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BitTorrent to launch ad-supported network

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 08 Apr 2007 10:17 User comments (5)

BitTorrent to launch ad-supported network Today, the YuMe Network is set to launch a new network that would allow advertisers to insert advertising within the downloadable content, eliminating the need for DRM,
“Today we are launching a game-changing capability that will take online video advertising to another level,” said Jayant Kadambi, CEO and co-founder of YuMe Networks. “We are excited to bring advertisers a solution that enables them to insert dynamic, targeted and customizable campaigns in content downloaded from online destinations such as BitTorrent to any device — PC, mobile, IPTV and more.”

The company says it will be able to measure and track user viewing and pass this information onto the companies paying for the ads so they can constantly optimize the ads they deliver based on those results.

The first ad supported videos available on the BitTorrent network will be from the game "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary".

“We have been working diligently with a range of video publishers from the largest movie studios to the creators of independent video to advocate the role advertising can play in delivering their content to the BitTorrent community,”
said Ashwin Navin, President and co-founder of BitTorrent, Inc. “The combination of our extensive user base, worldwide content relationships and powerfully efficient distribution model, is enabling a rapid shift toward free, ad-supported content available on the BitTorrent Entertainment Network.”



The new technology will measure “view-throughs” not just "click-throughs” (as it does currently) and will report back how many people have viewed the videos and how many times they viewed it.

This new technology measures and reports the viewer’s behavior directly and it will likely become the new method in determining online video advertising.

"More free content will now be available," said Kadambi. "Our technology allows P2P sites to determine the best monetization model by content type... Some content lends itself more to a pay-to-own model, like movies, whereas episodic programming lends itself better to an ad-supported model."

"Ad systems today are very good at taking content from HTML pages and then deciding contextually what is the most relevant search link or what is the most relevant text associated with that content and sending back a banner or text ad to associate with that," said Kadambi. "What we're saying is that video streaming is a fundamentally different thing. You need to do it cross-platform and you should be able to take a video ad, associate it with a set of content and demographics and allow the advertiser to associate that regardless of where the content is being watched -- be it the Web, a mobile phone or a BitTorrent download -- and aggregate the reporting all across that."


The removal of DRM is a good move for BitTorrent Inc. but it is unclear how the consumer will feel about ad supported videos.

Source:
Inquirer

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5 user comments

18.4.2007 12:51

Ughhhhhhhh no thanks. If I want to watch commercials, I'll turn on the TV. Meanwhile I'll find "other options" for downloads =]

28.4.2007 20:14

it will still require DRM to protect the ads so people cant skip or remove them :X

funny how things work out mew?
=0-o=

39.4.2007 04:05

hey does that mean they will incorporate ads in movies etc (like if I download Spiderman 3 ill see some ad about a website or so) ?

Because if they do that people in Europe, Asia, South America etc wont download from them more as finding subtitles will become impossible (the length of the vidoes will change)

49.4.2007 04:13

Originally posted by Alexisv:
hey does that mean they will incorporate ads in movies etc (like if I download Spiderman 3 ill see some ad about a website or so) ?

Because if they do that people in Europe, Asia, South America etc wont download from them more as finding subtitles will become impossible (the length of the vidoes will change)
that could be fixed via codec or video player change,forcing a ad every now and then they can do such things to counter the extra time a ad brings..but meh...its all kinda fickle...

511.4.2007 11:46

Man, what next? When I go to the movies, I'm forced to sit through commercials before and after the previews. Many movies now are just really long commercials. Even when I watch/order movies from Comcast’s VOD service, there are commercials inserted there.

When I want to watch a movie; that is exactly what I want to do. Screw the menus, special features, and cast biography.

Listen to the people! Just give us what we want!

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