Back to Main

Media

June 5, 2008

Ford and Microsoft Sync Up for Viral Roadtripping

Microsoft has teamed with Ford for a highly experiential, super soft-sell microsite around Microsoft SYNC.

SYNC is a voice-actived gizmo for your car that's kind of like an iPod crossed with a Blackberry: it does music, text, and telephone. Cool, but it's a sell with a high educational curve.

Sync My Music, which lives on MSN, features a game, tons of content and a number of video webisodes about Kim and Seana, two music-obsessed girls, who road-trip across America in a SYNC equipped Ford in their respective quests to become a singer/songwriter (Kim DiVine is the real thing, actually), or to hook up with hot male indie band members.

The game unlocks additional content such as wallpaper and MP3s; the Explore section of the site is a region-by-region guide to the myriad cities the girls visit in their travels. It contains info on local clubs and bands and planning your own road trip. Which may prove difficult, as most of the links are crosswired. Select NYC's hippest bands, for example, and you land on Atlanta's arenas, clubs and cafes.

Oh, well. Given current gas prices, you probably weren't really going to do the roadtrip thing this summer, anyway.

Microsoft wants users to digg, blog and forward the site to a friend. Given the chicks meet popular local indie bands from time to time, the viral has got some real potential. Not just from the fans, but from the bands, who are promoting the heck out of the site on MySpace already.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 3, 2008

MSN Jumps on Celebrity Dirt Pile in Pairing with BermanBraun

BermanBraun, the studio launched by former Yahoo entertainment chief Lloyd Braun and film industry vet Gail Berman, has entered a deal with Microsoft to create an MSN-branded celebrity gossip and entertainment site. Kara Swisher first reported the launch yesterday, along with the tidbit that BermanBraun will also produce a daily "Lunacy Report" roundup up weird news appearing on Yahoo. Sounds very similar to Yahoo's recently-folded "the 9," which ran for two years but now redirects to Yahoo Entertainment.

MSN is the last of the traditional portals to do the gossip destination thing, having previously taking the approach of integrating its coverage of such stories as Bill Murray's infidelities with harder news content. The new site will join a congested field that also includes AOL's TMZ, PerezHilton.com and Yahoo's OMG. BermanBraun will share ad representation with Microsoft, Swisher also reported.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 2, 2008

At IAB Social Media Conference: All Media Are Emerging

The best moment of the Future is Now panel at the IAB's UGC and Social Media conference had more to do with the past than the future. Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer noted television isn't purchased the same way today that it was a year ago. "All media is emerging in one form or another... It's all up for grabs."

Organic's Chad Stoller chimed in: "Look at outdoor. For years you'd buy billboards with one constant impression. Now you can have 30 [creatives] up in an hour. We're talking about outdoor in terms of the daypart."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 27, 2008

Making Sense of Gen Y Media Consumption

Forrester Research put out a report on media consumption among Gen-Yers (18-27 year-olds). The big takeaways aren't surprising. This group spends more time online than watching TV (Indeed, according to the report, they "Spend less time watching television today than they did in 2004."). They spend more time playing video games, watching DVDs and checking out Web and mobile video content than the general population.

To make sense of it all, Forrester offers a few tips for marketers:

Find consumers in their preferred media channels. Are your consumers online or offline? How are they spending their time online? What channels do they prefer? This media profile will answer those questions with a view of today and a trend line showing how behavior has changed in the past four years.

....Prioritize media channels and brands for advertising....One simple way to start is to compare your advertising spend against the time that your target customers spend with each channel and brand. For example, Gen Yers generally are more likely to be found on MySpace than Facebook, but perhaps your target market is more likely to use Facebook. Or it may be that your multichannel sports fanatic customer actually spends more time online than watching television!

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 19, 2008

Media Buyers Take Aim

Intergi created "Media Buyer's Revenge, a first-person shooter that understands why your heart pounds every time the phone rings, and every time Outlook alerts you to new e-mail.

Of course, while the game is played from the perspective of a media buyer, and has sales people in the crosshairs, Intergi itself wants you media buyers to advertise on game sites on its network. But happy shooting!

Posted by Enid Burns at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

24/7 Real Media, 368 Days Later

What's life for David Moore, chief executive of 24/7 Real Media, one year
and two years to the day after WPP agreed to acquire the company? (If you're
counting days, 2008 was a Leap Year.)

When 24/7 was a stand alone publicly-held company -- before the WPP
acquisition -- Moore estimates he spent about 35 to 40 percent of his time
on activities related to investor relations.

Now, he says he devotes the extra time collaborating with his WPP
colleagues and meeting with clients. When I met with him today in NYC,
he had just returned from a quick trip to Korea where had played golf with a
client. (OK, so he's suffers from a little jet lag today, but nothing that caffeine can't fix.)

Last year at this time, Real Media generated 50 percent of its quarterly
revenue from its search solution, 36 percent from its media operations, and
8 percent from its technology solutions.

Since the acquisition, 24/7's search consultancy was moved to WPP's GroupM
subsidiary, while the 24/7 unit licenses its search technology to GroupM and
Dentsu.

While Moore said he cannot divulge specific revenue projections, he
anticipates 24/7's media operations business will see healthy growth. While
it currently has clients in the U.K. and France, Moore has his eye on
expanding to at least five to 10 other European markets in the next three to
five years. It also sees opportunities for growth in Asia and Australia.

What does he think of the latest reports that Microsoft wants to acquire a
part of Yahoo's business? Microsoft, he points out, is one of WPP's top 10
clients. Plus, Nicolle Pangis, 24/7's VP, product manager, pointed out
that WPP last week announced plans to develop a trading platform that will
link to Yahoo's ad exchange, and integrate targeting technology from 24/7
Real Media.

And has any of DoubleClick's customers defected to 24/7 after the Google
acquisition? Moore said he hasn't seen anyone jump ship -- but isn't
surprised because technology contracts typically last three years unless
they include a change of ownership clause.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 3:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 15, 2008

Curley to Leave WPNI

Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive's VP Product Development Rob Curley is leaving the firm. I've confirmed this with a source close to Curley, but no more info is available.

Classified Intelligence reported that Curley is taking on a gig with the Las Vegas Sun. Here's what they had earlier this afternoon:

Curley is attending the Editor&Publisher and MediaWeek Interactive Media Conference in Las Vegas, wearing his Post polo. But folks here are saying he's soon to join the Las Vegas Sun and its online properties. The Sun is owned by the Greenspun Media Group and has always been known for racy and edgy publications.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 25, 2008

Still Need to Make a Call to Buy on AOL's Spot Market

What exactly is AOL’s Platform-A Spot Marketplace? I couldn't tell from the company's press release what's different from what Advertising.com's offered all along. Well, a Platform-A spokesman told me what's significant is the ability for advertisers to bid on AOL's non-guaranteed CPM inventory. That includes stuff like Moviefone, AOL Sports and e-mail pages.

Apparently, non-guaranteed AOL inventory has been sold only on a performance basis until now. The main difference is it's available now on a CPM basis. Chandler was unable to tell me how much inventory is represented in this so-called spot market, since it's constantly in flux.

Don't go jumping to conclusions, though. Terms like "marketplace" in the online world have come to connote some sort of Web-based buying and selling system. Not so here. "You have to work with a sales rep on this," according to Chandler.

And, since AOL is all about hyping Platform A these days, it's given the new division a cool new logo. I admit, the design major in me digs it.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 7, 2008

Clinton Raising Cash for PA Web Ads

Hillary Clinton's campaign site has a giant homepage image dedicated to fundraising for specific types of ads targeted to Pennsylvanians, including online ads. "Help us recruit supporters and get out the vote in Pennsylvania with targeted online ads," reads the plea. The goal is $2.5 million for TV and $100K for Web.

So far, they've collected about $28.5 K for online ads and about $285K for TV. The numbers were each at around $27K and $270K this morning, which would indicate the campaign is attributing a specific portion of the total donations towards Web and TV to each medium, rather than showing what people are actually donating for each medium.

Then again, it could be a coincidence....

The camp is also collecting cash for radio, and signs, and has reached its goals for door hangers and get-out-the-vote vans.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 24, 2008

Collective Media Is Powering quadrantOne

It's official. As reported here, Collective Media's AMP is indeed the platform quadrantOne is using to run ads across its network of newspaper sites.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 12, 2008

Is Google a Threat to Disney?

Robert A. Iger, chief executive of The Walt Disney Company, said he doesn't see Google as a threat to the media and entertainment company.

"They typically need our stuff in some form. They want an association [with us]," Iger said, responding to a question posed to him today at the McGraw-Hill Media Summit.

He said Google delivers value to Disney. "When they provide consumers with great search, search gives consumer access to Disney," he said. That includes access to buying a Disney vacation package or learning more about Hannah Montana. "The [Google] platform being strong is good for us. Not bad," he said, while speaking in a one-on-one interview with John Byrne, BusinessWeek executive editor.

Byrne asked Iger whether Disney has considered acquiring AOL. "No," Iger said. "We don’t want to comment on specific acquisitions, even though I just did."

Disney expects its revenue from digital media to reach $1 billion in 2008, up from $750 million last year. While he declined to disclose growth projections, Iger anticipates the increase will come from two places: "cannibalization" from other Disney businesses as well as new business, especially on the international front. The company is rolling out Disney.com in the U.K. and Japan, and has plans for China, Australia, Germany, France, and Italy.

Iger anticipates computers connected to high-speed Internet access will become youth's primary source of entertainment in coming years. Disney expects revenue will come from multiple sources: subscription services, direct sales, video on demand, and advertising.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 8, 2008

How to Profit from Online Publishing? Start Here

Okay, so you don't know what an Underwood is. Even if you don't -- and you're in publishing -- you're still probably trying to figure out how to make money from online publishing.

Today, we welcome back interactive media strategist Vin Crosbie as a ClickZ Experts columnist.

Vin's one of two pros writing for ClickZ about online publishing. They'll guide traditional and online publishers on how to navigate the difficult terrain.

Next week, look for digital strategist Lee Huang's new online publishing column here. Now a consultant, Lee previously was director, digital strategy and product R&D, at Nielsen Business Media, which includes Billboard and Adweek.

BTW, long-time ClickZ readers should remember Vin. He offered his insights about online publishing in a ClickZ column from 2002 to 2004.

These days, Vin's been very busy. He's a professor and consultant at Syracuse University and is managing partner of consutancy Digital Deliverance. And

Welcome Vin and Lee!

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 9, 2008

Don't Call Them Readers

Magazine publishers are pursuing 33.5 percent more online initiatives in 2007 compared to the same time last year, according to research released by the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) today.

The trade association for the consumer magazine industry kept tabs on its members and found they had announced 207 digital initiatives compared to 155 in 2006. Those included video for Web sites, social network tools, user-generated content efforts and integrated marketing initiatives. MPA members include Businessweek, Forbes Media, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Playboy, Time, Wired and a host of others.

Howard Polskin, MPA's senior vice president/communications & events, told me he started a file some year ago to save and monitor digital initiatives which grew into the results he announced today, and that the move for magazines into digital video, blog, podcasts and other content is to be expected in 2008.

"[Magazines] are using whatever platform they can to touch their… and I'm not going to use the word 'readers'… to touch their users 24-7," he said. "The people that used to consume magazine content used to be readers and now there is the subtle shift that it's more important to call them users."

Posted by MatthewNelson at 7:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 3, 2008

E.W. Scripps Rings Out the Old (Newspapers)

E.W. Scripps Co. closed out 2007 by shuttering two afternoon newspapers, "The Cincinnati Post" and "The Kentucky Post." And, it started the new year with the launch of KYPost.com, a Web site that promises local news, sports, and entertainment information about northern Kentucky.

Traffic from "The Cincinnati Post" Web site is being redirected to KYPost.com. The Web site will also include relevant content from Scripps-owned Cincinnati TV station WCPO.

Beth Lawton, manager, digital media at the Newspaper Association of America, said newspapers might have some challenges selling online to advertisers who are more comfortable with print products. "However, it's really about selling the newspaper's audience, and newspaper Web site users are a very desirable audience. They tend to be more educated, more affluent and more savvy in technologically and online shopping than non-newspaper Web site users," she wrote today in an e-mail to ClickZ News.

Scripps has been wearing its interactive intentions like a heart on its sleeve.

Last year, E.W. Scripps said it planned to divide the company: cable and interactive elements will be operated by Scripps Networks Interactive and its traditional print and TV businesses will remain under the E. W. Scripps Company.

The shuttering of "The Cincinnati Post" and "The Kentucky Post" is no surprise.

As readership habits changed, afternoon daily newspapers struggled, many switching to morning distribution or folding.

The Scripps papers in Covington, KY, and Cincinnati had been operating under a 30-year joint operating agreement with Gannett, owner of "The Cincinnati Enquirer." Back in 2004, Gannett informed Scripps it didn't intend to renew the agreement, which expired Dec. 31, 2007.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 12, 2007

WSJ's Discordant Holiday Promotion

Actually, it probably is too late.

With Murdoch dropping hint after hint that his newly-acquired "Wall Street Journal" is likely to become free, why is the marketing department sending these e-mail promotions? This is the second one I've received this week.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 10, 2007

IHT and Reuters Partner on New IHT Biz Section, Will Sell Ads Jointly

The International Herald Tribune has entered a deal with Reuters to create an "enhanced financial news offering" on its print and Web properties. Under the collaboration, Reuters and IHT will jointly offer print and online sponsorship and ad opportunities.

The fruits of the Web collaboration will appear at www.iht.com/business and will include multimedia and regular content from Reuters and IHT. With the new daily business report, IHT plans to cease publication of two Bloomberg-created editorial products: Marketplace by Bloomberg and Business Asia by Bloomberg.

One thing that's ambiguous in the news release is whether IHT and Reuters will be able to cross-sell inventory on one another's Web platforms. Certainly there's an opportunity to create value for both parties without competing... sort of a two-way ad network. I'm trying to learn more and will post again as I hear back.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 28, 2007

MediaNews Group Socializes with Topix

Yesterday local news aggregator and community Topix announced a partnership with MediaNews Group to enable Web forums and comments for the newspaper publisher's sites, including San Jose Mercury News and Denver Post. Other sites including GoErie.com, Zap2It.com, KOB.com, and CapitalTimes.com are also using Topix's social platform.

Topix has shifted gears over the past year or so, switching its domain from .net to .com, and adding its own social news features in the hopes of becoming a hub for local citizen journalism.

For MediaNews Group and other paper publishers, enabling social features like forums, comments, photo uploads (for high school sports especially), is a great way to build ad inventory. And newspaper publishers need all the ad revenue they can get.

For the record, Topix is partly-owned by paper publishing giants Gannett, McClatchy and Tribune.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Major U.K. Broadcasters Team up for Landmark Partnership

Three of the U.K.'s largest broadcasters are to join forces in launching an On-Demand entertainment service, potentially presenting marketers with new online advertising opportunities.

Subject to approval from their respective board members, BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 will launch a three-way on-demand TV content service in 2008.

The project, temporarily titled "Kangaroo," will initially be launched as an online-only service, before rolling out to other platforms. An official name and brand for the service will be unveiled at a later date.

The joint venture will be equally owned by all three broadcasters, with each taking a share of revenue.

Although specific details of the revenue model are not detailed in the press release, it states that viewers will have access to free content, as well as having the option to rent or buy.

Presumably, therefore, the free content will be supported by advertising.

Quoted in the press release, Andy Duncan, Channel 4 chief executive described the deal as "good news" for advertisers and viewers alike.

Lesley MacKenzie, previously director of Channels and Operations at BSkyB, has been appointed as launch CEO.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 26, 2007

Because It's Friday...and Beacuse It's Technically Worksafe

It's a longstanding editorial policy that we do not -- ever -- reprint press releases. Herewith, the single exception to that rule in our 10+ years of publishing.

A new media opportunity. Enjoy.

Businesses Flock to Buy Woman's Pubic Hair

A unique and highly creative website owned by an anonymous UK based female has rapidly become one the most talked about sites on the Internet.
Milliondollarpubes.com has been set up to finance the costly treatment of laser hair removal from the bikini area of the lady in question. Having tried every treatment available to retain her silky smoothness including waxing, shaving and creams, she concluded that the only way to achieve her dream of ultimate smoothness was by laser treatment, hence Milliondollarpubes.com was launched.

Each pubic hair is offered for sale at $200, but it’s not just a hair that you get for your money. Along with the sale of each and every hair is a 10 x 10 pixel advertisement on the homepage of Milliondollarpubes.com, a website that has already attracted nearly 50,000 visitors in a matter of days.

Each advertisement is also accompanied by a short description and a direct link to the advertisers’ website.

Businesses can instantly purchase one or more pubic hairs by visiting the site at www.milliondollarpubes.com and simply clicking on the ‘BUY PUBIC HAIR’ link. You can then select exactly where on her body you would like your advertisement and link to appear. Upon checking out you also have the option to have the pubic hair posted to you. The owner of the site said “I hope that as many people as possible would like to receive my hair, but if you would prefer to just place your advert then that is fine too!”

The site has already attracted a number of serious businesses who have seen the initiative as a fun way to achieve effective advertising and a great return on investment. Cost-per-click has never been so much fun!

5,000 pubic hairs are on offer to raise the owner’s magical $1,000,000 goal.

With nearly 200 hairs already purchased interested businesses who want to gain great exposure at a low cost are advised to act quickly, and take advantage of this unique ‘hair today-gone tomorrow’ opportunity.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 23, 2007

GuardianAmerica.com Launches Today

The Guardian today launched its new U.S. website, which will offer Guardian U.K. and international content tailored to an American audience.

Following the lead of the FT’s online operation, and more recently BBC.com, it’s unsurprising to see yet another U.K. publisher attempting to tap the international online market with an ad supported model.

According to the Media Guardian website, the growing U.S. audience now accounts for nearly a third of Guardian Unlimited’s readership, and attracts in the region of 5.5 million unique visitors from the U.S. every month. The potential for monetization therefore is clear.

The Guardian site states that “over time the site will introduce reader services such as holidays and dating, and will eventually include opportunities for recruitment advertising.”

The Guardian's U.K. editor Alan Rusbridger stated that the aim of the site was to “provide a discerning US audience with quality multimedia journalism, and the very best comment and analysis."

The site kicked things off today with an exclusive interview with presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 2, 2007

FT.com to Trade Most Access Fees for Ad Revenue

FT.com will launch a new charging system in mid-October as it prepares to revamp its entire site over the next several months. The new system will enable users to access up to 30 stories a month completely free of charge, and should create new opportunities for marketers.

Typically, newspapers have opted either to monetize free content with ads or to charge on a subscription or ‘pay-per-view’ basis. The new model from the FT boasts the best of both worlds, with visitors only needing to pay for subscription if they wish to view more than 30 articles or data in a month.

Ien Cheng, publisher of FT.com, told the International Herald Tribune, "To get caught between all this 'free' or 'paid' is too simplistic. We see this as a third way."

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 27, 2007

Sugar Buys Shopping Site, Trashes Competitor's Artificial Sweetener

Female-focused publishers are really good at co-opting each other's ideas. It wasn't long after Glam Media became the first notable smaller publisher to represent an extended network of sites that iVillage began doing the same. And this week, with the acquisition of "social shopping" site ShopStyle, Sugar Publishing has obtained new e-commerce and product discovery capabilities of the sort both iVillage and Glam offer.

In a video interview with AllThingsDigital's Kara Shwisher, publisher Brian Sugar describes the structure and strategy of the business, which has been renamed Sugar Inc. Along the way he takes a bunch of subtle and not-so-subtle swipes at rivals Gawker Media and Glam.

"Snarky's just sort of a trendy thing that eventually goes away," he tells Swisher, dissing Gawker without mentioning it by name (though Swisher had earlier referred to him as the "sweet Nick Denton"). "People magazine has a style we like. We model after them."

And in a blatant attack on Glam Media, Sugar tells Swisher he "really hates" sites that roll up comScore data from an extended ad network to "say they're bigger than they really are." Call it artificial sweetener.

Sugar is now hiring for a number of new and upcoming Sugar properties, including sites focused on pets, babies, finance and politics -- all bearing the Sugar name. Brian Sugar told Swisher the company's social network offering, TeamSugar, launched in February and has grown to 125,000 members. Every day Sugar writers produce about 150 posts and its extended community generates 15,000 pieces of content, some of which are promoted to positions of prominence on the network.

This summer NBC Universal Digital Media took a minority stake in Sugar. Part of that deal stipulates NBCU Digital Media will sell premium advertising on Sugar sites.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 15, 2007

Adify Gets Gayified

Adify, an ad management provider for small sites and networks started out in the niche vertical network world by introducing a network of blog sites associated with Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW). It was one of their first networks. Now they've gone from old-school military inner circle to, well, out. The growing company's latest is the Gay Ad Network.

They've also recently added networks for sports blogs and educational resources. Essentially, what Adify does is provide the ad management platform to sites and networks, and assists some with sales and other ad related services a small publisher would need.

The more than 200 sites in the network include Out in America Network, TheLWordOnline.com, GayWeddings.com and ProudParenting.com.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 10, 2007

NBC in Full-on Deal Mode, NewCo Scores Cash

The still to launch NewCo, the unnamed video content network from News Corporation and NBC Universal has already landed private investment cash -- $100 million from Providence Equity Partners, and it's rumored more are interested. Remember, this thing is still 'in the works,' but with the big-time content and distribution partners it has, the potential YouTube threat seems like a good bet.

NBC's DotComedy.com just signed with Israeli startup HIRO Media, which provides ad-supported video distribution technologies that work in multiple channels, including through P2P networks. The technology will allow NBC to dynamically personalize and alter ads every time a user views a video. It would make sense for NBC to employ the HIRO technology for NewCo.

This Web 2.0-style relationship reminds me of multiple deals CBS announced in May with a variety of blogging software, widget and instant messaging platform providers like Clearspring, MeeVee and meebo.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 24, 2007

YouTubification of Primary Debates Doesn't Translate

Anybody catch the much-hyped CNN/YouTube debates last night? I did. On AM 820, our local NPR station -- WNYC.

It seems as though many "Rah! Rah! YouTube!" "Horray for Bloggers!" types have agreed -- as it seems they agreed to do before they even experienced this new debating form -- that these debates finally gave the average American a voice. Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation, seems to sum it up in a post to the lefty publication's blog: "What's heartening and hopeful is that tonight marked the end of debates as we've known them. Let the peoples' voices be heard."

Well, I have a lot of thoughts about how insipid some of the voter-generated video questions were (39 chosen from 3,000 submitted clips), and how flippantly the entire production treated an event that deserves more dignity. But I'll stick to the media side of things.

If the promise of amateur Web video is that it will eventually translate to other media, or perhaps supplant professionally-produced content, this YouTubification of a Democratic Primary debate proved it shouldn't or won't, at least successfully. Anybody who's watched Current TV for more than two minutes knows what I mean.

Not only were viewers and listeners subjected to talking snowmen and egregious southern stereotypes and other inappropriately light-hearted fare, they had to put up with downright poor production quality. The video clips probably didn't sound quite as bad on TV as they did on AM radio, but the fact that the sound quality was as muddled and scratchy as it was made for an extremely dissatisfying experience.

And, hey, I'm the first to admit the typical debate formats aren't exactly exhilarating, but do they need to be? Do we need a talking snowman to convince us to pay attention to a discussion about global warming? Do we need loud obnoxious music with indecipherable lyrics to serve as a debate question? In other words, does the YouTubification of a primary debate truly serve the intent of a debate?

The outcome seemed more muddled, confused and exhibitionist than substantive. Kinda like most amateur Web video content. I'm not knocking amateur Web video, but it has its place and the notion that it belongs in every venue (including McDonald's TV spots) is misguided.

Who knows? Maybe the next time 'round they'll do it better. We'll have a chance to find out during the YouTube Republican Debate September 17th.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 4, 2007

YouTube Signs Hearst for Local TV Video

So, YouTube has added another full-fledged media partner to its roster. This time it's a local media deal with Hearst-Argyle, which will offer content from TV stations in Boston, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Manchester, New Hampshire. More stations could sign on in the future.

This is a rev-share deal, though as usual, who gets what wasn't disclosed. And, it looks as though this is just a display ad deal for now, though according to an AdWeek report, YouTube "has begun inserting text-ad invitations to view long-form content into some clips."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

AdSense Goes Glam

Glam Media has let it be known they've inked a multi-year deal with Google. The deal feels so glamorous, in fact, that announcement dominates the home page of the women's lifestyle site. Could this mean Google's now a fashion accessory in addition to everything else?

Google will become Glam's exclusive Web search provider, as well as deliver contextual AdSense ads to the property.

“Our strategy is to provide our audiences and advertisers with the most integrated and contextual entertainment experience possible, and our collaboration with Google provides additional and different contextual ad opportunities for advertisers," said Glam Media Chairman and CEO Samir Arora in a statement.

The #2 women's property after iVillage, Glam claims 12 million unique monthly visitors.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 31, 2007

NewsCorp/NBC Network Adds Media Partners

News Corporation and NBC Universal have tacked on a handful of additional media partners for their yet-to-be-named online distribution venture. FUEL TV, SPEED and TV Guide Broadband will add their short-form content for dissemination across the new network, as well as hosting their own stuff on the new network's destination hub. (Fuel is a Fox property, and Speed is, at least, in part owned by Fox, so no surprise, there).

Women's network Oxygen will contribute clips shows including "The Bad Girls Club," "Fight Girls," "50 Funniest Women" and "Our Bodies, Myself." Full-length and short-form content from Sundance Channel shows, webisodes and flicks, such as "One Punk Under God," and "Ecoists" will satisfy indie tastes.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Clinton Gets the Techie Site Connection

As part of ClickZ's ongoing Election '08 coverage, we reported recently that people who visited the official campaign Web sites of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Dennis Kucinich had high likelihoods of visiting tech-related content elsewhere on the Web.

Specifically, as tracked by Tacoda for a report provided exclusively to ClickZ News, visitors to Clinton's, Obama's and Kucinich's sites were more likely to go to tech sites covering UNIX and Linux software information than any other content category. Visitors to Kucinich's site were 136 times more likely than the rest of the Web population to do so, while visitors to Clinton's were 31 times more likely and those on Obama's site were 21 times more likely.

On the other hand, these niche software sites were off the radar for Rudy Giuliani site visitors, though that audience was slightly more likely to visit computer software sites than others online.

The reason I make note of this is there's an interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal today about Hillary's efforts to woo Silicon Valley techies through a trip to California. According to the story, "The New York senator's 'innovation agenda,' as her campaign calls it, packages familiar and new initiatives that are sure to be popular with her audience at Applied Global University in Santa Clara, as well as the broader high-tech community, which favors Democrats with its votes and money."

Anyone who thought it made no sense that visitors to Dem campaign sites also spent a lot of time on UNIX and Linux software sites may want to take a second look. Hillary obviously recognizes the connection.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 24, 2007

Distribution's Brand Effect Neglected at Media Event

Yesterday I sat in on an Argyle Executive Forum event, "2007 Market Trends in Media," featuring folks from TBS, MySpace, Hearst, Reuters and others, and led by Rafat Ali of PaidContent.

TBS to Google: Work Harder
Towards the tail end of a discussion with Phil Kent, CEO of Turner Broadcasting Systems, he said the firm is trying to find a way to work with search firms, particularly Google, in order to protect TBS copyrights and monetize its content. It's infeasible to charge cable companies for its content and then give it away to Google, he said.

"[Google] needs to come up with better technological tools to help media companies clear and filter out their content," he added.

MySpace to Google: We'll Fight YouTube
MySpace founder and COO Josh Berman was on the next unnamed panel, during which he told the crowd about MySpace's news content plans, noting, "We're cutting deals with major content holders." Deals with sports content providers for video and articles are also on the horizon, he said.

Displaying the co-opetition that seems to be the norm among online media partners, Berman praised Google as a great search companion for MySpace (making a point to say the deal, officially signed, is for three years). Later, however, Berman mentioned MySpace's goal is to launch a video product that will be better than YouTube. Ahhh…consolidation.

News Media to Distribution Deals: You're Our Hero
On the newspaper front, Lincoln Millstein, SVP digital media for Hearst Newspapers discussed the Yahoo newspaper consortium, of which Hearst Newspapers is a founding member. The partnership represents the early stages of recognition by paper publishers that their "old silo-ed mentality," requiring people to come to their sites to read their content doesn't work anymor, he said.

That statement served as a launch pad for a question I asked during the Q&A segment, regarding whether the growth of distribution deals among media firms could dilute their brands. "If people are viewing their content on various sites across the Web rather than their own, how will media firms prove the value of their brands to advertisers?" I wondered.

Well, the response was surprisingly dismissive.

"I don’t think we're changing our brand," said Millstein.

Christopher Ahearn, president of media for Reuters "took exception" with my premise, noting that media businesses have to keep up with the way users consume their products, and get past their tendencies toward maintaining control. Hence, the very basis for my question was faulty. But was it? Lots of people have asked this very question.

Of course, Reuters obviously has a different perspective here, considering the content it produces is, by nature, distributed.

As for Hearst or other publishers' brands, I don't think it's illegitimate to inquire how they'll convince advertisers of the value of their branded properties once their content is distributed all over the Web. Couldn't the Yahoo deal, even if The San Francisco Chronicle gets its logo slapped on every story, alter the way people perceive the paper's brand?

I realize distribution deals among strange bedfellows are in vogue, and they certainly could be part of the survival solution. But to blow off this brand question (and not even raise any questions regarding advertising during the session proper) seems like ostrich-like behavior.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 21, 2007

More Local Site Additions at MediaSpan

Radio station site-heavy local media network MediaSpan has added more than 75 newspaper and TV sites to its roster of over 1,300 local sites. New partners include newspaper and TV firm Freedom Communications, alt-weekly publisher Select Alternatives and local media firm Jones Media. MediaSpan offers integrated display, streaming audio, pre-roll video and e-mail ads.

MediaSpan in January partnered with TV site-centric Broadcast Interactive Media to sell targeted display and video ads to national advertisers across their expanded networks. The network also added a handful of local sites later that month following the Broadcast Interactive Media deal.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 18, 2007

A Spade Is a Spade, An Ad Is an Ad

I don't know about you, but I feel vaguely insulted every time I click on a Forbes.com link and land on their full-page rich media ad.

It's not that they're serving the ad, mind you, even if the format is intrusive. It's the message in the upper right hand corner providing users with the option to "skip this welcome screen."

Forbes appeals to an educated and sophisticated business audience. The overwhelming majority of Forbes readers are certainly smart enough to recognize an ad when they see one. What Forbes is serving up here is an ad. Nothing remotely "welcoming" about it.

Forbes is not only doing their readers a disservice by running this message, but their advertisers as well.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 9, 2007

Google, Yahoo and Microsoft in NAA Cage Match

It's not often you get the chance to see representatives from Google, Microsoft and Yahoo sitting in close proximity on the same stage. At yesterday's Newspaper Association of American conference here in NYC, I was among the few to experience just that. The main goal of the "Partnerships in Transition" panel was to help newspaper publisher execs understand just what these Web behemoths want with them already. I'm not sure they got their answer, but things were sure interesting in the meantime.

I'll start by describing the limited contributions made by Harry Patz, GM communications sector for North America at Microsoft. Since the company hasn't done a whole lot with newspaper publishers, he seemed to be there simply to help foster future relationships (and to round out the Yahoo/Google representation). When he did mention what Microsoft has to offer those publishers, he stressed the huge number of users of Microsoft products, and all the opportunities for them to serve content in those applications. For instance, Patz more than once said newspaper headlines could scroll alongside a game interface while users play their Xbox.

Wha?

Microsoft got a little ribbing from Tom Phillips, director of print ads at Google, who when discussing Google's product development process and fast-moving corporate culture, said, "It's not about packaged software." Google doesn't take years to launch a new product, he continued. Ouch.

As for the countless products Google releases, the question was raised as to what good all these products are if partners (like newspaper publishers) aren't aware of them or how they could benefit their businesses. Phillips admitted intra-company communication among departments is lacking at Google. "Frankly we have some work to do to make that better." He added, "Hilary has done a good job of that at Yahoo," referring to the woman sitting beside him, Hilary Schneider, SVP marketplace at Yahoo.

That was a pleasant thing to say, but Phillips also had a little jab for Schneider, who had a long history with the newspaper industry, most recently at Knight Ridder before it was sold off to McClatchy. At one point someone suggested that Yahoo has more relationships with paper publishers (through its newspaper consortium, now 15 publishers-strong) than Google does through its print program. (Google has 40 newspaper publisher partners in its print program, according to Phillips.)

Phillips commented, "Hilary's done a fabulous job with the press." Uncomfortable laughter ensued. Yikes.

Of course, the elephant in the room throughout the conversation was the fact that, now that Google owns DoubleClick, it's in direct competition with Yahoo (Panama) for newspaper publisher ad serving clients.

"We want to be your ad server on your digital domain," said Phillips. And speaking of the to-be-integrated DoubleGoo ad serving platform, he stopped himself from saying anything too brazen. Instead, he settled on, "It'll be the world's best ad server."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 7, 2007

About Pays $33m for Another Review Site

The New York Times Company's About.com continues along the acquisition path. For $33 million, the firm has snapped up ConsumerSearch.com, a company that hires freelance writers to distill user reviews to determine the most recommended products and write catch-all reviews.

For instance, the site recommends Webroot's Spy Sweeper as the best anti-spyware software overall since it's "considered the best all-around anti-spyware program in the greatest number of reviews because of its high detection rates and superior ease of use." It also says Kayak.com is the best travel search engine.

First off, maybe I'm clueless, but $33 million sounds a bit high to me. I've honestly never heard of ConsumerSearch and don't think I've ever stumbled across it in the countless searches I've done when conducting product research. The firm has six employees including the founder.

Though it seems like a very helpful site and I'll try to remember to check it out in the future, at this point I'm not so sure how well optimized for search it is. For instance, a Google search on "travel sites" doesn't turn up the site in the first page of organic or paid results. A search for "travel site reviews" only shows it as a sponsored link on the first page of results. The site fared better when it came to "mountain bike reviews," which turned up a link in the fourth spot in the organic listings.

I see ad network-served ads on the ConsumerSearch site, but it doesn’t seem to have any ads sold direct, which means there probably are few relationships with advertisers. Still, you never know what the valuation was based on. The site's content and meta-review process is something that could fit in very nicely at About, and possibly other New York Times properties. About in April bought health ratings and info site UCompareHealthCare.com.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 1, 2007

Will Too Many Exchanges Defeat the Exchange Promise?

The online ad industry is known for innovation, but like most industries, innovation often spurs replication. The ad exchange bandwagon is loading up with wannabes and hangers on, some with big names and big parents. Contextual ad network ContextWeb is the latest to hoist itself on, announcing plans to launch an exchange this summer.

The exchange apparently will feature some differentiation. According to the firm's press release, "This exchange provides pricing control - the ability to set a firm 'Bid' or 'Ask' price - to all traders (publishers and advertisers)….In other exchange and network businesses, publishers are not permitted to set an 'Ask' price but receive a revenue share of the 'Bid' price from the advertiser. This model only allows for a remnant inventory pool and inhibits market volume and liquidity."

I'm not sure whether this is actually the case, but as ClickZ delves more deeply into the exchange world, we'll find out. I'm pretty sure most exchanges allow publishers to set a minimum amount they'll accept.

The ContextWeb exchange is dubbed ADSDAQ, which leads me to wonder when NASDAQ will align with ADSDAQ to form….oh geez.

The emergence of the exchanges does make sense as ad networks mature and auction-based systems continue popularity. Still, the exchange concept was developed to reduce the amount of work advertisers need to go through to buy network inventory. If more and more exchanges are created, the promise of the exchanges will be lost.

Advertisers will want to go to the hub or hubs that allow them access to the most inventory spokes. I expect the bigger exchanges with the most connections (Google's DoubleClick, Yahoo's Right Media, or whatever 24/7 or Microsoft end up launching) will be the most successful simply because the exchange model is based on efficiency.

I'm just waiting for the rumors about who will buy AdECN to start…

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Reuters, Hyundai Smart-Thinking Campaign Could Be Smarter

Reuters and Hyundai rolled out their "smart thinking" campaign, which links ads for the carmaker to stories pegged as featuring "innovation, forward thinking and intelligence."

If today's story choices are an indicator, the methods used to pick the so-called smart stories may need some fine tuning.

One Reuters story with the carmaker's ads, "Telefonica deal to challenge Slim on own turf," dissects the Mexican billionaire's failure to enter the European phone market, which seems to imply an example of not-so-smart thinking.

Another piece with the Hyundai ads, "British motorists face spy in sky monitoring," outlines plans in the UK to charge drivers to use roads. Some 1.8 million people in the UK have signed petitions against the scheme, aimed at cutting traffic in congested areas. The "smart" thinking in this story is elusive for a car company that presumably wants people to drive more, not less.

News stories about the ad campaign stressed the "separation of church and state" between ad sales and editors at the news service. That's a good thing journalistically, though Reuters and Hyundai may well benefit from having a wise editor or two to review the "smart" story choices.

Posted by Bill McGuire at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 24, 2007

Infiniti Sponsors Forbes.com's New Style Section

Infiniti is sponsoring the just-launched Forbes.com lifestyle sub-section, aptly named, "Style."

Similar to newspaper style sections, there's a lot of fashion and beauty content, articles about overpriced stuff to buy or wear on your wrist. One article is on "luxe" sunglasses "for less," while another offers a "Men's Guide to Power Dressing."

There's also a roadblock spot for Emerson that runs before the lifestyle section loads.

Infiniti, in its sponsorship, is touting the 2007 Infiniti G through display ads that appear as though they're supposed to enable some kind of interactivity (there are prompts to "mouse over" the ad). However, in trials in Firefox and IE, I can't get anything special to happen.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 17, 2007

Dow Jones Wants More Digital Media Properties

Consolidation. Consolidation. Consolidation. Continuing what just might be the trend of '07, Dow Jones just might be snapping up more digital media properties in the near future, according to today's Q1 2007 earnings report. The company had a nice quarter for online ad sales, too. U.S. online ad revenue was up 30 percent and international revenue rose 9.6 percent. Paid subscriptions for WSJ.com and Barron's Online each rose, making for a 22 percent total increase in subs.

Here's a little more from the investor call (thanks to SeekingAlpha's transcript). As noted by CEO Richard Zannino, "We are most focused in looking at acquisitions in the digital arena, as well as the B2B arena." In terms of digital media properties, he added, "I think it would be more likely that you would see us play in this area with companies like eFN, where they have a strong component of online, but the multiple is much more reasonable and realistic." Dow Jones just bought UK financial media company eFinancial News Holdings for about $51.6 million, announced Friday.

Company execs also discussed online ad yield, which was up 16 percent in Q1 for display ads, apparently driven in part by behavioral targeting, "which takes advantage of the added scale that we have across the entire network, MarketWatch, plus the online Journal, plus Barron's Online," said Gordon Crovitz, EVP, president, Consumer Media Group, and publisher of The Wall Street Journal. (Read more about the company's behavioral targeting.)

Though Dow Jones apparently has added new remnant programs, including search and text ads, the company seems to be pushing to sell more of that inventory to display advertisers, and bt is facilitating that. Continuing on remnant inventory, Zannino said, "When we talk about remnant space, we're basically selling space that heretofore went unsold. So even though it's sold at a relatively low yield, it's generating revenue dollars for us and we're selling inventory that we haven't been selling in the past. So...when you look at apples-to-apples comparisons of our display inventory, yield is up nicely there and then we're generating additional revenue dollars by selling some of this other inventory on a remnant basis."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 8:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack