Bebo In Major Free Content Launch
Bebo, the social networking website aimed at younger internet users, is to offer content for free from broadcasters such as the BBC following the launch of multiple media channels for the site.
The Open Media platform will also feature content from major record labels as well as programmes from the BBC, ITN, Channel 4, BSkyB and Endemol in the UK, and CBS, Turner, MTV and ESPN in the US.
Companies can embed their own media player on their Bebo channel, including their own advertising, and customise the page for their brand.
Content will be free for Bebo’s 40 million users to access, and content companies will receive 100% of revenues from in-video advertising – something that Bebo hopes will be a major incentive over similar offerings from rivals MySpace and Facebook.
Open Media also includes content from web-based services including music recommendation site Last.fm. user-content channel SumoTV and comedy site Crackle.
Evan Cohen, the Bebo director of strategy and operations, said the platform was not just an distribution tool, but an opportunity for media companies to exploit Bebo to cultivate the community around their brand.
Media content spreads virally, finding those “hard to reach” younger audiences who spend the majority of their time online.
“This is a natural fit with younger audiences who see entertainment as a form of engagement and self-expression. Their life is about expression and defining who they are,” he added.
Last week Facebook launched a new ad system which will “create the most effective marketing ever seen”, according to the company’s chief revenue officer, Owen Van Natta.
Speaking at the IAB Engage conference, Van Natta outlined the system, explaining that brands and advertisers could now create their own profile, as well as placing ads into users’ ‘feeds’ (see Facebook Launches “Most Effective Marketing Ever Seen”).
A recent report from JupiterResearch suggested that just 24% of European internet advertisers who plan to launch their own profiles on social networking sites measure whether users interact with their online ads (see Social Network Advertisers Fall Short In Measuring Results).
Bebo: www.bebo.com