Online Video Advertising: Banners May Not Work, Says Forrester’s Charlene Li

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We spoke with Internet superstar Charlene Li of Forrester Research.  She’s been thinking a lot about the model of advertising surrounding online video; she predicts it will take many forms.

Charlene says that YouTube’s business model will inevitably become advertiser based, and she sees contests and sponsorships as a very promising area for the start-up.

She thinks banner ads are not a particularly successful format for sites like YouTube, as people are watching videos, not the banners. She is keen on the success of the Diet Coke/Mentos viral video ad. That’s an example of adding short advertisement to the end of a clip, known as a post roll.

.....Good reading here:

For a great article on YouTube and its possibly looming copyrights problems, read Heather Green’s piece in the August 7 issue of BusinessWeek. 

And check out one of the latest viral marketing videos to sweep the Web: a rap spoof of the preppy life, spotlighting Smirnoff's Hard Ice Tea. According to an article in the Cape Cod Times, the video has been viewed over 320,000 times on YouTube.

-- Andy Plesser

NET HELPS INSURGENT DEMOCRAT NED LAMONT

Ned Lamont’s victory last night in the Connecticut race for the Senate is impressive, and certainly some of the outcome is a result of a very successful online component to his campaign.  Joe Trippi spoke to us about this last month. Here’s his post.

Coming Clean: Forrester Research and Joe Trippi are former clients of Plesser Holland, publisher of Beet.TV

Charlene Li, Forrester Research, Viral Video, Diet Coke and Mentos, YouTube, Ned Lamont, Joe Lieberman, Joe Trippi