Tag: advertising

YouTube Popularity

Post ImageInteresting piece up at News.com about YouTube and the phenomenal success it has been having, at least in terms of traffic. No one is quite sure how they are going to make money, or if they have staying power, but they certainly do not have a lack of users:

According to numbers provided by traffic-tracking company ComScore Networks, YouTube received 4.2 million unique visitors in February. Those numbers are good enough to outpace Apple Computer’s iTunes (3.5 million) and put it within spitting distance of eBaumsworld.com (4.4 million) and AOL Video (4.7 million), both of which have been in business longer.

Personally, I think YouTube is going to run into very big problems. Lately when I have been on the site, I have come across a lot of videos that display a “removed due to copyright infringement” message, and I can only guess that it will get worse before it gets any better.

Like most Web 2.0 companies, they plan to use advertising to make money:

“We’re experimenting with different business models,” she said. “It’s not going to be a traditional model, that is for sure. Right now, we don’t want to disrupt the user experience. But eventually, we’re going to introduce extremely relevant ads that will benefit users and won’t disrupt the service.”

I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it here again – Google is an anomaly. I don’t think advertising is a truly sustainable business model, and even if it works for YouTube, they’ll never reach the levels that Google has. I think they need something besides simply advertising to truly make it.

Read: CNET News.com

What's up with Google?

Post ImageI just went to Google to search for something (an activity we all do dozens of times each day) and the first thing I noticed was that something had changed. I wasn’t immediately sure what it was, so I did another search. I see now what is different.

They changed the interface, and I don’t like it. In searches that don’t have ads associated with them, for “mastermaq” say, the results page is even more sparse than in the past. The familiar Google graphic for going from page 1 to page 2 and so on is now gone, leaving only text. In searches with ads however, they no longer appear on the side, but in a huge box at the top and another box at the bottom. I am also noticing that the number of results being returned is very small, and the processing time for each search is taking longer than normal (though still really quick).

Anyone know what’s going on? Is this an experiment or something? I only took a cursory glance at the feeds I subscribe to, but I haven’t been able to find anything yet.

[Just in case this is an experiment that only reaches limited numbers of users, here’s a screenshot.]

Read: Google

Superbowl Commercials

Do you care who wins the Superbowl? Or are you more interested in the commercials? That’s what I thought! Here are some sites to check for the infamous ads for 2006 (most will appear after the game):

Enjoy the game!

Advertising on the Roof

Post ImageI probably heard of rooftop ads at some point in the past, but thanks to services like Google Earth and MSN Virtual Earth, advertising that is visible from above is becoming incredibly popular. A few days ago Bryce posted this picture of a Target ad, and today Jeff Clavier discovered an eBay auction for a rooftop ad:

Well, an auction for a one year ad placement is now on eBay here. It was listed 3 days ago by a company called Roofshout – whose domain has been registered 4 days ago.

Details of the actual placement, location, etc. are more than fuzzy – to say the least. We’ll see where that one ends up: current price, $105 – 6 days to go.

Scam or market test ?

I say market test! With more and more people spending hours virtually flying around the world, this kind of thing could be come quite popular.

Read: Jeff Clavier

Podcasting and Model Airplanes

Post ImageI have written quite a bit about what I call “Average Joe Podcasting“, or podcasting for normal people who don’t want to turn it into a business. I have also mentioned that I think the most common form of podcasting will indeed be this kind of hobby podcasting, not radio-style business podcasting. Unfortunately, it seems rare that someone else understands this, but today I found another person who does:

Rob Walch, a podcasting consultant and host of the popular 411 interview podcast, says he’s bombarded with questions from people looking to strike gold with podcasts. His advice? “I tell people that over 80% of podcasters will never even break even,” he says. “This is a hobby. You don’t expect to make money from flying model airplanes, and chances are you aren’t going to make money from podcasting.” Still, for trailblazers like Curry who are quickly forging links to one another, it won’t be for a lack of trying.

Well said, and in a way that I think a lot of people will be able to understand. Not that it’s bad for people like Curry to try and make some money from it, every industry needs that, I just feel that it won’t overshadow the rest of podcasting for very much longer.

Read: BusinessWeek

Podcasting Links

Post ImagePreparing for and traveling to the Portable Media Expo last week meant that I fell behind on my usual tracking of what’s happening with podcasting (well aside from what I learned about at the expo itself). So I’ve been slowly catching up lately. Here are some of the highlights from my del.icio.us feed:

As I come across new items, I’ll of course add them to my feed.

Read: Podcasting Links

More on Google Wifi

Post ImageI am sure we’ll continue to see lots of news emerge about Google and the plan to offer free wireless access to all of San Francisco, but this Reuters story already caught my eye:

San Francisco has received more than 24 separate proposals to provide free, wireless Internet services citywide from vendors including Web search company Google Inc., the city’s mayor said on Monday.

Chris Vein, director of telecommunication and information services for the City of San Francisco, said the proposals involved a range of different free or low-cost business models. Only one company Vein declined to name had proposed an advertising supported plan for free wireless access, he said.

That company appeared to be Google. A Google spokesman on Friday had confirmed that its Wi-Fi access proposal could be funded through online advertising.

That would certainly make sense wouldn’t it? Not rocket science or anything. I am not sure what I’d think of ad-supported wireless. I am sure if I had to choose between paying a monthly fee or putting up with some advertising, I’d take the advertising, though I wonder how they would implement it.

Read: Reuters

Die Texas Holdem Poker!

Post ImageI think if I see another advertisement for something related to “texas hold ’em poker” I am going to go completely bonkers! As if the email and blog spam I get weren’t enough, legitimate companies have created advertisements using texas hold em! First there is the Edmonton Sun, and their poker challenge or whatever it is. And just last night I saw a Telus TV spot where they advertised that you can play games on your phone, games like, you guessed it, texas hold em! Combined with all of the banner ads on the web and TV commercials to play poker online, it’s enough to make you go crazy.

I just don’t see what all the fuss is about. Here’s the Wikipedia definition:

Texas hold ’em (or simply hold ’em or holdem) is the most popular of the community card poker games. It is the most popular poker variant played in casinos in the western United States, and its no-limit form is used in the main event of the World Series of Poker (abbreviated WSOP), widely recognized as the world championship of the game.

Although it can theoretically be played by up to 22 players (or 23 if burn cards are not used), it is generally played with between 2 and 10 people. It is one of the most positional of all poker variants, since the order of betting is fixed throughout all betting rounds. Holdem is commonly played in the rest of the world as well, but seven-card stud, Omaha hold ’em and other games may be more popular in some places.

So if it’s just a form of poker, why all of a sudden is it everywhere!? Please! Make it stop!

Google's Defense on AOL

Post ImageYou might recall that last week I mentioned there were rumors of Microsoft talking with Time Warner about AOL. At the time, I said it would likely be a play for access to the content that AOL controls, but it’s pretty clear now that Microsoft talking to AOL is more a business tactic – they want to eliminate the revenue Google gets from AOL. So news of a possible Google takeover of AOL should be no surprise:

Google could try to bid for America Online to preempt a Microsoft takeover and protect the $380 million in revenue Google gets from its biggest partner, according to an analyst.

“We believe it is entirely possible that Google could consider making a bid for AOL as well,” Lauren Rich Fine, an analyst at Merrill Lynch, wrote in a Friday report on the implications of an AOL-Microsoft Network deal. “This would certainly protect Google’s revenues from AOL as well as enable Google to keep 100 percent of the search advertising revenues as well as gain a significant amount of content.”

This is so much more exciting than Microsoft versus Netscape or any of the battles of the past, because Google has tons of cash too. Not as much as Microsoft, but enough to make things interesting.

Read: CNET News.com

Advertising in textbooks – bad idea!

Post ImageOne of my biggest disappointments with University so far is that the textbooks we are forced to buy really are not that useful. Not to mention they are outrageously expensive. I can use a computer textbook in one class for example, but probably not any others. And the chances of me using it outside of school are rather slim, considering the content gets updates so frequently. But I guess things are not as bad as they could be as Larry Borsato notes:

For the past several months, McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd., one of the country’s largest publishers of university textbooks, has been quietly trying to coax companies into buying advertising space in their texts.

“Reach a hard to get target group where they spend all their parents’ money,” says a McGraw-Hill brochure touting its planned ads. “Do you really think 18-24 year olds see those on-campus magazine ads? Do you really think they could miss an ad that is placed in a very well-respected textbook?”

Considering I avoid assigned readings like the plague, I for one wouldn’t be seeing the ads. Seriously though, I don’t think advertisements have any place in a textbook. And as soon as the ads make it into the books, the flood gates are open. Consider a business textbook that features advertising by a company like McDonalds. What are the chances that the publishing company will use an example of McDonalds’ business in their textbook that doesn’t make the fast food chain look good? Especially if the publishing companies come to rely on ad dollars.

Everything about the idea spells bad news to me. Larry says that “if they want to give the textbooks to students for free then that’s fine. But there’s no way that I’m paying $100 for a textbook full of ads, especially one the school forces me to buy.” I agree for the most part, I’d put up with advertising in order to get the books for free, but I don’t think the integrity of a textbook can be protected when money starts exchanging hands for page space.

So on the off chance that I actually choose to read my textbook, I’d rather know that what I am reading is there because the author thought it was important, not because advertising dollars paid for it to be written.

Read: Toronto Star