Current TV, the cable network and web property, could open doors to IPOs and financing for other online media companies with its plan to go public. If Current TV can convince shareholders that integrating the web and TV is a good bet, then others may follow suit.

Current TV is still small in its audience by both web and TV standards, but the innovative concept (and high profile founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt) have drawn enough attention to keep it viable. The company needs to put more resources online for social interaction to be the go-to sight for video, commentary, and sharing.

Today the site feels more like an appendage of the TV network, but in reality the web should drive viewers to TV. The company needs to generate revenue from online ads and provide a single solution for both online and broadcast advertising.

Current TV has the young demographic that advertisers love, but they have to do more online to increase the overall value of the property and keep up with the social networking tech trends.

MySpace has announced that it will give developers access to its system to create apps to post on user pages ala Facebook. This should widen MySpace' lead over Facebook if the company doesn't make the rookie mistakes of violating user privacy or allowing the creation of nefarious apps.

The biggest missing piece in this whole mash-up/widget/API world is the Internet Movie Database (IMDB). For the majority of people who enjoy movies or TV, IMDB is indespensible, yet the site only licenses content for hefty fees.

This is suprising considering that IMDB is owned by Amazon, which wants to sell as many DVDs as possible. By creating widgets for viewing movie trailers, lists of favorite actors and their roles, and variations of the Kevin Bacon game, Amazon could drive tremendous amounts of traffic to IMDB, and ipso facto to the mother ship for selling content.

I bet that they could double traffic within a few months of they got with the web 2.0 program and created tools for integrating IMDB's content with MySpace and all of the other social networking sites.

This is one of the biggest lost opportunities online. Who else should let their content be mashed up? ESPN? People Magazine?

Via the Associated Press.

The impending (or already present, depending on whom you ask) recession may well jeopardize the projections for continued growth in online advertising. When budgets tighten, advertising is less likely to get whacked, but ask managers in June if their second half budgets are higher.

The cuts could come in old media depending on the philosophy of the organization. They may see social nets and video as too risky, and opt for the trusted TV buy. Conservative companies who have faith in online could move away from PPC campaigns to lead generation or pay per action campaigns that only pay when the transaction is more likely to lead to a sale.

Of the top dogs online, eBay and Craigslist may see more volume as consumers look for bargains instead of paying retail, or the sad fact that folks who are having trouble making ends meet may offer goods for sale. Ditto for leisure sites such as Priceline and Hotels.com.

Google and Yahoo may suffer more than others, and startups like Joost may have trouble gaining traction with advertisers. We could be in for a long year as the recession could dampen enthusiasm for and investment in Web 2.0.

 

 

A report came out from media buying gurus GroupM that expects Internet ad spending in North America to grow more than 42 percent in 2008.

While the search engines do a decent job of connecting people with the information they want, the basic secret for their success is that people are too lazy and comfortable to change their ways. Think about it -- there are millions of searches each day for terms like "best stores for shoes" or "John Travolta movies," and these make wads of cash for Google, Yahoo et al.

Alternatives to search -- through shopping specific search engines, internet yellow pages, vertical websites and affiliate websites -- can get you the information you want faster, yet most folks go to Google.com and types in generic searches.

Why? Because it's too easy to go the same old URL, and people and because the alternatives aren't nearly as widely known as they should be. It took nearly 20 years for the unwashed masses to realize that there was a world outside of AOL, but finally people learned to explore the greater web.

Search marketing continues to dominate because people prefer one URL to thinking for a few seconds that they can get sports scores, comparative pricing, or movie reviews all from dedicate websites.

Would more advertising offline or on social networks do the trick? I remember back in the day when Yahoo and Buy.com used to advertise heavily on TV to try and get attention, but TV ad rates have scared away most of the competition. You still see a fair amount of outdoor advertising for websites, but they haven't done much to move people away from search.

So let's hear it: will search always be the path of least resistance and remain king of all advertising, or will other marketing initiatives eventually penetrate the collective online psyche?

Via Adotas.

Online everyone can pretend to be an expert. Hubdub hopes to build a business around people's proclivity for predictions.

Hubdub, which is launching today at DEMO, poses questions about sports and news events (eg. Who will win the Best Actor Oscar?) and lets people wager virtual money on the outcome. Those with the most success will have their opinion valued the most on Hubdub.

The service will aggregate news around the questions to build traffic and context. Hubdub's unique focus should help to build community and lots of bickering. Strong filtering will be needed to control the opinionated postings.

Attracting advertisers to sites where opinions rule may be a challenge.