Google has filed a patent application for "Targeted Video Advertising" with the USPTO, for "a computer-implemented method of providing targeted video promotional material".
The process being patented includes transmitting a promotional item for display on a video terminal, monitoring a viewer's interactions with particular advertisements, such as skipping advertisements and presenting advertisements determined to be similar to those that the user has watched and less like those the user has skipped. The "Targeted Video Advertising" patent application suggests it may go into set-top boxes.
The patent also covers the following user behavior patterns:
1) "Users may be allowed to skip particular commercials, but required to watch or accept a set number of commercials in order to watch a program. The required number may be, for example, a set integer, such as 11 commercials."
2) "The system…may also require the user to fully watch at least four promotions before the program will continue."
3) "The profile includes some demographic information of the user, such as income, age, and gender. This information may be obtained when the user registers for the video service."
4) "A commercial with the interactive format is an advertisement that requires user interaction to be completed (e.g., a survey)."
Morgan Stanley has made available their Internet Trends report for 2008. The 72 page report covers: 1) Usage Patterns 2) Social Networking 3) Widgetization 4) Measureability 5) Monetization 6) Facebook Apps 7) Online Ad Spend 8) Online Video 9) Mobile Outlook 10) Emerging Trends 11) Recession Impact
Video search engine Blinkx is launching its own Internet TV service called BBTV. Viewers will be able to surf the web within full-screen video, as well as jump around using keyword search for specific dialog. This is was something Blinkx Founder & CTO, Suranga Chandratillake has hinted to me way back at one of the WebGuild events.
According to Blinkx the service harnesses their core speech recognition video transcription technology to offer searchability and clickable subtitles that point to web pages. This allows advertisements to be targeted to certain keywords in BBTV, similar to the text ad overlay used in video by their AdHoc ad network.
The service runs on a peer-to-peer network has signed up indie films from Dogwoof Pictures, Gateway Films and Playboy Networks.
Having witnessed the tremendous success Barack Obama has had with YouTube, heads of state and royalty from around the world are taking a page from The Book of Barack. Barack's video which the producer hoped to get 100,000 views got 2,000,000 million view in 2 days.
Queen Rania of Jordan, has launched a YouTube channel to educate the west about the Arab World and dispel negative stereotypes about muslims. The Queen, who has been an outspoken advocate of women's rights and education reform in the Arab world.
A report issued by Society for New Communications Research reveals that many companies are adopting social media as a marketing tool however they are struggling to find effective metrics.
The report is based on findings from a survey of 297 advertising, marketing, PR and corporate communications professionals, 57% felt social media tools are becoming more valuable, 27% of whom say that social media is a core element of their communications strategy.
The most popular social media tools used were; 1) Blogs - 78% 2) Online Video - 63% 3) Social Networks - 56% 4) Podcasts - 49%
Awareness and engagement were cited as the most important criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of the social media in addition to the following:
* Enhancement of relationships with key audiences * Enhancement of reputation * Search engine ranking of website * Customer awareness of program * Click-thrus to website * Comments/posts relevant to company or products * Social media coverage * Unique visitors from influencers’ sites
Researchers expected social media to be more effective when targeted at younger age groups, with 18-25 being the most likely to be influenced. However, the over-65 age group closely trailed the under-18 and 26-35 age brackets.
US online social network ad spending is predicted to near $1.6 billion this year according to a survey by eMarketer. The figure includes all forms of advertising appearing on social network sites, including branded campaigns as well as search, video, local advertising and ads delivered via ad networks. According to the survey 29% planned to spend over $2 million, 11% planned to spend between $1 - $2 million, 26% planned to spend up to $1 million and 34% planned to spend less than $300,000.
Breakdown of Online Social Network Planned Marketing Spend by Marketers and Marketing Agencies - March 2008
Spending Amount Percentage $2,000,000 and over 29% $1,000,000 - $2,000,000 11% $300,000 - $999,999 26% $300,000 and less 34%
"At those amounts, social network spending may still be categorized as experimental for many marketers. As in many other developing advertising markets, much of the spending on social networks is driven by leading-edge marketers who are willing to take risks," said Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst at eMarketer.
Google has finally figured out a way to pay for the YouTube acquisition. Video ads, have started appearing on Google's search results page according to a report from Digital Inspiration. Video ads from AT&T appeared on the Google search page for the keyword “phone” - the video clip remains hidden until you click the “Watch Commercial” link. You then get to see the video in a neat drop-down video player. Google is possibly charging higher rates for the video ads since it is served only on-demand when requested by the user. Though these video ads appear with other CPC ads on Google search results, the advertiser will pay when users click to see the video, even if they never click through to the advertiser’s site.
Perhaps it should come come as no surprise that one in three of all the videos viewed online are served up by YouTube.
Comscore reports that in January of 2008 a total of about 10 billion online video clips were served. 3.36 billion from Google sites while the second place video provider, Fox Interactive Media, served up 584 million. Yahoo, once in contention for the top video spot, served only 315 million and Microsoft only 199 million.
Unfortunately for Google, YouTube's video dominance has yet to become a profitable part of Google's online advertising empire. Google acquired YouTube last year for 1.65 billion and so far attempts to monetize the tsunami of online clips and viewers has not met with much success.
The Hulu Online Video Network launches Wednesday in the USA, coming out of a beta that has lasted many months. Some content is now available online at Hulu.com. The project is a joint venture of NBC Universal and News Corp, and thanks to a rich set of content agreements Hulu will provide access to a fairly large number of popular TV shows, sports events, and movies.
Like YouTube and other video sharing services Hulu will offer on demand content, content embedding and content sharing. Unlike most other services the content from Hulu will be high quality broadcast TV shows. Hulu's exceptional user interface and viewer are impressive, and it's clear they'll have a lot of activity at the site. In fact there are long term implications for TIVO and even cable networks as sites like Hulu increasingly provide TV shows on demand right from the users PC.
The big wild card for Hulu is whether it will be able to monetize this TV content profitably. Network television enjoys exceptional advertising success, and the tendency of advertisers to stick with what they know may challenge Hulu's ability to turn enough of a profit to make this service viable for the long haul. However, if Hulu can find the holy grail of high profits from video content it may herald a whole new age of broadcast TV... on our Macs and PCs.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on the WebGuild Blog including posts, comments, and external links, are those of the individual
authors and not WebGuild's.
Google has filed a patent application for "Targeted Video Advertising" with the USPTO, for "a computer-implemented method of providing targeted video promotional material".
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Google has finally figured out a way to pay for the YouTube acquisition. Video ads, have started appearing on Google's search results page according to a report from 
