BitTorrent Inc. Introduces Ad-Supported Downloads 115
BTJunkie writes "BitTorrent Inc. is experimenting with alternatives to paid downloads on their Entertainment Network, and is now experimenting with advertising supported downloads. This news comes nearly one month after the initial release of the Entertainment Network, a possible sign of failure.'The ad-supported model is currently being tested on episodes by the video gamers network G4, but is likely to be tested on episodes from other publishers in the future. The video ads are short video clips delivered by YuMe Networks, a company that is specialized in IP based video ads. YuMe CEO Jayant Kadambi said that the company expects to deliver more user targeted video ads as soon as BitTorrent Inc. signs more deals with publishers that want to experiment with ad-supported downloads.'"
Future of downloadable media (Score:2, Interesting)
That together with their crowdfunding business model to fund the recording will be the future I think, or at least will play a big role in it.
Yuk (Score:4, Interesting)
Road signs, radio, tv, t-shirts, hell, even the back of police cars in some cities.
Personally i try to avoid doing businesses with companies that practice 'flooding advertisement'.
Re:Yuk (Score:2, Interesting)
Just as long as they realize they *still* can't force me to look at or pay attention to their ads.
Will it pan out? (Score:4, Interesting)
However, the tv shows need ad-revenue to keep going, even if the could offer the episodes with commercials, they still need to keep cycling the commercials for a flow of revenue. Plus bandwidth problems if using direct downloads for HD quality episodes.
I hoped for something like this. I loathe the current internet-based offerings on the network websites. Small resolutions, and constant re-buffering and queuing the next clip.
I just wonder if they will be able to pull this off without having the commercials easily circumvented. I have no doubt that the commercials can be circumvented, the key word here is
Re:Yuk (Score:3, Interesting)
Not really.
I use adblock while web browsing, and any site that manages to piss me off with lots of advertising never gets visited twice.
And yet I am still, through my own targeted browsing, led to devices/things I wish to purchase on-line.
I guess this is because, contrary to the statistically defined web browsing individual, I am in fact already aware of the things I want to buy, and quite capable of convincing myself as to their usefulness.
Interesting. (Score:2, Interesting)
Sounds like a sustainable formula to me. No DRM though, I want to be able to burn it onto a cd and watch it on my Tele, not just my small computer screen. Encode it in H.264, or DiVX or whatever is high quality.
Re:Yuk (Score:3, Interesting)
Online ads are just one small part of the problem.
Re:Will it pan out? (Score:4, Interesting)
Duh... (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:The true price of media is revealed! (Score:3, Interesting)
"For example, a 30-second spot during the 2005 Superbowl sold for $2.4 million. Commercials during less-watched programs are more affordable, but the cost of those commercials may still run in excess of $100,000 per 30-seconds."
About 95 million people watched the Superbowl. That would seem to put it at much less than $1/viewer, or about 2.5 cents (1.25p in real money). Considering they want to charge a few pounds per program...