• by Kate Kaye , November 8, 2002

Cutting out the middleman might be just what streaming media advertising needs to spur growth. That’s what streaming media technology firm EyeWonder is hoping for, anyway. The company has released EyeStudio 3.0, the latest version of its video ad and email authoring software. This is not your everyday upgrade, though.

The new software offering takes EyeWonder out of the implementation process, allowing agencies and advertisers to use the product in-house. In the past, EyeWonder had to touch every piece of campaign creative in order to implement its proprietary Eyeris G3 technology. Now that step has been removed, and so has the servicing fee of $750 per creative.

“We’ve always been planning to allow advertisers to do this on their own,” says Michael Griffin, SVP sales and marketing at EyeWonder. “We wanted to get it in the hands of the advertising community.”

Agencies including Atlanta’s Macquarium Intelligent Communications and NYC’s Click 3x have used the beta version of the software. And ad technology firms, Point Roll and Eyeblaster have partnered with EyeWonder to enable its Java-based streaming technology in their ad platforms.

EyeWonder streams video and audio directly in pop-up or in-page ad units, and because no player is necessary, the advertiser can reach the entire Internet audience (even those with 28k dial-up connections). The ads are served by the publisher or agency through any normal serving platform, and no special tagging process is required. While running a recent EyeWonder campaign, Diet Coke was able to track user replay and interaction rates, average view length, and connection speeds of users, among other things.

Matt Wasserlauf, VP sales at free video content streamer The Feedroom, thinks that in-house use of the software could help to raise streaming adoption levels. Agencies stream re-purposed TV spots on the Feedroom site. Probably the most common type of streaming ad, these re-purposed commercials create a dual use for money already spent, while reinforcing the campaign message through the integration of broadcast and online media.

Whereas The Feedroom is after broadband users, Wasserlauf adds that EyeWonder “is trying to help drive the reach of video in a narrowband environment.” In turn, he predicts that once advertisers see that streaming has attained a significant reach in the marketplace, “they’ll spend.”

Global new media consultant and streaming media proponent, Richard Fusco, concurs that acceptance depends on the viability of the medium, “not whether agencies can play around with it in-house.”

The quality of EyeWonder video is superior to Macromedia Flash video, contends Jay Altschuler, media director at interactive marketing agency itraffic. He could see the agency using EyeStudio since it’s now available for in-house implementation; itraffic currently uses Flash for video. Could use of the new software bolster streaming advertising? “Yes,” he says, although he’d “like to see it used a little more creatively,” and questions whether re-purposing TV ads is really the best use of the online medium for advertisers.

Creative innovation enabled through EyeStudio 3.0 is precisely what Griffin is hoping will promote streaming advertising. He notes, “Agency creatives are the ones to determine how best to use the technology for their clients.”