Making Money from Content

Banner ads are becoming smarter. Google has released a new display offering that can adjust the content of a banner ad to dynamically better fit its surroundings.

The customer example used was Ford. Using the Google Content Network, Ford can make one central media buy and the content delivered is altered given the context of website it’s being served on.

The example used was: if the Ford ad triggers on a site that discusses green issues, a banner highlighting Ford’s hybrid vehicles would trigger. Whereas, a technology site discussing the latest gadgets would show a clip from Ford at CES, etc.

The head of the Google Content Network:

“This marries the science of search with the art of display…the ads are very dynamic, and there’s an indefinite number of ads that will get served.”

Another step on the road towards ads with intelligence – in this case with the relevance baked into the network side, and not the consumer side, with both angles being good news for advertisers and consumers.

Just read this article in Mashable, “How Startups are Using Social Media for Real Results”. The basic premise: startups should make social media the centerpoint of their communication tools, as it’s cheaper.

Can’t argue that. However, it got me thinking of other ways that startups can take advantage of Social Media that weren’t noted in the piece.

Using social media as a coherent and actionable approach to updating investors and the investment community (especially if you are a public start up) can save an incredible amount of time for the senior team as they deal with ensuring that the messages are always clear, and consistent.

Educating and training your supporters on where, when, and how to find the information is critical…and as the piece suggests, requires a great deal of commitment. But the opportunity – not to mention efficiencies – far outweighs the short-term challenges and provides a great outlet for idea mashing and just as importantly feedback.

To answer my own question here: no, results and social media are not an oxymoron. We just need to help people define what real results should be viewed as.

Reaching 198 Million People / Over 150 NBC.com Web Sites and Growing…

Since launching, just under 3 weeks ago, on the NBC.com home site (www.nbc.com), the NBC.com Communicator is now available throughout the NBC web network, reaching the estimated 198 million people who visit NBC sites each month (ComScore) through the over 150 show, sports, entertainment and news web sites.

Whether you’re a 30 Rock fan with Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin (http://www.nbc.com/30-rock/), a Saturday Night Live viewer (http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/) or you’re a member of the myNBC (http://my.nbc.com/) community, you’ll be able to download the NBC.com Communicator from many of the NBC.com sites.

If you’re a sports fan, you’re not going to want to miss the 2010 Winter Olympics, and yep – you guessed it – you can sign up and download the NBC.com Communicator right from the NBC.com 2010 Winter Olympic Home Page (http://www.nbc.com/2010-winter-olympics/)

You can see the NBC.com Communicator “flag” on the NBC footer (2^nd item in on the left) or just click on the link above to visit the web site. 

NBC.com runs one of the world’s largest online entertainment platforms and is considered by many sources to be the #1 online broadcaster. 

Below is an image of the NBC.com Winter Olympic preview site.  To access all the great NBC shows and other online opportunities, simply “click” on the menu headers (like “shows”, “watch video”, “schedule”, etc.) and then click on an item in the expanded menu.  What you’ll see is that a vast number of sites have the NBC.com Communicator directly on their home page.  

This is great news for itiBiti and the NBC.com Communicator as our exposure grows incrementally. 

Users just need to click on the NBC.com Communicator link, sign up, download and start enjoying…

To see the NBC.com Communicator link on NBC.com sites, just select one of the “header” menu buttons and then a link in the menu to check out the NBC.com universe.

Stay Tuned!  This is just the beginning, as itiBiti creates more encompassing marketing programs with NBC.com and our other clients.

What does this mean to itiBiti and Intertainment Media?

NBC.com is the first live launch itiBiti client and a tier 1 brand recognized globally, and this showcases itiBiti’s great program, product and value offering.  As itiBiti rolls out, we’re listening to feedback from users and we’re updating the offerings and increasing the program’s ability to create additional revenue.

Through the first few months, we’ll be looking to add new and exciting features that will improve the user experience and create viral “stickiness”.

For Intertainment and itiBiti, this launch means that we have real market results that other clients can leverage and bring to their own brand applications.  This, in turn, creates more opportunities for the Company to engage clients and create revenues.

For advertisers, this milestone creates a new engagement strategy for social media, leveraging community, communications, content and commerce.  

Not Facebook, not Skype, not even Twitter can do this!

To find out more about itiBiti and our other exciting Intertainment programs and properties, please visit www.intertainmentmedia.com or www.itibiti.com  Intertainment Media Inc. is publicly listed on the TSXV, symbol “INT”.

If you’d like to speak with our team about our programs, feel free to email us, or call us at 800-395-9943

Regards,
David

PS – Located below is the 30 Rock.com Home Page – check out the bottom of the page and you’ll see the NBC.com Communicator there. 

The information contained in this presentation may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statements or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements.

After much anticipation, the NBC.com Communicator is finally available for download and use.

This beta desktop application is the first of its kind and offers an all-in-one experience for users. Meaning you get a great communications application (text, voice, and soon video) that also delivers video content from NBC.com right to your desktop.

Under the hood, running the NBC.com Communicator is a private-labeled (a.k.a. white-labeled) application built by Itibiti Systems (a subsidiary of Intertainment Media). It currently includes text and voice messaging, plus it’s connected to Microsoft Live Services, giving you full access to an enormous active social network. Any brand, like NBC.com can partner with itiBiti to release their own player loaded with their own content, commerce, and community.

The NBC.com Communicator is not a replacement for NBC’s other online media plays, such as NBC.com and Hulu, it essentially acts as a gateway to the brand’s other digital properties. While excellent, those media sites are a destination requiring the user to be motivated to go to the sites via a variety of means (e.g. advertising). The NBC.com Communicator is a location play, providing real estate on the desktop with a communications and content application consumers want to use.

NBC.com Communicator is itiBiti’s first public beta release of its application. We’re very much at the early stages of this new type of platform that combines communications, content, commerce, and community all together in a single desktop application. While we’ve seen great examples of other products excelling at just one of those capabilities, we’ve yet to see any one desktop application that combines all four successfully. We’re confident that itiBiti will be that platform for brands. Today you’ll see the NBC.com Communicator, soon you’ll see many more as itiBiti is developing partnerships with other brands that are soon to be released.

We look forward to your feedback as to what you’d like to see in this player. Good and bad, please let us know what you do and don’t like about the player. Together we’re going to make itiBiti a great application for you use to better connect your brand with your audience.

In a recent episode of TWiT, a weekly tech talk show hosted by Leo Laporte, David Spark of Spark Media Solutions gave the TWit audience his thoughts on the NBC.com Communicator – a new social media, communication & entertainment app set to be released this month.

“The NBC.com Communicator as a really cool communication application.” Spark says, “[it has] text, voice and video chat all within the desktop application.” NBC.com is creating the [app] with itiBiti allowing users to watch NBC programs on the desktop.”

Disclosure: David Spark consults for Intertainment Media on the launch of NBC.com Communicator and is also one of the authors of this blog.

TWiT is one of the most popular internet shows that features discussions on the latest technology news and reviews. Leo Laporte hosts the weekly podcast with TWiT TV network to present light discussions and arguments on the internet and electronics.

Listen to the show podcast here.

You can also read transcript of the podcast.

Augmented Reality No Longer Science Fiction

Layar, which has been the ‘poster child’ for augmented reality smartphone apps, just launched a brand new app in the iPhone’s App Store.  If you’re still at a loss as to the significance of augmented reality, Layar’s own explanation from inside the app explains it well:

“Layar is a tool to browse the world. It enables exploration, more informed decisions, serendipity and fun. [...] While looking through the phone’s camera lens, a user can see houses for sale, popular bars and shops, tourist information of the area, play a live game, etc.”

How it all works

The app retrieves information from third-party developers who contribute their “layers” to the Layar platform. For example, there’s a layer called iMetro, and when it’s selected and you’re standing outside, Layar will display digital overlays of nearby bus stops and the time the next bus is arriving.

Layers are similar to plug-ins that customizes desktop browsers. There are also layers for Yellow Pages, Las Vegas casinos, and Wikipedia. The layers are free, as is the Layar app. However, Layar told Wired.com that after the platform generates enough interest, it might begin charging users for premium layers.

Some marketers have experimented with augmented reality (AR) to promote products through interactive and web-based applications, but AR is still in its infancy stage despite the huge potential it has to make our virtual experience very close to our real world.

Check out this great example from GE:

According to an article on TechCrunch late last week, TV broadcaster Channel 4 in the UK appears to have signed a content deal with YouTube for their 4oD video-on-demand ‘catch-up’ service that would provide Channel 4 with additional advertising revenue and reach.

Here’s the release that just went out:

YouTube, Channel 4 sign pioneering long-form content deal

October 15 2009: YouTube and Channel 4 have signed a pioneering content deal which will make the broadcaster’s original programmes available on demand, in full and free-of-charge via YouTube in the UK in the coming months.

The strategic partnership marks the first time that a broadcaster anywhere in the world has made a comprehensive catch-up schedule available on YouTube, providing Channel 4 with additional advertising inventory and reach: YouTube last week announced it was serving over 1 billion video streams every day.

Under the terms of the deal, Channel 4 will make its 4oD video-on-demand ‘catch-up’ service of new programmes available via YouTube shortly after television transmission, including series that have already proved particularly popular with online audiences such as Skins, Hollyoaks, The Inbetweeners and Peep Show. YouTube users will also be able to access around 3,000 hours of full length programming from the Channel 4 archive at any given time, including shows like Brass Eye, Derren Brown, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, Teachers and many others.

Content will begin appearing in the coming months and be fully available in early 2010. All programmes will be available only in the UK, free-of-charge supported by advertising.

Financial terms are not being disclosed, but the partnership runs for an initial term of at least three years and the two parties will share advertising revenues on an agreed formula. The deal will create significant value for Channel 4 and its independent production partners, generating additional revenue to invest in creating high quality, original content. YouTube and Channel 4 will continue to co-operate on additional monetisation opportunities as new technology evolves.

Channel 4 will have a branded presence on YouTube and will be able to sell advertising around its content on the site. The agreement also allows Channel 4 to sell advertising around some non-Channel 4 content on YouTube for the first time, expanding the amount of inventory available to its sales team and bringing its considerable expertise in advertising around full length TV content to the YouTube platform. It will help Channel 4 develop its advertising sales proposition in digital, including the use of YouTube’s demographic targeting tools to target advertising against Channel 4 content on YouTube.

The deal builds significantly on Channel 4 and YouTube’s existing partnership; Channel 4 was the first broadcaster to sell pre-roll advertisements on YouTube clips and to incorporate an offline sponsor into an online YouTube package (Lucozade, Big Brother).

The deal is non-exclusive, allowing Channel 4 to continue distributing its 4oD service via its own website, channel4.com, and other third party sites and services.

Nikesh Arora, President, Global Sales Operations and Business Development for Google, YouTube’s owner, said: “Over the past few years, fans have had access to increasing amounts of professional programming online as TV companies experiment with new ways of distributing their content. Channel 4 have been visionary in their online strategy and are consistently at the forefront of new uses of YouTube to engage their viewers and unlock new revenue streams. This significant new agreement brings Channel 4’s great full length content to the YouTube community, helping Channel 4 to grow their online revenues and to continue to invest in the creation of high quality original content.”.

Andy Duncan, Channel 4’s Chief Executive, said: “Channel 4 was the first broadcaster anywhere in the world to make all its commissioned content available online and we’ve consistently pioneered in this field. This strategic partnership is another important milestone for us and we’re delighted to be combining the power of the ‘4’ brand and the appeal of our content with YouTube’s unrivalled reach and reputation online.

“Making our programmes directly accessible to YouTube’s 20 million UK users will financially benefit both Channel 4 and our independent production partners and help bolster our investment in quality British content. It demonstrates our ability to strike dynamic commercial partnerships to help underpin our future as a commercially funded, not-for-profit multi-platform public service network.”

Jon Gisby, Director of Future Media and Technology at Channel 4, added: “Channel 4 has a clear lead among commercial broadcasters in video-on-demand and we’re convinced extending our relationship with YouTube will help consolidate that position. The deal will grow our share of the audience and enhance our advertising sales proposition. It will create new advertising inventory for Channel 4 Sales in digital media and will help us realise our ambition to be the UK’s leading sales house for video-on-demand.”

Patrick Walker, YouTube’s Director of Partnerships, added: “We know that the YouTube community is enthusiastic about full-length programming on the site, and we’ve been working hard to create the right environment for more broadcasters to make their content available with the right branding, the right advertising formats and the right level of control over advertising sales. This partnership demonstrates our commitment to bringing an even greater range of content to YouTube and we look forward to other similar agreements to come.”

This partnership, once again, demonstrates how brands are seeking effective ways to reach their customers by making their unique content available online generating new brand awareness and ad revenue opportunities.

This article is part of a road show presentation series I’m doing in Toronto for Intertainment Media, owners of Itibiti Systems. This post has been reprinted on the Intertainment Media blog.

Al O’Grady from Agoracom interviewed me about some current trends in social media. Nice little overview. See a larger version here.

For more, read 14 Successful Techniques for Building Your Industry Voice with Social Media. Plus, there are additional articles and coverage from my Toronto tour.

Earlier this week I wrote an article for Mashable entitled “5 Ways Companies Used News Trends for Business Success.” The article tells five tales of businesses that capitalized on industry trends and cultural memes.

Yesterday, on day four of my Toronto social media road show, I spoke with the Canadian online travel agency, itravel2000, who actually had to fight back against the traditional news reports that were actually hurting their business.

In February, the general news media was reporting on the drug and gang wars going on in Mexico. To the casual observer, the problems seemed systemic across the entire country, and as a result people stopped booking travel to Mexico. It got so bad that  itravel2000’s Mexico travel which usually accounts for 40% of their business dropped to 14%, said Brad Miron, VP Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, for itravel2000.

In reality, said Miron, the violence was happening alongside the U.S./Mexico border, about 3600 km from any of itravel2000’s vacation destinations. So to combat the negative mainstream press about Mexico, itravel2000 sent camera crews to Mexico to report on what was really going on in the vacation destinations, and they posted 90 videos on a custom blog entitled, “What is really happening in Mexico.com.”

In just two weeks, 50,000 people visited the blog, and their Mexico travel bookings returned to 40% of overall bookings.

Once again, itravel2000 is facing another Mexico news story that’s impacting their business – swine flu. Since they were so successful with their last blog, they’ll be launching another custom blog,  It’s time to go to Mexico.com (will be live July 29th) where video crews will follow a handful of families going to Mexico.

For more, watch my interview with Brad Miron of itravel2000.

Are you running into issues where either your business or your client’s business is scared to jump into social media because certain elements are unproven and it still feels like unknown territory? Some may feel comfortable with social media and have already made their mark, but for others it can be daunting as to how do you go about making your mark effectively.

It’s far easier to simply purchase traditional media which is a proven ground even if its results aren’t as stellar as they’ve been in the past.

After my presentation at PHD, I talked about this issue with Sandra Clark, VP Client Services Director for PHD in Toronto, ON. She echoed many of the concerns I’ve heard before which are “How do we measure this?” and “Do we know if this is even working?” With most clients looking at measurable campaigns that last six weeks, how do you convince them to jump into something for the long haul that you can’t guarantee necessarily audience or success?