According to Mike Shields, Mediaweek, Hulu, online high quality video distributor will stream the concert June 2, 2009 in prime time.  Mark this day as the beginning of the end of television.   The distribution of high quality video content on the Internet synchronously will create demand which is a new twist to a channel that has been used primarily as a second or tertiary, way to communicate.   The timing is right for this experiment to provide an ROI that is attractive for further investment.

One investment overdue is an advertising platform as rich or richer than the content provided by Hulu.   The opportunities to interact with products using  advertising  media built in Flash and Flex technologies coupled with the ability to customize and buy the product at the same time is a new frontier creating all types of  business models including revenue sharing.   So, Hulu while you are forming amazing alliances with content providers also look at ADOBE or other partner to take those ads to the next level.  You’ll be glad you did.

ผู้บริหารอดีตลูกหม้อกูเกิล (Google) กำลังจะขึ้นเป็นซีอีโอคนใหม่ของเอโอแอล (AOL) ธุรกิจออนไลน์ในเครือสื่อยักษ์ใหญ่ไทม์วอเนอร์ (Time Warner) นักวิเคราะห์มอง AOL กำลังจะถูกอาบน้ำแต่งตัวให้ดูดีเพื่อเตรียมแยกตัวออกจากไทม์วอเนอร์ไปตั้ง เป็นบริษัทใหม่

ทิม อาร์มสตรอง (Tim Armstrong) อดีตรองประธานอาวุโสกูเกิล และประธานฝ่ายปฏิบัติการธุรกิจโฆษณาออนไลน์ภาคพื้นอเมริกาใต้และเหนือวัย 38 ปี กำลังจะเข้ารับตำแหน่งประธานเจ้าหน้าที่บริหารและประธานบริษัทต่อจากซีอีโอ เอโอแอลคนปัจจุบัน แรนดี้ ฟาลโค (Randy Falco) ผู้บริหารสถานีโทรทัศน์ซึ่งดำรงตำแหน่งมาตั้งแต่เดือนพฤศจิกายนปี 2006 โดยฟาลโคพร้อมรอน แกรนท์ (Ron Grant) ประธานเอโอแอลและประธานฝ่ายปฏิบัติการได้ยื่นใบลาออกจากเอโอแอลแล้วในขณะนี้

สิ่ง ที่เกิดขึ้นกับเอโอแอลนั้นทำให้หลายฝ่ายเชื่อว่าการ spin-off หรือการแยกเอโอแอลออกไปเป็นบริษัทใหม่กำลังจะเกิดขึ้น ซึ่งซีอีโอไทม์วอเนอร์นามเจฟฟ์ บิวเคส (Jeff Bewkes) นั้นยอมรับมาตลอดว่าเขายินดีเปิดรับการเจรจาเพื่อควบรวมหรือขายเอโอแอลตลอด เวลา และในแถลงการณ์ บิวเคสเชื่อว่าอาร์มสตรองจะช่วยวางโครงสร้างที่ดีขึ้นให้กับเอโอแอลได้

ดีกรีความเป็นอดีตผู้บริการฝีมือดีของกูเกิลทำให้อาร์มสตรองรับภาระ ความคาดหวังจากทุกฝ่าย โดยอาร์มสตรองนั้นร่วมงานกับกูเกิลมานาน 8 ปีครึ่ง ผลงานสำคัญคือการเป็นทีมงานรุ่นบุกเบิกในการสร้างสาขาให้กูเกิลนอกสาขาใหญ่ ที่เมาเทนวิว อาร์มสตรองคนนี้เองที่เป็นผู้ดูแลการเริ่มต้นสำนักงานกูเกิลในนิวยอร์ก

นักวิเคราะห์ในตลาดเชื่อว่าการมาของอาร์มสตรองจะทำให้นักลงทุนมี ทัศนคติด้านบวก โดยที่ผ่านมา หลังจากบิวเคสและฟาลโคแบ่งเอโอแอลออกเป็นสองส่วนหลัก ส่วนหนึ่งรับผิดชอบธุรกิจโฆษณาและผู้อ่านเว็บ อีกส่วนดูแลธุรกิจให้บริการเชื่อมต่ออินเตอร์เน็ต แต่ล่าสุดเอโอแอลกลับมีรายได้จากการโฆษณาออนไลน์ลดลงตามจำนวนสมาชิกใช้งาน จนทำให้บริษัทประกาศตัวเลขรายได้ลดลง 23% เหลือ 968 ล้านเหรียญสหรัฐในไตรมาสสี่ของปีที่ผ่านมา

ต้องรอดูต่อไปว่าอาร์มสตรองจะสามารถกู้วิกฤตให้เอโอแอลได้หรือไม่ แต่ที่แน่ๆคืออาร์มสตรองเป็นหนึ่งในผู้บริหารกูเกิลหลายคนที่ลาออกเพื่อไป ดูแลธุรกิจออนไลน์รายใหญ่แห่งอื่น เช่นอดีตประธานฝ่ายขายอาวุโสของกูเกิลนาม Sheryl Sandberg ก็ลาออกจากกูเกิลไปนั่งเก้าอี้ประธานฝ่ายปฏิบัติการของเฟซบุ้ก (Facebook) และที่คาดว่าจะลาจากกูเกิลไปอีกรายคือมาริสสา เมเยอร์ (Marissa Meyer) ผู้บริหารกูเกิลอีกรายที่รับผิดชอบธุรกิจสืบค้นข้อมูลของกูเกิล

According to PC World’s, Brennon Slattery Hulu rockets to the second largest streaming video provider.   According to February Neislen data Hulu enjoys 9.4 million unique visitors.   Imagine Hulu aggregating the MySpace, FaceBook, and You Tube audiences all logged in and watching the latest Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, or Jennifer Aniston block buster.   The big idea here is that personalization, interactive advertising, and monetizing the social networks is now a reality.  To all those interactive agencies wondering how they are going to weather the current macro economy slump, I encourage them to get on the first flight to Austin, Texas  for SXSW and start preparing for the Interactive  Earthquake that will be felt around the world.  You might also want to consider some stock in Adobe.  

Breaking: AOL has named a new CEO and chairman. Tim Armstrong, who headed up ad sales in North America for Google, will replace …[More..]

Tim Armstrong is the new chief executive of AOL, a division of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) and parent of BloggingStocks. Armstrong, a senior VP at Google (you can read the press release here) replaces Randy Falco, who joined AOL in November …[More..]

Tim Armstrong: AOL

The New York Times reported today by MIGUEL HELFT that Goggle is in advanced discussions for premium content in the form of music.   Choosing music as the premium content of choice means ans their are more folks in line getting paid than a royal wedding.   Plus it’s already been done….   Another more interesting alternative is to create high quality multi-media content programming targeted for the on-line demographic and premiere these programs creating on-line eyeballs that advertisers will pay a premium for.   They are free to the consumer.  Much better business model.  The on-line demographic is very attractive but can’t find anything of quality on-line other than news and niche product placements. 

The framework:  Facebook,  You Tube,  and Myspace from here on out will be considered networks.   Consider the network where there are millions of logged in users and some  user preferences are known and other preferences are gleaned periodically.   Imagine  you have an aggregation of eyeballs and you know something about each one such as age, gender,  sports, zip code and other valuable preference.  The big idea is that the network with logged in users is built.  The distribution has a marginal cost of nearly zero.  The delivery of high quality synchronous and asynchrnous programming  is the missing link.

The strategy:   the network will advertise and broadcast content on the network.  Customers that are logged in will tune in to the content and receive value from the content (favorite program) whether it be comedy, action movies or any content/program  that one might broadcast.   The big idea here is that personalized ads can be delivered because of the logged in nature of the network ads will be personalized.

Scalability:  As more customers log on for their program/content, more segments are aggregated and advertising is more targeted than ever.  After 6-18 months a very affluent segment emerges that’s logged in to the network and high value personalized ads can be delivered.   Some programs will be delivered synchronously while others may be asynchronously or on-demand

A new paradigm:  The ads are interactive….  For example, if  someone in the network wants a boat they will not only see boat images but will have the opportunity to see diferent types of boats and after a few interactions/clicks be presented with the ability to design one.   Another example is with an automobile, the networks starts with serving aftermarket ads showing how their current wheels could be enhanced and after some interaction/clicks a customized ride.   It’s fairly easy to extend this thought to a new car purchase and how that might work as well.   The data available for storyboarding alone would generate revenue by learning customer preferences first-hand.  Think about how this could change real estate shopping.  It will transform shopping and will be value added almost multi-tasking from the customers perspective.

Given the choice for a customer to view an advertisement  in between periods of content ( your favorite on-line program)  wouldn’t you love for it to interact with you and serve your needs.

In summary, the network is built.  The missing link is the delivery of syndicated content from high quality content providers synchronously for high cost per thousand audiences and asynchronously for the 24/7 always on value of the network .  The online demographic is very attractive to advertisers.   Additionally, advertisers need to vertical integrate interactive agencies into their functional organizations and will pay to access the network for focus groups, story boards, detailed future preferences , data mining and actual orders.   One could imagine a commission based model with the network benefiting.  Imagine a logged in user of the network designing their sneakers and ordering them while watching the Boston Marathon and the network say takes 15%.

Imagine for Facebook alone, what if you could motivate their 175 Million active users to attend a concert, watch the latest cell phone reveal, or see Justin Timberlake.  Even a small percentage of this type viewership would make most ad models work exceedingly well.

The New York Times indicated the social networks might be strapping on a movie projector and a concert hall last year in addition to going global.  All good ideas.  As any decent strategy person soon learns, strategy is one thing, execution is another and it takes both!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/technology/21myspace.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=rupert%20facebook&st=Search&scp=4

What we should learn from Stephan Lee, the author of the link below is that others have come before and delivered a  cost free distribution model and  all the social networks need to do is use it to the max.

http://atwiad.com/blog/2009/1/30/what-telco-history-tells-me-about-facebook-business-model.html

Diann Daniel  cio.com supports that currently social networks are vast wastelands.  I assert the money will follow the quality

http://www.pcworld.com/article/159992/social_networks_thrive.html?tk=rss_news

Michael Duley

March 1, 2009

AOL has finally gulped Bebo and formed what it calls People Networks. AOL bought Bebo earlier this year for a heart stopping $850 million. The group will be run by Joanna Sheilds, formerly of Bebo. David Liu was working on the AIM, ICQ, Goowy and Yedda teams is joining the People Network. I have met him on a few occasions – smart guy. You can find more details in Randy Falco, AOL CEO’s memo below the fold. Also, check out this Financial Times article that points to Yahoo possibly lose the ad deal. No surprise, but timing is clearly not good.

Dear AOL colleague,

I’m pleased to report that we’ve completed our acquisition of social networking pioneer Bebo, which will serve as the centerpiece of our reinvigorated community efforts and positions us to capitalize on this fast-growing space.

In addition, Joanna Shields, who so ably led Bebo since 2007, is coming on board as the head of our newly formed People Networks business unit. People Networks will include Bebo, AIM, ICQ and our other community products, as well as two of our other recent acquisitions – Goowy Media and Yedda. Combined, People Networks reaches an impressive 80 million users worldwide.

Bebo is a true innovator in this space, combining a relentless focus on the consumer with an open platform for developers and an integrated marketing approach. As a result, Bebo has created a unique environment that lets advertisers, brands and media companies engage with Bebo’s audience – without sacrificing the experience of its 42 million users.

We’ll be able to improve all the pieces of People Networks by integrating enhanced e-mail and chat into Bebo, letting users merge Bebo and IM profiles to create common screen names, and cross-promoting Bebo and AOL content. And working with Platform-A, we’ll be able to monetize this highly engaged audience in ways that other social networks can’t.

A note of thanks is due to Kevin Conroy, under whose leadership our messaging platforms have made great progress. AIM maintained its No. 1 position in the U.S., growing ad impressions 5% in Q1, while expanding its reach through the OpenAIM and AIM for iPhone efforts. ICQ’s user base, meanwhile, grew by more than 20% last year, and was up 7% in Q1. Kevin was also instrumental in our acquisition of Yedda and Goowy, and will continue to work closely with the Yedda team on the integration of their Q&A and the Goowy team on widget creation to drive higher engagement and monetization for our products.

I’m pleased that David Liu, who has done a great job leading the AIM, ICQ, Goowy and Yedda teams under Kevin, will be joining People Networks to continue to drive successes in these important platforms.

With the formation of People Networks, AOL is now fully focused on the three key online growth areas – our advertising network, publishing, and people networks. And we’re making great progress in each of these areas.

Publishing is on fire, with our revamped products, programming and commerce sites attracting a larger, more engaged and more valuable audience. Platform-A is rapidly integrating all its companies, and is now organized to offer advertisers and publishers one-stop access to the biggest and best ad network in the business.

I’ll be visiting you this summer to talk to your teams about the direction we’re taking. So please stay tuned.

In the meantime, please join me in welcoming Bebo to the AOL family, and congratulating Joanna on her new role in the company.

Randy

In a memo to employees aimed at addressing fears of an AOL/Yahoo tie-up, AOL chief Randy Falco today penned a truth for social networks:

But despite drawing large, engaged audiences, other social networks have not been able to make the experiences relevant to users and marketers alike.

That right there is the reason I’m hostile to most social networking and social networking-related startups that plan to rely on advertising: They’re depending on marketers to foot the bill while at the same tailoring their content to users that are generally hostile to or uninterested in marketing.

Falco believes that AOL’s future combination of Bebo and Platform A will solve this problem. He’s wrong. Buying more companies with cooler widgets or more users isn’t the direction the Internet is heading. We no longer need portals because we now can navigate the web for ourselves. The real opportunity for a startup in social media is making social networks relevant for advertisers — and making advertisers see social networks as an essential forum for their messages.

It might start with a technological solution, such as the one from startup ScanScount, which is trying to isolate relevant content so advertisers feel comfortable placing their brand on social and user-generated media sites, but it won’t end there. These sites, no matter how useful, need to make money. The company that figures out how to do that will be the Google of Web 2.0.

Kara Swisher got her hands on a memo sent out to AOL (TWX) employees earlier today from CEO Randy Falco. Here is a summary of what it says:

* The focus is advertising and the new venture, Platform-A.
* New web-based properties, including super-hot TMZ.com, are the focus; he calls it the “publishing business.”
* Not giving up on Access business just yet because it “continues to be profitable, providing us cash flow to invest in other areas of the business.”
* They will cut 2,000 employees, roughly 20 percent of their total work force.

Put simply, my vision for AOL is to build the largest and most sophisticated global advertising network while we grow the size and engagement of our worldwide audience.

Clearly a Black Monday out in AOL-land, and since I have a lot of friends who work there, this is not an easy bit of news to report. Still, AOL needs to do some housecleaning in order to streamline its operations. I wonder, though, despite all the talk about being able to compete in the advertising business, if AOL really has what it takes to duke it out with more motivated rivals like Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo (YHOO) and of course, big daddy Google (GOOG).

“In the first six months of the year, we have accomplished more in terms of a turnaround, in terms of fixing products and the platform, than in the past three years.”

AOL CEO Randy Falco, on taking credit for the accomplishments of his predecessor, The New York Times, 20 August 2007