Hulu In-Video Ads Offer Choice: Preroll or Midstream?

Like 100,000s of others, I cam to Hulu to watch the Jim Cramer / Jon Stewart debate... so what if it was my fifth viewing?

Before the video played, I got the following option: - watch a sponsored pre-roll for the movie "Miss March" (kill me... it looks awful) - and then watch the show commercial-free - or watch the "normal commercial breaks"

I love that Hulu gives me the choice. And advertisers should love it to. Wouldn't Miss March (or any other brand advertiser) prefer to have engaged viewed who elected to view the ad? Particularly in such a captive model (either an upfront unit or mid-show).

Imagine the next evolution when we can select from multiple advertisements(rather than formats). I think Miss March looks miserable and would therefore prefer to see a different ad. And Miss March would probably prefer this too... rather than paying $20CPMs for viewers like me who will never see it. Meanwhile, Hulu can charge higher CPMs because the ads are better targeted and higher value.

Apple iPhone Ad Shakes Up ESPN.com

I've written about Apple's innovative ad units before - in particular, on Yahoo.And, I've criticized ESPN's new ad formats before.

Today, the two came together in a great way: Apple is running another experiential, rich-media campaign on ESPN's homepage. The ad is again terrific and far more engaging than anything else on the web... you know an ad is effective when you press the replay button (again and again). Add engagement, large real estate and rich-media - and you can believe that ESPN is fetching great CPMs.

I do have two remarks though:

1. I do not like that the ad unit extends across the entire screen because it causes inadvertent clicking. I understand why it is technically positioned that way - but it is annoying and very transparent....

2. It is strange that there doesn't seem to be a user cap - I have seen this ad 10+ times today. Usually the advertiser would cap it on an IP or cookie basis? I see Rapleaf ads dozens of times a day... it kills me. And not only is it annoying - it loses its efficacy after viewing #50.

Apple's Full Page New York Times Ad: All About the Apps

Flipping through the New York Times today, I noticed this full page ad for Apple's iPhone which notably doesn't even mention the iPhone itself. The ad is entirely about the App Store and the breadth of games, tools and applications available on the phone. It is not the first time that Apple has promoted apps in their marketing campaigns (storefronts and TV spots are a couple examples) - but it is notable at a time when Blackberry and others are announcing their versions of the app store. It is a world where distribution attracts developers and developers equal inventory:

Google AdSense Expandable Ads... No More?

I was very excited to read that Google AdSense was launching Expandable Ads - essentially growing rich media units that are more interactive and likely draw greater CPMs. I am excited because it is an opportunity to expand the reach of richer ad units which are making waves in video (see VideoEgg, Tremor Media, etc) and in widgets (Widgetbox). Venturebeat had this screenshot:

But strangely, Google has since removed their post about the product that has been linked to from various sites... was this intended as a private beta launch? Or did it leak? Not sure - but hopefully it will make it way onto this blog!

Page not found Sorry, the page you were looking for in the blog Inside AdSense does not exist.

Update: Google's blog post is now live again.

Google Print & Google Radio Closures Are Unfortunate

News arrived yesterday that Google is shutting down their Print and Radio ad systems. It's unfortunate news for brand advertisers and the traditional media formats. An ironic tag-line for Google's Print & Radio Platform

With eBay / Kijiji and beRecruited, I was one of the systems' early advertisers... creating multiple campaigns that ran across dozens of markets' radio stations and newspapers. Google made it simple to craft campaigns, connect with the papers / stations and find talent to create the ad units. Google's traditional media marketplace was as simple as AdWords - but across a far more fragmented, complicated landscape.

I was always wowed by the technology side. But more importantly - it drove results.

Measuring conversion and ROI is harder (obviously), but advertising in Radio and Print (via Google) enabled reach across users that AdWords simply doesn't serve - either via audience or ad format.

On a higher level, this marks an important moment because we are at the intersection of traditional and online media. And as the newspaper and radio worlds struggle with the online shift (and business models) - this was an opportunity to have these worlds meet together. Sure there are tons of issues (fragmentation, pricing models, and so forth) - but simply put, Google Print and Radio worked. And that means I was willing to spend money (and continue doing so) and the stations / papers had access to new campaigns and budgets (without a sales force).

ESPN.com Wants to Make Sure You Know Valentines is Coming

I spend a lot of time on ESPN - particularly their mobile properties... which for big media brands - really are the best available. And while I have been critical of ESPN.com's relaunch, I respect their ability to land big advertising deals (though skeptical of the advertisers' results). Today's campaign is the most in-your-face yet...

If you have somehow forgotten that Valentines Day is on the horizon - ESPN and JC Penny are certain to make sure that you won't forget. After all, about 70% of the homepage is covered in Valentine's promotions. The ads are nicely aligned and build on one another (a major complaint of using AdSense or other contextual networks that result in disjointed units).

I hope that ESPN is getting a very solid CPM deal here, because as a reader, this is a major turn-off. I am all for advertising - particularly on great, free content. But at a point, two things happen:

1. You get irritated, and/or 2. It takes too long to get to the content

Google AdSense is Good.... And Yes, iStockphoto is Everywhere

Almost as soon as I published my "I guess iStockphoto is Going Mainstream" article, Google AdSense started running iStockphoto ads. Amazing.

It shows just how good Google AdSense is (literally seconds after publishing the article) and it shows that iStockphoto really is advertising across the web. From TechCrunch and Gawker to my lowly site:

My New Spam: Twitter, Disqus & Vimeo

I get plenty of email spam... but Gmail does an admirable job making sure most of it doesn't hit my inbox. My new annoyance is, for lack of better terminology, "web 2.0 spam". My inbox is filled with junk from Twitter, Disqus, Vimeo and all of the other services that I use frequently... all getting increasingly worse (particularly over the last two weeks).. It's brutally annoying because, unlike email, this spam is usually visible to more than just my eyes. Whereas email spam clogs *my* inbox - these new forms of spam affect my public arenas... sometimes for personal content (like my blog) and other times for company content (like InGameNow, Widgetbox, etc).

And as services like Twitter and Disqus continue to grow - the spammers get more sophisticated because the value of spamming increases. It's no longer Viagra and Acai Berry ads - it's silly link-bait being used clearly for SEO purposes. Unfortunately that too is problematic in ways that traditional spam isn't... enough SEO spam can have negative affect on my sites as well.

Star Trek Takes Over ESPN.com... Four Months too Early

On Super Bowl weekend, ESPN was able to sell its homepage with two massive rich-media Star Trek advertisements... you know, the new iMax move that comes out May 8th, 2009. On a weekend when ESPN likely expects greater-than-normal traffic... and when television ad-spots are notoriously expensive... and in an economy where those Super Bowl ads *still* are not sold out... this campaign is both impressive for the publisher and questionable for the advertiser.

Even for Hollywood - advertising four months out on the web seems strange. Usually Hollywood advertises online to reinforce campaigns already airing on television, in theaters, and so forth. And usually the campaigns are more targeted and within a couple weeks from the movie's release. For instance, the week leading up to Bride War's release, PerezHilton.com was covered in full-page units.

That makes total sense. This, however, is completely bizarre.