adthropology

ABC.com To Experiment With More Ads Per TV Stream

"Viewers of video at ABC.com might soon be seeing two advertisements, one after the other, within each video break. 'It would be premature for us to say people only want one ad,' said Albert Cheng, executive vp digital media at Disney-ABC Television Group (NYSE: DIS), to the Hollywood Reporter. 'It's a likely sort of thinking, but we want to push it a little bit to see how it would go.'

With the placement of two commercials per break, ABC is breaking from the industry standard which has been to place one advertisement per break, lasting from 15 to 30 seconds, two or more times per online television episode.

ABC points out that the strategy of placing two commercials per break is just an experiment and leaves open the possibility that they won't continue. Mr. Cheng explained to the Hollywood Reporter that 'if research shows that users don’t want more ads per break, Disney won’t pursue the strategy.'

via Digital Media Wire

NBC, News Corp. Plan YouTube Clone

"Ah, poor Google. First Viacom files suit against YouTube, alleging a billion dollars worth of copyright infringement. Now two more massive media conglomerates are joining up to open a second battle front, this time in the market instead of the courts. NBC and News Corp. issued a joint press release this morning, saying they were planning on creating a new online video-distribution network, which they say will debut this summer with 'thousands of hours of full-length programming, movies and clips.'"

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via Wired

NBC Hit Shows Extend Reach by Streaming Online

"NBC is finding that its hit TV shows, streamed online, are attracting not only viewers who missed broadcast episodes but also new viewers, MediaWeek reports.

NBC's Rewind video player allows viewers to watch the network's popular daytime and primetime shows online. NBC claims that 26 percent of viewers watched episodes that they had already seen offline, and 34 percent of users watched shows they had not seen before.

But the service seems to be paying dividends for advertisers as well. NBC says viewers are using the service as an online DVR - except that users can't fast-forward through the ads. Reportedly, 81 percent of users were able to recall specific pre-roll ads that were viewed at least twice.

Rewind has delivered over 42 million full-episode streams since debuting, to 6.9 million unique viewers. In December, the average streamer spent 35 minutes watching video onNBC.com. "Contrary to conventional wisdom, consumers are ready to watch long-form entertainment on the web and we plan on making more available," said Jeff Gaspin, president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, Digital Content and Cross Network Strategy."

via Marketing Vox

Consumers Not Keen on Ad-Supported Video on Web, Mobile

"Consumer interest in long- and short-form programming leans more toward free and all-you-can-eat subscription models than ad-supported or a la carte. That's according to "Programming for the Three Screens," a report published this week by JupiterResearch.

Thirty-seven percent of consumers with high-speed Internet access have an interest in watching either long or short form TV programming online, the report states. Roughly half the group looks for full-length TV programs rather than clips, additional footage and live broadcasts."

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via ClickZ

Reinventing Television Might Be Easier Than We Think

"Companies like AT&T and Microsoft are sinking Billions (4+ billion each) into IPTV (internet protocol television), enabling them to deliver TV over the internet. And what exactly are these companies trying to do with those billions… replicate “cable” over the internet. Well, with HBO recently releasing the first episode of Extras on iTunes as a free video podcast it makes me wonder if the future of television isn’t something closer to podcasts than broadcast."

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via ExperienceCurve

2007 Trends: The HearMeSeeMe Web

"As 2006 saw the maturing of the read-write web (or Web 2.0), 2007 will see the rise of the third stage of the internet's evolution: the HearMeSeeMe web. The rise of video and audio on the web has been phenomenal and we will see the average user's behavior change over the next year as he/she moves from reading and writing text to consuming and generating moving image and sound.

The speed of audio and video development on the web has been astonishing. We first started to write about early Web-TV and Podcasting in January 2005, but the subsequent development of web 2.0 apps like YouTube and Skype allowed the medium to thrive. Suddenly it became fairly easy for to make and add video and audio to the web.

Two years later and the BBC predicts that 10% of TV viewing is soon be done the web."

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via PSFK