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September 30, 2008

Music Industry: Internet Advertising Is Really, Really Hard

At ContentNext's EconMusic conference in London last week, music industry executives gathered to discuss the future of the music industry, as physical sales nosedive and P2P sharing becomes increasingly commonplace.

The Social Media session threw up the most interesting ad-related insights, with musician Billy Bragg among the panelists, alongside Last.fm's COO Spencer Hyman and Index Ventures' Danny Rimer.

Bragg's gripe, predictably, was that musicians aren’t seeing enough, if any of the ad-revenue generated from sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Last.fm. "How much does MySpace make from advertising, $800 million? And how much do they pay for content?" he asked. "In order for [musicians] to make a living, the industry has to recognize that the old model doesn’t work anymore, and has to be restructured,” he continued.

Last.fm's Hyman suggested that it was almost impossible to pay artist royalties through models such as Last.fm's, stating, “We’re happy to share the advertising revenue we get, but what we can’t do is to give more than we’re getting in." He added, "Internet advertising is really, really hard."

Intriguingly, Index Ventures' Rimer suggested that it was up to the artists themselves to be shrewder, thinking of themselves more as brands and giving their music away entirely free, monetizing it instead through endorsements and advertising.

Steve Purdham, CEO of ad-supported platform We7 was also present on the panel. We7 came to market with the concept of placing pre-roll audio ads at the start of MP3 track downloads. However, the company has seemingly seen little interest from major labels and advertisers, as it has since leaned more towards the ad-supported streaming model à la Last.fm.

Despite signing a deal with EMI earlier this month, tracks will only be available on We7 through ad-funded audio streaming and paid-for MP3 downloads, rather than the ad-supported MP3 downloads it had originally based its revenue stream on.

It's an interesting model, but it seems at this point that labels are still clinging to higher revenues from paid-for downloads. However, material from a number of independent labels is currently available on the We7 site.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 7:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 25, 2008

MySpace Music Launches, No Audio Ads for Now

Updated: The curtain went up last night on MySpace Music, a joint venture with major labels and indie distributor the Orchard to provide free ad-supported music streaming.

Simultaneously, the site has finally introduced its self-serve ad buying system, allowing bands and other profile owners to slice and dice its audience and put together low-cost ad buys.

The cool kids say MySpace Music has a good shot. That may be, but at some point it'll have to answer marketers' concerns about the effectiveness of display ads on an audio-based service.

The alternative -- radio-style audio ads -- is anathema to digital music listeners but may be inevitable. After all, digital radio executives sing the praises of companion banners on station Web sites, but I've yet to speak to a marketer who puts much stock in them.

As we reported earlier this month, MySpace Music launch sponsors include McDonald's, Toyota, State Farm and Sony Pictures. The images above and at right show a typical ad placement on the service... overall pretty similar to what you'll find elsewhere on MySpace. Here's hoping it's enough.

The new ad buying interface, available at advertise.myspace.com, has been a long time coming. With a minimum spend of $25, it's being presented as a vehicle for bands and small businesses to drive traffic to their profiles and outside Web sites. It comes with basic ad templates for those without existing creative assets.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 15, 2008

Best Buy Nabs Napster, Will Market Devices to Downloaders

Best Buy has agreed to buy Napster, partly for the chance to sell tech products to its user base.

The music retailer plans to cross-sell devices and other products to Napster's 700,000 subscribers. By doing so it expects to "capture recurring revenue by offering ongoing value over a mobile digital platform," it said in a statement.

Interesting notion, but is it logical? From a marketing standpoint, what can Best Buy achieve owning Napster that it couldn't by simply partnering with it? $121 million is an awful lot to spend on an ad deal, after all.

And from a business standpoint? I'm no music industry analyst, but considering Napster lost $16.5 million last year and faces accelerated innovation from behemoth competitors (See MySpace Music's news this morning), it's definitely a gamble.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 5, 2008

McCain’s Celeb Obama Bash Tops Viral Chart

According to Viralvideochart.com, (which, funnily enough, compiles viral video charts), recent political ads from U.S. Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have been amongst the most talked about videos across the net over the last week.

Viralvideochart.com scans "several million blogs a day," according to the site, and compiles its charts according to the number of times each video is linked to, and embedded from, YouTube, Google Video, and MySpace.

On Friday, McCain's ad branding Obama "the biggest celebrity in the world" topped the chart, racking up 168 new posts in 24 hours. In the same period, Obama's "Low Road" T.V. ad clocked up 42 new posts, managing only eighth place.

The only other actual ad in the site's top 20 today is Snickers' speedwalker ad, at thirteenth place.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 6:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 20, 2008

As Seen On...

... a t-shirt for sale at a boardwalk shop in Wildwood, NJ.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 17, 2008

MySpace Anti-Spam Machine Whacks Another Mole

MySpace claimed another legal victory yesterday in its offensive against spammers, which ClickZ covered in depth last month. The latest victory is a $6 million award against Scott Richter's shady Media Breakaway affiliate marketing network handed down by the American Arbitration Association. The AAA is not a court but rather a private concern that's commonly involved in business dispute resolution and written into contracts for that purpose. Also under the AAA order, neither Richter nor his affiliates may use the site for commercial purposes.

Somewhat amusingly, the order also commands the so-called "Spam King" to disclose the account and contact info for affiliates involved in spam and phishing attacks on MySpace, "irrespective of whether MySpace in fact discovered a given attack." Yeah, good luck with that.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 10, 2008

Murdoch: News Corp. Won't Fight Microsoft for Yahoo

Speaking at the Bear Stearns Media Conference in Florida today, News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch put to bed rumors of a possible tie-up with Yahoo, stating, "We're not going to get into a fight with Microsoft, they have a lot more money than us."

He went on to say that Yahoo had "missed out" in the search arena by failing to invest in Overture quickly enough after acquiring it in 2003. He added "We're very happy to be in the Google camp; they sell our search advertising and pay us well for it."

Speaking further on social networks, Murdoch said that existing sites should attempt to introduce social aspects to their offerings. He suggested that News Corp. may attempt something along the social network lines with its Wall Street Journal site, and that users would be "interested to talk to each other about their investments."

When asked about future deals, Murdoch said he was not looking for big acquisitions, but may be tempted into some smaller ones. He added that he was cautious of the high price tags assigned to online properties at present, and that it would be "very easy to throw away a lot of money on Internet sites."

Regarding the current financial climate, News Corp. is apparently in "good shape" to face a weakened economy, having reduced its dependency on advertising from 41 percent to 23 percent of revenue.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 21, 2008

The Local Burrito on MySpace

It took a while. But I found a good burrito in SOHO. Yes, this part of New York City has great eating establishments. But when ClickZ moved south of Houston, I was disappointed there was no good burrito place. That's until one day when I took a chance on a shiny silver street cart with a large group of people gathered waiting for food. It was called Calexico Carne Asada, and came with a story about three brothers from a border town in California, and a profile on MySpace. Once a street vendor has a profile on a social media site online, is it time to trust him? I guess placing among the top three carts at the New York Vendy awards might also give the guys cred on the street.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 15, 2008

If MySpace Really Wanted to Protect the Kids...

MySpace is now working with Attorneys General on a plan to verify ages and protect its youngest users. That's well and good. But if the site is really serious about guarding teens from all forms of exploitation it should consider changing its advertising policies to disallow ad sales to shady mobile subscription services.

The number of MySpace users taken in by offers for free (but not free) wireless content is vastly greater than the number who come into contact with predators. Yes, the latter makes better headlines, and for good reason. And sure, the harm inflicted by misleading mobile offers may only consist of a surprise $40 charge on a 14-year-old's cell phone bill. But it's harm nonetheless.

For a primer on how one questionable mobile content firm has bought a huge volume of advertising on MySpace and other sites, click here.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 24, 2007

More on MySpace Games

In the wake of the news of the upcoming MySpace Games channel, I wanted to highlight the quality and engagement potential casual games can add to the site. Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer called run-of-site ads on social networks "among the worst performers," and said ads in and around casual games have potential to be more effective as games foster a captive audience, and there's less to compete with.

Ad effectiveness in casual games on MySpace has been and will be proven before the channel even launches in 2008. "MySpace is all about depth of engagement by connecting users," said Daniel Stein, CEO and founder of EVB, a creative agency with clients including Adidas, 2K Sports, and VO5.

"It makes perfect sense to use multiplayer games to take this concept to the next level. As brands look for ways to be relevant to the digital consumer, multiplayer gaming is going to make a lot of sense for an advertiser." EVB will soon launch a multi-platform campaign for client VO5 which includes a partnership with MySpace as a gateway to a game.

Will a games channel provide a clean environment for CGM-shy brands to advertise? "I would say probably not, but that's fine. Social networking isn't a clean or controlled environment, which makes it cool and interesting. Whenever the user controls or creates an experience, there is always unpredictability. Brands that presently utilize MySpace as part of its digital marketing already understand this and likely embrace it."

Posted by Enid Burns at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 8, 2007

MySpace/Photobucket Audience Overlap

Mike Arrington notes that "the Photobucket deal will bring very few new customers to MySpace because of the nearly 100% overlap in users." True, but that's actually a benefit when you take into account the behavioral targeting implications I discussed here yesterday.

The big thing News Corp. would do with this buy from an advertising point of view is acquire loads of data about where else on the Web existing MySpace users are spending their time. That's precious information for a site so heavily skewed toward remnant inventory.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 7, 2007

MySpace to Buy Photobucket? Behavioral Ad Implications

ValleyWag reports today that MySpace will acquire photo and video hosting site Photobucket. Photobucket is so far saying "no comment" and MySpace hasn't returned calls, but the pairing seems possible, even probable, considering the companies' sudden amicable agreement last month to set aside a controversy over the blocking of Photobucket widgets. ClickZ will be monitoring this one closely.

Meanwhile, there's some interesting potential for behavioral targeting to be implemented under a merged Photobucket/MySpace, if you'll allow me a moment of speculation.

When I met him two weeks ago at Ad:tech, Photobucket CEO Alex Welch talked about the company's plans to apply data about where its users are posting their photos on the Web to target ads to those individuals on Photobucket. The practice would let the company create vertical segments consisting of people who post to automotive or videogame chat rooms, for instance. Broader demographic segmentation is also possible: People posting to Facebook are likely college students, and campaigns can be targeted (and priced) accordingly.

Now imagine if MySpace took that same approach to serving ads to Photobucket users and applied it to all their interactions on its massive social network. The amount of inventory that can be targeted on behavior will certainly increase, likely by many factors since people tend to rack up lots of page views there. It may seem obvious, but any widget maker automatically has the potential to be a behavioral targeting firm if it's willing to sell the data. If the Photobucket/MySpace acquisition plays out as ValleyWag says it is, nobody will have to sell the data, because Rupert Murdoch and MySpace will already own it.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 2, 2007

MySpace Obama Devotee Gets Dissed

Wow. TechPresident has a fascinating tale of the Obama MySpace volunteer who went from campaign devotion to campaign disillusion. It offers a glimpse into how the netroots can blossom into petals or sprout stubborn weeds depending on how they're cultivated. Be sure to read Micah Sifry's account, which proclaims, "Welcome to the age of voter-generated media, where a super-volunteer using popular online tools and sites can become as important as big donor or a top campaign surrogate."

Here's a brief overview:

- Obama maniac Joe Anthony starts MySpace page dedicated to the Democratic primary candidate.
- Profile garners thousands of friends, hitting over 150,000.
- Anthony puts in lunch hours and late nights to keep up with friend requests (no telling how many are just MySpam….)
- Anthony figures he ought to be compensated for his efforts. He asks for over $39,000.
- Negotiations, or at least precursors to negotiations ensue. According to an e-mail from Anthony to TechPresident, "They kept scheduling phone conferences with me…and each after another would be postponed at the last minute…
- The campaign doesn't have the cash to pay Anthony and makes no counter offer. They decide they want control of his page.

More from the e-mail:

It got to the point where I didn't feel comfortable turning the profile over to the campaign unless they paid for it….The same campaign that inspired me to work so hard to build this community, the same campaign whose underlying message stresses "the power of the individual to have an impact on politics", was constantly downplaying my role in this, bullying me, and a couple of other things that were just rotten and dishonest (specifically in connection with Myspace, and the campaign quashing a recent NPR interview about the profile).

- MySpace commandeers the page and hands it over to the Obama campaign.
- MySpace promises to restore Anthony's original friend base on a new unofficial Obama page.

Think we'll see more of this sort of thing? I do.

Again, check out the full story as it's well worth reading.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 19, 2007

Hillary Glares, Rudy Remains Private, Rapture Loves Romney on MySpace Impact

"All young Americans deserve a world without end not a war without end," reads an image on Dennis Kucinich's MySpace profile. He's there along with nine other presidential contenders from both sides of the aisle.

MySpace unveiled its "Impact" section today, in order to compile profile pages dedicated to advocacy groups and political candidates. Campaigns have the ability to include a widget on their profiles that links directly to their fundraising pages on their own sites. MySpace is also allowing users to put an image on their own profiles touting the fact that they've donated.

The section also links to political news stories around the Web, civic-oriented MySpace videos, cause-related events promoted on MySpace (like the fourth annual Kokua Festival on Earth Day weekend), content from do-gooder mag, Good Magazine, and even features ads for jobs that "make an impact."

Exactly what kind of impact a technical manager or business analyst gig -- two of the ones listed on the main Impact page -- would make is anyone's guess.

I just spoke with MySpace, and the company is not charging campaigns to be highlighted in the section; however, at least one candidate with what looks to be an official profile, Senator Chris
Dodd, is not featured there. I noticed the same problem with YouTube's new YouChoose section. Either Dodd's campaign is making this request, or he's off the social site radar.

According to my contact there, MySpace has no plans to offer political advertisers paid custom promotional pages the way it does for countless entertainment brands and other advertisers. Facebook has allowed political advertisers to pay for groups since the '06 election.

Already strange things are afoot. First off, I can't help but be kinda creeped out by Hillary's piercing stare in her profile image. But maybe it's just me. Then there's Mitt Romney's profile, which lists a recent message from a self-proclaimed Christian/Gothic/Electronica band called "The Rapture Right." No telling if it's serious or not. Either way, this sorta thing could turn off potential voters.

And how's this for weird? Rudy Giuliani's profile page is private! That means only those privileged enough to be invited can view it. Strange for a guy who's open enough to parade around in a dress in public….

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 13, 2007

"300" Sponsors a MySpace Feature Upgrade, Then Smashes Box Office Record

Warner Bros. pic "300" just set a record for an opening weekend take in March, bringing in $70 million. While it's not worthwhile to speculate too much about the reasons a given underdog film smashes the box office, it's worth noting the details of a unique MySpace ad tie-in for "300." From LA Times' coverage:

The marketing folks also took full advantage of MySpace. There was of course the requisite MySpace page for the film (now standard for all movies) -- featuring a ferocious looking muscle man in a metal helmet plus tons of video clips, wallpapers and links to the film's official website. But the stroke of genius came when the studio sponsored a feature upgrade to the site that told users they could store 300 photos on their profile thanks to the movie "300." (Previously the limit had been 12). That started Jan. 2 and was incredibly popular with teens. The result was billions of ad impressions and 8 million viewings of the trailer.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 12, 2007

Do You Like Mii?

Last week at the Game Developers Conference Sony announced PlayStation Home, a virtual world to be played on the PlayStation 3. Nintendo has a virtual personae creator with a bit of a virtual world baked into its Wii system. Gamers can create characters called Mii to interact in the world, and also become the characters playing certain games like Wii Sports bowling, boxing and golf. The creation of Mii characters is the topic of two Nintendo commercials. The commercials show functionality beyond the Mii channel, with unlikely gamers playing golf and bowling with their newly-created Miis. Nintendo also created the MySpace page How Wii Play. There's more Mii fun to be had, flickr user n1c2c8 posted snapshots of characters created for NBC's The Office last month.

Via Joystiq.

Posted by Enid Burns at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

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