Million Dollar Web TV News

Monetize Your Online Video – Is the 15 Second Pre-roll the Answer? — 3/13/2010 5:12 PM

steve — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:21:47 +0000

As the online video market began to take hold in 2005, all of us grappled to figure out how to monetize the emerging online video-watching trend. It wasn’t easy, and for the last couple of years there was a question whether it was even possible. Yet, a recent study published by eMarketer shows that while overall online ad sales declined in 2009, “video ad spending growth will far outpace any other online format, running in the 34% to 45% range from 2009 through 2014.”

It does look like the smart publishers amongst us have finally found a way to monetize their video assets. Did you? And what is next in line for you?

The story starts with the well-known 30-second TV ad spot…

TV has popularized the 30-second ad spot. In the early days of online video, we were trying to repurpose this format to online video. But what worked well in the middle of a 30-minute TV program, did not work well before a 3-minute online video clip. Our viewers simply didn’t consider the value of a 3-minute clip to be big enough to “pay for” by watching a 30 second pre-roll ad.

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In the last two years advertisers have caught on the untapped potential in online video advertising; they have also started producing 15-second spots for online video. The 15-second pre-roll works much better online, producing a mere 16% drop in views (versus 40%-70% with 30-second spots).

As a producer/publisher of video content, the situation for you has now reversed. From owners of non-monetizable video content, you’ve become owners of inventory that is applicable to a vast amount of 15-second pre-rolls that are being produced. Yes, this IS the small secret of online video: large portions of semi-professional and professional video content are already fully sold.

This trend will continue. Tweens, teens, and a significant portion of twenty-somes do not watch TV anymore; they prefer to online video by far.

If you are an advertiser, online pre-rolls offer many advantages for you compared to TV spots:

1. They are accurately and immediately measurable.

2. Your viewer has to watch them and cannot “change the channel” without losing the ability to watch the original video clip.

3. The Internet allows you to target your ads to the right audience BETTER, CHEAPER, AND FASTER.

These advantages, coupled with the growing availability of 15-second spots, will accelerate ad spending’s move from TV to online BIG TIME.

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Cloudy Future For Web and Mobile Video? — 2/16/2010 7:12 PM

steve — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:24:09 +0000

Last year, high-profile online video platform announcements were everywhere. Think Netflix’s streaming partnerships, Best Buy’s partnership with CinemaNow, and Disney’s Keychest. All of the initiatives were designed to securely bring content to an assortment of different devices, be they stationary like home TVs, desktop PCs, or mobile like smart phones, netbooks, and laptop PCs.

With these big video announcements, we keep hearing the newly popular buzz term “cloud computing” again and again. In short, cloud computing refers to public access data centers, web services, and online apps, such as Google, YouTube, iTunes etc., etc.

: Image via CrunchBase

A major application of cloud computing, a.k.a. Software as a Service (SaaS), is applications that reside on the Internet instead of on your computer. Today the “going with the cloud” decision really turns on scalability, more specifically on the business model that governs companies in the SaaS remote storage area.

Since video storage and delivery is complicated and expensive, media companies in particular are keen to utilize the “cloud” as a way to expand their businesses and save money. Let’s examine whether or not this is a feasible solution for them.

Cloud service providers like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have been, traditionally, charging a “Byte in/Byte out” fee — so for large, tier-one media companies like movie studios, a storage cloud service does not scale.

Here is a concrete example of this: If Studio A has a copy of “Harry Potter” that it wants syndicated onto the Internet and the mobile platform space, then it will have to transmit a huge file (50 gigabytes or more) to the transcode cloud provider. The finished product is a file that is 200 megabytes. Because Studio A is being charged a byte IN charge, this would not scale due to the size/cost ratio of the incoming file.

On the flip side, Studio A could pay the cloud vendor that is doing the transcoding to avoid the byte IN fee, and then be exposed only to the byte OUT fee. That arrangement scales much better, but storage fees have hovered around 50 cents per gigabyte per month.

So, let’s do the math and see if this makes sense for Studio A. The company has a digitized master library, 50 terabytes in size — which comes to somewhere around $20,000-30,000 per month for storage costs alone. Those fees would eliminate the savings generated by dropping the “Byte IN” model.

In other words, companies in the storage/transcoding business will need to rethink their models before they can sell services to the largest, tier-one media companies.

However, the ability to scale Web services across many processors in the cloud has huge potential even today, without changing the models. This is why we see great advancements in virtualization and intelligent load-balancing systems for dynamically driven services.

There is a huge future for this technology, and that’s why large web and storage hosting services are tooling up to offer “cloud-based computing.” Having hundreds, if not thousands, of processing cores on standby that anyone can access on an as-needed basis is like having a supercomputer accessible from your home. Is that cool or what?

So expect cloud-based computing to continue to grow and become more prominent as more devices allow users to connect from anywhere and everywhere. It’s not quite there yet, but as with video and other media delivery pointing the way, these business models will mature to serve your needs in very cost effective ways.

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Love Avatar and Now Mobster Bot : Have We, Humans Already Been Left Behind ??? — 2/2/2010 10:03 AM

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:50:17 +0000

Don’t get me wrong, we are very grateful to our latest advertiser member to have chosen us. Coming on the heels of Lovatar signing on only six weeks ago and Newmedia Publishing just a few weeks ago, it’s a little miracle! Looks more and more like the recession is drawing to an end and not too soon….

If you are into Myspace or Facebook multiplayer games, like Mafia Wars and Farmsville, you know that they have amassed millions of players. So its not surprising that the best and/or most enterprising players can sell their expertise and make a tidy profit at it. MobsterBot.com is a compilation of the best guides, tips, “cheats,” and software bots for Mafia Wars.

So… best of luck to all of you aspiring mafiosi… may the Godfather be with you…!

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Web Video Advertising to Increase by 115% to $968 million in 2010 — 1/27/2010 9:13 AM

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:01:46 +0000

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.

So you think a 32% growth rate is stellar?

According to Jack Myers of M.E.D.I.Advisory Group, web video advertising will increase by 115% to $968 million in 2010…

Yes, it’s 115% – there is nothing wrong with your eyesight!

And he also forecasts web video advertising to remain the fastest growing segment of the media industry through 2012, when he projects it to hit nearly $5 billion.

$5 billion…

now I KNOW our Million Dollar Web TV ad platform will perform wonders for our member advertisers!

: Image by maxymedia via Flickr

Newmedia Publishing Bets on 2010 — 1/4/2010 4:40 PM It's really interesting to see the new media space experiencing...
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2010: The Year of iTV? — 1/15/2010 9:13 AM

steve — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:32:53 +0000

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….

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Newmedia Publishing Bets on 2010 — 1/4/2010 4:40 PM

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:24:10 +0000

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!

The 2010 Media Watch List (mondaynote.com)

Web Video Advertising to Increase by 115% to $968 million in 2010 — 1/27/2010 9:13 AM Web Video Advertising to Increase by 115% to $968 million...

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Avatars and Augmented Reality Hit the World of Marketing — 12/19/2009 8:55 AM

steve — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:20:41 +0000

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.

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

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Avatars Are Taking Over Here Too — 12/16/2009 5:13 PM

steve — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:17:14 +0000

Yes. We have our first “avatar” client. Lovatar, a.k.a. Love Avatar, IS a classy web site, though. We would not have accepted them otherwise, as our latest member advertiser. Scout’s (virtual scout’s?) honor!

Lovatar allows visitors to enjoy a perfect erotic experience without getting dirty, wet, or emotionally attached. They can build or choose their own digital counterpart and explore the exotic world of virtual sex with their own avatars on their PCs, netbooks, even smart phones.

Need companionship? Beautiful, safe, and fun sex partners? Lovatar.com is cost-free and removes the trial and error from finding, reviewing, and using the most advanced sex games, desktop, and smart phone apps.

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Let Your Customers Convey Your Message — 12/4/2009 9:13 AM

webtvadfan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:05:36 +0000

Sometimes, a video may give the viewer the sense of being talked at, or the feeling of the “us versus them mentality,” in which the viewer knows the business is trying to sell him something, so he’s a little bit on guard. An effective way to break that barrier in a restaurant video, is to include customer participation.

Using customers is effective because a viewer can readily identify with customers in the restaurant video. If they are having a good time and enjoying the restaurant, then he too believes he will have a good time there. The effect can be even more powerful if children are used. People think of children as innocent. Watching children on screen is fun, and serves to distance the video from any suspicion of manipulation of the truth, for commercial benefit.

If you watch the Weathervane Restaurant video, you can see an example of a video that employs child participation.

The Weathervane restaurant video disarms you right from the start. It begins like so many other videos with a shot of the outside facade. But before you can say Jack Frost, you are greeted by a child’s voice telling you to “Common in to the Wethervane Restaurant.” The camera then pans to four children standing outside the entrance, with the boy in front doing the talking. As soon as he finishes, they turn and walk inside. They’re soon seen sitting around a booth.They look around at the camera and say as one “It’s a great place for families.”

As the waitress brings food to the children, the narrator tells us to “Try our chicken, fried steak, our baby back ribs or seasoned salmon salad. “Close-ups of the dishes are superimposed on the shot of the children, as the narrator continues “Our down-home cooking will bring you back.”

Having established the family oriented and kid friendly nature of the eatery, we now hear from an adult customer who tells us the Wethervane is “a great place for fun,” followed by a chorus of “yeahs” from the kids and other guests. The demonstration of enthusiasm further breaks down the barrier between video and viewer. This effect is enhanced by the fact that the participants appear to be friends of the restaurant as opposed to professional actors.

The narrator invites us to try their “prickly pair” or “margarita.” The waitress simultaneously places the two drinks on the counter, just in front of the camera. We get a good view of the restaurant’s food and beverages, as well as the customers.

Then a youngish looking grandpa with his wife tells us, “It’s a great place for celebration.” Three generations all testifying to the family nature of the Weathervane Restaurant, fully convincing us of the family fun atmosphere.

As the video closes, the narrator invites us to call and arrange for a special event, and then an interesting graphic of a local map showing the location of the restaurant pops on the screen. In the background, the narrator repeats verbally what we see on the graphic.

A well designed presentation, wouldn’t you say?

Thanks to Winmax Video of California for contributing to this post. Winmax produces restaurant videos and as well as corporate videos.

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How to Become "Video-Active" and Profit from It — 11/25/2009 15:30 PM

steve — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:32:59 +0000

How can we utilize video in this new buyer-led world?
To engage today’s customers, we must forget nearly everything we’ve learned about the video of the “past” and reinvent it as an interactive marketing medium. Here’s how:

1. Become “Video-Active”
Thanks to technology, we no longer need an army of well-trained people to shoot, edit, and produce video content. Sure, it’s not entirely easy just yet, but Cisco’s Flip cameras and a host of others are a great way to quickly capture that customer testimonial you’ve been waiting for.

2. Make your video personal
In digital marketing, we’ve seen the benefits of identifying and targeting messages to buyer personas — and video is no exception. With interactive technologies, we can now assemble a personal video story on the fly that maps directly to each persona’s needs. How cool is that?

3. Roll with your own rock stars
You and your own employees can create effective and authentic video content. Look for individuals in your company who connect with people and can tell your story the best way. Use LinkedIn and Twitter to enable direct connections between your rock stars and prospects.

4. Keep it short and sweet ( Not that KISS … )
In this consumer-led world, time is precious — so don’t assume that someone will sit through a 30 minute company presentation on video. Find juicy, bite-sized bits of video snippets and create fun, memorable content out of them.

5. Build calls-to-action into your video
Strike while the iron’s hot. If you have prospects engaged in your video, provide the next step directly within the experience, rather than sending them off to another Web site.

6. Focus on the ROI
Absolutely! Do NOT think of video as optional Web site eye-candy, but a way to add rocket fuel to your current lead generation, lead nurturing and sales enablement programs. Recent studies show that adding video to e-mail campaigns can increase conversion rates by 2 to 3 times. This is an ROI that’s hard to beat.

Last but not least…

Video is Google Juice
According to Forrester Research, optimizing video content is one of the easiest ways to get a first-page organic ranking on Google. Submitting video content to YouTube and other video portals will help you raise awareness, but driving prospects to your door is the ultimate goal.

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Million Dollar Web TV News

Monetize Your Online Video – Is the 15 Second Pre-roll the Answer? — 3/13/2010 5:12 PM

Cloudy Future For Web and Mobile Video? — 2/16/2010 7:12 PM

Love Avatar and Now Mobster Bot : Have We, Humans Already Been Left Behind ??? — 2/2/2010 10:03 AM

Web Video Advertising to Increase by 115% to $968 million in 2010 — 1/27/2010 9:13 AM

2010: The Year of iTV? — 1/15/2010 9:13 AM

Newmedia Publishing Bets on 2010 — 1/4/2010 4:40 PM

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Avatars and Augmented Reality Hit the World of Marketing — 12/19/2009 8:55 AM

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Let Your Customers Convey Your Message — 12/4/2009 9:13 AM

How to Become "Video-Active" and Profit from It — 11/25/2009 15:30 PM