Managing Editor, KCRA.com
Sacramento, CA
Read the full post February 16th, 2007
Archive for February 16th, 2007
Report: Google to buy Adscape
With perfect timing in respect to Cory’s earlier nod to games, Google is reportedly set to dish out $23 million to pick up the video game advertising company Adscape. Interestingly, Adscape has no video game publishers as current customers. Microsoft paid hundreds of millions to buy Massive, a video game ad company that offers developers an SDK for placement, back in May, 2006.
An example of an in-game ad from Adscape’s site.
Add comment February 16th, 2007
Online video in the real estate industry
I couldn’t agree more with Cory (below) about the dangers of looking at selling online video based on CPMs alone. To make the big bucks you have to think more like a radio salesperson, who are use to selling concepts, not just the numbers. Some emerging examples of how to make money off online video in this way are occurring in the real estate industry. Wellcome Mat (below) has been referred to as the “YouTube of real estate,” enabling anyone to upload video about a property they are trying to sell. And there’s Online Walk Thru, more of a niche play focusing on luxury properties. Finally, there’s TurnHere.com, less focused on real estate and more on local neighborhoods. The point here, don’t just sell advertising, sell a complete marketing solution. There just has to be a better way than those annoying preroll ads. Don’t ya think?
The Wellcome Mat video player showcasing a NY apartment. Click the parts of the property to jump to that section of the video. Very well done.
12 comments February 16th, 2007
No big money in online video ads… yet
MediaPost’s Wayne Friedman breaks out his calculator and guesstimates how much revenue the networks are generating from online video advertising, and then he compares the number to high-priced TV spots to make a point. “ABC says it does 3.7 million streams a month,” he writes. “At the high $40 CPM level, that means ABC does $148,000 a month — which probably wouldn’t even get you one prime-time spot on Men In Trees.” He continues, “There is a pie in the Internet sky, for sure. But right now this isn’t even about crumbs. It’s about the molecules holding the sugar and flour together…. So during this upfront season, what are TV sales executives really going to be working on?” As you might imagine, I believe Friedman is myopic, and articles like these are dangerous for TV sales execs to read. Here’s why: 1) This week’s Borrell Associates report predicts skyrocketing growth in local online video revenue, and traditional CPM advertising is only a subset of that number. Much of the growth will be advertorial, product placement, focused user video and other creative sponsorship and in-content opportunities. If TV sales people apply Friedman’s “spots and dots” thinking to online video instead of thinking creatively, they’ll miss out on much of this explosive growth. 2) Aggressive video content production and innovation is one of the top critical success factors for driving overall traffic to any content site, which results in higher revenue across the board, not just in video. 3) And as any top TV executive will tell you, aggressive growth in online video revenue, even with small numbers, is critical to tell a positive story to Wall Street.
Adds Drew in comments: “I think Friedman’s analysis shouldn’t be construed as a slam against online video. But it is a slam against VOD clips with prerolls, postrolls etc. VOD is a whole new way of looking at video which the networks and ad agencies haven’t figured out yet. I don’t think VOD will ever be as big a traditional TV. HOWEVER when linear TV is up and running on the Internet, the math will change quickly. Not pie. Maybe brownies.”
3 comments February 16th, 2007
List of online video companies
This is a handy resource. A site has compiled a list of companies in video sharing, video search, video editing, P2P, vlogging and video advertising, among others.
3 comments February 16th, 2007
Media sites adding online games
CBS Interactive is putting together a group focused on gaming, and the network plans to roll out online games across all its web properties in the coming months. Hearst recently inked a deal with gaming company Arkadium to build customized games for its magazine sites. And ABC.com, NBC.com and EOnline.com recently added games to promote various TV shows. The idea is to attract new advertising dollars and increase engagement with users of all ages. (WSJ sub. req.)
4 comments February 16th, 2007
