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NBC Universal plans to concentrate its digital team at CNBC’s high-tech facility in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, reports PaidContent. The digital staff makes up 200 people, with room for another 250 as they grow in the years to come.
1 comment February 12th, 2007
Borrell Associates is releasing a new report today that reveals that newspaper sites grossed $81 million in local video advertising in 2006, compared to $32 million for local TV sites. “Print media are using the internet as a crossover platform to tap traditional TV advertisers, just as stations (and others) are trying to use the internet to tap traditional print advertisers,” reads the report. Terry Heaton calls it “an absolute stunner.” Just consider for a moment that local TV has been at the forefront of video innovation for decades — until now, when we’re facing the greatest revolution in video to date. Portals (and other pure plays), network/cable sites, newspapers and even video blogs are beating local TV sites in video innovation and revenue generation. How important is video? Borrell goes on to predict that video advertising will skyrocket to make up one-third of all local online advertising in 2012, just below paid search:
But it’s not the traditional :15 pre-roll that will generate most of the revenue, but long-form advertorial video that’s associated with key verticals such as real estate, health and automotive. Isn’t it interesting in the history of business that companies that believe they have the most expertise in something are the most likely to fall behind in times of tremendous change? Let’s hope local TV wakes up to the fact that we need to take large, aggressive steps to catch up in online video, from technology to original content to sales.
18 comments February 12th, 2007
I mentioned yesterday that MySpace was expected to make an announcement, and sure enough, the social networking site said it has licensed technology from Audible Magic to block the uploading of unauthorized, copyrighted video clips. This announcement comes a week after Viacom pulled its clips from YouTube and a few days after Bolt settled a lawsuit with Universal Music, which is also suing MySpace.
Add comment February 12th, 2007
Time Inc. is announcing today that it’s launching an in-house studio to help its 130 magazines develop videos for the Web. Time is also taking the wraps off a deal to work with online video distributor and ad service Brightcove. For all you other print publishers out there, you can read my headline two ways. Isn’t it time you looked into video for your sites?
Add comment February 12th, 2007
I have a marketing buddy whose sig file is a Steve Jobs quote, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” Proof that my buddy gets it, and so does C|Net’s Stefanie Olsen in this piece that delves into why well-designed Web products and tech gadgets are winning in a more competitive marketplace. Companies everywhere are now desperate to get it, but we are slow to educate ourselves on just what “user design” is. What makes for “good” design may be subjective, but simplicity of use is key to success. It is clear that well-designed products YouTube and iPods are the exception rather than the norm, and they win because they are simple to use. “Design is starting to change who succeeds and who fails. A few years ago that wasn’t true. If I had a better algorithm, I would win,” says a NASA senior research scientist.
4 comments February 12th, 2007
If you are thinking about providing a call to action in your television spot to get a viewer to go online after seeing it, you are thinking in the right direction. A recent comScore survey of Super Bowl viewers found that 19% went online to find out more information about last week’s Super Bowl ads. That’s the kind of clickthrough rate that many online advertisers drool over.
Add comment February 12th, 2007
It looks like Microsoft is hard at work on a Wifi-enabled Zune phone, and this guy believes it may hit the market just before Apple’s iPhone.
3 comments February 12th, 2007
User video site Bolt has agreed to be sold to GoFish to finance a settlement with Universal Music Group, which sued the site over copyright infringement. This is a victory for traditional media in its quest to keep control over its content, and it raises the stakes for user video sites to create better filters. Universal still has an ongoing lawsuit with News Corp’s MySpace and Sony’s Grouper, and MySpace is expected to announce today that it’s starting to test a video filtering technology that would automatically block videos that use Universal songs. Under the DMCA, internet companies are protected if they promptly remove copyrighted content when asked. It’s unclear how fast Bolt removed the content, but Universal is arguing that sites like MySpace and YouTube don’t qualify for DMCA protection. Again, the Bolt case was a settlement, not a court ruling, but still unnerving for user video sites.
Add comment February 12th, 2007
Viacom is expected to announce today that it plans to cut 250 jobs at MTV Networks in an effort to invest more money in digital media. The goal is to consolidate positions in production, human resources and legal across MTVN’s operating units. Last week, Discovery announced a variety of cuts to shift resources to digital. As we’ve written many times here on Lost Remote, job cuts will intensify over the next couple of years across the industry. To increase staff on the digital front, companies are subtracting staff from TV — and TV staffers who haven’t taken the effort to learn digital skills will be the first to go.
1 comment February 12th, 2007
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