There are lots of reports today about Time Warner Cable’s testing of a new bandwidth-usage caps that would basically charge you more if you transferred more data online. This is not limited to strictly downloading but includes streaming, an increasingly popular use of bandwidth.
SAI breaks it down:
What does this mean for you? If you watch about 7 hours a week of standard-def video, or 2.5 hours a week of hi-def Web video, you could easily pass even the 40 GB cap. After that, each iTunes movie rental — or Netflix (NFLX) stream, or whatever — could cost $1 to $4 more. Or Hulu episodes could cost $0.30 to $0.50. That doesn’t even include your other Web usage, such as downloading music, using the Web, etc.
On one hand, there is some logic in a plan that charges heavy users more than light users but it doesn’t seem an especially wise or sustainable plan by TWC.
First, as long as there are other bandwidth providers out there offering unlimited usage, TWC will have time keeping customers signed up. Second, the rate at which our usage of bandwidth is increasing, often just from month to month, is amazing. What might seem like reasonable usage today, watching lower-res videos, climbs quickly when one discovers HD streams and the like.
If TWC is your only option for highspeed service, you might be screwed but this kind of action will open up a lot of reasons for competitors to step in with a better offer.
WSJ has a look at a newish “viral” campaign made for Trident by Dandelion and WPP ad agency JWT.
The problem is that it refuses to go viral and for good reason. Not only is the content itself completely uncompelling, nobody was sure how to “promote” a viral:
Digital marketing experts point to a few stumbles by the Trident campaign. First, they say, its idea of promoting fake videos on the Web site of a fake TV show drew attention to doubts about the Internet’s credibility, undermining the brand’s message. And unlike the successful Levi’s video, Mr. Blackshaw said the technical quality of the videos and caliber of the acting was too high to be mistaken for an amateur effort.
Dandelion says the videos were shot with a $300 camera to resemble home videos. Trident says it didn’t mean to deceive consumers; it meant to be ironic and funny in building the campaign around a fake TV program.
Got that? It was shot on the cheap to look ironic, not cheap. Nobody was trying to fool anyone, they swear – unless you were fooled and then that’s good…
The NYT has a good look at the ever-growing number of sites on the web offering you, the viewer, the chance to watch high-quality programming and wonders if they are all just a flash in the pan, much like the portals of yore:
“Now it feels like the same thing is happening with Internet video. As good television programming has become more available to online providers over the last year or two, new video sites have been popping up faster than “Law and Order” reruns. And as with the portals, big companies as well as start-ups are trying to get into the game.”
As I mentioned yesterday when I begged for an invite to Boxee (got one, too! thanks Boxee!), there is a big question as to whether or not any of these efforts will be around this time next year.
The biggest problem they all face is that they all offer the same basic content. Now that the TV networks have decided to set a vast majority of their shows free via syndication, embedding and the like, it no longer takes a genius to find last weeks “Grey’s Anatomy” online.
Basically, everyone is just a rebroadcaster of some sort and none of them own the core product – the shows.
I think that the idea of everything on demand and on one screen is where we are headed, it’s just a question of time.
Honeyshed is a web-based QVC aimed at 20-somethings that had a soft beta lauch sometime last year and is now back with slick packaging and social media integration…and it is still proof that they don’t understand how to sell to young people at all.
Aside from the obvious problem that every product is sponsored, making it hard to trust the opinions of the lovely young hosts, who the hell is going to sit and watch this thing instead of just heading over to Google and doing a proper product search?
QVC is great for the homebound housewife with little else to do all day but why would anyone think the same basic approach would work on the fast-paced hipsters they are sadly courting?
They say they are “Home Shopping for the Digital Generation,” but that’s actually called the internet and today’s youngs don’t need Publicis showing them the way.
Tags: business, Google, Google search, Home shopping, honeyshed, publicis, QVC, social media, Software release life cycle, video, web, World Wide Web, Youth
Uncategorized | admin | 
November 13, 2008 8:00 pm | 
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Starbursts has put together a multi-tiered web marketing plan. In addition to a redesigned website (ho-hum) and a YouTube channel nobody seems to be watching (top-viewed spot has less than 1,000 views), the candy-makers have decided to buy themselves some bloggers:
“The candy company has also partnered with video bloggers David Choi, DavidJr, Katers17 and Rhett & Link.
“We have engaged a series of leading bloggers who have established relationships with the millennials target that we pursuing,” said John McCarus, VP and group director of brand content at Digitas/The Third Act.
“What we found out about them is that the way they fit in is by standing out,” Stanley said of the millennials demographic. “They want to share excessively themselves and this is fueled by technology,” he added.
The video bloggers communicate what the Starburst brand stands for in their own styles, McCarus explained. For example, Katers17 created a video talking about her “juiciest” moment, which consisted of a messy tumble into a strawberry patch. “Through all those creative interpretations we’re going to be communicating the whole value and power of sharing across the Web,” he added.” (via)
Gotta hand it to Starbursts. Makes a lot more sense to use existing voices to shill for them than to try and develop their own original sales force.
Doesn’t seem like any of the bloggers are worried about reader blow-back against taking money for sponsored posts.
Tags: Arts, blogger, blogging, blogS, Google, NBC Universal, On the Web, sellout, shill, shilling, starburst, starbursts, video, Weblogs, World Wide Web, youtube
Uncategorized | admin | July 24, 2008 4:36 pm | Comments (0)
Gossip Girl, the CW’s teen drama about private school kids in NYC, has never garnered huge Neilson ratings. In fact, there were many who thought the show would be canceled after it’s first season. It turns out, though, that the power of shows like Gossip Girl might not lie is how many people watch but who watches and what they do afterward:
“Now the show’s sense of style is having a broader impact, in the retail marketplace. Merchants, designers and trend consultants say that “Gossip Girl,” which is in summer reruns on the CW network before returning Sept. 1, just in time for back-to-school shopping, is one of the biggest influences on how young women spend.
Fans stride into boutiques bearing magazine tear sheets that feature members of the cast and ask for their exact outfits. Or they order scoop-neck tops and hobo bags by following e-commerce links from the show’s Web site.” (via NYT)
In many ways, this is one possible model for how web video can succeed. While web video series may never get the kind of viewership that networks get but if they target their viewers and offer advertisers a genuine involvement that can benefit the all parties it might not matter.
Ludacris and WeMix are teaming up to give budding musicians a new way to be heard:
“WeMix, the site he founded with former reality TV producer Matt Apfel, already accepts amateur recordings through a web-based upload tool. But on Tuesday, they announced that users will be able to call a number and enter a code to record directly onto the site from any phone, thanks to a partnership with In-Call Network Exchange provider VoodooVox. And this is no land grab — users keep the rights to their uploaded material.” (link)
And according to Mashable, they have a small cashification plan:
“The way the partnership keeps this service free is by placing a short advertisment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising at the beginning and end of each song or track. But I don’t think this will be any sort of reason for complaint for the artists, who will soon be able to easily make a name for themselves thanks to the service.”
Is this the future of music?
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So, TidalTV is a site that has been in beta for a while and seems to be up and running for any and all to check out.
It is, in it’s simplest form, just another site to watch web videos, except TidalTV has licensed some actual live streams of cable TV including stuff from FoodNetwork, AP and others. It is a pretty neat layout with a program guide that allows you to channel surf a bit like real TV – something I think has been missing from the web video experience.
While the content is really limited right now and I don’t think TidalTV is something one should invest money in since it seems remarkably easy to duplicate but it’s worth taking a peek to absorb the interface.
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