Is the Ad a Success? The Brain Waves Tell All

Agencies and advertisers are growing more interested in neuroscience in their never-ending efforts to improve effectiveness.

“The role of neuromarketing is to understand how people feel and react,” said Elissa Moses, chief analytics officer at EmSense. “It in no way sets out to meddle with normal, natural response mechanisms.”

[via The New York Times]

Nielsen Switches Online Rankings to Streams From Unique Viewers

Nielsen Online has changed the way it ranks and measures online video destinations. It now measures online video by the top 20 online video brands as ranked by streams rather than by unique audience for video-sharing sites. TV Week reports.

"The measurement firm made the change because it has rolled out its new VideoCensustool, which measures individual video streams served across Web sites.

YouTube still dominates under the new system: It delivered 2.9 billion streams in February. Fox Interactive Media was second with 406 million streams, followed by Yahoo with 245 million streams."

Queen Rania on YouTube

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah launched her presence on YouTube with an urgent message to the world's young people, Monday, asking them to join in a global dialogue to recognize our commonalities.

Press release

BBC launches redesign of its news site

The BBC today launched a new look news website as part of an ongoing redesign of bbc.co.uk, reports NMA.

"The news and sport pages will now feature an embedded video service, increased numbers of images and wider page designs.

It will also include more promotion of the video services around breaking news and live events, as the BBC looks to put video and audio at the heart of story pages with viewers now able to watch video on page rather than in a separate window."

[via I Want Media]

Veteran TV Writers Create a Web Series...About TV Writers

Stun Creative, a marketing and production company in Los Angeles, is teaming up with a troupe of veteran comedy writers to create a new Web series, The Writers Room.

The series takes place in the writers, room of a fictional late night talk show, featuring the banter and neurosis that come from the overworked writing staff.

According to Stun Creative co-president Mark Feldman, The Writers Room never presents the actual 'show' to our audience. We chose instead to focus on the writers' room, since some of the funniest stuff never leaves the room. Not to mention the fact that we simply didn't have enough budget to build an actual talk show set."

[via Broadcasting & Cable]

Television Mirrors

Spotted on Newlaunches, television mirrors by Seura.

Sony Films headed to Mobile Phones

Sony Pictures Television is looking to launch the first movie network on mobile phones in the United States.

"The studio has signed a deal with AT&T and MediaFlo USA to launch the linear channel as one of two exclusive channels coming to the newly announced AT&T Mobile TV with FLO service in May.

The channel, to be known as PIX, will be stocked with such titles as "Ghostbusters," "Philadelphia" and "Stand by Me."

[via Reuters/Hollywood Reporter]

Bush booed at 2008 Nationals home opener

[via metro]

Insight from The Washington Post.

LegalTorrents

LegalTorrents, one of the oldest and most prominent destinations for legal BitTorrent downloads, is relaunching today, and its new version offers a bunch of new features for users and content creators alike, among them a donation system to offer content creators a way to monetize P2P.

[via NewTeeVee]

Leno gets 'My Gayest Look'

It all started with a seemingly innocuous talk-show appearance by actor Ryan Phillippe on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on March 20.

Reel Pop reports on "how it snowballed into the kind of backlash that gives publicists acid reflux. "

"A bizarre, offhand remark by Leno to Phillippe, directing him to give the camera "his gayest look" during a broadcast has spurred the creation of My Gayest Look, a protest site of sorts in which various offended parties pose for pictures in which they flip the bird and make other obscene gestures."

Watch the video.

Television tip-over accidents rising nationally

Tip-over TV accidents are increasing across the country, statistics show. In 2006, at least 10 children under 5 died in cases involving televisions tipping over, said the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

[TV Barn via Newsday]

An elephant paints an elephant

[via boingboing]

Online TV Generating Mainstream Revenues

New research from Informa Telecoms & Media shows that legitimate online TV and video services will generate revenues of US$7.9 billion in 2013, almost six times the 2007 figure.

Advertising will consistently outperform a la carte and subscription-based download services in terms of revenue generation and North America will be the largest revenue-generating region, accounting for 63% of the 2013 global total.

[via Broadcastingbuyer]

TorrentSpy Shuts Down, Charging Legal Atmosphere 'Too Hostile'

TorrentSpy, the BitTorrent search engine which was fined $30,000 after losing a lawsuit brought by the Motion Picture Association of America, has closed its doors.

"The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests, and links to torrent files in search results is simply too hostile," TorrentSpy founder Justin Bunnel wrote in a statement placed on the service's Web site.

In December a Los Angeles judged ruled for the motion pictures industry after TorrentSpy destroyed evidence that had been requested as part of a copyright infringement lawsuit.

"We now feel compelled to provide the ultimate method of privacy protection for our users - permanent shutdown," Bunnel wrote.

[via All Headline News]

The Delicate Art of Video on Search Pages

Google and Yahoo have both started including video advertising on search results pages. Depending on how consumers react, this could open a vast new source of ad revenue or could deter users from clicking on the already incredibly lucrative text ads.

[via Bits and Google video ad (embedded above) via search engine land ]

Citizen journalists: the Times says it’s the kids

A New York Times report this morning is headlined: Finding Political News Online, the Young Pass It On. Its lede is about a section of a response by Senator Obama to President Bush’s State of the Union address that newspapers and television barely noticed but that “caught fire” online. The report attributes this to young people:

It is not news that young politically minded viewers are turning to alternative sources like YouTube, Facebook and late-night comedy shows like “The Daily Show.” But that is only the beginning of how they process information.

According to interviews and recent surveys, younger voters tend to be not just consumers of news and current events but conduits as well — sending out e-mailed links and videos to friends and their social networks. And in turn, they rely on friends and online connections for news to come to them. In essence, they are replacing the professional filter — reading The Washington Post, clicking on CNN.com — with a social one. ...

[via Smart Mobs]

'We interrupt the web to bring you this message'

In an emergency, the US president can commandeer the country's airwaves to get through to the people, hijacking terrestrial, digital and cable television and radio to get the message out. But with the internet becoming ever more central to communication is that enough? Might many people be left uninformed if only TV and radio are used? asks Tom Simonite, online technology reporter for New Scientist.

"If online video is the new television, why not interrupt YouTube videos to get the message out, or hijack everything from Twitter feeds to Facebook "pokes"? The most extreme solution might be easier to just use ISPs to interrupt everyone's browsing with the emergency message."

Hillary wasn't lying. Bosnia gunfire footage discovered...

[via Metro]

Small stations claim digital TV switch will bankrupt them

According to USA Today, the low-power television industry is facing a "death sentence" because of a flaw in the government's plan to force broadcasters to shift to digital broadcasting and have asked a federal judge for a reprieve.

"The Community Broadcasters Association, which represents owners of small television stations, wants the FCC to ban all digital set top converter boxes that are not equipped to receive an analog signal, a request that has the potential to derail the biggest broadcasting transition since color television.

As of Feb. 18, 2009, all full-power television stations in the U.S. are required to stop broadcasting an analog signal. Anyone who gets programming through an antenna and does not have a newer-model digital TV set will need to buy a box that converts the digital signal to analog. The government is providing two $40 coupons per household that can be used to buy these boxes.

The problem facing the 2,600 low-power television stations represented by the association is that they are not subject to the deadline. Most of the converter boxes now on sale will actually block the low-power analog signal from those stations, while the full-power digital signal will display normally.

The association, in a petition filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Wednesday, asked the FCC to "prevent the marketing and distribution" of the boxes."

YouTube Feature Tells Video Creators When and Where a Clip Is Being Watched

In a move to provide better data to its users, YouTube formally announced late Wednesday that it had added a free feature that will show video creators when and where viewers are watching their videos. With this, the company hopes to turn YouTube from an online video site into a place where marketers can test their messages, Tracy Chan, YouTube product manager, said to The New York Times.

"This program, called YouTube Insight, provides a detailed view of a video’s popularity, both over time and geographically, broken down by state. (Internationally, YouTube Insight is not as insightful, providing only popularity by country.)"

Watch this this video to get a basic understanding of the YouTube Insight tool.

March Madness On Demand Killing CBS' TV Ratings

As a whole, according to Sporting News, TV ratings for the four day period to start the Tournament were down 9.4%. Not only that, but 13 of the 16 windows had lower ratings in comparison to last year.

"CBS averaged a 4.8 national rating, down from a 5.3 in 2007. Much of this was due to the fact that a handful of the games aired on Easter, but it very well could have been that everyone was watching online.

The numbers that CBS tracked for March Madness On Demand (MMOD) were absolutely staggering. The online views for CBS' game center were up 129% and racked up 3.3 unique visitors per day.

There were so many viewers in the first few days that by Saturday, the total of 3,375,451 hours of video overtook the total from 2007's entire tournament by 659,215 hours.

Also worth noting was fans use of the "Boss Button" within MMOD. The fake fake spreadsheet feature was clicked on 2,190,488 times."

Related:

-- Office madness

-- Making millions when the boss isn't looking

Showtime Streams 'Tudors' Premiere On YouTube

Showtime is using new media to showcase its historical re-telling of the Henry VIII tale.

The pay TV channel will stream the premiere second season episode of its drama The Tudors tomorrow March 27 on YouTube, three days prior to the show’s March 30 debut on Showtime.

"Showtime will air an edited, TV-MA version of the series on YouTube, marking the first time a cable network has aired a original series episode in its entirety on the popular social networking site."

[via Multichannel News]

IRS uses YouTube to get rebate word out; see video

The IRS is making use of YouTube to get its message out, writes USA Today.

The agency produced four 30-second public service announcements that tell viewers how to claim their tax rebates from the economic stimulus plan.

Each YouTube video features an IRS employee standing in front of an American flag. The videos were put on the website starting on Friday, through the American Payroll Association's YouTube channel

The videos are getting mixed reviews from young YouTube watchers. ...Boston University junior Ashlie Chandler said that while the IRS videos were "boring and seemingly ridiculous," YouTube was a smart route for the IRS to take.

While the YouTube videos may not draw droves of viewers, the IRS hopes its message will spread by word of mouth or that other organizations or news networks will post the videos.

Elephants Shoot Excellent Video

For the upcoming BBC documentary series Tiger - Spy in the Jungle, filmmakers enlisted the help of elephants to capture the tigers with hidden HD cameras.

The large "trunk cam" (pictured here) was the most ludicrous of the devices carried by the elephants, while the smaller, lighter "tusk cam" proved to be easier for the elephants to carry for long periods of time.

But the neatest thing from a production standpoint? Apparently elephants move so smoothly that the improvised footage resembles that shot with a Steadicam rig. Look for the show on BBC One this Sunday, March 30th.

Watch the Trunk-cams in action

[Gizmodo via the BBC]

Teachers Tap Video-Sharing In the Classroom

Video in the classroom has evolved since the days when teachers wheeled in film projectors on carts. More teachers are using online video-sharing sites modeled after Google Inc.'s YouTube to engage with students. And video is no longer a one-way channel of communication; students are participating in the creation of videos, too. The Wall Street Journal reports.

On TeacherTube, educators share material, such as instructional math videos, with classrooms around the world. Another site, SchoolTube, mainly hosts videos produced by students in class with the help of their teachers.

But while video-sharing sites can help capture students' attention, critics say such services will have difficulty gaining wide support from school administrators, who often block access to Internet sites like YouTube."

Transparent and Touchless Remote Control

Touting itself as a no-touch Remote Control, the device designed by a Dutch Student for Bang & Olufsen features an unorthodox mechanism which entails sweeping your hand through a vacant space in the device in order to control your TV.

To change the channel, just slide your finger through the open space on the remote. To change the volume, place your finger inside of the remote cavity, and watch as the remote changes angles to simulate the falling or rising volume.

[via GearFuse]

Austrian monks win recording contract with YouTube clip

A group of Austrian monks have signed a major recording contract after submitting a YouTube Clip of their Gregorian chanting, reports cbc.ca.

"Universal Music put out a call in religious publications for "monks, men of the cloth and sacred singers" in February.

Recording executives were inundated with hundreds of demos but said the monks from the Heiligenkreuz monastery stood head and shoulders above the competition.

China may ban TV shots of Tiananmen

The Chinese government, facing ever more international scrutiny, appears to be trying to restrict the gaze of its world audience during the upcoming Olympic Games. It has told broadcasters that it may bar live television shots of Tiananmen Square during the Beijing Olympics this summer. The move looks to be a sign of the government's increasing unease following recent protests among Tibetans.

The ban would affect NBC and other major news outlets that plan to broadcast the games. Most broadcasters had expected to include live TV shots of the square.

[via News.com]

TV's Jericho is scrapped for good

Jericho, the TV drama portraying the aftermath of nuclear attacks on the United States, has been cancelled by CBS, despite viewers' protests, reports the BBC.

"Last year some of them sent 40,000lb (18,100kg) of peanuts - a reference to a line of dialogue - to CBS when it announced Jericho was being scrapped.

CBS made more seven episodes, but Tuesday's edition is to be the last."

"Without question, there are passionate viewers watching this programme," said Nina Tassler, the network's entertainment president, in a statement issued to the Associated Press.

"We simply wish there were more," she added. "We have no regrets bringing the show back for a second try."

Related: -Fan protest saves US show Jericho

I Don't Want My Web TV

Internet TV startup Joost, backed by CBS, was supposed to be as big as YouTube. Instead, it's in danger of being squeezed out as the networks scramble for a billion-dollar payday.

"This market changed so much in a year," Mike Volpi Joost C.E.O says. "It went from 'No one thought it was feasible' to 'Everyone is doing it.' "

[via Portfolio.com]