Visual Content

The future of online is not network TV Google warns

2007-02-09T15:48:00.000+00:00

If you thought the future of the web was TV, you would be mistaken as Google issued a warning to companies that think they can broadcast distribute network TV shows and films globally.

The search engine giant warned that the internet should not be used for TV and that services like its own YouTube, which acquired it last year for $1.65bn, and newer arrivals such as Joost will bring the internet to its knees. Google said that was already investing heavily just to keep data flowing.

Many have talked of the internet in some instances replacing TV with its own online shows and content, but Google said that it simply does not "scale".

The company instead said it would work together with cable operators to combine its technology for searching for video and TV footage and its tailored advertising with the cable networks high-quality delivery of shows.

Source: Brand Republic

Tags: google youtube internet tv broadcast cable web

MySpace launches £1m film quest

2007-02-06T17:36:00.000+00:00

If you've ever harboured dreams of becoming the next Steven Spielberg, here's your chance.

From tomorrow, budding film-makers can post their shorts at MySpace Movie MashUp, a competition organised by MySpace, the social networking website, and two UK production companies, Film 4.

In the first competition of its kind, the winner will get to direct a feature-length film with a £1m budget, which will be released in cinemas in 2008. Any British resident, regardless of past film experience, can participate. The deadline for submission is April 27.

Five finalists will be picked by a jury that includes, among others, actor Sienna Miller, director Anthony Minghella, Andrew MacDonald, the producer of Trainspotting, and Kevin Macdonald, the director of The Last King of Scotland. The great MySpace public will then decide the overall winner by online vote.

Then, the project's backers will work with the director to pick a project - either choosing from scripts in development, starting a new collaboration with an experienced writer, or considering a project brought by the director.

More at Guardian Unlimited (subscription required)

Tags: feature film competition myspace vertigo+films film+4 film-makers

Channel 4 launches second ‘viral Oscars’

2007-02-02T17:02:00.000+00:00

Broadcaster Channel 4 has teamed up with viral site BoreMe.com to launch the annual international viral awards `Germ' to find the Best Commercially Produced Viral.

The Germ viral awards are free to enter and agencies from all over the world can submit as many entries as they wish.

Entries can be submitted from now until the end of March and details of how to submit entries can be found at www.channel4.com/germ.

Last year London based viral agency Maverick won the Best Commercially Produced Viral for a campaign to promote the racing simulation game Juiced.

more at: NetImperative

tags: viral channel+4 germ awards

YouTube to share ad revenue with content creators

2007-01-29T13:08:00.000+00:00

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

2007-01-18T11:04:00.000+00:00

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

2007-01-18T10:14:00.000+00:00

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

2007-01-11T11:08:00.000+00:00

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

2007-01-10T13:53:00.000+00:00

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

2007-01-09T11:10:00.000+00:00

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

2007-01-03T13:20:00.000+00:00

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

StumbleUpon Launches Video Referral Site, StumbleVideo

2006-12-22T14:10:00.000+00:00

StumbleUpon’s social browsing application has been such a big hit that the company is launching a separate site for video referral called StumbleVideo.

StumbleUpon is a browser toolbar that recommends Web sites based on viewing patterns of other people with similar user profiles. StumbleVideo will do the same type of recommending for video, only it is not a browser extension. It is a Web site that works within the browser.

“We’ve seen a lot of growth in stumbling videos and now we’re able to bring you highly relevant, high quality content, based on your preferences,” said David Feller, vice president of marketing at StumbleUpon. “It’s very difficult to find something that is relevant to you just on searching ‘humor videos,’ or ‘cat videos.’ With StumbleVideo, you never leave the page. The content is brought directly to you. It’s a lot like channel searching but everything is customized based on your interests and preferences.”

To begin with, StumbleVideo will serve videos from the top three video sites: YouTube, Google Video, and Myspace. Feller said that any site with embeddable video can and will be served in the future but they chose these three in the interest of a timely launch.

More at TechCrunch

Tags: StumbleUpon StumbleVideo video referral YouTube Google Video MySpace NataliDelConte

Stella Artois ends iconic sponsorship of Channel 4 movies

2006-12-20T10:28:00.000+00:00

Brewer InBev is to cease promotion of its brand Stella Artois during film programming on Channel 4.

The sponsorship of the strand has been a mainstay of Channel 4's sponsorship budget for the past eight years, and is understood to be worth in the region of £1m a year to the broadcaster.

InBev said it has no immediate plans to cut its ties entirely with film sponsorship and will still carry on with web-based activity and its outdoor film events.

The increased online activity has included the launch of bespoke website studioartois.co.uk, where users can find games and competitions, trivia, listings, an area for budding filmmakers and the Film Finder search engine.

More at Brand Republic

Tags: stella artois film channel+4 ch4 tv sponsorship advertising

Skype founder to launch global broadband TV station

2006-12-18T13:01:00.000+00:00

Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, the founders of Skype, are set to launch a global broadband television service next year, promising viewers and advertisers the best of the internet coupled with the best of TV.

Friis and Zennstrom, also founders of music download applications Kazaa, sold Skype to eBay for £1.3bn last year and are reported to have invested part of the proceeds to develop the service, according to a report in the Financial Times. It has been codenamed The Venice Project.

The project will show near-high-definition programmes, which will be supported by advertising revenue. Users can personalise channels or join forums to discuss content. The amount of advertising revenue available to the project will differ according to whether the content owner sells the ads or if its own sales team book them.

More at Brand Republic

Tags: skype tv broadband digital advertising the+venice+project

The Original Sony Bravia Balls?

2006-11-17T15:10:00.000+00:00

Letterman balls

Did Fallon get its award-winning idea for its much admired Sony Bravia ad from someone else?

This bit of video is flying around the web. It looks kind of familiar and it was done by David Letterman in San Francisco 10 years ago.

Source and more comments: Gordon's Republic

Tags: sony bravia ad advertising tv david+letterman the+late+show balls fallon

Antenna Ends on a High

2006-11-10T14:10:00.000+00:00

Antenna the bi-monthly showcase of some of the best and most creative music promo's is comming to an end!

The last ever show at London's NFT takes place tonight (Friday November 10 at 8:45pm) and promises to be a send-off to remember.

Since it's a very special show (it's their fourth Antennaversary, the twentieth show AND it's the last one), they have a very special night planned.

This time, there will be no panel on stage, instead they have used all the time available to squeeze in as many great new videos as they can before they say goodbye. But even so, they have a very special guest making his second appearance on the Antenna stage!

The screening will be followed by a proper knees up in the NFT café, where the marvellous Stuart Warren-Hill of Hexstatic will be manning the decks. There will also be an exhibition of all the posters they have ever had made for them over the four years of running the show in London, and the past year of their collaboration with the British Council.

Tickets are now sold out, but if you missed the boat it's always worth queuing for returns at the NFT box office, but you have to get there early.

More info: www.antennapromo.co.uk

Tags: antenna nft music promo video ninjatune hextatic exhibition posters

Microsoft to offer TV show downloads via Xbox Live

2006-11-09T14:40:00.000+00:00

Microsoft has announced that it will offer TV shows and movie downloads via its Xbox Live service, further moving the Xbox 360 from video game console to consumer home entertainment device.

The new service, Xbox Live Video, will launch on 22 November and initial content partners include CBS, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, TBS, UFC, and Warner Bros Home Entertainment.

Xbox Live Video will support high-definition TV shows and movies, and Microsoft plans to launch the service with around 200 hours of HD content and 800 hours of standard-definition content.

Source: NMA.co.uk

Tags: microsoft xbox mtv paramount warner entertainment tv video films movies shows

Attacked by Giant Puppet: Levi Virals

2006-11-03T17:44:00.000+00:00

More at YouTube

YourKindaTV launches awards for user-generated video

2006-11-02T17:41:00.000+00:00

A web-based TV channel featuring user-generated content launches next week with a search for the best mobile and video clips on the net.

YourKindaTV.com is a UK-based site with a range of different news and entertainment features illustrated by clips sent in by viewers. A soft launch of the service is already up and running.

It will launch with the unveiling of the British User Generated Awards 2007, or Bugas, an annual awards ceremony for user generated video that will take place on February 4.

The awards ceremony is designed to celebrate the rise of citizen journalism and user-generated content as a major creative and leisure past time today.

Categories include best comedy clip, best mockumentary, best candid clip, best live music clip, best local news report, most dangerous stunt, best user-generated ad and most original clip.

More at: Brand Republic

Tags: tv user+generated+content video awards clips net yourkindatv

The First YouTube Video + YouTubers Mashup!

2006-10-27T15:02:00.000+01:00

Here's the first video that was uploaded to YouTube. This is one of the company's three founders Jawed Karim, currently a grad student at Stanford.

Yes, this is how a $1.65 billion company got started.

read more about this story here

This next video, appropriately entitled "YouTubers" is utterly captivating, and speaks volumes to what's happening in the CGM2 (consumer-generated multi-media) space.

It's raw and edgy, but worth all nine minutes. To the cultural anthropologists out there, please take out your notebooks!

Source: ConsumerGeneratedMedia.com

Latest News: Google will not tolerate copyright breach by YouTube.

Search giant Google says it will stamp out any copyright violations when it takes over video-sharing network YouTube later this year, following its $1.65bn acquisiton of the social media website.

...more at Brand Republic

Tags: youtube video first consumer+generated+content youtubers mashup

RESfest 10th Anniversary Tour

2006-10-26T17:14:00.000+01:00

RESfest is launching its 10-year anniversary tour in the UK, beginning in Bristol at the Watershed today before heading off to the National Film Theatre in London from November 14-19.

Showcasing the most cutting-edge music videos, short films, animation and motion graphics.

highlights include three retrospectives: A Decade of RESfest, a collection of 10 seminal short films from a decade of the festival; Unsung Heroes, a collection of some of the best music videos and a look back at Radiohead's finest music videos; and film rarities from the festival's recent past. Add the English premiere of Rock The Bells, a documentary about reuniting the Wu Tang Clan and LoudQUIETloud, a film about The Pixies (Bristol) and there's quite enough to make it an indispensable event in any self-respecting creative's calendar.

For more on events and screening times, check out the website: www.resfest.co.uk

Source: Shots.net

Tags: resfest res anniversary radiohead pixies film festival music video

Beck of beyond

2006-10-26T17:13:00.000+01:00

Doors that turn into windows that turn into a chest of drawers that turns into an armchair that turns into a singer. Yup, it could only be Michel Gondry's latest video for Beck.

The dazzling video for Cell Phone's Dead is from the new album The Information and is only the second time the two have worked together, the last being in 1997 on Deadweight.

More at Shots.net

Tags: video Michel+Gondry Beck Cell+Phone's+Dead

Sony pushes Bravia in first HD ad spot

2006-10-18T14:40:00.000+01:00

Sony has teamed up with Sky to screen the UK's first high-definition television ad, which will appropriately promote the Bravia range of HD television sets.

The ad, which follows up the much-hyped 'balls' spot, will be seen in high definition for the first time on Sky Sports HD 2 tonight, during live coverage of the Uefa Champions League tie between Chelsea and Barcelona.

Fallon created 'balls' and the new ad, which was directed by Jonathan Glazer. It features hundreds of litres of paint in numerous colours exploding over a disused towerblock in Glasgow.

It is the first ad to be entirely produced and broadcast in high definition. For tonight's HD debut, a 70-second version will be shown. OMD has handled media for the campaign.

View the Ad here

More details at Brand Republic and www.bravia-advert.com

Tags: sony bravia television tv advertising ad fallon jonathan+glazer hd

Reuters opens virtual office to report from Second Life

2006-10-17T17:41:00.000+01:00

Second Life, the virtual reality game world, is to have its own Reuters journalist keeping people in the real world abreast of events in the virtual one.

As part of the move, the news agency will place its own correspondent in Second Life. Called Adam Reuters, in reality he is a London-based media reporter named Adam Pasick.

Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Leo Burnett and Arc Worldwide have also opened offices in the game, which was created by San Francisco-based Linden Labs.

In the game, individuals can create avatars and pursue alternate virtual lives, with their own cars and homes.

The virtual world also has a dark underbelly where users can indulge in digital sex, while in reality they just tap away at their keyboards.

More at Brand Republic

Tags: second+life reuters game internet advertising agency

IPTV/VoD: The World That’s On Its Way

2006-10-17T17:25:00.000+01:00

As technology evolves at breakneck speed, companies can spend so much time trying to keep up that they neglect to plan ahead. Alex Cameron, managing director at IPTV firm Digital TX, looks in to the distance, and sees a future with broadcast TV and universal Internet connectivity between all devices…

Continue reading at netimperative

Tags: iptv digital tx television internet

Direct a DJ Shadow promo

2006-10-09T14:35:00.000+01:00

Pre-eminent hip-hop turntablist DJ Shadow is inviting budding creatives and die-hard fans to come up with the video for his forthcoming single, This Time, taken from his latest album The Outsider.

With Shadow himself judging the competition, the promise of global promotion of the winning video (not to mention a GPB1000 cash reward) and a totally open brief, the stakes are high.

Entrants have until Friday October 20th to get their work in. For more information visit the official competition website at www.djshadowvideo.com

Source: Shots.net

Tags: dj+shadow the+outsider video music promo competition