Without the usual PR fanfare that typically surrounds an advertising product launch from a major Internet service provider, MSN this week quietly stepped its MSN Video product out of beta and onto the market for the consideration of prospective broadband video advertisers. Now officially called MSN Video 2, the broadband video advertising platform became available "for general sale to a broader set of clients late last week," according to Eric Hadley, director of marketing and advertising for MSN. He said advertiser demand has been considerable, and there is now "substantially more inventory available." Currently, most of MSN's video content is available at the MSN Video section of MSN.com, but other media categories like MSN Entertainment, Fox Sports, MSN Autos, and MSN Money are adopting the MSN Video Player. "The idea is to sell [MSN Video] across the entire network," Hadley said, noting that MSN wanted to provide its advertisers with a contextually relevant video platform. Hadley said that ads on MSN Video 2 will appear "somewhat like TV ads," except that only one 15 or 30 second video ad will appear for each piece of content. Hadley added that while consumers don't necessarily need a broadband connection to view MSN video, the video capabilities are limited for narrowband users. MSN began testing the advertising-supported streaming video service about 10 months ago. To date, video providers have included media partner NBC, the Discovery Channel, The Weather Channel, The Food Channel, Showtime, and most recently, Fox Sports and Major League Baseball. Its advertising partners have thus far included Procter & Gamble, Revlon, Gateway, and Discover Card, among others. MSN has opted to keep the lid on MSN Video 2 thus far because it plans to feature the new service when it pitches its Fall advertising package in several weeks. Hadley said several "new interesting features" will be announced at that time for MSN Video, as well as additional advertising partners. The MSN ad package will encompass a seven-city road show, in which the company will unveil new ad products for its search, content, and video services. In the past, online video has been a tough sell for many major Internet companies, but some say this is because failed services like Yahoo! Platinum launched before the broadband market was as strong as it is today. According to Wednesday's Nielsen//NetRatings data, broadband penetration in July finally surpassed that of narrowband, with 63 million--51 percent of online Americans--accessing the Internet through broadband versus 61.3 million via narrowband. MSN developed the first version of MSN Video in collaboration with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) and MSNBC.com. SMG, one of the world's largest brand communications groups, helped develop the media-buying components of MSN Video. "MSN came to us with a great concept and high motivation to make it real," stated Rishad Tobaccowala, president of SMG's Internet practice. "Our objective was to help shape the next generation of advertising-supported video delivery, as well as get immediate traction in the marketplace." He added that "advertisers can't afford to be cut off from the growing number of consumers who now spend less time in front of the TV and more time online via broadband."
Last week, eMarketer predicted steady growth for online ad spending. Among the driving factors as reported by MediaDailyNews: more rich media ads as a result of broadband penetration, and the Olympics ad blitz. In a way, a new EarthLink campaign acts as a tangible example of the research firm's prognostication. The innovative campaign features U.S. Volleyball Olympic contender Misty May and promotes EarthLink's High Speed Internet Service. While May battles away on the beach in Athens, her likeness as displayed in a far less sweaty, animated form can be seen on sites such as About.com and Internet service buyer's guide, The List. "As a pro beach volleyball player, I know speed--and so does EarthLink," declares May's avatar character, who touts EarthLink's spam, pop-up, and spyware blocking capabilities. Developed by ad agency Freestyle Interactive using Oddcast's VHost virtual character technology, the campaign launched July 22 and is set to run through August 31. According to Adi Sideman, CEO of Oddcast Inc., the campaign features two creatives that are displayed mainly in the large 250x250 box format. Sideman says that millions of the Misty May ads have been served, and thus far the click-through rates have reached as high as 20 percent. Employing virtual characters in advertising remains a novel approach. Affirms Sideman: "Any avatar generates great click-throughs...people pay attention." He adds: "This is the first VHost campaign tied to very hard advertising ROI." To morph May into avatar mode, her likeness and movements were mapped using the Flash-based VHost technology. Her voice was recorded and synched to her avatar's lip movements. "In the case of Misty May," notes Sideman, "we put in more detail for a custom mouth." Upon rollover by the user's cursor, ad audio is initiated and can be muted if desired. And as the user moves his mouse within the ad, May's eyes can follow along. This is not the first time Oddcast's software has been applied to create online celebrity doppelgangers, or even to revive well-known figures. The horror master himself, Stephen King, uses his VHost impersonator to update news on his official Web site; RCA Records uses the technology for its interactive Elvis Presley site, The Virtual Elvis; and Discovery Channel has used it for a trivia game hosted by an Albert Einstein lookalike. Soon, Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie will join the virtual character ranks. According to Sideman, Gillespie's VHost likeness will dispatch updates on GOP.com (featuring recordings of him via cell phone) from this year's Republican National Convention in New York.
Shortly after the stock market closed on Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission gave Google the go-ahead to begin selling its shares to the public. New data from Hitwise reflects the tumultuous two-week bidding process, and suggests that despite the ubiquity of Google's IPO, demand steadily waned over time. According to Hitwise, with the notable exception of spikes on August 5th and August 10th, traffic to the Google IPO site waned steadily after it went live on July 31st. It received up to 2.3 times more visits on July 31st than it did on average for the remaining bidding days. However, even the traffic spikes on the 5th and the 10th were 26 percent and 32 percent--respectively--lower than levels experienced on the opening day of bidding. Bill Tancer, vice president research, Hitwise, opined that these traffic figures indicated a waning interest in the Google IPO, and are suggestive of its outcome. "This is a great example of how online behavior can be used to predict the outcome of a Web-based IPO auction," he said, adding that "the decrease in visits [to the Google IPO Web site] that we detected leading up to the close of bidding correlates with Google's decision to decrease target price and shares offered due to lower than anticipated demand." Since the company initially wanted to begin the open-market trading process on Wednesday, but was denied approval by the SEC, trading might well begin this morning, although Google has yet to set the share price, which is expected to be between $85 and $95 a share, according to documents filed with the SEC. The company has 15 days to begin selling its shares. Despite clearance, Google is still subject to SEC investigations surrounding the sale of 28 million unregistered shares to employees and consultants, as well as an article appearing in the September issue of Playboy magazine, which might constitute securities fraud.
More than half (51%) of the American online population accessed the Internet via broadband connections in July--up from only 38 percent in July 2003, according to estimates released Tuesday by Nielsen//NetRatings. The finding represents an important milestone on Madison Avenue, where the 50 percent penetration threshold is deemed a sign of critical mass for a mass medium. Sixty-three million Web users connected to the Internet via broadband during July 2004, as compared to 61.3 million accessing the Internet through narrowband. Overall growth for broadband connections rose 47 percent year-over-year, while narrowband dropped 13 percent annually. The data also reveals that broadband penetration is greatest among adults ages 18-20 (59%) and kids ages 2-11 (58%), and is lowest among the 50-plus crowd. Broadband Vs. Narrowband Penetration Connection Speed July '03 July '04 Broadband 38% 51% Narrowband 62% 49% Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, July 2004. Broadband connections include ISDN, cable modems, and DSL; narrowband connections include modem speeds from 14.4K through 56K.