PARK CITY, Utah -- Email marketers have long struggled with Internet service providers (ISPs) over delivering video in emails. But a company that weaves streaming video directly into emails is in
discussions with NBC that could result in live coverage of the Winter Olympics being available instantly when an email is opened.
An executive with Silicon Valley firm Goodmail Systems
floated a concept where NBC Sports could send an email alert when a top American skier -- say, Bode Miller -- is about to leave the starting gate. When the message is opened, Miller's run would be
streaming.
Mike Rogers, senior vice president at Goodmail, said "the applications in sports are endless, almost."
The system is tabbed CertifiedVideo and launched in April. Rogers spoke at
MediaPost's Email Insider Summit on Tuesday.
Goodmail ran a test with Turner Sports at a recent PGA event. Turner sent emails alerting people that the golf tournament had started, with the live
feed available as soon as the messages were opened.
Turner, of course, was hoping to drive people to its on-air feed.
And video directly in email is a potential boon for entertainment
companies, both as a marketing vehicle and an opportunity to sell ads around the embedded video. More broadly, marketers in a range of industries, from retailer Target to Procter & Gamble, have used
the videos to promote products and sales.
Due to technical issues with ISPs, marketers have had difficulty sending video-mails. They've been relegated to placing links in emails, where a person
has to click through to another page to view the video.
With CertifiedVideo, the video streams automatically when the email is opened, but the audio isn't activated until a person clicks a button
-- which looks to avoid customer backlash. Still, an audio opt-in could provide valuable data on engagement.
Goodmail has deals with National Geographic Channel and Scripps networks and is also
conducting tests with MSNBC.
So far, AOL is the only ISP to effectively allow CertfiedVideo to be delivered to its users, which limits video-mail's reach. But Rogers said the company expects
others to come on board in the first half of next year.
Marketers could embed video in emails until about a decade ago when ISPs, wary of spyware and other problems, blocked JavaScript
functionality that allowed the process.