CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – October 30, 2008 – EveryZing, a pioneer in universal search and vSEO and the media industry’s go-to solution for tapping the $4BB online video opportunity, announced today that CEO Tom Wilde will present at the Search Engine Marketing (SMX) London conference on the panel “Search 3.0: Video Search & Blended Results.” The conference will be held November 4-5, 2008 at the New Connaught Rooms in Covent Gardens, London.

During the panel, Wilde will discuss how consumers expect and demand a single search box experience that delivers universal search across text and video, and how companies that understand and can meet this demand will ultimately be the ones that are successful online. Wilde will also highlight how for video content to be easily discoverable, the content within the files must be searchable in order to optimize its SEO and to drive organic traffic directly back to a company’s site. Wilde will additionally explain how EveryZing’s pedigreed speech-to-text technology and core products are helping companies leverage their audio and video assets on the Web to increase exposure and access to their content.

The panel will be moderated by Chris Sherman, editor of Search Engine Land and SMX conference organizer, and will examine how video and image content is being blended into the main results of major search engines. The panel will also provide tips on increasing the odds that your content appears on the first page of search results.

Who: Tom Wilde, CEO of EveryZing

What: SMX London panel “Search 3.0: Video Search & Blended Results”

Where: New Connaught Rooms
61 – 65 Great Queen Street
Covent Gardens, London

When: Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at 1:15 p.m. GMT

More Info: http://searchmarketingexpo.com/london

To arrange an interview with Tom at SMX London or for more information, email Katie Judd at kjudd@racepointgroup.com.

About EveryZing

Based in Cambridge, Mass., EveryZing is a pioneer in next-generation universal search and video search engine optimization (“vSEO”) technologies. EveryZing was originally founded by BBN Technologies, creators of the email @ symbol. The company’s core intellectual property and capabilities include speech-to-text technology and natural language processing. With the only technology that delivers full-text output from online digital files, EveryZing enables its customers to capitalize on the $4 billion online video advertising market. For more information visit www.everyzing.com

On the other hand, the Bain study details quite the opposite in terms of professionally produced content, where CPM’s in their reference set were $43, and sellthrough was north of 90%.

However, publishers continue to struggle to generate strong growth in video consumption as detailed here:

Eric Franchi at MediaPost writes a good article on this topic detailing what publisher can do to drive consumption of media.  One of his specific recommendations regards using SEO approaches for video:

“Site configuration/sharing/SEO: Too many times, the video section of a site is relegated to a single tab in the navigation bar, with perhaps a link or two on the left or right hand side. Video shouldn’t be relegated to a single channel; it should be incorporated throughout the site experience wherever it makes sense. It might require a partial site redesign, but the economics could very well justify it. Video also should always be easy to share, email or add to RSS. Finally, search is still king even for video, so SEO teams need to focus on driving users to relevant pages as they are for all other types of content. There has never been a better time for branded publishers to take advantage of their assets — content, loyal audiences, and sales teams — and create more online video opportunities. The ball is in their court!”

The challenges with Video SEO are primarily that video files do not have a lot of text associated, as well as the fact that many sites “lock up” their video content inside of flash media players.  Yet at the same time search is emerging as the single biggest contributor of upstream referrals, with Hitwise showing a dramatic shift in video consumption from viral to search:

As with all of the successful online ad models that preceeded it, video advertising will take off once there is a critical mass of inventory available to advertisers.  Publishers need to embrace best practices around Video SEO and viral features as they relate to video.  This remains the biggest challenge in the market today.

But successful online advertising takes more than a conversion of 30 second TV spots repurposed and redirected onto the Web. This week Burst Media, an online advertising network, released a survey that reiterated the growth in online video viewing across demographics while also highlighting low consumer acceptance of video ads. Numerous studies have charted the growth in video viewing online and research increasingly evinces consumer hesitation about viewing online video ads.

Ads, by their very nature, are disruptive. The good news from the Burst survey is that about 53.6 percent of online video viewers recall seeing in-stream – either pre-, mid-, or post-roll – ads attached to some form of web programming. Unfortunately, more than three-quarters (78.4 percent) of respondents said in-stream ads are intrusive and fully one-half (50.4 percent) say these ads disrupt their Internet experience.

The bad and the worse: the Burst survey found that one-half (50.7%) of respondents stop watching an online video once they encounter an in-stream advertisement. Ominously, 15.3% of respondents report they immediately leave the website once they encounter an in-stream advertisement in an online video. And in-stream advertising does not always make a lasting impression. In fact, two-thirds (69.1%) of survey respondents say they pay about the same or less attention to in-stream video advertisements than they do to standard creative units on the same page.

The Burst study should force advertisers, agencies and publishers to take notice as it juxtaposes the growing consumption of online video with the dissatisfaction consumers feel when content is interrupted by streaming ads.

“Online video is clearly in demand by web viewers,” said Jarvis Coffin, CEO of Burst Media.

“However, marketers need to tread carefully with online video advertising. It’s pretty clear from our research that most online video consumers are not yet willing to sit through advertising to get the content they seek. For online video advertising to be truly effective, advertisers must approach it with a consumer’s mindset, and recognize that what might be right for one segment could fail with another.”

The time for online video ads is now; video ads that respect and target consumer preferences so that users are willing and even eager to view them. Whatever the outcome of the writer’s strike, online video is winning an increasingly central role in consumer engagement with media. Content producers and media companies must make their video content more discoverable and accessible to consumers if they hope to capitalize on this trend. In doing so, they will make the shows and clips more valuable to advertisers, perhaps enticing those advertising budgets away from stalled television series and into the online realm.

This is huge news for the world of online video and advertising. Google believes these video units will allow more publishers to have video content on their sites while simultaneously offering them the potential for extra revenue. It is also the logical next step, following Google’s release of text-based ad overlays on select YouTube videos. Video unit ads dedicate a small companion banner at the top of the screen to run graphical banner ads. This takes up around 20 percent of the player screen. A text ad also appears on the bottom portion of the video once a user clicks the play button and the video begins showing.

The Google AdSense blog explains:

“You can choose categories of video to target to your site, select content from individual YouTube partners, or have video automatically targeted to your site content.”

Around 100 YouTube video content partners are currently taking part. Google would not release a full list of participants, even so, notably missing from those mentioned were any major media companies. They did mention some of the current content partners including Expert Village, a producer of how-to videos; Ford Models, a modeling agency; and Extreme Elements, which creates videos about extreme sports.

From a video producer angle this looks pretty good—at least initially; imagine your videos syndicated to thousands of websites while you get a cut from each ad. So why are the big media companies holding back? It looks like concerns have already surfaced over who controls the content placement and how well it can be targeted.

Website publishers may abstain from jumping on the video unit bandwagon because of similar concerns. With the video distribution completely out of their hands, both content producers and web publishers will have to rely on Google’s targeting to ensure the relevance and appropriateness of the streamed videos.

For consumers, there is certainly an appeal to the non-invasive, non-interruptive nature of Google’s video unit ads. But will they want to watch these videos outside of the familiar YouTube environment? Google’s text ads have succeeded in spite of irrelevant links showing up where the targeting is clearly not at 100%. Will consumers find it more irksome when the inevitable irrelevant video clips pop up? Online video has proven itself a powerful medium thus far, so odds are where the videos go—so long as they are adequately targeted—eyes will follow.

This is exactly where the fears of publishers and content providers come in. The power of web video, its popularity and viral nature, also make it uniquely challenging to control, target and navigate online. This has meant that in spite of the explosion of online video, publishers have remained somewhat wary of the medium. Google has undoubtedly shaken the world of online video, but the hesitance of publishers will continue to hold web video back as long as concerns over inadequate control linger.

The partnership between Tremor Media and ExpoTV allows Tremor ads to exhibit unique ExpoTV Videopinions reviews, which ExpoTV describes as “short, unbiased, consumer-generated videos of products and services.” The companies see such reviews as a new advertising vehicle that will, ideally, leverage the influence of brand ambassadors to get the word out about products. The appeal of user-generated reviews is that they should resonate with Internet users, as the production by another consumer lends a greater air of authenticity than a typical, company produced ad. Videopinions reviews also get advertisers off the hook when they lack creative assets suited for the online environment; the reviews provide ready-to-use video with full usage rights. Tremor Media CEO Jason Glickman calls this:

…a new twist on blending advertising with user-generated content that leverages the power of social media that is safe for brands.

Glickman is not the only one looking for creative, safe ways to leverage social media for branding purposes online. Zooppa describes its site as “an innovative platform for advertising made by users and sponsored by companies.” The start-up aspires to conduct business in a creative and rewarding viral context. By providing designers and video makers the opportunity to bid on contests from big brands to create commercials, Zooppa simultaneously fosters competition and creative collaboration. The production of ads in such an open, social environment lets companies get a glimpse of how people see a brand. The subsequent viral spread of the most popular, creative videos also works wonders for brand building.

Both the Tremor/ExpoTV partnership and the Zooppa business model demonstrate an interesting, viral yet controlled direction for online video advertising. Could blurring the lines between consumers and content creation be the next big thing in online branding?

The study indicates that the majority of consumers are viewing video online; 62 percent of respondents claim to watch videos on the Internet. Another interesting finding shows that, contrary to popular opinion, these viewers are not simply young adults viewing user-generated videos. The majority of viewers—69 percent—falls into the 35 and older group. And that 69 percent prefers viewing news clips over YouTube videos. Lynda Clarizio, president of Advertising.com believes this preference highlights that:

The internet is still seen first and foremost as an information resource. With news clips remaining the most popular type of streamed content, video viewing habits reflect that status.

Where is the online video trend headed, and what can consumer behavior tell us about shifting preferences?

Clarizio adds that:

…it will be interesting to see how viewership evolves with the rise of social networks, more diverse video content, increased interactive gaming, and other such advances in online entertainment. I think we may see a shift in usage toward recreation; these latest figures certainly hint at that trend.

Will there be an evolution in usage as Clarizio predicts, with the focus on web video as entertainment taking a firmer hold?

Whatever the outcome, advertisers will need to pay close attention to the way consumer preferences for online video consumption develop and shift. Advertising.com’s report shows that consumers accept video advertising as part of the video experience and even prefer ads to subscription fees. The shorter the ads, the better they performed for advertisers in terms of percentage of ad played. Shorter ads also make the experience more pleasurable for consumers engaging with the video content.

Online video advertising has yet to find its equivalent to TV’s 30 second ad spot however. Video advertising online may be a more complex beast, but much of that complexity could work to the advertiser’s advantage. While online video provides a rich context for analyzing consumer behavior and closely targeting ads to viewer preferences, marketers and content providers have not fully tapped this resource. Video search will begin to play a major role, as more advanced video search engines provide transcripts of video files which enhance search results, heighten user experience and allow deeper analysis of consumer behavior and preferences online.

“It is only a matter of time until nearly all advertisements around the world are digital” contends chairman and chief executive of Digitas David W. Kenny.

This belief drives Publicis Groupe’s plan to build a powerful, global digital ad network. This network will create thousands of versions of each ad, using data about consumers and computer algorithms to decide which advertising message to display to each potential consumer as they navigate through content on their computer, cell phone and, eventually, even their TV. As a result, ads will be relevant and new each time a potential customer sees them. Utilizing myriad iterations of advertising creative fits into the Internet paradigm where finely targeted advertising is becoming the norm. Video advertising, for example, can target consumers with far greater specificity on the Web than offline.

The challenge here lies in the shift. Moving from mass video advertising campaigns to the personalized, thousand iterations strategy entails a dramatic transformation in the breadth and scope of advertising creative production. Publicis Groupe’s acquisitions have, in part, broadened the company’s access to countries with low-cost labor markets to fill the need for greater production capacity.

Will Publicis Groupe’s digital advertising angle meet its 2010 projection, drive up digital revenue and enhance the consumer’s experience? Whether or not they succeed, their goals will certainly have interesting implications for others in the digital advertising and media space.

“Online Video: A New Local Advertising Paradigm” suggests that video advertising combines the “traditional strengths of pull-based directional marketing, the Internet’s targeting capabilities, and the emotional and dramatic power of television.” PR Newswire adds that, given what we know about the demographics of broadband users, the online audience these ads reach have a high likelihood of being well-educated, affluent and as such, “more likely to engage in pull-based content retrieval.” Yet companies and advertisers are still experimenting when it come to online video. Michael Boland of the Kelsey Group contends:

Content generation, licensing, search and monetization all represent big question marks in the embryonic market sector, and we are in a “wild west” phase of experimentation on all fronts.

The Kelsey Group report concludes that while challenges remain and, presumably, some benefits are not yet evident, “online video shows the potential to be a considerably powerful medium and the next must-have format in local directional advertising.”

While Gambito and others see YouTube and similar sites as a “first step,” online video creators must find a balance between control, distribution and monetization of their content. Although the exposure of content on the larger video aggregation sites benefits video creators by growing their audience, such sites pose a threat to producers’ best chance at monetization–their own Web sites. Holahan quotes Ze Frank of the vlog “The Show with Ze Frank”:

What some people are finding is the crappiest situation is to be popular on these massive platforms…There is a big value to having your own site that is under your control because that is the easiest space to sell ads against.

Another issue even those with their own financially lucrative sites have to face is the question of controlling distribution; the viral spread of content across the Web is not merely a problem for Viacom. Is the publicity gained worth some loss of financial stake and control to the people like Gambito?

Content creators are searching for a balance between control, distribution and monetization. Steven Starr, founder and CEO of Revver states, “It is our belief that content is destined to move freely.” This may very well be the future of online video once producers of content, Internet users and advertisers have worked through the current issues. Until then some tension is inevitable.