More on Online Video

So Hashim makes an interesting comment:

"I have always disliked the amount and size of the ads on the NY Times site. And so what? Ads will never be liked by users."

To me, it's all about Friction.  It's a tradeoff right?  the value of the reward vs. the friction that stands between you and the reward.   

Will you tolerate a cluttered page to read world class journalism from the New York Times?   Will you sit through a commercial to get to Lonelygirl15?   

How many Lonelygirl's or "mentos in diet coke" are there?   

My point in the previous post wasn't really about disparaging online video as a medium appropriate for advertising.   What concerns me is the percentage of time and focus on this.    I don't have the stats, but I would have to guess if you studied all media mentions regarding online marketing for the past few months...you would find that Online Video has occupied a dis-appropriate amount of our attention.

Marketing is basic.  You acquire prospects, you convert them to customers and you maintain that relationship.   Simple, Fundamental.  There is no magic bullet.

Here is one of my favorite quotes:

"Some people try to find things in this game that don't exist but football is only two things - blocking and tackling."
                                                                                             Vince Lombardi

Comments

[Ron E.]

I agree to what you said in both of your online media related posts.

I believe we're undergoing an important transition in the marketing business. New media and the increasing amounts of polarized and diversified channels have led to a certain degree of confusion. It's only normal that when something is changing so big, there will be some confusion and misuse of it.

Perhaps we'll be in this 'transition' for some more time until we learn that the main (and wonderful) benefit that new media is offering for marketers is the ability to do (what I call) 360° Branding or Marketing. Before ad dollars were headed mostly towards TV and there was nothing more. Now we can diversify our ad portfolio to build and maintain relationships through different channels and needs, for people with different lives.

Good one,
-Ron E.
http://brandcurve.com

[Hashim]

I think two things hurt the future of ads in video:

1. Our first taste of online video was ad free. It's hard to change the flavor now, without annoying viewers.

2. Current ads in online video are untargeted by content or demographic. That can change as the pool of advertising grows, however which video site will users not get annoyed with and allow them to get over that hump?

[Idea Guy]

I hate seeing many Lonelygirl15! lol... no more Lonelygirl15 please

Anyway, you said it right Chris.

What is good in online marketing is that there are a lot of ways on how to work it. Ads are everywhere, and yes, it's a great help to us.