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My 2 featured articles for the week ending Mar. 16, 2007:

Archived blogs for the week of Mar. 12, 2007

1315 - Mar. 15, 2007 - 1.24 PM EST

Google expands into the TV ad market

Google has started making tests in the $52-billion a year television advertising marketby serving a series of ads with a Bay Area cable provider.

However, some industry pundits say the Internet search company may already be too late in that highly specialized game.

Overall, Google already dominates the Internet advertising industry, and it has been talking about TV ads for much of the past year. However, companies such as Spot Runner have spent the last three years dishing up geo-targeted ads to cable stations across the U.S.

Spot Runner, a Los Angeles-based company, says its technology and established industry relationships give it a strong edge over Google when it comes to providing an automated platform for delivering relevant TV ads to specific neighborhoods via cable.

“Undoubtedly, the Google name and brand opens new doors, but the quality of what Spot Runner does is real impressive,” said Greg Sterling, analyst with Sterling Market Intelligence.

Spot Runner also produces lower-cost ads for smaller businesses that don't have the large budgets some TV advertisers have. Spot Runner has made friends with big advertising agencies and partnered with cable companies across the U.S.

Spot Runner has raised $60 million in funding from strategic investors such as CBS and advertising conglomerates WPP and Interpublic Group. That kind of industry clout has prompted suggestions Spot Runner may already be on Google’s acquisition list. Read more...

1314 - Mar. 14, 2007 - 4.03 PM EST

Why do people search for information online?

For most people today, it's often not what you see online, but what you see in other marketing channels, according to a BIGresearch survey performed by the RAMA (the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association). On average, about forty-seven percent of Internet users said they search online after exposure to advertising or products in magazines.

Approximately 42 percent of consumers said it was after being exposed to newspapers, while 43 percent said it was while reading articles elsewhere.

Mike Gatti of the RAMA says that "overall, when it comes to advertising, retailers always need to be careful not to put all of their eggs in the same Internet basket." "While search engine marketing (SEM) continues to be a very popular strategy, retailers should not lose sight of traditional advertising channels to promote products and services," added Gatti.

Sometimes, the urge to search online comes from coupons and in-store promotions. Women were more likely than men to be motivated this way (42 percent vs. 29 percent for coupons and 29 percent vs. 25 percent for in-store promotions, respectively).

On average, men were more driven than women to start an online search based on a face-to-face conversation (36 percent vs. 30 percent, respectively).

After the online search comes the word-of-mouth referral. Over 67.2 percent of online consumers communicate about their search face to face. Over 54 percent use email or the phone, while about 30 percent use cell phones. Read more...

Posted on Businessblog™

1313 - Mar. 13, 2007 - 4.34 PM EST

YouTube and Google sued for $1 billion

Google and its online video subsidiary YouTube have been sued by Viacom today. The lawsuit is for $1 billion, the first and largest amount against the online video site and its parent company for copyright infringement.

In the suit filed this morning in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Viacom said that "almost 160,000 unauthorized clips of Viacom's programming have been available on YouTube and that these clips had been viewed more than 1.5 billion times."

In addition to damages, Viacom said it wants an injunction prohibiting Google and YouTube from further copyright infringement in the future.

With this, Steven Chen and Chad Hurley, co-founders of YouTube, have to deal with their first major lawsuit for copyright infringement. Viacom first demanded that YouTube take down videos from shows on Viacom-owned networks that were posted on the Web site without Viacom's consent.

Google acquired YouTube for nearly $1.7 billion late in 2006. Viacom is the first major media firm to sue YouTube and Google over alleged copyright infringement. Other media companies, including GE-owned NBC Universal, CBS and Universal Music Group have decided to partner with YouTube, the world's most popular online video site.

While other media firms, notably CBS, say they see promotional value in having snippets of their programs posted on YouTube, Viacom has led the charge against YouTube since it feels entitled to advertising revenues tied to viewing of its programming. Read more...

Posted on Businessblog™

1312 - Mar. 12, 2007 - 5.22 PM EST

Publishers need to work with search engines

Various industry analysts have urged authors and book publishers to get seriously involved in the debate on which Internet-based search model best serves their industry.

Both Google and Microsoft want to scan books and include the digitized equivalent on a Web site. However, Microsoft recently alleged that Google's methods infringe on the intellectual property rights of various authors and book publishers.

Carmi Levy, an analyst at Info-Tech Research Group says "the reality is that authors and book publishers need to work closely with search engines to remain relevant."

Meanwhile, an open source software advocate said Microsoft is trying to scare publishers away by adopting its own book search model. "Microsoft is being a FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) search engine," said Russell McOrmond, policy coordinator for the Canadian Association for Open Source (CLUE), in Ottawa, ON.

On March 7, Microsoft lawyer Thomas Rubin told members of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) that Google's Book Search abuses copyright protection while Microsoft's Live Search Books honours it. Rubin said Google has taken the position that it can scan, catalogue and display content published in book format under the fair use principles, unless the copyright holder tells them not to.

Google then profits from this material by running advertisements along with it. Rubin said Microsoft seeks copyright permission from authors and publishers of all copyrighted material before publishing it.

"The way I see it, Google has chosen the wrong path for the longer term, because it systematically violates and deprives various authors and book publishers of an important avenue for monetizing their works," said Rubin.

Rubin also accused Google of creating no content of its own, while "making money solely on the backs of other people's content and are raking in billions through advertising and IPOs". However, Carmi Levy said Microsoft's allegations against Google can be applied basically to the software giant itself.

"It is a constant battle to get the most votes from the publishers," said McOrmond, "and the protagonists are beginning to sound more like politicians on a campaign" he said. The analyst noted that Microsoft's platform is basically offering an opt-in model, under which the company will only scan books that authors and publishers have given them permission to include in its database.

On the other hand, Levy said Google's opt-out model would scan books in the public domain. Authors and book publishers who don't want their works in Google's Book Search must contact the company to have their property removed from the Web site.

McOrmond said the difference is essentially a non-issue, as both models can co-exist freely. "It's really up to authors and publishers to decide which search engine they will adopt and work with."

McOrmond likened the situation to the software market where buyers can chose between open source software and pay-per-copy packaged software. He said his concerns with Microsoft's Live Search Books is that the system will "leave out a large body of work." Read more...

Posted on Businessblog™

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