Mash-Up or Cash-Up?

User Generated Content (UCG) has been receiving a lot of press these days. It can take the form of videos, slide presentations, photos, stories or modified commercials. In fact, some media companies and ad agencies are encouraging their “viewers” to modify the original content and share it. Why not? It’s free advertising for the original content, even if it’s in the form of a parody. All press is good press, right?

But what about content providers who are not using content to promote something else, but their content gets used in mash-ups by somebody else? Basically, a mash-up combines multiple sources of Web content (usually something original with something that already exists). Much of the Web 2.0 phenomenon and is based upon the mash-ups. It’s a low cost way to deliver something unique. My company uses this technique to demonstrate local, mobile search using TrueLocal’s search engine (with their permission). We were also using Mapquest mobile maps, until they made some changes that disabled their use.

In our case, we use mash-ups to demonstrate something back to the original content providers. We do not profit from another company’s original or licensed content. That, however, is not the case with all mash-ups and many venture capital firms are actively funding Web 2.0 mash-up, based companies – which could be a pretty risky business.

Content has value. Some content costs a lot to create, some took creativity that the rest of us don’t have, and of course, a lot of content is copyrighted. It appears that some early movers, like Mapquest are making changes to protect their investments and/or content property rights from what some believe is the Web equivalent of squatter’s rights. In the case of Mapquest, they license their maps from companies such as NAVTEQ and I suspect that it’s based on content usage rates. If increased map usage is not being supported by Mapquest advertisers or subscribers, than costs go up without the offsetting revenues - ouch!

I suspect that others will follow Mapquest’s lead - business, is business, after all. Will NAVTEQ and Mapquest alter their business models to support a mash-up resale channel? Will mash-up companies have to put cash up front to continue their business operations? It will be an interesting few years as the technical, legal and financial issues of interactive media usage and distribution get sorted out. It will be interesting to see if map, game, video and other original content providers adopt similar techniques to the digital image “watermark” practice in use today to discourage “for-profit” or mass distribution mash-ups of their content.

Oscar with a Digital Twist

As I was watching the Academy Awards this evening, I took special note of the mention of yesterday’s awards for technical achievement. Coming from the technology world versus the actual content generation world I’ve watched from the wings as the “geeks” and “cool dudes” have formed a unique partnership to create some truly phenomenal art, entertainment and educational content. Special effects labs such as Industrial Light & Magic and Pixar get a lot of the attention. Very cool stuff – I even ran a computer reseller promotion back in the late 1980’s where the prize was a trip to ILM.

More recently, however, I was introduced to the American Film Institute Digital Content Lab (DCL). I had no idea the AFI had a digital content lab. And after speaking with several friends and family members in the entertainment industry – neither did they. The AFI has a broad focus on the advancement of content designed for presentation on a screen - silver, TV, and PC – and who knows, maybe even mobile… The DCL is focused exclusively on digital media ranging from interactive television, games and computer content.

The Digital Content Lab is a hands-on production lab. So if you have a digital content project that you want to take to market and are looking for mentors, collaboration partners and a supportive environment in which to get your project ready for market, I encourage you to check them out and submit your project for consideration in their next lab session.

And while the silver screen may be grabbing the spotlight tonight, who knows, your digital content may be premiering to an audience of millions tomorrow.

For those of you following Interactive Media Channels, I highly recommend reading this blog from Baris Karadogan at Always On. This will definitely drive some juicy discussions over the next several months...

Advertising - The Price of Free Content

A little off-base today, but still somewhat connected to the world of interactive channels. I want to talk about local search and the advertising opportunities that come with knowing WHERE someone is. I will also preface this with the fact that my company, 5o9, Inc. has a direct interest in this topic, so forgive my blogging transgression, but this is too important to ignore. That being said…

This blog is inspired by Truelocal.com, an Australian “Local” search engine. Yeah, I know there are lots of local search engines out there, so why am I excited about this one. Quite simply, it’s the company behind the Web site - News Digital Media. If this sounds familiar, it’s because it is the digital arm of News Corp (Fox & MySpace), one of the key players in the Interactive Channels space. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. News Corp’s holdings are global and their only real weakness is in the interactive advertising space. When I heard about True Local I was hoping to see something exciting on the local or digital advertising fronts. As far as search sites go, this one has a nice mapping feature that pops up next to the listings, but their advertising seems very weak.

This may be a function of culture, but secretly I was hoping for something ground breaking in the local search and advertising areas. Local search is achieved by typing in postal code, city or state – same as with every other search engine. The advertising was almost non-existent. To me, this signaled that Google still holds the lead in digital advertising infrastructure – the primary component that is defining the shift in interactive channel development. It's time to shake things up.

So what is the next big innovation? Local advertising – or more precisely, automatic local advertising. Particularly in the arena of mobile search and mobile social networking, the less a user has to type in on their tiny keyboard the better. This is THE technological breakthrough that that all the key players are trying to achieve. So how far off is it?

It’s here! Automatic local search from GPS coordinates is technically feasible and is demonstrated here. Demo Instructions: (Just use the 3^rd entry box and select one of the photos. Location is being pulled from the photo metadata. The demo is live, so feel free to replace the search for ‘pizza’ or ‘hotels’ with whatever criteria you like). Our use of selected search engines is entirely arbitrary and we are not endorsing one service over another.

So if the location data makes it to the Web server, then truly local and personalized advertising is now available to whoever adopts it. So who will be first to personalize interactive content, search and advertising based upon WHERE you are, WHAT device you are on and WHO you are (your personal preferences)? Google? News Corp? Microsoft? Or maybe Comcast or Cox? It’s hard to say but before the decade is out, our interactive media and the ads that pay for it will go beyond targeted, to personal.

Exciting times!