Video community site LiveDigital has developed a new software platform that allows Internet video users also known as channel programmers to select which advertisements will appear on their user-generated channels. The Ad Picker software also allows users to determine where the ads will appear on their pages.
With new software, LiveDigital Inc. programmers can select from six different ad placements and several different ad types, including leader boards, squares and banners. Alternatively, users may opt to let LiveDigital automatically choose advertising for each placement. LiveDigital has partnered with two advertising networks, Blue Lithium and Commission Junction, to provide hundreds of advertisements across 27 categories.
“This is the first application on the Web that enables content creators and channel programmers to control the advertising that is shown as part of their own personal brand,” said Sumant Sridharan, director of new media. “We are moving one step closer to bringing user-generated television programming to the masses. Users can now control the content, brand, subscriptions and advertising on their LiveDigital broadcast channel.”
The 27 categories run the gamut from adult to finance to shopping.
“The most popular ad categories coincide with the tastes of the most popular channels, music and entertainment,” Sridharan said. “Users are choosing these because they blend in better with user-generated content and the 18-to-24 male demo.”
In exchange for posting ads on their site, channel programmers get their site enrolled in a monthly contest. In conjunction with the Ad Picker launch, LiveDigital has announced a $25,000 February Sweeps contest. The top 25 LiveDigital channels are guaranteed to receive a minimum of $200, with the remaining money split among those 25 channels according to their respective ratings. A follow-up $25,000 contest will occur in March.
Dow Wowed
Santa Monica-based search engine Business.com has new duties as the exclusive provider of pay-per-click ads on search pages for The Wall Street Journal Online.
Business.com Inc. has an advertising network that reaches 30 million businesspeople every month across more than 100 sites, including Forbes, BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur, Hoovers, Financial Times and now the Wall Street Journal Online.
Business.com only accepts advertisers offering business-to-business products and services, ensuring the delivery of the most contextually relevant sponsored search results on partner sites in the advertising network. The company’s pay-per-click advertisers are displayed both on the Business.com Web site and on the sites that make up the advertising network.
Experian Expands
Internet conglomerate Experian Interactive has more than doubled the size of its facilities in Santa Monica. The offices have grown 38,000 square feet for a total footprint of 64,500 square feet.
LowerMyBills.com has been at this location since 2004, and ClassesUSA.com has opened a second office at this facility to complement its New York operations.
“In late November 2006, Experian Interactive reported 57 percent total sales growth year over year for the first six months of the fiscal year,” said Ed Ojdana. “Our recent expansion in California supports our employees by giving them more opportunity to grow our businesses.”
Public TV Makeover
KLCS-TV (Channel 58) has re-branded itself as with a new graphics design and tagline: “The Education Station.”
The PBS station, licensed to the L.A. Unified School District, has long lived in the shadow of KCET-TV (Channel 28), the highest profile public station in the L.A. market.
The graphic work, handled by Avatarlabs in Tarzana, portrays the mosaic of neighborhoods that comprise Los Angeles. “We created from conception to Hi-Def delivery over 80 motion graphic pieces,” said Rex Cook, creative director. “Our work includes modeling, from scratch, over 30 L.A. landmarks such as the Hollywood Bowl, LAX, the Santa Monica Pier, the Coliseum, Long Beach and the Hollywood sign.”
KLCS-TV is one of only eight TV stations in the country licensed to K-12 school districts. The station broadcasts over the air and digitally on Channel 41 to more than 16 million viewers. It distributes more than 3,000 hours of classroom instructional programming every year.
Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at
[email protected]
, or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.
