Since the widespread adoption of the tablet as the content consumption platform of choice, the industry has been eagerly anticipating the rise of the Internet TV as the next disruptive platform to change the way we thing about digital content consumption.  Is it happening?  Sort of, but not as quickly or with as much innovation as we had hoped.  With the drop in price of the Logitech Google TV set-top box and the announcement by Viewsonic that it is deep-sixing its plans to build a Boxee powered TV, there is growing evidence that the marketing for this technology is softening.  Or is it just that the right forces have not yet come together to make this technology take off?  I once saw an attempt at creating a solid-body electric guitar that was build in the early 1930s.  That was the wrong time for that technology to take off.  Musical styles (content) had not evolved, manufacturing processes (technology) had not become cost efficient enough, and the demand was not there because people did not know what to do with it (user experience).  Internet TV is that same moment where the content, technology and user experience pieces have not yet come together in a moment that will drive consumer adoption.

Sure you can buy Internet TVs but as Van Baker, Vice President of research for Gartner recently observed, “In most cases consumers are buying a television with Internet connectivity as insurance. In other words, they are buying them just in case they need it in the future.”  There are also plenty of price-accessible ways to get a non-ethernet TV connected, not the least of which is my personal favorite the Sony PS3.  The problem is once you are connected, what can you do?  Or more appropriately what can your connected TV now do better than the myriad of other devices that surround us every day.  The answer is that beyond on-demand streaming the user experience is not yet fully developed.

Do consumers want to use browsers on a TV screen?  Despite the fact that the TV screen is large it does not offer a very conducive browsing experience.  But some things do work?  Have you seen the YouTube and Netflix apps designed specifically for the TV?  They have large buttons that are easy to navigate to and click.  They have a display that is almost devoid of text (hard to read on a TV) and heavy on seductive visuals (fun to look at on a big screen).  But until there are more apps and user experiences that are built specifically for the TV, the usefulness of it as digital device is somewhat limited.

However, the promise is still there.  As companies like Adobe help hash out digital rights access with its Adobe Pass offering and as more of these devices continue to end up in consumers’ homes, if for no other reason than the current crop of product is coming equipped with the technology whether consumers demand it or not, the groundwork is being laid for enterprising content providers to realize that there is a new opportunity to wrap bigger and bolder user experiences around their content and make it accessible in ways that best suit the TV as an interface.  I’m still bullish on the technology and anxious to see how this next wave of digital user experiences will evolve.  In fact, I think this is the time for publishers and media companies to take the lead and prove what this technology can be good for.

We see a lot of companies placing video on their websites and YouTube channels without much thought being given to whether the content will be of any real value to the audience or much benefit to the organization.  Dave Chase recently wrote a great article showcasing 10 wonderful examples from several different industries that offer fodder for those looking to hone their online video marketing approach.  The basic principle is to create content that is valuable and interesting, but how have others met that challenge and won?

• Finance: Not a bad idea to spend some time succintly explaining complex financial products.  Consumers can use these videos to self-educate but field agents can also use them as resources with their client. Here’s  an example from Standard and Poor. I think they could go further and make videos that are actually not dry as toast but kudos for trying.

• Travel: If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a video worth? Destinations realize if they give potential guests a deeper view into their product, they are more likely to be inspired to take that special trip.  However, too many destinations are obsessed with property overview videos and too few develop video content associated with all the fun and interesting things people can do in their area.  This second flavor of video is much more likely to get used by other blogs and websites and create more traffic-building opportunities for the destination.

• Healthcare: It’s no secret the health issues are one of the most commonly researched topics online.  But guess what, people don’t actually enjoy reading 5 page articles on medical conditions.  The Cleveland Clinic, a leading healthcare provider, realizes that the best marketing it can do is sharing its experience and insights into various health and wellness issues, as through its Health Edge videocasts. Even at the community hospital level, the company often does community outreach via educational seminars that can easily be shared via online video.

• Lifestyle: How-to videos are amongst the most popular videos for people to search for and share online. Yoga Today gives away a sampling of its video library with the goal of people wanting even more. The best part is that the smaple videos get picked up by other blogs and websites. Imagine your video doing your marketing for you.

• Retail and ecommerce: Organizations such as 1-800-Flowers.com create video to give their customers ideas for parties. Naturally, during the course of the videos, they highlight use of their products. Retailers of home improvement products, such as Sears and Home Depot, are increasingly investing in video.  In fact, Home Depot’s how-to video library is one of the most inspired pieces of online video marketing from a retail company that I have seen.  Too bad they don’t make more of it and make it a primary feature of the site as opposed to something you have to dig for.

• Toy makers: When you have a passionate audience that happens to be full of content creators who love to post things online you would be well served to ride that wave. For instance,  searches for Lego creations and dominoes creations demonstrate. Toy makers are embracing these aficionados of their products and giving them a venue to post video of their creations, allow others to comment, share these videos, and more.

• Technology: Tech companies picked up fairly early on that videos are a great way to explain how their products work and what they can do to help you. We don’t need videos of sponges in action but video of complex software in action definitely helps.  Sometimes, videos can bring the product to life in surprising ways.  One of the more innovative examples has been Intuit’s programs around TurboTax. Its TaxRap and TaxLaugh video contests have drawn a wide array of entries and brought fun to a category few

So let’s resists that impulse to place a corporate video or commercial on YouTube just to say you have some video online.  Done well, video marketing communicates in special ways and has the benefit of being portable social content that others can move around the web so that it actually works ot find your audience and market your company.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project has released a survey that indicates that the share of online adults who watch videos on video-sharing sites has nearly doubled since 2006.  In addition television and movie watching are now an online experience for a third of internet users.The chart below indicates that 62% of the adults surveyed have watched video on a video sharing site.  I wonder what the stat would have been had they expanded the survey to include young adults and any form of online video as opposed to just video sharing sites.

Another interesting stat from the survey is that 23% of those surveyed said that they have connected their computer to a television to watch internet video on their TV.  I was surprised by this one because TV watching is generally an activity based on convenience and it can take some effort (in equipment and time) to get your computer connected to your TV.  This indicates a growing desire amongst consumers for greater convergence between the two platforms.

If you have ever been frustrated by the fact that the only ways to get YouTube video viewers to your site was to use your url in your channel description or to place a url somewhere in the context of your video than you will be excited by the latest development out of the video-sharing giant.  As of late June, you can now insert a call-to-action semi-transparent overlay in your video with message and link back to any site.  This is an essential feature for anyone using YouTube to market the site from which the video originates.  Bear in mind that this is only available to account holders who are enrolled the video that will house the advertisement in YouTube’s CPC advertising program. 

Here is an example of how it looks in action:

YouTube CTA overlay

Early returns suggest that the overlay is very effective at driving traffic.  The charity shown above reportedly raised $10,000 in a single day using this new feature.  It will be interesting to see what creative uses people discover for the overlay feature.  In the meantime, let me know what you find when using it in your own videos.

SmartBrief staged a social media conference this past week and webcasted it so that we could all share in the great ideas expressed by their knowledgable panel.  View the online version of this conference here.  The panelists included:

• Guy Kawasaki (Alltop)
• Brendan Hart (National Geographic)
• Stacey Kane (California Tortilla)
• Stephanie Miller (ReturnPath)
• Andy Sernovitz (GasPedal)

The main subject of the conference was viral marketing using social media tools.  There were several lively exchanges and lots of important ideas discussed.  If you have the time…take the time.  It’s worth it.