VideoNuze Posts

Yesterday I hosted the 5th in a series of webcasts in which I review key findings from our industry reports. In this webcast I covered highlights from our Q4 '06 report "The Broadcast TV Industry and Broadband Video: Confronting New Challenges, Embracing New Opportunities".

The broadcast TV industry - both networks and local stations - are facing lots of challenges and the most recent, and possibly most disruptive is broadband video. In the report we review best practices and what both networks and stations are currently doing with broadband video. You can register and see a replay of the webcast (plus download the slides) by clicking here. I look forward to your reactions!

These webcasts have been a great opportunity to share thoughts and do Q&A.

About announced it is doubling the number of videos available at the site. This is a natural extension for the site and allows their guides to become even more prominent experts. I like the session-based ad approach integrating video and text. A nice move away from pre-rolls only.

The whole "how-to" category is just starting to be exploited using broadband video. I'm looking for a lot more activity here...

Well not quite yet, as the lawsuits are not yet flying. But we're getting there. After some flip-flopping on this last fall, today Viacom officially told YouTube to take down its clips, reputed to number over 100,000. Obviously you'd need to be involved in these negotiations to know the details of what the offers and counter-offers have been, but it's a disappointment for both parties not to be able to work things out.

As I wrote back in November, "Big Media's Most Vexing Challenge (and How to Overcome It)", companies like Viacom are going through a painful adjustment process to the new broadband-dominated world. This flare-up with YouTube is yet another example.

This Shycast-IKEA campaign caught my eye this morning. As many of you know, I’m a big believer that the openness of broadband video makes it appealing to lots of companies that can creatively tap its potential.

In this case, startup Shycast is creating contests for big brands to enable customers to submit video in order to win prizes. I like the social media angle here, however, in looking at the site, the part that’s missing to me is the engagement with the IKEA brand. All I can see is an IKEA banner. It might as well be from anyone. The site needs to be infused with the IKEA brand personality to make it really feel like an IKEA contest. Given today is just launch day, I’ll standby and look for improvements.

Chicago Tribune article suggests that user generated content producers being paid for their works will soon be ubiquitous. Of course Revver and others have been doing this for a while now. Steven Starr from Revver raises the “recognition vs. reward” question that undoubtedly passes through any UGC producer’s mind.

I’ve said for a while that if someone had laid the YouTube business plan next to the Revver business plan back in 2005, logic would have suggested that Revver would have better prospects given its willingness to share revenues with producers (thereby creating more incentive to post there).

However, what would have been missing from that logic would be the 2 things that I believe made YouTube an early (and big) winner – namely its willingness to push the envelope in allowing copyrighted material to be posted on its site and its superior user experience. Having won the first battle, YouTube appears poised to overlay the financial incentive long missing for content producers. If well-executed, this should make the landscape even tougher for all the others to succeed.

OK, even as the enthusiast that I am about the value of Super Bowl ads increasing, this seems over the top to me. WSJ is reporting that a number of sites are selling pre-rolls on their Super Bowl ad galleries. Call me skeptical, but I just don't see how consumers are going to stomach this.

In February of 2006, following Super Bowl XL, I wrote a newsletter entitled, "The $10 Million Super Bowl Ad?". I suggested that despite all the anxieties around the future of the 30-second spot, the future of Super Bowl ads was very bright. This was the case because of all the broadband and online opportunities that can lead into and follow up the 30 second ad that shows during the game.

My proposition was that marketers would be less concerned about "throwing the long ball", i.e. spending $2.5 million per spot ($2.6 million for Super Bowl XLI, btw) if they were able to monetize that investment beyond just the on-air showing. And broadband is a great way of doing exactly that.

Today Stuart Elliott at the NY Times had a great piece, "Multiplying the Payoffs From A Super Bowl Spot", exactly on this point, and how it's playing out for Super Bowl XLI. It showcases the advertisers who are leveraging broadband this year, including Anheuser-Busch, GM and Garmin. I continue to forecast that broadband is only going to drive the price of 30 second Super Bowl spots (and in fact likely add new value to all :30s) higher as marketers come to understand how they can leverage their investments and tangibly drive revenues from them.

In yet another great example of how brand marketers are embracing broadband to build closer relations with their customers and prospects, Adweek carried this story today about Lexus launching its own channel this summer. The channel is being desigend to create a "parallel with the character of the brand," according to Lexus national interactive and contextual marketing manager Brian Bolain.