Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Would you like some fries with that content?

Phrase of the day: "Content snacking".

Link to January 12 ClickZ post, "Yahoo's TV Widgets Gain Traction with TV Manufacturers and Content Firms".

Excerpt: As if holding the attention of channel-flippers wasn't tough enough -- now television advertisers may have to contend with "content snackers."

At least the buzz for Yahoo's TV widgets coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week suggests so. And marketing dollars are starting to back the hype: a major flat-screen manufacturer ran spots during last weekend's NFL playoff games while prominently featuring the interactive widgets.

The widgets allow viewers to access content from the newest TV models with a push of a remote control button. They appear at the bottom of the screen, looking similar to the way software programs appear on a Mac computer dock. When end users activate a widget, they can call up its content (video clips, for the most part) without switching the channel.

"This is about 'content snacking,'" said Jeff Whatcott, SVP of marketing for online video services firm Brightcove. "I think, ultimately, TV ads are going to have more to compete with for consumers' attention... We'll see more ads in the widget content as well as an advertising strategy over time."

More ads? What a turnoff.

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