LifeDeluxe

Less TV for the young?

A recent survey from the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) came out yesterday.

There is a good summary on Guardian Unlimited, which can be found here, with this passge putting some figures behind the theory of just why Video as a medium is still so hot at the moment:

"Of the 169 million Europeans online, eight out of ten are using broadband, helping to explain the rise in popularity of online video and TV services, which need fast connections. Almost a third of European web users have watched a TV, film or video clip, compared with 12% last year. A fifth have downloaded a video. The boom has raised concerns that there could be a capacity crunch. Research by internet networking group Cisco this year forecast internet traffic will quintuple from 2006 to 2011, driven by video services. Cisco reckons internet video streaming and downloading will grow from 9% of all consumer internet traffic in 2006 to 30% in 2011".

I'm not sure of the methodology, but the survey also claimed that for the first time 16-24 year olds are spending more time on line than watching TV.

Although they are probably watching TV online.

On Bebo in fact.

On personalised channels created through the new Open Media Platform initiative which affords content brands to create their own brand channels, use their own technology, sell their own ads, keep all the money and distribute themselves throughout the network.

This on the back of more of Bebo's successful interactive drama programme creation, this time with 'The Gap Years' being commissioned, and they really are busy!

Pre-rollin'

We used to have arguments / discussions wth media agencies / clients / the IAB / whoever could be arsed to listen, about bad use of creative within the old 468 banner. Re-purposing print and outdoor ads wasn't good enough we argued, and that creative needed to be tailored to the medium.

This discussion only became more torturous as the market (rightly) moved towards more 'integrated campaigns' that were quite often simply brilliant cases of creating 'matching luggage' across many media, and hence less concerned with digital only customised communications.

The banner has come along way, (and got a lot bigger in places) considering it was pronounced 'dead' in 1999 and the standard of creative work has risen to a very high standard, so it has been interesting to hear a few recent discussions about pre-rolls - they are apparently dead too...which is a bit sad for the UK ad market!.

Are they intrusive and therefore an irritant as unasked for and you can't fast forward (think pop ups again).How long should they be? Can you enforce a max time (say 10 seconds?) Does a repurposed TV ad do the job(the old 468 debate)? Etc.

Mike Cassidy over at Video Insider has kicked this off again, and the range of comments all seem fair, ranging from compelling creative is compelling no matter how long (so can't be irritating), to calls for same ad/overall minutage rules. Which all seems very healthy

I would imagine, like  MIke argues, clients are unlikely to spend much money on making TV ads or cinema ads, to then not re-use those assets over the web where available. There will be exceptions, but that is where the scale will come from initially...better we learn how to make them work, and what makes them work better (length of spot, context, frequency, coverage,targeting etc) so that we get a chance to develop what should be an excellent addition to the communications toolbox of the many rather than the few.