Marketing with YouTube.com

You heard it here first peeps. Video is the buzz for marketeers right now, so work with it!

The idea is simple create a GROUP for your given movie release. Run a competition where by the best 'spoof' video will win merchandise/prizes related to the film. This will work well with high profile releases and can often start well in advance of the theatrical release. Youtube.com has close to 10million unique visitors a month, so consider using the group to 'seed' an exclusive trailer or content.

The idea is cost effective, and will certainly give that big MSN or Yahoo! media campaign a run for its money.

Rich Media - Latest Interaction Stats

It was nearly a year ago that I met Kathryn Stevenson from Pointroll. Yet anther 3rd Party Adserving company looking for business, or so I thought! After further investigation they were definitely leading the way with rich media advertising solutions.

Here is a recent example of a rich media ad TheWild_FatBoy

The mutli messaging available within the format increases the appeal to a given internet user. MSN is a great example of where some users will want to watch the trailer, whilst others want downloads and content to customise their messenger interfaces.

The chart below is a report from Q1 this year.



As you can see, the average interaction rate for a PointRoll ad unit is 5.6%, with avg. brand interaction time of 9.4 seconds. Leaderboards & MPU formats are now prominent ad placements within larger media owner sites. The CTR%(Click Through Rate) for standard flash based ads will vary from 0.5-3% (factors are call to action and campaign profile). If you compare the rich media interaction rate to standard flash based CTR%, you can see that rich media increases the effectivness of a campaign (usually to get a user to interact with the advertisers brand/content).

If you are planning a rich media campaign outside the UK, be sure to check stats of broadband users.

Data Source:

Adwords Abuse - Otherwise Known As Search Arbitrage!

If you know anything about search, affiliate marketing and making money off the internet, you will be familiar with the phrase "Search Arbitrage". Internet site owners will pay for traffic to their site through adwords and/or low CPM networks, yet converting it back out through adsense or affiliate links that pay more. The result is an EPC (Earnings Per Click) high enough for them to make a profit on the conversion. There are of course many different forms of arbitrage, and the example shown in the video below is an extreme one. If you use 'Google Adwords' as part of your marketing campaign (which is highly likely), arbitrage sites essentially increase the number of advertisers, and in turn increases your bid price.

My personal view is the one person who can stop this is Google! They have approved the advert from this advertiser, they have also accepted the site as an Adsense partner. Individuals cannot be policing the web, the media owner (in this instance Google) needs to be the one to deal with the problem.

It's Definitely Techno! Marketing on YouTube.com

You must have heard of YouTube.com by now! They are leading the Video search market, their main point of difference is allowing anyone to upload and share a video.

YouTube has an estimated monthly audience of 9.1 million visitors. This open access has allowed creative marketeers to exploit the large volume of users accessing the site.

New films have been spoofed upon their releases by camera ready teenagers. Now Hollywood movie studios have clocked onto the trend, creating their own unofficial mash-ups, using material freely available on their official sites. Enclosed in this blog is a great example of a 'spoof' for the release of the New Mortal Combat Video Game. Usual media spend to reach such an audience would be close to £100,000, where as a youtube spoof can take as little as a few hours for any creative agency.

Bringing the Gap Between Online & Mobile

It's old news that Orange purchased Wanadoo, with the intention of offering "free" home broadband to it's mobile customers. The re-brand of Wanadoo.fr (the largest site in the networks portfolio) starts to take shape this summer.

But Orange are not the only mobile operator to see the value of purchasing an ISP. Vodafone are rumoured to be making a bid for Tiscali, to secure its position in the broadband market. A strategic review is currently in place to identify the value of the ISP's 1 million UK broadband customers.

I personally welcome the news. In my opinion there is now a clear link to mobile from an online media planning perspective. I am currently undertaking a campaign for a client in the Entertainment sector with Wanadoo/Orange. With in-depth user data available from the mobile sign up process, we are able to refine our target audience. The approach is simple, use SMS or MMS to drive users online; where we can deliver a richer consumer experience & interaction with our clients campaign.

Google V Yahoo Search

Yahoo! Search are hot on the heals of Google! Personally I welcome the move, Google have been in pole position in the search arena for too long.

Google won't go down without a fight, its first-quarter profits were up 60% from a year ago to approx. £332 million. The surge in travel & financial services ad spend, seem to have given Google's European search business a much needed boost.

It wasn't that long ago that the legal battle resulted in Google paying up to $60 million in future advertising credits due to click fraud, their legal costs to oversee this were speculated at half this figure again.

Until now affiliates and internet real estate owners have prefered Google Adsense as its revenue source. Its customisation and volume of advertisers were second to none. The launch of Yahoo! Search marketing ads through OMG may finally offer affiliates and alike a much needed alternative. The program will allow sites to integrate Yahoo! contextual ads, tailored to their site content, paying per click on a very competitive revenue share basis. The OMG partnership seems to be an extenstion of Yahoo's own Beta testing for direct sign ups.

Remember MSN Search is also in the pipeline after intial beta testing in France! 2006 is certainly shaping up to the be the "Battle of the Search"

Apple Ad....

Through my film related media work, I have seen the benefits of partnering with Apple/Itunes. Today's news that Apple is set to begin selling ads on its iTunes internet music store is a great step, and one which may lead to ads being sold on iPods. I personally think consumers will be happy for ads within the music store. I doubt it will be as acceptable on a purchased iPod.

As a media placement opportunity I welcome Apples move; there is a clear connection between demographic targeting through music preferences.

Watch This Space!

More Revenue For Google!

So Google have finally realised the opportunity of buddying up with film companies! The intention is to use a high profile film release to drive user interaction with Google Video & Search.
http://www.google.com/ig/add?davinci=UK

Anyway why go through all the hassle of finding the answers through video, search etc, just find a blog!
http://solomon.dailygrail.com/node/44

To Blog Or Not To Blog!

With the launch of my own blog, what better way then to review the latest industry stats and insights.

Nowadays most people think they have something interesting to say, the reality is probably very different. I have no intention of wading through 26.6million blogs to find out!

Web blogs are growing in popularity at record levels. In most cases they are no more than online diary to share with friends and family.

As mentioned above, recent blogging stats indicate there are more than 26.6million blogs online. Back in January 2003 when blogging started to become the latest fad, there were on average 7,300 new blogs being created each day. In January 2006 this figure was closer to 67,000 per day - some 60 times more than 3 years ago. The real insight is that 3 months after creation of a blog on average 55% of bloggers are still updating their blogs on a weekly basis.

Internet marketeers saw blogging as an easy way to generate revenue, mainly through Google adsense. With growth in websites, myspaces, blogging & forums it's becoming increasing difficult to make your blog stand out amongst general internet real estate. So if you are still looking to make that first million $$$ online, i suggest you keep your options open.

Data From: http://technorati.com/ (January 2006)

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