Symantec's 'Hal' Loses His Grip, But Snatches Some Leads by Steve Smith

With its obvious likeness to broadcast TV, branded online video might appear to be primarily a consumer market game. But long before YouTube, some of the earliest and most lucrative video ventures online were driven by b2b models. Video Webcasting back in the early and mid 2000s was economically viable for some early players because big hardware and software companies appreciated the sheer economics of underwriting video programming that could run tens of thousands of dollars a pop. One company that has been generating scores of b2b video is Symantec. In early June the company released a pair of sci-fi ...Read the whole story

  • Digital Expansion: Amazon Streams CBS by Wayne Friedman

    Keeping with TV networks' efforts to spread around its content to different digital video distributors, CBS Corp. and Amazon.com announced a non-exclusive licensing agreement. ...Read the whole story

  • Upfront: Trad TV Dollars Pivot Into Digital Channels by Wayne Friedman

    Some high-priced cable networks forced some traditional TV dollars in the hands of big digital video players this upfront period. Donnie Williams, executive vice president and chief digital officer for Horizon Media, says some clients shifted 8% to 13% more dollars into premium digital platforms during the upfront. ...Read the whole story

  • Gamer Creates Business To Tap $13 Billion Virtual Goods Market by Laurie Sullivan

    Live Gamer will launch Live Gamer Media to complement its ecommerce unit to support advertising for brands and publishers. The new business unit combines two companies that LiveGamer recently acquired: video game ad network GamerDNA, and engagement advertising platform BrandPort. ...Read the whole story

  • Dentsu Cuts Exclusive Skype Deal, First Step In Japan by Joe Mandese

    Dentsu this morning unveiled a deal with Skype making it the exclusive display advertising partner in Japan for the Internet-based voice and video communications platform. The Tokyo-based agency holding company said the deal covers all display campaigns running on Skype in Japan that are not "multinational," or "multi-regional in nature." Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Dentsu said it would begin selling Skype's digital display inventory, which will appear in the "Home" tab of Skype for Windows. ...Read the whole story

Not Completely The Apple Of My Eye by Gary Holmes

For a long time I've doubted that the Internet would replace traditional over-the-air and wired television as the primary source for video content. I just didn't believe that Hulu, Netflix, YouTube or any other online service could take the place of broadcast and cable networks. My conclusions were partly based on hard evidence -- Nielsen research shows that only about 1% or 2% of all "three-screen" video is consumed over the Internet -- but, like many commentators, I mostly extrapolated from my personal anecdotal experiences. ...More

  • Next Media Strategy Will Be Multiscreen Content Development by Jeremiah McMillan

    The recent demise of another premium and studio-backed producer of original Web series and entertainment content -- NBC Universal Digital Studios --- shows two main problems that exist with a Web-only strategy. ...More

  • 10 Video And Social Marketing Tips For Video Game Executives by David Murdico

    Online video and social media marketing seem to be obvious choices for those tasked with marketing new video game titles, but I'm consistently surprised at how those strategies are misused, underused or used not at all. Following are ways that video game marketing directors, brand managers and social media managers can help launch titles using video and social media marketing: ...More

  • Is Online Video About To Enter An Era Of Exclusivity? by Ashkan Karbasfrooshan

    Content is a woman, distribution is a man. In the online video arena, I've cut hundreds of deals with distribution companies. By and large, distribution companies never make any promises, have no-strings-attached offerings, make no commitments, rarely seek exclusivity -- and when they do, it's usually too good to be true. Content owners, meanwhile, enter distribution deals with expectations, believe the promises they hear, expect a commitment, and want a guarantee. ...More