Later this week, Image Space Media plans to launch a local targeting feature to its self-serve advertiser platform, AdStart, which lets marketers create and customize in-image ad campaigns. Local targeting enables advertisers to reach audiences based on physical location in the United States, even if they read national papers or magazines. The technology identifies a user's IP address and delivers ads specifically for that area. The feature adds targeting to AdStart's geotargeting options, which already let users target by country. Advertisers can specify city, state or designated marketing area within the U.S. For example, if a new bakery in San Francisco wanted to increase brand awareness, it could target its ads to the San Francisco DMA, and only Internet users in the San Francisco metropolitan area would see the bakery's ads, explains Image Space Media CEO Jesse Chenard, one of three Tremor Media founders. Chenard, who left Tremor to join Image Space Media in September 2009, says the company has raised $2.9 million in venture capital and private investment funding. The company goes up against others in the space, such as Pixazza, a Mountain View, Calif. startup backed by a variety of investors like Google's venture-capital arm Google Ventures. Aside from AdStart, investments have helped Image Space Media develop and launch PubStop for publishers about two months ago. Chenard will offer a $25 coupon to advertisers as an incentive to kick-start the AdStart local targeting feature, but the company also plans to move quickly into other related services. "Our platform has been strictly performance-based, but we're putting together a program for advertisers and a few select publishers to run rich media campaigns in images," Chenard says. "Rather than stepping through a Google AdSense-like text link in the image, you'll see animation in the rich media ad unit." Chenard believes it's possible to build out a broader audience across the imaging space. The company delivers about 300 million ads this month, approximately 60 million unique. Now it wants to prove the value is more than performance-based and that serving up more ads on publisher sites across a wider area can actually lower the cost. AdStart determines the ad to run by giving ranking scores to metadata in the image, page title, description, and more based on the image in the photo. A taxonomy tree helps determine the best ad in the image. Rich media features in AdStart will not become available as a self-serve platform, Chenard says. He wants to avoid the problem that other self-service rich media ad-serving platforms have experienced with malware injected ads.
Streaming video advertising will see continued big growth -- increasing more than 60% to $5.6 billion next year. The Williamsburg, Va.- based media researcher, Borrell Associates, says one of the keys to this continuing strong growth is less-expensive video tools, which can be used by small advertisers. It says two of every five video ad dollars will come from local advertisers next year, according to one report. Overall, online advertising will continue to outpace the U.S. ad market as a whole. Borrell says local online ad spending will gain 14% in 2011, to $51.9 billion from $45.6 billion this year. Targeted display advertising is expected to see a 60% increase to $10.9 billion overall. U.S. advertising spending will inch up less than 5% in 2011 to $238.6 billion. Just looking at local online spending, Borrell projects a gain in 2011 of 17.5%, to $16.1 billion from $13.7 billion in 2010. It says run-of-site display spending will decline nearly 14% to $8.2 billion next year for both local and national. Local run-of-site ads are estimated to decrease only 3% next year. National paid-search spending will sink 11% -- due to lower pricing and churn. On the other hand, local advertisers will increase paid-search revenues by 10%. Email ad revenues will grow 9% to $16.0 billion for national and local advertisers. National email marketers are contributing a major part of this growth. Online couponing will contribute strongly to online promotions, growing 10% of 2010 totals to land $24 billion next year. Online couponing will climb 14% to $9.1 billion in 2011.
Expanding its push into the mobile space, video ad network Tremor Media said Tuesday it will offer HTML5 support for its interactive video ad units. The HTML5 format for publishing and delivering ad-supported Web video has been championed in particular by Apple Inc. as an alternative to the Adobe's pervasive Flash technology. The company has all but banned the use of Flash on the iPhone, iPad and other Apple devices on the grounds that the latest version of the HTML programming language provides superior performance and reliability. To that end, Tremor will launch HTML5-compatible formats initially for the iPad before expanding the service to other devices including the iPhone and Android-based mobile phones by year's end. "With the introduction of the Apple iPad, publishers have a new mobile platform in which to reach a highly engaged audience," said Charles Parra, vice president of product management for Tremor. With the move, the New York-based company will extend HTML5 support through its flagship Acudeo platform, which powers in-stream video advertising for some 2,000 Web publishers. Tremor is also working closely with long-standing partner Brightcove to ensure that its HTML5 formats can be easily integrated by the Web video provider's clients. "By working closely with partners like Brightcove, we continue to provide our advertisers with the most engaging ad opportunities across any device, and our publishers with the best solution to monetize their mobile video content," said Tremor CEO Jason Glickman. Brightcove is among various online video and mobile companies that announced support for the HTML5 standard earlier this year in connection with the launch of the iPad this spring. The emerging video format got a big boost at the start of the year when Google added HTML5 support for playback of YouTube videos. Mobile ad networks such as JumpTap and Greystripe have also gotten on the HTML5 bandwagon. While other networks may serve HTML5-based ads, Parra argued that Tremor's existing Acudeo platform would offer a greater ability to track campaigns and provide ad verification to publishers, advertisers and agencies. In addition to standard pre-roll units, HTML5 support will extend to more advanced formats including its vChoice & vChoice iRoll units that give users more control over the types of ads they see. Tremor ranked as the second-largest online video property behind Hulu in July based on the number of in-stream ads served, with nearly 452 million -- reaching 19% of the U.S. population, according to comScore. In April, Tremor raised an additional $40 million in venture funding, bringing its total to $82 million. Given that war chest, Glickman indicated the company is not ruling out a potential acquisition to accelerate its move into mobile video advertising. "We see mobile as a big deal in the years to come," he said.
Kimberly-Clark's Kotex brand is launching a new chapter in its effort to get women to ditch their aged undergarments. The program, "Project Makeunder," is a consumer content effort in which women are encouraged to talk about the contents of their underwear and bra drawers. The effort also involves TV personality Kathy Griffin and celebrity stylist George Kotsiopoulos, who will do undergarment makeovers for the winners among women who submit their lingerie stories. The participants are winnowed by consumer voting through Sept. 12. The winners' makeovers will be documented in a five webisodes that will be co-written by Kathy Griffin. The campaign is centered at KotexProjectMakeunder.com. Ten semifinalists will be chosen to submit a second round of videos on how their lingerie drawers are in need of revamping. Three grand prize winners will win the makeovers. Aida Flick, brand director at Kotex, tells Marketing Daily the effort is a continuation of a program that started last fall with the "Panty Challenge" campaign, a promotion that encouraged women to try Kotex with a promise that any problems meant new undergarments on K-C's dime. She says that program promoted Kotex by getting women to get rid of those undergarments they wore only while menstruating with the underlying idea that Kotex provides leakage protection. "The notion was to let go of the 'period panty' idea. It reinforces that we believe in the performance of our product. We knew the insight was spot on. So now the idea is, let's not limit ourselves to just thinking about period days. "We got some very strong responses to that and realized we were onto a core insight, and this was an opportunity to take that idea to the next level," says Flick. Kotex this year launched a younger-skewing "U By Kotex" featuring the Kardashian sisters talking about menstruation. "While there are two different consumer targets for mainline versus 'U by K,' our initiative -- regardless of whether the target is a 20- or 30-year-old or older -- the point is to make sure we speaking in an honest way, not stereotyping based on old taboos and myths." Flick says the Kotex effort, which targets women in their 30s and 40s, is by Mindshare. "They came up with this approach that leverages well-known names. We had great success with them before and they understand our brand and initiatives," she says.
Many marketers believe that adult women make all the household purchase decisions, and younger women make or break most movies. From the home to Hollywood, however, you can't discount the influence of 18-34 guys, according to a new report from entertainment portal/ad network Giant Realm. Indeed, nearly three in five -- 58.5% -- of 18-34 guys say family and friends ask for their opinion on which video games to buy, and a whopping three-quarters -- 77% -- say they are asked for recommendations on which movies to see. Young men also might be seen as a good source for movie recommendations, given that one-quarter -- 24.8% -- hit the theaters on opening weekends for movies they want to see. An additional 39.8% say they might go to the premieres if the movie suits them. Conducted earlier this month, the study of more than 850 men between the ages of 18 and 34 revealed that despite recent headlines of diminished job prospects for Generation Y, young men are genuinely pleased with the direction of their careers and lives. The study found that nearly one-third -- 29.5% -- of respondents report "things are going great -- I wouldn't change a thing," when asked about their overall work and life outlook. Another 44.9% say that things are "okay" and with just a few minor changes they would "be even better off." Only one in six -- 16.2% -- say "I need to change direction... and fast!" The study found that nearly two-thirds -- 64.7% -- of 18-34 guys are employed, with 40.4% working in jobs they think are good for their careers. Another one-quarter -- 24.3% -- say they are working, but feel it is time for a better gig. One-fifth -- 21.7% -- of respondents are students; and 14% are unemployed, with the majority -- 79.8% -- of this latter group actively looking for work. "Young men are a resilient group, optimistic and fairly positive of their current state," said James Green, president of Giant Realm. "They have good jobs, they're motivated, they're social, they're spending money and they influence their family and friends. The fact that young men see themselves as being in a good place is good news for advertisers who target this important group to promote the products guys love." Although 45.9% of all respondents live at home with their parents, 7 in 10 -- 69.8% -- of those who do say mom and dad "like having me at home." Of those respondents living at home, the majority -- 62.2% -- are between the ages of 18 and 24. Also of note, 50.3% of all respondents say their parents kick in with extra spending money or help pay the bills all the time, or when asked. Some 43.7 kick in even when respondents are gainfully employed.
For television historians, it used to be that the only way to view long-gone television shows was to venture to university libraries, the Museum of Television & Radio, or, if you were lucky, buy or rent a video. For more obscure programs, you might have to track down a private collector (think Comic Book Guy on "The Simpsons"). Biographical information was culled from books, in libraries, sometimes through inter-library loans. The horror! From a preservation and dissemination viewpoint, the recent online availability of historic television content is a good thing for all of us. The fact that content owners and public domain archives like Internet Archive allow embedding onto educational platforms like our Television Academy Foundation's Archive of American Television makes for a much richer learning experience. Anyone with high speed Internet service can enjoy footage of Carl Reiner relating how he created and starred in a little-known pilot called "Head of the Family" where he played himself as a TV comedy writer. It turns out that Carl was miscast as himself, the show was recast, and "The Dick Van Dyke Show" was born. Both pilot episodes are watchable and embeddable courtesy of advertiser-supported Hulu. Finally, media studies students and aspiring writers and producers can easily witness for themselves that TV shows aren't made in a vacuum, there's an evolutionary process at work. Case in point: isn't Tina Fey's "30 Rock" about a TV comedy writer, created by a (not-so-miscast) TV comedy writer? The last ten years have yielded fantastic discoveries of works previously thought lost or very difficult to find. Many of the early Johnny Carson "Tonight" show tapes were dumped into the Hudson River because of a lack of storage space. Fortunately, not everything was lost; witness the recently revamped JohnnyCarson.com, where clips from Carson's "Tonight" shows have been digitized, catalogued and are now ready to be enjoyed by all. As more historical TV gems come to light, we see that not everything in the "Golden Age" was "golden." Some productions were laughable (see one of the only Matinee Theatreepisodes available online); some were surprising (see Humphrey Bogart guest-starring on "The Jack Benny Show"); and others were historic (see CBS News breaking into an episode of "As the World Turns"to report on the shooting of President Kennedy). But all are informative about how television reflected and shaped American society in the second half of the 20th century. It's a cultural victory that these significant moments in television are now widely available. Thanks to the rise of digital content, the ubiquity of Web video, and "long tail" thinking, the notion of selling old television content one-view-at-a time, but forever, is catching on with program owners. Previously considered worthless or not worth the legal efforts, some of this content can now turn a profit -- especially with revenue -haring deals that cover hosting costs. A show may get just a few clicks a week, but it all adds up, and there's no physical inventory to manage. The last major obstacles to hosting this content online are the myriad rights issues that plague those of us in the field of media education. While it is a public service to put this historic content online, it's win-win if content owners can make a viable business model out of making old video new again. In the next few years, especially with the decline of DVD sales, more and more owners should take a chance, open their vaults and let the hostages out. Even releasing one or two episodes can whet the appetites of the many TV history fans out there who will talk them up, embed them, and keep those play arrows (and pre-roll ads) pressed. Ka-ching.
Why did Blockbuster fail against Netflix? Why did Barnes & Noble stumble while Amazon thrived? Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen's focus on innovation in commercial enterprises led to his first book, "The Innovator's Dilemma," which articulated his theory of disruptive technology. In the book, he argues that existing franchises are fundamentally frozen to adapt to new disruptive or emerging technologies because they're getting rich from existing systems. Whereas Christensen's theories have been applied and analyzed in the context of technology firms, it's clear that media -- and specifically content -- companies are also faced with this phenomenon. Take, for example newspapers: many failed to react and adapt to the onset of the Internet and World Wide Web in the late 1990s. By the time some were forced to adjust, it was too late. Mind you, even those who dove in to the revolution head-on suffered. Analogously, today you are seeing online media companies that have a text-centric DNA fail to adjust and adapt to online video, even though video clearly remains the fastest growing segment in the fastest growing medium that is online media. Most publishers of text content (articles) are reaping the immediate benefits of search engine traffic, booming contextual search and display advertising revenue, so they fail to re-engineer their content producers or condition their users (readers, in this case) even though plenty of marketers are starting to demand video opportunities and inventory, and around the Web users are increasingly watching content. To these publishers, video is seemingly as foreign as online publishing was to the newspapers. It's not necessarily their fault. If a publisher has commanded a large audience of 5, 10 or 50 million unique readers per month, the reality is that many of these readers are less interested today in videos than they are in articles. Indeed, adding videos to their sites fail to generate the kind of audiences that articles command. For this reason, some are introducing videos contextually, playing videos automatically (with sound off) alongside their articles, hoping to introduce and condition their readers to become viewers. By contrast, new video producers are popping up at a torrid rate, distributing content cheaply via YouTube and company and commanding viewers that far outstrip the number of video viewers on the article-centric publishers. Over time, there is no guarantee that the video producers will generate more revenue than their article-based brethren, and lacking an in-house sales team, the reality is that many never will. But the new media producers of video content who can create an evergreen base of videos and build audiences over time and engage marketers should find themselves in the disruptor's seat. A few may potentially even command more valuable enterprises than those who stick to the tried-and-tested formula of articles, images, and little else. But the fact remains: publishers are in the driver's seat. Those who can learn from history and avoid becoming the latest victim of the innovator's dilemma will find themselves in the lead when the checkered flag is waved.