Watch Sensored Network Analyzer

Site ContentAnalyzer - CleverStat

2008-12-30T19:13:00.000-08:00

CleverStat is a nifty tool I've been using recently for web site content analysis. Unlike numerous online apps, CleverStat makes a copy of the site on your hard drive and analyzes the entire thing and not only individual pages.

YouTube Enters Affiliate Business

2008-12-30T19:11:00.000-08:00

YouTube blog: "Today [Oct.7], we're taking our first steps to providing YouTube users with this kind of instant gratification, by adding "click-to-buy" links to the watch pages of thousands of YouTube partner videos. Click-to-buy links are non-obtrusive retail links, placed on the watch page beneath the video with the other community features."

Apparently, not all of the wrinkles have been ironed out yet. The Sims 2 trailer above has an Amazon link to Spore (both games are by EA that is among YouTube's new partners). YouTube's aff id with Amazon is you09f-20 (probably one of many).

Incidentally, a similar affiliate model could work for Facebook, if the virtual gifts stats are any indication. See how Birthday Calendar app inserts a Send Flowers affiliate link to 1-800-Flowers.

MySpace Launches Games Section

2008-12-30T19:10:00.000-08:00

MySpace did launch its own game portal after all (told you so). Unlike, say, Kongregate or Yahoo Games, MySpace lets users to embed games elsewhere (your MySpace profile ~~or a blog; see Line Rider below~~ it turns out, you can embed the game, but it's not playable outside the MySpace domain, so profiles only). The game I played was preceded by a pre-roll, but we will probably see advergames there pretty soon.

And Valleywag believes Electronic Arts is eyeing the social games space, too: "Former EA Los Angeles general manager Neil Young is in charge of a "stealth division" believed to be EA Blueprint, which will develop and publish games to social networks."

AdCamo Network Brands Web Page Backgrounds

2008-12-30T19:09:00.000-08:00

We've seen brands taking over web sites and pasting their visuals on backgrounds, but AdCamo is an entire network that embeds CPC and CPM ad tiles embedded into backgrounds. I think the per-click part comes from the accompanying banner unit displayed on the same page.

MiraWorldTV Aggregates Online TV Streams

2008-12-30T19:08:00.000-08:00

"MiraWorldTV is a plugin for windows media center. Miraworldtv consolidates various internet TV streams and lets you watch them from your media center PC. MiraWorldTV can be installed on Vista Ultimate or Vista Premium. Thousands of mainstream channels from all over the world are in-built with MiraWorldTV, and the database is updated frequently."

Hope there's a snooker channel somewhere in there.

2008-12-30T19:05:00.000-08:00

Video demo: "Contextual Ads for Video. Through speech recognition, this technology enables ads to be dynamically served based on the content discussed in the video." (Another demo)

Microsoft showcased a series of new technologies from their adCenter Labs during the lab's Demo Fest.

Press release: "The technologies highlighted at this event included the latest advances and algorithms in content analysis and computer vision for video and images, speech recognition for contextual video ads, and advanced marketing intelligence that enable enhanced audience insight and better targeting capabilities for advertisers."

Some of the geekier stuff:

"Contextual Ads for Video. Through speech recognition, this technology enables ads to be dynamically served based on the content discussed in the video.

Intelligent Bug Ads. By using a computer vision algorithm to calculate the least intrusive spot in the video, it approximates human judgment and places the ad in the video where it is least likely to interfere with the consumer’s viewing experience.

Visual Product Browsing. This tool uses computer vision algorithms to browse and categorize images as a human might, without the need for manual data tagging.

Content Analysis Engine. This technology uses advanced algorithms to automatically extract and categorize information from search queries and Web page contents to better understand user intent and minimize search engine marketing complexity.

Content Detection in Sub-documents. This technology identifies sensitive or unsuitable content such as pornography, weapons or negative sentiments that advertisers would not likely want to be associated with, and automatically blocks contextual ads related to that content."

AdRant: Advertising News Drudge Style

2008-12-30T19:02:00.000-08:00

AdRant. Domain registered by two guys who do ads. I think a large part of the original Drudge Report's popularity is its interface's Google-like simplicity, so I can see how this site can become the home page on many agency browsers. AdblockPlus, true to its name, blocks all the ads, if that's your thing.