comScore adds Widget Metrix

Online measurement company comScore will now track embedded content on webpages, known as widgets, giving full credit to the websites that are serving it.

by Helen Leggatt

Linda Boland Abraham, executive vice president at comScore, couldn’t believe her eyes when presented with recent figures that had been run on widgets. According to their measurements, 178 million people worldwide have viewed at least one.

Widgets became popular with MySpace members who use them to embelish their profile pages. More recently Facebook has begun to allow developers to create widgets for their members. Other sites, such as PhotoBucket, provide widget code that can easily be embedded in blogs and social sites.

By tracking widgets comScore can now track what content people are looking at and not just the page. While site visitors may be viewing a MySpace profile, they may well be watching PhotoBucket content, via a widget, and comScore’s new Widget Metrix will now measure that widget usage.

According to comScore's analysis of the top ten Web widgets worldwide, photo-related widgets were the most popular. The top widget provider, Slide, was shown to have a worldwide reach of over 117 million unique viewers, that’s nearly 14 percent of the total world internet audience. RockYou came in second with 82 million viewers, then PictureTrail with 31 million and PhotoBucket came in fourth with 28 million viewers.

"The reach that widgets have is gong to surprise a lot of people," said Max Levchin, founder and CEO of Slide. "What advertisers are ultimately interested in is what are people looking at, not what page ... and our index showed we have 60% more 18- to 24-year-olds than average internet property."

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Sony Offers Web-Streaming Device As Option on High-Definition TVs

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118176783779634288.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us_business

Sci-fi projections

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tech/sci-fi-projections.html


Systems create images on glass, in thin air
March 22, 2007
By Denise Deveau, CBC News

The Heliodisplay from IO2 Technologies can project computer-based images onto thin particles of moisture. The airborne film of moisture generated by the device - the black box with the large slot pictured in the foreground - captures the light from the projector to allow the images to take shape. Shown here, the laptop in the background is running a video of a woman on a cellphone, while the Heliodisplay simultaneously turns it into an image that appears to be floating in thin air. The Heliodisplay from IO2 Technologies can project computer-based images onto thin particles of moisture. The airborne film of moisture generated by the device — the black box with the large slot pictured in the foreground — captures the light from the projector to allow the images to take shape. Shown here, the laptop in the background is running a video of a woman on a cellphone, while the Heliodisplay simultaneously turns it into an image that appears to be floating in thin air.

Free floating images in thin air that you can move with your hands, windows that morph into touchscreen displays for passersby — welcome to the new world of projection applications that are literally opening up a new window to the world.

Next generation presentation technologies are now delivering a bona fide interactive experience on anything from solid glass to airborne vapour. And all it takes is a projection system, some cool presentation software, a set of infrared sensors and a few complex algorithms to make it happen.

As with a lot of the high-tech "fun stuff" these days, much of the innovation in this area is coming out of Asia, says Chris Synn, chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based Innotive Inc., a developer of interactive presentation software. Innotive's touch-enabled technology, developed in South Korea, is just one example of the types of systems pushing the boundaries of old and familiar interactive display applications.

With the lightest of touches, users can grab and shuffle images around, zoom in and out to see the minutest of details, or simply wave their hands over an image to make it come alive on screens as large as 100 inches or 254 centimetres. "Instead of a stylus you just use your finger to interact," explained Synn.
Adding a touch of interactivity to screens

Since the interface can work with projection technology, retailers can actually turn an entire display window into a screen — and that, said Synn, is where the wow factor comes into play. "Once people try to interact with it, it's breathtaking. Navigation is so fluid."

Toronto-based media specialist Optiadmedia is heading in this "window to the world" direction with its Window F/X offering, a through-glass storefront multimedia projection technology that was developed in Asia. It all works like a floating screen that can run content of all shapes and sizes on store windows or other clear display formats.

Window F/X combines a rear projection system with a near invisible film that is applied to the window to allow light to be captured to display images. It can be programmed to run any kind of digital content, including animated footage and still images. Optional touchscreen features allow passersby to browse catalogues and surf the internet. Window F/X also has the potential to incorporate audio and Bluetooth wireless capabilities into such things as store-window displays.

The Heliodisplay from IO2 Technologies can project any kind of static or moving image, from photographs to movies, without the need for a solid screen. Pictured here, an arrow icon appears suspended in the air in front of a person's hand. The Heliodisplay from IO2 Technologies can project any kind of static or moving image, from photographs to movies, without the need for a solid screen. Pictured here, an arrow icon appears suspended in the air in front of a person's hand.

Optiadmedia partner Michael Dellios is working on new ways to harness this emerging medium, which was launched into the commercial market in the latter part of 2006. "It puts a new spin on the term window shopping. It's starting to be used a lot for event promotion, because it can be used on portable screen — it's very eye catching."

The Nestings Kids junior home store at Eglinton and Avenue Road in Toronto is among the first to explore the Window F/X experience for its display window, said company owner and president Lisa Rosen. The store's new 46 cm by 61cm translucent screen offers rotating images of products, as well as animations — like snowflakes falling or vintage children's shows to catch the interest of passing shoppers.

"It's great because it doesn't interfere with what we're doing with our window displays, and it makes our products more accessible," Rosen said. "It's just a fun way to get attention. As soon as it was up and running at night, we got calls from people saying how great it was."

Rosen hasn't made the leap to an interactive program for the system yet, but that may come, she said. "That's the fun thing about it all. It's a true idea of what window shopping could be in the future."
Images in thin air

A person uses their hand to manipulate the ghostly, floating image of a digital camera, projected by an IO2 Technologies Heliodisplay. The display has optional motion sensors that let people move computer-generated images around with their fingers. A person uses their hand to manipulate the ghostly, floating image of a digital camera, projected by an IO2 Technologies Heliodisplay. The display has optional motion sensors that let people move computer-generated images around with their fingers.

The future has even more interesting possibilities for Chad Dyner, a San Francisco-based developer and founder of IO2 Technologies. He's the creator of Heliodisplay, a projection technology that works with suspended particles of moisture that can create an interactive display experience literally out of thin air.

Heliodisplay projects computer-based images onto thin particles of moisture generated by a particulate emitting device. The moisture film generated by the device captures the light from the projector to allow the images to take shape.

Heliodisplay can project any kind of static or moving images, from photographs to movies. The piece de resistance — or added "wow" factor if you will — is an optional interactive capability that uses motion sensors to let people move images around with their fingers.

So far, commercial applications have included venues such as museums, trade shows and special events, and Dyner is the first to admit that his innovation is still in its developmental stages. Work is still being done to perfect content and image delivery.

"It's not a mainstream product by any means," he said. "But I definitely think it's the future. I believe we'll start to see more ways to have unobtrusive displays and new ways to interact with information. What we use now is from a previous era."

"This type of thing is not just a novelty item," noted Synn. "You can make it interactive. You can update content. It's all free form so you can do so much with it. It's all pretty cool stuff."

Marketers Get More Efficient With Ad Spending, Leading to Less of It

ROI Allows Cuts to Media Spending Without Losing Effectiveness

By Nat Ives

Published: June 12, 2007

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- If you're looking for expansion in U.S. measured media this year, dig out a magnifying glass. Ad spending will total just $152.3 billion in 2007, for an anemic 1.7% rate of growth and the smallest gain since the 2001 advertising recession, according to a forecast from TNS Media Intelligence. As recently as January, TNS had forecast a 2.6% growth rate -- and it called that increase "tepid."

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'Weak year'
"By historical standards over the past decade, 2007 is shaping up as a weak year," said Jon Swallen, senior VP-director of research at TNS. In addition to general economic conditions that are making marketers a little leery of huge outlays, the continued fragmentation of media options is depressing growth, he said.

And digital media's relatively higher level of accountability and tracking also has given advertisers a better basis on which to calculate returns on investments.

"This has allowed advertisers, particularly the larger advertisers with a bigger impact on the overall market, to improve the overall effectiveness of their marketing efforts," Mr. Swallen said, "which in turn gives them the flexibility to scale back their advertising and marketing budgets and take those savings to the bottom line without feeling that they're losing anything in the marketplace."

Shift to unmeasured services
Even in recent years when overall measured-media spending was expanding at rates closer to 3% or 4%, the top 50 advertisers have cut back on their media outlays. Some of that money, moreover, is going into unmeasured marketing services such as digital, direct and customer-relationship management.

So what's the good news? Don't worry, we've got some.

Online display advertising will grow 16%, the TNS forecast predicts. The other anticipated gainers: cable TV, with an expected expansion of 5.9%; outdoor, set to climb 4.6%; consumer and Sunday magazines, up 4.5%; Spanish-language media, up 3.7%; network TV, up 1.3% and syndicated TV, up 1.2%. The losers are fewer in number: Business-to-business magazines are expected to lose 1.5% of their ad revenue, newspapers could fall 2.9% and spot TV is in line for a 5.5% drop.

Ad spending in the first quarter of 2007 slipped 0.3%, TNS said last week. Rival ad-research firm Nielsen Monitor-Plus weighed in today, reporting a 0.6% decline in the first quarter.

'Widgets' May Snag More Ads

	Photos, Other Content Aided by Web Tools Draw Big Audiences By VAUHINI VARA June 13, 2007; Page B4 New data on viewing photos, videos and music on the Web may have an impact on the way advertisers and social networking sites perceive firms that help create this content. Nearly 177.8 million people world-wide viewed Web content in April made with online tools from companies that let people post photos, videos and music on other Web sites, according to data that Web-tracking firm comScore Inc. plans to release today. The comScore data is among the first to measure the reach of companies such as Slide Inc., RockYou Inc. and PictureTrail Inc., which create applications known as widgets that consumers can use to produce videos, photo slideshows and music playlists. These individual pieces of content can then be posted on blogs and social-networking sites such as MySpace, a unit of News Corp., and Facebook. So far, Slide and other widget makers have earned money mostly by selling ads on their own sites, but have found it difficult to generate revenue from the content created using their services and displayed on other sites. The data from comScore could begin to change that by showing advertisers how widely distributed the content is, says Max Levchin, chief executive of Slide, which lets people make Web slideshows, among other applications. To use Slide, consumers first upload photos to the Slide site. Slide turns the photos into a slideshow that can be customized with special effects. Users can then automatically place that slideshow on an outside site, such as MySpace, by clicking a few buttons or copying and pasting a piece of code. According to comScore, Slide is the top provider of widgets, seen by 117.1 million Web users in April. Content such as slideshows posted on other sites has "emerged more as a form of self-expression, but now that we have data that talk about how big the audience really is, I think that will really begin to spark the advertising," says Linda Boland Abraham, the comScore executive vice president who spearheaded the study. To put the data into perspective, 105 million people visited MySpace in April and 38.8 million visited Facebook. One big hurdle: These widget makers depend largely on MySpace and Facebook for their audience, and those two sites have so far been reluctant to let third-party companies include ads on their content in "profile" pages, where people post personal details, leave messages for friends and display photos. MySpace doesn't allow widget makers to sell items or advertise via content posted on MySpace. Closely held Facebook Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., lets widget companies run ads in certain areas of Facebook, but prevents them from embedding ads in Facebook users' profile pages. Some social-networking firms are warming to the idea of allowing third parties to advertise via content on their sites. Bebo Inc., a San Francisco-based social-networking company that has many users in England, plans to start including ads with widgets displayed on profile pages and elsewhere. Write to Vauhini Vara at vauhini.vara@wsj.com

New Data on Social media

New data on viewing photos, videos and music on the Web may have an impact on the way advertisers and social networking sites perceive firms that help create this content.

Nearly 177.8 million people world-wide viewed Web content in April made with online tools from companies that let people post photos, videos and music on other Web sites, according to data that Web-tracking firm comScore Inc. released today.

The comScore data is among the first to measure the reach of companies such as Slide Inc., RockYou Inc. and PictureTrail Inc., which create applications known as widgets that consumers can use to produce videos, photo slideshows and music playlists. These individual pieces of content can then be posted on blogs and social-networking sites such as MySpace, a unit of News Corp., and Facebook. So far, Slide and other widget makers have earned money mostly by selling ads on their own sites, but have found it difficult to generate revenue from the content created using their services and displayed on other sites.

The data from comScore could begin to change that by showing advertisers how widely distributed the content is, says Max Levchin, chief executive of Slide, which lets people make Web slideshows, among other applications. To use Slide, consumers first upload photos to the Slide site. Slide turns the photos into a slideshow that can be customized with special effects. Users can then automatically place that slideshow on an outside site, such as MySpace, by clicking a few buttons or copying and pasting a piece of code. According to comScore, Slide is the top provider of widgets, seen by 117.1 million Web users in April.

Content such as slideshows posted on other sites has "emerged more as a form of self-expression, but now that we have data that talk about how big the audience really is, I think that will really begin to spark the advertising," says Linda Boland Abraham, the comScore executive vice president who spearheaded the study. To put the data into perspective, 105 million people visited MySpace in April and 38.8 million visited Facebook.

Online Video Ads Bringing Results

JUNE 13, 2007

Does pre-roll equal pre-sold?

Online video ads are leading to sales, according to the Online Publishers Association (OPA) "Frames of Reference: Online Video Advertising, Content and Consumer Behavior" report, conducted in partnership with OTX.

Of the 80% of viewers who had watched an online video ad, just over half had taken some sort of action. Nearly a third had checked out a Web site, while 22% had searched for more information, 15% had gone into a store and 12% had actually made a purchase.

Pam Horan of the OPA said, "With online video firmly entrenched in the mainstream, marketers need to understand what works for driving key advertising metrics."

PointRoll studied how online video advertising is relevant to brand marketers, and found that interactivity helps increase the time viewers spent with brands.

When the video ad included or was surrounded by some form of interactivity — such as buttons to click to find out more or forms to fill out to register — it tended to increase average brand interaction time.

In these data, which measured interaction with the company's proprietary ad elements, such as rollover panels, the time varied greatly by industry, from 4.42 seconds for finance to 14.81 seconds for entertainment for video alone.

eMarketer Senior Analyst David Hallerman said, "This is the kind of data that each company needs to measure for its own brand and its own campaign.

"While useful as a starting point, average interaction rates or increases in branding metrics such as awareness or intent to buy depend significantly on the marketer's objectives, the stage in a brand's life (introduction or longtime, say), where the video runs (which Web sites and pages) and what format delivers the message.

Learn more about what works best in online video ads. Read the eMarketer Internet Video: Advertising Experiments and Exploding Content report.