• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, December 8, 2009

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.