Sellers Marking Online

Online Video Ads: The WEBSTREAMERS Company

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photo (below) credit: http://www.wasp-factory.com/waspfactory/TV/TV%20screen.gif
Distracting? Well it's about time to get used to it. This article discusses an interesting new technology, that of online streaming video advertisements. As television commercials continue to get the attention of less and less consumers because of the remote control and products like TIVO, the medium of offline video has become less and less popular. In July 2006, the online business WEBSTREAMERS announced itself as the solution; online video commercials can now be displayed without significantly slowing down your browser.

Video, a fusion of audio and rapidly moving still images, usually anywhere from twelve(web) to twenty-four(full length motion picture) fps or frames per second, is claimed as being able to “ ‘reach customers on a new level.’” I agree and disagree. I agree because video is more attractive to me than a billboard or radio ad, because video combines the two mediums. Therefore, putting that medium online will be more effective than some other less sensually stimulating mediums. However, I’m not so sure how "new" the level will be. Television is this medium and has been around for years. The new level must therefore deal primarily with ad placement. For example, if a conservative republication politician wants to increase brand awareness(he himself is the brand), he will probably not put his ad on a liberal talk show, much less a pro-choice website forum. However he may place the online video ad on a conservative republican forum or NRA site-a more or less accurate but nevertheless common stereotype. In this way, I think that marketers can more specifically target their audience via the web than the television.

In addition and as alluded to in my weblog last week, the Internet is a "sit-forward" medium-to paraphrase. In order for me to get information or entertainment on the web, I must be active in seeking. Contrarily, the television is a "slouch-back" medium; I do not have to be actively engaged; I can turn on the television and sit there quite lazily. Video is by no means new, but the ability to tap into highly specifc segments with video is.

Marketers are excited about the online medium of video, especially those representing car dealerships, doctors, politicians, and consultants. The article states that marketing through video creates a more personal connection with customers. How it does that exactly the article does not discuss. Nevertheless, online video commercials seem to be the beginning of a richer online marketing experience.

Peace to you,

Tyler

posted by tyler @ 7:35:00 PM 0 comments

Web Videos

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photo (below) credit: http://www.unitedavg.com/assets/images/LS006118_275.jpg

Web Video Takes Off, Ads Trail.

The author of this article, Louis Hau, begins by discussing the recent high attraction of web videos. Sites like Youtube.com and Revver.com are capitalizing on this phenomenon. Banner and sidebar ads on Youtube.com and post-roll video ads on Revver.com are the main way by which marketers are reaching the increasing population of online video-watchers.

Companies like General Electric, Warner Music Group, NBC Universal, and News Corp are just a few of the main players who are using the above websites as “brand channels.” They are not doing so for free. The article states that “while a 30-second ad during a prime-time broadcast TV show typically fetches a CPM rate of about $20, a 15- or 30-second online video ad currently commands a CPM of around $20 to $50.” However, these companies are justifying these expenses because of the following: U.S. online video advertising is expected to total $385 million in 2006, up 71% from last year – as predicted by emarketer; online video is what marketers call a “lean-forward” medium – that is, users are actively searching for and taking in the content in front of them, instead of just slumping over on a couch and watching television for example.

Something I was not aware of is the fact that video advertisements are usually paired with banner ads. This makes so much sense, but when considering video advertisements as a possible medium for my personal music promotion, I did not take this into account. After reading this article, I was inspired to make a Youtube.com and Revver.com account in order to promote my music.

One particularly important point of the article was the idea of not being too intrusive with video advertising. There is some sort of unwritten law about how long such an advertisement should be and where it should be placed. To maintain an image of being “non-intrusive” with ads, a firm must not let his ads be more than 20 or 30 seconds. As mentioned before and in addition, Revver.com is featuring ads at the end of the videos and these ads can only be viewed with the viewer’s content (i.e. the viewer must click on the ad). Such ethical thinking is quite helpful, maybe not in getting more people to view one’s advertisements, but certainly in maintaining or even establishing a attitude and image that says, “I highly value the online web video viewer and his or her time.”

Peace to you,

Tyler Somers

posted by tyler @ 3:06:00 PM 1 comments