Phone Innovators: Official 2012 Best Buy Game Day Commercial
Watch as phone innovation meets phone-buying innovation, at Best Buy. Choose Phone Freedom and get any phone, any carrier, and all of their plans, with lots of unbiased advice.
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There are two kinds of Super Bowl fans: those who watch for the football and those who watch for the advertisements.
For those who prefer the sport, there were a bunch of great plays in Sunday’s game you may want to watch again online — Ahmad Bradshaw’s accidental touchdown comes to mind. For those who prefer the ads, we have just what you were looking for: All the ads from the 2012 game, together in one place.
Super Bowl commercials once were half-minute clips that only lived on after the game in conversation. Thanks to YouTube and the magic of video sharing, you can watch all the ads online as many times as you would like.
While many of this year’s ads were released before the event, the night still included many memorable spots. This year, 30-second spots sold for $3.5 million. That price point sounds expensive, but this is just about the only opportunity of year when viewers actually anticipate commercials. There are, of course, many of us who only watch the Super Bowl for the ads
2012 saw some ads that will certainly be remembered for months to come: Volkswagon’s “The Dog Strikes Back,” M&M’s “Just My Shell,” H&M’s “David Beckham Bodywear,” Best Buy’s “Phone Invaders.” Lucky for you, you can have a second shot at watching the buzzed ads right here.
But more importantly, we want to hear from you. Which ads did you think were most successful this year? Which brands wasted their money on the year’s most expensive commercial slots? Share your analysis with us in the comments.
Some will go home heroes, some will fail miserably. Reputations will be built and destroyed tonight.
No, we’re not talking about the guys on the New York Giants and New England Patriots, we’re talking about the people behind the ads that are running during the big game.
For the second year in a row, Mashable is live blogging the Super Bowl. Once again, we’re only mildly interested in what’s going on on the field. But we’re very focused on the ads.
I am Todd Wasserman, Mashable‘s business editor. Joining me this year will be some Madison Avenue bigshots, including Euro RSCG Chairman Lee Garfinkel, Kaplan Thaler Managing Director of Digital Strategy and CRM Danny Flamberg, 360i Vice President, Emerging Media David Berkowitz, Gyro Executive Creative Director Mike Tittel and Landor Associates chief marketing officer Hayes Roth. In addition, Vice President of Marketing at Bluefin Labs Tom Thai and his colleague, Associate Marketing Manager Eleanor Dowling will be providing some real-time social media stats and Mashable‘s own Charlie White and Sam Laird will be on hand to offer some color commentary.
Join us at 6:30 p.m. EST. We’ll cover all the ads, from kickoff to the final second.
The Most-Shared Super Bowl Ads Before the Game
1. "The Bark Side" (Vokswagen)
Not surprisingly, the sequel to the most-shared ad of last year's Super Bowl, and of all of 2011 for that matter, is leading the pack this year. Volkswagen released this video last week showing dogs barking to the tune of Star Wars's "The Imperial March." So does that mean there will be dogs in this year's ad? More Star Wars? We'll know soon enough.
The latest report is in from ComScore, and as you might expect, the news is sunshine and roses for the crews at Google and Apple. Both companies platforms charted some worthwhile month-over-month gains, as Android is estimated to account for 47.3 percent of smartphones in the US, while iOS runs a strong second with 26.9 percent. Meanwhile, former BlackBerry fans continue to scatter, as the platform now accounts for 16 percent of smartphone users. Similarly, Windows Phone (and whatever's left of Windows Mobile) have taken it on the chin, and have fallen to just 4.7 percent market share. Without ever gaining much traction in the US, Symbian now makes up 1.4 percent of the smartphone pie. You'll find a quick look at the manufacturing side of the equation, along with the full ComScore press release, after the break.
Working with hundreds of speakers as an event producer, I’ve learned a lot about what makes a speaker truly great. Below, four nationally recognized speakers — all of whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with — share their insights on how to give a stellar presentation that resonates with any audience and gets them invited to speak again.
Know Your Audience
Whether you’ve been asked to speak or you’re pitching a session, the first step is to research your potential audience. Knowing the audience provides speakers with information necessary to craft an on-point, well received presentation. You will want to know several things about the audience including, their level of sophistication in the area you’re presenting, learning objectives and topics of interest.
Rick Wion, director of social media for McDonald’s, has been speaking publicly since 1997. “If you don’t know your audience, you are pretty much guaranteed to fail,” says Wion. “Your presentation could be too rudimentary, too advanced or completely off topic without understanding the core audience.”
There are numerous ways to get to know an audience in advance of an event. These can include contacting event organizers to ask about audience make-up, researching past events, reading the agenda, checking out other speakers and finding out what other session topics are being offered. Marcy Massura is Weber Shandwick’s digital community manager and the co-founder and president of the largest North American regional blogging organization, BlogCrush. She says, “Understanding your audience is key to your success.” In preparation for any speaking engagement, Massura “[asks] for attendee lists and often watches videos of previous speakers. Keep in mind, many attendees return to the same conference year after year.”
Knowing the audience puts you at a distinct advantage because your session will be more likely to resonate. This is something Jeffrey Hayzlett, best-selling author and former CMO of Kodak, knows. Publicly speaking for over 20 years and at least 70 times a year, Hayzlett always takes the time to know his audience because, as he states, “the audience walks away appreciating that the speaker has taken the time to understand them and be honest with them.”
Selecting the Right Session
Crafting the right session topic with your audience in mind is a must. Select an on-point topic and work with event organizers to get your session approved. Do your research and ask producers what other sessions are being offered, read the agenda and abstracts and all the while keep in mind what expertise you have to offer. Wion shares, “It is important to have a well-rounded set of topics within a given event, so I am always flexible in what I present and try to tailor it to be complementary and not repetitive to the rest of the event’s content.”
Charlene Li, founding partner of Altimeter Group, has been speaking publicly since 1996. When crafting her keynotes Li looks “at the specific needs of the audience and then prioritizes. I find that many sessions either try to cover too much or they are not focused on what the audience wants and needs to learn.”
In addition to having the right topic and including relevant issues, great sessions also keep an audience interested and engaged. This might mean you will have to be flexible, and if speaking often, keep reshaping your presentation in order to avoid getting stale.
Putting Your Presentation Together
Having worked with many speakers, I’ve found the process of putting a presentation together varies dramatically, and all depends on what works best for the individual.
If this is your first time putting together a deck, selecting a presentation software tool will be the first step. There are lots of fantastic presentation software options including PowerPoint, Keynote and Prezi. You may want to play around with several of them to find what works best for you.
Many speakers prefer PowerPoint because it is easy to work with and easy for audiences to follow. Massura explains, “People think linearly — brains like concepts on separate pieces of ‘paper.’ PowerPoint gives a sense of progress as the slides change. It might be old school, but it works.”
Whatever tool you use, do not rely on it too heavily. What truly matters is the content and your delivery. Wion advises, “The best use of any presentation tool is to help organize your thoughts … but that should be the extent of the use of these tools. Successful speakers know the material well enough to work from scribbled notes as much as a glitzy presentation.”
For those who expect to speak at numerous events, having several presentations on a variety of topics and simply reshaping them to fit the particular event and audience is suggested. Both Massura and Li present at a variety of events throughout the year. Massura often works “for many months on a new presentation. I might use it with small changes for more than one conference.” Li shares that in order to keep her keynotes fresh and on-point, she has “a few base presentations which I modify for each speech.”
After selecting the right presentation software tool, you’ll need to fill it with relevant and compelling content. Presentations containing bright and exciting images, few words and which move along at a good pace tend to do better. “I use very few words on my slides,” says Massura. “I want people to listen to me — not be reading the screen. The right visuals can make or break your deck.”
This may be difficult at first, as you will undoubtedly have lots of things you’ll want to put on slides, but as Hayzlett advises, “Do not come to the stage with hundreds of slides, each with 50 bullet points that no one can read. Understand that your audience is filled with “real people” — people who are running the gauntlet of business every day.”
Finally, you will want to practice. Being prepared allows speakers to do their best on presentation day. Even the most seasoned speakers practice. Keynote speaker Li believes, “The most important thing to practice is your opening — you need to have this nailed because if you get a last minute case of the jitters, your practice will put you into auto-pilot and sweep you into the momentum of the presentation. But just as important is your close — when you step off the stage, what will be the last impression that you leave?”
While practicing is recommended and even encouraged, do not turn your presentation into a memorized monologue. Massura practices but avoids “full fledged rehearsals because they can really spoil the ‘magic’ of a presentation.” So what is the right amount of rehearsal? Wion advises “Practice to the point that you know your material to a conversational point but don’t over practice to the point that you can’t adjust.”
It’s Presentation Time
If you’ve taken the time to know your audience, selected the right session topic, pulled together a presentation you’re proud of and practiced sufficiently, this part should come together easily.
Wowing the audience is a surefire way to leave a lasting impression, and the best presentations all share key aspects: They connect with the audience, tell a story and teach something valuable. How can you incorporate all three?
Connect through simple gestures, like making eye contact rather than looking down at notes, moving around and even getting off the stage. Hayzlett reminds us, “Your connection with the audience is a function of your energy, passion, preparation and genuineness.”
Wion of McDonald’s does several things to make his presentations stand out. “I love to wear my vintage Mayor McCheese t-shirt — helps me represent the brand in a different and memorable way. And I hand out freebies, because who doesn’t like free food?” Handing out swag as a reward for people who ask and answer questions is a guaranteed way to get audiences involved.
Another successful trick is to incorporate a company you know will be in the crowed, says Li. “I will ask the organizers if there are companies that are held in high regard, or [have] knowledge of ‘inside baseball.’ I’ll put up a screenshot of the company and ask them to stand up. They are usually surprised and thrilled to be included and recognized in the presentation!”
Telling a compelling story will help you avoid putting on a “Death by PowerPoint” presentation. According to seasoned speaker Wion, “the emotion of a tale is remembered long after even your most compelling numbers have faded from memory.”
Finally, be sure your presentation is not only entertaining but also educates. Keep in mind people attend conferences with the hope of learning new strategies and tactics. Those presentations that meet learning objects stand out.
It’s Not Over Yet
After you’ve finished speaking, it’s a perfect time to continue your relationship with the audience. “I love meeting the audience following my presentations. We take photos and I always encourage them to post to my Facebook and Twitter accounts. I love staying in touch via social media and keeping the conversation going,” shares Hayzlett. Continue to network, build your community and wow long after you walk off stage. Presenting creates a perfect opportunity to build your personal brand, so take advantage.
Be sure to get feedback from attendees and event organizers so that you can make your next presentation even more memorable. “One way to do this is to go back and read the Twitter feed to see what resonated and answer questions that people may have posed,” says Li. Whether you read the Twitter feed, talk to people post-presentation, or review evaluations from event organizers, don’t miss out on an opportunity to grow and improve your presentation skills.
This year’s Super Bowl marks a digital first: The game will be the first Super Bowl that you can watch online — legally. NBC, the broadcast partner for this year’s game, is going to stream the game live.
NBC has actually been streaming some NFL games online since 2009, though never the Super Bowl. While it opens up the game to a whole new online audience, NBC sees it as a “second screen” experience — a complement to the TV broadcast rather than an alternative.
Still, streaming an event as huge the Super Bowl (last year’s broadcast had a record 111 million viewers) brings with it a whole different set of variables. What devices can you watch it on? What extras will the stream have? And most important — will it have the ads? Read on for our comprehensive guide to watching Super Bowl 2012 online.
Basics
How can I access the stream?
You can watch the Super Bowl live at NBCSports.com or at NFL.com. Both sites will have the entire thing, including pre-game coverage, which starts at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, Feb. 5. Kickoff isn’t until 6:30 p.m.
What devices can I use to watch?
That would be any laptop or desktop PC. Importantly, phones aren’t supported, since Verizon has exclusive rights for streaming Super Bowl XLVI on mobile devices (more on that below). Tablets, including the iPad, aren’t technically mobile, though, so the stream should work on those, via the devices’ built-in web browser.
Can I access the stream from outside the U.S.?
Not legitimately, no. Canadian fans who have mobile service through Bell Canada can watch the Super Bowl live via Bell’s Mobile TV app.
Does it cost anything?
Not a penny, although if you have any kind of data plan (i.e. if you were accessing via a 3G or 4G modem), data rates would apply.
Will I be able to embed the stream on my website?
No.
The Ads
Will I be able to see the same ads as on TV?
Not quite. The actual stream will have a different ad roll than the broadcast. However, NBC will make new commercials available through an “on-demand component” of the video player immediately after they air on TV.
As in years past, Hulu and YouTube will feature every national Super Bowl spot online.
How much do advertisers spend on the online ads?
Although the broadcast ads command a whopping $3.5 million for a 30-second spot, the Web isn’t quite so lucrative. NBC says each ad for the Super Bowl XLVI stream costs somewhere between the “high six figures” to the “low seven figures.”
Where can I watch the ads after the game?
With all the sharing that’s bound to happen on Facebook, Twitter et al., where won’t you? For comprehensive aggregating, though, you should check out YouTube’s Ad Blitz and Hulu’s AdZone. Additionally, NBC is hosting a Google+ Hangout the next day to dissect the ads.
Mobile
What’s the deal with watching on my phone? Verizon is the exclusive NFL partner for mobile, and it’s offering up the stream via the NFL Mobile Premium app. If you’re a 4G LTE customer, that’s free, but if you’re on 3G it’ll cost you — you’ll need to subscribe to Verizon Video ($10/month or $3/day). Obviously, you’ll need a data plan.
Bell Canada customers can enjoy the Super Bowl live via Bell’s Mobile TV app for phones and tablets. Mobile TV data plans are an additional $5 a month.
Is there anything different about the mobile stream?
Yes! The mobile stream actually takes the TV feed — not the online one — so you’ll see all the exact same ads that everyone watching the broadcast is seeing.
Just Verizon phones, though?
Yep.
Extra Stuff
What’s the resolution of the stream?
The stream, based on Microsoft Silverlight, will have a maximum resolution of 720p, or the minimum to qualify as HD. However, if your connection can’t handle that resolution, it will automatically “down-rez” itself into something you’ll be able to see without buffering.
Will there be any features you can’t get from the TV broadcast?
Plenty. You’ll have access to multiple camera angles, highlight clips, social-media updates, live statistics and DVR controls for your own instant replays.
What about 3D?
Sorry, not this year.
What happens if the stream goes down?
NBC says it’s prepared for a much larger audience than its previous streams, but anything can happen. If the stream does go down, there’s not much you can do except refresh and hope for the best.
Why is NBC doing this?
NBC doesn’t see an online stream as competing with its broadcast. Although it makes less money on ads shown online, it believes the stream is adding more eyeballs than it’s taking away from its main broadcast. The network is treating the whole idea as a “second screen” experience, expecting most people watching the stream will also be watching the broadcast on a TV. We’ll see how it pans out, but NBC is far from the first broadcaster to try and capitalize on the second screen phenomenon.
Bonus: The Most-Shared 2012 Super Bowl Ad Teasers So Far
1. "The Bark Side" (Volkswagen)
Not surprisingly, the sequel to the most-shared ad of last year's Super Bowl and of all of 2011 for that matter, is leading the pack this year. Volkswagen released this video last week showing dogs barking to the tune of Star Wars's "The Imperial March." So does that mean there will be dogs in this year's ad? More Star Wars? We'll know soon enough.
How would you and your co-founder like to win a trip to Thailand for a “Startup Workaway?” All you have to do is enter AngelHack2 and bring your A game. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of prizes. We’re psyched to announce this event, a hackathon to be held simultaneously in Boston and San Francisco from March 3-5.
There’s more info on prizes, organizers, etc. below but first, a word: there is a time and a place for the endless Boston vs. SF tech grudge match, and it’s not the millionth panel on the topic. We’re all sick of that. But a head-to-head hackathon is a different matter. So get your eyes on the prize Boston! Sign up, then do us proud by bringing home those Grand Prizes!
Ok, so back to the details…
The whole thing kicks off with networking events in both Boston and San Francisco on Thursday, February 23. Then the actual event begins March 3 with a 30-hour overnight hackathon Saturday into Sunday, followed by the top 10 teams pitching to a panel of angels and incubators on Monday. Judges include John Harthorne, founder and CEO of MassChallenge, Naval Ravikant, co-founder and CEO of AngelList, Sana Choudary, founder and CEO of Yetizen, and others soon to be announced.
There will be over $50K in total prizes and the organizers are expecting in the neighborhood of 600 attendees. The top Boston teams will also automatically advance to the second round of the MassChallenge application process. The Boston event will be hosted by Barb Darrow of GigaOM, and we’ll be helping to get the word to our community.
Here’s a rundown of what you could win:
GRAND PRIZES
Top Gaming Team: Acceptance into Yetizen Gaming Accelerator
Top Social Impact Team: Advanced Acceptance into Hub Ventures and potential funding
Top College Team: Flights to San Francisco and lodging at TheGlint Mansion
Top Teams: Startup Docs, PR, Web Hosting, Co-work space, and meals with investors
Tickets and Airfare to Startup Workaway Thailand
BOSTON PRIZES
Top Boston Team: GigaOm Structure:Data Tickets
Top Boston Teams:Advancement to second round of MassChallenge application
Top Boston University Team: Flights to San Francisco and lodging at TheGlint Mansion
We’ll be posting more info as we get closer to the event, but in the meantime, be sure to register! And we’ll see you on February 23rd in Boston.
SCHEDit wants to answer the question “what is going on tonight?” in the same way that Twitter answers the question “what is happening?” — with a customizable, interest-based platform that transcends personal preference.
Here’s how it works: Users log into a new events site on Boston.com with their Facebook accounts. They set up a profile and choose specific venues and people who they want to follow. Their newsfeeds are then populated with events that those venues are hosting and that those people have said they’ll attend.
Theoretically, they can stop bopping from venue site to venue site or browsing multiple publications when they want to find out what is going on. Instead, they simply log into their customized events feed.
Because SCHEDit asks users to create profiles and publicly RSVP to events, the system can also provide a snapshot of what the crowd at each event will look like: the profiles of the people who have RSVPed and their gender ratio.
Another startup, Hotlist, has taken a similar crowd-forecasting approach to its planning app. SCHEDit is different in that it focuses on events rather than venues in general. It’s also hoping to hijack the event planning crowd from publications such as Boston.com rather than build its own from scratch.
But what’s in it for Boston.com? The short answer is advertising revenue. Venues can pay to be promoted either on a trending widget or on event pages that attract relevant crowd members. SHEDit shares revenue from that advertising.
There’s also potential for the app to attract readers to the site.
“It adds a layer of involvement for Boston.com that we haven’t tapped into yet,” explains Boston.com VP of Digital Products Jeff Moriarty. “We cover a small number of events [editorially], but there’s a lot that happens in-between.”‘
SCHEDit founder Omar Tellez imagines the app could link event planning on a variety of publication websites, with users using the same profile on each one. The limiting factor at this point is venue participation. SHEDit and Boston.com have created 200 profiles using public data, but they hope that the venues themselves will claim and manage them.
So far there are about ten venues, including Harvard University and the New England Acquarium, that have done so. Before SCHEDit can scale, many more venues will need to hit the “claim venue” buttons on their profiles.
Super Bowl commercials have long been an American institution, but only recently have marketing agencies and companies alike been able to determine their reach and effect on potential consumers.
While many Bostonians will be much more interested in what happens on the field on Sunday night, those who are less interested in the game will have a chance to watch a different kind of battle take place, as Mullen and Radian6 are again teaming up with Boston.com to host BrandBowl 2012.
The concept of BrandBowl is simple: determine how well Super Bowl ads perform and are received by the audience by gauging sentiment on Twitter. Last year, over 300,000 tweets were accounted for, and some of the big winners were Chrysler, Doritos, Volkswagen and Pepsi Max. Cars.com, Hyundai and BMW came in last.
“Advertising is social, and given that Twitter’s active user base continues to grow and that armchair advertising critics are an expanding population in social media, we expect to get some outstanding data this year,” said Edward Boches, chief innovation officer at Mullen. “The most savvy brands are recognizing the power of social media and are releasing their commercials before the Super Bowl to build the buzz online, and orchestrating elaborate social media campaigns to maximize the impact of their multi-million dollar investments.”
The two Boston-based companies have teamed up on the event for a few years now, and will introduce a few new features this year that make BrandBowl more personalized than in years before. Some of those features include:
“Head-to-head” statistical breakdowns between brands (not sure how this will work for the joint Old Spice-Bounce spot)
A “featured tweet” section that highlights funny and insightful tweets from participants
Location and gender specific data about tweets
A streamlined Brand Bowl mobile experience so users can more easily see the live rankings and Tweet their votes
Even though participating is easy, anyone who tried to access Twitter during the waning minutes of the Patriots’ 23-20 win over Baltimore in the AFC Championship will probably express some reservations as to just how easy it will be to post anything to Twitter during the Super Bowl.
For those who can get their tweets out, participating in BrandBowl is simple. Just reference a specific commercial or tweet with the hashtag #brandbowl and your voice will be accounted for. Tweets as well as the commercials themselves will be livestreamed on Boston.com, allowing those who are really into the game to see what everyone’s saying about the ads.
Here’s a (slightly outdated, but still perfectly relevant) video on how BrandBowl works:
And here are some of 2011′s best ads, according to BrandBowl:
The announcement takes place just days before Huffington Post celebrates its first anniversary since its acquisition by AOL. AOL purchased The Huffington Post on Feb. 2, 2011 for $315 million and made HuffPo‘s front woman, Arianna Huffington, the president and editor-in-chief of the newly formed Huffington Post Media Group.
At a press event previewing the Streaming Network, Huffington celebrated the results from its first year under the AOL banner.
Some notable figures:
The Huffington Post received 36.2 million unique visitors and 6 million comments in Jan. 2012
In 2011, 44 new verticals were launched in the Huffington Post Media Group
Three international editions launched in 2011 (Canada, U.K., France)
Page views across HPMG in Dec. 2011 reached 1.2 billion
For 2012, Huffington Post Media Group is investing in video in a big way.
Live Video News with a Social Twist
Huffington tapped Roy Sekoff, a founding editor of The Huffington Post to run The Huffington Post Streaming Network. Sekoff showed off a concept demo of the network.
The plan is to launch the channel in early summer with 12 hours of live content five days a week. The content will repeat overnight.
The Huffington Post Streaming Network will produce content in New York City and in Los Angeles. New York will serve as the live hub for eight hours of the day, L.A. for four. In early 2013, Sekoff says that the plan is to aggressively increase live content to 16 hours a day.
Viewers can tune in live via the web, mobile devices and tablets as well as connected TVs and set-top boxes. Support for multiple screens and devices will be a core part of The Huffington Post Streaming Network.
So what type of content will The Huffington Post Streaming Network feature? This is where it gets interesting. Content from The Huffington Post Media Group, which include Huffington Post and its many properties as well as sites like Engadget and Tech Crunch will feed the live video content. In other words, the goal is to make The Huffington Post Streaming Network a live video extension of the web properties.
Rather than having a set schedule of programming (like The Engadget Hour), the network will focus on the stories that are most timely and that the online audience wants to see. This will allow breaking news and topics to be discussed in real time.
A staff of 100 individuals, including on-air talent and back-end support, will do much of the heavy lifting. However, many reporters and editors at Huffington Post will make on-air appearances as well. Think TMZ‘s TV show, but more serious. The goal seems to be to bring readers and viewers inside the process.
Huffington remarked that “people don’t want to be told the news, they want to have a conversation about the news.” As a result, viewers and readers will be a big part of the experience and contribute to the content. Using video services like Skype, Huffington Post Streaming Network will bring in readers and commenters to be part of the on-air conversation.
One of my favorite parts of the concept reel was a segment called “Defend Your Comment” — where two commenters are brought in via Skype to defend the comments left on articles on Huffington Post properties. I think this is brilliant — and, assuming it can work from a logistical point-of-view, represents the real promise of merging web news and live video.
Viewers can also engage directly with the site, sharing segments or live feeds on social networks and clicking on headlines within the player itself to open up stories. Verbal and on-screen call-outs to chatter taking place on Facebook and Twitter are also part of the network’s DNA.
Video On Demand
While live content will stream for 12 hours a day, editors will work to create clips from the best parts of that content for viewing on demand. These clips will be viewable within the main Huffington Post Streaming Network experience and also served on other AOL and Huffington Post websites.
This is one of the reasons Sekoff isn’t focusing on a set network schedule. Sekoff said that he doesn’t think web viewers want to tune in for specific content at a specific time, instead preferring to time-shift what they want.
Sekoff also said that by not having strict program schedules, segments can last as long as the audience and production team see fit. It will also allow for more agility when covering breaking stories.
This is all true, of course, but part of the reason live television and news radio tend to operate on a schedule (even if the schedule is loosely defined, such as CNN‘s blocks of live newsroom programming in the morning and afternoon) is because that schedule is what helps attract mass audiences.
It also suggests that from a monetization angle, The Huffington Post Streaming Network will put equal emphasis on live and video-on-demand viewers. I asked Sekoff this question directly and his answer was that “we value both equally, but in different ways.”
Eschewing scheduled programming blocks doesn’t mean, Sekoff stressed, that regular segment types, like the aforementioned “Defend Your Comment” won’t exist. Those segments will exist and will be tagged so that viewers and fans can watch them at will.
I’m not (completely) convinced that a more structured (yet technically unscheduled) approach won’t end up winning out in the end. My own experiences with live audio broadcasting have reinforced how much people enjoy a schedule, even for online content.
The Question of Advertising
The biggest hurdle The Huffington Post Streaming Network will face may not be filling sixty hours of live news a week, but advertising.
Advertising on web video is growing consistently, but the rates still don’t match what producers see on broadcast or cable. This is in spite of the fact that advertising on web video can get advertisers much better metrics on engagement and target ads to much more specific demographics.
The Huffington Post Streaming Network will be taking a two-pronged approach to advertising. The first will be to serve pre-roll ads on video-on-demand clips. The second will be to work with a group of close advertising partners to organically integrate into the live experience.
The goal will be to work with five or six partners at launch and to create integrated sponsorships. This could mean a sponsored segment or Twitter crawl or other on-air mentions. Still, the company stressed that they want the experience to be additive and vow that these partnerships will not undermine the integrity of the news content itself.
5min, a company AOL acquired in Sep. 2010 will handle the ad-ops and video transmission aspects of The Huffington Post Streaming Network.
This Is Disruption
While he didn’t dismiss the potential to syndicate some content to other sources, Sekoff clearly stated that his goal is “not going to become a cable network,” further remarking “what’s the point of doing this if it just becomes the same old thing.”
In my experience, that’s actually a rare attitude for web content creators. Whether they are willing to admit it or not, the goal for most online content producers is to transition from the web to a more traditional distribution channel. Successful podcasters want to be on radio; successful web celebrities want to be on television.
The fact that this doesn’t appear to be the goal for The Huffington Post Streaming Network is what makes this concept so disruptive. One gets the sense that it doesn’t want to be the status quo, it wants to reinvent what the status quo is.
Still, success is not guaranteed. Producing live content is challenging enough without the added challenges of supporting different devices and platforms. Moreover, the live content ecosystem on the web is really starting to heat up.
YouTube is embracing original programming in a big way in 2011 and is building out better support for live content. The Wall Street Journal is expanding its online video content and even wire service Reuters is getting into the game.
Traditional cable news services, including CNN, Fox News and CNBC are also increasing live video output on their sites, with CNN and Fox both embracing TV Everywhere initiatives.
Most importantly, The Huffington Post Streaming Network will have to convince HuffPo readers to become viewers, something that might be easier said than done.
In the meantime, we’ll be tuning in to watch it unfold. Let us know what you think about the concept of live online news networks in the comments.
This is a video of a little robot whose wheels fold in half to form crude legsso it can go where no wheeled robot has gone before. Good for you. Of course, you wouldn't have to build robots with wheels that transform into legs if you'd just strap f***ing jetpacks on them already. "You've doomed us all, GW!" Yeaaaaaah, I plan on going skydiving this weekend, so I've kinda stopped caring. "Why?!" Have you seen my parachute? "That's a bookbag." *wink*
Hit the jump for a video of the least impressive Transformer ever (kidding, that honor belongs to Wheelie).
from Geekologie - Gadgets, Gizmos, and Awesome http://www.geekologie.com/2012/02/transform-and-walk-out-robots-wheels-tur.php