Content Is King! (Again? And Again?)
The keynote roundtable panel was moderated by Jon Fine of BusinessWeek, who fully admitted that he had aspirations of running it like McLaughlin Group, and included Jason Hirschhorn of Sling Media Entertainment Group, Kourosh Karimkhany from Wired Digital, Caroline H. Little of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, and Suzie Reider, from YouTube. And amidst all the early morning blather - yes, 9:30 is early - it was Reider who made the most newsworthy announcement: YouTube is going to be rolling out the ads this summer.
There was no dramatic gasp from the audience, no cheering, no boo-ing. In fact, the announcement was met with the quiet hush - one that that can only occur in a pre-caffeinated audience.
Reider, possibly anticipating the never-arriving reaction, was quick to gloss over the announcement, saying that it will be approached thoughtfully, almost in an academic way, so as not to interrupt the user experience but provide a revenue stream for marketers. We’re in no rush, she assured us.
But how exactly is this going to roll?
Reider suggested a “very quick little intro preceding a video, then the video, then a commercial execution on the backside of the content,” - and I started picturing a big video sandwich, with extra mustard. Sounds good to me. But then Hirschhorn jumped in, responding that long television-style commercials or “pre-rolls” are not going to work and that a brand new model has to be developed, like perhaps an ad placed between a first and second video.
He concluded by saying that it’s all still up in the air, and that “Anyone who says they’ve figured it out is wrong. The reality is advertisers need to be very flexible.” He started waxing optimistic about hybrid models, overlays, interactivity, and display. I zoned out.
The rest of the panel was kind of a snoozer. They’d started strong, with a chicken/egg scenario about aggregrators needing content, but content needing distribution. And of course, the question: what exactly is content? Is it professionally created material? The Internet has obviously pushed users to be way more creative and productive, and the amount of talent that has arisen from the user-generated revolution is something to be excited about. But there is also concern. It was agreed that “major media” has been fighting it, rather than using that energy to figure out how to control, track, and ultimately, monetize it.
And, to take it to another level, what about all of the conversation that stems from content. Dubbed the virtual water cooler, the panel introduced the idea of this multi-tiered monster that has been unleashed. Online forums and discussions that are all about what the users themselves have created have surged in participation and popularity. So, they asked, “How do you make a dollar from an online conversation?” TBD at the next ad:tech.
