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YouTube video advertising… big dreams, slow progress

The Wall Street Journal reporting this morning that Google’s Push to Sell Ads On YouTube Hits Snags.  The problem, in my opinion, lies more with Google/YouTube than with the market.  There’s plenty of real innovation happening in online video advertising — just look at VideoEgg and Tremor Media for example.  And we speak every day [...]

IRNewsLink for June 20: “40 Hot Tips for Online Retailing Success”

From the Internet Retailer IRNewsLink for June 20, 2008, here’s the number one “hot tip” (out of 40) for online retailing success:
. 1. Web video has become a key tool in e-commerce. About 59% of Internet users view at least one video per week and viewing by [...]

In-Stream Video Ads — a consumer’s perspective

Here’s a thought: maybe online video ads will be a little different than TV ads!  The online TV world is slowly figuring out what that means.  The tantalizing possibility, of course, is that online TV ads will work better than regular TV commercials — not just for the advertiser, but also for the viewer.
Here’s one [...]

The Marketer’s Cheat Sheet to Viral Video (as taught by a YouTube superstar)

Kevin Nalts has earned more than 25 million views on YouTube. How can you get visibility like that? Nalts has some tips for you in his excellent blog post, The Marketer’s Cheat Sheet to Viral Video.
Here is Kevin Nalts’ eight-step summary of how to do viral video (slightly condensed):
Step 1: Determine if your [...]

US Internet speeds still lagging

The resurgence of Internet innovation since 2004 (”web 2.0″) has been driven by user-generated content and UI innovations. The secret ingredient for both is widespread broadband Internet access.
Unfortunately America still lags in penetration of fast, broadband Internet. Christopher Rhoads reports in today’s Wall Street Journal that local governments around America are racing to [...]

The YouTube Top 10 Brands

Social Media Influence has compiled an entertaining summary of the Top 10 corporate brands on YouTube. If you don’t want to read/watch the whole thing, InternetRetailing.net has a helpful summary of the Top 10 Brands on YouTube.
Note that only 5 of the top 10 brand videos were actually produced by the brand (and one [...]

NYTimes: To Raise Shopper Satisfaction, Web Merchants Turn to Videos

Bob Tedeschi of the New York Times reports on how e-commerce retailers are using video to increase customer satisfaction. Some highlights:
Gordon Magee, head of Internet marketing for Drs. Foster & Smith, based in a Rhinelander, Wis., said a transition to video “will be seamless for us.” The company, Mr. Magee said, has in recent [...]

American Eagle bets on Video Shopping for Martin+Osa

There’s a ton of innovation happening in online video for retail these days. In the latest example, Martin + Osa (a new brand from American Eagle) has launched a new website with a really cool video shopping tool called “Shop by Outfit”:

M+O’s Shop by Outfit is a great window into the future of [...]

Flash vs. iPhone — VHS vs. Beta — HD-DVD vs. BluRay

There’s a bunch of excellent commentary and backstory around the web about Adobe’s push for mobile dominance (relevance?) with today’s Open Screen Project announcement.
Ed Burnette at ZDNet points out that pretty much every mobile handset player (Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, Samsung, Intel, ARM) has lined up behind Adobe. Who’s left out? Apple and Google. [...]

Adobe opens up Flash — the Flash vs. iPhone battle heats up — where the heck is SilverLight?

Big news today: Adobe is opening up the Flash platform for their new “Open Screen Project“. You know they’re serious because they’re giving up $50 million of annual revenue (see item #4 below).
In geek-speak summary, here’s what Adobe’s doing:

Allowing outside developers to access the guts of the SWF and FLV/F4V viedo specs. This [...]

Creating Content that Turns Browsers into Buyers

Michelle Megna has an exellent article on “Creating Content that Turns Browsers into Buyers” in ECommerce Guide. It’s a summary of a webinar hosted by Lauren Freedman of the e-tailing group inc. and Scott Todaro of DemandWare.
Lauren Freedman of the e-tailing group shares this advice:
the product page… now functions the way home pages used [...]

Advice on Internet Video Advertising

E-Commerce Times has an excellent survey on the state of online video advertising. Although written last year, John Mello’s summary of the current video ad landscape remains insightful and (thankfully) concise.
A few observations from the article:

65% of broadband users occasionally watch video online (as of 2007). In 2006 the number was 44%
while “YouTube [...]

TV viewing shifts to the Internet

We’ve seen years of hype around the concept of “Internet Television.” In the last twelve months, though, we’ve begun to see mass-market consumers shift some of their TV viewing online.
The New York Times reports this month on Serving Up Television Without the TV Set:
When the fourth season of “The Office,” an NBC comedy, had [...]

Video Drives Into Internet Traffic Jams

The New York Times reports that heavy usage of video is driving Internet traffic through the roof — increasing by 50% every year according to conservative estimates (or 100% a year, if you believe the aggressive forecasters).
Last year, by one estimate, the video site YouTube, owned by Google, consumed as much bandwidth as the entire [...]

How much does YouTube charge for a video campaign? For Toyota: $4 million. For H&R Block: $0.

Emily Steel reports in Friday’s Wall Street Journal that Toyota has launched a new video marketing campaign on YouTube. Essentially, YouTube is creating a high-end microsite that offers contests and culls appropriate content from the YouTube’s user-generated videos.
The result is one of the most intricate and expensive campaigns ever on YouTube; Toyota is paying [...]