The Leveller

The April Leveller - Digital Media News

Ben Rometsch — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:11:07 +0100

UK tells parents to get internet wise

Malini Rajendran — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:28:04 +0100

Children's internet usage is coming under ever more intense scrutiny in the UK, with a number of reports published over the past few weeks. After conducting a survey on social networks, UK media watchdog, Ofcom warned parents that they need to find out how social networking works, in order to ensure their kids are using it safely. Ofcom found that more than a quarter of eight to 11 year olds in the UK have a profile on a social network - and many have left their profiles visible to anyone. A third of parents have set no clear rules for their children on social networking, and many are unsure how it works.

The Home Office is working with social networking firms to publish a set of guidelines for the sites around best practice, security and privacy. Ofcom's report followed the publication of the government-commissioned Byron Review, by child psychologist Dr Tanya Byron, which looks at the risks children face from exposure to the internet or video games, and a report from think tank the IPPR, which reported that British kids were being 'raised online'.

Who?s looking at your YouTube?

Malini Rajendran — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:34:58 +0100

Want to know who viewed your latest ad on YouTube, where and when? It's now possible, as the Google-owned site has added a range of new analytic features that let content owners access this kind of data. Previously, it reported only the raw number of views of a clip, together with a shortlist of top traffic sources. One advantage will be that marketers can now analyse data to link specific events - such as a TV appearance, article or blog - to a spike in YouTube viewings. They can also find out which geographical regions viewed their content most, enabling better planning for future campaigns.

Nokia asks customers to help Morph itself

Malini Rajendran — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:30:12 +0100

Nokia has invited its one billion customers, plus bloggers and tech pundits to help it brainstorm ideas on the future of its mobile handsets, in a bid to ready itself for the burgeoning world of internet services via mobile.

It's using YouTube and other video sharing sites to showcase futuristic technologies such as the 'Nokia Morph' - a stretchable, solar-powered phone that could turn itself into a credit card, earring or wristband, and also has a sense of smell. The Morph, a vision of what could possible with the power of nanotechnologies, can be viewed at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX-gTobCJHs

EU broadband levels lead the world

Malini Rajendran — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:31:34 +0100

Broadband subscription levels in eight European countries, including the UK, are pushing ahead of those in the US and Japan, according to a European Commission survey. It says the EU added 19 million broadband lines in 2007, the equivalent of more than 50,000 households a day. By January 2008, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Britain, Luxembourg, France and Germany had all overtaken the US in numbers of subscriptions. The Commission said that if it succeeds in a bid to open up countries still dominated by state telecoms monopolies, levels could rise even further.

Are online ad exchanges about to come of age?

Malini Rajendran — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:30:03 +0100

Online advertising exchanges, where third-party auction-based technologies allow publishers to set a minimum price for their inventory and media buyers to bid on standard display inventory, have been around for a while. However due to a combination of factors, to date these platforms have not been successful. With the companies behind these technologies taking a sizeable share of revenue from publishers for each transaction, this business model could however be extremely profitable for the company that gets 'first mover' advantage.

After all, the financial world has adopted similar platforms to great effect for share and commodity trading. The market capitalisation of the FTSE 100 alone is over a trillion pounds and all of this goes through one exchange, netting the London Stock Exchange a small fortune in trading commission. So with a proven business model and promises of large revenue streams for the technology provider who corners the market, what barriers are slowing down adoption?

This is due in part, I believe, to the historic reluctance of publishers to commit sizeable inventory to these platforms out of a belief that they can make greater margins selling direct or via networks; and confusion and fear from clients and agencies of losing control of brand placement and financial management. After all with media exchanges you are not just buying a commodity, you are buying a guarantee of what environment that commodity is displayed to the world in.

Both of these latter fears are valid but recent discussions with the main players in the market, Doubleclick, Right Media and OIX show that they are working hard to break down these objections. Both by instigating stricter regulation of which trusted publishers can use their exchange and by building in tighter access rights into their online interfaces to ensure proper financial processes can be adhered to by agencies.

Are Ad Exchanges about to come of age and provide another weapon in the digital marketer's arsenal? Certainly there are advantages for many clients and agencies in their greater usage, including increased buying efficiency, potentially greater ROI, better targeting (especially with OIX, which monitors ISP usage to anonymously improve customer insight, thus targeting potential) and increased reach. My prediction, therefore, is yes.

Interestingly a number of the essential skills for obtaining maximum benefit from this new trading technology, such as hourly optimisation of thousands of individual buys (keywords), familiarity with online interfaces and digital sign off, currently exist with paid search practitioners. Agencies with these kinds of divisions therefore will be well positioned to take advantage of this growth, at least in the first instance.

Ian Thomson, Head of Business Architecture

Brits download the most

Malini Rajendran — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:41:15 +0100

Eighty per cent of Brits (eight in 10 people) have downloaded from the internet in the last 12 months according to research from price comparison website MoneySupermarket. Predictably 18-34 year olds remain the prime active demographic (89%) with the over 55s rapidly catching them up (71%).

The World?s Most Innovative Companies (Fast 50)

Malini Rajendran — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:39:39 +0100

Fast Company magazine published its list of the top 50 most innovative companies. The top five are listed here, whilst readers are invited to nominate their own Fast 50 Reader Favourites list until 15 April and discuss the current list here:

www.fastcompany.com/fast50_08

The US affluent favour social networking

Malini Rajendran — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:35:18 +0100

The latest Luxury Institute's WealthSurvey: "The Wealthy and the Web 2.0" study showed that affluent web users in the dramatically increased their use of social networks from 27% in January 2007, to 60% in January 2008. On average, affluent internet users are members of about three online social networks, according to the report.

Wii's in the army now

Malini Rajendran — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:54:57 +0100

It may have been invented for virtual battles but the Nintendo Wii could soon be helping out the real military. Soldiers could use Wii's 'Wiimote' wireless remote controller to help them with robotic assistants in the field, reports the New Scientist. The Wiimote, which detects acceleration in 3D, is being tested by an Idaho, USA-based lab to work with military robots, which carry out tasks such as sniffing out explosives and checking for landmines.

Hovering in cyberspace

Malini Rajendran — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:51:27 +0100

They starred in the '80s blockbuster film series Back to the Future, but now 'hoverboards' have a new lease of life on VizWoz , a new virtual teen network which has launched in the UK backed by several high-profile investors. The site, at www.vizwoz.com, allows teens to create their own avatars, and 'hover' in a strictly-policed virtual environment to chat to friends.

Raving success

Malini Rajendran — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:50:21 +0100

A French dance craze has spawned a potential megabrand - and it's all thanks to video sharing. Tektonik, a blend of punk, techno, break and disco, started in a Paris club but took off after notching up 33,000 videos on YouTube.

It is fast becoming a merchandising phenomenon, with related fashion, hairstyling and CD compilations. Run by a team including a former Merrill Lynch equities trader, who trademarked the brand name early on, Tektonik is already being cited as a classic case-study in viral marketing.

Watch Tektonic moves on YouTube

Get mobile

Malini Rajendran — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:46:16 +0100

Technology is often blamed for turning kids into couch potatoes, with video games keeping them indoors rather than out in the fresh air. But gaming developer LocoMatrix (www.locomatrix.com), is using GPS-enabled mobiles to help kids get more active - by playing games based on location. One game now in beta-test, 'Fruit Farmer', encourages players to run around a real environment, such as a park or football field, looking for 'virtual' fruits, which then appear on their phone's screen when they reach the right spot.

Just the ticket

Malini Rajendran — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:35:48 +0100

If you've ever handed your coat into a cloakroom then lost the ticket, or found someone else has walked off with your jacket after a party, you'll understand the monumental significance of Cloakscan, a new biometric coat-check system. Developed by British technology firm, Idscan (www.idscan.co.uk) the apparently foolproof system scans the coat-owner's thumbprint, then takes a digital photograph of them so that when they return to claim the coat, there's no confusion.

Food for thought

Malini Rajendran — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:17:52 +0100