I came across a banner ad today for "gum that tastes just like strawberry shortcake." Who wouldn't want that? So, with expectations high, I clicked, expecting to be taken to a colorful page bursting with strawberry shortcake excitement, maybe videos and ways to share my delicious-looking new find with my friends. Instead, I was whisked away to a home page that showed me posed, stock-looking photos with people holding other things made by that company....

Last week the Oprah Winfrey Network premiered a movie called "Life 2.0," a documentary on Second Life - and how pretending in avatar form unveils previously unknown capabilities as well as longing.

With Steve Jobs retiring from Apple, we look at his amazing run and list 10 lessons to media, video and content companies and executives.

New Yorkers tend to run each other over. It's "survival of the fittest," if you will. Some may still agree that this is still a fact, cutting out competitors, one at a time. But some NY-centric community efforts prove that this mentality is long dated, and perhaps unfashionable. Read on and you will find out what good will and dedicated community efforts are doing for the competitive tech startup marketplace.

Crowdsourced video production is changing the online video game, and some may think it will be at the expense of ad agencies. We've heard the complaints before. Agencies can be slow and expensive in the video creation process, which is why many folks have turned to alternative sources to obtain online video content, and that trend will surely continue. So who really needs ad agencies in this new creative production world?

Just so you don't misunderstand me, let me start with the disclaimer that I love the idea of Internet-connected TVs. If the future is to have most things connected to the Internet, such as your toaster, refrigerator and washing machine, the TV is not a bad place to start.

To effectively reach consumers in the new social environment, brand managers need to learn how to translate their budgets into the digital realm, which also means understanding the advantages that digital can provide over television advertising. Here are five "Vs" to help guide the way as you shift your vision from television to digital -- beginning with opt-in video.

If comScore and Nielsen could display what a content producer's reach is on YouTube, then it would open up a whole new stream of RFPs from the larger ad agencies and marketers. Last week, YouTube and comScore announced a beta program with a few dozen content owners which did just that.

In a previous Video Insider post, I wrote that demographic changes in our population perhaps amplified, or were even mistaken for, cord-cutting data. The crux of this was the decline in the 18-49 age audience for broadcasters. This is a critical audience metric that drives the approximately $70 billion television advertising market. Traditionally, this is so because the 18-49 audience is considered to be the heaviest consumers and buyers of goods and services advertised on television.

Cisco said recently that although 3% of all internet traffic originates from mobile devices today, by 2015 mobile devices will contribute 15% of IP traffic. Two thirds of that traffic will be video. In addition, the widespread adoption of HTML5 standards for mobile web and applications will help to standardize video delivery.