Broadband media company Maven Networks today will unveil a new platform that allows online publishers to offer streaming video as well as downloads. The new product--the third version of Maven Media System--also enables automatic ad serving in concert with ad networks such as DoubleClick, 24/7 Real Media, and Lightningcast. "Until recently, most publishers were only experimenting with broadband video, so the need to integrate with ad serving networks didn't really exist," says Samantha Stone, director of product marketing for Cambridge, Mass.-based Maven. But now that media companies are treating Internet video as more than a passing fad, the ability to serve ads efficiently has become increasingly important. The Maven Media System is intended to deliver full-screen, DVD-quality images and sound to a PC by downloading and storing video files on a hard disc for replay later. Its ad-serving capability allows for pre-and post-roll video ad insertions and synchronization for banner and video ads. Stone says that the Maven media software can also serve ads for downloaded videos and track usage, whether or not videos contain advertising. Among the first to employ the latest version of the Maven system is Time Out New York, which has launched a new broadband companion site to its local cable channel, Time Out New York on Demand. Initial advertisers on the site--which provides video reviews and profiles of New York City restaurants and other attractions--are HGTV and cars.com. Their 15-second pre-roll ads and banners will run every other time a video is played on the site. Other undisclosed advertisers on the site are expected to follow. A&E Television Networks and GMTV, the European equivalent of the "Today Show," are also using the new Maven software for broadband video sites. In addition to the new ad-serving capability, the latest Maven software allows consumers to stream video, and to download a video file for offline viewing. Viewers are now able to see a trailer for a TV show or a movie before deciding to download the whole program. "We think the combination of the two is very compelling," says Maven's Stone. Maven's venture investors include Accell Partners and General Catalyst Partners.
News search technology firm Inform today will launch a platform for online newspaper publishers that enables visitors to search other news sources without leaving the publishers' sites. The New York Sun, Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive, NewsOK, the Huffington Post, the Deal LLC, and NameMedia have so far signed up for the service. The idea is to encourage visitors to start their searches for additional articles on newspapers' own sites, rather than go to Google News or another news aggregator, said Julian Steinberg, Inform's vice president of operations. "If you give your users all the functionality and content that your users want online, then your users will keep coming back day in and day out," he said. The Inform Publisher Service brings the company's news search engine on-site for a newspaper client, highlights relevant keywords, and allows users to click on them to search for more news stories from other publications. The service also allows newspapers to build special content areas on their own sites about specific topics. Marketing analyst Greg Sterling said the service could help publishers keep visitors on their sites--but only if Inform can simplify the product from the news search engine it has offered consumers. "What they have is impressive," he said, but added that Inform will have to make the service "simple and more accessible." He added that Inform's consumer platform delivered quality results, but was too complex for most users. "There were just so many features there, it was just confusing to people," he said. "It wasn't as competitive as the other news aggregators, like Google and Yahoo."
Warner Bros. has ended its relationship with controversial adware company Zango, the companies confirmed late last week. Zango, formerly known as 180solutions, this spring started offering streams of Warner Bros. Webisodes to consumers who agreed to download Zango's software, which serves pop-up ads based on Web-surfing behavior. Warner Bros. and Zango also teamed for games, with Warner Bros. placing ads for downloads of Zango games on a section of its Web site aimed at children; users who clicked on the games were directed to a site that invited them to download Zango's ad-serving software. Warner Bros. said it ended the relationship because Zango had not provided a third-party certification that its business practices met Warner Bros. standards. "While we respect Zango's effort to change its business model, we also take our responsibility to children and parents very seriously. Unfortunately, despite the initial assurance we sought and received from Zango, they have been unable to provide the third party certification we require to continue the relationship," the company said Friday in a statement. A Zango spokesperson also said Friday that the deal between the companies had ended. Late last year, Zango said it intended to seek certification from Truste, a nonprofit that maintains a whitelist of adware companies that follow its guidelines--which require full disclosure to consumers before installation, opt-in consent, and an easy uninstall mechanism. As of late last week, Truste had not given Zango its seal of approval. Consumer groups have frequently criticized Zango, charging that the company's ad-serving software is often installed without consent. The Center for Democracy & Technology earlier this year filed a complaint against the company with the FTC, charging that it engages in "distribution practices that appear to be broadly unethical and in many cases, illegal." Zango's stated policy requires users to opt-in to receive the software, and users who visit Zango.com are asked for their permission before any ad-serving software is installed. But the company also distributes via affiliates, many of whom have been accused of doing drive-by installations without first obtaining consumers' permission. Zango maintains that it severs relationships with affiliates who sneak the software onto consumers' computers, but consumer advocates charge that the company doesn't do enough to police its affiliates. By Friday, Warner Bros. content--video clips of the soap opera "Deception," and the animated show "Medical Island"--had been removed from Zango.com. The shows, which went live at the end of April, had previously been available to consumers who visited Zango.com and downloaded the company's ad-serving software.
AOL will enter the growing download-to-own video business later this week, when it begins selling a myriad of TV programs--including Comedy Central's "South Park," "A&E's "Flip This House," and Warner Bros.' "Dukes of Hazzard"--as part of its new video portal. The new portal will contain video shows from networks affiliated with corporate sibling Time Warner--such as "The Closer" and "Saved," by TNT--as well as shows owned by other companies, like "Chappelle's Show," owned by Viacom's MTV Networks Comedy Central. The portal will contain a total of 45 programmed "channels," and users will also be able to search for videos using technology from Truveo--the video search engine AOL purchased last December--and Singingfish, acquired in 2003. Most of the TV shows will be sold for $1.99 each--the same price as most video programs on Apple's iTunes--but a handful of programs, including episodes of Procter & Gamble's current and former soap operas like "Another World" and "The Edge of Night," will be available as free ad-supported downloads. The ads will include pre-roll and a banner on the media player. Marketers that have signed on so far include Mercedes-Benz, Kraft, Visa, Hershey's, Procter & Gamble, Ford, and Chevrolet. Since Apple began selling TV shows on iTunes last year, all of the major networks have made programs available for paid download. Mostly, they have sold shows on iTunes, but some networks have started selling or giving away programs at other video Web sites, including ones owned by Google and MSN. Separately, AOL parent company Time Warner will outline its strategy for AOL Wednesday. There has been widespread speculation that Time Warner will stop charging for many AOL subscription services, including e-mail.
Back to the drawing board, Part I: A new $300 million campaign--underwritten by the studios, cable and broadcast trade associations, consumer electronics manufacturers, the Ad Council, and broadcast networks and designed to help parents get information about existing content control mechanisms like cable channel blocking and the V-chip/ratings system--features a Sopranos-like character whacking his wife in the head with a shovel. A study released in London found that mobile phones have more of an influence on young women's lives than television. The report was issued by Carphone Warehouse, a mobile phone retailer. This to be followed by a report from the Irish Tourism Board revealing that potatoes are of more importance to young men than video games or supermodels. Back to the drawing board, Part II: in July the promotionally challenged MPA and the Magazine Marketing Coalition sponsored a two-week guerilla promotion to raise awareness of magazines' strengths by dressing up a studly young man as a superhero named Captain Read--complete with crimson tights, a black cape, and a lightning-bolt "M" (for magazines, get it?) on his chest. He visited nine advertising agencies in New York City, bearing research materials that touted the super-power of magazines. William Shawn could be heard turning over in his grave. Australian-based illegal peer-to-peer file-swapping Kazaa has agreed to pay a reported $100 million to trade organizations representing the international music industry. As part of the settlement, every teenager and college student in the world has agreed to delete everything off their MP3 players and replace music with a file of Mitch Bainwol, chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, going "na-na-na-na-nah" for 14 straight hours. Back to the drawing board, Part III: In the UK, Coca-Cola has aroused the wrath of mental-health activists with its new campaign for Coke Zero that features the tagline "Blind dates without the psychos." Giving new meaning to the concept of "free" classifieds, several users of Craigslist have been held up at gunpoint by individuals posing as buyers and sellers. In the robberies--including five in the SF area during the past month--none of the victims has been hurt, but they have lost cash and hundreds of dollars in property. Several newspaper groups have prepared ad campaigns centered on the theme of "Victimless Classifieds." Back to the drawing board, Part IV: Less than a month after a report that a third of females ages 16 to 25 picked Google as their favorite "website," Time Inc announced it was putting all its Teen People eggs in its online basket. So much for that sticky content idea.