ZunaVision: Spoiling Online Video

ZunaVision Is Trying To Monetize Online Video By Making It Unwatchable

The above link is to a Techcrunch story about a company named ZunaVision that allows advertisers and content owners to physically insert ads into their online video.  Believe me, I am all for finding a way to utilize advertising on the Internet and online video is undoubtedly an area that wields enormous potential for doing so.  But I don’t think forcing viewers to watch altered content with absurdly intrusive product placement (kind of like television is now) is the route we need to take.  We don’t want to have things shoved in our faces anymore and that is basically what’s being done here.  Intrusive advertising such as this simply will not be successful in the interactive, consumer involved environment the Internet has now become.

Filed under: online advertising, advertising, online video

Web Video = Freedom

A strange thought occurred to me this morning after basically reading through an entire Maxim magazine during breakfast.  When I finished and sat it down, I couldn’t seem to recall any of the ads I’d just spent the better part of an hour dodging as they jumped off the page at me.  Sure, some were colorful, others were funny and unique but none were all that engaging, none really stuck.  Print advertising just doesn’t really stick anymore.  

In the broadband-infused culture we now are a part of, with so many images, advertisements and information being hurled at us every day, having engaging content is the only way to get.  And nothing is more engaging than online video.  The freedom to be creative, risky, cheap, crazy, unique and ideally innovative with your material and to do it with instantaneous speed is essentially what separates the online video environment from any other medium.  The most appealing aspect of displaying advertisements online, though, is the fact that the content is available to the entire world not just a select market.  Many companies are beginning to focus more and more of their resources on utilizing this boundless medium. An example of one is VideoAdz, a company that offers an enormous online directory of solely video advertisements, but also specializes in producing web video for a variety of clients.  

Filed under: online advertising

In-Text Ads Growing in Popularity

This article by Jia Lynn Jang of CNN.com offers some insight into the ongoing struggle in the ad industry to efficiently utilize online advertising.  Though, banner ads and search ads have, up to this point, been the standard online, I just don’t see them continuing that success in the future.  These types of ads are still stuck in the “consumer interruption” model of broadcast and print advertising.  They don’t attempt to work with the consumer and that is and will continue to be the key to successfully reaching them in years to come.

Though online advertising as a whole is down, in-text advertising, on the other hand, is rapidly growing in popularity.  I think much of the success advertisers have had with in-text ads is due to the fact that they can be tailored to offer insightful, useful and helpful information to readers.  This method differs greatly from banner and search advertising primarily because you don’t even have to navigate away from the page to use the information.  It appears in pop-up form over the article and disappears when you remove the cursor giving the readers control.  The convenience this provides consumers is invaluable in today’s fast-paced, web savvy society.

Filed under: online advertising, advertising, banner advertising, in-text advertising, search advertising