Let the Net Video Advertising Wars Begin!
Veoh has started to become popular recently since YouTube and other sites have started to implement automatic copyright filtering (and Veoh does not). But Veoh has also introduced VeohTV, their new online video application that aggregates videos from several popular sites including the traditional broadcast TV networks:
Veoh does not ask for permission to play material from other Web sites, though Mr. Shapiro says he wants to strike advertising-sharing deals with content owners to ensure that shows appear in high-quality video. But Veoh does not think that it needs consent because VeohTV is doing nothing more than playing what is already online, including any commercials shown during the programs.
The networks may disagree. By only offering video, VeohTV omits all the other advertisements on the network sites. For example, people who watched an episode of “Heroes” on NBC.com last week also saw for 40 minutes a banner ad for McDonald’s on the same page. VeohTV users watching the same episode would not see the banner.
This reminds us of a story we wrote about earlier when CBS announced their pre-approved web video syndication network. Once content is released on the internet, loss of control is an inevitability that should be embraced. It’s true that this loss of control means less advertising control (i.e. banners) but having more people see your programming is always better than having less viewers.
