• You Get What You Pay For
    The trades have recently reported that the cost of a 30-second spot for this year's big game as $3.5 million. Sports, in general, are priced above most other forms of programming, as big ratings and large target audiences offer a great way to get rating points. Clients and agencies have valued the various leagues, games, etc. and segmented them out so they can price them accordingly. For example, NFL games are more expensive than NHL games. Major conference Division I games are more expensive on a national basis than Division II leagues and so on. So when will the next …
  • Content Is Dead -- Long Live Content
    When Viacom founder Sumner Redstone said "content is king," it was in the context that additional distribution outlets give rights holders new ways to monetize the content. Indeed, thanks to the Internet, there are countless new outlets for content owners to distribute programming, but also thanks to the Internet, there's an infinite supply of content, which drives advertising rates down.
  • The Future Of Web TV: Strength In Numbers
    All indicators are pointing to this being the year for Web video: Netflix's original content deals, YouTube investing over $100 million in original Web series, Tom Hanks partnering with Yahoo on original programming -- the list goes on. Add in highly anticipated original content slates from CBS, Sony's Crackle, Michael Eisner's Vuguru, and you have the foundation for a game-changing year. The challenge for the buying side of the industry and advertisers remains how to find all the new content while it's still available for investment.
  • All Grown Up, Video Explodes In 2012
    If you take a good, hard look at the online video industry, it's pretty clear that the sector is maturing. The signs that online video has grown beyond the infant and toddler stages are everywhere: brands are getting much smarter about their online video strategies; the technology to support it is getting much more sophisticated and exciting; and measurement is becoming more defined and pervasive. For brands aiming to capitalize on online video -- and every brand worth its salt is now incorporating an online video strategy -- it's important to have a sense of how the industry will evolve …
  • To Win Super Bowl 2012, Advertisers Have to Think Beyond The Game
    It's crunch time for Super Bowl 2012 advertisers. Over the next few weeks they'll be meeting to tweak, massage, and optimize their non-trivial marketing investment coming up on Feb. 5. All of their months of planning, strategizing, and ideating, not to mention the millions of dollars spent on media and creative to capture the attention of 100+ million people, all come down to a very quick 30 to 60 seconds. The sad truth is that advertisers who plan to battle only for those 30 to 60 seconds on Feb. 5 have already lost the war.
  • 2011's Q4 Slowdown Shows Again How Online Advertising Mimics Traditional Media
    The great thing about writing so many articles is that when I meet people, I can shut up (well, sometimes anyway), ask questions and listen. In the past few months, every time I asked someone how their fourth quarter was, I got the same response: "Good, but not as good as I expected."
  • Pre-Roll Video Advertising Can Learn From Social Media Marketing
    Can we all agree that most pre-roll video ads are super-annoying? Audiences have learned to tame TV ads with TiVo, but we continue to see the proliferation of online video ads as part of a trend in which pre-rolls will see the most growth of all (62%) in an online video advertising industry that's expected to see an aggressive 40% year-over-expected increase from 2011. You'd think that as a creative director at a digital creative agency, I would be excited about this trend -- and I am! My beef is with the creative content that's being presented in these valuable …
  • Connected TV: Cresting The Peak Of Inflated Expectations
    Connected TV is still in its infancy, but its digital marketing potential is huge. Millions of videos that were previously only accessible online are now available to consumers via their TVs. Online video to date has been focused on "snacking," but the living room consumer has more time for longer-form content and the substantial ad inventory that accompanies it. It's not hard to imagine literally thousands of "channels" of professional and "prosumer" niche content. While the promise of this is exciting, it also feels very familiar. We're cresting the peak of inflated expectations. Despite the potential that connected TV holds, …
  • 'These Three-Hour Days Are Killing Me!' And Other Dispatches From The Future
    To many pop culture fans, 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of "The Jetsons," which premiered on September 23,1962. The animated series with a mid-century-modern flair featured a "nuclear" family -- patriarch George, Jane his wife, his boy Elroy, and teenage daughter Judy, who live in a spectacular Seattle Space Needle-type apartment (this was the year of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair in Orbit City). Although it was never explicitly stated, the show takes place 100 years in the future, in 2062. We're halfway there. So how are we doing, 50 years into "The Jetsons'" past?
  • Are We Witnessing Hulu Pivot Before Our Eyes?
    Hulu forecasts that by 2012 it will generate half its revenues through advertising and the remaining balance via subscriptions. During its state of the union update, Hulu stated that it will spend $500 million next year, prompting many to wonder where it would get the proceeds. Shortly thereafter, Hulu announced that it would be raising fresh funds, effectively diluting existing equity partners to ensure its survival. This is a big reversal of strategy: in 2011 the traditional media company stockholders and Providence private equity investor were sellers -- and now, in 2012, they're buyers. What changed?
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