Ms. Adverthinker

This has been online for a while and posted to this site before, but since it always makes me smile I thought it was worth dusting off again today.  Enjoy.

As a supplement to yesterday’s post, here are some excerpt from a New York Times article today reporting that online videos are growing in length as technology improves for editing and viewing online:

“While online video is not going to replace television anytime soon, it is now decidedly mainstream. About 150 million Internet users in the United States watch about 14.5 billion videos a month, according to the measurement firm comScore, or an average of 97 videos per viewer. Although the Web lacks a standard for video measurement, comScore says average video durations have risen slowly but surely in the past year, to an average of 3.4 minutes in March.”

…

“Yet TV networks get much of the credit for the longer-length viewing behavior. In the past two TV seasons, nearly every broadcast show has been streamed free on the Internet, making users accustomed to watching TV online for 20-plus minutes at a time. By some estimates, one in four Internet customers now uses Hulu, an online home for NBC and Fox shows, every month. ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ the popular ABC reality show, draws almost two million viewers on ABC.com, according to Nielsen.

“’People are getting more comfortable, for better or for worse, bringing a computer to bed with them,’ said Dina Kaplan, the co-founder of Blip.tv.”

I am visiting my family this weekend and the DirectTV is not working.  Apparently, my dad has been without TV for a week now.  Initially, I didn’t think it would be a big deal:  with four computers in this house and a live Internet connection, and with an iPhone, I thought I wouldn’t miss the television.

I was wrong.  Yes, we can keep up with the world through our Twitter feeds.  And I can find something specific to watch online if I am looking for it.  But I miss the background noise of television.  Even in a house full of people, there is something about having the TV on that makes me feel like I am more connected to the world.  The house is too quiet right now.

This quiet time does have me thinking about multitasking lifestyles.  I spend a good portion of my day online and connected.  However, in reviewing my behavior, I realize that I am usually doing at least three things at once.  I am not alone.  When surveyed, over 80% of respondents are involved with another medium, activity or device while online and almost 60% of those say watching television is something they do while online.  Although media channels continue to get more segmented and fight for our attention, television is still a huge part of our lives; it still has value.  We have become accustomed to receiving information in several different formats with many of those delivered at the same time.  Does it enhance our knowledge or diminish the importance of the information that is delivered?  I believe it enhances our knowledge to receive information in a variety of formats, even if it is all at the same time.  Each delivery mechanism can resonate in a different way, giving the information a dimension it didn’t have when it is delivered in only one format.  When the television is on in the background, we can do several other things and still absorb that information.

There have been theories flying that television will soon be obsolete due to advancing technologies around DVR and online video.  But more recently others are saying that television viewership is growing: according to Nielsen, “the average American television viewer is watching more than 151 hours of television per month — an ‘all-time’ high — up from more than 145 hours during the same period the previous year.”

Obviously, television is not going away.  While I don’t feel like I am missing any news or cultural enlightenment by not having the television, I feel like I am missing an old friend.  The internet can provide me with everything the television can, true.  But I have to search to find that information.  The television just delivers it to me once I set the channel. The television enhances my online experience and the Internet enhances my television-watching/listening experience.  These media complement each other.

Of course, if I had to make a choice between television and the Internet, I would choose the Internet.

Watching video online is mainstream at this point: more than 145 million U.S. web users watched 13 million videos in February, according to ComScore.  While most of the videos watched on sites like YouTube are amateur, there is new movement from YouTube to get more professionally-made content on the site and increase overall video quality (NY Times):

“YouTube draws about 100 million visitors each month, making it an enormous stage for media companies. But many television outlets have been reluctant to share videos with the site. Along with CBS, notable exceptions include ABC’s late-night program ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live,’ which has harnessed YouTube to great effect, drawing 11 million views for its videos in the last month. ‘Consider this your oasis in a desert of skateboarding dogs and popcorn-eating hamsters,’ a message on Mr. Kimmel’s YouTube channel says.

“With deals like the one with ABC, YouTube is working hard to revise that user-generated reputation. ‘They need the money,’ Mr. Vorhaus said of YouTube, and adding professional video is ‘how they’re going to get it.’”

President Obama has clearly taken advantage of an audience hungry for more quality video.  During his campaign, his team uploaded over 1,800 videos to BarackObama.com; he now he has an entire staff dedicated to new media (NY Times).  As expected, President Obama’s videos are always professionally shot and edited, contributing to his overall polished and “cool” image.  He is setting the example of how to present yourself in a public forum, when the video will live on forever.  People have become too casual in how they present themselves online, whether it be Facebook, YouTube or Twitter.  We have all become public figures in this online world.  No longer is it just celebrities that get ridiculed for ignorant behavior displayed in public: we are now inviting it on ourselves by not thinking before posting. The New York Times theorizes a movement toward more cautious behavior from public figures:

“We tend to assume that the proliferation of digital media must be coarsening American speech and behavior. In fact, the opposite seems to be true. The threat posed by video parodists appears to have turned public figures watchful and cautious, like people who affect polite reserve in crowds for fear of being mocked or mugged. In the midst of so much digital chicanery, celebrity comportment may grow steadily more formal.”

As with most trends, this behavior should eventually trickle down to the general public.  I am hopeful that it trickles quickly.

12seconds.tv = video Twitter.  The idea is to record updates in 12-second bites.  This is harder than you might think, but the 140-character limit of Twitter was an acquired taste as well.  You can record the video straight to 12seconds.tv and post it to your feed.  Or, you can use mobile device to record the video and email it an assigned email address to get it posted to your feed.  My favorite way so far though is to record it through TweetDeck.  TweetDeck has combined Twitter feeds and 12seconds.tv feeds, so you can do it all via your desktop.

I am still testing 12seconds.tv and haven’t quite figured out how best to use it, but so far, here is why I like it:

• Visual communication instantly.
• Limited time allowance keeps it from getting mundane.
• It is new and different.

Why not to like it:

• Just another status update tool; we definitely have enough of those.

The technology has been around for about a year now, but hasn’t caught on with the masses yet.  This is not to say that it won’t - look at Twitter’s growth: Twitter launched two years ago, but has just now hit the mainstream.

Test it out and let me know what you think.  I have embedded my 12seconds.tv feed on my blog to the right.

I love this idea: someone created a Flickr group for photos of books at your bedside. This is my contribution.

This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.

Hilarious.

From the people that brought us the drumming gorilla, a new spot for Cadbury appears. It is great fun, just as chocolate should be. The drumming gorilla was a great viral success for Cadbury, and it looks as if this one has that potential too.

For those of you that do not remember the drumming gorilla, here it is (if it hasn’t been removed yet for copyright infringement):

I don’t keep up with football and know nothing about fantasy football, but I love this promo video for fantasy football.  It is just fun to watch.  Enjoy.

An interesting video about the ways marketing has changed.

As reported by the Guardian, online activity dipped during the inauguration.  Google searches, Flickr uploads and Last.fm listening all paused while listening to President Obama’s swearing in ceremony.  Google reported that:

“…the overall query volume of Google searches dropped in the U.S. from the time President Obama took the oath of office until the end of his inaugural speech, demonstrating that all eyes were on today’s festivities.”

However, the number of people trying to watch the ceremony live from their computers was incredibly high and caused some streaming difficulties for viewers.  According to a New York Times article:

“CNN said it provided more than 21.3 million video streams over a nine-hour span up to midafternoon. That blew past the 5.3 million streams provided during all of Election Day. At its peak, CNN.com fed 1.3 million live streams simultaneously, according to Jennifer Martin, a spokeswoman for the site.”

As Google points out, there has been a significant shift in internet use since the last presidential inauguration:

“During the last nine years, the growth of the Internet has changed the way the world seeks information. From President Bush’s first inaugural address in 2001 to his second in 2005, the number of inauguration-related searches increased by more than a factor of ten. From 2005 to today’s address, the number grew even more.”

This is how a brand should use social media. Zappos, known for their vast shoe catalog, taps into the news of President Bush ducking shoes thrown at him in Iraq and creates their own video. And, they post it immediately to make it relevant.

I must be the last person on the planet to watch this (it has 26 million+ views on YouTube), but I have to post it here anyway.  Amazingly creative and entertaining.

How can you not get mesmerized by these cute puppies?  I can’t believe they are not selling advertising space on that bed.  Over 30,000 people have tuned in to watch these puppies sleep and play.  Surely we in the ad industry can learn something from this.
Free video streaming by Ustream

Who is the Army trying to recruit?  A generation of youth that grew up on the internet and shares everything online.  To reach this audience, the Army has launched a new recruiting campaign that uses the web as its hub.  It is about time the military got up-to-date with messaging and delivery methods.  The key to the website is video delivery of “testimonials” from soldiers in Iraq.  People considering enlistment in the Army can ask soldiers questions and get video responses.  It takes the “scary” out of the unknown and gives potential recruits a way to interact.  This generation of potential recruits are comfortable with online search and using video for education; the Army was smart to shift tactics to reach this young audience.  While the Army is a traditional establishment, it has recognized the need to be more progressive in its message and delivery.  Great use of the online space.

Check out this NY Times article for more.  My favorite line from the article:

“To help pay for the new media features, cutbacks are being made in areas like the Army’s sponsorships of professional rodeos.”

See the site at GoArmy.com.