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YouTube Goes Professional
Google Inc.'s YouTube is going Hollywood.
The Internet company is finalizing deals with well-known personalities, such as skateboarder Tony Hawk, and major media companies to produce original content for its popular video website, as it seeks to become a next-generation cable provider that oversees dozens of free online "channels" with professional-grade shows, people familiar with the matter said.
YouTube, the world's largest video site, is putting up more than $100 million in cash advances to get some of the content produced, said the people. YouTube will recoup the funds from advertising revenue it sells against the content, later splitting ad ...
Women’s Digital Media Firm DECA Inks Deal With Time Lifestyle Group
Under the partnership, content from brands including MyRecipes, Cooking Light and Real Simple will be distributed on Her Channel in the new syndication pact.
Time Inc.’s Lifestyle Group, comprised of Real Simple, This Old House and MyRecipes.com, has inked an exclusive partnership with women’s digital media company DECA to provide content to the firm’s Her Channel online video syndication network.
Under the deal, Time Inc. and Her Channel will each pocket a third of the advertising revenue, with editorial sites taking the remaining 33 percent.
"We're always looking for innovative ways to reach new consumers and are looking forward to distributing our smart, how-to videos through our syndication partnership with Her Channel," Time Inc. Lifestyle Digital GM Tina Imm said.
Syndication partners for Her Channel, which reaches a monthly audience of more than 35 million women, include ABC, BurstMedia, BlogHer and Yahoo, among others.
"Now that Her Channel reaches over 35 million women monthly, our syndication platform is an invaluable resource for premium content owners, quality women's sites and brand advertisers looking to reach women through video,” DECA CEO Michael Wayne said. “We are thrilled to have Time Inc. content on the Her Channel platform. Through our partnership, Her Channel will deliver outstanding lifestyle video content from premier brands like Cooking Light and Real Simple to millions of women online."
Launched this year, Her Channel partners with advertisers, content producers and women’s websites to bring together brand campaigns and online video programming for female audiences online.
Kraft Foods and DECA Create New Web Series with Host Soleil Moon Frye
Many know Soleil Moon Frye as the iconic Punky Brewster from the popular 80’s television show, but over the past several years she has also built a respectable presence in social media. Among her many online accomplishments, she founded her own community through Ning, serves as Target’s first online “Mommy Ambassador,” and has over 1.4 million followers on Twitter.
Her newest venture comes through Kraft Foods and DECA, the digital media company which owns and operates web shows like Momversation, Good Bite, and others. Moon Frye has been hired as the host of the new HerSay web series, a daily chat fest aimed primarily at mom bloggers.
From the HerSay website:
Her Say is a new daily web series for women who want to stay connected, be inspired and feel empowered. Hosted by Soleil Moon Frye and a team of the most respected bloggers from around the web, Her Say keeps busy women in the know.
The show began on May 17 and features episodes roughly two to four minutes in length, each preceded by a commercial for a Kraft Foods brand. The topics have covered everything from style to celebrity gossip and tech tips to home remedies. Bloggers from across the web have been featured, including Catherine McCord from weelicious and Jamie Morrison Curtis from Prudent Baby, and the site features a collection of panelists who will regularly contribute to the series.
Soleil Moon Frye, Moms Get a Web Series from Kraft
Deca owns, operates, and produces HerSay, which it created along with Kraft Foods and the team at Kraft One (an arm of advertising agency Digitas and media specialist agency Mediavest dedicated to Kraft Foods initiatives). “This is a unique opportunity that leverages branded content to reach a specific audience, opening their eyes to experiences and brands they’ll want to be involved in, and then share,” says Sam Chadha, EVP, Managing Director, Kraft One. “We’re thrilled to partner with Kraft and DECA to ignite real-time conversations among women in the online community. Harnessing the collective power of their voice will fuel valuable content for this audience and impact for our client.”
Digitas, Kraft Launch 'HerSay' Series
Publicis agency Digitas, its client Kraft, and media company DECA TV have teamed up to launch "HerSay http://www.hersay.com," a daily, 2-4 minute online video show for women. Soleil Moon Frye, former child star of "Punky Brewster" and now a popular blogger, hosts the show, which debuted Monday.
Content and themes for each episode are based on what's buzzing in the women's blogosphere, Digitas told BostInnovation.com. Topics the first week have included Maria Shriver leaving Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ashton Kutcher joining "Two and a Half Men" and recycling old bridesmaids' dresses. Digitas said that 40 of the first 72 episodes will weave in and feature Kraft brands. Tuesday's episode opened with a video ad for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.
Kraft Courts Mommy Blogger Readers With Online Talk Show
Kraft is launching an online talk show hosted by former Punky Brewster star Soleil Moon Frye, a prominent mommy blogger.
Thirteen Kraft brands, including Jell-O, Mac and Cheese and Chips Ahoy!, will be featured in the series, HerSay, which will tap content and themes discussed by mommy bloggers. Frye, whose blog can be found here, is part of the draw. HerSay is owned and operated by DECA, a digital media company aimed at women.
Great places for mothers to connect online
We've told you about momslikeme.com and other advice and social destination sites for moms. In her newest book, The Hot Mom's Handbook, Jessica Denay, a leading “mom” expert, passes along other useful blogs.
Among them:Momversation.com. Real, everyday mothers, including guest contributors and bloggers, weigh in on tough questions like “How did you get your pre-pregnancy body back?” in video format.
Her Channel Chooses Klout as Influencer Metric
Today, DECA officially launched Her Channel, a new online video syndication network for women, launching with hundreds of sites, including ‘BlogHer.’ Her Channel focuses on the most influential women’s sites and relies on Klout as their standard metric for influence. Klout Scores are displayed on all their partner pages.
With a combined reach of over 35 million users and an average Klout Score of 50 for their partners, Her Channel clearly has a strong presence in this space. We’ll be looking forward to seeing what they do next.
DECA Launches A Video Syndication Network For Women
DECA, best known for women’s video sites like Momversation, is expanding its available ad inventory with the launch of a new online video syndication network called Her Channel. The network, which already has more than 200 syndication partners, was built to match up its owned and operated video properties, along with those of its partners, with a wide range of publishers across the web.
DECA has had lots of success developing video properties like CoolMom and Good Bite. And so, the company is now bringing on partners to allow them to not just publish video into the broader Her Channel network, but also to create an opportunity for text publishers to leverage third-party videos on their sites and attain incremental video ad revenues.
Like AOL’s 5min and other online video syndication networks, Her Channel provides a platform to match up video creators and web publishers, all the while serving high-value video ads. Participating publishers can leverage the network with a Her Channel-branded media bar that runs across the top of the site, an interactive channel widget, embeddable video players that can be added to their sites and through customized partner pages that are hosted on HerChannel.com.
While DECA is trying to attract individual web publishers to be a part of its syndication network, Her Channel has also partnered with women’s blog network BlogHer, which gives it a potential reach of more than 35 million users. Already, after just a few months in existence, Her Channel has attracted more than 3.5 million unique viewers a month in March. Perhaps more importantly, the network amassed 17.5 million video views in that time.
But the key to making it all work is ensuring that the network can get high-value video ads against its videos. DECA CEO Michael Wayne said the network keeps the CPMs high, with a $20 CPM on the low end for a run-of-network ad campaign. The ad revenue is then split evenly between the video creator, the website publisher and DECA for providing the platform.
For DECA, the focus on women is tantamount to growing its business, especially after a few failed attempts at capturing new audiences. The company tried to appeal to young male audiences with investments in Smosh and projects like BushLeague.tv. But those investments have failed to pan out: Bush League was shut down about a year after launch and Smosh, while still around (and immensely popular) doesn’t really fit into DECA’s broader video ecosystem.
While the company is now focused almost entirely on the female audience (and plans to continue to do so), Wayne acknowledged that there’s an opportunity to bring in content that appeals to a wider group of people. Most of DECA’s — and Her Channel’s — content is built for women and young moms in their mid-to-late 20s and early 30s, but Wayne sees an opportunity to go beyond that by adding more fashion, style and even perhaps some entertainment content.
Mommy Bloggers, Meet Ad-Supported Video
DECA syndicating content targeted at female audiences
It’s a simple equation. Women make a household’s day-to-day buying decisions, and they’re increasingly trading Days of Our Lives for Dooce.com. The migration explains the rise of female blogger ad networks like BlogHer, which offers advertisers reviews and display sponsorships—and, as of this morning, the rise of a new video ad network.
BlogHer is partnering with digital media company DECA on the latter's launch of Her Channel, an online video syndication network focused on women’s content. It will offer advertisers 15- and 30-second pre-roll. Besides BlogHer, Her Channel will also debut with 200 syndication partners.
DECA's platform delivers videos from its content library via a widget, a media bar, or a customized page, all of which can be embedded into any blogging platform. Ad revenue is split in thirds. The content creators (bloggers, DECA, or a media company), syndication partners (the bloggers and the blogging networks), and the platform (Her Channel) each get their piece of the take.
Women bloggers and their readers engage in “highly trusted conversations” online, said BlogHer co-founder and CEO Lisa Stone, and the strength of those reader relationships explains why 80 percent of women in the BlogHer community have purchased a product based on a blog recommendation.
But so far, the opportunity for online video advertising to women hasn’t been exploited, in part, because of the specific needs of a female audience, said Michael Wayne, CEO of DECA, including large women’s sites like Cafemom.com and iVillage.com. Part of the problem, he added, is that women have a higher threshold for consumption than men. “User-generated content doesn’t work as well for women. They want information and higher quality content,” Wayne said.
Her Channel’s video library includes original content made by DECA, content created by BlogHer members and other blogging partners, and content created by women’s magazines and cable companies.
Wayne also believes he can exploit a hole in the pricing for online video advertising. Hulu, in Wayne's contention, is too expensive, even while Hulu ad buyers don’t know what content their ads will be served against or even which sites they could appear on. Her Channel’s floor CPM is $20, he said. (Hulu's CPM has been estimated in the past to begin with a floor of $25.)
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