So when’s that ad money coming in? As investors clamp down, startups are looking for hipper ad formats.  Real people will smell a rat.

The ad from Dexter below tells the whole story—an embeddable video ad that friends can send to eachother.  Meebo is experimenting with a new ad strategy that eschews in-your-faceness and relies on friend referrals. Now it's up to the ad agencies to make videos that'll go viral.

From WSJ:

Web Start-Ups Seek New Ways to Click
Social, Video Sites Duck 
Some Old-Style Pitches 
And Go for Interactivity

As concerns mount that the slowing economy may hurt the online-ad market, Silicon Valley Web start-ups are developing new approaches. Companies such as online-software venture Slide and video and social-networking site Bebo are trying to run ads that appeal to a younger audience

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The ad world just got one step closer to closing that gaping gap between eyeballs and ad dollars.  The IAB announced  much-needed standards for in-stream online video ads today.

From the press release:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau Launches Digital Video In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines
Simplification and Efficiency Lead the Way to Continued Explosive Growth

NEW YORK, NY (May, 5, 2008) –The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today announced the release of “Digital Video In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines.” Created by the IAB’s Digital Video Committee, a group comprised of 145 leading interactive companies, they are the definitive format guidelines that directly address digital video advertising.

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Kara Swisher challenged a panel of VCs and CEOs in the online ad space to consider whether it's time to pop the "Advertising, of course" startup business "bubblette." Bob Davis, Eric Hippeau and Clickable's David Kidder weigh in.

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In what may well be a landmark development for the monetization of online video, Google  has launched a program to provide video publishers and video services companies with overlay advertisements.

Publishers are paid on cost-per thousand impressions basis, or CPM.  The CPM paid to specific publishers will be established through an automated auction process. 

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In November, Yahoo! quietly introduced clickable pre-roll ad units with a "call to action," meaning visitors who watch a video, see a pre-roll ad and are encouraged to click on the ad to find more information.

Rebecca Paoletti, Director of Video Sales Strategy told me on Friday that some of these new units are getting clickthrough rates ten times greater than conventional ads.

Yahoo! typically inserts a pre-roll ad and companion banner ad adjacent to the video player. 

While YouTube has vastly greater streams, Yahoo!

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Exclusive: IBM's chief media strategist releases study showing consumers over 45 will pay for online video subscriptions.

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Now the fun begins...


After 18 months in development, we've launched RichContent and the RichContent Permanent Media Placement platform.

We thought we'd have it ready for showtime by February 14th of this year (2007). Had all the pieces, and have been doing broadcasts for a handful of clients...  interface and workflow improvements cost us another 6 months. The delay was very good for the improved end user experience and training editors on our methods. Bad for cashflow.

I have to applaud the team. Spence, Andrew, Mark, David, you guys kicked some serious butt. Thanks.

So, what's it all about?

It's about creating permanent and even growing media placements (aka advertising) across the most trafficked media sites on the web. This means once your media is in place, it stays forever.
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