YouTube to share ad revenue with content creators

YouTube is to share advertising revenues with the real stars of its site, the people who make and send in videos.

Chad Hurley, YouTube co-founder, has confirmed that his team is working on a mechanism that would reward creativity and may even be ready within months. The offer only applies to those who own full copyright of the video sent in.

The scheme will be rolled out gradually with no plans for a big launch, Hurley was quick to say, when announcing the plans at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Source; Brand Republic

Tags: youtube user+generated+content videos

Skype unveils Web TV service

Internet telephony firm Skype has unveiled ‘Joost’, its new Internet TV service.

The service, previously codenamed the Venice Project, uses peer-to-peer technology to let broadcasters stream full length TV programmes and films to viewers online.

The Joost menu lets users change channels by clicking on links. Users can control of the content and access any show offered regardless of time of day. They can also timeshift, rewinding or fast forwarding within a show.

Currently in beta test, Joost has not yet struck any deals with major movie studios or TV producers to stream their content over the service. Currently all it offers is a limited line up of sports, documentaries and music programming.

Commenting on the service, Frederik de Wahl, chief executive at Joost, said:"It's full-screen, broadcast quality, you've got instant channel flipping, and interactivity - a viewer can come to us and get all their TV needs."

The service has been set up by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, the duo behind peer-to-peer software Kazaa and VoIP firm Skype.

Source: Net Imperative

Tags: skype tv joost internet service content venice+project

Sky teaser campaign for 24 teaser recieves 60,000 players

The teaser campaign created for Sky One's hit espionage drama '24' has attracted more than 60,000 UK players so far.

Sky One launched the online digital marketing push for the sixth series of '24', created by digital agency Meme, on January 8.

Using the http://www.ctuagent.com/ website as a starting point and the password 99k36f, fans can embark on their own Jack Bauer-style quest to defeat the terrorists and save Los Angeles -- again. After entering their details, players receive a phone call outlining the mission. From there, a text message from Jack Bauer, who is played by Kiefer Sutherland in the series, directs players to another website, where the mission continues.

The campaign also uses email and a visit to YouTube.com before players eventually find the page that lets them watch an eight-minute prequel to the upcoming series, visit Sky's 24 website and enter a competition to visit the set of 24 in LA.

Source: Brand Republic

Tags: 24 tv marketing advertising prequel

Apple launches the iPhone

Apple unveiled its hugely anticipated bid to take a bite out of the multi-billion dollar global mobile phone market yesterday with a "revolutionary" sleek, one-button device that combines iPod, internet and phone and will cost around £250 pounds ($499).

"Once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, as he demonstrated the iPhone to whoops and cheers from a 4,000-strong audience at Macworld in San Francisco. "Apple is reinventing the phone."

In keeping with Apple's signature sleek simplicity, the 3.5 inch screen takes up most of the front of the device with just a single button at the bottom that returns users to the home page.

Instead of the fiddly "plasticky" keyboards of most smart phones, Mr Jobs said, the iPhone does away with buttons. Instead it is operated by touching the screen with your finger, scrolling up or down through songs on the iPod function, for example, or typing out emails and text messages on the keyboard that appears when needed.

Read more at Telegraph.co.uk and BBC.co.uk

Video: Steve Jobs unveils the iPhone in San Francisco

Tags: apple iphone steve+jobs mobile cell phone music mp3 digital

HD Tube Network Kicks Off With Alive In Tandem

First campaigns to get a showing on Viacom Outdoor's London Underground high definition digital advertising network are Virgin Atlantic, Magners, Pioneer, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and GuestInvest.

First stage of the network covers five zone one stations comprising the original digital escalator panel site at Tottenham Court Road and four major interchange stations of Bond Street, Charing Cross, Euston and Paddington. Now, following the first phase, hundreds of further panels and large LCDs will be phased into ticket office sites as well as cross-track projection sites at stations across the London Underground zone.

In line with the Underground HD take-off, Viacom Outdoor has also unveiled Alive, its new dedicated digital division, tasked with highlighting the new creative opportunities the digital network will offer to brands on the London Underground.

Dragon has delivered the brand identity for Alive who has also signed up digital design and production company Anorak Digital to develop dynamic adverts that illustrate the generic digital proposition and the individual benefits of each format in a compelling fashion.

More at DDR

Tags: tube underground advertising digital viacom outdoor london

Lycos launches video channel in partnership with Roo

Portal site lycos.co.uk is to launch an online video channel to offer film, music and TV content to its users.

Lycos TV will offer up-to-date videos, along with archive content, covering the news, music, movies, travel and sports arenas.

The new platform will be powered by online video specialist Roo, which will also provide Lycos with tools to stream video content through the portal.

The Lycos TV portal will feature the complete library of Roo's extensive video content, which will be updated regularly. Original Lycos video content and user-generated content will be added in the coming months.

More at Brand Republic

Tags: lycos tv video channel portal roo news

Orange extends 2-for-1 cinema deal into 2008

Orange will continue its 2-for-1 cinema offer, Orange Wednesdays, into 2008 and will extend the offer to its 2m internet customers in addition to its existing mobile users.

The scheme is understood to have helped increase cinema audience numbers in the UK, despite a global downturn in admissions. During the scheme's first 30 months the incentive added an extra 2m admissions to UK cinemas.



When the offer first ran, it was accompanied by a film ad campaign featuring Brennan Brown and Steve Furst in respective roles as Dresden and board member Burnley. The ads, created by Mother, featured various celebrities such as Patrick Swayze, Darryl Hannah and even Darth Vader pitching film ideas to the fictional Orange Film Board, only to have mobile ideas shoehorned into their pitches.

More at Brand Republic

Tags: orange wednesdays 2+for+1 cinema ad advertising mother pitch