Million Dollar Web TV News

If you believe the forecasters, 2010 will be the year of the long-awaited inflection point when TV budgets begin to shift to online video in a meaningful way. In 2009, advertisers were projected to spend about $700 million on web video ads in the US alone, an increase of 32% from last year. The actual numbers are not in yet, but indications are close.

While 2009 has been a rough year for the wider economy, it has actually been an amazing one for companies in digital media.

Online video viewership has been way up, with more and more viewers accessing content on all sorts of devices including netbooks, cell phones, Xboxes, iPods and even portable gaming devices.

This year has also seen the maturation of Netflix’s partnership with Xbox, and the addition of competitor Sony PS3 as a second distribution channel. This has made it even easier for customers to access their content on Netflix at any time they want to watch a movie at home. While the video quality is still wanting and the selection is limited, it’s still a great step.

Also:

Disney gave us a peek at its Keychest initiative, which will bring the studio’s current and classic films to multiple devices.

Best Buy announced a partnership with CinemaNow, that will allow viewers to download premium content and watch it on multiple screens.

Blockbuster revealed plans to provide movies on SD Cards, that would last up to 30 days, in a move the retailer hopes will compete with Redbox.

TV Everywhere, which Time Warner announced over the summer, is a magnificent idea: for a fee, cable operators will give subscribers multi-platform access to whatever is on cable, at any time, from any place, on any device.

This notion has caught fire, with Comcast and other major players announcing their own versions of this exciting platform. I expect that, along with the new initiatives movie studios unleash, 2010 will be the year of TV Everywhere — especially it starts become available to all viewers.

Yes, it has been a big year indeed. So, what should we expect in 2010?

With any luck, cable operators will sort out the significant technical challenges TV Everywhere still presents, so they can actually bring it online “Everywhere.”

Convenience will definitely be a driving force in video innovation. We’ll get even more access to the content we want, whenever and wherever we want it. Do you have your checkbook ready? If not, give your kids the dinkiest cell phones, even if they hate you for it….

It’s really interesting to see the new media space experiencing its long predicted takeover of publishing, broadcasting, music and film distribution; and, of course, advertising!

If the proof is in the “eating of the ‘digital’ pudding,” our newest member advertiser, Newmedia Publishing, is a prime example of this trend. They have been producing digital versions of their authors’ and artists’ books and albums since 1999, when they set up shop. Congratulations and thanks for becoming our first advertiser of 2010!

No video? They did promise to add their video sometime this year!

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• The 2010 Media Watch List (mondaynote.com)

How come I’m not surprised? Neither are you I reckon. But … what, in Reality, is Augmented Reality???

In Avatar, James Cameron’s epic SciFi movie, the director uses stereoscopic 3D technology to produce the film’s immersive special effects. With this evolutionary — yes, it IS evolutionary, not revolutionary — film making technique, Cameron could create, for the first time ever, photo-realistic computer-generated characters. How? By utilizing motion capture animation technology and observing directly on a monitor how the actors’ virtual counterparts interact with the movie’s digital world in real time, enabling him to adjust and direct the scenes just as if shooting live action.

Just like Cameron’s new technology, there is something new hitting the world of marketing: “Augmented Reality.” AR, as it is commonly known, is a hologram-like technology that allows you to interact with 3D images displayed on your monitor (Think Princess Leia in the first Star Wars movie with R2-D2’s projection and the emphasis line “Help us Obi-Wan, you’re our only hope”). But…

Is AR ready for prime-time marketing?

We’ll know soon: 20th Century Fox and a plethora of other brands are testing this emerging technology as a marketing tool to promote the Dec. 18 release of Avatar. Why shouldn’t the marketers push the boundary with a film that is doing the same?

In recent months brands ranging from Lego to Topps trading cards to Toyota have experimented with AR. Now big boys like, McDonald’s and Coke Zero, are joining the bandwagon via a marketing partnership with Fox for their big movie event – Avatar.

Coke Zero is using an expansive program that includes a commercial, airing on TV as well as theaters, not to mention their digital site AVTR.com. Coke Zero is running and producing the site, with minimal branding, where consumers can go to utilize AR-enabled packaging created by Coke Zero.

Once you download an application from AVTR.com, you can simply hold up the can or bag to a webcam to get a virtual ride from one of the film’s main modes of transportation – a Samson Helicopter from the movie that Sully flies in – According to the trade, in some Asian countries theater lobby displays allow consumers to explore AR right on the spot. n

Outside of Coke there is the one and only, McDonald’s, employing a similar approach. Its campaign kicked off during the movie’s Dec. 18 opening weekend with a special Happy Meal that takes kids to an Avatar-branded site, that happens to be a quick service McWorld virtual world; and a young-adult-oriented Big Mac promotional tie-in, that redirects consumers to McDonalds.com/Avatar.

Other domestic Avatar marketing partners include Panasonic, the film’s technology partner LG, which also launched an Avatar-themed campaign for its new Projector Phone Dec. 11, and Mattel, which rolled out an Avatar line of action figures earlier this year.

But … isn’t 3D just an annoying distraction?

Have you seen the movie? Do you think 3D is just an annoying distraction that takes away from experiencing the film’s story? Could Augmented Reality be in the same boat, since its marketing value is yet to be determined? Is it a passing fad or truly useful in creating richer digital movie and marketing experiences?

You are the jury — let’s hear YOUR opinion.

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• ‘Avatar’ passes $1 billion worldwide (pbpulse.com)