You must protect that brand

There's a great article on www.streamingmedia.com that talks about measuring video ads. It's a great way to start understanding how companies use online video and why. It justifies the trend and points out some key facts about why companies are investing in online video. Here's a quick blurb just to lay down a foundation:

"Research firm eMarketer predicts that by 2011, 86.6% of the US internet population will consume online video. Agencies and advertisers are responding accordingly—Forrester Research says that online video ad spending will reach $775 million in 2007, growing 89% from $410 million in 2006, and it’s expected to approach $5 billion by 2011. Online video ad spending is also growing as a percentage of total internet ad spending, up from 2.6% in 2006 to 4.2% in 2007. At some point in 2010, one in every 10 dollars spent on internet advertising will go for video ads." That's from the article, "How to measure online video ad success by Max Bloom but you don't have to have stumbled across his insight to see this in action.

With YouTube at the forefront, more and more companies are tapping in to the trend that almost four in five Americans are watching some sort of online video. Even Fox got on board with understanding that companies now need to control their content (they started www.hulu.com) and the creators of South Park did the same thing. Heck, even ESPN told Ad Networks to take a hike and they'd sell their own ad space as opposed to letting third parties sell ads on to their online properties because they were worried it would affect the brand.

It's important to think about that. Companies are protecting their brands and affiliations and, even with more advertising options, companies are becoming more concerned about who else shares your eyes on their domains.

As companies begin to purge and merge, we're seeing what looks to be a modern day circling of the wagons. With all the online option, it's never been more important to protect your brand.