Friday, February 29

YouTube to get live video this year

YouTube co-founder Steve Chen says that live streaming video is
something that YouTube has always wanted to do, and that this year,
with the resources of Google, it is finally going to happen.

Veoh is raising a round, claims to be pretty big and growing

from venturebeat

Updated with more information from the company

Online video startup Veoh is in the process of raising a $40 million
round at a proposed $150 million valuation and has hired investment
bank Bear Sterns to help with the effort, Silicon Alley Insider
reports.

San Diego-based Veoh is a distant competitor to market leader YouTube,
but still claims to be growing at a healthy rate. The site features
user-created videos, clips from partners such as the Independent
Comedy Network, as well as content from large companies like Viacom.
From what we hear, the company is well respected in the media world,
partially because it's made a point of forging partnerships with
entertainment companies.

However, Veoh's traffic numbers are contested, as they have been at
least since the company raised $26 million round last spring (our
coverage).

Last December, third-party analytics firm Comscore showed Veoh
bringing in nearly 16 million monthly unique visitors worldwide, with
only 3.5 million of those in the US. That's versus YouTube's nearly
250 million. Meanwhile, rival analytics firm Nielsen says Veoh
received more than 2 million unique US viewers in December (not
visitors).

[Update: Veoh tells me it has more than 23 million monthly video
viewers worldwide, defined as people who started playing a video on
the Veoh home site or on a Veoh video embedded in another site. It
says that Nielsen's panel may be missing large chunks of Veoh traffic,
because the panel is comprised of the wrong demographic. It says that
using a separate Nielsen tracking service, the web analytics firm
obtained numbers much closer to Veoh's own.]

Today, Spark Capital investor Bijan Sabet, who sits on Veoh's board,
writes that Nielsen's numbers are wrong, after SAI cited them in its
article.

Sabet says that Veoh's internal server logs show 21 million unique
monthly viewers in December, up from 2.5 million at the beginning of
the year. He also says that users are watching more than 30 million
hours of Veoh videos per month, now.

So maybe Veoh is pretty big, but like every other video company, it is
trying to figure out how to monetize. Many startup rivals have also
raised large amounts of money. Two examples: Last year, DailyMotion
raised $30 (our coverage) and MetaCafe raised $34 million (our
coverage). Hosting and streaming lots of videos gets expensive, and
right now there's no way to cover costs.

[Update: I asked the company about monetization. Veoh says the average
user spends more than 87 minutes on the site per month, with much of
the viewing happening during evening prime time hours. It says its
audience presents great opportunities for brand advertisers.]

DoubleClick brings HD to video ads

Advertisers can now create and deliver rich media video ads in high
definition to further captivate audiences, thanks to DoubleClick's
latest feature. Not all ads are created equal and the battle is on to
keep creative treatments and delivery methods "novel" and consumer
eyeballs focused.

Enter DoubleClick's rich media with HD video. Now Internet users can
experience online adverts in the same quality as other mediums,
quality that advertisers have had to sacrifice online. Ads may even be
expanded to fit full screen.

Epson is the first to use DoubleClick's new feature, implemented as
part of their "Epsonality" campaign. "HD Video lets us deliver our
creative in a way that reflects the high quality of Epson products,"
said Jordan Kretchmer, associate creative director at Butler, Shine,
Stern & Partners, creators of the campaign.

"Consumers aren't used to seeing such pristine video online, so we
expect the new HD technology to capture peoples' attention like a
standard video unit never could," he added.

Thursday, February 28

iBloks Rolls Out New Ad Widget So Video, IM Enthusiasts Can Share in Real Time

From Adotas

iBloks today announced that is launching iBloks Video Messenger so consumers can IM and watch videos together – while logged onto Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger. iBloks designed the advertising and consumer widget to connect video enthusiasts and IM customers – it essentially eliminates the unbearable delay e-mail users must contend with when sharing videos.

The widget will be launched with movie content courtesy of Fox Home Entertainment – and using the Windows Live services will significantly increase iBloks' reach, the company says.

"Premiering iBloks Video Messenger widget that includes access to over 300,000,000 Windows Live Messenger consumers unleashes a powerful widget that enables our fans to easily IM each other and watch videos together. By making their lives more interesting and providing convenient access to amazing content from films like Alien Versus Predator Requiem we are delivering on our commitment to entertain and delight fans," said John Cosley, Director of Digital Marketing at Fox Home Entertainment.

The widget can be deployed on a web page, as a video ad or as a gadget on sites like Google , FaceBook and other social network sites.

Wednesday, February 27

Denuo to Advise Blinkx on Video Search and Network Ads

From ClickZ

Publicis-owned consultancy Denuo will advise Blinkx on development of the video search firm's ad products under a new relationship between the two.

The paired companies plan to collaborate on ad formats, targeting methods and ideal environments for video ads on platforms operated by Blinkx, and on video-based advertising in general. Denuo clients may also place campaigns on the Blinkx site and on its contextual video ad engine, called AdHoc.

"Denuo has access to many agencies and clients that have an interest in tapping into [our] audience," said Blinkx CEO Suranga Chandratillake. "We will work together to figure out ads and units that are affective. We will launch those on our site doing a lot of testing and trialing."

Denuo's head of new ventures and partnerships practice, Tim Hanlon, stessed the importance of discovery in the partnership. He emphasized the necessity of consumers not only finding relevant programming, but also advertising.

When it launched, Denuo established relationships with a number of up and coming Web start-ups, offering advisory services in exchange for "first mover rights for clients" and in some cases an investment stake. It holds stakes in Brightcove and Shadow TV, among other firms.

Further details about the pairing were sketchy yesterday, though Chandratillake said the companies hoped to experiment with untried video ad strategies. He said an example might include possibilities for running video ads on Blinkx search results pages. The company's results pages currently display text ads only.

"We're a search engine. We're very interested in how we can build video advertising into that experience," he said. "Can we actually have sponsored video matches?"

Blinkx has tried to diversify over the past year, rolling out a contextual ad targeting system called AdHoc and announcing plans for a premium video destination to be called Blinkx Broadband TV. BBTV was originally planned for Fall 2007, but the company postponed its release and now expects to unveil it in March.

Monday, February 25

Video player company Fliqz raises $2.5M more from internal investor to tide it over

Fliqz, an Emeryville, Calif. company that offers customized video
players to Web site owners, has added a $3.2 million to its second
round of funding.
Mohr Davidow Ventures, which previously provided $2.5 million in the
second round, added the new capital, according to VentureWire.
And as previously reported, the company raised $750,000 in backing
from a number of angels.
The company says it has more than 3,000 customers, including Major
League Baseball and VH1, among others, but its not clear how the
company is making money. It sells a "hosted" version for as little as
$50 a month.
Fliqz is apparently looking to raise more venture money, and so this
round tides it over until it can do so.

DivX is shutting down its video-hosting service, Stage6.

The company experienced significant growth of service last year and
said it would spin out Stage6 as a separate company to raise venture
money. Now it says the service simply became "a very expensive
enterprise that requires an enormous amount of attention and resources
that we are not in a position to continue to provide."

Poles Apart on Online-Video Habits

From the NYTimes:

The gulf between casual and heavy consumers of online video is startlingly wide, according to figures released in mid-February. Among people who watch at least some online video each month — from short clips on YouTube to full-length programs on NBC.com and the like — the highest-consuming fifth watches more than 140 times as much as the lower half.
Skip to next paragraph

"It's a clear indicator of how early we are in online video," said Jarvis Mak, a vice president at Media Contacts, an online ad buyer that did the study with the research firm comScore. "If you look at overall Internet usage, the difference between the heaviest users and the lightest users is something like 24 times."

Mr. Mak predicted that this disparity would narrow as television networks continued to put programs online, attracting novice users. "It took a while to decide that this would not cannibalize their broadcasts," he said, "but now they're putting a lot of stuff on their Web sites" and deciding how much to distribute on sites like Hulu.com that aggregate videos.

ComScore gathered the data using special software installed on the computers of a panel of Internet users.

Brightcove Transforms Economics of Internet Video with Support for Google AdSense for Video Beta

Consumer-friendly Ad Format Gives Web's Top Content Providers Ability to Deliver Video Ads at Scale

Cambridge, MA (February 21, 2008) - Brightcove, a leading Internet TV platform, today announced support for the AdSense for video beta program, Google's contextual advertising technology for online video. Brightcove's support of the AdSense for video beta program unlocks a powerful economic proposition for the Web's top media publishers. Brightcove customers, which include some of the world's largest and most innovative media, entertainment and consumer brands, will now have an additional and complementary advertising opportunity available to monetize video streams across their web properties.

Serving ads based on both the content of an Internet video and the context of a web page, AdSense for video beta gives media publishers the additional ability (beyond direct ad sales) to target tailored in-stream overlay ads from Google's large base of advertisers. Publishers and content providers can control which videos get which ads and when the ads play in each video. Appealing to both consumers of online video and the advertisers trying to reach them, AdSense for video's InVideo and text overlay ad format is non-disruptive and does not separate viewers from their desired content.

"Video and rich media continue to account for an increasingly large segment of online content - Brightcove customers alone reach 130 million unique users a month across thousands websites," said Chris Johnston, director of ad product management, Brightcove. "Brightcove's support of Google's AdSense for video beta is particularly important because it combines a vast ad network with the market-leading Internet video publishing platform - ultimately creating a new and powerful, consumer-friendly monetization opportunity for news and entertainment programmers worldwide."

"Monetization of online video continues to be critically important to all video producers," said Will Richmond, president of Broadband Directions LLC. "The market for ad-supported video is evolving, with lots of different approaches. Building from existing, successful approaches and technologies is a smart strategy especially when it comes to capturing revenue from periodic traffic spikes and remnant inventory."

Google's AdSense for video beta is currently available through Brightcove in a limited beta release with select customers. The company said they plan to make the feature generally availability to publishers in 2008.

Online Video: A Changing Picture

Online Video: A Changing Picture
A new eMarketer report analyzes the factors that are inexorably leading to convergence between television and online video content.




Thursday, February 21

Google Expands AdSense For Video, Sets Deals With Tremor, YuMe, Others

From mediapost:
IN A BID TO ACCELERATE its role in the burgeoning online video
advertising marketplace, search giant Google this morning is
announcing a slew of deals expanding its AdSense for video beta. To
date, the AdSense program has focused mainly on enabling Web
publishers to serve text-only ads. The video beta version, enables
publishers to serve targeted, contextually-relevant video graphical
ads and text overlays, and is seen as an alternative to the pre-roll
an post-roll advertising clips that have become the industry's default
standard advertising format.

Google has been working on ways to expand its reach into video ever
since its $1.65 billion acquisitions of YouTube in 2006, and recently
began accelerating its role in TV advertising sales, as well, via its
AdWords For TV program, which enables advertisers to buy addressable
TV advertising on cable and satellite TV systems.

Early this morning, Google announced deals with the Tremor Media and
YuMe video advertising networks, two of what are expected to be
several partnership deals for its AdSense for video expansion.

Tremor said it has incorporated "one-click integration" of Google's
contextually targeted ads into its dynamic ad insertion platform,
Ad-inStream, for publishers in Tremor Media's network to accept
targeted Google AdSense for video advertising formats with only a
check-box.

According to comScore, Tremor Media provides access to consumers
through their network of more than 800 aggregated sites that reach 94
million unique users every month. Publishers across Tremor Media's
network can now support traditional text overlays through Google's
AdSense for video beta, providing contextually targeted advertising by
leveraging a video's metadata.

In addition, Tremor will also support InVideo graphical and rich
media overlays that aid advertisers with a consistent brand message
across their traditional display advertising as well as emerging video
ad formats.

Google Extends InVideo Ads to AdSense Net

from mediaweek

Google is extending InVideo Ads – the "overlay" banner and text ad units the company rolled out on YouTube last year- to its AdSense network of Web sites.

Last summer, the Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant introduced InVideo ads – semi-transparent banner-like placements that appear once video clips start playing, as a less-intrusive alternative to pre-roll 15 and 30-second video spots. By extending them to AdSense, the company's ever-growing network of small and mid sized sites for which it supplies text and video advertising, Google says it will be able to deliver online video ads which are contextually targeted, based on either the actual video content they appear atop or the content on the Web pages they run on.

As online video advertising has risen to prominence, Google has run several test programs on its AdSense network, including a user-initiated "click to play" offering that invited users to sample short snippets of content to streaming video ads that participating publishers could implement and control however they preferred. Until now however, video advertising on Google remains in its infancy, as the company continues to garner the vast majority of its ad revenue from its core search ads.

For this new extension, Google has yet to list any advertisers that have signed on. Among the initial participating publishers are the sites VidShadow, Mondo Media and JoeCartoon.

Wednesday, February 20

CNET TV Relaunches Video-On-Demand Network

From Mediapost

AIMING TO CAPTURE A LARGER share of tech-hungry consumers, CNET has relaunched its video-on-demand network, CNET TV.

"We've seen a 60% increase in viewership since last year, and we're looking for ways to continue that incredible growth," said Joe Gillespie, executive vice president of CNET.

CNET remains by far the most-trafficked tech news property on the Web. The site was drawing roughly 61.5 million unique monthly visitors as of December, according to comScore, while its closest rival, NetShelter, was recording about 26 million. CNET's numbers, however, were down 17% year-over-year, while NetShelter's nearly doubled.

The tech publisher first moved into traditional media in mid 2006 with deals to supply content to three video-on-demand TV networks. Through partnerships with Cox Communications, TiVo Inc., and TVN Entertainment, CNET began offering paid TV subscribers a range of ad-supported content, including gadget reviews, news reports, trend stories and user generated video.

Since 2006, CNET TV has also existed as a stand-alone Web site, where consumers can draw from various topic channels to program their viewing experiences. Interactive tools let users engage with the site's editorial staff, and share their customized playlists with friends.

The re-launched service includes a number of new features--chief among them a new closed-captioning option. Through partnerships with Automatic Sync Technologies and Adobe Systems, the captioning system is an attempt by CNET to reach an estimated 30 million deaf and hard-of-hearing U.S. consumers.

Not only that, but the captioning makes it far easier for CNET to monetize its video content, Gillespie said.

"It turns into SEO honey," Gillespie said of the meta data, which greatly improves the search engine optimization process.

Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, described CNET's revamped service as "emblematic of the next phase of online video," and expects other top publishers to follow CNET's lead.

In addition to closed captioning, CNET TV has unveiled a more user-friendly design, with video content from premiere partners such as Geek Entertainment TV and Revision 3, along with more original shows featuring CNET personalities and new additions like Natali Del Conte, former host of PodShow's TeXtra, and Kara Tsuboi.

Friday, February 15

Google testing video ads in search results

From VentureBeat:

Today, Google started testing video ad placement in search results
according to The New York Times Bits blog. Though just a very limited
trial for now, this is an important step in the evolution of the
company's bread-and-butter advertising business.

Even though Google has run both image-based and video ads on sites
using their AdSense platform for a while now, the Google search
results page has always been restricted to the simple text-based
advertisements that don't overwhelm results. As Google's vice
president of search products and user experience, Marissa Mayer, puts
it "We were doing text-based search that was all textual. Visual ads
don't work in that format."

However, with Google now shifting toward "universal search" that
includes images and videos in results, the time has come to test out
expanding the ads that accompany those results as well. Says Mayer,
"With universal search, something is getting shaken up a bit on the
bottom part of the page - The ads on the top part of the page should
match."

Google is indicating that these video ads will appear small on the
page and only expand to playable size when a user chooses to click on
the 'plus' button similar to what is done currently with YouTube
videos in search results

Overlay.tv launches new platform for video ads

Overlay.tv today launched a video-commerce platform that may give
marketers a new way to monetize on online video.

Even online video mammoth Google/YouTube hasn't successfully
implemented a way to extract revenue from its billions of user
generated videos. A number of sites have taken to inserting "pre-roll"
ads into the videos they offer — ads that viewers are forced to sit
through prior to watching the featured content. But the big video
sites haven't adopted pre-roll ads, and for good reason: They don't
work, and neither have contextual banner ads so far.

Enter Overlay.tv. The Toronto, Canada-based company offers a
destination where marketers and users can place "overlays" of content
onto videos streamed from more than 20 online video sites, including
YouTube, metacafe, videojug, and others (it streams the video and
doesn't actually store it on its servers for copyright reasons).
Marketers and users using the platform can then overlay selected
videos with pictures, words and graphics that link to products or
information on external websites.

So take a video clip of, say, Fashion Week in New York City. A
marketer could link a certain shoe or dress in the video to a purchase
point to buy the item. It can then embed this overlaid video in blogs,
websites, and MySpace profiles. Overlay.tv has also launched a
Facebook application that lets users access its platform directly from
Facebook.

And unlike pre-roll ads, viewers can opt out of these overlay ads if
they choose to, the company says.

In one example you can link to here, you'll see a video clip called
"How to Be the Perfect Boyfriend." Overlays in the video link viewers
to how-to books, flowers.com and other relevant vendor sites.

Overlay.tv generates revenue from its more than 600 affiliate
partners, including Amazon, iTunes, and Walmart, through
cost-per-action and cost-per-click at about 5 to 12 percent revenue of
what the merchant makes on merchandise sold through click-throughs.
Overlay's users also get a share in the revenues. The company says it
distributes anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of this form of revenue to
its users.

Overlay.tv also plans to generate revenue through partnerships with
online video destinations as well as media companies, such as record
labels. It's currently at the contract stage with a major company in
the online video space and a major record label interested in
licensing the Overlay platform, although CEO Rob Lane wouldn't name
the two companies. The companies would theoretically integrate
Overlay's platform into their sites, so that users and marketers would
have the same ability to link advertisements directly to the video.

The majority of online advertising is focused on professionally
produced content, Lane says, while no one has successfully advertised
through user-generated content. To illustrate his point, he gives an
example of a user watching a mountain biking clip. This user may not
be interested in a toothpaste ad because it's irrelevant to mountain
biking, but he or she may want to know the exact make and model as
well as the cost of the bike used in the video. The only way to market
effectively is to bring the user in, Lane says.

Many big brands would like to advertise through user-generated
content, but they don't know how, he says. The Overlay platform could
also help marketers find out how effective a product placement is in a
video by tracking the analytics Overlay provides.

Overlay.tv was formed in mid 2006 and received $4.6 million (Canadian)
last November from Canadian VCs Celtic House Venture Partners
, Edgestone Partners and Tech Capital.

Revver is acquired amid spike in interest

Employees of video-sharing site Revver said they breathed a sigh of
relief Thursday after management informed them that the company had
been acquired by LiveUniverse, a little-known online entertainment
network.

Representatives from both companies declined to comment, but two
Revver employees and an executive at a company that had inquired about
bidding on Revver said managers there had informed them the sale was
done. The blog NewTeeVee was first to report the acquisition.

In a report earlier this month, CNET News.com cited sources who said
the beleaguered Revver was asking for between $300,000 and $500,000
and the assumption of the company's debt, which the sources said was
in the $1 million range. Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Bessemer Venture
Partners were among those that invested more than $12 million into
Revver.

News.com also reported that talks between LiveUniverse, owned by
MySpace.com co-founder Brad Greenspan, had stalled last month over the
issue of debt. A Revver employee, who asked to remain anonymous
because he is not authorized to speak for the company, confirmed that
Thursday.

The employee added that negotiations began to pick up again after the
story about Revver's troubles appeared. That triggered, according to
the employee, a flurry of inquiries from other companies. Among those
who called was VideoJug, an online video destination and production
company.

Doug Kamin, senior vice president of marketing at VideoJug, said
Thursday that he contacted executives about the possibility of making
a bid after reading about Revver's woes.

"At those prices, we thought Revver would be a good deal," Kamin said.
"I'm betting lots of others thought the same thing."

On Thursday Revver called Kamin to tell him that Revver's management
had decided to go with the "original bidder."

Revver's staff, which is half the size it was in 2006, was ecstatic to
hear that the company was saved and that they would not be broken up
or moved, according to two Revver employees. The status of the
company's CEO, Kevin Wells, was unclear.

For a year, the company had weathered management shake-ups that
included the departures of all three founders. Employees had witnessed
some of the Web's best-known video producers, such as Ze Frank and
Lonelygirl15, abandon the site. Revver's audience was dwarfed by
YouTube's and other video-sharing front-runners.

More recently, rumors circulated the Web that the company was running
short of cash, according to the Revver employees.

"Everyone is just really happy that this happened," the Revver
employee said. "We always knew that the company had great technology
and a strong following of creators. We knew we had value."

Thursday, February 14

UvLayer Gives Social Networkers New Platform for Video

from mediapost:

THE LAST THING THE WEB needs is another video host site, according to
Michael Hoydich, co-founder of tech startup Unknown Vector.

A better platform and interfaces, however, are another story.

So, with his partner, Mark Grey, Hoydich has launched a new platform
for social networkers to view, store and share streaming video. Dubbed
uvLayer, the full-screen media download allows users and their friends
to interact with each other's videos across multiple social networks.

"The way people interact with and share videos today is limited and
awkward," said Hoydich, who once served as a vice president of sales
for Viewpoint Corporation. With Gray, Hoydich later went on to found
another tech services firm named IndustryNext, and an interactive
marketing agency by the name of Incognito Digital.

Unlike many video viewing experiences, uvLayer sources video content
from multiple sources so users can centralize their videos and play
lists without visiting multiple sites.

Also, uvLayer users can manipulate collected videos into
thumbnail-sized "stacks" atop their personalized media canvas for
better viewing and sharing.

Despite the abundance of tech applications, players, and sites being
offered to video viewers, today, at least one industry analyst is
betting on Unknown Vector to leave a lasting impact on the industry.

"UvLayer could change the way people collect and view their favorite
digital media," said Bobby Tulsiani, Jupiter Research media and
Internet video analyst. "The unique, intuitive user interface,
especially the video playback window that sits atop other desktop
applications, truly differentiates uvLayer within the current online
video marketplace."

Also with uvLayer, users no longer require an open Web browser to
view videos, as the option exists to view a single video or an entire
playlist in a small window anchored on top of a viewer's desktop.
Users can also publish media collections directly to Facebook, with no
coding and no typing.

UvLayer was developed using Adobe AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime), a
new technology that allows developers to create rich internet
applications developed in Flash, HTML, and AJAX.

Online Video User Segments’ Viewing Behavior Varies Widely

From Marketing Charts:

Heavy viewers of online video watch 11 times as much online video as moderate viewers - and140 times as much as light viewers, according to a proprietary study by comScore and Media Contacts, the global interactive media network of Havas Media.

The research was designed to understand the consumption habits and mindsets of internet video users as they relate to online video, TV, and advertising and content across both media.

The heaviest viewers (top 20% of viewers) averaged 841 minutes of online viewing per month, while moderate viewers (next 30%) averaged 77 minutes, and the lightest viewers (bottom 50%) watched just 6 minutes each, the study found:

comscore-media-contacts-time-spent-watching-online-video-by-viewer-segment.jpg

"The difference in consumption levels was astounding. The usage differences are reminiscent of the early days of the Internet," said Jarvis Mak, VP of Research and Insight at Media Contacts. "However, the networks' online distribution of first-run content will go a long way to bridging the gaps between heavy, moderate, and light viewers."

Additional findings from the study follow.

Heavy viewers spend time on niche video sites

YouTube is the common thread among the heavy, moderate, and light segments - it is the top video site for all three and reaches the most overall video viewers (54% reach).

Distinctive behavior for heavy video viewers is found by looking at the top indexing sites for this audience, revealing mostly niche video-sharing sites, each reaching less than 1% of the total US Web population:

comscore-media-contacts-top-indexing-sites-heavy-viewers.jpg

Moderate viewers enjoy specific online TV content

Moderate viewers show a high propensity to view specific video content on broadcast TV sites, including WorldNow (ABC), CBS TV Local, ABC Daytime, Scripps TV, and CMT, rather than frequenting more general video-sharing sites:

comscore-media-contacts-top-indexing-sites-moderate-viewers.jpg

Light Online video viewers are heavy TV viewers

Despite conventional wisdom that the heaviest users of the digital channel are likely to be the heaviest consumers of media, the study found that it was light online video viewers are actually heavier TV consumers:

  • Some 46% of light online video viewers say they watch more than 13 hours of TV per week.
  • By comparison, just 39% of moderate video viewers and 30% of heavy video viewers watched the same amount of TV.

Proprietary Segmentation

"To discover how best to reach and message online different kinds of video viewers, we used the comScore data to further develop proprietary segments: 'Content Explorers,' 'On Demanders,' 'Sight & Sounders,' and 'Television Devotees,' " Mak said.

A thumbnail sketch of those segments, per Mediaweek:

  • On Demanders: 30% more likely to a heavy video users, mainly 18-34-year-old group, tends to use DVRs and video on demand; 89% say inclined to pay for content to avoid ads.
  • Sight & Sounders: The 55 and over demographic, generally unimpressed with video content and video ads; almost half have been watching online video for less than a year, most prefer TV.
  • Television Devotees: Female-skewing, frequently use the web to catch up on TV viewing, fans of broadcast and cable networks' web offerings; say online video ads are fine.
  • Content Explorers: "Platform agnostic," will watch all sort of content on the web; interestingly, they fall in the 35-54, higher income category.

Differences in How Women, Men Consume Online Video; New Primetime Online

From Marketing Charts:

Men and women consume online video differently, and a new primetime has emerged online, according to (pdf) findings from Nielsen Online's initial full release of its new VideoCensus syndicated measurement service.

Below, some of those findings.

Women vs. Men

Women lead online network TV Viewing, whereas men are drawn to consumer-generated media (CGM), Nielsen's data for December '07 found:

nielsen-online-video-stream-composition-men-women-18-34.jpg

  • Video streams at broadcast network TV websites were nearly two times more likely to be viewed by women age 18-34 than men; those demos accounted for 22% and 12% of streams, respectively.
  • For the top four CGM websites, streams were two-and-a-half times more likely to be viewed by men 18-34 than women; those demos accounted for 27% and 11% of streams, respectively.

Network TV Viewer Loyalty

Among network TV websites, there was relatively low viewer overlap:

nielsen-online-video-tv-site-viewer-overlap.jpg

Among CGM websites, however, most viewers also watched video content on YouTube:

nielsen-online-video-cgm-site-viewer-overlap.jpg

"Network websites are destinations for fans to deepen their experience - they go to see favorite scenes, episodes and outtakes. These viewers are very loyal and engaged and the website is a place to become immersed in the program," said Michael Pond, media analyst, Nielsen Online.

"With shorter clips and a viral nature, CGM websites are much more about discovery, and consumers are likely to view content on more than one."

New Primetime Online

"[T]he largest appetite for streaming broadcast content is during the noontime hours, when viewers take a break from work to catch up on the shows they enjoy," said Pond.

  • Streaming activity at the top network TV websites over-indexed during the weekday lunchtime hours of 12 p.m. - 2 p.m.

nielsen-online-video-stream-composition-index-by-daypart.jpg

  • At CGM websites, the most popular time for viewing was during late night hours on the weekend, between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

"Primetime visitors to network websites primarily enhance their TV viewing experience with features like online voting, web-only promotions and other program specific content, although there is some interest in streaming network content during the evening as well," Pond said.

US Video Consumption Metrics (Excludes Video Advertising)

The No. 1 video site in December was YouTube, with 2.6 billion streams during the month, followed by Yahoo with 371.9 million streams and Fox Interactive Media with 364.1 million streams.

nielsen-online-video-top-destinations-by-video-streams-december-2007.jpg

  • 116.7 million unique viewers, or 73% of active web users, watched approximately 6.2 billion video streams in December 2007.
  • On average, each viewer spent nearly two hours and 10 minutes watching online video content in December.
  • Each viewer on average watched nearly 54 video streams during the month.

Top 10 online video kids, games & toys destinations:

nielsen-online-video-kids-games-toys-destinations-december-2007.jpg

About VideoCensus: Nielsen Online's VideoCensus is a syndicated online video measurement service that combines patented panel and census research methodologies to provide a count of viewing activity and engagement along with demographic reporting.

Wednesday, February 13

thePlatform Unveils Largest Ecosystem of Partners and Open Approach for Online Video Publishing

Read on Streaming Media:

As the market for professionally produced online video has matured, so
too has the need for media companies to incorporate highly flexible,
open and robust methods that help them keep pace. Today, thePlatform,
a leading broadband video management and publishing company, announced
the broadband video industry's largest collection of pre-integrated
partner technologies and an open approach for assisting media
companies with their online and mobile video initiatives.

thePlatform's customers benefit from the widest choice of
pre-integrated partner services and technologies to support their
unique business needs. Companies participating in thePlatform
Framework, the company's premier partner program, span the entire
ecosystem of online video, including: advertising campaign management
systems, ad sales networks, content delivery networks, content
protection, media formats, transcoding engines, payment processors,
syndication outlets and video search. In addition, customers can
easily use their own in-house digital asset management system,
customer relationship management and other back-office applications in
conjunction with thePlatform's system.

"Every media company has its own unique vision for online video, and
they are becoming less tolerant of technology constraints or
specialized vendors that inhibit their growth or agility," said Ian
Blaine, CEO of thePlatform. "Our customers want the ability to trial
new technology and choose the best vendors without dramatically
impacting their operations. thePlatform framework addresses this need
with a robust menu of pre-integrated solutions that give them
flexibility to easily create the optimal solution. No other broadband
video management company has our open approach to partners or proven
history in the space."

"thePlatform and Cisco are collaborating on the creation and
deployment of streamlined web-video management, distribution and
delivery platforms enabled by the Cisco Content Delivery System," said
Paul Bosco, Cisco vice president and general manager of video and
broadband initiatives. "We are also focused on convergent platform
extensions supporting the fusion of web, television and user-generated
content built around the consumer media experience across the growing
number of wired, wireless and mobile devices in our lives. We welcome
the opportunity to be a founding member of thePlatform's ecosystem
program and to continue our engagements with innovative customers
worldwide."

The Ecosystem
thePlatform Framework gives technology companies full-featured
software development kits, engineering support, training, and
development sandboxes for a quick implementation. Companies
participating in thePlatform Framework include:

Advertising & Monetization
• Adapt.TV
• BlackArrow
• CSG Systems
• DoubleClick
• Lightningcast
• Panache
• PayPal
• ScanScout
• SpotXchange

Content Delivery
• Akamai
• BitGravity
• Cisco Systems
• Edgecast Networks
• GridNetworks
• Highwinds
• Internap
• Limelight Networks
• MediaMelon
• OnStream Media

Playback Experience
• Apple Corp.
• Adobe Systems
• Microsoft Corp.
• Move Networks

Transcoding
• Digital Rapids
• On2
• Rhozet
• RipCode
• Telestream

Content Syndication
• AT&T
• Clearspring
• Comcast.net
• GoTV
• iTunes Podcasts
• MobiTV
• MSN Video
• Sprint
• Verizon Wireless
• Yahoo
• YouTube

Professional Services
• Ascertane
• Cypress Consulting
• Genex
• Online Video Service
• Schematic

Digital Asset Management
• ClearStory Systems
• North Plains Systems

Content Protection
• Microsoft Corp.
• Widevine Technologies

Additional companies will join the partner program in the coming
months. Technology companies interested in participating in
thePlatform Framework and utilizing its application programming
interface (API) should visit www.thePlatform.com.

thePlatform's system manages the entire logistics process behind the
publication of broadband video from the content owner to the consumer.
Media companies and video sites rely on thePlatform's services to
manage their media, generate revenue from their content, syndicate
media to outlets and create unique broadband video players. Hundreds
of professional media companies use thePlatform for their online and
mobile video needs, handling billions of videos requested by consumers
every year.

Media companies interested in publishing or syndicating their video
across the web and mobile phones should visit www.thePlatform.com.

Tuesday, February 12

Taking the Next Step in Online Video Advertising

By Christine Beardsell, The ClickZ Network

It seems like a new fact, figure, or news story pops up every day that
further validates online video as the next revolutionary advertising
platform. For the most part, marketers know the Internet isn't just
another channel for distributing :30 broadcast spots; it's a place to
start having real conversations.

But realizing the potential of online video advertising is much
different than doing something about it. The big dark void that still
sits between realizing and doing hasn't necessarily grown smaller.
It's just been filled with a lot of chatter.

Case in point: the beloved in-stream video and overlay ads. YouTube,
Hulu, Joost, Brightcove, and endless other content providers are
seeking fast, scalable advertising models. Now, with announcements
from companies like FreeWheel, such interruptive models will soon
prevail.

The question: where do real conversations fit into these models? Sure,
we can now market a car racing show within (or on top of) a video
about cars, but what about the interactivity and conversations we keep
hearing about?

The online advertising industry needs new online models that drive
imagination and diversity rather than convention and standardization.
We need easier ways to create experiences people want to seek out,
rather than click away from. How do we start to fill that gaping void?

Shifting Dollars Online

It takes but a look at the Super Bowl to see where most marketing
money is still going. How can advertisers begin to develop new online
models and create truly compelling video content without a hearty
budget that competes with the offline model?

Part of the problem (and advertisers are at fault here, too) is that
the industry still believes online video is cheap. Just because a
YouTuber can use a $150 camcorder to make a pixilated video a million
people will watch doesn't mean every brand can. Or should. While
there's the occasional viral video success story, it's hardly the
norm.

Until agencies stop telling clients "we can do that for $10,000," and
until clients stop asking their agencies to "do that for $10,000,"
we'll never be able to see what real money can do in the online video
space. People love beautifully shot and directed footage with
superstar talent and amazing special effects. Audiences respond to
that quality in any setting.

In addition, the experience is no longer about creating for a single
destination, it's about creating for multiple destination,
syndication, and distribution outlets. Producers require the budgets
to do it right.

The ideal online production shoot may consist of a chroma key (define)
for a live-action avatar creation, a photographer to capture high
quality stills, and additional video and audio production to be
scripted/shot for contextual placements. That's all on top of the
traditional video shoot needs!

Investing in Alternative Ad Models

In-stream video ads and overlays are a quick, scalable way to monetize
online content. That model isn't going away anytime soon. But what
about investing money toward the research and development of models
that aren't centered around entertainment? How about creating scalable
models driven by people's needs?

My last column discussed the brand utility supported entertainment
model in which content providers and marketers work upstream to create
customized complimentary experiences. One option would be to align
this model with the open standard objectives of DataPortability.org.
Their mission: to gather "existing open standards into a blueprint for
a social, open, remixable Web where your online identity, media,
contacts and content can follow you wherever you go."

For brands and content creators, that means conversation would truly
have to be initiated by the user. The user would own the data, and the
brand content offering would have to be valuable enough to warrant an
exchange. In essence, brand content would be bought with "data
currency."

Why would this be a good model for marketers?

There are brand enthusiasts who participate in campaigns on an ongoing
basis. Yet each time they return, these fans must register and sign-up
for the full experience. If the brand were to embrace technologies
such as OpenID, not only would it provide their fans access to
cross-promotional properties around that campaign, it would also
provide easy access to all future campaigns. And with future potential
of data portability, people could take those experiences with them,
introducing content to friends and hopefully igniting passionate new
fans.

Could this lead to the most ideal scalable model ever -- a tangible
word-of-mouth engine?

Online video advertising has a ways to go before it reaches
revolutionary status. We need to be willing to take the next steps.
That means more money allocated to develop a unique cross-channel
storytelling experience, and more research and development toward
innovative new models.

Perhaps then online video advertising will have a chance to live up to
the potential we all know it has.

IAB Guidelines

For those of you that are interested, you should definitely review the new Interactive Advertising Bureau Guidelines for digital video.

Happy to hear all of your comments, comment on this post or email me about this topic!

Yahoo Acquires Maven Networks for $160 Million

Taking a break from dodging Microsoft, Yahoo is doing some buying of
their own, scooping up Maven Networks for $160 million. Maven is an
online video platform provider, meaning versus a destination site like
YouTube or Metacafe, they provide the technology to power Internet TV
for big media companies like Fox and Scripps.

Yahoo sees an opportunity to further monetize the relationships Maven
has established by selling video ads to their large customer base of
display advertisers. Maven offers a few different types of video ad
formats, including pre/post rolls and overlays. According to Yahoo,
advertisers will now be able to buy video advertising across both
Yahoo properties and those powered by Maven.

The online video space has become increasingly crowded in the past
year, with oodles of funding flowing into startups. Maven was one of
the early movers in the space, founded in 2002 by Hilmi Ozguc. The
company is based in Cambridge, MA.

Monday, February 11

Let's (Not) Make a Deal With YouTube

Based on the recent slew of online video distribution deals, media's
biggest companies are sending YouTube a clear message: We don't need
you. At least that's the stance of companies like Viacom and NBC
Universal, which continue to resist placing their content on the Web's
largest video site (the site reached 75 million people in December,
according to comScore).

Friday, February 8

Yahoo! Launches Live Video Service

Check out Live.Yahoo.com...

Rumor: Plaxo Sold to Google for $200M?

From Wired.com

We're hearing rumors that online contact management service Plaxo has
accepted a sub-$200 million offer and that the purchasing company is
most likely search engine Google.

Plaxo has been in the news recently, reportedly hiring a bank to
shepherd a sale. A representative for Plaxo declined to confirm or
deny the deal, saying that the company has a policy of not commenting
on M&A rumors.

Got any details? Let us know in the comments, or by email.

Plaxo was founded in 2001 by Stanford classmates Cameron Ring and Todd
Masonis along with Napster cofounder and Facebook founding president
Sean Parker. It is backed by Sequoia Capital, Cisco Systems, Globespan
Capital Partners, DAG Ventures, and Harbinger Venture Management.

Plaxo board members Ram Shriram and Michael Moritz were among the
original board members of Google. Shriram still serves on Google's
board while Moritz stepped down from Google's board last March.

Clipblast Partners With TWERQ

From MediaPost:

CLIPBLAST, A WEB-WIDE VIDEO SEARCH and navigation platform, announced
that it has partnered with TWERQ, a startup with a new approach to
consolidating and streamlining the search process.

Under the agreement, ClipBlast will be the exclusive video search
platform for TWERQ. With the accent on speed and efficiency, TWERQ
supports multiple simultaneous searches - as many as 10 to 15, or more
-- encompassing video, text, RSS feeds, images and more. With its
"Tabbed Search," TWERQ dramatically reduces the time associated with
traditional navigation, in the browser and the search engine, by
eliminating the need to refine key words. Users can then select the
best results from among the various search streams TWERQ returns.

ClipBlast recently unveiled Version 3.0 of its video search platform,
which serves as a "remote control for the Video Web." The new release
includes enhancements that promise a richer, easier and more relevant
experience for advertisers and content providers.

TurnHere Gets $7.5M In Funding From Hearst and Venrock

TURNHERE ANNOUNCED THAT IT HAS secured $7.5 million in funding from
Venrock and Hearst Interactive Media, a division of Hearst Corp.

Emeryville, Calif.-based TurnHere's online video production and
distribution platform powers the videos for sites like CitySearch and
Simon & Schuster's Bookvideos.tv. Using a network of producers and
proprietary content management tech, TurnHere allows publishers to
create and syndicate video content quickly and cost-effectively.

CEO Bradley J. Inman has said that the company will use the new funds
to expand both its in-house and contracted production teams, as well
as to further the development of new tools like video search
optimization technology.

Wednesday, February 6

Microsoft adCenter Labs unveils digital advertising enhancements, including contextual ads for video

Microsoft Corp. unveiled a series of new digital advertising
technologies that are in development by Microsoft adCenter Labs.

The enhancements include computer vision technology to create
so-called "bug ads" that appear in "nonintrusive" frames in a video.
Microsoft said the technology approximates human judgment and places
the ad in the video where it is least likely to interfere with the
user's viewing experience.

"We believe the technical advances and intelligence we are creating at
adCenter Labs can change the game of online advertising," said Tarek
Najm, technical fellow at Microsoft, in a statement. "Solutions to
today's challenges must be capable of handling and understanding the
complexity of vast amounts of data. To address that challenge, we are
developing advertising algorithms that can anticipate and understand
consumer behavior faster than the speed of thought, so that we can
help advertisers create more efficient and relevant user experiences."

Monday, February 4

AOL gets widgety with Goowy acquisition

from CNET:

AOL announced on Monday that it has purchased Goowy Media, a company
that has created technology for widget creation and analytics
reporting. AOL has been partnering with Goowy since early in 2007;
financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

To consumers, Goowy is best-known as the parent company of Yourminis,
a widget creation and discovery engine.

But the Time Warner unit's aim with Goowy is more likely on the
advertising front. AOL recently relocated its headquarters from
Virginia to New York to bolster its Madison Avenue street cred; the
former online-service powerhouse has been attempting to reshape itself
as a digital-media company with profits stemming primarily from
advertising, not subscription revenues.

AOL stated in a press release on Monday that Goowy's technology will
be used in part for widget-based advertising, providing both more
interactive content and detailed statistics on where and how the
widgets are being used.

Friday, February 1

Top Google execs pledged to stay 20 years: report

Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, together with Chief Executive
Eric Schmidt say in a joint interview for Fortune's February 4th issue
that the three had agreed to work together for two decades starting
one month before the 2004 IPO.

"We agreed the month before we went public that we should work
together for 20 years," said Schmidt, who added that he will be 69
years old by that time. Page would be 51 and Brin 50. The interview
can be found at http://tinyurl.com/2oo5vt/. A Google spokesman could
not immediately be reached to comment. Schmidt is Google's chairman.
Page is president of products and Brin is president of technology.
Each is a billionaire.

The Bane of the Video Generation

By Dorian Sweet, The ClickZ Network, Feb 1, 2008

We've been watching events unfold on TV for a long time. Over the last 50 years, a large amount of television programming has been archived, though much may never make it online.
And that's OK. We don't have to relive everything that was ever done in a video, kinescope, or HD format. In fact, most of what's been on video is fairly uninteresting or just plain banal.

Yet here it is, that form of communication that slyly worked its way into our homes and just about everywhere else, making it possible for us to spend time ignoring our environment. Remember portable TVs? It's a format that has delivered more visual information to more people in the history of the world. Though cause for debate, the Internet is probably fast approaching that mark on some scoreboard somewhere.

We can all see the good in how humanity can share hope, joy, and grief in our terrestrial video play. But what about the other times when the TV is on and things aren't so notable?

This form of communal ignorance is guised in the form of entertainment. A few decades ago, entertainment was long form, aptly based on classical techniques and practices: the three-act play, the soliloquy, subtext, and the story arc.

That isn't to say these kinds of practices are outdated. But in some ways, we're seeing the multitasking populous with its frenetic attention span influence the art of visual storytelling.

Have you ever watched "CSI"? Maybe most of you have. But the first time I did a short time ago, I felt like I'd regressed to a 9-year-old sugar freak. Not that it's a horrible program, but I wouldn't recommend it to a Shakespeare fanatic.

Online video is here, and it's changed the consumption of dramatic, comedic, and tragic content into bite-sized pieces. If you prefer subtlety and nuance in storytelling, online video won't do. This new language is designed for the "sound-bite generation," for whom a story must be told in 30 seconds or less.

Is video, then, the ultimate solution for the advertiser who wants to cram as much as possible into an ad? Does the new generation of consumers who consume video provide a gateway for higher message consumption?

As much as the hopeful might want to think so, that trend won't last for very long.

Some TV ad studies show that only 5 percent of people fully pay attention to TV advertising. No matter how funny and how good, the ad's got a small chance of getting exposure. Combine that fact with the multitasking nature of online viewers, and that fraction is reduced even more.

No matter what you think the next best thing will be online, remember short attention spans are fleeting like the wind. Just because you can say it punchier and in less time doesn't mean anybody will be listening.

Obviously you heard about that one....

Microsoft this morning has made a bid to acquire Yahoo at a 64% premium to Thursday's closing stock price to represent a $44.6 BILLION value, which is projected to be over a 30X EBITA multiple offer on projected 2008 earnings.