Digital Marketing and Technological Insight

The head honchos at Brightcove, a leading Internet TV service / platform, put together a very interesting article the other day discussing the current and future state of Internet TV. A must read for anyone involved in the creation, distribution and optimization of rich media / online videos. Read the full article, but below are some key points I found to be the most interesting in regards to 2008 trends:

• Branded destinations will compete with the major aggregator by offering consumers a more focused experience.
• Content owners will step up their efforts to to develop distribution strategies that enable wide distribution of their content - with advertising attached.
• Audience monetization will hit prime-time via targeting.
• Three words: Higher-Quality Video

Mashable has a interesting and insightful article on the current state of podcasting…where it is, what is going on and why Adam Curry has such great hair. The possibilities of Podcasting has always been of interest to me, in fact back when Podcasts were the next, next big thing I started a Podcast directory (Podlistener.com). However, just like my site, Podcasting fell behind and never quite caught on as much as everyone hoped.

AOL’s Truveo video search engine site / service has partnered with CBS Radio and its wide selection of local stations to provide searchable video conent. As part of the deal 35+ stations across the country will integrate Truveo’s online video search engine with more following in the coming weeks. Visitors to any of the CBS Radio sites with Truveo integration will be able to search, browse, share millions of videos from thousands of sources across the web…these sources include: YouTube, Dailymotion, CBS, ABC, BBC, Disney, MTV, NBC and many more.

 “CBS RADIO is one of the companies at the forefront of converging new and traditional media,” said Kevin Conroy, Executive Vice President of AOL. “By using Truveo to enhance their sites with videos from across the Web, CBS RADIO is giving its listeners a fuller and richer online experience. As CBS RADIO continues to expand the online features they offer to their listeners, we’re looking forward to working with them on this and many other projects.”   

 “With the boom in online video, incorporating this complementary content on our station websites makes perfect sense as a way to reach this ever growing audience,” said David Goodman, President of Marketing, CBS RADIO. “Truveo’s easy-to-use developer tools allowed us to quickly implement its video search engine so our listeners and website visitors can have a world-class video experience.”   

In the end this is a good deal for everyone around..but, how much traffic do these sites really generate? I am sure they have good numbers but nothing to brag about. The true value of the deal is Truveo’s ability to expand its brand to a new audience and hopefully start to gain overall traffic growth to Truveo.com

Ad Age just published their conversation with IAC head honcho Barry Diller, in the wake of the splitting / spinning IAC is doing with its properties (IAC is spinning off four divisions into separate publicly traded companies). Putting aside the series of softball questions and  cookie cutter answers the one real interesting part of the whole conversation revolved around Barry’s interest in AOL. Here is how the brief AOL exchange went down:

Ad Age: Are there sizes of acquisitions you’d rule out?

Mr. Diller: Never. We’d never rule anything out. … I don’t want to set the world up for surprises. We’ve tended to surprise people every year with something. So I hope there’ll be a few more, but hopefully not shock.

Ad Age: There’s still talk that Jeffrey Bewkes could break up Time Warner. Would you ever be interested in AOL?

Mr. Diller: We’ve talked over the years about our interest in AOL and never been able to get Time Warner to engage with us. I’ve always said AOL is great opportunity for somebody. When and if Warner doesn’t want it, I’ll certainly be at the door.

So why is this so interesting? Of course IAC, and any online focused company would be interested in AOL and in fact AOL’s deep list of properties combined with solid traffic and relatively efficient adverting models would fit perfectly into Mr. Diller’s future / current online plans. All IAC needs is a nice influx of cash in order to offer an amount Time Warner couldnt refuse to get AOL off their hands…oh wait isn’t that what IAC is planning? Mr. Diller has shown over the years that he loves brand names and what brand is bigger then AOL (well at least one he can afford to buy)?

Regardless of whether or not IAC buys AOL it is safe to say that someone, somewhere, will snap it up. AOL has been dragging down Time Warner for years and I am sure that sooner or later AOL will be sold off - my guess would be 2nd or 3rd quarter of 2008 at the latest.