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DD: Europe, Place Your Bets: Digital vs. IPTV
Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) reaches two-tenths percent of the television-friendly homes in Europe. There will be an estimated 340,000 new subscribers by the end of this year, and the number is predicted to double next year.
Europe's traditional digital pay television operators are ready for the competition. With an expected audience of 94.4 million subscribers by 2008, tradition will not give way to the newcomer without a good fight. Okay. Big Deal. So What?
The "Big Deal" is that competition protects consumer wallets. The digital pay television operators enjoy customer finance and will jump through a few extra hoops to keep you happy when an alternative presents itself.
The "So What?" is that you will get more efficient television. Europe's pay TV industry will try to reduce the shockwave of euphoria customers' may experience upon the debut of IPTV by offering additional benefits.
Many “personalizing” services, such as video on demand (VOD) and digital video recording, are currently reaching consumers in the mean time.
How Addressable Advertising Creates IPTV Revenue
by Patrick Christian, Founder & Managing Director
3/3/2006
IPTV is widely predicted to be the ‘next big thing’. IPTV also, however, promises a new lease of life and additional income for service providers from advertising. Indeed, the very nature of IPTV could prove the means by which to turn around viewers who are becoming increasingly jaundiced about current TV advertising and are opting to skip ads. According to a report in 2004 by Yankelovich Partners, some 65 per cent of consumers feel constantly bombarded by marketing messages and there is evidence that resistance is growing.
Unlike current terrestrial, cable and satellite television, IPTV enables ‘addressable advertising’ that can be closely tailored to the viewer: not just according to geography, but by a wide range of other factors. Whilst viewers are watching the same content, ads that are sent simultaneously during a single avail can be varied according to their individual demographics, psychographics, shopping habits and personal preferences. For example, people with children can see ads about toys and children’s clothes, while someone interested in fashion and beauty can see ads about clothes and cosmetics. Because IPTV is bi-directional, telcos and operators can be aware of consumers’ viewing habits in real-time, enabling advertisers to gather valuable marketing information and to respond instantly to viewers’ reactions. This relevancy is a step-change from traditional TV advertising which is very much ‘one size fits all’.
Even at its most innovative, with conventional TV ads the regions targeted are necessarily relatively large – comprising probably hundreds or even thousands of viewers at best – and the ads are governed by the preferences of advertisers and broadcasters rather than being driven by viewer demand.
Geographical Tailoring
Geographical tailoring available today over cable, such as with Comcast Spotlight’s Adcopy and Adtag, enables ads to be adapted so that, say, the model of vehicle shown changes by geographical region and the end of the ad is ‘tagged’ with the local dealer’s name and contact details. It cannot, however, distinguish between households with different needs within the same neighbourhood or show a vehicle likely to appeal to them personally. With addressable IPTV advertising, however, it is possible to show a car in a size to suit the household, in a color they prefer, with a soundtrack to suit their age-group. Even the frequency of ads can be weighted towards times they are most likely to want to change their vehicle and be shown at the times of day when the family members with most influence are likely to be watching.
Although, for viewers, television may continue to be largely a ‘lean back’ activity – with the only difference noticeable to many being that ads are a lot more relevant and engaging – it looks certain that there will be a revolution in the media industry. Everything from the production of creatives to pricing structures and accessibility of the ad avail will see a change. Achieving the technical feat of providing one-to-one TV advertisements – which is where this approach will ultimately lead – will also mean dramatic changes behind the scenes, in the network. Currently, cable implementations use large equipment racks filled with difficult-to-integrate devices from various suppliers and even then only support a few - maybe 20 or 30 - demographic groups. Of course, this isn’t a problem where only a limited number of regions are being targeted, but if the eventual aim is a different ad to each household - with the potential number of streams essentially the same size as the subscriber base – it soon starts to look unwieldy and expensive.
Increasing Granularity
An alternative approach to provide addressable advertising is to utilize viewers’ set-top boxes (STBs) to deliver the ads. There are two basic methods – both, again, come from the cable world. With the first, ads are downloaded – usually during off-peak times - and stored on the STB (which therefore needs to be a personal video recorder - PVR) ahead of them being shown. A signal is then sent to the STB to indicate when the ad has to be inserted, or it can be programmed in advance to insert the ad at a certain time. The second method is to send the different ad alternatives down separate channels from which each STB selects one in real time. Both techniques, however, have disadvantages that start to become apparent when increasingly granular advertising is wanted. Broadcasting many individual ads obviously takes up valuable bandwidth which could have been used for extra channels. But downloading the ads beforehand, on the other hand, is restricted to viewers with PVRs – and not all are willing to have them used for advertising. Both methods, therefore, become less viable when a large number of simultaneous ads are required.
Furthermore, the set-top box is now only one of many different ways of delivering television to the consumer. More and more TV and video is being accessed through devices such as mobile phones, PCs and video iPods: all of which have very different operational characteristics. So, as the variety of these devices grows, the problem of incorporating ad insertion software on all of them becomes more and more complex.
In order to address the limitations of current implementations, Packet Vision is designing a new addressable IPTV advertising system that includes an ad server, splicer, playout router and management system in a single ‘pizza box’ style rack mountable box. The device is designed to be sited within the IPTV network and is therefore not constrained by how the viewer consumes the TV content: whether it is via a set-top box, PC, mobile phone or any other IPTV device. One unit will support up to 200 simultaneous output streams comprising any mix of demographic groups or input channels. Being designed in a similar way to routers or switches – in essence an internet device – it provides the ease of use, cost-efficiency and scalability that is critical for new, highly personalized advertising to proliferate, and it makes full use of the underlying IP network’s bi-directionality to enable detailed monitoring of viewer responses, allowing ads to be changed to adapt to real-time situations if desired.
Initially it is likely that addressable IPTV ads will have a lot in common with the split-run advertising in cable networks described above, where the whole ad avail is bought for a single brand and then tailored to appeal to different audiences: although, of course, these will be constrained by geographical location. Multi-brand advertising, where one ad avail is shared by a number of different brands – and possibly suppliers – is another variant that is not too far from where we are currently. Another area with immediate parallels to today are ads that enable viewers to interact via their remotes with TV-oriented websites. Although to date this has been of limited success, with the increasingly accurate targeting allowed by IPTV more viewers will undoubtedly choose to press their ‘red buttons’ to buy products, see video clips or watch ‘long-form’ versions of the TV ad: a process that starts to merge TV with familiar internet-based activities.
A Feedback Loop for Advertisers
This characteristic of IPTV’s underlying network to provide instantaneous control from the viewer’s remote – channel change, red button presses, even adjusting the volume control! - creates considerable opportunities for advertisers over and above what is available from current satellite, terrestrial or cable broadcasting. Viewers’ reactions can be seen instantly so that campaigns can be audited precisely. It also opens up the possibility of payment models that are geared to actual viewers watching: a dramatic improvement over current, very imprecise, methods of audience measurement based on small sample sizes. This, again, brings television advertising closer to how it is on the internet, where pricing based on numbers ‘clicking through’ on the ads is routine.
IPTV’s addressability is useful to help maximize the effectiveness of ad campaigns. It enables ads to be shown to each viewer the optimal number of times and narrative advertisements – series that tell a story – can be paced to suit the individual watching. As addressable IPTV advertising becomes more granular – closer to the advertisers’ Holy Grail of one-to-one communications – viewers may even be able to define storyline preferences or choose different endings.
This high level of personalization of course needs appropriate tools to automate ad creation. Already companies such as Visible World are developing software that enables ads to be dissected into their key elements – such as scenes, voice-overs, background music etc – and then adjusted to give different options. These can then be reassembled to provide a multitude of automatically tailored messages for different groups of viewers. Packet Vision’s ad insertion system, mentioned above, would enable this type of content-synthesis software to create ads that can change according to real-time situations such as programme context and time of day.
Research shows that once TV ads are relevant to their audiences, it is highly likely that the current increase in viewers choosing to skip ads will abate. A recent survey on internet ads by the Ponemon Institute, for example, found that 45 per cent of respondents would agree to part with personal information – provided it were not misused – in exchange for ads targeted to their individual interests. And the UK’s HomeChoice network has piloted a scheme allowing viewers to see ads on-demand and vote whether they love or hate them. The results were fed into an ‘Ad Chart’ and up to a quarter of HomeChoice households viewed the channel each month, spending up to 13 minutes per visit.
The relevancy offered by IPTV has interesting implications outside of advertising. A recent experiment by Telekom Austria, in the village of Engerwitzdorf, has explored ultra-local TV. Villagers were given all the equipment needed to create and run their own TV channel, with full editorial control. The results found that the programming was of high quality and watched by a far larger audience than anticipated. This very localized and personalized television may well provide the stimulus needed for small or specialist businesses to start using TV as a promotional tool and, because many ads can be shown simultaneously, share the cost of an avail. So, for the first time, television advertising will be unconstrained by geographical reach or audience numbers and, like the internet, will become accessible and affordable to a whole range of new businesses, special interest groups or even individuals.
About the Author
Patrick Christian, founder and managing director of Packet Vision, has more than 25 years’ experience of hardware and software design in the data communications and telecoms industries.
In 1993 he founded the consultancy company, Blue C Technologies Limited, which worked with many leading technology businesses developing advanced telecommunications systems. In 1998 Patrick co-founded VegaStream Limited to develop high performance voice-over-IP gateways. VegaStream was sold in 2000 to Pace Micro Technology plc for £20m, returning an IRR of 149% to its institutional investors. In May 2004 Patrick founded Packet Vision which specializes in network-based addressable IPTV advertising delivery systems.
Patrick has an MA and First Class Honours degree in Electrical Sciences from Cambridge University.
About Packet Vision
Packet Vision, based in Reading, UK, specializes in the design of systems that enable fully personalized IPTV commercials: addressable advertisements that can be tailored to match the demographics of individual households and which can be altered – in real time – to reflect viewers’ reactions.
The company’s network-based approach combines all the functions of video server, splicer, IP router and management system in a single 19” rack-mountable box. No changes at all are needed to viewers’ equipment.
Incorporating Packet Vision’s Video Switching Engine (VSE) technology, the system gives network operators a low-cost, high performance entry point into addressable advertising. More products can easily be added as subscriber numbers grow or when increased granularity of advertising is required.
Microsoft & MIPS 4th Annual Executive Summit Attracts Leading Chip Makers (PR Newswire)
May 1, 2006
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MIPS Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: MIPS - News) announced today that more than 25 executives from the world's leading semiconductor companies gathered at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash. campus April 19-20 to explore new solutions for high-growth digital consumer markets, using the MIPS® architecture and the Microsoft Windows Embedded platform.
The fourth annual, invitation-only Microsoft & MIPS Executive Summit enabled MIPS Technologies licensees, including AMD, Broadcom, Elliptic Semiconductor, Fangtek, Marvell, Micronas, msystems, NEC Electronics, Philips and PMC-Sierra to share the latest Windows CE and MIPS technology roadmaps and business strategies. The two-day agenda also included one-on-one meetings with representatives from many of Microsoft's business units, including the Mobile & Embedded Devices Group, Windows CE for Automotive and Windows Digital Media.
Micronas, a leading supplier of IC solutions for IPTV applications and a MIPS Technologies licensee for the past three years, demonstrated its new IPTV platform at the Executive Summit. "The combination of the Windows CE development environment and high-performance MIPS32 24Kc core used in our new IPTV platform enables us and our customers to take advantage of greater functionality and lower system cost, while transforming the television experience for consumers," said Keri Waters, Director of Strategic Marketing at Micronas USA, Inc. Micronas USA, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Micronas Semiconductor Holding AG.
"Sharing our Windows Embedded plans with MIPS licensees is an exciting opportunity and allows us to continue to illustrate our commitment to our industry partners," said Jane Gilson, director, Mobile & Embedded Devices Division, Microsoft Corp. "Windows Embedded operating systems provide a rich technology portfolio, more consistent hardware and applications support, and richly integrated development environments, which enables broader choice for device, service and solution creation. We look forward to seeing new MIPS-Based product designs that give OEMs a greater range of choices and capabilities for building next-generation devices from IP set-top-boxes to VoIP phones and automotive infotainment."
"High-growth mobile and embedded markets demand innovative, high-performance, MIPS-Based solutions," said Jack Browne, vice president of marketing at MIPS Technologies. "By working with Microsoft and our leading licensees at this highly strategic, NDA-level summit, we help give OEMs a premium choice of 32- and 64-bit solutions, a more integrated development environment, quicker time to market, and a superior end-user experience."
Microsoft and MIPS Technologies
For the past 11 years, MIPS Technologies and Microsoft have been leveraging their leading industry expertise to develop a broad range of integrated, high-performance commercial and consumer embedded solutions for strategic high-growth markets.
The annual MIPS & Microsoft Executive Summit is an invitation-only workshop that provides MIPS Technologies licensees with the latest information about MIPS and Windows technologies, and the broad range of business solutions available integrating the MIPS architecture with Microsoft's Windows Embedded Platforms.
About MIPS Technologies
MIPS Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: MIPS - News) is a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for digital consumer and business applications. The company drives the broadest architectural alliance that is delivering 32- and 64-bit embedded RISC solutions. The company licenses its intellectual property to semiconductor companies, ASIC developers and system OEMs. MIPS Technologies and its licensees offer the widest range of robust, scalable processors in standard, custom, semi-custom and application-specific products. The company is based in Mountain View, Calif., and can be reached at +1 (650) 567-5000 or www.mips.com.
NOTE: MIPS, MIPS32, 24Kc and MIPS-Based are trademarks or registered trademarks of MIPS Technologies, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks referred to herein are the property of their respective owners.
IPTV reinvigorates home networking
Report looks forward to seismic shift in domestic networking
Robert Jaques, vnunet.com 02 May 2006
The push to deliver IPTV services is causing a seismic shift in the home networking market, as telcos gear up to invest heavily in technologies that will distribute IPTV and other multimedia services.
According to a report from Heavy Reading, the market research division of Light Reading, the emergence of IPTV is "reinvigorating" the home networking sector, which now includes such leading technology suppliers as Alcatel, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Motorola and Siemens.
The next 12 months will be critical for multimedia 'whole-home' networking vendors which are becoming increasingly interested in residential customer premises equipment with IPTV as a driving force.
Industry action in 2005 presaged the future role of the home as the battleground for IPTV. Cisco's acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta and Alcatel's significant investment in 2Wire, both in the past six months, foreshadow what's to come, according to Heavy Reading.
"While early home networking initiatives were driven by end users, the whole-home networking model envisioned by most service providers puts control of home network resources firmly in the hands of the network operators," said Rick Thompson, senior analyst at Heavy Reading and author of the report.
"This dramatic shift in perception will have huge and permanent ramifications for the entire home networking supply chain."
The study found that reducing service providers' operational expenses is a major driver for next-gen multimedia whole-home networking technology.
'No new wires' is the mantra as service providers attempt to increase the number of IPTV service installations per day by decreasing the time per installation.
Heavy Reading expects network operators to deploy a range of home networking technologies. However, it noted there are many variables that will dictate the technology of choice for multimedia whole-home networking systems.
These include factors such as existing wiring, building materials, construction details, range and throughput requirements, and sources of signal interference.
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Thank you berg111. I did try to contact Ewan and get some more information esp. about the few patents they are holding. I wish we can get that info. and post it on the Ewan DD page(board info). This can be a good source of info. for future investors.
DD :Metric: IPTV, new media to top $27B in US by 2011
According to a recent report conducted by Insight Research, IPTV, mobile TV and Internet streaming media will be worth $27 billion in the U.S. by 2011. The figure includes money derived from network-related equipment sales and content-generated revenue from the end user. The report focuses solely on "streaming media," which the research firm defines as digital audio and video files over an IP network or wireless network in real-time or on demand that cannot be stored locally. At first glance, lumping IPTV in with mobile TV and Internet TV seems like an odd idea. However, with the rise of IMS between now and 2011, this approach seems to make sense as IMS will provide a common IP architecture for VoIP, IPTV, Internet data services and wireless services. While the figure seems somewhat bullish since it considers the U.S. only, the firm qualifies the estimate as "conservative."
DD:Texas Gets Cable Competition, Lower Prices
Written By: Steven Titch
Published In: IT&T News
Publication Date: May 1, 2006
Publisher: The Heartland Institute
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Six months after the Texas legislature created a statewide video franchising structure, local phone companies have been rapidly extending multichannel video services, while rates have decreased and consumers have become much more aware of choices.
SB 5, which Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) signed into law after it passed the legislature last August, allowed telephone companies and other broadband providers to apply directly to Austin for authorization to roll out video services anywhere in the state. Verizon has launched its FiOS and AT&T has launched its U-verse video service.
Lawmakers are watching Texas--the first state to create a statewide video franchise mechanism--as debate over franchise reform heats up. Since passage in Texas, Indiana and Virginia have enacted similar legislation (and in some ways better), while like bills have been introduced in Missouri and Florida. (See related article, page 1.) The Barton-Rush bill, currently pending in the U.S. House of Representatives, would create a national video franchise structure.
Prior to SB 5, video service providers were faced with the prospect of negotiating individual franchises in thousands of individual cities, towns, and villages in Texas, a process proponents of the bill say would have slowed introduction of video competition. Aside from incumbent cable companies, most of the opposition to franchise reform comes from local governments, which fear loss of the franchise fee revenue stream and a say in the provision of public, educational, and government (PEG) channels. So far, however, all the legislation that’s been enacted or proposed preserves at least a 5 percent franchise payment to local municipalities plus PEG mandates.
As Verizon rolled out service, first in Keller and then in Plano and Lewisville, Charter Communications, the incumbent cable TV company, dropped its prices. Verizon priced its FiOS TV service at $43.95 a month for 180 video and music channels. The company also offered a 35-channel plan for $12.95 a month. Shortly thereafter, Charter began offering a bundle of 240 channels and fast Internet service for $50 a month, compared to $68.99 Charter had been charging for the TV package alone.
What’s more, two studies have shown heightened consumer awareness about the new competitive choices.
According to a Bank of America research report, Battle for the Bundle: Consumer Wireline Services Pricing, “The rollout of Verizon’s FiOS service in select markets has elicited thinly advertised, yet highly competitive pricing responses for incumbent cable providers.”
Taking the role of consumers inquiring about area cable TV service, the authors discovered that when they showed awareness of the competing FiOS service, cable competitors were willing to offer more competitive pricing.
Meanwhile, a second study of the Dallas area markets by the American Consumer Institute (ACI) found greater customer churn, declining prices, and market growth. ACI polled 883 scientifically sampled cable consumers living in three newly competitive portions of Keller, Plano, and Lewisville. The survey asked consumers if they were aware that cable TV competition existed in their community. Key findings include:
In newly competitive markets, the competitor had captured nearly 20 percent of market share.
Some 22 percent of consumers reported to have switched their cable TV or video provider in the past six months.
One in six consumers reported saving money on their cable service subscription as a direct result of competition, and most consumers were aware of the new competitor.
Half of those switching service providers reported significant savings on their cable bills, averaging $22.30 per month.
Some consumers stayed with their incumbent provider and reported to have saved, on average, $26.83 per month on their average cable TV bill, as a direct result of competition, evidence that competition quickly puts downward pressure on incumbent prices.
The study found wireline competition expands the total size of the cable TV and video market. This means competition should not adversely affect the local franchising fees local governments collect from wireline providers and use to support public access channels and other community services.
The report concluded the current level of consumer benefits, as measured by consumer welfare, was “immense.” As an aggregate, the competitive portions of these communities are realizing $2.4 million in consumer benefits per year as a result of lower cable TV and video prices, ACI said. That figure will likely increase to $14.1 million per year as competition continues to develop and as consumers become more aware of competitive choices and prices, the study noted.
ACI describes itself as a non-profit independent research group. It claims to accept memberships only from individual consumers and consumer groups, and not corporations or unions.
The Texas bill allows new video entrants to request a franchise from the state. However, existing franchise holders must wait until their local agreements expire, a provision that riles cable companies. Other bills, including the federal act, allow a current franchisee to apply for a state or national franchise upon entry of a competitor.
The Virginia law puts municipalities on the clock. A TV market entrant that applies for a franchise would have the right to start service in that territory 75 days later. A municipality would have 45 days to negotiate the terms it wants. If no agreement is reached, the TV provider could opt for an “ordinance” franchise, a default agreement based on the rules in the new state law.
Franchise reform has a number of key supporters, including FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. Speaking in March at TelecomNext, the annual telecommunications industry trade show, Martin said rates for cable television have steadily grown higher since the 1996 Telecommunications Act has been in place, while the rates in every other area of telecommunications have declined. Martin said the commission will try to address ways to reduce barriers to entry, with “some reasonable limitations” that could be put around what local franchising authorities can require as new competitors try to enter new towns or cities across the country.
Meanwhile, the National League of Cities (NLC) released the results of its latest annual opinion survey, in which a majority of city officials warn proposed federal legislation limiting their use of local video franchise fees would strain local budgets. The study, The State of America’s Cities, 2006, shows 86 percent of the cities responding to the survey impose franchise fees on cable and other multichannel video operators. Of that number, 83 percent of respondents claim federal legislation placing franchise authority in the hands of the states or the FCC would affect city budgets either somewhat (46 percent) or greatly (37 percent).
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Steven Titch (titch@heartland.org) is senior fellow for IT and telecom policy at The Heartland Institute and managing editor of IT&T News.
DD: AT&T Expanding IPTV Into New Markets
AT&T Inc. will offer IPTV in 21 markets by the end of the year, a company executive told TechWeb.
Apr 25, 2006 - By Laurie Sullivan Courtesy of TechWeb.com
AT&T Inc. will offer internet protocol television (IPTV) in 20 more markets by the end of the year, a company executive told TechWeb at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas.
Today, AT&T offers limited service in San Antonio, Texas, with about 200 channels, picture-in-picture browse, digital video recording (DVR) and video on demand (VOD).
"We'll increase subscribers in the San Antonio area though the summer before we expand into new markets," said Jeff Weber, AT&T's vice president of product and strategy.
AT&T also plans to offer high definition (HD) and digital video recorder (DVR) features later this year with the addition of new set-top boxes and software upgrades. The "Whole Home" DVR feature will allow subscribers to record a movie in the living room and watch it in the bedroom, for example.
IPTV subscribers will reach 36.8 million worldwide in 2009, up from 2.3 million in 2005, estimates research firm eMarketer Inc.
U-verse, the package of services AT&T"s Lightspeed infrastructure will deliver, includes everything from TV and broadband to voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and integrated services, such as access to photos on the Web. AT&T will allow subscribers to access through the IPTV channels guide a photo network where subscribers can store photos on Yahoo! Inc.
To prepare each market, Weber said, AT&T must first build the network's infrastructure and update systems. "We'll bring fiber closer to customers' homes and build what we call a video hub office to stream in local channels," he said.
Weber declined to name the cities next on line to get IPTV, but the Arkansas News Bureau reports Maumelle, Ark., could become the first city outside of San Antonio to ink a franchise agreement with AT&T for its IPTV service. The city council approved the initial steps that would allow AT&T to build an infrastructure for its IPTV service, but don't expect the deal to close before mid-May. AT&T still has work to do.
AT&T brings content from ESPN, HBO, and other broadcast networks into its national center to encode in MPG4. The content then runs across AT&T's IP backbone into the San Antonio video hub office, where it's combined with channels running across the local network and out to a fiber node that sits about 3,000 feet from the home. It is then delivered over very high-speed digital subscriber line VDSL on a AT&T set-top box.
The service also will offer interactive games and features, such as voting on reality shows, such as American Idol, as well as a feature that offers alternative content suggestions based on historic program viewing options.
Many believe the payoff for AT&T and others will come from ad revenue. Interactive features promise the ability to target consumers with advertising based on viewing habits and track the effectiveness of specific advertising dollars
DD :Video franchising wins, Net neutrality loses
The federal video franchising bill received a thumbs-up yesterday when the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the measure by a 42-13 vote. The proposal would allow telcos to offer IPTV services by bypassing local authorities, unlike the cablecos. This is one step closer to realizing faster deployment of IPTV services, however, the measure may go to the House floor for a vote. Some Judiciary Committee members would like to review it, too. The Senate hasn't acted on the issue yet, but it plans to this summer.
On the other hand, the Net neutrality bill was defeated 34-22 and is expected to be a source of conflict in the Senate. Rivals Google, Yahoo, eBay, Microsoft and Amazon.com have forged a united front to oppose the two-tiered Internet bill, which they say will give some Web sites an unfair advantage over others and alter the Web's landscape. It will be interesting to see how the video-franchising bill and the Net neutrality bill affect the uptake of IPTV and Internet TV in the upcoming years.
To learn more about the video franchising and net-neutrality issues:
- read this article from The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)
- check out this San Francisco Chronicle article
Thank you. EOM
Hi, Can can anyone tell me what the float is?
DD:Russia set to issue 3G licenses this year
Feb 21, 2006
Telecom Asia Daily
The Russian government will begin offering licenses for 3G mobile telephones this year, an AFP report said.
The report quoted Telecommunications Minister Leonid Reiman as saying that traditional market for mobile phones was approaching saturation in Russia, meaning that the time had come to begin granting 3G licenses.
As of January, "there were around 120 million mobile phone subscribers in Russia and it is obvious that with a population of 150 million we must soon reach saturation level," the official said.
DD: Wireless world looks to China for 3G boost
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China's long march to third-generation mobile phone services could be nearing an end, with the rollout of new 3G licenses seen this year as Beijing prepares to set up systems in time for the 2008 Olympics.
Participants at the 3GSM mobile trade fair in Barcelona this week were buzzing with the likelihood that China will issue 3G licenses as soon as the first half of this year, amid increasing signs of movement from Beijing.
Equipment vendors such as Siemens, Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia are eagerly awaiting the development, which is expected to unleash up to $12 billion in spending on new equipment.
Siemens and Nokia executives told Reuters they expected a decision by June.
Many have cited the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a key time constraint, since China would like to have cutting-edge mobile systems in place for the global event it hopes will showcase its arrival onto the world stage.
"I would put my money on this year," said analyst Edward Fung at Kim Eng Securities, although he added that China has been unpredictable on the subject.
Siemens told Reuters it should make at least 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) as operators scramble to roll out networks for the Olympics and beyond.
The German conglomerate is betting on homegrown Chinese standard TD-SCDMA, which received a boost last month when the official Xinhua news agency said Beijing would build a complete stand-alone network based on the technology.
Most industry watchers believe China will build networks based on the world's two most popular 3G standards, the WCDMA standard popular in Europe and CDMA 2000, backed by U.S. giant Qualcomm.
But TD-SCDMA's status was less certain, with some guessing the largely untested technology might be used more for support rather than as a stand-alone system.
Roadmap unveiled in Spain
Trumpeting their position, the TD-SCDMA Industry Alliance, whose members include most major Chinese players, unveiled a roadmap in Barcelona to show how the technology would develop.
The alliance said it is conducting a dress rehearsal for a commercial launch, expected to be ready by year-end.
It is confident Beijing will approve its standard, and foreign firms tend to agree, as most major players have formed alliances with Chinese operators to support the technology.
Siemens has co-invested around $200.6 million (170 million euros) to help develop the standard, and Nokia is co-investing $111 million. Most other major firms have also jumped on the TD-SCDMA bandwagon, including Motorola, Ericsson, Nortel Networks, Alcatel and Lucent Technologies. The mobile community is banking on Chinese orders for 3G networking equipment and handsets to help dampen global prices as China, the world's biggest mobile market, brings its nearly 400 million subscribers to the table.
So far, less than 10 percent of the world's more than 2 billion mobile phone users have switched to 3G--despite years of hype about its multimedia possibilities and massive investments in licenses and networks--with many put off in the past by expensive, bulky handsets and poor battery life.
The price gap between a 2G and a 3G phone is now around $40.
"We want to make 3G handsets cheaper. After China's participation, prices will come down," Wang Jianzhou, chief executive of dominant mobile carrier China Mobile (Hong Kong), told Reuters at 3GSM.
Struggling Lucent Technologies also hopes a new 3G market in China will help revive its fortunes. Strategy chief John Leonard told Reuters he believed CMDA 2000, WCDMA and TD-SCDMA would all get licenses. The only question, he said, was who, if anyone, would be awarded a fourth license.
DD :Verklin: Search Crucial To Marketing
by Wendy Davis, Thursday, Feb 23, 2006 6:00 AM EST
IT'S HARD TO OVERSTATE THE importance that search plays in marketing and advertising campaigns. That's according to David Verklin, CEO Carat Americas and chairman of Asia Pacific, who delivered a keynote address Wednesday at a summit about search marketing arranged by Yahoo.
"Search will become ubiquitous," Verklin said, adding that the concept of "search" already had moved beyond the notion of searching the Web: Tivo, he said, is "a search engine for television," while GPS is a form of search for cars.
"Search is becoming the behavior of choice," he said. "Our job as advertisers," he added, "is to put our clients' products in the path of search behavior."
Verklin also proposed to the audience of about 100 advertising executives that they employ a so-called "Web first" strategy, centered around using search engines to send consumers to a client's Web site as a first stop.
"In my perfect future," he said, "the strategy for any client is focused on driving prospective customers to a Web site first." From that Web site, he added, consumers could then either browse, make a purchase, contact customer service, or find a brick-and-mortar location.
"The role of search is evolving, and we are only beginning--beginning--to appreciate its potential," he asserted, referring to recent research that shows that consumers who visit search engines frequently make a purchase offline, at a traditional brick-and-mortar establishment.
Verklin made his remarks at the Yahoo Search Marketing conference in New York, "Thinking Outside the Funnel," devoted to creative uses of search marketing.
Four agencies--RPA, Avenue A/Razorfish, Agency.com, and GM Planworks--also sent representatives to the summit to share details of search strategies for specific campaigns. Some of the campaigns relied on a strategy that involved purchasing low-cost keywords specifically related to TV ads.
RPA's Mike Margolin, associate media director, discussed the Honda Element search campaign, which played off animated TV spots that featured animals interacting with the automobile. The agency purchased the names of those animals as keywords--platypus, possum, and the like--and the sponsored links drove people to a site where they could view extended versions of the TV ads.
Avenue A/Razorfish's Elaine Boxer, senior account director, and Matthew Greitzer, director of search engine marketing, used a similar strategy for a Chase bank branding effort that used the tagline "Love the Double."
In both cases, purchasing keywords related to the TV ad campaign was cheaper than buying terms like "credit cards" or "automobiles," which tend to command higher cost-per-clicks.
DD: go2’s Mobile Local Search Directory Reports Record Traffic
Go2 has released some statistics from its mobile local search service, which is on a number of carriers in the US.
“Visits to its mobile, local search websites increased 51 percent in 2005 to more than 24.2 million unique user sessions, up from 15.9 million in 2004. During 2005, go2’s mobile websites, which include Yellow Page, local search and other local information, delivered more than 210 million page views of local information, up 37 percent from over 150 million in 2004.” That’s not a shock and awe statistic in the online world but it’s very decent in the mobile market.
The statistics indicate the popularity of mobile search and its continuing uptake by consumers. The most searched items were movies, restaurants, accommodations and other travel-related searches.
Another interesting stat, go2 also served more than 50 million ad impressions in 2005 (that’s more than two per unique session) and claims clickthrough rates are a lot higher than in the online world “in part based on go2’s ability to target advertising by both location and directory search category”. The kind of companies advertising on the service were ABC, American Express, Jamdat, ProFlowers.com, Progressive Insurance, the U.S. Navy, and Volkswagon.
Summits: Breakthrough '06
Summit Home
Agenda/Schedule
Hotel/Travel/Activities
Speaker Request Info
The Breakthrough Showcase
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The internet is spreading from personal computers to mobile phones, game devices, iTV and beyond. As the internet grows it creates new channels for marketers and advertisers. At the iMedia Breakthrough '06 Summit you'll join your colleagues, competitors and the industry's cutting-edge thinkers in a stimulating dialogue that discusses new advertising models and new opportunities in platforms like mobile, video and gaming.
Marketers rely upon iMedia Summits to provide needed information, industry discussion, collaboration and networking that advance of interactive as a marketing medium.
You'll fly to Nevada's beautiful Lake Las Vegas and stay at the Hyatt Regency Resort -- far from your workday responsibilities and distractions -- where you'll enjoy a stimulating environment in which to forge new business relationships while deepening and extending your current network.
The Summit will include a keynote address, interactive working group sessions, panel discussions, recreational excursions and delicious meals, all in a gorgeous setting.
Why are emerging platforms such a hot topic?
"As multiple emerging technology platforms are playing a more significant role in marketing budgets, it's time to not only get a '101' on these platforms but examine their trends, case studies, ROI metrics and immediate applications. As a leader in results-oriented networking events between advertisers, marketers, technologies and brands, iMedia is poised to pull off a successful first effort focused on emerging platforms, and I am thrilled to contribute to its success."
-- Nihal Mehta, President/co-Founder, IPSH
"The online industry desperately needs an emerging platform Summit where the issues facing Advertisers, Marketers, Technologies and Brand as a business model for marketing through these new platforms is explored, and conventions can be challenged and new insights developed. No organization is better able to make such an emerging platform Summit a reality than is iMedia. I applaud the initiative iMedia is taking and look forward to being an active supporter and participant in the development of this event."
-- Todd Herman, Director, Business Strategy, MSN Video/Movies/TV, Microsoft
"As media channels evolve into a fragmented, digital domain; they present significant challenges and opportunities for improved addressability, optimization, and measurement. All constituents in the media industry have a stake in how this transition to digital media is managed. Furthermore, the industry is increasingly reliant on emerging technology platforms to manage and exploit this change. iMedia is demonstrating their grasp of the issues by creating this emerging platform Summit event with the quality of thought leadership and content they can deliver. By organizing smart and experienced leaders representing brand marketers, agencies, media distribution, and technology, iMedia is helping to frame up the business model dialogue in a relevant and meaningful way."
-- Scott Ferris, Senior VP and General Manager, Atlas On Demand, Atlas DMT
Agenda & Attendees
Who sets the agenda? iMedia executive staff and the Advisory Board composed of brand marketers, agency executives, publishers, consultants:
David Adelman, Media Director, Johnson & Johnson Global Marketing Group
Robert DeSena, Managing Director, Mars Direct, Masterfoods US
Ed Kim, Manager, Alternative Media & Evolving Tech, Unilever
Gordon Paddison, EVP, Integrated Marketing, New Line Cinema
Cory Treffiletti, SVP, Engagement Architect, Carat Fusion
James Kiernan, Associate Director, Digital Media & Innovation, MediaVest Worldwide
Michael Gorman, Director, Emerging Technology, phd
Adam Gerber, VP of Advertising Products and Strategy, Brightcove
Andy Fessel, Vice President, Strategic Insight & Development, Freestyle Interactive
Julie Shumaker, National Director of Sales, Video Game Advertising, Electronic Arts
Tom Morgan, CEO, BlackArrow
Nihal Mehta, President/co-Founder, IPSH!
View the Summit Agenda
Who attends? We invite 120 marketing executives from the nation's top brands and advertising agencies to attend as our guest, free of charge. In addition, we invite 100 individuals from the leading interactive media companies, advertising services, and technology providers.
How can I sign up? Attendance to the Summit is by invitation only. We encourage you to request an invitation two or three months in advance of the event.
Click here to request an invitation
iMedia Resources:
Your one-stop shop for ad servers, SEM firms, email marketers, somebody to help you decode your site metrics or any other interactive advertising need:
Ad Networks
Email Marketing
Publishers
Rich Media
Search Marketing Presenting Sponsors
Media Sponsor
DoubleClick Search Trend Report
Feb 22, 2006
Mobile Marketing to Accelerate
Feb 22, 2006
China Ad Growth Cools
Feb 22, 2006
MediaSpan Local Media Products
Feb 22, 2006
AT&T, Yahoo!, Cingular: Mobile Web
Feb 22, 2006
MIVA Launches Agency Center 1.0
Feb 21, 2006
iCrossing Search Bowl 2006 Report
Feb 21, 2006
Zed Digital Forms
Feb 21, 2006
ad:tech 1MPACT Event: 03/07/06; LA, CA
Feb 21, 2006
Nielsen: Google, Yahoo! Sponsored Link Ads
Feb 17, 2006
News Archive
MIVA Launches Agency Center 1.0
February 21,2006
By Roger Park
MIVA, Inc., a performance marketing network, announced the release of Agency Center 1.0, which enables access and management of multiple accounts from a central location.
The company says that Agency Center 1.0 gives agencies a means to fully manage ad campaign programs from account set-up to reporting.
"The launch of Agency Center 1.0 reflects an important point in MIVA's continued evolution. MIVA is increasingly the choice of the world's best known, blue chip brands seeking to work with us through our media agency relationships. Agency Center 1.0 provides yet another solution to support these agencies more effectively," says Seb Bishop, director and CMO, MIVA.
DoubleClick Search Trend Report
February 22,2006
By Roger Park | Back to News
DoubleClick Digital Advertising Solutions' Performics division announced the latest Search Trend Report.
The search engine marketing index found that search campaigns total clicks grew 107 percent year-over-year. The report also found that the average cost per keyword climbed 114 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005.
"Keyword and overall campaign growth remain very strong. Search portfolios are expanding as marketers seek to connect with consumers during all stages of the buying cycle, and therefore, results are being measured beyond immediate ROI alone," says Stuart Larkins, vice president, search at Performics.
Another key finding is that seasonality drove the consideration of keyword ads further down the page. The report found that the percentage of overall conversions that come from lower ranked keywords improves dramatically in December versus November
AT&T, Yahoo!, Cingular: Mobile Web
February 22,2006
By Roger Park | Back to News
AT&T Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. announced plans to launch AT&T Yahoo Go Mobile, a mobile web service through Cingular phones.
The Cingular phones include an MP3 music player and a digital voice recorder. The service will also be available to selected Nokia mobile phones.
Cingular is jointly owned by AT&T and BellSouth Corp.
A spokesperson was not immediately available to comment if there will be ads on the new partnered service. The deal is seen as a way for Yahoo to extend its brand into the mobile arena
Mobile Marketing to Accelerate
February 22,2006
By Roger Park | Back to News
Airwide Solutions, a mobile software provider, released a study that found 89 percent of major brands are planning to market via mobile phones and devices by 2008.
The study also predicts that major brands, within five years, will spend five to 25 percent of total marketing budgets on mobile marketing.
Jay Seaton, chief marketing officer at Airwide comments, "The widespread acceptance of mobile messaging has created a pervasive and valuable new marketing opportunity for brands which is, in turn, creating a significant revenue opportunity for mobile operators. With reliable infrastructure in place and a means to control and measure campaigns, the starting gun will have gone off and it will be a race to create and deliver the most effective mobile marketing initiatives to subscribers that are more receptive than ever."
A New Entry into Customized Search
February 22, 2006
By Kevin M. Ryan
iMedia's search editor examines Rollyo's search-outside-the-box methodology, and expounds on the benefits of "rolling your own."
Searching and the subsequent finding has become an essential part of our every day lives and advertising budgets. While Google is expanding its sphere of influence in going beyond the search box and Yahoo! is becoming the media master, a new search site begs the age old question; why not roll your own?
Rollyo, the brain child of Silicon Valley entrepreneur Dave Pell, is the latest entry into the search-outside-the-box fray. Rollyo enables searchers to create their own search “roll” via an online interface in which users designate sites they want to search.
Customized search is not a new concept and there have been a few changes in the world of aggregated search results providers. Google, Yahoo and MSN still account for the lion’s share of search activity but the sheer amount of content raises a few questions about the future of customized search and how we think about search engine advertising.
Personal search
The idea of creating a unique spin on search has been around for some time. Grokker introduced the concept of visual search when the company created a downloadable interface that aggregated search results into spheres of relevance. Similarly, GuruNet has evolved into answers.com adding another dimension to the search box-to-consumer dialogue.
Yahoo has had the Mindset creation in beta for some time now-- an interface that uses machine learning to help separate commerce and information searching. Feedster searches blogs and podcasts for relevant information, thereby sparing users the task of adding through blogs.
When these providers first began to appear, the idea was simple; search engines did not provide a rich experience for surfers so a third party might be needed to create a better, more efficient experience using index data from existing search providers like Google and Yahoo.
Many of these providers have moved on from consumer markets into the lucrative enterprise search solutions arena. I could go on for hours on aggregating search activity, but you get the idea. There are options up the wazoo, so why haven’t these sites really caught on?
Little… different… Rollyo
Pell’s idea for Rollyo stemmed from his launch of Learning Bridge-- a search site that ventured out and crawled sites to find information for schools that participated in the Learning Bridge program. Several years later in September, 2005 the easy-to-use Rollyo interface was created to enable searchers a customized search of blogs and content destinations.
The Rollyo approach is quite dissimilar from other search aggregators. A search “roll” doesn’t replace a search engine, nor does it provide search results from other search sites.
For example, if you travel frequently and want to save time in searching travel sites, you can enter specific sites that you frequent for information on your destinations and eliminate those you don’t like. You can stick to the sites that have proved themselves bookmark worthy and save yourself the pain of wading through irrelevant information.
No E-Z Wider jokes please
If you don’t know what an E-Z Wider is, don’t worry. Time saving is just the beginning for those who would roll their own. Since I first rolled my own search engine for online advertising and media, I have begun to explore how other people search-- an activity that might just transcend the cute and interesting and graduate into the exciting world of advertising utility.
“There is a social networking component that provides a list of sites others use,” says Pell. “It is a combination of search and site exploration via a referral or endorsement of how others roll their searches.”
Rollyo also has an enterprise search component. “We have an over-the-counter version for do-it- yourselfers and enterprise solution for publishers and content providers who rely upon advertiser revenue,” says Pell.
Advertising opportunities are on the way. Future plans for Rollyo will include sponsored listings provided by a third party and expansion of Rollyo’s existing partner programs.
Opt-in search targeting?
Targeting in search is all the rage. Until now, buying behavior was the single determining factor for how effective a search campaign is for many advertisers. Contextual search advertising components are in a state of constant refinement with user intent in mind. MSN offers the best alternative to blindly bidding on search terms without consideration for audience dynamics.
What will the next evolution of search targeting look like?
What if your search advertising spend could be adjusted according to the sites other users have deemed interesting? What if the content search habits of users world wide were rolled into one very large database of trusted domains?
A new twist on search targeting would be a welcome change from the constant jostling of terms and while search aggregators have yet to reach critical mass, each new entry into the space provides us with a glimpse of what is yet to come in this complicated, forever changing "ecoplasty" we call search.
iMedia Search Editor Kevin Ryan’s current and former client roster reads like a “who’s who” in big brands; Rolex Watch, USA, State Farm Insurance, Farmers Insurance, Minolta Corporation, Samsung Electronics America, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Panasonic Services, and the Hilton Hotels brands, to name a few. Ryan believes in sound guidance, creative thought, accountable actions and collaborative execution as applied to search, or any form of marketing. His principled approach and staunch commitment to the industry have made him one of the most sought after personalities in online marketing. Ryan volunteers his time with the Interactive Advertising Bureau, Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, and several regional non-profit organizations.
Ryan is managing partner at Kinetic Results
Have Brand, Will Travel
February 17, 2006
By David B. Hills
LookSmart CEO David B. Hills discusses portable content and what it means to brands.
I was watching some reasonably generic war documentary on the cable network the other night. I love this type of show and these types of documentaries. The show that followed was "48 Hours." It took me a minute but I remembered the period when all of this television content was set in motion. The large media companies started to launch, invest in or buy cable networks. Smart companies that they are, they realized that they needed to follow the audience and find "after-markets" for their content.
The meta-point is that even in today's media world your content can "travel" from the originating "channel" to other "channels" AND at the same time preserve and reinforce brand.
The online medium, broadly defined to encompass all devices, is perfect for this type of syndication since access to content can be tiered to encourage three goals:
Earn additional revenue from your content and expose it to new audiences so you maximize your investment in that content and extend your reach, which will result in new audience to your brand's site.
Preserve control over access to that content. The publishing business will be part free, part registration restricted and part paid subscription. You'll have content that is totally exposed for free that is ad supported, some behind a registration firewall and some in a paid area. It's important you start to think about your content like this and develop a system that moves it from one area to another based on time, topic or audience metrics.
Use the syndication to promote your brand by inserting mentions of what's available at the site. If you're working with a good partner in syndication, they should easily be willing to help you drive traffic to critical areas of your site.
Let's go back to the beginning of the column and my mention of what happened in cable. What's going on today in syndication of content online is a path well worn in media history. We tend to think of this as a new phenomenon, but it's not and content owners are very savvy and will continue syndication online.
Seems to me that everyone benefits from this open view of the world.
The audience benefits since they get access to your content where they want it. You benefit since you earn extra money, get more audience and promote and reinforce your brand.
The advertiser gets to be next to your content in places other than your brand. They know it works and will take the audience if they can get to it.
Now the trick is finding the right kind of syndication partner. You have to find someone who is willing to do what you need, which is:
Create an equitable revenue share for hosting your content and serving it to the audience. In an ideal world, you should get both of these. They work in tandem. You should have as little labor in this as possible. They host the content, you get paid and all you do is "ship" it to them.
Think strategically with your partner about which content belongs where. Some will be free and available anywhere, some behind registration and some behind subscription products. If you and your partner are in sync on what your goals are and how their audience behaves, you should be able to be very organized about what content belongs where.
Use the syndication as a chance to promote your brand. The content itself does it but promote related features that can be found at your site. Don't feel the need for links throughout your syndicated content since you want all of it read, but put simple things like links or mentions at the bottom of the content pointing them to your brand. The partner should be glad to work on this with you.
We all need to take a page from media history. Syndication of content past the originating channel is not a new idea. Strong and valuable content travels well, including preserving and reinforcing brand. The audience wants you but only when it's convenient for them so let's give them what they want.
David B. Hills is CEO of LookSmart, Ltd. (NASDAQ: LOOK), an online media and technology company specializing in vertical search. Hills joined LookSmart in October 2004. He has nearly 25 years of experience in media sales and operations, with extensive interactive media experience in online advertising, search marketing, paid listings and subscriptions. Before joining LookSmart, Hills served as president of Media Solutions for 24/7 Real Media, overseeing all domestic media, search and technology businesses for the company. Prior to joining 24/7 Real Media, Hills was COO and president of sales for About, Inc., which owned About.com and Sprinks, the pay-per-click service.
+High Rankings® Seminar in San Francisco / Oakland++
Seats for the next High Rankings® seminar on March 30-31, 2006 are going
fast! Thanks to all who've registered so far -- we're looking forward to
meeting you in California!
For those who haven't registered yet, there's still time to get in with the
early registration price! The seminar will be held at the Walnut Creek
Holiday Inn, which is in the SF/Oakland area. We've still got some rooms
left at the hotel, so if you're planning to stay overnight and want to be
where the action is, be sure that you reserve yours as soon as possible.
This is a 2-day event where we discuss all aspects of search marketing. The
plan is to provide you with enough actionable information so that you can go
straight back to your office and start making changes to your website.
All speakers are highly experienced High Rankings® Forum moderators who have
achieved great success for themselves and all their clients. You will learn
and get personal attention from me (Jill Whalen), Karon Thackston, Scottie
Claiborne, Matt Bailey, Christine Churchill, and Diane (Torka) Aull.
We will teach you SEO from the basics all the way up through the more
advanced topics.
If this sounds like it could take your website and business to the next
level, please register as soon as possible to ensure your place. We
deliberately keep attendance to a small number in order to provide everyone
with the personal attention they need.
Learn more and get yourself registered here.
Be sure to claim your 25% savings if you're a High Rankings® Forum member.
That's a savings of nearly $300! For more on how to get the discount,
please see this forum thread.
Can't wait to meet you in San Francisco at the end of March to tell you
everything I know about SEO! - Jill
Will Local Content Be King?
TV viewers traditionally have wanted a mix of local and national content. Will mobile TV watchers want the same? Local broadcasters are considering the various options.
By Sue Marek
February 15, 2006
The national networks and programming channels have embraced mobile TV and many are dedicating staff to developing innovative programming options for mobile TV viewers. But so far most of the programming has been geared toward a national audience.
However, mobile TV is starting to catch the attention of local broadcast TV stations that are looking for a way to extend their content to their viewers via mobile phones. Similar to how local broadcast stations have Websites that carry their headline news and links to additional content, they also could have a mobile TV presence in their local markets so their viewers could watch programming on the go.
Of course, current mobile TV programming is streamed across the cellular network, which means that a subscriber in Denver sees the same content as a subscriber in New York. But some companies are offering technologies that make local content delivery possible and local broadcasters are intrigued by the opportunity.
WAP Delivery U-Turn Media, an interactive mobile media firm, is working with several local broadcasters to help them bring their content to mobile devices using a WAP link and streaming the video similar to a streaming video on the Web. The company just inked a deal with San Diego's KGTV Channel 10 News to help the station deliver its "10 News To Go" service to mobile phone subscribers.
"10 News To Go" is produced specifically for mobile phones and the station initially will offer it to viewers for no charge. U-Turn says the service is available via Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA and Boost Mobile. U-Turn North America President Izzy Abbass says the company's VIZGO platform enables large quantities of content to be delivered and makes real-time updates possible. The technology works with all embedded media players that currently reside on handsets.
Abbass says local content will help drive mobile TV usage because consumers are very interested in local news. He adds that local broadcasters are in a good position to promote their content because they already are referring viewers to their Websites for additional news coverage.
But U-Turn Media isn't the only company wooing local broadcasters. Capital Broadcasting Company's New Media Division has launched News Over Wireless, a custom application and service that enables local broadcasters to deliver their content to mobile phones. The News Over Wireless application is compatible with Sprint Vision phones and Verizon Wireless Mobile 2.0 handsets. WRAL-TV in Raleigh, N.C., is using News Over Wireless to deliver news, traffic and weather to Sprint subscribers and the company is working with other local broadcasters including KCTV-5 in Kansas City and CBS-4 in Denver. Subscribers sign up via the local broadcaster's Website and if they are a Sprint subscriber with a compatible phone, an SMS is pushed to their handset with a link to the content. The monthly subscription fee for content from CBS-4 in Denver is $3.99 per month.
Sam Matheny, general manager of News Over Wireless, says the application makes sense for mobile subscribers because people tend to get their news from local broadcast networks rather than national news stations. "We are a great believer in the subscription model," Matheny says. "It provides a recurring revenue stream."
Operators are interested in local content even though most of their focus so far has been on inking deals with the major networks and big-name programmers. "It's on the radar," says Paul Reddick, vice president, business development and product innovation at Sprint Nextel. "We have done some experimenting and it makes sense."
Next Generation U-Turn and News Over Wireless provide a solution for local broadcasters that want to deliver their content to subscribers today, but proposed next-generation mobile TV solution providers also are exploring the local angle.
Qualcomm's MediaFLO USA division is working with local broadcasters. Of course, MediaFLO has an added incentive: The company needs to entice local broadcasters using UHF Channel 55 to move out of that channel so MediaFLO can build its network and broadcast content to mobile devices. In return for moving out of the channel 55, MediaFLO will help local broadcasters distribute their content to wireless subscribers. Rob Chandhok, vice president of engineering and market development for MediaFLO, says one advantage to MediaFLO is the network architecture allows it to devote some channels to local content and some to national content. For example, Chandhok envisions having two channels of local content and the other 18 devoted to national content. Chandhok adds that this is an advantage for MediaFLO because it means that operators don't need a separate transmission network for local channels.
The delivery of local content isn't limited to just those markets where MediaFLO is negotiating with the local broadcaster for access to Channel 55, however. Chandhok says that this capability will be available throughout the entire MediaFLO network.
Local content is definitely a possibility; the question is how many channels will be devoted to delivering it. Chandhok says it's too soon to say. "We believe that over time, as the mobile television marketplace matures, we will learn more about value of localized content and what offers the most value for subscribers," he says.
MediaFLO's U.S. competitor – Crown Castle's Modeo DVB-H network – hasn't announced any deals with local broadcasters. However, Bob Shallow, director, rich media, music and multimedia at Nokia, which is a member of the DTV Alliance, says that the DVB-H technology supports local channels.
Popular TV shows such as "Lost" and "CSI" may be getting the headlines when it comes to mobile TV delivery to mobile phones. But when consumers find out they can get local news and weather on their mobile devices, local content may become a more powerful force
Andrew Seybold from Barcelona- See his response to the last question at the bottom.
Wireless industry expert Andrew Seybold returns to WirelessWeek.com for a live BigTalk discussion on Wednesday, February 22, at 1:00 p.m. ET, to discuss the pressing issues of the wireless revolution.
Head of the Andrew Seybold Group, a consulting firm specializing in the connected mobility space, Seybold also serves as editor-in-chief of Forbes/Andrew Seybold's Wireless Outlook. He has written several books and has contributed monthly columns to a variety of trade magazines.
Please note: BigTalk discussions are editorially moderated. Guests reserve the right to choose or decline specific questions.
Andy Seybold: Good Day to you all, the 3GSM conference was held in Barcelona last week, lots of hype, but also lots of reality too! See my commentary from this week (http://www.outlook4mobility.com/commentary2006/feb1906.htm) and there will be another one later in the week as well. The rites of Sprint, 3GSM, Cbit, and then the CTIA big show in Las Vegas, all places where the industry comes together. But this year there are/will be more content providers, content owners, applications companies, and more “Internet” companies on hand than ever before. Wireless has been “discovered” by all of these groups and the rush is on, trying to figure out how to deliver what content to whom and for how much. New technologies are coming at us faster than ever before. IMS, Mobile TV, off-network Mobile TV, new airlinks. It is sometimes hard to follow and oftentimes the smoke makes it hard to see if what is coming is real or just done with mirrors. Regardless, it is going to be a fun year! Let’s get to the questions!
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Steve Foley, Ashland Or: Hi Andy, as Sprint move to take over Nextel, what will happen with the the format and iden technology Nextel now uses, and how will this affect Nextel users? Thanks. enjoy your show.
Andy Seybold: Steve if this a show? Well perhaps, since I get to say just about anything I want here. Sprint Nextel have plans and have said publicly that they will keep iDEN until 2008 or 2010, sorry I don’t remember which, but by the time they don’t support iDEN any more the idea is that they will have their own PTT services over their EVDO network up and running across their entire network by then. iDEN is a old TDMA based technology that works well, PTT works well and Nextel delivers lots of great services including LBS services. You might think of iDEN as GSM, and CDMA and EVDO as UMTS/HSDPA, the GSM operators are installing UMTS/HDSPA and at some point will move most of their GSM customers over to UMTS/HSDPA because on a 3G network it is less expensive to deliver bits (voice of data bits). So the Nextel iDEN network is, to me, GSM, and the Sprint network is 3G so the tranistion is exactly like what Cingular is doing with GSM and UMTS except that there will only be a small number of phones that well be able to work on both networks.
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Alex, Boston MA: Andy, if you had a greenfield wireless company with plenty of PCS spectrum and wished to offer 3G voice and data services, what radio technology would you choose-GSM/UMTS/HSDPA or CDMA/EVDO?
Andy Seybold: Alex, what a great question. First of all, GSM is not a 3G technology, it is a 2G technology and the GSM community is moving to 3G using UMTS/HSPDA or what they are calling 3GSM now. So here is my answer: If you need to be able to provide world-wide coverage (roaming) then you would probably chose UMTS/HSDPA because 70% of today’s networks are GSM and moving, therefore to 3GSM. However, if you wanted the most flexibility, and the most bang for the buck, and the most flexibility then my recommendation has to be CDMA/EVDO. You stated “plenty” of PCS spectrum but what is plenty? Here are some other factors you need to consider: Handset prices will be a wash between the two technologies, they are basically today. There will be devices that will operate on GSM/3GSM/CDMA for world phone coverage. With EVDO you use only 1.25 MHz of spectrum per carrier with 3GSM you use 5 MHz per carrier. With 3GSM you mix voice and data on the same carrier—which means voice always gets priority. With CDMA/EVDO, today, you use CDMA 1X carriers for voice and EVDO for data only. In the future when VoIP and IP back-ends are being deployed the decision might be a little harder to make, however, my belief is that if I put in, say 6 EVDO carriers, assigned 2 for data and 2 for voice in each cell site then I would have 2 carriers which could be used for voice or data depending upon the demand for services in each site. There is not simple answer but I happen to believe that the migration path for CDMA/EVDO with back-ward compatibility is the smart choice for a Greenfield operator. By the way I am glad that you did not include WiMAX in your mix you obviously understand that WiMAX is not a competitor to either UMTS or CDMA
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Art Rosenberg, Santa Monica, CA: Andy, Welcome back from Barcelona! Would you care to comment on the impact that Microsoft's push into mobile devices, including "federated" presence management and IP network-based services, will have (slowly but surely) on the wireless industry and markets? Thanks!
Andy Seybold: Art, Micorosoft is, as you say, making a push into the world of wireless, new phones, new back-end tachnologies, the communications sector stuff I saw at 3GSM which is close to out Active Content is really great stuff! I suspect that Microsoft will play an increasing bigger role in the wireless space as time goes on, they have had about 5 years of mis-steps and false starts, you might remember their joint venture with Qualcomm, and Ford, and their first set of operating sytems for handhelds but I think that they are gettin getting it right this time around and I expcet to seem them play an even bigger roll as we get into the world of IMS or IP to the core.
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George, Washington, D.C.: Andy: Steve Ballmer announced a Microsoft WiFi phone at the GSM meeting. The WiFi and WiMax gangs keep talking about telephony, and now the wireless carriers are talking about cooperation with WiFi. Do we have a new wireless system on the way?
Andy Seybold: George, there are always new wireless systems on the way. And at 3GSM there was a lot of activity around wide area/WiFi voice and data handoffs, Fixed/Mobile Convergence (FMC) and VoIP. There will be some systems up and running this year, I think that there are already real trials underway. The demos I tried left a lot to be desired in the hand-off from wide area to local area and back again and this was to and from a single WiFi access point. I was not overly impressed. Further I think that there are places where this will work in the US where we have a problem in with building coverage for example but in Europe or Asia where wide area coverage is already very good I am not sure why anyone would want to do this except for capacity issues and perhaps because WiFi VoIP is cheaper? But what does it really cost to tie WiFi into a wide area network? T-Mobile in the US has done the best job so far. You cannot just use ANY WiFi hotspot, there has to be some type of connection between the hotspot and the network or the phone has to be “smart” to make the connection. It is going to happen but to me it is not a very big deal. I think the “Internet VoIP” community that is done on phone companies is pushing this hard and I keep wondering who they think provides the back-haul for all of this VoIP traffic?
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Jr Binno, Fenton MI: How do you feel with the new MVNO companies that are coming out? Also, I wanted to know your opinion on where this industyry is really going in the U.S.?
Andy Seybold: Jr-I will do the MVNO's first. We are going to have a lot of them around, ESPN, Disney, are ones that are aimed at affinity groups, that is, specific market segments that like sports or Disney content and there will be more of them. MVNO's who go are the youth market are also intereseting and one thing that do is to provide the networks who own the wireless networks with a way of not having to deal with the cost of customer acquistion. Having said that my scenerio for MNVO's is that we will have a bunch of them, some will be bought and brought into networks, some will fad away and some will emerge as strong players in the field. As to where the industry is going I believe that we are heading for a future where our wireless devices become our command and control devices for the rest of what we do and interact with. The ability to pay bills, the ability to buy content and have it displayed on our home theater, the ability to get info, the ability to have our phone "talk" ot our car when we get in, setting the seat, the mirrors, the temperature, our favorite radio station and find directions for us too. In short, I believe that most of us will come to rely on our wireless devices for things that we carry in our wallets today, things that we do in person today that we will be able to do remotely. Should be a lot of fun!
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Gideon, Israel: When do you think pure-play incumbent (non MVNO) mobile operators will be forced to offer VoIP services?
Andy Seybold: Gideon, why would they be "forced" to offer VoIP? If the networks they run on convert to VoIP which MIGHT happen sometime in the 2010 time frame they will move with the network they are on, if you mean wide area plus VoIP over WiFi, I still have a problem understanding the business model in most cases for this shift. But the VoIP industry seems to think this freight train is heading down the tracks and gathering speed, so we will see what happens. As I mentioned I was underwelmed at 3GSM with the "convergence" that I saw demonstrated there.
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Ken A., San Diego, CA: What are the best market opportunities for the non-cellular devices this year in both the wi-fi space and with broadcast mobile tv? Can you talk a bit about consumer preference for all-in-one vs. feature-focused best-of-breed mobile devices.
Andy Seybold: Ken, lets start with consumer preferences, this is a tough one and there are lots of folks who do market research (which we don't), but I beleive that a lot of people want a single device that does multiple things, there are already more camera phones sold in the US than cameras, and more on the way the ones I saw at 3GSM included some incredible resoutions, full zoom and other features. Music is already here as is video and Tv, I guess from my perspective I lean towards the all in one devices but there are purests who will want to keep their iPOD separate from their phone but I cannot hazard a guess as to what percentages will move either way, it will partly depend upon the ease of use factors, can we sell wireless devices that are don't take a rocket scientist to use? Things like the iPOD are successful because they do one thing very well (now with Video more than one thing), but at some point I think that all of these consuemr devices will need a connection to the outside world and not just a cable.
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Sue Marek, Denver, CO: Hi Andy, Mobile TV was certainly a big topic at 3GSM. Have you evaluated IP Wireless' TDtv solution? Will it be a competitor to MediaFLO and Crown Castle? Thanks.
Andy Seybold: SUe, I spent some time with the folks at IP Wireless and saw their demo, good stuff, but I guess my issue is this: In order to get receiver chips into phones there has to be a large number of potential customers, the more offerings we have competing in the market the fewer devices on each network. if you saw the forcast from Informa at 3GSM they are predicting about 130 million mobile TV viewers world wide by 2010, that is not a lot spread accross three or more competing technologies, I think it will flush out to 2 and so far my bets are with MediaFLO and DVB-H, and by the way a side by side comparision of these two technologies is really telling!
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Ron, Atlanta, GA: Andy, what do you see as the next "killer-app" from amongst the many shown at 3GSM this year?
Andy Seybold: Ron, the killer app continues to be connectivity but I can tell you that the industry believes that it will be mobile TV. I did, however see a lot of naviagation and LBS stuff that I think will be very useful for many consumer and business custoemrs alike. We are finally getting some "smart apps" for our networks. So I guess my full answer is that what the industry believes is a little different from what I believe.
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Alex, Boston MA: Andy, you mentioned in your earlier comments that "WiMAX is not a competitor to either UMTS or CDMA". Why not?
Andy Seybold: Alex, when you review WiMAX against UMTS and CDMA (mobile I am talking about) it ends up being about 25-30% less effective with through-put about 25% below the other two, regardless of what the WiMAX community is saying the engineers are saying something very different. Add to that the number of chips, you have to follow the chip sets, avaialble for UMTS and CDMA and I think that paints a pretty clear picture and then add ot that the fact that WiMAX started life as a data only technology and is adding VoIP, and the fact: There is NOT a single terrestiral data only network in the world that has ever made money! Still saying it, still unchallenged!
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Imran Qidwai, Boston, MA: Talking of all the hype, what do you think of WiMAX? I am asking about it especially in the mature (instead of emerging) markets. Is there indeed a scenario in your opinion where WiMAX will give 3G a run for its money?
Andy Seybold: In a short answer NO. It works great for back-haul, perhaps if there were spectrum in the 700 MHz band that would go either WiMAX or CDMA or UMTS it might have a chance but in areas where 3G technologies are already in the gournd I do not see anywhat that WiMAX can compete. As an ADJUNCT to 3G networks, perhaps Sprint putting it in 2.5 MHz as an additioanl airlink for better capacity it has a chance but as a stand alone system to compete with exiting systems, I don't believe so for a minute
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Dan, Denver CO: Hi Andy, T-Mobile claims to be rolling out a personal basestation for the home. 1) Have you seen/heard of this product? 2) What are your thoughts on its possible success?
Andy Seybold: Dan, there are lots of ways to do things in the home. At present I have a repeater in my home for Verizon, outside antenna to an indoor antenna, works great. I have seen a lot of companies that are doing things for the home. If you are talking about a GSM base station that attaches to DSL or cable back-end I think that is one good approach if the cost of the unit is low enough. Others are repeaters, and at 3GSM there were a lot of companies that offered devices to replace your home phone system, you set it on the counter, plug it into your phone line, disconnect the line to the outside world and your existing home phones now are on T-Mobile or what ever network you chose. We are going to see LOTS of this type of stuff enter the market this year. Our wireless phones are fast becoming our only phones and the push is on to provide coverage where ever we need it, however we need it.
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Leonard, Buena Vista, CO: Andy: What did you see in Barcelona about the roll-out of IMS by wireless carriers? Are any of them interested?
Andy Seybold: Leonard, there are contracts in place, in the US at least Cingular with Lucent, in Europe a number of others, in Asia still more. IMS is the rage, it is coming, but I have a problem with IMS as it is today because I believe that it leads to propriity installations and the "standard" does not provide for true interoperability. The other issue is how many companies are going to throw away their SS-7 switches? I think IMS comes to wireless slowly, over time, starting with data services and expanding, slowly, into voice servcies, it will be an evolution not a revolution.
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Wil Engle - San Antonio, TX: Andy welcome.. I'm with Stel-leena Communications here in San Antonio and we recently began deploying what are called Community Co-op Networks with the core focus being on Public Safety. having said that what do you see in regards to Nortel Networks bridge to link Wifi/GSM cell service and do you see anyone besides Alvarion being a player in WiMax here in the USA in regards to MESH WiMax like they are in Europe presently.
Andy Seybold: Wil, sounds interesting, I hope that the first responders get REAL and full priority access, The answer to your other two quesitons is that Nortel is far from being along inthe WiFi/GSM convergence. At 3GSM there were all the "big" guys showing off their stuff, and LOTS of little guys showing stuff off too, FMC, IMS, all play to the WiFi/GSM or CDMA play. Phones are in the market, systems are on the air and perhaps there is a business case out there somewhere. As for Alvarion, I just checked the WiMAX web site and there are at leat two other vendors doing the same thing and I am sure more on the way, Mesh can really be technology independent, it is a type of network not tied to any specific technology. But remember if you use the same spectrum for mesh or hopping as you use to provide a link to the customer the speed and capacity suffers. Mesh over WiMAX as a backhaul makes sense perhaps like this: Cusotmer and access points on 2.5 GHZ, back-haul and mesh hoppoing on 3.5 Ghz, maximises data throughput to the customers and minimizes the number of hardwire connections needed.
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Ron, Atlanta, GA: Any comments on the mobile handset provider consolidations currently in play? Additionally, any comments on the India and China growth potentials and their future w.r.t. handset modes i.e. UMTS vs EVDO?
Andy Seybold: Ron, Consolidation happens in every industry. How many PC and laptop companies are doing business today, how many were there in 85? As for India and China there is huge growth opportunities in both countries, so I am not too sure what you are looking for here. As for handsets it won't be too long before we have handsets that do GSM/CDMA/UMTS/Bluetooth/WiFi, oh an my favorite new thing: Wireeless USB, and least I forget it, a TV receiver in every unit also. The question remains how many of these handset companies can survive and thrive and how do they, in a world where a single chip set becomes the device, differentiate themselves going forward?
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Jeff, Palo Alto, California: Andy, Could you comment on the growing movement behind Metro-fi and its potential for impacting traditional carrier (service) revenue models.
Andy Seybold: Jeff-I can also point you to a number of my commentaries just so you know I am not a beliver in Metro-Fi, my reasons again have nothing to do with the technology, mesch works, access points working putting it all together works. Here are my problems They us unlicesned spectrum, subject to interfence, unregulated spectrum, the city nor anyone else can prevent anyone else from using the specturm and causing interfence. That said interference on the day the system is turned on will be futher impacted by new access points and the system will need constant "tweaking", ok, next point, the systems won't cover very well in doors, so most residents won't get very good service, vistors to the city won't get very good service inside a hotel. it is not a mobile technology, only portable. There are more but that will give you a start.
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Dan M, Providence, RI: Hi Andy, Mobile marketing is huge in Japan and is also picking up in Europe. Do you think it will catch up in the US the same way? Did you see something at Barcelona pointing at this?
Andy Seybold: Dan, all eyes are on mobile marketing, in various ways, in variuos formats and in ways that are hoped with work and won't be intrusive, I think that it will be big everywhere once the balance is reached between how much intrusion we will tolerate and the benifits we get by accepting the markeitn ads. I, for one, want to be 'given' something if I am to pay for (because I pay for my airtime), content that includes marketing messages but I do believe that it will be big and yes, to answer you question 3GSM was full of demos of ads, banner, and content, so it is on its way to the US big time.
From the MobilRelay site - Quick start
From your mobile phone go to www.mbo.com
Select your movie and showtime
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Present barcode to usher at theatre to scan.
FAQ-MobilRelay
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I recieved my text message but how can I view my tickets?
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Execs & Accounts for December 30, 2005
By Zachary Rodgers | December 30, 2005
iCrossing has become the first search marketing agency to join the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). The agency will serve on MMA's mobile search working group, which seeks to define standards for advertising on the search interfaces of handheld devices.
DD:Are Big Brands Lost in Local Search?
BY Phil Stelter | December 8, 2005
Advertisers differ in their goals, objectives, and metrics for search. Some merely want to drive traffic to their Web sites; others want to meet specific ROI (define) targets. Still others view their search campaigns as vehicles for building or strengthening their brands. Search brand value has drawn a great deal of attention with the release of several studies sponsored, in part, by the major search engines. Why? High search volume and even higher budgets.
Fueled by the release of numerous products from major search engines, along with seemingly endless media hype, the buzz surrounding local search's anticipated scope and potential is building in the marketing world. It's finally begun to register on the radar of corporate CMOs and other decision makers.
Recent research from The Kelsey Group indicates local search revenues could exceed $20 billion, or about 20 percent of all Web search activity, by 2009. Well, maybe. To date, growth within the local space has been slow, accounting for just $500 million of a total $7 billion search pie so far this year. Why so slow? One reason could be big brands' reluctance to play in the local search arena.
Thanks to some strong PR, e-mails fly from CMO laptops to company marketing directors and managers: "What exactly is local search at this point? How can we move our brand into the local search space? What does local search mean to a prominent brand like ours?" Panic and confusion set in.
A thorough exploration of your options and some very creative marketing tactics are in order.
PPC (define) search has benefited immensely in recent years from big-brand budgets. The offering is clear, and users are searching en masse. But how do big-brand advertisers leverage local search to their advantage?
If you're an advertiser with a brick-and-mortar presence in a community, local search can be a bonanza, bringing customers flocking to your doorstep and making your phone ring off the hook. It's a business requisite. But where's the benefit of playing in the local space for large, ubiquitous national or global brands? How can the maps, directions, phone numbers, and user reviews that are local search's bread and butter help them tell their story?
To begin with, local search has tremendous potential to serve as a branding vehicle for large advertisers, even those without retail brick-and-mortar outlets. A manufacturer can encourage retail outlets to list "authorized [brand name] dealer" in their Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) business profiles or to otherwise suggest their connection with the global brand. This strategy can lend legitimacy and luster to the smaller retailer while making its giant supplier's brand even more ubiquitous.
For big-name advertisers with their own offline locations, local search can be an even greater customer magnet, facilitating customer access at the precise moment when people are to ready to purchase.
Studies show a significant percentage of online research drives offline conversion. Consider the lengthy research clickstream and the considerable latency between a user's first research clicks and the final purchase, particularly with high-dollar purchases that consumers typically find greater comfort performing offline. A recent Yahoo!-sponsored study shows 52 percent of respondents who purchased offline at several major consumer electronics stores first researched purchases online.
Online marketing budgets and metrics may not even take an offline conversion component into account. It's even more likely to lack support in marketers' strategies.
Don't forget the simple steps. Enhance the probability of success by ensuring company sites include what might seem like mundane minutiae: ensure store locations and feature descriptions are current and easily accessible. Don't assume prospective customers will comb through your site to find them.
The local search waters can be murky at best. Over the coming weeks, I hope to provide a clear overview of the latest developments, challenges, and opportunities to be had by businesses in local search:
New features to target local searchers, local search product development, and integration from the major search engines
Dedicated local search engines and smaller vertical search engines with local features
The effect of new technologies and platforms, such as mobile, on local search
Specific challenges facing various local search marketers
DD:Local Opportunity Is Calling
› › › Local Search
BY Phil Stelter | January 19, 2006
Sometimes I must remind myself that despite the hype, broadband still can't hold a candle to the telephone when it comes to connecting customers with local businesses.
Crossing the great rift between the on- and offline worlds has been challenging for businesses and marketers alike since the early '90s. Sure, companies such as eBay and PayPal pulled some offline businesses onto the Web with innovative marketplaces and payment systems. But the vast majority of consumers who prefer to buy locally or seek services online have been mostly ignored online. Yellow Page directories provide online listings for local businesses but offer limited traffic and few choices for tracking and optimization. The lucrative paid search marketplace has barely begun to tap into local advertising, despite numerous initiatives by the major search engines. To date, most executions of local search have been clunky at best, and it's local that determines pay per call's fate.
What's the big deal with pay per call? The Kelsey Group estimates 350,000 companies participate in PPC (define) advertising while nearly 7 million companies advertise in the Yellow Pages. Most are small to medium-sized businesses that haven't tapped into the Internet's potential efficiencies beyond simple, informational Web sites that likely aren't equipped for e-commerce. Local advertiser budgets were getting so large, in fact, that Verizon SuperPages now offers services to buy PPC advertising on Yahoo! and Google.
Who shops for local services online? According to The Kelsey Group, it was 70 percent of U.S. households -- back in 2004.
There are several essential elements to pay-per-call success:
A model local advertisers and agencies are prepared to adopt
A user interface or method that online shoppers are prepared to use
Tracking that works and is easily implemented
Access to qualified online traffic
To date, no one's put all these pieces together. From a marketer's perspective, pay-per-call success requires an adequate source of qualified online traffic (potential customers), a means of connecting them to offline businesses (phone numbers), and a way to track performance to improve or optimize the campaign.
There are only a few significant players in the space at this point, but the search giants are close behind (if not already testing or partnering):
Ingenio Pay Per Call currently provides distribution on AOL (Search and Yellow Pages), Local.com, MIVA, Marchex, and Infospace. Ingenio's offering includes an API (define) for placing bids and pulling reports.
YellowPages.com just announced distribution into Yahoo! Local.
Verizon SuperPages Pay-For-Calls provides distribution in MSN Local Live, SuperPages.com, About.com, and WhitePages.com. There are rumors of future distribution in Google and even Yahoo! (according to one SuperPages sales representative).
Though Verizon is just expanding beyond its own network, Ingenio (like Overture in PPC's early days) is relying entirely on large distribution partners. Both providers charge by the call at the category level and provide similar fraud protection by limiting charges by call length and unique numbers in a 24-hour period. Most pay-per-call pricing operates as an auction in which the highest bid by category lands you more prominent placements across the site network. For $20 apiece, Verizon offers additional telephone numbers to break out tracking.
It's hard to discuss pay-per-call opportunities without distinguishing them from similar services available:
Call-tracking services, such as those provided by Who's Calling and VoiceStar are used by publishers and can be partnered to enable a form of pay-per-call based on tracking.
Click-to-call, recently tested on Google, is also offered by eStara through SuperPages.com and Amazon's A9. This service allows users to enter their phone numbers so businesses can call them back.
Another option from eStara uses VOIP (define) technology to connect users directly to advertisers through their computers.
If that isn't confusing enough, consider the direction local search is ultimately moving in. Google, for example, recently filed a patent application on dialing from mobile devices, a sure way to increase desirability of local search ads on mobile devices.
I sat down with Ross Weinstein, director of business development at Ingenio, to get his take on where pay per call is headed. So far, the new channel has primarily been embraced by the larger agencies and advertisers that tend to be the early adopters; the ones with the biggest budgets and whose stock in trade is pushing the envelope with new opportunities.
"Our biggest complaint is the volume of calls," explained Weinstein. In this case, low volumes of highly qualified traffic signal great potential for marketers. Any business attempting to drive qualified phone leads can be an ideal pay-per-call candidate. Ingenio currently charges Lexus dealers $12 per call, yet Volvo and Infiniti dealers pay only $2 per call, a relative bargain if the traffic proves to be highly qualified. For local businesses providing services, Weinstein says, local search can be "one more arrow in the quiver."
Fellow ClickZ columnist Hollis Thomases created an excellent laundry list of pay-per-call best practices. It's worth reading. When testing any new program, ask your account representative to show you real examples of where your ads will appear, then watch to see that they do.
For more information in this area, check out The Kelsey Group's report, "Calls, Clicks & SMEs: Driving Leads from Web to Phone" from June 2005. It's frequently cited.
Pay per call can be tricky to leverage. Volumes can be underwhelming, and you can expect a baffling range of opportunities to continue to emerge. Nonetheless, for agencies and local businesses that can stay on top of the dizzying array and launch before their competition, some golden opportunities will come calling.
DD:Local Search Goes Mobile
BY Phil Stelter | January 5, 2006
I love my Verizon service. I know many folks won't agree, but after years of spotty coverage throughout Los Angeles and across the nation, I finally found a carrier that consistently works (for me, in San Francisco, and at least for now). It also happens to be the last service I tried. Why? Verizon has a reputation of very cautiously embracing new technology. Whiz-bang phones are not the norm, and special features are typically the exception rather than the rule. Verizon is the tortoise in this race -- slow, steady, and reliable.
Just before the holidays, I saw a press release with Verizon's latest featured service "coming soon" and was genuinely surprised. Verizon is offering a new navigation service based on the user's location. VZNavigator will reportedly cost a meager $9.99 a month to provide customers with directions to over 14 million locations in its database. In other words, it knows where you are, so why not help you get where you're going?
I was an early adopter of the Treo 300, and I loved sending e-mail from a modified Webmail page or showing people search results and directions from the painfully slow browser on my phone. It was so cutting edge... and unused. Palm users have never exactly been mainstream, and mobile Web browsing is a small fraction of sessions.
Is VZNavigator a significant opportunity for businesses seeking customers in local search? No. It would be naive to expect a major return from any efforts at this point. Like most of the local search platforms, the real opportunities have yet to arrive. However, this doesn't change the exciting potential.
What does mobile have to do with local? Think of location-based services as the next step in the evolution. If adopted, local content via mobile devices could provide an impact equivalent to broadband's wide-scale adoption across the nation. "Adweek" quoted Patrick Keane, Google director of sales strategy, as saying: "The great thing about broadband is that it turns the Internet into electricity."
Perception has changed and Web 2.0 has taken flight. Fast Internet access is now a utility rather than a luxury. Cell phones are also a necessity. Perception of the medium will change, and consumer behavior will follow.
What does this mean for local advertisers? Ten years ago, you might have flipped open that dusty yellow book to find a number or location before you went shopping. Today, Google has already merged maps and shopping with local content. Imagine getting this information whenever and wherever you need it. By giving consumers easy, relevant information on demand and -- this is key -- in the context of their location, local advertisers can tap into latent transactions that are literally around the corner or passing through.
In Japan, cell phone users already receive offers based on their location. And the NTT DoCoMo phones allow users to purchase airline tickets and check in for the flight. Google now offers software for mobile phones to get local results. How long before AdWords appear? What about location-targeted AdWords? MSN, Yahoo!, AOL, InfoSpace, and YP.com also have local features and will be sure to follow Google's lead.
When we think of local information via mobile devices, we largely think of services. Where is the restaurant? How do I get there? How does Gayot rate this hotel? Are there other hotels nearby with cheaper rates?
Online shopping during the holiday season reportedly surged as high as 30 percent over 2004. Undoubtedly, more people are buying online. An increasing number of shoppers are researching online before purchasing. What happens when location-based content addresses the needs of shoppers with high levels of purchase intent?
Consider this scenario: A woman is driving through a town on a business trip. She left her laptop charger at home and is about to panic. She turns to her phone and, using voice commands, states the brand, model, and the word "charger." Ten options are returned, both online and brick-and-mortar stores. The least expensive option is online, but she needs the charger today and is short on time. She selects a local retailer that's featuring a discount, but it's currently out of stock. She then selects a local chain store that allows online purchases with in-store pickup. She purchases the charger, gets turn-by-turn directions to the store, and picks up her purchase on her way through town.
This scenario shows mobile product searches with local results integrated, GPS navigation/directions, mobile transactions with online delivery or offline pickup, and location-based advertising. It sounds like the Jetsons, but it could easily be your future.
2005 was a year of technology mash-ups (define). All the pieces are out there and converging as you read this. Consider this Froogle local search for a laptop in San Francisco. Gather the data, improve the relevance, deliver results designed for mobile users, and watch the opportunities emerge. If you thought 2005 was a dizzying year of development in the local search arena, hang on to your socks in 2006 (or ask your phone where you can get another pair).
Google Looks to Patent Mobile Click-to-call Ads.(Sorry if this has been already posted)
By Kevin Newcomb | January 12, 2006
Google appears to be setting its sights on the mobile advertising market, given its latest patent application. The company is seeking protection for a kind of ad that would trigger a phone call instead of rendering a new page when clicked.
This "call-on-select" functionality is described in U.S. patent application 20060004627, filed in June 2004 by Shumeet Baluja, a senior research scientist at Google, which was published last week. The application describes a process that takes into consideration a device's screen size, connection speed, and input capabilities to determine if it would be better to serve an ad with a link to a Web page or one that causes the phone or other mobile device to place a phone call to the advertiser.
Google is keeping its plans quiet, providing a statement saying only, "Like many companies, we file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees may come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don't. Prospective product announcements should not be inferred from our patent applications."
The application sets forth a method of scoring ads based on the various limitations of a client device, relevance of ads to users -- both contextual and behavioral -- CPM and CPC price, user preferences, and other "performance parameters." The score would determine which ad or ads to serve, as well as whether to link the user to a Web page or connect to an advertiser via phone call.
"Everybody talks about pay-per-call in wireless as a natural business model," Greg Sterling, program director at the Kelsey Group, told ClickZ News." There's definitely a lot of interest among advertisers in receiving phone calls. Our data indicate that 71 percent of small and mid-sized businesses would rather receive a phone call than a click in a performance-based ad model."
This preference for phone contact, combined with the presumed immediacy of the mobile environment, could allow Google and others to charge a premium for these kinds of ads, he said.
Google began testing click-to-call ads on its site in November, but has not yet rolled out that service to mobile phones.
The mobile search space has been heating up lately, with recent entries by AOL and others. Google has long offered a WAP version of its search engine, but it hasn't yet distributed its AdWords ads on mobile search pages. In addition, Google and Yahoo! each launched large-scale mobile content and search initiatives last week, none of which includes ads at this point.
The pay-per-call market has also seen its share of growth, with providers like eStara, Ingenio and Jambo leading the charge to link up with search engine, directory, and classifieds partners. In June, Kelsey Group pinned the size of the market at anywhere from $1.4 billion to $4 billion.
Several Internet Yellow Pages providers offer mobile ads, but in a paid inclusion model instead of a performance-based model, said Sterling, though he added that usage of many of these services is "meager, at best."
In the patent application, Baluja sets forth several reasons why "call-on-select" would be useful, including avoiding download delays on devices with limited bandwidth and preventing advertisers from looking bad when their site doesn't render properly on a small screen.
Baluja also argues that inputting data via a cell phone's keypad is difficult to contend with: "Even if the advertiser's landing Web page and Website function well on a device with a limited display and/or communications connection, such as a mobile telephone, the chances of a conversion (e.g., a transaction being consummated) may remain quite small due to input limitations of mobile telephones. For example, entering shipping information and credit card information with a mobile telephone keyboard may be slow and frustrating."
An SEM Diet for the New Year?
› › › Search Engine Marketing
BY P.J. Fusco | January 18, 2006
SEO (define) is the process of improving Web pages to rank higher in organic search engine results for targeted keywords and keyword phrases. The ultimate goal is to generate more revenue for the business that operates the Web site.
PPC (define) advertising is the process of paying for traffic sent to specific Web pages placed in search engine results for targeted keywords and keyword phrases. The ultimate goal is to generate more revenue for the business that paid for the ads.
New Year's resolutions, at least in here the U.S., typically include exercising more and eating less to attain or maintain a healthy weight. If you apply similar goals to marketing your business online, you're probably focusing on optimizing more and spending less on PPC advertising to maintain and grow a healthy business.
Going on a diet and balancing your Web marketing mix are a lot alike. If you achieve a balance between the two priorities, you're almost guaranteed positive results.
How can you determine if your Web site is optimized to make the most of organic search referrals and is visible when paid placement is required? If you're the DIY sort, get ready to exercise your mind and potentially eat your words. The balancing act begins by doing some intensive keyword research.
Off to the Log Files
It's important to know which keywords and keyword phrases send significant search engine traffic to your site before you pay for clicks that send visitors to your site or you optimize pages within your site. These traffic-generating words and phrases reside in your site's log files.
A multitude of log file analyzers is available. Some log file analysis tools are free; others can be custom built. Almost every commercial Web host provider offers some type of log file analysis service. Which tool you use depends on your site's complexity and the level of detail you need to know about your site.
Keyword research should always start with your site's log files. Prepare a list of the keywords and keyword phrases that generate search-engine-referred traffic to your site. Note the destinations, page by page, and analyze the number of search engine referrals over time, particularly if your business is affected by seasonal shifts.
You'll end up with a master list of keywords and keyword phrases that's already generating search traffic for your site, which could be further and more deeply optimized. The words and phrases relevant to your business but missing from the list remain potential cost-effective targets for PPC advertising. At least, until your site earns its way toward heightened visibility of those words and phrases.
Fill in the Gaps
Take the time to evaluate your list of keywords and keyword phrases by using a subscription-based tool such as Wordtracker. Are your top-performing phrases in line with potential search engine traffic? Are there opportunities for you to incorporate other popular keywords and keyword phrases into your site? Now's the time to expand your list of popular keywords and keyword phrases that are relevant to your business.
You can also use Yahoo!'s free Term Suggestion Tool. But understand Yahoo!'s paid search tool inflates its results by aggregating singular and plural keywords, along with popular misspellings, which can be misleading. Despite the numerical popularity of individual keywords, it's usually best to target two- or three-word phrases.
Once you've collected a list of additional relevant keywords and keyword phrases, consider the words' semantic nature. Wordtracker will provide some semantic, clustered recommendations for alternative keywords. Another way to seek out popular semantic phrasing for specific keywords is to use the tilde (~) search operator.
A tilde search in Google, for example, uses fuzzy logic to reveal synonyms preceding or following the word specific to the keyword. The tilde search operator takes the word immediately before or after it and searches both for that specific word and for the word's synonyms. A tilde search will also reveal phrases with alternative beginnings or endings.
The tilde operator works best when applied to single search terms, general words with multiple synonyms, and diverse usage. As with all search operators, it's important you place the tilde next to the word, with no spaces between it and its associated word. For example, "~clay flowerpot," not "~ clay flowerpot."
Summary
You must incorporate popular keywords and keyword phrases into your site if you want to increase natural search traffic to your site. Just don't overdo it. Like a healthy diet, moderation is in order when it comes to keyword use in organic optimization.
Next, we'll look at how to use your keyword list to increase search-referred traffic to your site, as well as guidelines for on-the-page and behind-the-page optimization techniques.
P.J. Fusco has been working in the Internet industry since 1996 when she developed her first SEM service while acting as general manager for a regional ISP. More recently, she was the SEO manager for a world renowned online publishing firm. Today, she acts as an SEM manager for an international health and beauty dot-com corporation that generates more than $1 billion a year in e-commerce sales.
DD:Mobile Search Is More Than Your Local Green Grocer
by Cerelle Centeno, Wednesday, Jan 18, 2006 3:35 PM EST
MOBILE SEARCH HAS ALWAYS MEANT more to me than just another hyped application. Still, while I knew it as another opportunity for brands to connect with consumers, I never fully understood the consumer perspective until recently. Being somewhat of a technology Luddite, I waited a while before adding a Treo and an iPod to my gadget arsenal--only about two weeks ago, actually.
Needless to say, there's been a lot to get used to. iPod aside (which my husband tells me I am using like a "Walkman" since I have only uploaded 300 songs, and it has capacity for 7,500), the Treo has definitely changed my routine, specifically, my downtime.
The other night, I walked over to Whole Foods after work to pick up dinner. Apparently I showed up at one of the peak times, when the checkout line wound through the salad bar area and into desserts. Enter mobile search! I figured, "Why not look for another organic food store in the area?"
I pulled up Google, which knew that I was using a mobile device to connect and sent me straight to www.google.com/pda. I typed in "organic food nyc" and chose the "Web" search option. Google pulled up three local listings followed by 10 natural results. The three stores in the area were listed clearly, with options to click on the telephone numbers and use my Treo to call the locations directly. The natural listings were geared more towards how to buy organic food or join organic food co-ops online.
Using a mobile device as a means to find stores, theaters and other resources in your area (i.e., local search) is certainly one aspect of mobile search, but not the only one. Once I realized the other organic food stores were too far away, I decided to commit myself to waiting in line. I had the perfect recipe for the success of mobile search--downtime and the Internet in the palm of my hand. I delved further into some of the natural listings and read up on buying organic food online.
Google's Web Search option for PDAs transcodes Web sites built for desktop viewing to Web sites that are easy to view on mobile devices. Its "Mobile Web" search option, currently in beta, pulls only those sites that have been optimized for the mobile search experience. Why should you care about these efforts? Well, consider them in conjunction with the following strides being made in the mobile arena.
ESPN is becoming a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), which means it is branding its service through a major carrier's network, and in November 2005 launched a cell phone that gives users one-click access to personalized sports content. Disney, its parent company, has plans to do the same with a focus on family. Another MVNO, Amp'd Mobile, which launched at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is targeting the 18- to 25-year-old male audience with custom content. MTV was so jazzed about the venture it announced a $50 million investment in Amp'd.
Combine this news with the following data: Gartner Dataquest estimates that worldwide handset shipments grew by nearly 21 percent between Q3 2004 and Q3 2005. Is it safe to say 2006 is not the year for mobile search? Not necessarily. With the recent developments in the mobile market, search can only follow suit. In the meantime, my next mission is to figure out how to get part three of a program I've been watching on PBS onto my iPod.
Cerelle Centeno is corporate marketing director at digital marketing network iCrossing, Inc. and can be reached at cerelle.centeno@icrossinginc.com.
DD:Survey: Google, Yahoo Still Favorites in North America
By Chris Sherman
For the second year running, a Keynote Systems study says Google provides the most satisfying search experience among North American users, despite competitive maneuvering from all of the other major search services.
The Keynote Customer Experience Rankings for Search Engine Sites tracked the search behavior of 2,000 users on AOL Search, Ask Jeeves, Google, MSN Search and Yahoo. The study is a follow-on to last year's survey of North American searchers, and is similar to the Chinese survey that I reported on in yesterday's SearchDay.
The study captured more than 250 metrics for each site and benchmarked 13 key business success measures, including user satisfaction, home page design and appeal, future usage and other factors. In addition to looking at general web search, this year's study also looked at local and image search.
"Google is still the king—they really are a clear favorite across all of the search categories," said Dr. Bonny Brown, Keynote Systems director of research.
Google outperformed its competitors in all 13 business success drivers measured in the study. Yahoo put in a strong second place showing in 12 of the 13 drivers measured. The top "impact drivers" that affected user perceptions were general search quality, home page appeal, special features and perceived site performance.
Ask Jeeves ranked third, followed by MSN Search and AOL's public web search site. The study also looked at AOL's member-only search and it would have tied Ask Jeeves in third place had it been available to all users.
What makes these findings particularly interesting is not Google's performance, but the fact that users prefer Google despite Keynote's finding that there is little actual difference in the relevance of results among all of the services. Keynote reported a similar finding last year, and it reinforces the idea that Google and Yahoo generate much of their satisfaction from factors apart from search quality.
That said, general search quality still has the greatest impact on user perceptions. Ask Jeeves showed the largest increase in general search quality over the last year, while MSN had the largest improvement in this area in the past six months.
In both cases, these jumps are related to search quality and the way sponsored listings are presented. Ask Jeeves reduced the number of sponsored listings it displayed this year, and MSN altered the presentation of its sponsored listings, more clearly identifying them and separating them from natural search results.
Yahoo is most competitive with Google in local and image search, according to Brown. In local search, 82% of Yahoo users reported task success, as compared to 83% of Google users, and 66% of Yahoo users were very satisfied with their search compared with 71% of Google users.
The study also found that users are taking advantage of specialized image search features, with 63% of Yahoo users and 56% of Google users clicking on the image search links when looking for pictures. There's less awareness of the other specialized services, with 28% of Google users and 39% of Yahoo users clicking the local search links, and even fewer accessing Yahoo shopping or the Froogle product search.
Familiarity with a service plays an important role in user satisfaction. A full 82% of new or infrequent users sent to search on Google were "very satisfied" with their experience, compared to 53% "very satisfied" with their experience on MSN. However, among regular or primary users, Google scored 92% satisfaction rate and MSN an 84% satisfaction rate. Ask Jeeves had the highest jump in satisfaction after new or infrequent users had performed a number of searches and became familiar with the service.
The user interface is also an important factor in influencing searcher perceptions. "The home page is often a very strong factor in driving future usage—things that you wouldn't think would have such a strong impact," said Brown.
MSN was the only site to show improvement in the perception of results being up to date. AOL's strongest performance was in the news search and product search categories, as well as in the special features category, but these results were primarily achieved by the success of its subscriber search site.
According to Brown, Google will maintain its competitive lead unless the other services make dramatic changes. What kinds of changes? Things like limiting the number of ads presented in results, bolstering the perception of having a cutting-edge back end, or improving other elements of design and organization in the user interface.
The good news for Google's competitors is that user loyalty isn't rock-solid, according to the study. "There certainly is a lot of hope for all of these engines because we're still seeing people say they'll switch if they don't find what they're looking for," said Brown.
More information is available in today's press release announcing the findings and in a PDF abstract describing the customer experience rankings study in more detail.
DD:SearchTHIS: Local is as Local Does
January 18, 2006
By Kevin M. Ryan
Our search editor explains why making sense of the race for local intelligence is harder than it looks.
Imagine what the world would be like without interactive driving directions and access to online information systems about local businesses. Most of us can remember a central telephone system in the pre-regulation days that allowed us to access points for finding local information, dial up information and telephone directories.
Today's digital generation has no such boundaries, and the developing local world has everyone guessing about the future of the connected, geographically relevant local experience. There are a multitude of choices in how we access the local commerce information. Some are more familiar than others. New applications of the old yellow pages still hold a great deal of promise, but a few bizarre twists in accessing local information should have advertisers sitting up and taking notice.
Yesterday, Google announced acquisition plans for dMarc Broadcasting a radio advertising firm with technology that helps connects advertisers to radio stations. Meanwhile, last week sponsored listings began appearing on Google's maps. Blogs were buzzing recently with the rumors of Verizon and Microsoft expanding their existing relationship with new advertising options, and Yahoo! recently announced plans to expand its relationship with YellowPages.Com.
Is it yellow pages or local search? What's the difference? How will live audience testing affect the relationship consumers have with their trusted information resources? Let's take a look at recent developments in the local world and try to make sense of it all.
The Google way
Google's planned acquisition of dMarc Broadcasting signals an entirely new direction for reaching out to audiences, shifting the directional local model from customer retention to new customer acquisition. The essence of local search lies in the nature of users seeking information about services in which they already have a need.
While Google did not release information about how ad implementations were to take place, a Google representative suggested the vast network of advertisers in the Google network would benefit from the acquisition. dMarc's technology has applied a new level of connectivity and accountability for advertisers, and it is only natural that contextual relevancy would make radio a smarter play for advertisers.
The race for local advertising intelligence saw the limited geographic test placements of sponsored listings in the context of map viewing last week with a short list of advertisers making an appearance. Also in the works and possibly coinciding with map placements is the advancement of pay per call advertising in the Google network.
One has to wonder about the impact of the untested human guinea pig model of introducing new services, but we'll get to that in a minute.
MSN and Verizon
Verizon and MSN have a large scale partnership in place for local advertising in the mobile environment. Web-enabled Verizon mobile devices have access to MSN Messenger and other MSN services such as Hotmail, news and weather. While the mobile device playground is decidedly chaotic, a bigger development on the local search front is worth a closer look.
MSN and Verizon have had a long standing partnership in the Yellow Pages arena with Verizon advertising populating MSN Yellow Pages. Last week, local business advertisements from Verizon's Superpages.com began appearing on Microsoft's local search pages.
A delicate mish-mash of pay per call, pay per click and flat rate advertisements are now appearing in local search results with an apparent priority given to ad units with performance-based potential. Since the pay per call format has yet to see mass adoption, it is yet unknown how consumers will react to a multitude of choices in response action. The real test of targeting capabilities would be integration into MSN's AdCenter platform, which allows for targeting by more traditional audience segmentation like demographic and psychographic information.
Yellow Pages and Yahoo! -- oh my!
Last year, the dominant directory domain was acquired by telephone company giants SBC and BellSouth. Tried and true methods of directional advertising met a popular domain and the collected resources of these big firms came together. The biggest benefit of a yellow pages advertisement lies in the inherent trust consumers have in the Yellow Pages as an information resource, as opposed to an advertising medium.
Recently, Yahoo! and YellowPages.com announced a plan in which Yellowpages.com advertisers will receive placements in Yahoo! Local. Once again, partnerships have been in place since before the new millennium with the Telco's and Yahoo! both sharing advertiser revenue, as well as the highly coveted business listing data.
Listing accuracy has been a problem for local business information providers since the industry was deregulated, and the ownership of business addresses and telephone numbers were lost in the shuffle en masse. Though we can expect the pattern of telephone service providers and internet portal partnerships to continue, the much larger issue of re-establishing the trust consumers have with the big yellow print directories must be addressed.
The human test
In the old days, we would test new products and technologies with developers, reach out to specific audiences with potential changes in very small controlled doses to uncover flaws, potential legal complications and other unforeseen disasters long before mass-consuming audiences were allowed to digest our new offerings. In short, we had a very good idea what we might encounter long before a new concept was introduced.
Today, the beta concept has shattered or removed the old practice of preparing the product for mainstream before large scale distribution.
The problem? The public lacks the time to adopt technologies and adapt their own behavior to new resources. Exacerbating the predicament is the constant ebb and flow of mergers, acquisitions and shaky partnerships that last only a short while.
The success of each new development is contingent upon its ability to scale up and secure advertising dollars. With the possible exception of early adopters, few advertisers are willing to place their brand equity on the line with an untested form of advertising. A better plan for hopefuls in the space might be taking a break from the local rat race and spending some time getting it right before introducing it to the world.
Consumers and advertisers will thank you.
iMedia Search Editor Kevin Ryan's current and former client roster reads like a "who's who" in big brands; Rolex Watch, USA, State Farm Insurance, Farmers Insurance, Minolta Corporation, Samsung Electronics America, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Panasonic Services, and the Hilton Hotels brands, to name a few. Ryan believes in sound guidance, creative thought, accountable actions and collaborative execution as applied to search, or any form of marketing. His principled approach and staunch commitment to the industry have made him one of the most sought after personalities in online marketing. Ryan volunteers his time with the Interactive Advertising Bureau, Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, and several regional non-profit organizations.
Ryan is Managing Partner at Kinetic Results.
THIS IS INTERESTING!
DD:JumpTap's Breakthrough Mobile Search Keyword Sales Program Set To Increase Revenue For Mobile Operators / 17/01/2006
Top Mobile Search Categories Revealed
LONDON, January 17, 2006 - JumpTap, Inc., today breaks new ground in the emerging mobile search market by launching a hosted Keyword Sales Program for the wireless industry, which will enable mobile operators to tap into significant new revenue streams from third parties, such as advertisers and content providers.
Launched to the European marketplace at the first Mobile Search & Discovery conference (17-18 Jan., Café Royal, London), the JumpTap mobile search solution is designed specifically to address the needs and preferences of mobile device users. JumpTap's Keyword Sales Program allows mobile operators to leverage the vast potential of performance-based marketing by bringing turnkey, Pay-per-Click and Pay-per-Call programs to mobile handsets.
Search engine marketing, also known as keyword advertising or Pay-per-Click represents a revenue opportunity that is already ubiquitous on the Internet. JumpTap's Keyword Sales Program presents targeted, keyword-based ads and content to mobile users at the precise moment those users express interest in specific goods and services. JumpTap's Program handles the entire fulfillment operation for mobile ads and inventory from advertiser management to billing and collections. Making it easy for mobile operators to capture mobile search revenue, JumpTap sends mobile operators a cheque every month as a share of the sponsored links and calls which occur on the operators' networks.
Dan Olschwang, JumpTap CEO, says, "We are excited to support this first ever Mobile Search dedicated conference and to utilise it as a platform to launch JumpTap's Keyword Sales Program for mobile search to the European marketplace. JumpTap addresses the mobile data market's growing need for mobile-specific search solutions and delivers them to wireless carriers with a significant ROI."
Olschwang, a keynote speaker at the conference, comments further, "JumpTap's carrier-centric focus, mobile-specific search experience and pure mobile ad inventory set us apart in the mobile search market. Our comprehensive, carrier-aligned business and technology strategy not only makes us a valuable partner to mobile operators but positions us well to interface to merchants and advertisers with content and services to sell to mobile users."
Matt Hatton, Senior Wireless Analyst, Yankee Group says, "Mobile Search is a top priority for mobile operators in 2006. The mobile industry needs to help subscribers navigate the increasingly broad range of services and content available today. Traditional discovery tools, such as the structured operator portal, will not be capable of dealing with the future demands of users and content providers. As well as improving the user experience, search tools also offer mobile operators the potential to generate additional revenue from advertising and sponsored searches."
JumpTap today also announced the first statistics for its live mobile search deployment. Despite conventional wisdom that the numeric keypad would be a barrier for mobile search text entry, searchers still entered unusually long queries, including "don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me", "the killers all the things that i've done", and "what are you doing the rest of your life". The first example query, referring to a ringtone by the Pussycat Dolls, is 45 characters long.
For the month of December 2005, the type of search for the top 100 queries included:
27% Categories. Top 3 terms searched: Christmas, Hockey, WWE (Worldwide Wresting Entertainment).
22% Adult. Top 3 terms searched: Sex, Porn, Girls.
20% Artist Name. Top 3 terms searched: Eminem, 50 Cent, Madonna.
14% Game. Top 3 terms searched: Tetris, Poker, Snake.
9% Music Genre. Top 3 terms searched: Country, Themes, Reggae.
5% Music Title. Top 3 terms searched: My Humps, Jingle Bell, Gold Digger.
3% Website Names. Top 3 terms searched: Google, MSN, Yahoo.
This first live service has immediately yielded valuable data, including the ability to identify and predict purchasing trends. For example, Eminem and 50 Cent topped the artist query charts in December 2005, but in early January 2006, Nelly and Beyonce have been the fastest growing artist queries. Using such data, JumpTap offers merchandising recommendations about digital content and services to its customers and partners.
The JumpTap hosted solution for Mobile Search includes:
Keyword Sales Program -- JumpTap's Keyword Sales Program delivers targeted, keyword-based ads and content to mobile users searching for goods and services. Available as Pay-per-Click and Pay-per-Call, the program pays carriers for user-selected sponsored links. It includes an auction system for keywords, advertiser support services, and mobile ad inventory built by JumpTap.
Search Engine Designed for Mobile -- The search engine provides the most accurate, relevant results for mobile content, aggregating a wide variety of carrier-approved content from within the walled garden and carrier WAP portal, as well as out-of-garden content from WAP sites and web sites. User-aware and location-aware, the search engine indexes carrier content databases and leverages carrier network assets, with a hosted offer designed to reduce implementation time.
Intuitive User Interface -- Available in WAP or as a Java application, JumpTap's carrier-branded user interface is intuitive for mobile phones. Designed for speed and ease-of-use, it features simple query entry, quick navigation and precise use of limited mobile device screen space. The user interface uses suggestions to speed query entries, ultimately reducing clicks-to-content.
DD:Gannett Announces Minority Investment in 4INFO
4INFO Selected to Provide Real-time Mobile Search and Interactivity to Gannett Media Properties
McLEAN, VA and PALO ALTO, CA – Gannett today said it has made a minority investment in 4INFO, a Palo Alto, CA, company offering a comprehensive suite of mobile search services. Gannett also has entered into a marketing and distribution agreement with 4INFO, the companies said. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Collaboration between the companies will begin with USA TODAY and be introduced to other Gannett newspaper and broadcast operations, including Captivate Network. This will include promotion of 4INFO’s mobile real-time information such as sports scores and weather within relevant sections of USA TODAY.
4INFO’s primary service allows a person to use their cell phone to send a text message search to the company’s 5 digit number (44636). This free service then replies with a personalized answer within seconds. People can search for information they need while on the go, including local business listings, sports scores, fantasy statistics, weather forecasts, movie times and more. 4INFO will continue to operate as a stand-alone company managed by 4INFO’s executive team.
“Mobile search is rapidly becoming a logical choice for consumers who want to have instant access to the information they need, whenever they need it,” said Jack Williams, president of Gannett Digital. “4INFO is the leader in mobile search and has developed a powerful technology platform that delivers instant, accurate results to users while keeping the experience intuitive and rewarding. Our investment and marketing arrangement is an excellent way to extend Gannett’s multi-platform approach to providing content to our customers.”
“Gannett’s range of operations and access to customers aligns nicely with our mission as 4INFO becomes the first, best choice for people seeking personalized, affordable and relevant information on their cell phones,” said Pankaj Shah, CEO of 4INFO. “Bringing aboard a strategic partner with the heft of Gannett, as well as its national distribution capability, is a fabulous step for us. Constant touch with consumers via Gannett, and the resulting huge mobile audience, means high value for advertisers and other partners.”
About 4INFO
4INFO, the leading Mobile Search service, enables the search and delivery of real-time information to a mobile device. 4INFO’s comprehensive suite of mobile services (Text Message Search to 44636, Mobile Web at http://wap.4INFO.net, and Text Alerts) provides access to business listings, sports scores, fantasy sports stats, weather, flight information, movie times, horoscopes, hotspot locations, news, stock quotes, hotel reservations, package tracking, and mobile downloads. The services are available free of charge to users on all major U.S. carriers. 4INFO is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif.
About Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is a leading international news and information company that publishes 91 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation's largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns more than 1,000 non-daily publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper magazine. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom’s second largest regional newspaper company. Newsquest publishes more than 300 titles, including 17 daily newspapers, and a network of prize-winning Web sites. Gannett also operates 21 television stations in the United States and is an Internet leader with sites sponsored by its TV stations and newspapers including USATODAY.com, one of the most popular news sites on the Web.