AOL Beefs Up TV Fare

on MediaPost Publications
by Shankar Gupta, Jun 9, 2006


AOL HAS LAUNCHED A PAIR of new channels for the broadband TV network In2TV--one featuring recently-aired-and-canceled TV shows, the other featuring several reality TV shows.

"Gone But Not Forgotten TV" will stream episodes of "Wanda at Large," "Center of the Universe," "All About the Andersons," "The Michael Richards Show," "The Ben Stiller Show," and "The George Carlin Show." The new reality channel, "Get Real TV," will feature episodes of "The Will," courtroom reality shows "The People's Court" and "Moral Court," and dating reality shows "Change of Heart" and "ElimiDate."

Advertisers on the new channels include In2TV's existing stable of advertisers--Intel, Kraft, Kia, Hershey's, and Progressive Insurance--and will add AT&T and Unilever's "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter."

Advertising units in the streams include both pre-roll and interstitials video ads, in 15- and 30-second formats, as well as sponsorships and banner ads. The shows will air with 22 minutes of content and 1-2 minutes of advertising, total.

In2TV launched in March aiming to make Warner Bros. TV shows--from "F-Troop" to "Welcome Back Kotter"--available on the Web for free. The service--launched with 10 episodes of each of 30 programs--will be available as of today, with more shows online later this year. AOL intends to roll out 14,000 episodes of 300 shows throughout the year.

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State Farm, AT&T, Georgia Pacific Sponsor Movie Sit

on MediaPost Publications
by Wendy Davis, Jun 9, 2006

STATE FARM, AT&T, AND GEORGIA Pacific have signed on as sponsors for Disney Online's site for the new Disney and Pixar animated movie "Cars."

The official movie site, offers visitors a plethora of features beyond the now-standard trailer--including games, trading cards, and podcasts, among others. In addition to the three main sponsors, the site is also running banner ads from Fandango--which offers a widget for users to obtain showtimes, and a link to purchase tickets--as well as from other marketers.

The initiative marks the first major ad effort surrounding a movie site since Brad Davis, vice president of ad sales, joined Disney Online last September. Davis served as a director of sales at Comcast Cable's Spotlight division; he also worked at AOL. While Disney Online built a similar site for "The Incredibles," that site just had a single sponsor.

Davis said that Disney Online plans more content-rich movie sites. "This will be a major component of our sales strategy going forward." The next movie site that Disney intends to build out with multiple sections and sponsors is "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," set for release next month.

The "Cars" site is being promoted on Disney's own editorial properties as well as the sites of its sponsors.

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Times Online Launches Web TV and Video Service

on VOX, June 8, 2006

The U.K.'s Times Online, the website of the Times and the Sunday Times, has launched a new online TV and video service, which at launch will be sponsored exclusively by Cisco Systems, in a six-figure deal. Cisco branding will appear throughout the Times Online TV pages and TV ads regularly interspersed between videos. The service is powered by online video broadcasting solutions provider ROO. The service offers dozens of news, business, entertainment and other features, including from Reuters. Over time, exclusive content from Times Online and its partners will be offered on the service.

"Our partnership with Cisco on Times Online TV is important for two reasons - firstly it demonstrates technology innovation in action, and that works well for Cisco as well as for us. Secondly, it's a strong partnership that shows how we can create advertising environments that work hard for the advertiser, and genuinely cater for audience demand," Ian Clark, Advertising Director, Times Newspapers Limited said in a statement.

The Times and Times Online are part of Times Newspaper Ltd., a subsidiary of News International, which is part of News Corporation company.

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Europeans Say No Way to Cell Phone Ads

on VOX, June 8, 2006

Europeans' use of cell phones is more advanced than in the U.S., and they are more interested in watching TV on their phones - good news to marketers wishing to reach that audience via cell phone ads - but according to a new survey, those same respondents are not willing to watch ads on their phones, writes Media Life (via MediaBuyerPlanner). Britain's Portio Research conducted the study in early '06 and found that more than 50 percent were willing to pay about $13/month for mobile TV (though only 2 percent currently receive any type of mobile TV).


However, 65 percent of those surveyed said they had "zero tolerance" for any and all forms of mobile phone advertising. Among younger users, the anti-advertising feeling is slightly less pervasive, with 50 percent having a zero tolerance attitude.

John White, business development director at Portio, believes that this mentality is based in part on the belief that ads would be similar to ads on regular TV, with several minutes of commercials at a time. That format, of course, is not suited to mobile TV.

Other findings: Some 80 percent of teens and youths were interested in mobile TV; that percentage goes down as the age of the respondent goes up. Only 30 percent of those aged 50 and above were interested.

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Microsoft: adCenter Is for Offline Media, Too; Gunning for Google

on Media Buyer Planner, June 8, 2006

Saying "this marketplace is begging for some efficiency in the media buying process," Joanne Bradford, Microsoft's chief media revenue officer, revealed that the company is preparing to extend its search advertising model to other outlets, including offline media, reports MediaPost (via MarketingVox). "Our goal with adCenter is to advertise into any medium," she is quoted as saying - and also taking shots at Google: "The advertising community wants an alternative to Google."

Speaking Wednesday at an American Business Media conference in New York, Bradford also said advertising would become a major revenue source for Microsoft, larger even than the OS business, adding that Microsoft's acquisition of in-game advertising firm Massive Inc. and Microsoft's IPTV broadband TV technology would be useful in that effort.

Bradford added that Google's forays into print advertising have not succeeded because it "didn't respect a lot of things about the medium." She also said Microsoft would begin to lure away Google staff once their stock options begin vesting next year.

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Panjea - MySpace with Revenue Sharing?

on Mashable!, June 7,2006

Panjea is a new social network that aims to pay users for their contributions. Members are paid a percentage of the ad revenue from their pages, as well as earning points for simply using the site. Additionally, you can earn money by selling your music and videos in a Panjea store. The blurb:

Panjea empowers you to easily express yourself online in words, music, photos, and videos, while earning cash for your creative contributions and points for community participation…You bring the creativity. We bring the advertising sponsors. You earn a % of the ad revenue from visits to your place on Panjea. We receive a small % as your virtual agent.

I’m bearish on this one for a number of reasons. Aside from the irritating use of Flash (beware the auto-playing videos), I’m not convinced that revenue sharing should be the primary motivation for using a MySpace-style network. Whatever you might think of them, it’s clear that Squidoo, Gather and RateItAll are about generating content. And since that content generates revenue, the users might want to get paid. However, MySpace isn’t about generating content - it’s about connecting with others and earning respect/fame. In other words: you can’t beat MySpace with rev share. I’m also concerned about the “store” idea - it seems highly unlikely that users will pay to download videos from their peers.

Nonetheless, I’m still extremely upbeat on social shopping services like MyPicklist and Zlio (US version on the way!). Why? Firstly, because they’re leveraging existing social networks, rather than building new ones (aka feeding the MySpace beast). And secondly, because affiliate schemes are harder to game than ad-based revenue sharing - while creating thousands of spammy Panjea profiles might be profitable, having multiple MyPicklist accounts wouldn’t make any difference at all.

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No Flash In The Pan

on Forbes
by Dan Frommer, June 7, 2006

Lip-synching teens on YouTube. Last night's episode of Lost on ABC's Web site. Cooking tips from Emeril. At long last, Web video is finally taking off. Last year, Internet users streamed 18 billion videos, and everyone from the broadcast networks to camcorder-wielding high school kids wants a piece of the pie. But one of the biggest winners could be Adobe Systems, whose newly acquired animation and site-design software, Flash, has become the hottest tool for Web video.

When Adobe Chief Executive Bruce Chizen picked up Flash developer Macromedia for $3.4 billion in stock last year, its latest version--Flash 8--was just launching. The update pledged much-higher-quality video than previous editions, thanks to a new movie-compression method from a small company called On2. What followed was a deluge of interest, pushing Flash ahead of video-streaming pioneers RealNetworks and QuickTime-developer Apple Computer.

'Probably six months after that new [compression technology] came out, adoption started going through the roof,' says Chris Hock, group product manager of Adobe's media platform. Microsoft's Windows Media format still dominated the market with a 60% share of all video streams last year. But Flash has quickly jumped into second place with a 19% market share, up from nothing two years ago, and will grow substantially this year, according to Accustream research director Paul Palumbo.

Why the turn to Flash? Compatibility is one reason, says Tim O'Hare, a developer for Scripps Networks, who counts Flash video among his arsenal for putting video from HGTV and Food Network, among other cable channels, on the Web. 'Probably most important is its cross-platform capability,' O'Hare says, meaning a Mac user running Apple's Safari browser would have the same experience as a Windows user running Internet Explorer.Adobe boasts that 98% of computers worldwide have some version of the Flash viewer installed versus 85% for Windows Media Player, 68% for QuickTime and 60% for RealPlayer. However, only 70% of U.S. users had the latest version of Flash in April, according to research firm NPD, meaning almost one-third of would-be watchers still can't see the highest-quality videos.

Simplicity is another boon for Adobe. Unlike competing offerings from Microsoft and RealNetworks, industry observers say, Flash is just Flash--no pop-up windows, music stores or other confusion. And as content companies aim to eventually make money from Web movies--IDC estimates revenue from online video will jump to $1.7 billion in 2010 from $230 million last year--marketers' and developers' familiarity with Flash is also a plus for Adobe--it's already the standard for interactive Web s.

For Adobe's bottom line, Flash's video growth is a two-headed sales dragon. Developers spending up to $700 per Flash Professional license help the group account for between 5% and 10% of Adobe's overall revenue--or $150 million to $200 million annually, according to Gene Munster, senior research analyst for Piper Jaffray. Adobe also sees some green on the server side A Flash server license runs $4,500 if content providers want to supply their own pipes.

But for greater, more 'TV-like' video performance, content providers are farming out streaming to a handful of content-delivery specialists, ranging from large, publicly traded firms such as Akamai Technologies to boutiques including Limelight Networks and VitalStream. These hosting companies all boast elaborate, international server networks that push videos geographically closer to users, making downloads quicker.

Adobe wouldn't discuss its financial relationship with hosting companies, but content-delivery specialists are already taking Web video to the bank (see 'Your Tube, Whose Dime?'), charging around $1 per gigabyte of video streamed--a steep premium to their regular data-hosting rates.Research firm IDC estimates content delivery is already a $500 million market, growing 25% annually. Munster says Adobe's server products division is growing between 30% and 40% year-over-year, though it currently accounts for a mere fraction of their overall sales--at most $50 million.

And while more Flash video means selling more Flash licenses, Adobe doesn't ring the cash register every time someone clicks on a YouTube clip. Sites can easily host Flash movies the same way they host other large files, using a progressive transfer to send the entire clip as quickly as possible for local viewing.
But big-time studios with security in mind are currently limited to using a Flash streaming server--at the premium hosting price--to push a real-time video stream. Because the video is never archived on a viewer's computer, ABC doesn't need to worry about Desperate Housewives fanatics capturing or distributing episodes from its Web site.

The premium cost for streaming Flash video is one challenge going forward for Adobe. Developers note that it's sometimes more expensive than it's worth to use Flash for a particular stream, with Windows Media streaming priced more competitively. Part of that, Adobe's Hock says, stems from the newness of the product and the necessity for Web hosts to add Flash streaming capacity to their networks. But in the meantime, a host of programmers are taking matters into their own hands One Web site lists dozens of open-source Flash projects, including a robust server called Red5 that supports multi-user video chat, video streaming and real-time, multiplayer gaming.

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Consumers Turn to Web for 'Media Snack' Fix

on TechNewsWorld
by Robin Schreier Hohman,

These sites may be loaded with viewers now, but do they have sticking power? "It's not a fad, not a craze, it's a very major cultural shift that's happening," said Arik Czerniak, CEO of Metacafe.

A growing number of user-generated video Web sites are supplanting iTunes and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Latest News about Google Video as the place to go for so-called "media snacks," bite-sized tidbits of fun that satisfy today's need for entertainment on the go.

The sites -- which include Metacafe.com, YouTube.com, Vimeo.com, Heavy.com and ifilm.com -- compete for millions of viewers without cost, although some sites are starting to run very short ads.

"Consumer-generated content [such as] YouTube is the millennial version of 'America's Funniest Home Videos,'" said Jack MacKenzie, senior vice president of Frank N. Magid Associates, a media research firm. However, now it's portable and offers users a huge community to interact with.

Charlie Todd, 27, posts to video sites because he enjoys "the ability for your users to rate and comment on your work," he said. He also posts because he doesn't have the server space or bandwidth to host memory-intensive video. Todd is the founder of Improv Everywhere, a New York-based improvisational comedy troupe that organizes heavily planned "missions" around the city to make people laugh, and then posts the results on the different video Web sites. They garner high ratings in the process.


Attracting Eyeballs

Higher ratings means more views, which push the videos onto the front pages of the sites, which then guarantees more views. If it's good, it stays on the home page, said Arik Czerniak, CEO of Metacafe. At Metacafe, a top video could get half a million views in 24 hours. "You don't need to get lucky ... because we've streamlined the viral process, if something is good it will be noticed by the community. You don't need to have 1,000 people on your mailing list," he said.

Hollywood-generated content such as reruns of "Survivor" or "Desperate Housewives" is available for US$1.99 a pop on sites such as iTunes or Google Video. (Google Video offers both a pay site like iTunes and a free site like YouTube.) NBC is offering reruns of some of its sitcoms for free.

Most, but not all, of the content is viewed on computers. You can watch some iTunes and Google Video programming on your computer, or you can download it onto portable devices such as iPods and Sony (NYSE: SNE) Latest News about Sony PlayStation Portables. With the rise of portable devices and increasingly sophisticated cell phones, eventually "multiple platform distribution will be required by this next generation," MacKenzie told TechNewsWorld.

Video Web sites have been growing quietly in the background for the past few years. In December, though, something happened that made people realize just how viable Internet video is. Someone digitized a "Saturday Night Live" music video parody called "Lazy Sunday" and posted it to YouTube. The site exploded from about 600,000 daily users to three million overnight, according to MacKenzie.

More importantly, "it was the huge viral breakthrough," MacKenzie said, because tens of thousands of people were sharing the video with tens of thousands of other people.

"Viral" is the holy grail of Internet communication because it's the fastest way of exposing the most amount of people to your product for the least amount of money. Viral has been around since the forward button on e-mail, but it's grown exponentially with the pre-existing social networks such as myspace.com and the video sites.


Cultural Shift

These sites may be loaded with viewers now, but do they have sticking power? "It's not a fad, not a craze, it's a very major cultural shift that's happening," Czerniak said.

Metacafe, one of the fastest growing video Web sites, certainly has the numbers. For April, Metacafe averaged more than 600,000 unique visitors per day, and that number is rising. Like most of the competing sites, the numbers have increased substantially since January, the month after the Lazy Sunday video ran.

Even though the videos are generally very short -- one to two minutes -- there are thousands of them at any given time, and video takes up a lot of bandwidth. In April Metacafe saw 300 million video transfers, according to Czerniak. The site relies on over 100 servers just for processing the data and information needed to run. On an average day Metacafe runs millions of lines of codes at 4 GB per second, or 40 terabytes of traffic per day over its content delivery network, which relies heavily on caching.

In fact, there's starting to be some talk that the Internet backbone won't be able to tolerate the drain from these Web sites.

All this heavy equipment takes money, and Metacafe is about to go into its second round of financing. The three-year-old start-up, which first got $5 million seed money from Benchmark, the founders of eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) Latest News about eBay, was expected to inject another $15 million at the end of May.

The big question now is, is there money to be made from free video? There are several ways to make money off this: advertisement, selling the content, or being bought.


Achieving Monetization

For Metacafe, being bought is not the goal. Rather, Czerniak wants to "create a business model where you license your materials hand in hand with users." He said if the site would run 30-second ads today they would make $20 million a month, but that would alienate their users. The way to advertise to an audience with a short attention span is "monetizing on the traffic, but trying to be gentle about it."

Richard Lent, CEO of AgencyNet, an interactive solutions agency that creates advertisements for the Internet, agreed. "We feel the more the brand integrates themselves directly with the content the less it looks like advertising," he said.

There is also the issue of selling to different demographics, the 80 million-strong millenials currently between the ages of 10 and 28, said MacKenzie.

"Like any generation they're not all equal but what they want is increasing convenience. They've come to expect their ability to dictate what they do and when they do it and I mean that broadly, not just in TV, but it relates to news & information," MacKenzie said. Most importantly, "they believe they will rule the world and it turns out they probably will."

One thing's for certain: For now, advertising seems to be the way to go. "All significant human behavior finds an advertiser," MacKenzie said.

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Cleaning Up the Board

on Washington Post
by Sara Kehaulani Goo, June 8, 2006

Meeting Sites Want a Nicer Environment -- for Advertisers

When social networking site Tribe.net debuted in 2003, it was a place for wide-open online discussions where no topic was taboo. Then the "Terms of Use Guy" showed up.

A made-up character representing Tribe management, "TOU Guy" began aggressively patrolling the site in December, removing nude photos and sending reprimands to authors of offensive material. His enigmatic silhouette popped up in e-mails threatening to banish people who violated the rules.
TOU Guy made Tribe safe for advertisers who had flocked to the site as it became more popular. But original members felt betrayed, and 1,400 of them rebelled and left to build a new site (Free-Association.net) where they can once again discuss anything from magic to transgender issues without restriction.

Social networking Web sites such as Tribe, Friendster, MySpace and Facebook grew by 50 percent last year, according to Nielsen-NetRatings, making them some of the most popular destinations on the Internet. But the rapid success is testing the limits of how the Internet's freewheeling free speech can coexist with its power as a medium for advertising and commerce.

Although many sites started out as grass-roots places where friends could meet and connect for free online, nearly all have been purchased over the past several years by big media companies looking for ways to profit from the millions of members by selling advertisements. Many advertisers are squeamish about the nudity, vulgarity and sex that gather on sites where users can post anything that interests them.

"What advertisers are excited about with this new medium is, it's a good way to reach young people and people who are buying their stuff," said Lucian James, president of brand marketing firm Agenda Inc. "By restricting it too much, the danger is they turn it into something like old media. People will flee away from something that looks like an old police model or one that looks like it's being run by parents."

The rules about what a member can post to some of these sites vary greatly, and many sites are experimenting with new methods of enforcement. Some, such as online video site YouTube.com, employ a community-policing approach that relies on members to report offensive material, which the company reviews for removal. Others, such as online video site vMix.com, take a more active approach, hiring people to view every photo and word before it is posted.

MySpace.com, the most popular networking site with 75 million users, said it has recently stepped up its efforts to ensure that the content posted by members follows no-nudity and no-pornography rules. The company uses a filtering software that tries to recognize nudity in photos before they are uploaded, and it also employs people to screen some photos and videos and address safety concerns.

Last month, Republican lawmakers filed a bill, backed by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (Ill.), that would force schools and public libraries to prevent children from accessing any social networking site where minors could be exposed to "obscene and indecent material." Rep. Michael G. Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), one of the bill's sponsors, said it is an effort by lawmakers who call themselves the "Suburban Caucus" to address the concerns of parents who are alarmed by the high-profile arrests of child predators who use the sites to contact teens.

The bill has not been scheduled for a hearing, and it is unlikely to move ahead, given Congress's busy schedule before the end of the session. Some legal experts think the bill would not be constitutional anyway, because it would inherently limit children's access to the Internet and infringe upon their freedom of speech.

"Kids are being kids on social networks -- they're doing exactly the same stuff we did when we were kids. The difference is because they're doing it on this public space, we have a window into their activities," said Lauren Gelman, who has studied lawsuits related to MySpace as associate director of Stanford University Law School's Center for Internet and Society. Social networking sites "have to get this right in a way that they don't alienate their users but they also have to get it right for their investors and advertisers, so you don't end up with a Honda ad next to a pornographic picture," she said. "They have to balance both of these interests."

As the Tribe example shows, the bonds that form among online friends can be incredibly strong and easily mobile, making the task of monitoring or regulating them increasingly difficult and complicated.

Founded by enthusiasts of the annual Burning Man counter-culture festival in Nevada, Tribe initially relied on users to place a "mature" label on any adults-only photos or content on their personal profiles. The site requires users to be at least 18 years old to join, but the policy is difficult to enforce and visitors can still view all of the content.

The community-policing rules changed in December, after a broad, pornography-related decision by the Justice Department left the company worried that it could be held liable for sexually explicit material posted by users and after advertisers expressed concern. "Our advertisers and our investors aren't particularly happy with the adult content there," said Darian Patchin, spokesman for Tribe Networks Inc., which runs the Web site. "We needed to do something that enables us to be a successful business and that our investors are okay with."

Tribe, a San Francisco firm that received initial funding from The Washington Post Co. and Knight Ridder Digital, announced that as of Dec. 20, 2005, it would remove all "mature" content from the site. Such discussion groups could continue to exist, but to only members who signed up for them. They would become invisible to everyone else.

That move, coupled with the "TOU Guy," sparked outrage. Some members tried to test the limits. Matthew Puffer, who uses the screen name "Mateo," started posting adult photos, just to see if Tribe would kick him off. (Tribe eventually blocked his server from accessing the site.) He posted lewd photos of "soft" pornography but also some of artwork that involved nudity. Puffer said the TOU Guy ignored some photos, but removed images of ancient Peruvian pottery featuring naked figures. "The way they implemented their TOU was so completely arbitrary, it was ridiculous," Puffer said.

"They had this whole period of being overbroad in what they were censoring," said Deborah Pierce, a former member of Tribe who left to start Free-Association. "A lot of Burning Man photos of naked people were being taken down. They weren't sexual. They were just of naked people at Burning Man."

The move told many members that Tribe had become something far different from its origins.

"It doesn't surprise me that we have really strong feelings" by members about the changes, Patchin said. As one of the company's earliest employees, he agreed that the company had changed a lot over time and that it had refocused its efforts to become a cross between MySpace.com and Craigslist.org, a Web site for free classified advertisements. But Patchin said Tribe is a business and ultimately has to be responsible to its funders.

As for the loss of some of its members, Patchin said the secession hasn't made a huge dent. Tribe recently had to lay off about half of its 25 employees as it put costs more in line with revenue from online advertising. It has more than 500,000 members, he said, and is still growing.

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TiVo Will Offer Web Video ServiceTo TV Subscribers

on WSJ.com
by Vauhini Vara, June 7, 2006

TiVo Inc. is launching a service to offer Internet video to television viewers, the latest in a series of moves to differentiate its digital video recorder from rival devices.

Starting today, TiVo said subscribers will be able to access video clips from the National Basketball Association, New York Times Co., the female-oriented Web firm iVillage Inc. and others through a new service called TiVoCast, available at no extra charge.

Among the content that will be available in the next few weeks: videos showing parenting tips for new mothers and multimedia reporting from New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof.

"For an awful lot of viewers, video doesn't become real TV until you can watch it on the television," TiVo Chief Executive Tom Rogers said.

TiVoCast is the company's latest move in a broader effort to let its customers view material from the Web. The services require one of the company's Series2 digital video recorders, or DVRs, which include a broadband Internet connection.

Last month, the Alviso, Calif., company struck a deal with Brightcove Inc., a closely held firm that markets a service that allows companies to distribute video online. Under the deal, Brightcove will give its customers the option of making their content available through TiVo.

Mr. Rogers said he hopes the new offerings will help distinguish TiVo from its larger rivals. Cable and satellite companies are promoting their own DVRs, putting pricing pressure on TiVo.

Subscribers typically use TiVo to record cable or satellite-TV signals onto a hard disk. DVRs have become popular because they let users view programs when they want, rather than conform to a TV schedule, while allowing viewers to pause live television and skip commercials.

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Nardini to Media Buyers: Stay Alert to Online, Consumer Behavior Shifts

on Media Buyer Planner, June 1, 2006

According to Erika Kathryn Nardini, vp and media director for Digitas, to be successful in spite of current changes in online and offline media buying, media buyers must "apply strategic marketing principles in an intelligent yet fluid manner" and "support strategic use of buying clout with actionable learning, innovation and insight," writes iMedia.

Shifts in online media buying - like online video's increasing viability as an online medium - are "driving meaningful extensions and opportunities well beyond the 30 second spot," Nardini said. She also noted that "digital advertising is at once becoming more and less traditional: more traditional as mainstream content goes digital and inventory demands necessitate upfront buying tactics as well as traditional buying measures; less traditional as emerging technologies and user-generated content result in a proliferation of nascent technologies and opportunities that fall outside traditional buying/measurement models."

Nardini also said that the most significant media buying trend occurring is the evolution of consumer behavior as "a catalyst for rapid and widespread change both in content and opportunity," raising awareness for the need for evolved media strategies. This has resulted in more integrated media buys, causing the companies challenged in communicating multi-media platforms to suffer from the "lack of a truly integrated opportunity or innate challenges within the content itself," Nardini said.

As for purchasing media based on an auction method, Nardini said, "understanding the point of diminishing returns will be key for buyers engaged in this practice."

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Consumers More Accepting of Digital Media, Stay True To Traditional Choices

on MediaBuyerPlanner, June 4, 2006

According to a new report from Ipsos Insight called "More Evolution Than Revolution: Most Consumers Ambivalent About Emerging Digital Video Choices," one in seven consumers would accept ads embedded in free downloads of TV shows, writes MediaPost. However, while consumers are beginning to embrace digital media, they're not ready to give up traditional media like TV, said Todd Board, svp for technology and communications at Ipsos Insight.

While 13 percent of respondents said that next year they would "seriously consider" downloading podcasts of TV shows containing ads through which they couldn't skip, 11 percent said that they would pay $1.99 for a downloaded TV show that they could copy to devices like DVDs or video iPods three times.

Many web users said they would continue using traditional means of entertainment as well, with 18 percent of respondents expecting to watch more TV in real time next year. Comparatively, 13 percent expect to watch more TiVo-ed or recorded programs and 6 percent anticipate viewing more TV online.

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BBC To Put World Cup on Internet

on Media Buyer Planner, June 4, 2006

Entering into a deal with marketer Infront Sports & Media, the BBC has announced that it would simultaneously stream all of its live televised coverage of the 2006 World Cup over broadband for free, writes Media Life. Along with the live online coverage, users can view bonuses like minute-by-minute commentary written by BBC journalists, World Cup on-demand highlights packages and an hourly desktop sports alerts.

BBC Sports - which also plans to stream this year's Wimbledon Championships on its site - said that the online service is its latest effort to capture daytime mindshare.

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5 To Keep An Eye On

on MediaPost Publications
by Susan Kuchinskas, June 2006

It's Getting Hot 'n' Heavy

Heavy.com, an in-your-face online video smorgasbord, is for advertisers brave enough to do what it takes to reach guys. Advertisers like Burger King let Heavy run ads created by real people using the famous king mask to put the fast-food icon in some compromisingly hilarious positions.

The aggressive content mix includes weekly shows like "American Suck Countdown," a sarcastic roundup of top news stories, extreme sports clips, music videos, games, and home video. The site happily blurs content and advertising with 30-second made-for-TV spots offered as part of the content mix.

"Heavy is one big PointRoll," says co-CEO Simon Assaad. "It's an entertainment environment, so if you make an ad that feels like entertainment, people will watch it."

Pricing ranges from $10 to $80 on a cost-per-thousand basis, depending on the type of ad. Assaad advises advertisers to stop thinking in terms of traditional ad units. Any piece of the environment can be owned and sponsored by an advertiser, and Heavy.com will work with marketers to present their content as editorial or create custom placements. For example, Heavy.com works with game companies on "Machinima," a series of shorts based on game titles.

The Web-based network recently signed a deal to deliver content to Verizon Wireless' VCast mobile video service, although Assaad doesn't believe cell phones are ready for ads yet. The company plans to move its service to cable video-on-demand and other connected devices.


Video Is So You

YouTube.com enables people to upload, tag, and share video clips across the Internet and through e-mail and millions have done so, making this site the third-largest provider of video on the Web.

Because users can search or browse to find the content they're interested in, YouTube attracts a broad demographic: 18- to 49-year-olds. Content is a mix of mainstream TV shows (contributed by producers), clips from vintage TV shows, and homemade movies from around the world. Next up: advertising.

"YouTube is a stage for anyone and everyone including traditional ad agencies," says Julie Supan, director of marketing.

YouTube already runs promotional video, such as film trailers and clips. Disney featured a classic video of the band Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" to tie in with "Queen Week" on "American Idol." A partnership with E! Online will direct YouTube users to E!'s own broadband video channel.

In the next few months, Supan says YouTube will offer marketers a combination of promotions, sponsorships, contextual, and traditional banner ads, plus brand-new formats unique to YouTube.


Granting Interactive Permission

PermissionTV lets content companies combine existing Web assets with streaming video, and then add highly interactive commercials.

"If you have the video and the idea, and are ready to get on the Internet with an attractive channel, we can get you up and running in under a month," says CEO Dave Graves.

PermissionTV licenses the technology, and broadcasters control how they deliver content and ads. They can enable pay-per-view, sponsorships, or a variety of advertising models, including using their existing Web-based advertising networks. Grove Communications' "Update Hollywood" is the first show launched on PermissionTV; several others are in production and remain under wraps.

The company is devising new types of ads to reduce clutter while boosting effectiveness, notably the telescoping ad: a 5- or 10-second spot that invites users to click to find out more. Viewers can even buy from within the ad.

As more broadband users connect their PCs to TVs, Graves sees PermissionTV creating a true interactive television experience, bringing the Web's targeting power to the living room. "Instead of making 10 million people watch a commercial that may be appropriate to only 100,000, we can show it to those people who are truly interested," he says.

RipeTV Lures 'Em On-Demand

For that attention-deficit demographic men aged 18 to 34 RipeTV offers quick, hot hits of video whenever and wherever they want it. For media buyers, it offers seven different ad formats embedded into the video.

RipeTV is one of several video-on-demand networks created by Ripe Digital Entertainment to reach specific demographics. In this case, it's those multitasking young guys who almost never sit down in front of the TV set. They can pick from eight different channels with up to eight video shorts in each, watching via cable on-demand, mobile phones, or a PC with broadband connection.

Shows are free to viewers and have one advertiser per show, and that advertiser is all over the place. Ad formats include a "TV skin" that wraps all four corners of the screen, a jump-in logo bug, a 15-second spot, and a branded feature at the end of the show.

"There's a voracious demand for measurable media in broadcast," says Ripe Digital CEO Ryan Magnussen.

Advertisers are charged a cost per view ranging from 12 to 25 cents, which Magnussen says works out to a $120 to $220 cost per thousand. "But an actual person is watching the show," he points out, "so we think ad rates will go up dramatically."

RipeTV is completely sold out, with advertisers including Old Spice and Boost Mobile, as is OctaneTV, a Ripe network targeting auto enthusiasts. But marketers hungry for this demographic shouldn't despair: Next up is a NASCAR network, with more to come.

Build Your Own Channel

Brightcove's on-demand Internet TV service lets content creators package and publish Flash-based media on their own Web sites, or offer it for distribution via Brightcove.com. The service remains in commercial preview mode, but there are a few hundred programmers using the platform for stand-alone video sites, including SmartMoney.com and National Lampoon TOGA.

Webcasters can sell their own avails or become part of the Brightcove Ad Network, planned for late fall. Brightcove will sell the ads and distribute them to publishers that opt in, with ad rates yet to be determined. Brightcove promises integration with third-party ad-serving, targeting, and tracking applications.

"Our on-demand solution will allow marketers to build their own content channels, through which they will have complete control, and syndicate them out to affiliates," says Adam Gerber, Brightcove's vice president of advertising products and strategy. "For example, a travel marketer could create a content bundle and offer it to community forums, travel sites, and blogs."

Marketers will be able to brand the video player or an entire bundle of content. Gerber is going after advertising and media agencies in a big way, touting not only traditional ad placements but also long-form "content experiences" that will be direct-to-consumer.

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Why Getting the User To Create Web Content Isn't Always Progress

on Wall Street Journal
by Lee Gomes, June 7, 2006

At first, it seemed like the sort of silly, self-serving thing that many companies are wont to say about their products. Only later did I realize it represented the opening of another front in the battle against traditional culture being waged by certain parts of the technology industry.

I was in the offices of an Internet company, and an executive was demonstrating an online movie-editing service the company's engineers had built. In addition to the software, there were several short films the company had received permission to make available for downloading. "Until now, watching a movie has been an entirely passive experience," the speaker explained.

Now, though, he said, users will be able to actively make their own new movie, or at least a short clip, by mixing up scenes from the site's small online library. One such creation was displayed: Through editing, people from one film were made to seem to be reacting to events and people that, in fact, were from another movie.

"Great, isn't it?" asked the presenter.

Not really. Watching a good movie is "passive" in the same way that looking at a great painting is "passive" -- which is, not very; you're quite actively lost in thought. For my friend, though, the only activity that seemed "active," and thus worthwhile, was when a person sitting at a PC engaged in digital busy work of some kind.

The short cinematic pastiche we saw is an example of what has come to be called a "mash-up," and for a big part of the tech world, these sorts of mash-ups are becoming the highest form of cultural production.

This is most clearly occurring in books. Most of us were taught that reading books is synonymous with being civilized. But in certain tech circles, books have come to be regarded as akin to radios with vacuum tubes, a technology soon to make an unlamented journey into history's dustbin.

The New York Times Magazine recently had a long essay on the future of books that gleefully predicted that bookshelves and libraries will cease to exist, to be supplanted by snippets of text linked to other snippets of text on computer hard drives. Comments from friends and others would be just as important as the original material being commented on; Keats, say.

Imagine a long email message with responses and earlier messages included. We'll have those in lieu of "Middlemarch" or "The Corrections." Picking up on the theme, another writer suggested that traditional books "are where words go to die."

It is an odd state of affairs when books or movies need defending, especially when the replacement proffered by certain Web-oriented companies and their apologists is so dismally inferior: chunks and links and other bits of evidence of epidemic ADD. Reading some stray person's comment on the text I happen to be reading is about as appealing as hearing what the people in the row behind me are saying about the movie I'm watching.

In high school, we were required for social studies to take the lyrics of Pete Seeger's "Turn Turn (Turn)," the one with "a time for love, a time for hate," and illustrate it with pictures clipped out of Time magazine.

It was a pre-Internet mash-up, and we got busy with our scissors and glue and had lots of fun. I'm not sure what we learned, though. Today's mash-ups remind me of those Time magazine collages: all cutting and pasting, signifying nothing.

Another way that people describe mash-ups is "user-generated content," referred to by the smart set as "UGC." Most of the time, when companies talk about user-generated content, they mean nothing grander than the pictures you store on Web sites or the pages that MySpace members spend hours fussing over.

But for those preaching the glories of the new mash-up culture, UGC is bringing about a new golden age, with the Internet giving a platform to everyone, not just elite writers or filmmakers.

The video-sharing site YouTube is a poster child for this sensibility, since anyone can upload just about anything to it. For a sense of what this new world is like, you can consult the site's "Top Favorites." There are several dance segments, people imitating ninjas or lip-synching songs, and a (very funny, actually) dog who growls at his own leg. You can spend 10 minutes and take in all of it. Spend much more, and you start feeling guilty about the time you're wasting.

Contrast that group of videos with the list you get when you search for the most non-UGC, least mashed-up collection of TV shows I could think of: "Favourite 20th century BBC TV programmes." (You need the British spelling for the search to work properly.)

These aren't all twee costume dramas. No. 1 is "Fawlty Towers." No. 2 is "Cathy Come Home," a Ken Loach drama about the homeless that first aired in 1966 but is still vividly remembered. The rest of the list includes dramas and sci-fi and talk shows and sitcoms, all of them, in their own way, weighty meals for the mind. You can watch them decade after decade, and never feel guilty at all.

read also Customer-made

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NBC Battles, and Joins With, Video Web Sites

on WSJ.com
by Brooks Barnes and Rebecca Buckman, June 6, 2006

In April, a lawyer at General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal fired off a stern letter to a small Web site that specializes in amateur video clips, photos and music. An attached spreadsheet listed about 140 video clips of NBC shows that the lawyer claimed were illegally available on Bolt.com. The Web site quickly removed them.

But even as NBC was playing hardball with Bolt, it was considering using the site and others like it as a marketing partner. NBC has had talks with some of these sites -- the biggest of which is YouTube.com -- about an arrangement in which the network would give the sites sneak peeks of new shows.

NBC's dealings with these sites illustrate the quandary networks face as they struggle to adapt to the Internet age. NBC says it feels it must take a tough line with Web sites that show its programs without permission. At the same time, executives recognize that those pirated Internet clips can generate buzz among younger viewers who think watching shows on TV sets is old-fashioned.

Cracking down on Web sites is "a difficult balancing act as these video-sharing sites gain in popularity," says Rick Cotton, general counsel for NBC Universal. "We invest millions of dollars in this content and we must aggressively protect it. At the same time, we want to promote it and we want people to see it."

Despite sending several warnings to YouTube for similar infractions, NBC and YouTube are close to finalizing an agreement in which NBC will buy ads on YouTube while the site will post clips of coming NBC shows provided by the network.

Fueled by the proliferation of broadband Internet access, YouTube says consumers watch more than 50 million videos a day -- mostly amateur clips -- on its site.

One of the clips NBC targeted on Bolt's site was a popular sketch from its "Saturday Night Live" comedy show called "Lazy Sunday," about two New York slackers who spend a Sunday afternoon eating cupcakes and going to a movie. It became a sensation with the under-30 crowd on online-video sites when it made its debut a few months ago, helping to boost the show's ratings.

The network's demand that "Lazy Sunday" be removed indicates that "NBC doesn't really get it," says Luke McCormick, a 23-year old Bolt staffer. "Having clips of its shows up on [the Internet] was the only thing that was going to get anyone our age to watch 'Saturday Night Live.'" Mr. McCormick says he rarely watches regular TV, often renting DVDs of shows he wants to see. (Mr. McCormick is the son of an NBC Universal executive. Doug McCormick is the chief executive of iVillage, a women-focused social networking site NBC Universal bought earlier this year.)

NBC says it recognized that the popularity of "Lazy Sunday" in cyberspace could be a powerful promotional tool for the 31-year-old "Saturday Night Live." The video was available for free for a few weeks on iTunes but is now for sale. But the network felt that the clip generated more attention for sites such as Bolt and YouTube rather than the show -- or the network's fledgling ad-supported NBC.com, where the video also was available.

"These viral sites are interesting to us in instances before a show becomes an asset and we are trying to expose it to people," says John Miller, NBC's chief marketing officer. "Once something becomes a hit it's a different story. Our interest here is generating revenue for ourselves."

Networks also are reluctant to set a precedent. If NBC allows one "Saturday Night Live" clip on video sharing sites, why shouldn't consumers expect other clips to be traded online free, too?

Adding to the confusion is that the major networks are approaching the issue differently. Some, such as CBS Corp.'s CBS, have held similar discussions with the sites about possible deals. Others, such as Walt Disney Co.'s ABC, for now are opposed to such ventures.

"Part of the danger with partnering with these sites is that there is very little control," says Mike Benson, senior vice president of marketing at ABC. "Once something is out on the Web it is very, very difficult to get it back." Bolt and YouTube say videos on their sites can be "streamed" but not downloaded.

Pursuing Web sites in court could make piracy worse, networks fear, because such an aggressive stance may anger young consumers -- a lesson learned after the music industry's high-profile legal fight with online piracy.

NBC is walking a fine line with its deal with YouTube. NBC won't put its logo on many of the video clips it provides to YouTube to ensure the clips retain the illicit look that makes them cool. A YouTube spokeswoman says the company removes videos if it learns they were posted without the permission of the copyright holders, as "the law requires of us." YouTube has also developed new tools to identify unauthorized content, she says.

Meanwhile, other Internet sites are developing new business models that might be more palatable to TV networks and others seeking to distribute content online.

Search giant Google Inc. is working with CBS and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture between Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG, to sell music videos, current sports events and even episodes of old TV series ("MacGyver") through its new Google Video service. Users can buy the videos and then download them to their computer hard drives -- but they can't copy them or send them to anyone else because Google built copyright protections into the system.

Google often gets copyrighted content for its video site free of charge, and then splits sales revenue with content providers. Jennifer Feikin, Google's director for video and multimedia search partnerships, says the company is "in talks with all the major networks and studios."

Smaller media companies are also jumping into the fray. The chief executive of a 25-person Los Angeles-area start-up called Revver Inc. says his company is in talks with a number of television networks, including NBC, about distributing TV shows online. Revver, which now focuses on amateur video, attaches advertisements to uploaded videos and uses special technology to track the clips' movements across the Internet.

In the meantime, NBC Universal is taking some heat from younger consumers for its hard-nosed tactics against Bolt. Soon after the network's lawyer, Steve Kang, sent the letter to the Web site in April, Bolt's Mr. McCormick and a colleague posted a satirical amateur video on Bolt's site called "Hazy Monday." Its plot? Two Manhattan slackers decide to see a movie, but pick up a pirated copy in Chinatown instead of going to the theater. They later try to illegally download the same movie from the Internet.

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3G TV goes interactive

on Middle East Times
by Leah Krauss, June 6, 2006

BINYAMINA, Israel -- First there were Web cams. Then there were camera phones and 3G television streaming. Now there's BLOGTV, a kind of cable access for the twenty-first century.

"User-generated content is a big trend in the market," BLOGTV's vice-president of business development, Dan Chen, told United Press International in a telephone interview. "This is just another [type]. Before it was video, music and pictures, and now it's a live broadcast," Chen continued.

"Anyone with a Web cam or video-conferencing capabilities on his cell phone can broadcast a live show", Chen said. "To stream the technology correctly, users need at least 128 bits of uploading speed, though the faster, the better", he added.

Viewers can pick which shows they want to watch and even chat with the broadcaster or other viewers via a chat bar at the bottom of the screen.

Some people broadcast their band's live performance, he said; others have talk shows. Chen broadcast the recent Euroleague soccer championship from a pub in London while a friend of his used the technology to broadcast straight from the stadium in Paris.

"Now everyone can be a news reporter," he said. "People who were [in the vicinity of the 2004 Asian] tsunami could have broadcast that."

The streamed television outlet is accessible by broadband Internet or by cell phones with 3G capabilities, Chen said, including those that cannot broadcast.

Those in the industry agree that "user-generated content" is the next big thing in cell phones. "There are all sorts of services on the Internet now that surfers create themselves, such as MySpace," Erez Gold, chief executive officer of mobile content company Goldrush, told UPI earlier this week. "That's the direction we're going in."

The reality-show aspect also appeals to users, other industry executives said. "What can be more interesting than watching other people's lives?" Kobi Markenko, the chief executive officer of Logia, said via BLOGTV's Website.

"The BLOGTV is the real reality show of ... 3G and it is definitely one of Cellcom's major and most important and contemporary 3G content," he continued, referring to one of Israel's major mobile carriers.

However, the only carrier that supports video conferencing in Israel is Orange, so those are the only users who can broadcast their own shows, Chen said.

BLOGTV has attracted international attention in the past few months - most recently, the company was named "New Trend Leader" at the May 25 global mobile content awards in Seoul. The judging committee consisted of industry executives from Qualcomm, Orange UK, Red Herring and The Hollywood Reporter, the company said in a statement.

Another prestigious award came at February's 3GSM Conference in Barcelona, Spain, where the Ramat Gan, Israel-based company won the "Best Mobile Video Service" prize, Chen said.

Right now the service is only available to Israeli customers of the mobile provider Orange, but BLOGTV is planning to develop broadcasting capabilities in "at least a few countries" with developed broadband infrastructure and 3G capabilities by the end of 2006, Chen said.

There were just fewer than 7 million mobile connections in Israel in 2003, according to the research firm Gartner, and in 2006 the company predicts that there will be nearly 8 million mobile connections for the country's 7 million citizens.

Gartner also predicted that most of the mobile handsets sold here in 2006 will be "enhanced phones" and that the push to offer more and more content, gaming and fashionable phones is a consumer trend that is driving the worldwide mobile market.

According to new research that Gartner released on May 31, worldwide mobile handset sales in the first quarter of 2006 increased by 23.8 percent over the corresponding period last year, to 224 million phones.

Though the research company did not release data on 3G sales specifically, Gartner said in a statement that 3G phone sales "held an important position in [market leader] Nokia's general sales in the first quarter and significantly influenced Nokia's average price during the quarter."

The company, a subsidiary of Israeli company Tapuz People, is in the process of establishing itself and becoming independent. The process is due to be complete very soon, Chen said, and BLOGTV plans to earn money through advertising and possibly subscription fees for the service.

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MyNuMo Democratizes Mobile Content Creation, Distribution and Sales

on MobileCrunch
by Oliver, May 18, 2006

I’ve been playing with MyNuMo for several weeks now and speaking to their engaging founder Bill Volk about his vision for this very creative application. Bill (who really ought to have at least a paragraph or two about himself, his experiences and his vision and another couple about the rest of the MyNuMo team) is an entrepreneur worthy of respect - after all - few entrepreneurs have put their money where their application is to the degree that Bill has with MyNuMo which has yet to take in a round of financing from a VC or even any Angel Investors. Something which, when you see the degree of funcitionality that MyNuMo already has becomes that much more impressive.

So what is MyNuMo you ask? Well Bill would tell you that MyNuMo is the CafePress of mobile content, Ajit Joakar of FutureText/OpenGardens would say that it’s the first true Open Garden for mobile content consumption, distribution and sale and I would suggest that it’s the democratization of mobile content from creation to sale and consumption. Whatever you call it, MyNuMo is pretty cool.

Not only is the site fun to visit because of the collection of videos it sports - including a series called “Kung Fu Car Wash” that you have to see to believe, but within a few minutes you can sign up and begin to create your own saleable mobile content. There are tools that enable remixing of ringtones (think “Garageband”), more tools for working with video, wallpapers and even text. The site incorporates user generated qualitative rankings, has dedicated blog space and coolest of all they’ve recently introduced a marketing tool.

This tool, NuMoMatic, allows you to create snippets of HTML that allow you to post them on other sites (like your MySpace page) to promote the content you’ve created. Promoting content is only half the battle however. It has been fairly well established that people (and particularly short attention spanned younger people - will not buy something on their phone if they have to pull out a credit card to do so. The only means of buying that is sufficiently friction-free to prise money out of the pockets of the primary audience is via carrier billing with the charges simply added to ones phone bill.

It’s here where Bill has really done something special. Ordinarily it is about this place in the process that independent content developers discover that the carriers would rather they die - or at least limp off and let them (the carriers that is) alone. For an individual content creator to get onto a major carrier deck is all but impossible, but MyNuMo has inked deals with many majors including Cingular/AT&T and T-Mobile, they’re in a testing with Sprint and on Verizon’s list for their 3rd party content beta which is scheduled to start later this spring. Bill tells me that they’re able to bill for text messages on all major carriers as well.

On the user side is functionality just as critical to making the content people have developed sell: MyNuMo’s systems are capable of identifying which handset someone is using and adjusting the content appropriately. The customer doesn’t even have to know the make and model of his or her phone, MyNuMo can make the determination and provide the right content. If content isn’t delivered, no charges are assessed

Recently the MyNuMo site has added additional customization functions for the personal pages of MyNuMo members, allowing for the inclusion of HTML, images and Flash objects This allows for fairly comprehensive user customization like this page here.

Personally I think there’s a lot of good stuff happening with MyNuMo and I like the fact that someone has finally figured out a way to enable creative people to share their creations and monetize them without having to get a degree in carrier relations to do so.

I will say though that there are still some things that I would like to see Bill sort out. In addition to needing some information about the management team on his site, the fact that a website devoted to mobile content simply can’t be viewed on even a sophisticated smartphone like the ones I carry makes no sense to me at all. Bill says there’s a WAP site for this purpose but it isn’t clearly identfiable and this can be frustrating if you are trying to browse MyNuMo from your mobile.

I’m sure though that they’ll sort that out soon enough. This is a hugely ambitious undertaking made doubly so by the slim capital they have available…VCs take note; these are people that know how to do a lot with a little, making this a very good investment opportunity in my opinion.

Personally, I like what I’m seeing at MyNuMo and hope that they’ll continue to see very creative people develop unique and saleable content for a long time to come.

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San Juan College Selects VBrick Systems for Video-on-Demand and Internet Streaming Capabilities

on VBrick, June 5, 2006

WALLINGFORD, Conn. – June 5, 2006 – VBrick Systems, Inc. (www.VBrick.com), an industry leader in affordable video over IP network solutions, today announced that San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico is deploying VBrick for on-demand classroom video and streaming presentations across campus. San Juan College is using powerful VBrick capabilities to provide authorized students with video-on-demand access on any networked computer while centralizing digital video management across the college campus, which encompasses nearly one million square feet and 11 buildings.

The VBrick EtherneTV Media Distribution System enables organizations to record, store, manage, and distribute DVD-quality digital video via any IP network. EtherneTV’s intuitive, browser-based interface enables authorized users to search the college’s central digital video library and immediately access stored programming. The digital video library is available at the college’s networked classrooms, 40 media labs, and other campus buildings. Each networked classroom features a computer connected to a television monitor that enables professors to show video content quickly and easily.

San Juan College previously provided students with course content CDs. This approach required the college’s technology department to create and distribute new CDs to address syllabus changes, a process that was costly and time-consuming for teachers and staff.

“Technology is integral to connecting students, faculty, and staff across the San Juan College campus while also supporting the structured classroom teaching and independent student learning that is vital to fulfilling our educational mission,” said Shah S. Ardalan, vice president for technology services, San Juan College. “VBrick EtherneTV flexibility and ease- of-use removes digital video technology hurdles, placing the focus on teaching and education.”


Migrating to Digital Video: Triple-Play Convergence

After converging voice and data traffic on its gigabit fiber optic network in early 2005, San Juan College focused on migrating video to the new network, thereby streamlining operations, and eventually eliminating the separate analog network that provides cable television throughout campus.

Using reliability, ease-of-use, scalability, and cost as primary selection criteria, San Juan College selected EtherneTV as the cornerstone of its digital video initiative in late summer 2005. San Juan College, working with solutions provider Integrity Networking Systems, Inc., implemented EtherneTV quickly and began providing classroom digital video in September 2005.

“Centralized management and ease-of-use are essential requirements as we continue to expand the depth and breadth of our technology infrastructure to support six percent annual student growth,” said Ardalan. “VBrick is providing immediate value and EtherneTV will pay for itself in a very short time.”

EtherneTV centralizes and simplifies digital video management and maintenance. The EtherneTV system includes the EtherneTV-NXG Video on Demand Server, EtherneTV Portal Server, an EtherneTV-STB (Set Top Box), and VBrick encoder appliances. VBrick’s dual MPEG-2 and 4 encoder appliances provide the college with the flexibility to record and distribute MPEG-2 DVD-quality video or lower-bandwidth MPEG-4 video for Internet streaming.

“Colleges and universities including San Juan College continue to transform their course offerings to provide students with the tools to thrive in today’s dynamic workplace,” said Pat Cassella, senior director of marketing – education, VBrick Systems, Inc. “Similarly, EtherneTV enables higher education institutions to expand the classroom experience and deliver additional visual teaching capabilities by supporting distance learning, video on demand, and Internet streaming.”


Expanding Digital Video Capabilities

San Juan College is currently using EtherneTV for multiple courses and has streamed college president Dr. Carol J. Spencer’s fall and spring convocations to networked computers throughout campus. The Technology Services Department is planning a full digital video rollout in summer 2006 – providing time for professors, faculty, and staff to use the technology prior to the fall 2006 semester.

“When Technology Services streamed the convocation ceremony across campus, we were able to get an idea of how useful this tool could be to our students,” said Dr. Carol J. Spencer, president, San Juan College. “For us that is the bottom line – will it add another resource to help our students both in the classroom and in online courses. Faculty will also benefit from digital video, giving them another tool to teach.”

The college continues to digitize its existing videotape library, making digital video accessible to faculty and students easily and immediately, while virtually eliminating time-consuming VHS tape library cataloging, tracking, and management requirements. The college will eventually transmit all video via its fiber optic network, eliminating the redundant coax network requirement. In addition to using classroom digital video, San Juan College officials also envision EtherneTV supporting its distance learning initiatives.

Digital video is also streamlining staff training. The college has created videos to train the 50 student lab assistants that support the Information Technology (IT) department each semester. The on-demand videos replace DVD training video creation and distribution requirements, saving the IT department money while also providing improved student access to the material.


Building on Technology Excellence

San Juan College’s top-10 “digital sophistication” ranking – based on a 2005 survey by the Center for Digital Education and the American Association of Community Colleges – reflects the college’s commitment to leveraging technology to provide high-quality education. To maintain top technology expertise on campus, the college has outsourced its technology management and leadership to SunGard Higher Education since 1999.

Technology continues to play a central role supporting the college’s approximately 9,000 students, 300 faculty, and more than 500 staff. Specifically, the San Juan College 2006-2011 Strategic Plan cites technology as one of the college’s primary initiatives. Technology will support San Juan College’s approach to principles of a Learning College and increased service to the college’s surrounding Four Corners community.



Integrity Networking Systems, Inc.
Integrity Networking Systems, Inc. is a woman-owned, small disadvantaged business providing total computer products and solutions for more than 15 years in today’s ever-changing global information technology market. Integrity Networking Systems specializes in bringing technology to the classroom; including assisting with the complex, lengthy paperwork for the Federal E-Rate program. With offices in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, Integrity Networking Systems is a total IT solutions provider representing hundreds of industry-leading hardware and software manufacturers’ products. Integrity Networking Systems is available online at www.integrityns.com.

About VBrick Systems, Inc.
VBrick Systems, Inc. creates and delivers innovative networked video solutions that enhance communications and reduce costs for organizations around the world. VBrick’s broad range of video solutions provide the simplest and most reliable visual communications to businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies ranging in use from distributing news and information to distance-learning, training, and surveillance. VBrick, an ISO 9001:2000 certified company, has garnered numerous industry accolades including the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, Connecticut Technology Fast 50, and the National Association of Broadcaster’s (NAB) Award for Innovation in Media in the Content Delivery category. Based in Wallingford, Connecticut, USA, VBrick’s products are distributed through industry-leading value-added resellers, system integrators, and distributors.

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Value-Added Broadband Adds Revenue

on eMarketer, May 31, 2006

Broadband is creating new revenue streams.

Everyone pays lip-service to the idea that broadband is better for business, beyond just the subscription business for service providers. A new report from Point Topic, "The Consumer BVAS Market," reveals how much better.

Worldwide, consumer broadband value-added services (BVAS) revenues were running at an annual rate of $6.9 billion at the beginning of 2005. But that figure increased by 72% during the course of the year, reaching an $11.9 billion annual run rate just 12 months later.

Even more impressively, during that period the BVAS revenue increase was steeper than the growth in the number of consumer broadband lines (which increased by 49% to 183 million lines) or total broadband access revenues (which increased by 29% to $54 billion).

As a result, at the beginning of this year BVAS was adding 22% to access revenues. This compares to a contribution of 18% at the start of 2005 and 10% at the start of 2004. For the year 2005 as a whole, Point Topic estimated that consumer BVAS revenues were $9.1 billion, compared to access revenues of $47.8 billion.

The top value-added services contributions were security, VoIP, online gaming, home networks and music downloads.



As noted in the report:

Whilst security and home networks are support tools that enable the use of broadband, VoIP, gaming and music are all services that need broadband to work effectively. These results show that value-added services revenues are steadily increasing in relative importance, when compared with revenues from the supporting technologies and infrastructure of broadband.

For more information on this subject, read the new eMarketer report, Worldwide Online Access: 2004-2010.

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A Nation of Web Content Creators

on eMarketer, June 5, 2006

So much for the image of the zonked-out, zombie-eyed 'net surfer.

According to new data in the "Home Broadband Adoption: 2006" report from Pew Research, 35% of US Internet users have created and posted content online. That implies a total of 48 million American adults.



And they must want do it in a hurry.

Pew found that broadband users are more likely to put content online than dial-up users: 42% of broadband users claim to be content creators versus 27% of dial-up users.

"[The Web is] shifting now to user-generated content; it shows people engaging with the Internet in a number of different ways in their lives," John Horrigan of the Pew Internet & American Life Project told ClickZ. "It shows that people are pretty interested in using the technology to put something of themselves on the Internet, not just pull down information from the Internet."

In fact, far from being a passive pursuit, Pew researchers theorize that the Internet may actually foster creativity:

"In looking across the different kinds of user-generated content that we probed, there is an element of the Internet being the medium for creativity and the internet being an outlet for creativity people bring to the worldwide web. Blogging and, perhaps to a somewhat lesser extent, maintaining one's own web page, are creative undertakings that take place mainly at the keyboard."

In 2002, when Pew first began asking users about user-generated content, 80% of it came from a group of broadband users they termed the "broadband elite." Demographically, the broadband elite fit the classic early adopter profile: heavily male, well educated and well off financially. The picture is much different today. A broad range of home broadband users is now generating content.



Men are still more likely to post content online than women, but only by a 37% to 32% margin for all Internet users, and an even narrower 43% to 39% gap for broadband users.

"Online content comes more often from younger people, but we do find that older people are sharing photos and videos," said Mr. Horrigan. "It's disseminated fairly evenly throughout the broadband population at this point."

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