Blip.tv Develops Pre-roll That Offers Free Downloads on Other Devices
Excerpts from Ad Age article:
What if your pre-roll video ads were more than just repurposed-for-the-web-TV spots, the kind agencies have in spades? What if pre-roll could do more?
A group of developers at start-up Blip.tv, a purveyor of amateur and semi-pro web series, was wondering that recently, while pondering the best way to help Wieden & Kennedy let gamers see — or better yet, play — a demo of its client Electronic Arts’ NCAA Football 11.
The developers thought, what if you could get the game downloaded to gaming consoles remotely via a pre-roll ad? Engineers set to work on the problem and developed a unit that allows users to click-to-download a game demo to Xbox consoles.
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Just as media companies have long chipped in creative to help seal a deal with over-taxed or perhaps reluctant agencies, the media company of the future may be building code.
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New York-based Blip.tv takes no ownership interest in the shows it represents and doesn’t sign any of them to exclusive contracts. It is, essentially, an engineering company and a sales force that builds tools for show creators, and more recently, advertisers. Eleven of its 32 people on staff are programmers or developers. It raised $10.1 million in June and racks up about 100 million views on its collection of shows each month. Blip.tv’s top earners pull down $500,000 in ad revenue a year based on 50/50 revenue sharing.
I have never liked pre-rolls, but this is a seriously smart approach to the “ants in your pants - oh, to hell with this” syndrome pre-rolls often gives viewers. Geeks to rule! :)