MXP4 today released data showing how interactive music drives engagement, viral distribution and music sales.  here are the key data points:

• Interactive music users playing with 2.6 tracks for 9.1 minutes per session
• 75% of interactive music traffic on the Web is viral
• Recent tests show that 3% of traffic clicks through to buy.

The full release is at http://blog.mxp4.com/2009/12/mxp4-data-shows-interactivity-music-drives-engagement-viral-distribution-and-music-purchases/

And a video about MXP4 (www.mxp4.com)

MXP4 – Play with it! from MXP4 HQ on Vimeo.

Communications people looking to see how different mediums and modes of communications compare in terms of trust might find it useful.  It may not be as useful for advertising.  For example, from a PR point of view its notable that keyword ads on search engines are lower down on the trust level.  But they can still work well for advertisers.

From both a marketing and PR perspective, I found it interesting that brand web sites and sponsorships were high up next to consumer opinions and editorial content.

• Opt-in and opt-out recommendations
• Privacy guidelines
• Rules for data capture, disclosure and usage
• And examples

You can download the guidelines here.

1. Television is most effective medium for introducing young people to brands and helping to shape decision purchases.  One in four young people (12-24) say they first learn about brands or products from TV and 60% say TV play a role in brand decisions.

2. TV gives a brand an image of quality and they trust TV channels (their favorite channels)

3. TV and Online work together to reach youth.  Image matters on TV while information and validation are important online. 

Click here for the article

The study found that, across all age groups, TV viewing of all  types was the number one medium (here are the TV numbers).

Other findings included the following:

• On average and across all demographics, computer video averages two minutes (a little more than 0.5 percent) a day.
• Video media is still consumed primarily by TV in the home (yes, including the 18-24 age range)
• But the PC based media is changing the media pie – computer use, the second most popular medium, is now ahead of radio (number 3) and print media is fourth place.
• Consumers don’t seem to be avoiding TV advertisements – viewers were saw 72 minutes of ads and promos a day.

What I did not see was how the use of multi-viewing – watching TV and using PCs at the same time – impacts TV viewing.  However, the evidence seems to be overwhelming that as of today, TV continues to dominate the media landscape.

So why does this study seem to be at odds with the hype about the death of TV?  There are two probable reasons: first, the hype extrapolates from relatively small shifts in behaviour today to forecast major shifts tomorrow.  So, hype may in fact become fact, but it doesn’t reflect today’s reality.  Second, a lot of reports on new media consumption habits focus on just several types of media and rely on people self-reporting their habits (the VCM study used observation of all types of media consumption).  This can skew results.  Mike Bloxham, director of insight and research for Ball State’s CMD, which led the project, found the following:

…people generally cannot report accurately how much time they spend with media…some media tend to be over-reported whereas others tend to be under-reported – sometimes to an alarming extent. Clearly, that kind of variance puts in question one’s ability to draw meaningful conclusions, and it convinced us that the observational method is the only real way to achieve accurate and reliable results.

This is not a forward looking study but focuses on what consumers are doing today.  This is critical to consumers as while we want to be prepared for potential shifts in media consumption habits, we need to communicate based on consumer behavior today.

Video content will be created specifically for the Wii with cartoons being cited as the first example.  There will be a mix of paid and free content.

There are a few interesting points to note:

1. I’ve been waiting.  The Wii has the most intuitive channel (as in TV channel) interface.  It’s easy enough that my kids would probably prefer watching video through the Wii than flipping through the cable remote.
2. Is this a partial story?  I’m assuming a December 25th story means either it’s bad news (not the case) or it was leaked the Reuters rushed by print it (my bet)
3. The are launching with a cable like model of paid  premium and free entertainment.
4. The article implies that Nintendo and Dentsu are matching the content to the demographic.   They are producing for the Wii so that, like the video game strategy, they are not being all things to all people, but offering a specific type of content to the Wii demographic (just as casual and easy games are specific to the Wii demographic).
5. A video distribution service by an ad agency?  Does this show a new era of monetization where you don’t create and pray for money, but create with the money?

And what are the implications?

Bandwidth providers have to change their models.  I’m betting them get out of the entertainment game and end up providing tiered bandwidth along with partner devices…similar to where wireless carriers have been heading.  So, the next generation may decide they want AT&T bandwidth with the entertainment that comes along in a Wii set top box just as today we choose AT&T Wireless with the content and services that come with an iPhone or Blackberry.

TiVo subscribers will be able to be sitting and watching TV, see a Domino’s Pizza commercial or placement in a TV spot and click on on “Order Your Dominos Pizza Now.” 

I’ve always believed that the easier, faster and simpler something is made, the more you’re likely to use it.  Assuming this well targeted – an assumption I’m making – Domino’s will now reach people at the right time and place (4pm on a Football Sunday) to suggest it’s time to order the pizza.  And, yes, I think even cutting out the need to go to a Website or phone to place the order will help them succeed.  After all, if one TV in-show ad suggest calling the pizzeria and another says just click a button, which one do you think the true couch potato will use?

Next up, reminding and letting guys order Valentine’s Day gifts without breaking away from the basketball game….

Check out the screen shot from Zatznotfunny.com

At the same time, Politico announced they will give stories to papers for free and share ad revenue – and Political and Addify will share the ads.  In other words, they are taking the Web video model to print.  Creating content, integrating in advertisements, and then pushing that content out as much as possible to increase viewership of the content and ads.  I’ve always favored Web video as it carries brand messages and advertisements wherever it goes.  But, as Politico is showing, text content can do the same thing.  

Read more at http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/09/10/the-start-of-reverse-syndication-and-end-of-the-ap/

Now Picapp has announced a partnership with Splash News to deliver celebrity photos.  Given the numerous personal and professional (but without photo budget) blogs out there devoted to celebrity news, it’s a sizable market.  Two sites already noted for using the images are B5’s Lohan Group blog and Gossip Girl. 

The service also provides tools to make publishing life a little easier including an RSS feed of pictures (to see the latest ones) and automatic photo captions so you don’t spend time figuring out what’s in the picture (if Lindsay’s drunk or confused, the caption will tell you).  And, of course, no cease and desist letters from copyright lawyers looking for bloggers ripping off images found on Google.

While it’s still too early to tell if the ad support photo business model will take off, this should help as it caters to a market that is probably less concerned about the ads.  I would also think someone blogging on celebrities is less likely to mind an ad in a photo than someone writing a serious post on some news worthy disaster or political issue.  But given the market demand for celebrity photos, it’s a great move for both Picapp and Splash News.  We may run some ad tests in the future and, if we do, we’ll post a summary or our experience from the marketing end.

Here’s the press release and click here is the link to the blog post:

PICSCOUT TEAMS UP WITH SPLASH NEWS TO GIVE BLOGGERS ACCESS TO THE HOTTEST, UP-TO-THE MINUTE CELEBRITY PHOTOS AT PICAPP.COM

SAN FRANCISCO and LONDON – July 7, 2008 – Whether bloggers are looking for an image to use with the latest gossip on Lindsay Lohan or are simply wanting to post a tidbit about the Beckhams or Justin Timberlake out and about in Hollywood, they can now go to www.picapp.com and get up-to-the minute celebrity photos from the Splash News and Picture Agency to accompany their blog post or article.

PicScout, which developed and operates PicApp, and Splash News have come together to offer bloggers and other online publishers premium, licensed images to enhance news and creative content at their sites, while at the same time, addressing content owners’ usage tracking and copyright concerns.

“Making Splash content available through PicApp offers an innovative way for thousands of blog sites to enter the content license market by utilizing our images with PicApp’s ad-funded technologies and in turn, exposes our rich database of images to millions of people,” Gary Morgan, CEO, Splash News, said.  “Splash teams with PicApp to reduce online piracy and to create a new media revenue stream for its contributors.”

Adding Splash content to PicApp’s broad image library brings PicApp closer to being the de facto “one-stop-shop” for the widest range of images for bloggers, in many popular categories, including sports, technology, fashion – and now, more than ever, entertainment.

“We’ve had quite a bit of feedback from our online publisher community that suggests that celebrity/entertainment images are difficult for them to attain, primarily due to the high licensing costs and the importance of the delivery timeliness,” Eyal Gura, CEO, PicScout, said.  “Working with Splash gives online publishers easy access to Hollywood celebrities – photos that they couldn’t afford before.”

PicApp also offers an image RSS feeder that allows bloggers to pre-set the images they are interested in and get alerts through the RSS tool when new images matching their criteria are uploaded to PicApp.

PicApp is currently in beta.  Other news and photo agencies licensing images to PicApp include, among others, Getty Images, Corbis and Image Source.  Once at www.picapp.com, bloggers can select from the wide range of images and use them for free adjacent to a news post or editorial content on their sites.  When the image is streamed from the PicApp servers, it comes with a non-intrusive ad that provides a monetization tool on the content owner’s behalf. 

About PicScout
PicScout (www.picscout.com) is the leading technology services provider to the digital content industry.  For years, the company’s flagship ImageTracker™ has been the industry standard application for helping visual assets owners control and monitor the distribution of their proprietary images across all media. PicScout headquarters are in San Francisco.  The company has a development and operations center in Herzelia, Israel. 

About Splash News
Splash is the leading independent entertainment news and picture agency in the world.  Splash brings the hottest, most up-to-date Hollywood stories, videos and photos to millions of people in more than 55 countries around the world on all media platforms.  Splash operates out of offices in London, Los Angeles, New York and Florida. For more information, visit www.splashnews.com.

Why?

• Ads still look best on television and they will become as interactive as online advertising.  IPTV and interactive TV platforms will allow increased targeted and clicks and purchases right from the couch (couch potato purchases).
• People want TV.  Remote clicking couch potatoes  don’t want to become desk potatoes but they do watch Hulu when that’s the only way to get TV on demand (and we are in a when-we-want-it era).   As online video become increasingly accessible through the TV (fast, high quality, TV interface etc), many web video hours will revert to TV watching hours. 
• Your set top box will increase it’s share of Web features and technology while retaining that couch potato optimized TV interface and remote control controllability.

For an example of where we are heading, just plug in an XBox and you can download a variety of HD content for television watching using a remote control.  Plug in a Sony Playstation 3 (or Nintendo Wii) and you can watch video through Web video sites using your remote control for the console.  I particularly like the PS3 video in a Web browser experience as it shows the equivalent of unlimited TV on demand.  From a media perspective, it’s the equivalent of being able to launch unlimited video channels just as you would as Web page (since it’s all  Web technology designed for the bigger screen).

Now, in addition to the XBox 360’s and PS3’s (to be launched) video download stores, there are rumors of Netflix (and a few wishful rumors about Hulu) being made available through these consoles. 

Now add in a video advertising network  to these platforms and you have a whole new world of television media.  Instead of watching a Netflix movie on a pay per view basis, you can watch a free one with commercials or in-video ads (which you can click on to purchase goods or get more information.

In the end, consumers, entertainers (would you rather be a TV star on a 17 inch screen or a 62 inch screen), media companies, brands and advertisers all are big fans of television.  When they can combine TV screen size with Web type interactivity, choice and features, the hype momentum and dollars will likely swing back to focusing on the large screen.    Set top box makers, cable and IPTV companies and the video game console makers are planning for that day.