mobile Phones

PeerBox by Nareos, a popular mobile social networking service, today
announced a partnership with Metacafe, the world's leading independent
online video entertainment site, to provide Metacafe's 27 million
unique monthly visitors (comScore Media Metrix, August 2007) access to
highly entertaining short videos on their mobile phones.

With one click on the 'get on mobile' button, Metacafe viewers enjoy
the chosen video on their mobile phones with the help of PeerBox
technology. The PeerBox Mobile application provides instant access to
Metacafe content, allowing users to stream or download videos.

"The short videos showcased on Metacafe are especially well suited for
mobile distribution, enabling people to enjoy an entertainment break
whenever they like and wherever they want," said Erick Hachenburg, CEO
of Metacafe. "Media-on-the-go is increasingly part of our daily lives,
and we're pleased to introduce new viewers to Metacafe and extend our
reach into Europe by teaming up with Nareos."

The service offers a multitude of other unique features, allowing
users to share their personal videos shot with the built-in phone's
camera, uploading their own videos directly to the Metacafe site while
on the go and socializing with peers worldwide straight from their
phones.

"By providing instant access from the mobile phone to the millions of
videos available on Metacafe, one of the world's largest video
entertainment sites, PeerBox Mobile strengthens its position as the
leading content-rich mobile social network service." said Alexander
Lazovsky, CEO of Nareos. "This partnership with Metacafe positions us
at the forefront of the mobile user generated content revolution."

The PeerBox - Metacafe partnership, launching next month, will begin
with implementations in Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands with
expansion to other markets expected in Q1 2008. During the initial
stage, at least two million people will be exposed to the service each
month.

Gore's Current TV enlists Web users to shape news

Current, the television network backed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Al
Gore, is embarking on a new Internet strategy to enlist viewers in
submitting video and commentary to create broadcast TV news.

The network, which already lets professional videographers submit
video news segments, is going several step further on Monday by
soliciting user feedback over the Web and converting submissions into
online news as well as pieces for broadcast.

Its network programming runs on cable and satellite broadcasters in
select U.S. markets, Britain and Ireland.

Current has embraced several of the most popular Internet trends in
reconstituting its own site. Users, once they sign up, are encouraged
to enhance Web pages devoted to specific topics, similar to the
anyone-can-edit Wikipedia encyclopedia.

In introducing a new site for viewers and contributors at Current.com,
the company claims it has created the first fully integrated online
and television network that allows users to create and vote what news
and information is relevant to them.

"For years, the attempt to unite television and the Internet has
basically been one of duplication of the content on another medium,"
said Current Chief Executive Joel Hyatt, a successful entrepreneur who
co-founded the company with Gore.

In early tests, the company has encouraged users to create postings on
topics, then upload photos, animation, embedded YouTube videos,
cartoons, text comments and Webcam responses.

The 24-hour network is based in San Francisco's digital media
district, home to Wired magazine and also new offices of leading
Internet companies Google, MySpace and Yahoo.

In its first two years, the company's TV programming contained
frequent references to online material, but its Web site at Current TV
functioned largely as a place for a few thousand semi-pro or pro
videographers to submit their works, learn new skills and collaborate
in video editing efforts.

"This is a new form of social media to create, engage with and
influence the news and information that our users and their friends
receive," Hyatt said. "We wanted to create a TV platform we could
share with the very best content creators."

More than two decades ago, Hyatt created a chain of low-cost legal
clinics called Hyatt Legal Services.

Current's programming consists of short video programs, typically
under 15 minutes in length, which the organization refers to as pods
-- a reference to the combinatorial nature of each work -- assembled
as it is from multiple contributions.

While adhering to professional broadcast standards in the main video
pieces, Current encourages users to submit responses to the videos,
which many do in bedroom confessional style, sitting in front of a
computer Webcam at home, like YouTube.

A survey of Current users found 70 percent watch the programs while
multi-tasking on a computer simultaneously. This multi-tasking
reflects the target demographic of 18- to 34-year-olds, who are
turning away from passive TV viewing.

"This is about being more actively involved in the news," said Gartner
analyst Mike McGuire, who has been briefed on the Current
Internet-meets-TV plan. "It presumes a pretty active consumer as
opposed to a passive one," he said.

"Is that mass audience behavior? Probably not," he says. "The
challenge is broadening the core audience for this."

Last month, the network won the first Emmy award for interactive
television earlier this year.

New site features introduced on Monday are designed to give viewers a
greater voice in media, while also giving them context on any
particular piece of programming on the site. It does through various
forms of voter feedback, giving sites users a role in what segments
are selected for broadcast.

Adotube Dodges Irritating Pre-Roll with Rollover Video Ads

Adotube provides in-stream rollover ads that appear in the bottom
corner of flash videos.

When users roll over the ad, a message fills the video player screen
and the video pauses. When a user clicks on the message, advertisers
can present info inside the ad or forward them to another page.

All ads are demographically and statistically targeted. The Adotube
website features a demo for advertisers to check out themselves.

World's first TV-quality online network launches

CANNES, France (AFP) - The world's first TV-quality online television
network went on display at this week's MIPCOM audiovisual trade show
offering legal, free entertainment and raising questions about what
this will mean for the massive TV business.

The network, Joost, launched this month just ahead of a clutch of
competitors that include Italy's Babelgum, offers legal rather than
pirated entertainment for free.

"The Internet will start off showing traditional entertainment but
eventually users and content creators will use the capabilities of the
Internet to create some amazing entertainment," said Mike Volpi, who
heads up Joost.

Many mighty Internet operators, such as AOL, MSN and Yahoo are
investing heavily in making their own TV shows.

Media giant News Corp has spent a fortune buying into massively
popular Internet social networking site MySpace, and has launched
MySpace TV, which will be available in over 12 countries.

And telecommunications companies around the world are investing in
IPTV television packages packed with satellite TV shows, as well as
video-on-demand that customers can watch on their sitting room TV
sets, and pay for in their telephone bill.

The TV and digital media industries are right to be concerned, experts
said at MIPCOM this week, as no one really knows how the current
explosion of new ways to watch and interact with television will
evolve.

But everyone remembers how the Internet quickly changed everyone's lives.

Volpi said over two million users had already downloaded the Joost
application needed to use the fledgling TV service, which has been
recording more than 100,000 downloads a day since it started on
October 1.

But "it's early days," Volpi cautioned, adding that the length of time
users were staying on the channel varied enormously from region to
region -- though it was upwards of 20 minutes.

In the US, TV fans were opting for comedy and sci-fi, while in Latin
America, and Brazil in particular, music videos were tops. Europeans
were going for full-length feature films.

Volpi said Joost aimed to remain a free service funded by
advertisements and hoped to attract more creative, interactive ads.

As to content, he said users could look forward in the future to
big-branded TV series as well as a vast library of older TV shows
along with the mass of user-generated content on services like
YouTube.

Joost would get a huge boost if Volpi succeeds in persuading major TV
channels to put "fat belly" crowd-pulling shows such as "CSI" and
"Survivor" and major sports events like major league baseball.

But that looked unlikely here, where the world's broadcasting
heavyweights this week were busy explaining they were moving into the
Internet space themselves to increase and keep audiences.

BBC Worldwide digital media head Simon Danker said its popular
motoring show "Top Gear" made a big hit on Yahoo!Japan after it failed
to get a spot for the show on Japanese television.

And US broadcasting giant CBS CEO Leslie Moonves said his company is
starting to create original programming for the web as well as
exploring other opportunities.

Whatever transpires, this year's MIPCOM Mobile & Internet TV awards
gave a taste of the original content being created for mobile media
devices and the Internet, including the latest in short-form snack TV
entertainment.

Prize winners included British-based Weakend Productions' hilarious
computer animated short-form comedy "Jeb's Job", which stars
long-suffering Internet support technician Jeb being constantly
interrupted by callers with Internet problems or worse, who stop him
from getting a bite out of his subway sandwich lunch.

HowStuffWorks To Work For Discovery Communications

DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS HAS CUT A deal to acquire the
HowStuffWorks.com Web site for $250 million, reports today's Wall
Street Journal.

Blinkx heats up online video battle with Google

Blinkx, an Internet video search company based in London, will start
letting consumers make money from the videos they show on their own
blogs, social network sites or home pages if they agree to include
advertising in the videos.

By combining two hot Internet trends - social networking and online
video - with a money-making opportunity, Blinkx hopes to better
compete with YouTube, the market-leading service for video-sharing
owned by Google, said the founder and chief executive of Blinkx,
Suranga Chandratillake.

Blinkx's move heats up the competition in online video, which has
sparked multibillion-dollar acquisitions, attracted countless amateur
and professional video makers, and roused the interest of marketing
executives worldwide who see a new audience for their advertisements.

The growing reach of broadband Internet access has in the past two
years made video appealing to large numbers of Web surfers.

Google on Tuesday said it would allow Web sites in its advertising
network to use some YouTube content. Two other companies, Babelgum and
Joost, hope to use the Internet to become alternative television
providers.

Blinkx, however, has until now concentrated on its role as a video
search engine. The company, which was spun off from the British
software firm Autonomy in May, uses speech-to-text transcription and
visual recognition technology to sift through Internet videos.

On Monday, Blinkx started offering search capabilities in French,
German and Spanish. It is indexing content from 200 European sources
and sites with more than one million hours of foreign language video
content, including Eurosport, Euronews, TF1, El Mundo, Le Monde and
Spiegel TV.

Under Blinkx's new program, to be formally introduced in London on
Wednesday, Internet video fans can take a film clip, post it to their
site and submit it to Blinkx to be indexed and categorized.

Each time the video gets watched, the Blinkx system will choose a
relevant ad from its inventory and place it in one of two places -
either in a small transparent window in the bottom of the video
screen, or in a box outside the top of the frame.

Every time an ad is clicked, the Web site on which the video is hosted
will receive a portion of the payment for the ad placement. The rate
varies based on the ad, but it is generally a few pennies per click.

"This way, the people who are powering the video revolution are the
ones who get the rewards," Chandratillake said.

Chandratillake said the choice of ad display was up to the host of the
Web site, adding that they were no more distracting than the banner
ads now common on Internet pages.

Many Web sites - especially social networks like MySpace and Facebook
- allow users to borrow and "embed" video on their personalized pages.
Others, usually professional media companies like the BBC, do not.

Chandratillake cautioned that any income derived by bloggers and
others agreeing to take the ads would not be much, "maybe enough to
pay your Internet bill at best."

Under the new YouTube program, the videos would be provided by about
100 content partners, including TV Guide Broadband, Expert Village,
Mondo Media, Extreme Elements and Ford Models. The ads would come from
Google's vast inventory, which dwarfs the amount that Blinkx has to
offer.

Last week, Blinkx, which trades on the London alternative market, said
first-half results would be at the top end of analysts' expectations.
Piper Jaffray had forecast interim revenue of $2.4 million.

The British company created its own video-ad network, called AdHoc,
earlier this year.

Cox Creates Cross Media Unit for Online Spot Sales

Cox Television has created a new ad sales division to handle spot
sales on its 230 local TV stations, reports Mediaweek.

Cox Cross Media will be responsible for national spot sales on all 230
Cox TV sites, as well as Cox properties like AutoTrader and Travel
Channel. The new division is an attempt by Cox to tap into the local
spot market, which is expected to grow in the next few years.

Problems are on the horizon in terms of sales of the online spots,
however. Internet Broadcasting is already responsible for selling ads
on Cox station websites, which could present a conflict.

But, as some point out, that's a conversation for another day as roles
become more clearly defined.

Google Officially Launches YouTube-Based Video AdSense Units

Having long been on the horizon, Google has launched YouTube-based
video units for AdSense publishers, according to Google's AdSense
blog.

AdSense publishers have the ability to stock YouTube players with
relevant video content — and ads — on their sites. They will also be
able to define what videos appear on their sites, choosing either by
type of video or by content provider.

Ads appear as both banners above the video, and as overlays that
appear after the video has played for 10 seconds.

The look and feel of the players can also be customized. Revenue from
the ads, reports Variety, will be split between Google, the publisher
and the content provider.

Google has been displaying AdSense video ads for awhile now and has
recently tried different ad formats for YouTube videos, but this is
its first attempt at blending the two.

Time Inc. Eyes New Ad Apps Like On-Page Video

The Oct. 4 issue of Wenner Media's Rolling Stone sports an
impossible-to-miss lenticular ad for the Fox TV network, featuring
characters from the net's Sunday-night lineup whooping it up on a
roller-coaster ride, their images changing as the reader tilts the ad.
Meanwhile, an eye-popping ad for NBC's new series Bionic Woman that
appeared in Time Inc.'s Entertainment Weekly went one further, with
the heroine's mechanically enhanced winker lighting up as readers
turned the page.

Those executions may be just the beginning of a creative and
technological revolution in print ads. As marketers look for more ways
to capture the attention of media-saturated consumers, publishers are
exploring much more intricate ad units, up to and including ads that
feature video.

A media buyer and another industry source confirmed that Time Inc., a
sponsor of the MIT Media Lab, is working on technology and has looked
at prototypes that would put moving pictures on a page.

Dawn Bridges, Time Inc. spokeswoman, wouldn't comment on specific
initiatives. "We're looking at a lot of different possibilities in a
number of different areas of technology, but nothing that's imminent,"
she said.

Mike Maguire, CEO of Structural Graphics, a maker of high-impact ads,
has shown Time Inc. and other major publishers a prototype his company
created with E Ink, an electronic paper display company, that would
produce an animated, black-and-white image using pixels and a
coin-sized battery.

Maguire, who sees such ads as well-suited for demonstrating a new
product or change in logo, believes the concept is one to two years
away from execution. Ads showing full-color video may not be far
behind, he added.

There's certainly an appetite for such advanced ad concepts,
especially at entertainment companies looking to make a splash.

"Marketers will ask for virtually everything and say, 'Can you do
this?'" said Pete Haeffner, publisher of Gemstar-TV Guide's TV Guide.
A print campaign touting the return this season of ABC hit Grey's
Anatomy had TV Guide subscribers getting magazines polybagged with
hospital gowns.

NBC Universal has executed a number of ads that pop up, light up or
emit sounds. John Miller, NBC Universal marketing chief, likes the
units for the buzz they generate—high cost and long lead times
notwithstanding.

In addition to those negatives, production and transportation issues
are a hurdle for tech-driven ads. To limit costs, marketers including
NBCU typically limit them to the top few media markets.

Although eye-catching, some question the interruptive nature of such ads.

"You have to ask yourself, what are you in magazines for?" said Scott
Kruse, senior vp, director of print services at MediaCom. "The sell of
magazines is that they are an opt-in, and consumers have a certain
expectation of a magazine and the overall look and feel—and the big,
loud ads some consumers might have issue with. It all comes down to
the execution."

Innovative as the technologically advanced executions are, some
maintain that print messages don't have to be multisensory to break
through.

"Impactful units are being looked at more and more because of what
they add to the marketing message," Haeffner said. But, he added, "an
impact ad might not be any more effective than a contextually relevant
ad."

AdSense Grabs Ad Bucks With YouTube Videos

Google has found a new way to make a lot more money. The company has
decided to allow advertisers to include clips from certain YouTube
videos in their campaigns on the AdSense network. This will give
Google a way to profit twice from the large video inventory on
YouTube.

It was reported in The New York Times that Google would share ad
revenue with video creators and the sites that embed the videos;
however the percentage for each party has not been made public at this
time.

Although web sites will start to have the chance to monetize YouTube
video clips, the inventory of available clips is currently limited. So
far 100 media companies that have made YouTube videos are
participating, none of which are major media companies.

The Times continued that AdSense will expand its syndication to other
types of media besides videos.

Google AdSense Broadcasts Itself

Don't look now, but the competition between Google and traditional
television media isn't just talk anymore. It's on. In a statement
e-mailed to InternetNews.com, the company said it is now offering
ad-supported embedded video units to AdSense publishers.

The announcement pits Google against traditional media companies, such
as NBC Universal, News Corp. Web Video, and the Disney-ABC Television
Group, as ad-supported video crosses over from television to the
Internet.

Google's new video units, which are based on a combination of the
video content and the publisher's site content, will feature video
from YouTube content partners TV Guide Broadband, Expert Village,
Mondo Media, lonelygirl15, Extreme Elements and Ford Models be based
on video content, as well as the publisher's site content.

Google said publishers can choose categories of video to target,
select content from YouTube partners, or have video automatically
targeted to their site's content.

Content publishers can also choose among a number of different video
unit styles. They all include a video screen and player controls and
display banner ads at the top, as well as text ads that pop up at the
bottom of the video. Advertisers are charged on a cost-per-click or
cost-per-impressions basis.

Per Google's video-advertising philosophy, the video units will only
play after a user has clicked to play them. That way, Google can see
how many times certain videos play compared to how many times they
could have played. Google will also be able to tell how much of an ad
users watch.

It's important for Google to know if users only watch a 30-second
video for five seconds on average, because it's a pretty good hint
that maybe another video would turn up more impressions.

YouTube content is not the first to be distributed through Google's
AdSense network.

That honor ironically goes to Viacom, which sued Google for copyright
infringement in March but signed a deal with Google to distribute MTV
content in August 2006.

That deal is dead now, but today's new content partners will join Seth
MacFarlane, creator of animated hits Family Guy and American Dad!, as
well as Raven-Symone of Disney's "That's So Raven."

There are similarities between the way Google is distributing
ad-supported video across the Internet and how traditional media plan
to.

NBC Universal President and CEO Jeff Zucker and News Corp. CEO Peter
Chernin said their Web Video venture Hulu, which will enter public
beta later this month, will offer an ad-supported embedded video
player to publishers small and large rather than create a YouTube-like
destination site.

When Chernin and Zucker announced Hulu in March, they said it will
primarily feature produced content, similar to the professional videos
from the YouTube partners included in Google's video unit
announcement.

And last month, Disney-ABC Television Group announced it will
broadcast full-length episodes through an embedded broadband player,
co-branded "ABC.com on AOL," alongside the local ABC affiliate's
station ID on AOL video.

Google said the new video units are available now in the U.S. for
English language Web sites and that more content is on the way.

Started by Ex-Google Men, Ooyala to Embed Ads Inside Video

Ooyala, a video startup launched by former Google employees, possesses
the lofty - but ultimately unoriginal - goal of maximizing ad
opportunities in video.

The firm it hopes to make objects in video clickable, connecting users
with info that can be added to by other users (a la Wikipedia), in
addition to ads.

According to NewTeeVee, co-founders Bismarck Lepe and Sean Knapp
believe the solution to ad-skipping is to simply increase the ad
opportunities, and in this case, integrate them.

Like Brightcove, Ooyala will be built on its own distribution
platform, Backlot. Aimed at "mid-tier publishers," Ooyala is set to
launch a self-service product next week. A corporate video introduces
Backlot to publishers, proclaiming the interface as "simple, elegant
and intuitive."

During initial testing, Users are most likely to interact with sports
content, with 6 out of 10 clicking on an object. However, only five
percent of those watching drama programs clicked on something.

Ooyala isn't the only startup tinkering on such a technology.
Yesterday we reported on GET Interactive, which is working toward
interactive product placements within video.

New Ad Technology Links Users to Brands, Products Inside Web Video

A new ad technology for video games offers an alternative to ad
interruptions endured by online video viewers and gamers.

GET Interactive is launching a new opt-in platform called Ad Venture
1.0, which links users with brands and products featured inside the
content.

GET works with music labels, TV producers, movie studios and game
developers "to facilitate product placement and promotions with
brands," according to information from the company. And instead of
stuffing ads into already graphic-rich games, the firm nurtures
intuitive relationships, both within the game and offline, between
advertisers and gaming brands.

With Video, Music Piracy on the Rise, NBC Chief Calls for Tougher Penalties

When Jeff Zucker took over media giant NBC Universal from longtime
chief executive Bob Wright in February, he inherited more than the
task of lifting the slumping network out of the ratings basement.
Zucker also took on Wright's self-appointed role as the industry's
torchbearer on fighting piracy.

Pirated copies of Zucker's hit shows continue to pop up on the
Internet and be sold from sidewalk blankets in Times and Red squares,
robbing Zucker's network and others of post-broadcast revenue from DVD
sales and downloads.

So today Zucker visits Washington to address the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce and ask lawmakers for tougher penalties for music and video
pirates, to keep consumers from pirating copies of "Heroes" and the
rest of his shows. Zucker is not asking lawmakers for economic relief
to offset industry losses attributed to piracy.

Recent industry data indicate that despite the music industry's
sue-and-shutdown strategy against illegal song-sharing sites and the
movie industry's global campaign against illegal DVDs -- and despite
industry efforts to sell content cheaply on services such as iTunes --
piracy continues to climb.

"If we don't continue our education campaign," Zucker said in an
interview Monday, "I fear that we will lose that momentum that we have
gained."
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That momentum is tentative at best, according to a Gallup survey of
American adults commissioned by the Chamber of Commerce that is to be
released today.

In 2005, 5 percent of survey respondents admitted to buying a song or
CD that they knew or suspected was "not genuine or legitimate."

By this year, that number had risen to 9 percent, the survey reports.
From 2005 to 2007, the percentage of respondents admitting to buying a
pirated movie rose to 6 percent from 3 percent, the survey says.

All told, 22 percent of surveyed American adults admitted to buying
some form of counterfeit goods in the past year, including illegally
downloaded songs, pirated DVDs and knockoff clothing, handbags and
shoes, with music by far the most purchased unauthorized product.

When asked why they buy these illegal goods, respondents replied most
often that they were "easily available." The most active consumers of
counterfeit goods are 18- to 24-year-olds, the survey says.

At the same time, once-soaring DVD sales have flattened in the past
two years, and CD shipments to retailers plummeted 13 percent last
year, the music industry has reported. Legal digital downloads of both
video and music have increased, though the revenue does not make up
for lost CD sales.

TV Guide Takes What It Does Best Online

NEW YORK -- TV Guide is trying to muscle in on YouTube's considerable turf.

The publication famous for its television-centric editorial and show
listings launches at TVGuide.com today its Online Video Guide, a
search service that will attempt to filter out the junk and leave
users with the best of Internet video that is related to television.

Searching for video content of 24 or The Office, for example, at
Google, Yahoo or any other search engine leads to a painful array of
too many choices, said Paul Greenberg, GM of TV Guide Online. At
TVGuide.com, though, a search of 24 at the new search device will
first point users to free episodes available at Fox.com, then to all
the other professionally produced content related to the show.

The company's Online Video Guide also will determine which of the
amateur videos is popular enough to warrant a link. For example, a
search for "Britney" will bring up music videos, her recent appearance
at the MTV Video Music Awards and the YouTube "Leave Britney Alone"
video that is so popular and disturbing.

"We're filling a niche that Google and YouTube are not because they're
not strictly TV-focused," said Greenberg, who said that as many as 70%
of YouTube users are there seeking professional content and not the
user-generated video that made YouTube famous.

According to Nielsen/NetRatings, TVGuide.com garnered 4.9 million
unique visitors in August, up 70% year-over-year. The print
publication, meanwhile, has seen its subscribers slowly fall to 3.2
million, at last count.

Many shows are available free and on-demand at network sites with
short, infrequent commercial breaks attached. But while TV Guide's
Online Video Guide takes large numbers of users to those sites, it so
far gets no monetary benefit from the traffic it generates. It does,
of course, sell ads at TVGuide.com.

"We're talking to content holders in order to cut deals for a small
slice of the advertising revenue," Greenberg said.

The Online Video Guide also lets users specify that they're looking
only for free content in order to further narrow the search away from
the likes of iTunes or Amazon.com's Unbox.

"Part of the way we're marketing this is, 'Oh, you forgot to set your
TiVo? Here's the show you missed, for free,' " Greenberg said.

While Online Video Guide officially launches today, it has been in
beta since April.

Online Video, Local Search Drive 30% Internet Ad Growth: ZenithOptimedia

ONLINE VIDEO AND LOCAL SEARCH will drive a 30% growth in worldwide
Internet ad spending to $33.72 billion this year, according to the
latest forecast from ZenithOptimedia, which was released on Monday.

"We have revised our forecasts for Internet advertising upwards yet
again," the Publicis-owned global media agency reported. "We now
forecast 29.9% growth this year (up from 28.6% three months ago) and
85% growth between 2006 and 2009 (up from 82%). Online video and local
search are the new, fast-growing segments, but display, classified and
the rest of search are still growing rapidly as well.

"We now expect Internet advertising to account for 9.5% of all
expenditure in 2009, fractionally up from the 9.4% we forecast three
months ago," the forecast adds.

Newspaper share is expected to decline from a 29% share of world ad
spending in 2006 to 26.2% in 2009.

The forecast is just the latest in a series predicting continued
robust growth of interactive ad spending.

Global Advertising Expenditure US$ million, current prices

(Currency conversion at 2006 average rates)

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Internet 19,235 25,952 33,723 41,638 48,139
Total 399,431 426,447 448,403 477,863 504,557

Source: ZenithOptimedia

Share of Total Ad Spend By Medium 2005-2009 (%)

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Newspapers 29.7 29.0 27.8 26.9 26.2
Magazines 13.2 12.8 12.5 12.2 12.1
Television 37.8 37.9 37.9 38.2 38.1
Radio 8.6 8.3 8.1 7.9 7.8
Cinema 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5
Outdoor 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9
Internet 4.8 6.1 7.5 8.7 9.5

Source: ZenithOptimedia

YouTube Filmmakers' Contest Draws HP As Sponsor

YOUTUBE HAS HATCHED A CONTEST for aspiring filmmakers around the
world. Named Project Direct, the initiative is sponsored by
Hewlett-Packard, and invites short submissions from users in Brazil,
Canada, France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United
States.

The contest ties in neatly with an ongoing HP campaign encouraging
people to submit videos about their experiences with its printing
products--part of a larger $300 million marketing push launched this
summer around all things printing.

"It's a natural extension of our 'What do you have to say?' campaign,"
said Daina Middleton, director of global advertising and interactive
marketing for HP's imaging and printing group.

HP is far from the only brand relying on YouTube to engage audiences
online. H.J. Heinz found success with its "Top This!" TV Challenge,
which invited consumers to produce homemade Heinz commercials and then
upload them for voting on YouTube for a chance to win $57,000 and
national exposure.

Thousands of consumers submitted home-produced Heinz
commercials--8,000 or so, according to agency partner Smith Brothers
Advertising, while only 4,000 made the cut for the competition.

With obvious incentive, sites like YouTube--with an international
audience--are intent on overcoming barriers to executing ad campaigns
on a global scale.

"We created this competition for an international audience as video is
a universal way for people to communicate," said Jamie Byrne, head of
product marketing, YouTube.

Still, the medium clearly has its limitations. As such, submissions
must be in English, or have English subtitles.

Some 20 finalists will be chosen by a panel led by "Thank You For
Smoking" director Jason Reitman, who has set up some unique guidelines
for submissions. A character in the film must face a situation above
his or her maturity level. Also, a character has to say the lines: "I
demand an explanation for these shenanigans. What do you have to say?"

HP's larger multimillion-dollar marketing campaign includes the
creation of two online communities around printing and developed by
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.

The Project Direct contest is expected to run from Oct. 7 through Nov.
9. One winner, in addition to a $5,000 prize and a featured spot on
YouTube's home page, will earn a trip to an as-yet-unnamed
international film festival as a guest of HP and will attend "surprise
industry events" and a meeting with production executives from Fox
Searchlight Productions, which released Reitman's "Thank You For
Smoking" and his upcoming film "Juno".

Streaming Video Becoming a Habit At All Age Levels

Advertising.com, Inc., in their Bi-Annual Online VideoStudy, comparing
the first half of 2007 with the last half of 2006, reports that 62
percent of survey respondents are viewing video online and are
comprised mostly of those ages 35 and older viewing news clips.
Analyzed by age group, 31 percent of 18 to 34 year olds watch
streaming video, while 69 percent of consumers ages 35 and older view
streaming video online.

Approximately 83 percent of consumers surveyed indicat­ed that their
online video usage in 2007 has either stayed the same or increased
since 2006. More specifically, 36 percent of consumers have increased
their consumption of online video, with an even breakdown between men
(36 percent) and women (37 percent).

The majority of consumers are streaming online video at home rather
than work or school, with 45 percent of streaming activity taking
place in the evening. 95% stream at home; 4% at work; 1% at school or
university.

More than 62 percent of consumers said they are most likely to stream
news clips, with movie trailers and music videos next in line.
Compared to the second half of 2006, consumers are streaming fewer
music videos and streaming more news clips, user-gen­erated videos and
sports clips. However, these consumption behaviors vary dramatically
by age.

Overall, 42 percent of consumers have forwarded a vid­eo clip to a
friend. Consumers who view content more than once a week also forward
more clips, with 55 percent forward­ing clips vs. 34 percent and 20
percent for those who view content once a week and once a month. Women
(47 percent) forward more clips than men (36 percent).

Other highlights of the study include:

80% of consumers say that online video usage does not cut into their TV time.
29% of men say online video usage cuts into TV
16% of women say online video usage cuts into TV
12% of those who view content once a month claim that video usage cuts
into their TV time
94% of consumers indi­cate that they would prefer to view ads than pay
a fee to watch video content online.
63% of consumers would prefer online vid­eo ads that are shorter than TV ads
65% of consumers say they watch online video ads through to completion
72% of consumers who view streaming content more than once a week view
video ads through to completion
Of those who view content only once a month, 49% view advertising
through to completion.
Consumers are 8% more likely to view 15-second spots to completion
than 30-second spots.
The 30-second pre-roll format slightly outperforms the 5- and
15-second ads when measured in terms of click-through rate.
In conclusion, the report summarizes by noting that consumers continue
to incorporate streaming video into the online experience, but there
remains a difference, however, among older and younger consumers.

Older consumers using streaming video in order to gain more
information, which can be seen by their preference for online news
clips, while younger consumers are streaming content for entertainment
purposes, such as viewing movies, TV shows and user-generated videos
online.

Consumers between the ages of 18 and 34, says the report, continue to
assimilate streaming content more into their everyday media
consumption habits. Sixty-nine percent of their online video streaming
occurs more than once a week, while 47 percent of those ages 35 and
older view streaming video multiple times a week

Now Everyone Can Get Joost

Today Joost, the internet television service and the brain-child of
the Skype founders, is launching to the public after months of beta
testing. Users can download professionally produced videos onto their
computers worldwide.

Joost is hoping that word of mouth marketing will help boost their
user base and according to The Financial Times Tech Blog, Mike Volpi,
chief executive of the company said that about 10% of the 1.5 million
registered users were active during beta testing. Volpi told FT.com
that the company is focused on more content deals rather than a larger
ad campaign. The company is currently in talks with Paramount, CBS and
Viacom.

The video download site has also announced that it has opened to
developers, allowing outside developers to put widgets on top of the
video player. These features will give Joost's community social
networking features to keep them engaged and returning to the site
more often than they traditionally would.

User generated content is also a new category being offered by Joost.
Volpi also spoke about the potential to offer smaller scale,
professionally produced content, "When producers hear about Joost,
they say, 'that's great, I have three ideas I want to pursue for about
$50,000 each, and if I did that can I put it on Joost?' I think n the
end that is going to be a very interesting sweet spot for us."

Video Search Worlds Collide

by David Berkowitz, Tuesday, October 2, 2007

VIDEO SEARCH OPTIMIZATION AND advertising worlds have collided, and
the big bangs bursting forth will shape the video marketing landscape
for years to come.

The audience at last week's OMMA panel "Video Search Optimization:
Prime Time for Prime Positioning" got a taste of what's happening
thanks to the four engaging speakers from Blinkx, Viewdle, ScanScout,
and VeoTag. It was the perfect embodiment of the "Worlds Collide"
theme of the entire OMMA event.

Here's a glimpse into the worlds of the four presenters from the panel:

Blinkx: Jay Prasad, director of strategy & business development

Blinkx, perhaps the best known brand in video search today, shared its
boldest claim right on the title slide of its presentation, calling
itself "the new way to watch TV." Given how many options there are
for viewing TV online or on a mobile or portable device, and given
that most TV is viewed on a TV, I'd be reluctant to call any online
technology "the new way" to watch, but it does point to Blinkx's
ambitions beyond just search.

While Blinkx is taking a leadership position with video search
optimization thanks to resources such as its white paper on video SEO,
it's also rolling out an ad network, AdHoc. Blinkx uses its search
technology, including speech-to-text indexing and visual analysis (it
can recognize brand logos within videos) to contextually target video
ads in a range of formats. This hints at a new trend: If you have
search technology, the ad targeting will follow.

Viewdle: Barry Schiffman, co-founder and senior vice president,
strategic alliances.

Viewdle's focuses on one specific challenge of video search -- facial
recognition -- and it's now in a live beta test in Reuters Labs.
There, you can search Reuters videos for names of celebrities or
news-making politicians such as Angelina Jolie, Angela Merkel, and Ang
Lee, to name a few. The Merkel search brings up eight listings,
including one for the news story from Reuters Germany, "Merkel und
Sarkozy beraten über Finanzmarktkrise," and you can click to see not
just the exact spot where the chancellor of Germany appears, but also
each segment featuring the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy.

While Viewdle's current focus is on licensing its technology to
increase user engagement on publishers' sites, it also plans to debut
advertising offerings, along with a consumer-facing destination of its
own.

ScanScout: Waikit Lau, co-founder and president

Rather than bill itself as "the new way to watch TV," ScanScout's site
says it offers "a glimpse into the future of digital television."
ScanScout developed video search technology, but unlike Blinkx and
Viewdle, ScanScout has been solely committed to the ad network model.
As is de rigueur these days, ScanScout's ad formats are tickers and
overlays, which can open videos or other more engaging formats above
the ad or in an accompanying window. Ads can be targeted to the
keyword uttered in a clip, an option not available with comparable
formats on YouTube. Here, ScanScout draws inspiration from the AdWords
model in a way that Google hasn't come close to applying on its own.
This perfectly mirrors the Blinkx ad network, which framed itself as
an evolution of Google's AdSense contextual network.

VeoTag: Scott Rhodes, CEO

VeoTag, unlike others on the panel, is purely focused on making online
videos more accessible by making them easier to navigate and then
easier to find in search engines. Anyone can tag an audio or video
clip, basically creating a table of contents with whatever degree of
detail is desired. Search engines can then index the tags; without the
tags, this content would have probably been invisible to the
mainstream engines.

You can find examples of how the videos rank in search engines by
perusing the library of tagged clips on VeoTag's site and then
searching for keyword phrases. For instance, say you remember hearing
or reading the phrase "most PR is spam" somewhere. A search for it in
quotes will bring you to Paul Dunay's blog, where he shares a podcast
of his interview with author David Meerman Scott. Other searches lead
directly to the tagged segment of the video, such as this demo Scott
Rhodes shared for "swiftkids dora." VeoTag fits into the collision
theme, albeit from a different angle. It's more from the classic SEO
standpoint of a site's editor using VeoTag to drive traffic to the
site, so the editor winds up playing a clutch role on the marketing
team.

Collision Course

Throughout OMMA, every one of the search marketing tracks exemplified
how Worlds Collide. Two panels touched on the melding disciplines of
social media marketing and search engine optimization. One panel
simultaneously tackled local search and mobile search, while another
discussed the confluence of SEO and paid search. OMMA's last search
session featured a slew of case studies on how marketers are using
search and display advertising together. In that last panel, an
audience member shared that he's been working with display advertising
for years and has been waiting to see real examples of the two types
of media being used together. His dream was realized.

These are all big bangs. The marketer tasked with using one of the
most traditional of channels, the Yellow Pages, must simultaneously
pursue the next frontier of mobile marketing. The marketer trained to
monitor conversions from keyword-triggered search ads must embed the
best keywords in widgets for search engine optimization. The marketer
ensuring that videos on a site rank well in search engines must broker
media buys on other video sites and networks. Tectonic plates are
shifting, land masses are changing, and worlds are colliding in chain
reactions. Harness the energy created. The alternative -- to return to
a complacent equilibrium -- is untenable today. BANG.

YeboTV brings music-store performances to the Web

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Online social networks clearly constitute a
preferred channel for marketing music. But at least one such Web site,
YeboTV, is banking on a belief that you can still reach fans in record
stores as well.

The site recently approached Fords, N.J., independent record store
Vintage Vinyl with an interesting proposition: namely, musicians'
in-store performances streamed live to YeboTV's site.

"Retail has always provided organic marketing to consumers," YeboTV
vice president of music development Cheryl Shaver said. "Now, we are
using new technology to build on that."

It isn't the first time someone has used technological advances to
capitalize on marketing opportunities from in-store appearances. Even
back in 1992, music marketing company Best Performance and satellite
communications company Manhattan Microwave Communications planned to
broadcast in-store performances into hundreds of record stores
simultaneously. But the program never got off the ground.

YeboTV hopes to have better luck. Vintage Vinyl is well known for its
in-store events, having done hundreds of shows through the years,
including Cheap Trick, My Chemical Romance and the New York Dolls.
Cleveland-based YeboTV is hoping to parlay Vintage Vinyl's success at
booking bands into Web views.

The site, founded in October 2006 by Internet entrepreneur Markus
Jokinen, has financed an upgrade in Vintage Vinyl's equipment -- for
instance, by installing two remote cameras in the store's ceiling.
"It's like having a small TV studio," said Vintage Vinyl owner Rob
Roth.

Vintage Vinyl has long posted on its own site occasional videos from
many of its in-store performances, shot with a hand-held camera. But
more viewers could ultimately lead to more in-stores, including
performances by bigger bands -- and hence, more customers.

About five months ago the merchant began streaming shows with YeboTV,
which also has partnered with the Newport Music Hall in Columbia,
Ohio, and the Cleveland Agora Theater and Ballroom. YeboTV management
is working on deals for venues in Nashville and Malibu, Calif., and
hopes its list will grow to 30 venues within the next 12 months, said
Shaver.

Bands and labels will have to sign off on all this, but Shaver said it
won't cost them anything. The site's economic model calls for
advertising and sponsorship revenue, and possibly the occasional
pay-per-view broadcast. And although bands will ultimately retain
control of the content, the site hopes to archive the material.

On September 29 YeboTV will use Internet technology to stream the
Vintage Vinyl in-store performance by Wicked Cool act Chesterfield
Kings, who are promoting their September 18 release "Psychedelic
Sunrise." The same day, YeboTV will stream Warner Bros. act the
Honorary Title, whose "Scream & Light Up the Sky" came out August 28.

YeboTV expects audience increases, thanks to traffic driven from
partnerships with hundreds of other Web sites. With the benefit of a
large audience, Shaver said, shows streamed from Vintage Vinyl around
CD release dates could provide a whole new marketing platform for new
releases.

MySpace U.K. Gets Ad-Sponsored Videos

This week MySpace said that it will be launching sponsored videos in
the U.K. next month. The video channels will include advertising; some
of the videos will contain "in-video" advertising.

The social network has also said that it will be testing out
advertisements next to the professionally produced video content only
as oppose to the user-generated content that has made most video sites
so popular.

The U.K. launch will include a dramatic series titled Prom Queen,
produced by former Walt Disney Co. chief Michael Eisner's new project
Vuguru.

The sponsors of the new channels have not been made public at this
time. James Fabricant, director of entertainment and video for MySpace
Europe told the Dow Jones that online video advertising was an
emerging component to MySpace's ad revenue.

MySpace is responsible for about 80% of sales for Fox Interactive Media.

Microsoft Reduces Ad-To-Video Ratio In New MSN Video

TO ATTRACT A LARGER AUDIENCE, Microsoft on Wednesday launched a new
version of MSN Video with more dispersed ad-placement, and a
centralized page where viewers can simultaneously stream videos and
search through the entire MSN Video catalog.

Visitors to MSN will now see an ad after every three minutes of clips.
Previously, they were subjected to a video ad for every two
clips--but, because some of the most popular clips are only seconds
long, viewers were put off by the disproportionate ratio of ads to
content, according to Rob Bennett, MSN's general manager of
entertainment, video and sports.

"We knew it was time to change the frequency of ads when people were
getting more ads than content," he explained. "It's about getting
people to consume more video--that's our strategy."

Slowly but surely, online content carriers have come a long way since
the days when running a video ad meant streaming a re-purposed
30-second TV spot before every sliver of content.

"It obviously never made sense to run a 30-second ad against a
10-second piece of content," reasoned Forrester Research analyst
Charlene Li.

But intense competition for audience share is demanding that MSN and
its myriad rivals improve their offerings--and do it fast. Last month,
YouTube said it would begin overlaying ads on the bottom of its online
video, rather than resorting to streaming that interrupts the viewing
experience.

To engage viewers for as long as humanly possible, the new version of
MSN Video also includes "always be watching" technology, which lets
consumers browse and view videos at the same time. In addition, MSN
Video users can now create video playlists to share with friends.

What's more, the browsing experience is no longer limited to a single
vertical within MSN's video archive. From a single page, viewers can
access content related to news, money, sports, and autos, among other
categories, along with user-generated videos from Soapbox.

To further increase its reach and presence, MSN Video is presently
being integrated into every MSN channel.

Bennett, meanwhile, insists that MSN Video's content and brand
partners haven't seen anything yet in the way of innovation. The
recent arrival of aQuantive to the Microsoft family, he said, will
result in major advances.

"We're having a lot of discussions with [aQuantive's ad serving unit]
Atlas about how we can improve ad serving on MSN Video," Bennett said.
"We're looking to greatly improve the sales process."

Rocketboom Blips, Launches New Ad Format

The popular video blog Rocketboom will now be hosted by Blip.tv, which
is also rolling out a new overlay ad format for the show, reports
ClickZ.

Blip.tv will be responsible for much of the technical infrastructure
revolving around the show's distribution, including providing the RSS
feed and syndicating it to other sites. The company, which will also
host the show, worked for months before the announcement to transfer
older episodes to Blip's servers.

The partnership brings with it a new overlay ad format. Ads will be
developed using Apple's Quicktime, the first time this software has
been used to actually create advertisements of this type.

Interactive agency Deep Focus will be the first to use the new format,
coordinating spots for the beginning portion of Comedy Central's The
Sarah Silverman Show.

The ads appear within the show, even when viewed through outlets like
iTunes and others.