I have been surfing the Internet trying to find which companies are emerging in Web 2.0 (a term that I may/may not subscribe to) and the following have made Vince Veneziani's hotlist at Design Technica.
I have to say that I'm a fan of Netvibes.com and their full Ajax implementation. You do not even need an account... start using the start-page functionality right away.
February 26, 2006 in Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
The term Web 2.0 is proliferating through social groups faster than Google now checking undergraduate GPA's. I thought it would be beneficial that I would post a (not "the") Web 2.0 definition from Wikipedia. Please note that you can find the full definition here.
Web 2.0 is a term popularized by O'Reilly Media and MediaLive International as the name for a series of web development conferences that started in October 2004. It has since come to refer to what some people describe as a second phase of architecture and application development for the World Wide Web. Web 2.0 applications often use a combination of techniques devised in the late 1990s, including public web service APIs (dating from 1998), Ajax (1998), and web syndication (1997). They often allow for mass publishing (web-based social software). The term may include blogs and wikis. To some extent Web 2.0 has become a buzzword, incorporating whatever is newly popular on the Web (such as tags and podcasts). A consensus on its exact meaning has not yet been reached. - wikipedia.org
February 25, 2006 in Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Today was a major press day as I was featured as the spotlight interview on the release of Adotas.com. The interview can be found here. If you read the article, I dont know how much I look like Pete Sampras, but as a major tennis fan and coming from a tennis family, I highly respect it. Also, IGA Partners was written up in Crains New York Business Journal [subscription required] and Clickz.com. Lots of amazing press and a lot more to follow shortly.
I'll be back in NYC on Friday and will be back to posting regularly then. Hang tight. (currently in Los Angeles and Santa Monica)
January 10, 2006 in Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Just finished watching the XBOX 360 portion of the Microsoft keynote speech at CES 2006. Even with being within the industry (IGA Partners), the numbers are startling. Microsoft predicts that 4.5-5.5 million Xbox 360s will be sold by June 2006. Currently, they have launched the game console within 30 different countries, with the first one being the USA on November 28, 2005. Xbox Live Marketplace is the area of which you can buy game assets, and within the first 90 days since launch, there have been over 4 million downloads. Epic Records and film studios have launched campaigns to release assets into the Xbox Live Marketplace. One of the larger advertising deals cut into Xbox Live interface is that of Paramount’s Mission Impossible III (MI:3) which is a movie trailer promotion. In terms of internet connectivity, 10% of the initial Xbox’s were connected online where as over 50% of the Xbox 360s are being connected. On average, 4 games are being sold per Xbox 360 with over 2 peripherals per console. Numbers are doubled from the original Xbox. Great job Microsoft - looking forward to the future.
January 05, 2006 in Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
So the headline has two meanings, but for this particular posting and the meaning behind this site, we'll stick to 'gaming' as in, video games. If you were to guess the percentage of women gamers in the marketplace, what would you guess? We always are hearing about the elusive male - 18-34 year old, but why not women?
According to a recent study by Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the Entertainment Software Association, 43% of all video-game players are female. Online games, in which players interact with other gamers around the world skew a percentage point higher, 44%.
Another interesting fact to the study is that there are more women over the age of 18 in the game-playing population (28%) than there are boys ages 6-17 (21 percent). In 2004, two of the top three computer games, The Sims 2 (No. 1) and World of Warcraft (No. 3) were ones that have a strong female following.
So yes, we can certainly reach women through video games - and this little posting didn't touch upon casual games, whereas some casual games can be as high as 60-80% female dominated.
December 13, 2005 in Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Looks like MediaWeek is following AdWeek's story on in-game advertising. Today, IGA Partners (of which I'm a co-founder) appeared in a MediaWeek feature article on in-game advertising. This is not the first article we've appeared in, but one of many articles IGA Partners will be appearing in across the globe moving forward as we're picking up some serious momentum. Some of you may remember the CBS article that IGA Partners appeared in by William Vidka.
A solid quote from the article: "What we are effectively doing is becoming media owners in the games space," says Ed Bartlett, global VP of publishing for in-game advertising pioneer IGA Partners. With most popular games focusing on real-world scenarios such as sports or, er, street violence, ad slots are simply built into games in their real-life context, inevitably with particular emphasis on outdoor spots. Though the PS2 can not currently be served with ads in real time, players' exposure to ads embedded in games can still be tracked, while the Xbox allows ads to be both tracked and served. With the imminent launch of the Xbox 360 and next year's PlayStation3, both the market's cutting-edge consoles will theoretically be fair game for dynamic ads. "We can plan geographically, we can micro-target, we can do all kinds of things," says Bartlett.
December 06, 2005 in Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Our friends over at Activision and Nielsen Entertainment have released the results of a study that show that if in-game advertising is done correctly, it not only raises awareness and recall, but also pervasiveness, which contributes to driving brand awareness as well.
Research results also found that, contrary to the assumption that highly pervasive ads would detract from the game play and frustrate gamers, a majority of study participants said that when the product is relevant to the game, advertising enhances the experience. Underscoring relevance, the study revealed that the vast majority of gamers who recalled a product in a game felt it fit the game they were playing. Moreover, a much higher percentage of gamers changed their opinion of the product positively versus negatively after having played the game.
December 05, 2005 in Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Well, 72 hours after arriving in Los Angeles, the Digital Entertainment Media Expo (www.demxpo.com) is now over for 2005. IGA Partners had a fabulous show - we were the gaming sponsor and met with everyone from the game publishers/developers to brands and agencies who were present. Was great to meet new people and hear new business models!
As for last night, we had an 'IGA Family' dinner with our new hire, Tim Steudler as well as had Brooke Wagner (VitroRobertson) and long time friend, Patrick Yee (Global Gaming League) out with us. Was a fabulous time and I loved hearing their insight to the gaming and advertising industries.
December 03, 2005 in Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I've been pretty silent over the past few days as I've been out in Los Angeles, California at the DEMXPO. IGA Partners is one of the sponsors of the events and we've been leading Gaming 101 presentations as well, as speaking on various panels about video games, advertising and the marriage: in-game advertising and media placement.
So far, it's been a pretty solid show. I have managed to sneak out of our meeting room and sat in on discussions about the music industry and the future of digital marketing and really enjoyed the panel by colleague Robert Tercek, formerly of MForma and Sony. I also ran into Rafat Ali of PaidContent.org and its always enlightening running into him - as he seems to know more about my company than I do! Never a bad thing!
During Tercek's presentation, he alluded to a few things including:
Americans spend more on entertainment than gasoline, household furnishings, and clothing combined.
Mobile phones sold 780 million units in 2005 whereas mp3 players sold 75 million
1 billion music tracks per MONTH are exchanged illegally
subscription content shows slow growth, however, much more stable (non volatile) over the long run. mirrors cable television/premium channel
Lots of great things to report. More tomorrow as both Christian-Alexander Vry and myself are sitting on 2 different gaming panels.
November 30, 2005 in Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Colleague Mike Shields over at MediaWeek wrote an article today labeled, "Report: Don't Flood Gamers with Ads." This report was based on the information I blogged about last week regarding the mediaedge:CIA study on in-game advertising.
The article quoted Fran Kennish, director of strategic planning at Mediaedge:cia and David Tokheim, IGN’s vp of marketing. Both advocated the following: “Every game is unique and needs to be treated uniquely,” he [Tokheim] said. “It’s never going to be like sliding in a 15-second spot before Desperate Housewives.”
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/interactive/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001570637
November 28, 2005 in Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
