Selling the Goods: Retailers Embrace Video as Virtual Sales People by Steve Smith

We spend so much time focusing on the TV-like branding impact of video that it is easy to forget that streaming media can also take some of its cues from the infomercial - direct sales. According to its quarterly survey of video presence at major online retailers, e-commerce video provider SundaySky video is becoming an increasingly important part of the sales process at many sites. The number of retailers in its survey using 1,000 or more clips at their sites has increased 50%, now comprising 32% of retailers, up from 22% the previous quarter. Leading the way is Overstock.com, which ...Read the whole story

  • financial services Visa Launches Travel-Themed Campaign by Tanya Irwin

    Social media engagement continues to play a significant role in San Francisco-based Visa's ongoing U.S. marketing efforts. The campaign gives travelers a new tool to share their experiences through a Facebook application, Memory Mapper, which uses Google Maps satellite technology and a person's own photos, videos and captions to chronicle a visual story of their travels for a unique keepsake to share with friends and family. ...Read the whole story

  • Auditude Partners With Major League Gaming by Gavin O'Malley

    Hoping to better target live audiences, Major League Gaming is expected to announce a partnership with video ad management and monetization platform Auditude. Auditude will now control insertion of video ads in MLG's live-streamed tournaments and VOD content. ...Read the whole story

  • Break Media Names Doyle CFO by Gavin O'Malley

    Hoping to ride the Web's video-streaming wave, Break Media is busy shoring up its executive team. The male-focused video ad network on Wednesday is expected to name Andrew Doyle as its new Chief Financial Officer. ...Read the whole story

'Vast Wasteland' Take Two: Is The Public Interested? by Karen Herman

On May 9, 1961 FCC Chairman Newton N. Minow, an appointee of President Kennedy's administration, delivered his historic speech to the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, DC. The speech is best known for two words he uttered in reference to the programming found on TV stations nationwide: vast wasteland. The term became a cultural touchpoint for critics of television, and remains so to this day. ...More