WebTV--Is Your Marketing Ready?

Last week YouTube completed two weeks of “upfronts,” a process typically associated with the way television networks woo advertisers for their upcoming season (They’re called "new fronts” in the online ad world.).

According to Ad Age, YouTube invested at least $100 million in new content development and announced two new channel partners that are being funded, one of which is WIGS, launched by Jon Avnet and Rodrigo Garcia and showcasing scripted shows and short films with female leads.  Stars for initial works include heavy hitters Julia Stiles, Dakota Fanning, Caitlin Gerard, Virginia Madsen, Stephen Moyer and Jeanne Tripplehorn.

These YouTube channels receive advances on ad revenue. When that is repaid, a revenue sharing model takes hold.  With over a million views per week for some of these channels, they’re looking less and less like experiments and more and more like real money makers.

More channels are coming, and I’m wondering at what point WebTV will be as recognized and respected as a marketing channel as television and cable.  I’ve been conducting a bit of a social experiment among my marketing and business colleagues…I say I’m interested in what’s going on in WebTV, and then I wait to see what they say next.

So far, there seems to be a lot of confusion about what WebTV is, what it isn’t, who’s doing it, and what they are actually doing.

To me, and to others involved in it, WebTV isn’t the same as social TV (see my MENG Blend Social TVpost).  Social TV is about sharing your “television” viewing with your social network, e.g., I’m watchingGame of Thrones on the TV in my family room, I’m tweeting about the episode on my iPad, posting quotes on Facebook, and checking into the HBO site, simultaneously.

WebTV, on the other hand, is comprised of channels (websites) that host original television- like programming or feature films that have gone direct-to-the-Web.  That is, you won’t find them on network or cable stations, but you will find them at a unique location on the Web. Examples of WebTV programming are Flock, TableTop, and House of Cards.

There are also “television” networks that exist on the Web and nowhere else:  YouTube, of course, andBlip (“one of the largest independently owned video networks in the world”), and then there are those, like Hulu and NetFlix which replay traditional television programming and offer their own original content, such as A Day in the Life and LillyHammer. 

I see WebTV as a new frontier for independent film makers, multi-player game creators, and yes, television screen writers and producers who can skip the Hollywood and “big” TV vetting systems and go direct to consumers with programming that appeals to the masses, or, (how great is this?) to limited, highly targeted audiences.  Right now, though, this world seems to be a mash-up of amateur talent with charisma and a knack for promoting themselves on YouTube channels and deep pocket citizens of “Hollywood” who get that there is a lot of “there” there.

I see the games industry as the third leg of this stool (Hollywood and independent content creators being the other two).  I don’t think the increasingly interactive elements of gaming will stay in the world of “games.”  Rather, they will cross over into scripted and non-scripted TV on the Web, wherein the audience participating elements begin to blur – who is the audience and who is the performer.  “TV shows” where you can choose to play or choose to watch and scripted elements mix with “live” action. 

And the opportunities for marketers abound.  But just as it is difficult to write about the future using the vernacular of today, e.g., how many times I’ve written the word “television” in this post but there is no “TV” in what I’m talking about…it’s difficult for advertisers to envision how they can market their brands in this world.  Social media marketing has given us just a taste of how brands’ fans can pick up and run with messaging.  Perhaps in the interactive entertainment future, one directional advertising won’t exist at all.  Perhaps brands will fully ride on the wave of audience acceptance, word of mouth marketing, and casual endorsement.  My company is just starting to take part in this evolution as we help entertainment properties ensure they are found when people have an inkling of what they want to play or watch.  There’s so much more to experience as target audiences evolve to stakeholders, and stakeholders morph into participants.  Onward and upward!

First published on MENGBlend 5/9/12

Shine a Spotlight on Your Brand: Tumblr Unveils New Advertising Options

With 20 billion posts and 50 billion tumblogs, Tumblr, the social blogging platform, has seen quite a bit of success, to say the least.  The incredible part?  It’s been profitless since its CEO, David Karp, launched the site five years ago.

Until recently, marketers could only engage the community by creating Tumblogs and sharing share-worthy content. Now Tumblr is starting to monetize by offering paid advertising solutions.

On May 2, Tumblr announced the release of its first set of paid “sponsored products” – Radar and Spotlight. The features allow the company to highlight content from advertisers without intruding on its users’ blogs.  Here are some highlights of the features, as provided by Tumblr:

·         Radar receives more than 120 million impressions daily

·         “Sponsors get a dedicated share of attention” through Radar, a showcase of sponsored media

·         Spotlight receives “tens of millions of follows each week for new and existing users”

·         Content curated by Tumblr’s editors get featured “front and center” on Spotlight

With the introduction of the new sponsored products also comes a new option for marketers in formulating an integrated digital content marketing strategy.  Ultimately, the companies that would undoubtedly benefit most from a Tumblr placement would be B2C brands with a younger, less affluent target audience.

The most important factor to consider in this new paid advertising solution is whether or not it makes sense for your company to make the investment, so here are a few key points about Tumblr.

One distinctive trait of Tumblr is its dedicated following.  Tumblr users not only engage via the internet, but also engage in real life through meetups.  According to the site, 10,238 meetups have been arranged around the world in its five years of existence.  This attribute is especially beneficial to businesses because of the opportunity it presents in allowing them to integrate their digital marketing with a real-life call to action.