Online video ads are growing faster than almost any other segment - an inevitable result of the gradual shift of Madison Avenue ad budgets from mass-broadcast TV towards narrow-cast online video channels. Over 35 billion video ads a month are now being viewed in the USA. This is a channel that offers both the biggest opportunity for performance marketers and yet also the … [Read more...]
YouTube Celebrates With a Top Five
YouTube celebrated its fifth birthday on Valentine's Day. The youtube.com domain name was first registered on 2/15/2005 and the site was bought by Google 20 months later for $1.65 billion. After the jump check out the top five YouTube videos of all time, including a terrorist, a baby and a history lesson. Have you seen them all? Charlie bit my finger - again ! (162,975,197 … [Read more...]
Leagues of Their Own
Since the days of the gladiators, sports fans have had an irrational bond with their favorite athletes and teams. Feats of athleticism evoke eruptions of euphoria or a tidal wave of tears as a game's final play unfolds.These strong emotions create an indelible brand loyalty that remains long after the season ends.Marketers are learning to exploit these relationships in new ways … [Read more...]
The Changing Digital Landscape
2008 has shaped up to be a crazy year for online advertising - the writers' strike drove people online and the presidential election and the Olympics are causing advertisers to boost spending in a down market. The timing of these factors has altered media behavior - making the business of online media anything but typical for the year. How the advertising dollars that moved … [Read more...]
Lights, Cameras, Action!
Raise your hand if you've heard of Blendtec. I bet you are familiar with Blendtec and I bet I know how you first heard of their blenders - from their viral video series called "Will it blend?" That series, showing iPods and other unusual items being reduced to powder by a powerful blender, serves a strong branding message: If it can annihilate an iPod, it will make quick work … [Read more...]
YouTube Should Get Down to Business
According to the U.S. Census Bureau,there are nearly six million businesses in the United States. Think about the enormity of that number.That's billions and billions of dollars in revenue generation every year. That's also six million businesses that all require the same basic nourishment to survive - marketing and sales.If you're one of those six million businesses, there's … [Read more...]
Ad-Supported Nation
There's no doubt that popular websites such as video clip destination Metacafe continue to be strong players because visitors know that when they come back again and again, they can be treated to fresh content to inform them and tickle their funny bone. They can play the short clips over and over again and send the links to friends without having to pay for visiting the site. … [Read more...]
Video + Twitter = Seesmic
I recently had to stop Twittering. It was awful. The doctors said I would go blind.Seriously folks, even for as big of an Internet geek as I am, I was completely overwhelmed by the massive flood of 140-character messages from friends and colleagues that bombarded me 24 hours a day. So at the time of this writing, I'm off the Twitter-pipe, for now.But just when I thought I was … [Read more...]
.mobi for All
Neil Michel bought .mobi top-level domains as soon as they were available without consulting his bosses. As eMedia Director of Prosper magazine in Sacramento, Calif., he saw it as his duty to claim ownership of the mobile domain names before anyone else could capitalize on the company's brand name. He managed to snag ProsperMag.mobi and ProsperMagazine.mobi but not … [Read more...]
Natural Born Storyteller: Q & A with Steve Rosenbaum
Steve Rosenbaum made his name on MTV and doing documentaries. So it's natural that he's into Web video. Rosenbaum is the founder and CEO of Magnify.net, which powers user-generated video (UGV) channels for Web publishers, media companies and video bloggers. The Magnify. net platform searches and sorts virtually all video available on the Internet based on a site's interest … [Read more...]
Video Goes Viral
Thanks to social networking sites such as YouTube, online video has quickly become an everyday part of the online experience. While marketers have been slow to capitalize on video so far, the low cost of producing content and potential for increasing reach will make it essential to performance marketing.The audience that watches Web video skews younger, but nearly everyone … [Read more...]
Getting Into the Mashup Mix
It's become a new art form to combine various existing elements to create something totally new. However, it can also be dangerous creative and legal territory to navigate when particular items are protected by copyright laws. Some online marketers, eager to leverage new technologies for promotional purposes, are uploading and sharing video creations with copyrighted materials … [Read more...]
More Ways to Search
Search powerhouse Google has ascended not only to the No. 1 starting place for most Web searches, but the name has become part of the popular consciousness, even spawning the use of its name as a verb. To Google is to discover the globe.That's all about to change and the world of search is about to bust wide open.Not to say that the top three search engines - Google, Yahoo and … [Read more...]
Guiding Lightly: Q & A with Anne Holland
Anne Holland is the president of MarketingSherpa, which aims to help marketers advance by sharing real-world marketing data and hard-won lessons. The Rhode Island-based company publishes a wide range of metrics guides, buyer's guides and how-to reports, as well as a 500+ case study library. Prior to founding MarketingSherpa in 2000, Holland spent 20 years in publishing. She … [Read more...]
Video Ad Explosion
In early August, Foster's Beer announced two changes. First, they'll no longer try to be "Australian for Beer" and, second, they're moving all their television ad spending online.Although the decision only affects a $5 million ad budget, it's a bellwether: Companies are flocking to online video ads as the way to reach customers.Recent reports claim advertisers will spend $74 … [Read more...]