Hulu in Oz speaking with the locals

Paul McIntyre reports on the SMH that Hulu is in AU at the moment speaking with local broadcasters.

http://business.smh.com.au/business/networks-plot-online-video-assault-20080730-3ned.html?page=1

Interesting outtake - "the sticking point will be whether the US venture is prepared to enter a 50-50 equity venture with Australian broadcasters."

I'm unsure why Hulu would do this, given (and this is an assumption) US content is what will drive Hulu usage - and most of it is already owned by Fox or NBCU. I'd argue Hulu could enter the AU market without partnering with the local networks if they could structure their broadcast deals over here to allow this.

The AU FTA's could try and do their own video play like Hulu, but they'd be severely limited with the content they could place on there. Im not sure what the demand would be for reruns of Rove and Farmer Wants A Wife. The most compelling content would be ABC content - and thats already available en masse online through their site.

I, for one, would love to see Hulu come to AU. I think it's revolutionary.

Cuil - what's the big deal?

Some media are getting excited about Cuil - even mX (a respected tech journal if ever there was one) ran it on the front page today.

It's been started by some ex GOOGers ... I gave it a spin today trying to see how our clients appeared and the interface sort of irked me.

When I went to the cuil page I instantly thought of searchme - but I am not sure why. Personally I think searchme has a better spin than what has been shown so far on Cuil. Visual search looks great (it's definitely better than IceRocket circa 2004) but I'm not sure how it really improves on Google.

To Cuil's defence ... they don't really seem to be indexing AU pages and that would be having some impact on its relevance to me. The press frenzy at least shows there's topical interest around the search business in the mainstream media.

Cuil - http://www.cuil.com/
Searchme - http://www.searchme.com/

John Packowski on Cuil - http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080728/totall-uncuil/

Does Google have content ambitions?

I think they do, and I found this article from Weblogs founder and Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis that seems to think the same.

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/7/is-google-a-content-company-of-course-it-is-so-what-should-publishers-do-

Is the potential Google evolution ... Organiser ---> Distributor ---> Creator.

Personally, I think they're moving along the phases as they realise outside of search there's limited dollars to be had purely being a facilitator of information. YouTube is great but what does it mean to users. Does it have a personality? I'd say no ... and advertisers want personalities in the brands they align their own assets to advertising wise.

NBCU's Digital Olympics - The Rundown

NBCU has an impressive array of digital content for their telecast of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, as outlined by paid content here - http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-10-days-and-counting-nbcus-digital-olympics-the-full-slate-of-offerings/#extended

The summary

NBCOlympics.com will provide approximately 2,200 hours of live streaming broadband coverage of Olympic competition where users can choose from up to 20 concurrent streams encompassing 25 Olympic sports. In addition, the site will offer more than 3,000 hours of on-demand access to full-event replays and extensive highlights, including daily recaps of key events, best-of montages, commentator analysis and athlete-specific clips. (By comparison, at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, NBC streamed two hours of live footage.)

Yahoo!7 - it'd be great if you could let us know how much footage Yahoo!7 has of the Olympics in terms of live and on demand so we can see what we are getting compared to our US allies. I'm sure someone from Yahoo! reads this - it appears on my logs ;)

Facebook adds MSN Search as a friend

MSN search has given Facebook a firm 'thanks for the add' after the Social Media giant allows MS to provide "web search services and associated advertisements by the end of the year on the American portion of the popular social network"

Full article - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/business/media/25adco.html?_r=1&ref=media&oref=slogin

Financial terms haven't been disclosed - probably a good move on both sides given the discussion around the $850m Google/Myspace and Google CEO Eric Schmidt's comments that "MySpace did not monetize as well as we thought."

From Valleywag in May: Eric Schmidt: "We have a lot of traffic, a lot of page views, but it is harder than we thought to get our ad network to work with social networks. When you are in social network, it is not likely that you'll buy a washing machine. It is not a long term problem but it is taking us longer than we thought."

For the search providers these two deals are very different. Google was looking for revenue first and foremost - direct revenue - from the tens of millions of myspace users that were glued to the site and the tens of millions who were joining every month. Google wasn't looking for visibility - it already had a monster portion of the search market.

Also, remember it was 2006. Facebook was only a blip and myspace was a mystery as was most of the Social Networking space. I think a lot of this deal was a 'suck it and see' type play ... an expensive experiment. The funny thing about the Google/Myspace deal is that despite the fact both parties admit that it's not really executing as expected - nothing has really been done to fix it.

Now it's 2008 and personally I think the core motivation behind MSN doing this deal with Facebook is visibility. Search is something MSN seem determined to compete in (hence their attempted courting of Yahoo! in its entirety then Yahoo! Search division) and an issue they face is that the market knowledge of their search offering is minimal or non-existant.

Facebook gives them a huge increase in distribution - and will expose them to a market who are probably not aware of the MSN search offering. For Facebook it's win/win - they have a robust search offering on their site (whereas previously people would need to leave Facebook to search) and they would have negotiated a strong deal financially. I can't imagine it propelling MSN into the search stratosphere ... but in a game as big as the search game any incremental benefit is incredibly valuable.

The deal is limited to the US right now but one would assume (like the FB display deal MSN have) that it will roll out globally. Locally Facebook's 3.2m users would be something ninemsn would love to have access to search wise. Only 33% of Facebook users used ninemsn search in May 2008. Locally, this deal could really help ninemsn at least enhance their distribution and 'opportunity to search' presence by supplying some fresh eyeballs.

It would also create a pretty significant gap between ninemsn search and Yahoo! search in this market ... a gap that is already pretty large (ninemsn at 2.8m search users, Yahoo! at 1.6m)

Misunderstandings ...

I've been working on a certain client for about 5 months - in that time have attended about 8 meetings, worked on 3 strategies, 2 campaigns etc ... anyway, I was in a meeting with a member of our team and said client talking about an upcoming campaign involving digital. All seemed to be going pretty well until right at the end when we stood up she said ...

'You guys are pretty tall for I.T guys. The I.T guys here are generally short and pale.'

I wonder how many marketers still think people who work in digital are I.T guys. I don't have enough fingers to count how many times I've been asked to fix someone's hard drive or projector in a meeting. Trouble is - I don't know anything about I.T and the connection is almost like assuming those who work on TV strategies and buying are producers or cameramen.

Gary Vaynerchuk interview - "Passion is the backbone to success"

I first came across Gary Vaynerchuk earlier in the year in the States, when he was part of a live taping of Revision 3's Internet Superstar at AdTech SF.

His passion for digital (and wine) and enthusiasm were infectious. Since I have followed his efforts across his Wine Library TV web show - http://tv.winelibrary.com/ - as well as TV appearances all over the US (inc. Conan o'Brien, Ellen, Fox News, Jim Kramer) - and his new book '101 Wines Designed to Inspire, Delight and Bring Thunder to Your World' - http://tv.winelibrary.com/101-wines

His background makes for interesting reading - http://tv.winelibrary.com/about

Gary's Wine Library TV show has in excess of 80,000 viewers daily - and makes for compelling viewing. I hope, in time and if scale allows, AU can generate web based video content this strong ... similar to the Revision3 model (however it would need to be broader content wise to work in AU than Rev3)

I wanted to get Gary on my blog as he's a smart guy who is passionate about what he loves. Somehow in between travelling around the US, media appearances, tapings etc he found time to answer some of my questions.

Gary, for those unfamiliar with you here in AU, sum up what you do in 25 words

I put out a wine show on the internet that is interested in changing the wine culture in the world.


How did Wine Library TV come about? How did you refine your palatte and gain such an incredible understanding of wine and all its complexities ... and how did you go about translating this passon into the emerging platform of web TV?

It came about because I turned 30 and freaked out and wanted to do something new. I learned by growing up in a family business, which allowed me the opportunity to taste a lot of wine at a very young age.

How does Wine Library TV go in terms of usage and related metrics, and how do you go about monetising this engaged audience?

Monetizing the audience is not a priority in any shape or form for me so it's not something I really think about.

Can you tell us a little about your recent deal with Revision3? What does it entail and how does it feel to be working with the Rev3 guys (I noticed your brother is doing an internship with them and you're mates with Kevin Rose so it seemed like a logical fit)

I'm very excited to be in a deal with Rev3 because I respect them a ton. It's basically a situation where they are distributing Wine Library TV through their network but also and more exciting for me they are creating a 5 minute condensed version called Wine Library Reserve and that is something I'm very excited about.

I have to say I love your attitude to your audience and the respect you show them. I love how you use digital channels to essentially allow people into your life - through forums, twitter, AIM, your blog, show etc ... you are short on time but you always find time to give something back to people who find time to give it to you. How important is this to you and how do you manage to do it

It is fundamentally the most important thing to me--my community. The way I find time is by making it my #1 priority. That’s it!

Where do you see Web TV in the next 5 years? What are the factors that will drive it and are there any factors that can stand in its way?

Immensely important and competing with mainstream tv for eyeballs. The factors are the realities of the marketplace and the fact that people keep becoming more comfortable with the medium.

You seem like a person who needs challenges to stay inspired. What are the key challenges you face in the next 12 months ... and do you have any plans to take WLTV and bring the thunder to a more global audience?

I don't anticipate challenges, I react to them. So I have no idea what they are going to be! WLTV is already global.

Social Media is a big buzzword in the advertising strategy world. You have called yourself the 'social media sommerlier'. What advice do you have for companies looking to use - or even understand - social media ... and how do you try and bring back your social media activities to ROI type metrics?

#1 Companies have to not be afraid of it. #2 They must recognize that it is the future. #3 Quickly embrace and execute because it is the most opportunistic way to reach a new audience.

I think the example of GV raises a really great ideal - if you're passionate about something and you can channel that passion effectively nothing can stop you. And in doing that it makes what you do inimitable. This also seems to ring true in the wider digital world - most groundbreaking digital tools (like Google, Netscape, Paypal etc) have come from a passion to make something great ... not a drive to extract revenue from a successful sector. What are your thoughts around this?

Passion is the backbone to success. To win on a global scale is so difficult and takes so much effort--if you don't love what you’re doing all the way through and it's not part of your DNA you really have no chance.

There's the truth ... and there's the truth

The Oz has an expose about websites stretching the truth about traffic numbers.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24068103-26077,00.html

Overall not bad, and an issue that is something of concern.

A few interesting points however ...

"Simon Van Wyck, founder of web advertising company Hothouse, says a number of web publishers and portals count visitors to allied sites, but do not necessarily have the right to claim such traffic.

"I think you can look at other things, such as claiming traffic that is not theirs," Van Wyck says.
Examples include Ninemsn, which claims Hotmail and Yahoo. "

Hrm ... ninemsn claims Yahoo! traffic. Might want a fact check on that one.

"Recently the Internet Advertising Bureau began looking at the issue of automatic refreshes of pages -- a common element used by news publishers to keep late-breaking stories at the top of lists.

"Keegan says the problem occurs when ads are refreshed along with the stories, creating the impression of more traffic."

Most publishers do this ...

Freudenstein on the spin trail

Richard Freudenstein, chief executive officer at News Digital Media, said: “Our audience spends twice as long online as the average Australian - and they spend more time engaged with the internet than with any other medium.

From: http://www.bandt.com.au/news/F3/0C058AF3.asp

"Respondents to the survey carried out by Research Now shows they spent 28 hours online each week,"

According to Nielsen Netview's May 2008 figures, NDM network users spend on average 35 minutes on their sites a month.

According to the same source News rates last when comparing ninemsn, Yahoo and Fairfax in terms of time spent per month on their respective networks.

So what are they doing with the other 27 and a half hours they spend online?

From AdNews: "In a thinly veiled reference to portal's such as ninemsn and Yahoo!7, Freudenstein said sites with large audiences typically have "low engagement", but that NDM's 10 million monthly unique browsers were "highly engaged" with its "deep, quality content"."

"Asked if he was aware whether audiences of competing publishers such as Fairfax Digital also over-indexed on time spent online, Freudenstein said he was unsure."

Had to have a chuckle ...

Oops Patrol - Yahoo7: Put Your Foot Down

Mega Oops Patrol!