Archives for the month of: March, 2007
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The copyright war begins in earnest!

March 14, 2007 //
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The war begins! Viacom file a $1 billion law suit against google for infingement of its copyrights through it Youtube property. Viacom also go one step further and accuse Youtube of deliberately avoiding doing anything to stop copyright infringement by its users in an attempt to earn revenues. Should be very interesting to see how this one pans out as it could set a precedent for the whole online video industry and if Viacom are successful everyone else will be sure to follow suit!

Viacom Slaps Google with $1B YouTube Lawsuit

Accusing YouTube of “massive intentional copyright infringement,” media giant Viacom filed a $1 billion lawsuit Tuesday against the video site and its parent Google, CNET reports. Some 160,000 clips of Viacom programming have been illegally available on YouTube and have been viewed more than 1.5 billion times, Viacom said. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and also seeks an injunction prohibiting Google and YouTube from further copyright infringement.”YouTube is a significant, for-profit organization that has built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others’ creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent Google. Their business model, which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws,” Viacom said in a statement.”In fact, YouTube’s strategy has been to avoid taking proactive steps to curtail the infringement on its site, thus generating significant traffic and revenues for itself while shifting the entire burden – and high cost – of monitoring YouTube onto the victims of its infringement,” Viacom said in a statement.

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Categories Google

Google Begins TV Ad Tests

March 13, 2007 //
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They will take over the world one day! surely they cant be competitive if they are just buying the ad space and reselling with profit attached!?! I cant help but think this is just another example of google spreading their net without actually applying themselves to it. In my opinion they should concentrate on what they do best, rather than trying to enter every market which springs to mind.

Google has begun a test of buying and reselling television commercials, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal, reports Search Engine Land. The tests are apparently taking place in Concord, California and mimic the system Google put into place when it began selling print ad space. It buys time from the television station and then resells the spot time to one of its advertisers. That spot then appears within ordinary commercial breaks and appears no different to the viewer from any other commercial.
Advertisers secure their ad space through an auction system, but one that’s overseen by people and not an automated system, since it’s still early in the test period.This test phase is the first time that Google’s entry into the TV ad market has gone beyond statements of intent or in-house experimentation. Google has partnered with cable provider Astound Broadband for the test.

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Categories Google, Search Engine Marketing

Mobile internet ads more popular than text campaigns

March 13, 2007 //
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I am still not convinced on the impact mobile internet will have on the online world as the take up of its services are still very low. I am however willing to be persuaded it is the next big thing. according to recent articels 2007 is the year for take up and 2008 is the year for the boom, hold on to your seats!

Mobile internet usage is on the up, and a new survey finds that around a third of users would be prepared to view mobile web ads in exchange for free content.

The Online Publishers Association (OPA) surevy, entitled “Going Mobile: An International Study of Content Use and Advertising on the Mobile Web” involved 6,000 consumers in the U.S. and Western Europe. Of those that responded, 76 percent possessed devices with access to mobile internet yet only 32 percent actually used the service.
The OPA results found that consumers seem far happier to receive online ads than other mobile marketing techniques, such as text message campaigns. The allure of free content in exchange for viewing ad content attracted 34 percent of all respondents, with Europeans slightly keener at 37 percent.
“Consumers in every country are watching mobile ads and large numbers are being compelled to act,” said Pam Horan, president of the OPA. “This is a clear indication that the mobile Web is an effective advertising delivery platform and potentially valuable source of revenue.”
In comparison, a December, 2006, Forrester Inc. report found that nearly 80 percent of internet mobile users were annoyed just by the mere thought of internet advertising on their devices.

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Categories Mobile Internet, Search Engine Marketing

The Next Big Player in the Search Engine War!?!

March 13, 2007 //
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Now this could be interesting! Wikipedia launching a search engine, but not only that, one which they want to be better than Google. I have been bugged for a long time at the search engines desire to be Google rather than be better than Google. Although Google are good at what they do, they are not perfect, somebody with the right backing and the right application could quite easily out do them in my opinion. On top of this wiki appear to be planning to incorporate some of their own philisophy of user approved and generated content into the project. Done correctly this could produce an innovative new payer in the search engine supremacy war, however it coud also just lead to another bit part player fighting for the scraps from Google’s table.

Wikipedia founder says to challenge Google, Yahoo
Fri Mar 9, 2007 5:38AM EST
TOKYO (Reuters) – The online collaboration responsible for Wikipedia plans to build a search engine to rival those of Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., the founder of the popular Internet encyclopaedia said on Thursday.
Wikia Inc., the commercial counterpart to the non-profit Wikipedia, is aiming to take as much as 5 percent of the lucrative Internet search market, Jimmy Wales said at a news conference in Tokyo.
“The idea that Google has some edge because they’ve got super-duper rocket scientists may be a little antiquated now,” he said.
Describing the two Internet firms as “black boxes” that won’t disclose how they rank search results, Wales said collaborative search technology could transform the power structure of the Internet.
Wales, a former futures trader who has become an evangelist for the free sharing of technology, said users could work together to improve search engines, just as Wikipedia users had tweaked and rewritten articles on the sprawling encyclopaedia.
The process of constant improvement would also make search technology less susceptible to spam, he said.
Founded in 2004 and now employing a staff of more than 30, Wikia hosts group publishing sites on a wide range of topics from psychology to the Muppets.
While Wikia gives away its tools free to users, the company requires that sites built with its resources link to Wikia.com, which makes money through advertising.
Using the same root software as Wikipedia, Wikia is likely eventually to carry more articles than its counterpart, Wales said.
Unlike the encyclopaedia, much of Wikia’s content is geared toward niche markets — a boon for readers obsessed with topics such as Star Wars films or trains.
Wikipedia currently has nearly 1.7 million articles in English alone, according to its Internet site.While Wales declined to give any earnings targets, he said the company had received a $4 million investment

Categories Search Engine Marketing

Global Internet Penetration Up 10%

March 13, 2007 //
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This article represents the opportunities available for companies operating online in developing countries. 33% increase year on year for india and if you consider its population of 1.1 billion you can see that if the usage continues in this way the implications for countires operating online are vast. as the broadband penetration increase so does the opportunity for marketing and advertising. watch this space for the indian internet revolution!

comScore’s latest rankings put the U.S. first with a 2 percent rise on 2006 taking the January, 2007, level to nearly 154 million internet users. Despite this, the U.S. still only accounts for 20 percent of the total 747 million users online globally.
Many of the rapidly developing countries, such as China, Russia and India, also saw the highest rises in online population. China is now the second largest online community with 86.8 million users, a growth of 20 percent from January 2006, but India leads the way with a hefty 33 percent increase.
comScore also measured user engagement ranking countries by the average number of hours spent online per visitor during January, 2007. Those users in countries with a high broadband penetration, such as Canada, Israel and the U.K, also spent a greater amount of time online than those with slower connections.
“We have all believed that ‘always-on’ broadband connections stimulate usage — this study empirically confirms that conclusion,” said Bob Ivins, comScore’s managing director in Europe.

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