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Last FM Mobile Switches from Ad-Supported to Subscriber Based

posted on February 8, 2011

Starting on February 15, mobile Last FM listeners will have to pay $3.00 a month to continue their service. That’s less than most people spend on coffee or soda in a day so no big deal, right? Wrong. As expected, the response to the company’s blog post announcement has been mostly about people ready to jump to a competitor rather than pony up the bucks.

The refusal to pay for what they once got free is pretty common in the internet space and it’s becoming more and more of an issue as news outlets and video sites switch over to the paid subscription model. But what’s really interesting here is a line from Last FM’s post:

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Can You Name the Brand Behind the Little Darth Vader Ad?

posted on February 8, 2011

Probably not.

Nielsen has turned in the numbers on this year’s Super Bowl ads and what was popular and what was memorable were two very different things.

Little Darth Vader attempting to use the Force on everything from baby dolls to the dryer took the top spot as the most popular Super Bowl ad, but it didn’t even make the top ten for brand recall.

Doritos was the winner across the board with ads that were both popular and had high brand recognition. The Pug attack got the top spot for the most recalled brand ad while the licking cheese fingers and grandpa’s ashes came in fourth and fifth for popularity.

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Hulu’s CEO Speaks Out on the Future of TV Advertising

posted on February 7, 2011

Last week, Hulu’s CEO Jason Kilar wrote a blog post about the future of TV and web advertising that folks say was tantamount to him writing his resignation. The crux of the post is that TV execs are stuck doing business the old fashioned way and as such, are squashing the progress of web TV which is much more appropriate for today’s mobile society.

He makes three big points which demonstrate why web TV is more powerful than traditional TV:

  • Traditional TV has too many ads
  • Consumers want TV to be more convenient for them.
  • Consumers are demonstrating that they are the greatest marketing force a good television show or movie could ever have, given the powerful social media tools at consumers’ disposal.

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The Black Eyed Peas Worked for Free: Should You?

posted on February 7, 2011

In 2010, The Black Eyed Peas made an estimated 81.6 million dollars from touring, but they didn’t make a dime for their performance at yesterday’s Super Bowl. Why not? Unlike The Blues Brothers, they didn’t lose their fee on a big bar bill, they simply agreed to play for free in the first place.

As preposterous as that may sound, a new article at Forbes.com points out that the Super Bowl halftime acts traditionally work for free in return for the exposure. (Insert Janet Jackson joke here.) Last year, the Super Bowl brought in 106.5 million viewers and this year is on track to break records. So what is 106.5 million eyeballs worth? For advertisers such as Pepsi, Doritos and Carmax, it was around 3 million for every 30 seconds. Imagine if the Peas had bought an ad equal to their time on stage.

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Verizon’s iPhone Plan: Now Unlimited-ish

posted on February 4, 2011

Yesterday, Verizon had their most successful first day opening in their history when they opened the virtual doors to iPhone pre-sales. But while they were taking in money with one hand, they were changing the rules with the other. That “unlimited monthly data plan,” they’ve been advertising is about to become . . . well. . . limited-ish.

As Verizon puts it, the iPhone network is “a shared resource among tens of millions of customers.” That means that they have to balance the needs of the many by reducing service to a few.

A spokesperson was quoted in the LA Times as saying:

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Nearly 50% of People Surveyed Watch Online Videos Daily

posted on February 3, 2011

We know online video is hot, but just how hot? According to a new survey commissioned by video ad company YuMe, 49% of people are watching videos daily for an average total of seven hours per week per person.

Seven hours is a lot when you realize that 70% of what people are watching are short form videos under five minutes long. For long form, TV still reigns but the tide is shifting. The majority of the people surveyed said they appreciated the ability to watch web videos whenever they wanted. They also like the option of being able to catch up on shows they missed on TV.

What’s more telling is that viewers felt the quality of video on the web vs the TV was about the same, but that there was a much larger amount of exclusive content on the web.

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Campbell’s Says iAds are Mmm Mmm Good

posted on February 3, 2011

It’s kind of ironic that an old fashioned brand like Campbell’s is coming out as the spokesperson for the effectiveness of iAds. When the product took off in the early 1900′s, I’m sure they never imagined that one day people would be using hand-held wireless devices to find the best recipe that includes Golden Mushroom soup. But that’s exactly what’s happening and Campbell’s couldn’t be more pleased.

According to a five-week study conducted by Nielsen on behalf of Campbell’s and Apple, iAds were more effective than TV ads on a variety of levels.

As compared to viewing a Campbell’s TV ad, the viewers of iAds were:

– More than twice as likely to recall the ad.

– Three times more likely to remember the messaging.