• by Masha Geller , March 27, 2001

Here's an interesting piece of [self-serving] research from an intriguing company. New Jersey-based Amicada Inc. - http://www.amicada.com - which specializes in delivery of full-frame, full-motion video, both online and offline, irrespective of a user's Internet bandwidth, today announced the results of a research project which showed that there is indeed a business model for Internet based TV-advertising.

Amicada's model, that is, but it deserves a mention nonetheless. The interface prompts users when a commercial is available to be viewed and gives the choice to activate it or not. Activation launches a full-screen viewer, which displays the commercial in full-motion - comparable to a TV experience. Talk about accountability!

"The online advertising industry is clearly in crisis," according to Dr. E. Ted Prince, President and CEO of Amicada. "It is desperately searching for a new paradigm that will allow online advertising to achieve the vision of effective brand-building and targeting and at the same time be attractive to consumers."

True enough. Not surprisingly, the study found that not only was this sort of advertising acceptable to users, who consistently opted to view the ads, but also this new method of online advertising yielded higher click-through and other interaction rates.

Amicada does seem to have a good solution on their hands, but only time will tell whether advertisers will buy into it or not. I'll keep you posted.