Meebo Plus 40 (New Ad Network Alert)

Meebo, the leading social network and IM chat platform, has announced that it will begin to sell advertising across 40 top publisher sites like AddictingGames, IGN.com, and Current TV.

It was only a matter of time before Meebo launched this new ad network. They had the popular brand recognition — and now they have the audience reach. For their large publisher partners, they offer a chat services that enables users to directly connect and chat on sites. The ad units are to be displayed right within this enterprise chat service. So while the Meebo.com site itself only boasts 4.1 million unique users, which is relatively small in online publishing, Meebo with the addition of 40 sites has a very respectable reach of over 45 million unique users.

What I like most about this announcement is Meebo’s ad unit of choice: a rich media/expandable 900×400 banner.  Though they would have liked acquired more ad sales fill rates with standard IAB ad units (like the always in fashion, 300×250 ad unit), Meebo instead is taking a smart risk — and letting advertisers share in the reward. For brand advertisers, Meebo offers a lot of interactivity within its ad units via a display ad beside a video promotion, clickable thumbs, and a send to friend feature.

Sure, the larger the ad, the higher the probability of annoying users. But Meebo is offer such a valuable service for free that I think the consumer backlash will be minimal. Also, the ad is expandable only when the user initiates it by hovering over it. Smart!

I wrote previously that at a time when brand advertisers are cutting back spending, it’s more important than ever for ad networks to differentiate. If you think about it, any ad network can offer you audience reach, standard ad units, and strong publisher sites. But only a select handful of ad networks, now Meebo included, can offer advertisers a chance to get creative and interact at a high level with their audience. Meebo ads are creative and presented in the right context: It’s an interactive ad presented to users when they are in the act of interaction (with friends and peers). Love it!

I’ll likely be reaching out to them over the next few weeks for a Q4 test ad buy.

Declining Value of Content? Not for VBS.tv

In a MediaPost story on the declining value of content, digital content producers and distributors are finding that content is becoming harder to monetize… and for content that is being monetized, the value has plummeted. You’ll get several causes depending on whom you talk to — but I ultimately feel that there’s too much clutter on the web with the low barriers for amateurs to produce content and mainstream acceptance of lower quality/UGC video content.

The solution for content producers and distributors: Get more creative in how they package and sell their content to both consumers and brand advertisers.

I recently explained to a client of my concept of the Video Value Chain, a sequence of inter-connected valves that move content from production to in front of consumers. Under this concept, content owners must be proficient in 1) Content production/acquistion; 2) Content publishing; 3) Distribution; 4) Monetization; and 5) Reporting and tracking. Content production is offering the right content to the right audience. Publishing is the technology-driven process that gets your video online (think, Blip.tv and YouTube). Distribution is actually putting the content in front of people. So a person can publish their video on YouTube and embed on their blog. But that won’t guarantee any eyeballs. Distribution is purchasing media and striking partnerships to get content in front of people on a large scale. Brightcove and ClipSyndicate (for news content) are two companies that do distribution effective. Reporting and tracking doesn’t really need to be emphasized as much these days as it is a basic expected requirement for any company doing business on the web to have analytics and tracking.

From the MediaPost article,VBS.tv is effectively solving the Video Value Chain in a creative way.

Relying less on an expensive platform technologies and more on brilliant business executions, VBS.tv is discovering high-quality, low cost content through direct relationships with producers. Then, they match content with brand sponsorships. Eddy Moretti, co-founder of VBS.tv, goes on mention the importance of distribution (through its own trusted brand site) — which I feel is the real token to attracting producers and advertisers and tying it all together. Content is very difficult to monetize. But what I like about VBS.tv is they’re selling semi-pro and newly discovered content to brand advertisers. Creativity is always cheaper (and less risky) than another platform technology.

Online Video Ads — How to Sell & Measure?

Per New Metrics For Success In Video Marketing on MediaPost yesterday, there’s been an ongoing debate on how to effectively measure the success of online video. There are the basic, readily available metrics like reach and frequency and obvious ROI metrics like click-throughs and of course, conversions and cost per conversion. With ROI, it’s black and white if a campaign spend was successful. But as majority video advertisers are large consumer brands, ROI metrics are not available. It’s not realistic or feasible for Coke or McDonald’s to accurately track  the offline purchase of a beverage or Big Mac back to a single ad impression or online campaign (BTW — I’m surprised no ones figured this challenge out yet).

So now the industry is hyping “Engagement” to fill in the gaps between ad impressions, reach, and ROI.  Companies like VideoEgg have even found a way to charge advertisers a cost per engagement.

The most simple way to think of engagement is how do viewers respond to the video advertisement.  Are viewers watching the full video to completion? Are viewers watching the video repeatedly? Are they sharing it friends and embedding on their social networking pages? Are those friends, in turn, watch the ad and passing to their friends?

These engagement metrics can be tracked and verified through sophisticated ad serving technology. But where engagement really gets tricky is it does not accurately measure the quality of those engagements.  Think about it: If you were Coke, you may have higher engagement scores from your video campaign than a competitor’s like Mountain Dew.  More users watched the video to completion, watched it again, forwarded to friends, etc.  But it’s highly conceivable that Moutain Dew’s campaign could  have lower engagement reporting — but  still make much richer connections with its users thus driving more short and long term returns. Coke viewers could have watched more videos and forwarded to more friends. But what if Mountain Dew’s viewers took more actions and purchases than Coke’s.  This would throw out the value of engagement as a success metric.

We have gotten so accustomed to selling video advertising as another form of web advertising next to display and search… and that’s the problem.

Video enables brand advertisers to engage with their audiences unlike display or search.  The closest cousin to online video advertising is television spots.  If you think about how a video advertisement and television spot are produced or how the two connects brands with audiences, there’s very little dispute that online video is more conforming with television than banners and search text link ads.

So why isn’t online video sold like television? I challenge the online industry to think differently about the status quo. Do not sell online video like another form of web display advertisement. In television, brand advertisers evaluate spends based on programing reach and Nielsen ratings — but a heavier weighted factor is the brand associations. Coke sponsors American Idol because Coke wants its audience to associate Coke-American Idol brands together.  Mountain Dew advertisers during the ESPN X-games because they want their audience to associate its brands with this cool event. You get the reach but it’s a powerful way to get consumer mind share.

The value to brands is online video offers a powerful way to connect with users and create positive brand associations.  With so many emerging compelling brands on the Internet these days including one of my recent favorites like Caitlyn Hill from the popular web series, TheHill88 (over 4.3 million views to date), brand advertisers have a powerful opportunity to run their video ads alongside strong brands and form new rich brand associations.  I advocate Madison Avenue and their agencies to look at buying web brands… just like new television brands.  Always use ROI-metrics when you can. Keep ‘Engagement’ metrics. But don’t let these metrics undersell the richness of these web brands. Sell online video advertising like television advertising. Make new powerful brand connections.

Yahoo Unveils Partners for Web TV at CES

Yahoo announced major partnerships with television manufacturers: Sony, LG, Samsung, and Vizio. Under the deal announced today at CES, Yahoo’s web platform will be integrated within television. Yahoo branded services and applications can be accessed while you’re watching television. The applications, mainly widgets to start, would reside alongside television shows and would remain as a means to complement (not replace) television programming.

So imagine watching the Wall Street headlines on CNN and getting instant access to company profiles and charts per Yahoo Finance… or watching the Travel Network and making new connections with people that have been to Peru, your next travel spot. For big sports fans such as myself, watch Monday Night Football (NFL) while beside it, tracking your Yahoo Fantasy team points.

If Yahoo is successful and can lead and open up the way for web applications to converge with television, a whole new Industry can follow in its coat tails. New start-ups would spawn to build widgets and other useful applications for television. Similar to widgets for social networks (per a Clearspring or Slide.com), there would be new applications that make the television viewing experience more social, interactive, collaborative, share-able, and most importantly, more entertaining!

It also creates new business models for existing web application developers:  Companies that rely on advertising revenues and are currently limited to the web only can now distribute their widgets (with clients’ advertising) on CNN, the Travel Network, and Monday Night Football!

New agencies, ad networks, and services companies will also be born around the new TV-Applications Industry.

Site Review: MEDIAmobz.com – Affordable Video Production

MEDIAmobz is an interesting service that offers a simple and efficient way to connect with a video producer. The site has a section to review over 1,200 video producers profiles and portfolios. So if you were interested in getting a video done for your business, an event, or just to bring your old script to life, you can simply post a video job on MEDIAmobz and their network of producers will place bids on the jobs.

MEDIAmobz is bringing innovation to a practice (video production buying) that has not undergone much change in the past decade. Premise is an auction/exchange format will give prospective buyers more competitive pricing. In addition, buyers can review all bids and award the job to any bidder (even if it’s not the best pricing). Thus the buyer can select the right pricing and/or high quality service (by reviewing producer bids and profiles). It’s a much smarter way to buy video than browsing/posting ads on Craigslist for sure. Other services like TurnHere and PixelFish offer similar services but I like that MEDIAmobz is making the buying decision process more transparent through their auction/exchange system.

mediamobz player embed

MEDIAmobz also offers tools for video producers to promote their businesses. One useful tool is an embeddable player containing all reels on a playlist. Think of it as a digital portfolio for producers insert on their sites to promote their businesses. Smart!

Obama buys in-game ads on Massive

Political ads are now officially everywhere I look… Wait, I mean Barack Obama is now officially everywhere I look. Barack Obama dropped $44,500 to advertise with Massive, Inc. and buy ad placements in 18 video games.

What a creative way to reach new voters! You read a lot about traditional advertising like TV and radio becoming ineffective at reaching key demos and here’s Obama buying in-game ads to get his message on virtual billboards in racing games.

He (actually, I mean his media buyers) are also being smart about the spend by targeting the geo-targeted the ads to ten battleground states — so only gamers in those states playing on their XBOX will see Mr. Obama.

Another smart idea by the Obama campaign was using LinkedIn to connect with voters.

Hulu – Over 100 advertisers paying more… for less

Hulu is one company enjoying their success. With so many video sites struggling with the monetization and reduced staff sizes,Hulu is growing its business through traffic… and number of advertisers. Making its official debut only in March, Hulu is already the sixth largest video site with 6.3 million uniques in September (according to Nielsen Online). What’s more impressive is Hulu has attracted over 100 advertisers from ten advertisers in its soft launch a year ago. Consumers and advertisers have both bought into the concept.

Hulu has experimented with a lot of different advertising formats including buttons, pre-rolls, and mid-rolls. I get my regular fix of Arrested Development on Hulu and appreciate the elegance in their ad presentation. The other week, I opted to watch one full 2-minute infomercial type ad instead of a couple 15/30 second clips during the show. I’ll definitely give up time up front to get an uninterrupted viewing experience. Other times, I’m presented with unintrusive advertiser logos around the video player. Hulu is also testing their ad frequency and learned that by serving less ads, they’re able to get higher rates from advertisers. Simple econ 101 — decrease the supply to increase the demand. Increase demand = higher prices. Brilliant!

Not to discredit Hulu’s innovation in video ad products but Hulu also has the advantage of owning premium television and movie content. Hulu’s success with advertisers is due in part to its innovation in video advertising products and having strong brand affiliation with its TV and Movie shows. On sites like GoFish.com (with major traction 2007), it was still a lot harder to experiment and manipulate pricing because the advertiser demand in our semi-professionally produced video content was never really there. It was difficult enough just trying to sell a straight pre-roll ad campaign on GoFish.com… I can’t imagine any one of Hulu’s 100 advertisers agreeing to pay a premium rate for an experimental 2-minute infomercial on Hidden Celebrity Webcams at GoFish.com

Anyways, I’ll continue to follow Hulu closely as I’m only mid-way through Arrested Development’s second season.

Crispy Gamer – New Games Review Site Raises $8.25M

Earlier this week, Crispy Gamer announced they had secured their first round funding of $8.25M. Normally, I don’t make a big deal about a new game review sites as it’s not usually worth writing about. I mean any kids next door can literally start a blog and become a games review competitor. Also having been a PC and console gamer for over two decades now, I’ve seen all of the game review sites… so a new games review site must be doing some really interesting — or defies all logic — to get my attention. Crispy Gamer, at least initially, seems to get my attention by doing the latter.

At first glance, Crispy Gamer appears to be a valuable site — reviews are professionally written, good community as supported by user submitted reviews, simple and effective site UI and design, and quality images and artwork. I like the site.

Crispy Gamer will be the first major games review site to not accept advertising from game company advertisers reason being they do not want their editors to be influenced and write biased game reviews. Not sure if I agree with this decision because consumers want to see ads that are relevant to their online experience. I poked around on their site today and saw a bunch of random ad network including ads for Virgin America. The elegance of advertising online is the ability to serve ads relevant to the user or the site. It’s basic web advertising 101. (Turning on Denis Leary voice now) I like games. I play games. I read about games. I visit game review sites. I read about games before I buy games. Why not serve me ads about games? Don’t give me a ad about Virgin Airlines. (Turning off Dennis Leary voice now). Anyways, it remains to be seen if the benefit of “unbiased” game reviews can offset the loss of ad dollars from game companies and irrelevant ads to users (affecting user experience).

WSJ: Shakeout Threatens to Thin Out Web-Ad Brokers

The financial crisis on Wall Street (and now the Global Economy) has many industries including banks and brokerages cutting spending. Other industries such as telecommunications and automotive have also cut spending as well.

These events have had a disastrous effect on the world of online advertising as reported by Emily Steel of WSJ, that a couple of start-up ad networks like Adzilla and JellyCloud have already ceased operations and larger ad networks like AdBrite have cut as much as 40% of its workforce.

I agree with Emily Steel that when faced with tighter budgets, media buyers will buy ad networks that offer sophisticated targeting and the largest audience reach. Sophisticated targeting is how many of these new start-up ad networks have attempted to differentiate themselves. But where they fall short is providing the large audience reach that other ad networks like a Tribal Fusion and ValueClick can provide. To media buyers, you cannot offer one (targeting) without the other (reach).

Start-up ad network will have continued difficulties increasing audience reach as publishers now have more than 300 ad networks to select from. Publishers make decisions on ad networks based on pay-outs and “eCPM” rates. Top publishers typically work with several ad networks already and convincing them to implement a new ad network these days require a lot of data (on other publishers) and sometimes guarantees. There’s a chicken-egg scenario because often times, you can’t get data without having the publishers first.

I anticipate ecommerce companies to increase holiday online ad spending over last year. But I am not confident that the ad spending by ecommerce companies will offset the loss of key advertiser verticals like banks, brokerages, and automotive. Look for more coverage of failed ad networks by early 2009.

Free Games at a Price: NeoEdge unveils overlay ads for games

NeoEdge recently launched overlays for downloadable casual games. These games typically offer a  30/60 minute free trial with an attempt to upsell you to pony up $15-20 to buy the games after the trial expires. Companies like NeoEdge are helping make these games free altogether in exchange for advertising display. Overlay ads are advertiser logos and buttons served within the game play. In the screenshot below, check out the ad for “The Office” in the bottom left corner. Ads are clickable to advertiser sites.

I’ve always been an advocate of monetizing digital content (videos, games, music, photos, etc) best you can without passing the cost to consumers. But at the same time, I believe in providing a fun and engaging entertainment environment for the consumer. While the overlay ads satisfy the former, it falls short of fulfilling the latter. Overlay and games do not work together — at least in this version offered by NeoEdge. These overlay ads can get accidentally clicked up and distract users from the game, which in essence hurt the user experience in a big way.

A more elegant way to present overlay advertiser branding would be to serve the logos while the game load ups. Create an interstitial page with “This Game is Sponsored by:” and show the advertiser logo. This would not interfere with NeoEdge’s pre-roll ads (video ads served before game loads up) as all download games require several seconds to load anyway. This interstitial page can also be served during all game pauses or at the end of each level and game play. You still have the users attention without interrupting the actual game play.

There will be a place for overlays within download games. It will come down to an issue of how and when the overlay is displayed.