MEDIABLITZ

Online video has become the fastest-growing category of Internet ad spending in the past year, according to research firm eMarketer -- so much so that advertisers now frequently complain about the shortage of video content worthy of sponsorship. Marketers are finding it hard to buy enough space on traditional TV networks' Web sites, which stream some network prime-time programs. Ad space is available alongside the user-generated videos that draw millions of visitors to video-sharing sites like YouTube, but advertisers are wary about sponsoring videos that might be embarrassing or risqué. YouTube's new ad format, unveiled last week to intense advertiser interest, limits ads to videos from selected partners. While their audiences are tiny -- Geek Entertainment TV says it averages 10,000 to 20,000 viewers a show, though its most popular shows attract as many as 100,000 viewers -- their viewers are loyal. Such programs also provide content of a consistent quality, in advertisers...

Looking on YouTube though I noticed that if you go into the community section , many of the featured Groups are advertisers. I wonder if they pay for that. Today they have Rocawear " I Will Not Lose " campaign. Vids with celebrities like Ciarra, Three Six Mafia, and other's "A" list Hip Hop / R&B artists talking about not losing and perservering without obstacles. Which is cool, do gooder advertising. They also have Listerine FreshBurst man on the street interviews which are not very entertaining and unabashedly self-serving. YouTube offers deep opportunities for testing advertising production. These days it seems like online is partnering more and more with direct street teams, a mesh of the international and local.

Blip.tv's Learning Center offers instructions on how to produce a video show from concept through ad sales. Blip.tv defines a show as a "series of online videos that are tied together by consistent branding, style, and release schedule." Many of the most popular online programming is offered by Blip.tv including Galacticast (Sci-fi Satire) and Geek Entertainment TV (recently featured in Wall Street Journal ).

MySpace Could Lift Ban on Commerce MySpace bans commerce between its members, because it doesn't want to jeopardize the corporate advertising that accounts for the vast majority of its profit. Allowing its members to promote their wares would only clutter up the place. But behind the scenes, the issue is being hotly discussed as Chris DeWolfe, MySpace's chief executive, and his team of top executives at the biggest property within News Corp. 's Beverly Hills-based Fox Interactive Media grapple with the imperative of squeezing more money out of MySpace. The Los Angeles Times reports. more »

Slate stepped into the video space in a big way by launching SlateV , a robust collection of videos created by Slate. The front page offers the newest of these videos like "Video Bushisms", "Grading Hillary's First Spot", and "Dear Prudence" an animation of their advice column. The animation and special effects on the videos is incredible, creative and original. Unfortunately the editors themselves are boring, probably in comparison to the lively visuals. Understandably most of these editors are more comfortable in a text based context. "Editor's Choice", has some great, interesting vids such as examples of advertisements for soap made by Igmar Bergman when he was short on cash. Unfortunately, the tone of the narrative makes it feel like a classroom lecture. A blog page "Did You See This" is there roundup of the best in web video, pulling vids from YouTube, LiveLeak, CollegeHumor, etc. Hopefully they'll figure out how...

Jeremiah Owyang is the Director of Corporate Media Strategy (serves as a Social Media Resource for Fortune 1000 clients) @ Podtech.net. He notes that Web Strategy must take into account the goals, needs, and roadblocks of the three spheres, Community, Business, and Technology. In his blog entry he provides a description and the skills needed to represent each of the three groups.

VH-1 Scott Baio is 45 & Single It's not that uncommon for 40 somethings to be single. For some reason when men are single it's a big issue while when woman are single it's not, it's understood. E! Sunset Tan Simple Life CBS Big Brother USA Psych Burn Notice Mediaweek 8/21/07 USA also continued to bring the noise with its original series, snaring 4.54 million viewers Friday night at 9 p.m. with a new episode of Monk, while holding on to much of that audience in the 10 p.m. slot with Psych (3.81 million). On the previous night, USA’s summer hit Burn Notice delivered 4.23 million viewers. Prime time’s silver medalist was TNT, which averaged 2.2 million viewers, thanks to The Closer and Saving Grace. With 4.68 million viewers, the Holly Hunter drama retained 64 percent of its Closer lead-in. TNT also took second among adults 25-54 (945,000), while placing fourth among 18-49s (810,000). MTV: averaging 3.69 million viewers on August 13 with a special one-hour seaso...

Facebook isn't a news source, it is a social networking tool and it is debatable on how differentiated advertisements need to be from the user generated content. Facebook is a multimedia tool with video and music but the majority of its content is text. If the company employed journalistic Editors there would be a big wall separating the business side from the editorial side. The business side would push for anything that made the ad more effective and the editorial side would push back to insure editorial integrity by completely differentiating advertising from content. Most Editors take this very seriously and don't want there to be a hint of conflict of interest. Above is a screen shot of the news feed I receive from my friends on my Facebook account. The Army ad I circled is troublesome. It does not look different at all from the messages that I get from my friends which is accented by the fact that its from a very controversial advertiser. Should social web sites be...

PlayboyU announced the launch of a college only community on Ning . Owen Thomas of Valleywag told CNBC doesn't think the bunny has any bounce, but I disagree. Basically because there is a need for "gated communities" online especially among students as everyone essentially invades their Myspaces and Facebooks. The front page successfully conveys the sense of an exclusive club and Mashable has screenshots of inside pages which look very robust and uniquely designed. The front page also stresses that the visitor is "not allowed" and you have to apply with an ".edu" email address to get in. People respond well to being told that they can't have something, it makes them want it. And the fact that you have to be in college (or at least have an .edu email) makes it prone to socially desirables. Myspace and the dating sites have gotten so big that it's essentially impossible to trust the people you meet there and Facebook is being invaded by o...

The TV biz is on a crazy rollercoaster. Fox cancelled 'Anchorwoman' after one airing. It was a cheesy premise: former swimsuit model becomes anchorwoman at a Texas TV station. Mmmm, let me think, kind of like the TV Guide show. Apparently only 2.5 million people tuned in (so-so cable numbers) which was a dramatic decrease from 'So You Think You Can Dance' numbers of the prior week. The unaired episodes will be available at Fox's nifty new Myspace page which called 'Fox On Demand.' Brownie points for synergizing. Fox On Demand has a healthy selection of full episodes of Fox's programs on and off air. The promo page for the show hosted on the fox.com server although it looks like a Myspace page is full of glitz and cheescake. This show was described as a "scripted reality show" which means the characters didn't have enough entertaining things to say so someone else wrote the lines for them, which is sad and always looks fake. Kiss of d...

In the past few days there has been a bunch of buzz surrounding online video advertising because Google's mega-mammoth brand in the space, YouTube, (which they bought 10 months ago for $1.65 billion) initiated "semi-transparent overlay ads". With room for variation it's a banner that appears at the bottom of the video screen and offers the option of linking to the advertiser's web site. YouTube calls them "In Video" Above is a screenshot of an ad for the movie "Hairspray" on a Ford Models TV video. Hairspray, hairdresser, young women, that's targeting. Unfortunately the screenshot is one that appeared in the New York Times because I couldn't find an example of an ad on the YouTube site. Personally I think the web site for Hairspray the movie a much bigger brand than Ford Models TV but that's beside the point. FordModels.tv is one of about 1,000 large and small media partners that have licensed their videos to YouTube and w...

Katy Bachman AUGUST 08, 2007 - For the first time in a decade, consumers spent less time with media in 2006 than they did the prior year according to a study released Tuesday by Veronis Suhler Stevenson. Media usage per person declined 0.5 percent to 3,530 hours driven by “the continued migration of consumers to digital alternatives for news, information, and entertainment,” the study concluded. (So digital isn't media?) “We are in the midst of a major shift in the media landscape that is being fueled by changes in technology, end-user behaviors and the response by brand marketers and communications companies,” said James Rutherfurd, executive vp and managing director at VSS. “We expect these shifts to continue over the next five years, as time and place shifting accelerate while consumers and businesses utilize more digital media alternatives, strengthening the new media pull model at the expense of the traditional media push model.” As a result, spending on alternative advertisi...

Matthew Roche's 'THE SITE IS DEAD'

eBiz MBA : Cool site, apparently in Beta. Divided into 4 main topic areas, Administration, Marketing, Products & Sales. Front page has relevant top tier articles (Wired, NYT, etc.) about social marketing, advertising, etc.

Onalytica Blog: Measuring Influence – PR Blogs – Part II