This morning we announced at the Beet.TV roundtable event in New York City that we are now capable of using DoubleClick's DART platform to dynamically serve and track advertisements in downloaded video within iTunes. The advertisements also travel seamlessly to iPods, iPhones and AppleTVs although third-party tracking doesn't work on these devices yet.

This is a first for video podcasts. We've been running advertisements in iTunes since last year but this is the first time we're able to serve them dynamically and offer third-party tracking.

The importance of third-party tracking cannot be overstated. Until now there's been no reliable way for advertisers to measure the success of their advertisements in podcasts. The best metric available has been downloads. The problem is that not everyone who downloads a video podcast watches it, and not everyone who watches it sticks around long enough to see the advertisements. This has meant that advertisers have been leery of spending money on podcasts. Advertisers need a way to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of their buys.

I should mention that Volomedia has a system that can do semi-dynamic insertion (insertion is done at download time) of advertisements in downloaded QuickTime. Volomedia's system can also track impressions and clicks, but only when viewers have installed their Volocast plug-in. Kiptronic can also do semi-dynamic insertion but only offers tracking of downloads, not impressions. Our implementation does not require the viewer to install any software other than iTunes or QuickTime Player, and even works in non-iTunes podcatchers like the excellent Miro.

Our system is already in production running a Puma sponsorship on Golf Girl TV (link goes to iTunes so you can see the ad in action!) and a Skype campaign on Back on Topps. The system supports prerolls, postrolls, midrolls and overlays. All ads can be clicked and clicks are tracked using DoubleClick within iTunes or QuickTime Player. Clickability is not (yet) available on devices like the iPhone because of limitations of those platforms.

We're not running any third-party ad networks in QuickTime because they don't support the environment yet, so the ads we're running in QuickTime are limited to those that we sell ourselves or that content creators sell. If you opt into run of network advertising on blip (click on Advertising from your Dashboard) we'll serve ads into your QuickTime videos as they're available. If you have your own sales force and would like to traffic your own campaigns in your QuickTime downloads you can e-mail support AT blip DOT teevee and let us know. We'd be more than happy to traffic your campaign for you (a self-service interface is coming soon!).

I can imagine that you may have some questions about this announcement. John Furrier (the former CEO of PodTech) did too. He wrote up a blog post on the subject. He seemed a little confused about what exactly we were announcing and why it was innovative. I figure that you may have many of the same questions as John, so here are some excerpts from my discussion with John in the comments on his post:

John Furrier:

thanks for commenting. are you turning on ads for all your videos or just select groups? what kind of metrics are you reporting? Views, clicks, and plays? do you guys do dynamic insertion?

Mike Hudack:

Absolutely. Any show on blip can opt into advertising from their Dashboard (http://blip.tv/prefs/). Shows that opt in receive a blend of ads from our direct sales force plus various ad networks (Google, ScanScout, YuMe, Adap.TV, VideoEgg, et cetera) for views in Flash. We have some daisy chaining and yield optimization technology that chooses the highest paying ad for any individual play.

In QuickTime we're limited to ads that we sell and ads that our content creators sell. This is because none of the ad networks that we work with can serve into QT right now. So shows that opt in will receive some ads in their QuickTime views, but we're not yet filling 100% of the inventory. Any of our 37,000 show creators can sell into their QuickTime inventory, though, and we'll traffic their ads for them.

In Flash we're reporting video views, advertisement impressions, advertisement clicks and engagement. The engagement is shown on a timeline it shows how many people viewed each second of video. This is particularly useful for brand integration and product placement (we can see exactly how many people saw the brand integration or product placement and how many times).

In QuickTime we're reporting video downloads, advertisement impressions and advertisement clicks.

In both Flash and QuickTime the metrics come from third parties (DoubleClick for ad impressions and clicks, Illumenix for engagement).

I think that the most important thing here is that, with both QuickTime and Flash, we're measuring impressions according to the IAB standard the client requests the ad, and the impression is recorded only at that time. We need no software on the client to do this. Just regular iTunes or regular QuickTime. There's no need to download anything, and the viewer doesn't have to be incented to allow measurement to take place it just works.

John Furrier:

Mike thanks for replying this is great content and thanks for basically agreeing to do an asynchronous interview Q&A here on my blog.

A few questions:
1. An you sent me a pointer or particular publisher video playing in iTunes that you can measure

2. Can you measure while iTunes is in a disconnected state? If not, then is this just streaming iTunes, and who watches video this way? Perhaps you means QT player and not iTunes?

3. Can you deal with .m4v and .mp4 files?

4. you mentioned above we're measuring impressions according to the IAB standard the client requests the ad, and the impression is recorded only at that time. - are you saying that you record an ad impression even it they don't watch it if it sits in the library of the users itunes. I'm asking to be specific between requested download, partial download, fully download, and actually watched

Mike Hudack:

You can find links to particular campaigns running in iTunes on the NewTeeVee story that you already linked to. Both are verified using DART.

We've found that between 50 and 75% (I know it's a wide delta, it varies from show to show) of iTunes views happen in iTunes while connected. Apparently *lots* of people watch video this way. For what it's worth, I do too. I subscribe to podcasts in iTunes and then watch them fullscreen on both my laptop at home and on my Mac desktop in the office. I find it to be a generally better experience for watching shows I like, rather than happening upon embeds on the Web.

Our implementation is also compatible with the standalone QuickTime player and with any software that uses the QuickTime player software (Democracy Player for example).

In terms of what file formats we work with, we deliver the videos and advertisements in a QuickTime container that's fully compatible with the entire range of Apple portable devices and with the AppleTV. We have about 37,000 active shows using blip today (they release about three new episodes a month each) and so as you can imagine we have to deal with a very wide variety of incoming video formats. Before we deliver videos we're trafficking against to iTunes we transcode them to the universally compatible QuickTime format and then modify the container to insert the pointers to DART.

In terms of recording impressions, I'm actually saying exactly the opposite. Current iTunes advertising implementations (Kiptronic, Volomedia unless you download their iTunes plugins) record impressions as soon as the video is downloaded. This is a flawed practice because not everyone who downloads the video watches it (at least not while the campaign's running and the ad is still relevant!), and not everyone who views a video actually sees all the ads. What we do is measure an impression *only when the ad is actually viewed*. This is what the IAB standards require. As far as we know no other implementation that doesn't require a download by the viewer (and I'd be curious to know what the install base is for these measurement plug-ins is) does this none of them comply with the IAB standards, and as a result they (unfortunately) overcount impressions.

It's important to note, again, that for the purposes of advertisements we're *not* counting downloads. And certainly not partial downloads. We do record those metrics, but for content creators, not to give to advertisers to measure the success of their campaigns. We are counting *impressions* - people actually seeing the advertisement. I can't stress this enough.

Of course, it is a compromise for those who expect it to replace a desktop PC or a high-end notebook. Performance-intensive applications like Photoshop will be painful; recent video games will be pathetic, should they even run at all.

Day-to-day work, however, ran smoothly. Multiple browser tabs with a handful of idle apps and iTunes chugging away didn't become a trudge. Its combination of a 1.6 GHz Atom CPU and a gig of RAM built up enough steam to handle the basics.

Other features include up to 16GB of flash storage, 3 USB ports, 100Mbit Ethernet, 802.11g and an 8.9" display set to 1024x600 pixels. It's about 10 inches long and 7 wide.

I've yet to use the MSI Wind, which I'm quite certain is the equal of this machine. But it's also a little larger, at least in the U.S., and it, like Asus' mainstays, lack something else the Dell has: style. It's come a long way from the dull design that used to characterize its output. While the Mini 9 is no better (or prettier) than the Mini-Note, HP's extras, like an ExpressCard slot and 802.11n, make it much more expensive. The Dell can be had for under $350, though you shouldn't get any computer with less than 1GB of RAM.

Moreover, the Mini-Note comes with Suse or Vista, both less appetizing than Dell's choice of Ubuntu or XP.

Hacking possibilities also abound with the Inspiron Mini 9. Getting OSX on it is reportedly not difficult, and it has an empty slot for a 3G Wireless adapter. Though it is disabled, it's easy to snap in a generic Novatel WWAN card and get your show on the road. Vodafone plans to offer Mini nines with cards (and 2-year service contracts) pre-installed.

Personally, I'd like it to be even smaller. Next to an EeePC900, which has the same-size screen and a dinkier keyboard, its swooping curves seem rather bulbous.On the other hand, it feels sturdier and somewhat better-made as a result.

One caveat is the keyboard layout: it doesn't have dedicated function keys, and the apostrophe/quote key is in an odd spot.

Later today, this machine gets mailed off, and I'm sad to see it go. Bought as a gift for my nephew and reviewed en passant, it almost stayed right where I wanted it: in my possession.

$429 as reviewed Mini Inspiron 9 [Dell]

Today, Google, T-Mobile, and HTC came together to introduce the first phone running the Google mobile OS, Android, at a press conference held this morning in New York City. The overall message today was one that focused on openness. Will the future of the mobile internet be driven by open platforms? That's what Google is betting on with Android, but more importantly, it's what T-Mobile is hoping will stop the flood of customers leaving their service for AT&T's iPhone. What they presented today was a slick alternative to the iPhone. They want you to believe the G1 is just as good, if not better, thanks to the keyboard and its open nature. Now that we have all the facts, are you convinced?

Officials from all three companies took turns introducing various aspects about the new phone, now officially being called the "T-Mobile G1 With Google." Sergey Brin and Larry Page from Google even made a surprise appearance to talk about Android's importance. After some initial introductions and setup, they showed the phone and its features in a promotional video. What we learned from that video is listed below:

Features Demoed In The Promo Video:

• Touchscreen - You can swipe across the screen, use a long press to access more features, drag-and-drop
• Music - one-click ordering from Amazon confirmed
• Music player is built in - one long press lets you access more features, like song options
• Gtalk IM included
• Address book can take you right into Google Maps
• Google Maps: Directions/Traffic View/Street View; can do panning in Street View thanks to the touch screen
• In "Compass Mode" the scene moves as you do
• In the web browser, there are onscreen controls to zoom in
• You can open multiple web pages in Google's browser
• There's a search button on keyboard
• A long press lets you share a link (URL) from within the web browser
• For apps, there's the Android Market, complete with user ratings and OTA downloads
• Pacman!

Q&A From The Press

Q: Status of T-Mobile's 3G network?
A: Will be in 22 markets by commercial launch data (October 22nd) and by mid-November it will be in 27 markets

Q: Will the phone be available in Europe?
A: There are 30 million U.S. customers and 100 million customers in the European market, so yes, it will come to Europe. It will be in the UK in early November and will be across Europe by 1st Quarter, 2009

Q: Can you use the phone as tethered modem?
A: NO

Q: Can you buy just a data plan only?
A: NO

Q: Can you view office documents?
A: You can read Word, PDF, and Excel docs

Q: Will it work with Microsoft Exchange?
A: There is no Exchange compatibility, but this is an excellent opportunity for a 3rd party developer.

Q: Can the phone be unlocked and used on other networks?
A: No, the phone is SIM-locked

Q: Is email push?
A: Gmail is push/IMAP supported

Q: Will there be a desktop app?
A: NO

Q: Is there Wi-Fi?
A: Yes

Q: What's the marketing plan?
A: Google and T-Mobile are working together to produce both TV and in-channel marketing which will debut in October. It will be the biggest campaign ever for a mobile device.

Q: Is the browser Chrome?
A: No, it is Web-Kit, which is "Chrome-like"

Q: Who's the target demographic?
A: The phone has mass appeal, there's something for everyone, but it's more of a consumer device.

Q: Will it work with iTunes?
A: It supports standard music formats like AAC, WMA, MP3, but not anything wrapped in DRM.

Pricing and Availability

The phone is less expensive than the iPhone! It's $179.

Existing T-Mobile customers can order on the internet on a micro-site and have shipped to their homes. October 22nd is the commercial launch date when it will be available in stores. There will be 2 plans. One is $25 for unlimited web and some messaging; the other is $35 for unlimited web and unlimited messaging. (In addition to whatever voice plan is selected).

Note: Stay tuned. We'll update this post with some more video and images shortly.

Filed under: iPhone, App Store

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You might remember awhile ago, I took a telemarketing call from a company that claimed to provide Web 2.0 services. I strung them along, just to mess with them. On Sept 10th, I did a remote panel session from my home. The panel discussed Web 2.0 technology and its interplay with the government. Ahead of time, the facilitator sent me a list of questions to consider, which I thought would make a good video.

• Do you consider yourself an early adopter/digital immigrant/digital native? - I'm kind of an edge case. Since the day I realized I could do live video all the time, I've been doing it. I consider myself an early adopter in most instances. When it comes to hardware, definitely. With software and web services, not so much. I know that I'll get tied into one website or another, and it could just disappear. That happened a lot with the .com boom. I'm a little more careful these days about giving attention to one website over another.
• Is web 2.0 a fad? If it is, is it necessarily bad? - I don't think it's a fad, I think it's a conference. I think the idea is a little disingenuous when it comes to the Internet. We haven't seen a massive amount of browser innovation. Google Chrome has stepped it up a couple of notches. It has nothing to do with the Internet though. It has to do with the desktop. With the digital divide closing, we've come to rely on different services online. I would rather call it a renaissance, than to label it with a number like 2.0.
• When did you make the switch into the web 2.0 world? Was it a business or personal switch at first? Do you even compartmentalize the two? - No, I don't compartmentalize the two. No one makes a switch into the 2.0 world, it just happens.
• How do you find out about new web 2.0 tools? - I find them the same way I find out about anything. I find out from friends, such as via email invitations, the chat room and even from Geeks. The more people talk about something, the more aware I become of it. I would just as soon turn to my community to learn about new things. It's funny because I talk out loud to myself all the time. With the camera running live all the time, I'll mutter about needing to find or do something. Nearly instantly, someone is telling me they can help. That is awesome.
• What web 2.0 tool could you not live without? What is your essential business tool? - Email, honestly. Instant messaging. Those really haven't changed. The tools have evolved to a certain degree. But instant messaging is still so far behind. I can't think of the last time that I ran a client that was created by an IM distributor, such as Yahoo or AIM. I use Adium, and I used Trillian before that. I still see the web and the Internet as being predicated on a closed, proprietary model. Eventually, though, all software will be open source. I really believe that.
• It seems like a new web 2.0 comes tool or site out every week, do you try them all or do you wait for the early adopters to weed out the time-wasters? - I'll take a look. If it seems ok on the surface, it'll stay on my radar. I don't stick with one tool or another unless it is of huge value to me. If enough people talk about it, I'll end up caving in just like with adding MySpace and Facebook. It depends on where something fits, and what I get from it. It depends on the momentum behind it, and whether it will help me in my endeavors.
• The twitter effect breaking news, disseminating information instantly vs. the old methods. - Twitter has been interesting. I don't really complain about the downtime. I love complaining about the people who complain about the downtime. It's free! Why are you complaining about something you're getting for nothing? Anyway, I digress. I made a statement about Twitter during Gnomedex: Twitter is a place for you to say, before thinking about what you actually think. You see that somewhat in blogs, but Twitter exacerbates the problem. It can be a serious issue when people are feeling emotional about something.

So, those are my quick thoughts about web 2.0. What's yours?

• OneClickSiteCreatoR.

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• Okay, Maybe I'm the Idiot
• This is Why I'm F'ing Sick of Web 2.0
• What is Web 2.0?

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Does Web 2.0 Really Exist?

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this is what will kill radio. streaming your own library from home will mark the golden age of internet powered media consumption.