Neoti Broadcast Network installs screens at TRF

Last week, Justin at Media Musings and the Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly ran stories about the Neoti Broadcast Network's presence at this year's Three Rivers Festival. Here's what GFWBW had to say:

Neoti will be installing six screens in the Event Pavilion, with a number of other screens throughout the festival. The screens will feature a special thanks to title sponsors, area business advertising, a listing of events happening around the screen locations as well as a live weather forecast.

I was at the Three Rivers Festival Friday night to watch The Best Karaoke Singer Ever (you know who you are), and I saw one of the screens. There's a lot competing for your attention at TRF, but the location of the one I saw--above the beer line--was good.

I see this is just another example of a trend I discussed back in December: video, wherever you are, all the time. If you go to the Festival and you see the screens, let me know what you think in the comments.

Hulu skirts viewers' resistance to ads with new strategies

Just as studies begin to show that TV viewers are spending more time online, a new video provider is making its debut. Hulu, a partnership between NBC Universal and Fox, launched today after completing its test phase. The site offers full-length episodes and clips from current shows like Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, and Family Guy, as well as older stuff like The Addams Family and Welcome Back, Kotter. One of the objectives, of course, is to generate ad revenue--but Hulu's approach is somewhat unique, as The Washington Post reports:

Hulu's advertising strategy is to be both targeted and minimal. Each show has a single sponsor. It is experimenting with allowing users to choose which ads to view, and with showing movie trailers upfront in exchange for shows without commercial breaks. But unlike other sites -- such as NBC and Fox's independent sites -- it doesn't try to keep users captive; if users search for television shows or movies that aren't available on Hulu, they are directed to other sites. Users can also embed snippets of content from Hulu in their blogs or online profiles.

Allowing users to chose ads is innovative, some analysts said.

"It's one of the more aggressive moves we've seen," said Bobby Tulsiani, an analyst with Jupiter Research. "It's much more targeted than what you see on TV, where its hard to say if an ad actually got watched."

My take is that letting viewers choose their ads is a great strategy, and a likely sign of things to come. After all, why not let the audience watch a pitch for a product they're interested in, instead of making them sit through one that's completely off target? It's more evidence of the power of engagement over interruption, and the benefits of recognizing that consumers are in control. It's about captivating viewers, instead of trying to hold them captive.

Have you checked out Hulu yet? Do you think the ads are less invasive than they are elsewhere--and does that make you more likely to come back to the site?

FastWeb makes FAFSA funny

A client is working on some financial aid materials, and he pointed me to this "Five-Minute FAFSA" video:



Regardless of your topic, it's hard to make a funny 5-minute video. It's almost impossible to make a funny 5-minute instructional video about the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). But the folks at FastWeb gave it the old college try, and the result is fun enough to watch at least a couple of times.

My favorite moments:

• "INdeed!" at about 2:08
• "That old Social Security card. Thanks, FDR!" at about 2:51
• "I don't know what I am." "I can TELL!" at about 3:43

The key here is audience awareness: these actors sound like college students. They do a nice job of mocking the times when they play it straight, allowing them to play it straight when they need to. That makes the video instructive, but not pedantic.

FastWeb has taken an inherently dull topic and made it more fun than anyone would expect. It just goes to show that you don't have to be boring to be informative. But if you strive for JUST informative, you'll probably end up being kind of boring.