June 07, 2005
TNS Rolling Out Branded Ent. Reports
TNS Media Intelligence said it will launch a new reporting service that would attempt to measure branded entertainment ad inventory on both on network and cable TV programming.
The new service will be made available on TNSMI's Stradegy product, which will allow advertisers and media planners to generate reports on branded entertainment spending and activity alongside reports on general TV advertising campaigns.
May 20, 2005
AQuantive Starts On-Demand TV Ad Unit
AQuantive said it would expand on its Atlas ad-serving unit with a new division catering to the emerging market for video-on-demand advertising, banking on Internet ad technologies and methods spreading to other media.
Atlas On Demand aims to extend Internet ad-serving principles to dynamically insert ads into VOD programming. AQauntive hopes the service will address the complexities of the fragmented technology market for VOD advertising, allowing ad agencies to do media planning, buying and tracking from a single platform for campaigns running on multiple cable operators.
May 17, 2005
Viacom Starts Digital Media Wing
Viacom will step up its TV stations' digital strategy with the creation of the Television Stations Digital Media Group, the station counterpart to the recently created CBS Digital Media.
The new group will be led by Jonathan Lees, who was named president, Viacom announced Tuesday. Lees, who previously created and managed the enhanced Television division of the Disney/ABC Internet Group, was most recently a media consultant for Double Vision Media, LLC.
In his new position, Lees' mission will be to explore, identify, plan and execute a broadband, Internet and wireless strategy for Viacom's 40 TV stations. He will also coordinate the TV stations' local efforts with CBS Digital Media, which includes CBS.com, CBSNews.com, CBSSportsline.com and UPN.com.
"Our Internet sites are increasingly becoming a critical component to our presence in each of our marketplaces, as well as to our news gathering operations," said Fred Reynolds, president and CEO of the Viacom Television Stations Group.
Like other TV groups, Viacom is looking to leverage its brands into new distribution platforms in order to increase audiences and revenue. "By embracing the newest technologies available today, we can enhance our news capabilities, our local branding, programming and talent and reach our audience 24/7," Lees said.
--Katy Bachman
May 10, 2005
Media Use Shifts Online
Web users, particularly in younger demographics, are increasing the amount of time they spend perusing online media, according to a new survey, at the expense of television, newspapers and magazines.
Burst Media, a Burlington, Mass.-based online ad network, surveyed 2,600 Web users on their media-consumption habits. The poll found 61 percent said they spent more time using the Internet than a year ago. In contrast, 28 percent said the same for radio, 25 percent for TV, 24 percent for newspapers and 21 percent for magazines.
May 02, 2005
Infinity Launching Podcast Radio Station
Infinity Broadcasting continued to advance its new media strategy Wednesday with the announcement that it will launch the first-ever podcasting radio station. Using content created exclusively by listener podcasts, KYOURADIO station will launch May 16 on Talk KYCY-AM in San Francisco and stream online at kyouradio.com.
Podcasting has taken off in the past year, with thousands of podcasts available for easy download to iPods or MP3 players. Most of the podcasts have been created by hobbyists and average Americans, due to the inexpensive technology and readily-available software required to podcast.
Although several radio stations, such as Bonneville International's WTOP-AM in Washington, D.C., have offered up hour-long podcasts of select programming, Infinity is the first group to embrace podcasting as the foundation for an entire format the company is calling Open Source Radio.
"There is a profound shift underway in the way we use technology that allows everyone to have a voice. KYOURADIO harnesses that power by serving our listeners with content developed by them, for them and offering a platform to share it with the rest of the world," said Joel Hollander, chairman and CEO of Infinity.
Beginning today, listeners can upload their podcasts at no charge at KYOURADIO's Web site, where it will be reviewed for broadcast. Going forward, programming on the station will be determined by listener interest and feedback, evaluated daily.
--Katy Bachman
April 07, 2005
TiVo, DirecTV Extend Ad Deal
TiVo said it has signed a new advertising services agreement with DirecTV, extending the companies' prior services agreement.
Under the new pact, each company may sell and distribute TiVo's advanced advertising capabilities on DirecTV DVRs with TiVo service. Both TiVo and DirecTV will each retain their respective revenues generated from such sales, per the companies. Other terms were not disclosed.
DirecTV is the nation's largest satellite television provider with approximately 13.9 million subscribers.
April 05, 2005
Google Makes Video Moves
SAN FRANCISCO Al Gore's new cable TV venture will tap into popular searches on Google to make some programming decisions, while the search engine plans to make home videos searchable.
Current is the new name of the cable network Al Gore is launching with entrepreneur Joel Hyatt on Aug. 1, announced at the National Cable Telecommunications Association conference in San Francisco. It was previously called IndTV.
The network has positioned itself as a channel created for (and with the assistance of) viewers ages 18-34 and will zero in on the younger generations' MTV-influenced short attention span with 24 hours of vignettes of less than five minutes each.
In once segment, called Google Current, news clips will be presented based on searches done that day by Google users.
The schedule will be programmed like an iPod shuffle, network executives explained, with the "pods" running from 15-seconds to five minutes. Content ranges from technology, fashion, television, music and videogames, to environment, relationships, finance and politics.
In addition to Google Current, the titled segments include music pod Current Playlist; Current Parent, which offers advice to first-time parents; Current Gigs, which offers career guidance; and a spirituality segment titled Current Soul.
"Until now, the notion of viewer participation has been limited to sending a tape to America's Funniest Home Videos, calling an interview show, taking part in an instant poll or voting someone off an island," said Gore. "We're creating a powerful new brand of television that doesn't treat audiences as merely viewers, but as collaborators."
Gore and Hyatt first announced plans for the channel last year after purchasing Canadian channel NewsWorld International. So far, Current has commitments for 20 million households on DirecTV, Time Warner and Comcast.
Separately, Google founder Larry Page said it would soon allow users to upload their own video on its site, which includes a test version of a video search engine, according to news reports. Google Video currently allows users to do text searches for video clips, but returns only program information or closed-captioning transcripts. Google executives previously have said they would like to add full video clips to the service once rights issues and a revenue model is worked out.
April 04, 2005
Podcasts Seen Catching On
As many as 6 million U.S. adults have listened to a podcast, according to a new survey, giving hope that the fledgling technology could catch on with a broader market.
Podcasts are downloadable radio programs, often distributed through Really Simple Syndication feeds that can be transferred to digital music players like iPods. Podcasts act as the audio equivalent of blogs, allowing users an easy way to broadcast and share content. According to survey of 2,200 U.S. adults conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, about 6 million said they downloaded a podcast.
February 08, 2005
One in Four Watch Online Video Weekly
Over 25 percent of Internet users said they watch online video at least once a week, according to a survey of Web visitors.
A poll of more than 27,000 Internet users completed by the Online Publishers Association found 51 percent watch online video at least once a month and 27 percent do so weekly. About 5 percent of respondents said they watch Internet video every day.
The OPA poll, conducted online in October and November 2004 by market research firm Frank N. Magid Associates, found many consumers respond to video ads. About 23 percent of those surveyed said they visited a Web site after seeing a video ad and 6 percent said they made a purchase.
The survey found video viewers are heavily male, with nearly 63 percent of video viewers men versus 49 percent for non-viewers. Over three-quarters of online video viewers have broadband Internet access at home compared to 51 percent for non-viewers.
The survey, which polled users age 13 or older on 25 Web sites, found the most popular online videos were news clips, followed by movie trailers and sports highlights. More than half of those polled who had not watched Web video on the site they were visiting said they did not know the venue had videos. Only 9 percent said they were not interested in watching video on a computer.
Many OPA members, including ESPN.com, Forbes.com and Dow Jones MarketWatch.com, have ad-supported online video. NYTimes.com and iVillage recently expanded their online video content.
Video Ads are getting BIG
NYTimes.com said it has started offering in-stream online video advertising, becoming the latest Web publisher to embrace the ad format.
The Web site is showing pre-roll video ads in its "Movie Minutes" section, where users can watch film reviews and reports from The New York Times critics. NYTimes.com is using Viewpoint's Unicast In-Page online video technology for the ads at launch.
"Driving TV commercials online is definitely a goal," said Heather Kelz, director of ad operations at NYTimes.com.
Fox Searchlight Pictures is NYTimes.com's first online video advertiser, signing a deal to be the exclusive sponsor of "Movie Minutes" videos. Previously, NYTimes.com only offered advertisers the ability to show video ads within banner ad units.
Keltz said NYTimes.com would show either 15- or 30-second video ads, depending on the length of the clip they precede. NYTimes.com plans to re-launch sections of its Web site in 2005. Keltz said management would look at ways to include more video on the site.
NYTimes.com increased its online video inventory with its October 2004 redesign of technology section, which carries video reports from tech columnist David Pogue.
Several online publishers have increased their video offerings, potentially offering a lucrative new ad format to lure brand advertisers more comfortable with television advertising.
Women-focused site iVillage in recent weeks overhauled its Internet site to include video offerings on every Web page. The company said advertiser demand was outstripping supply. Dow Jones launched a video center at WSJ.com in November 2004. Other online publishers like MarketWatch.com and Forbes.com offer in-stream, ad-supported video.
Jupiter Research forecasts ad spending on Internet video will rise from $121 million in 2003 to $198 million in 2005.
January 27, 2005
Video Looms Larger in iVillage Site Overhaul
NEW YORK iVillage said it has redesigned its Web site with an eye to expanding its video advertising inventory.
Visitors to the women-focused site now see video offerings on each Web page. IVillage recently upgraded its video content through its $17.2 million acquisition of Healthology, a medical information provider with a library of 1,200 streaming videos.
"Demand is outstripping supply," said Peter Naylor, senior vice president of sales at iVillage. "I would love to get more video inventory."
Videos are preceded by a 15-second advertisement. Video advertisers on the site include Kraft, Microsoft and NBC.
Online video advertising is pegged as a big growth area. Jupiter Research has forecast ad spending on Internet video will rise from $121 million in 2003 to $198 million in 2005.
Added video advertising sales would help iVillage boost its growing online ad sales. In the third quarter, the company reported $16.7 million in revenue and a $1.1 million profit. Excluding an ad deal with Hearst that expired in June 2004, third-quarter 2004 ad sales increased nearly 50 percent to $5.7 million compared to the same quarter a year earlier, according to iVillage. The company is scheduled to report fourth-quarter and full-year results on Feb. 9.
The site overhaul cuts down on the number of links on iVillage's home page from 80 to about 20. It now gives visitors entry into the eight most popular areas of the site, which include sections like health and entertainment. IVillage has also put its search box in a more prominent position on the home page for visitors looking for specific information. IVillage generated $200,000 in revenue from paid listings in the third quarter through a partnership with Google.
