That's the Zen-like parable that Yahoo has been trying to answer in its most recent dive into the creation of original online content, according to James Pitaro, head of media at the online destination. "Historically, we have created content for audiences," Pitaro told an audience member at OMMA Publish in New York this morning. "For the past year or year-and-a-half, we have been looking to create more and more content that takes the advertisers interests into account." Don't get Pitaro wrong. He's not saying that Yahoo is "going to go out and create an infomercial. What we're trying …

Vobile president Larry Meli says his company's digital fingerprinting technology has already resulted in millions of takedown notices demanding that Web sites remove pirated material -- including streams of live sporting events like the Superbowl and NCAA finals. He adds that the company has had almost 100% compliance with the takedown requests.

Afternoon keynote speaker Greg Jarboe, President and Co-Founder, SEO-PR, says he wants to bring a different perspective to the conference. “I’m not an ad guy; I’m a pr guy,” said Jarboe, who described himself as a fish out of water. Let's start with some popular industry myths, which, according to Jarboe include: The only content you find on YouTube is short-form content. (YouTube has over 10,000 content partners creating “content.”) YouTube videos are grainy and poor quality. (YouTube went HD about a year ago, and now has more HD videos than any other site online.) YouTube is only monetizing a …

What's the raison d'etre for branded video? It boils down to engagement and building loyalty, according to a panel featuring media buyers and excutives from Microsoft and Digital Broadcasting Group. So-called "utilitainment" vehicles like branded video are needed to cut through ad clutter and connect more directly with consumers by providing interactive and social tools along with video to get a brand's most loyal customers to engage and share their enthusiasm with others.

How do CMOs deal with "horny" young male consumers, and balance their taste for racy content and brand integrity? Kathryn Koegel, Marketing Lead, Primary Impact, wants to know. They have to figure out their threshold for chaos, says John McCarus, Vice President/Group Director, Brand Content, Digitas. Sometimes it makes sense for a brand, but the mistake that brands make is going racy just for the heck of it, says Russ Axelrod, Senior Brand Strategist, Branded Entertainment and Experiences Team, Microsoft Advertising. "Pushing the envelope just to push it even when it doesn't make sense for the brand," as he explains.

The NHL has long been a distant fourth to the NFL, Major League Baseball and the NBA when it comes to a national TV presence. But Larry Gelfand, senior VP for Media, for the NHL, said highlighted how the league is taking advantage of digital video across multiple platforms to broaden its distribution. "Video is central to everything we do," he said. That includes building a "first-class' video player, being the first league to partner with YouTube, adding NHL video highlights to Yahoo's hockey fantasy league, creating a mobile video presence with Quattro Wireless, in addition to its programming …

With regard to online video, brand matters above all else, insists Kelly Day, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Digital Media and Commerce, Discovery Communications. In addition, "Beyond a doubt, scale matters." The magic formula for successful video marketing, according to Day, is "Google plus brand plus talent." How can publishers and marketers guarantee getting traction on Google? The trick is "video content with context." At the end of the day, Day insists that "Custom content is a profitable model." With brands like Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet, Discovery Communications recently tapped RSG Media Systems and its …

The most important video-related click doesn't occur when user's hit the play button, says Rob Davis, Partner and Interactive Marketing Director at Ogilvy. Rather, “It’s the click immediately after the video plays,” he says. That “post play interaction” – or PPI, as Davis calls it – can include "pushing" a social behavior like sharing the video, or playing a social game, getting users to enter the sales funnel, etc. All about the acronyms, Davis also discussed SOP -- or “standard operating procedure” -- OPE, or “owned, paid, and earned.” Regarding the latter, Davis says it’s crucial to understand what …

With Facebook becoming a Top Five video site, with a monthly audience of 41.3 million, Web video analytics firm TubeMogul looked at how video advertising performs on the social network. The company took a sample of 25 major video advertising campaigns that ran identical videos within five types of ad units on Facebook: in-application display units; sponsored video ads that appear on the home page; interstitials in games and apps; and videos users watch in games in exchange for earning virtual currency; and promo videos uploaded to Facebook fan pages. User data across those types of Facebook ads was …

That was the Jedi wisdom imparted by Ogilvy's Rob Davis, by way of the ultimate Jedi, Yoda. Davis' advice, however, has nothing to do with the Force – or the Dark Side – and everything to do with online video advertising. To help marketers – and agencies – understand how to, well, just do it, Davis offered three acronyms: SOP, OPE and PPI. SOP, of course, stands for standard operating procedure. Davis' point is that we've moved from the old school approaches of driving people to Web sites as destinations, to distribution content via social media to …