November 3rd, 2008
MySpace, MTV cast lot with Auditude: Who will follow?
MySpace and MTV have teamed with Auditude, an online advertising technology startup, to insert ads in pirated content. The goal: Allow content owners to profit from clips uploaded and distributed without permission.
While the deal (statement) has raised quite a ruckus on Techmeme and most of the reaction is extremely positive. But folks should take a step back.
Why? There are a lot of unknowns here. The biggest unknown: Will other content owners use Auditude? MySpace and MTV are using Auditude technology to automatically identify professional video and insert ads. Content owners will also be able to add overlays and plugs to shows, content and commerce opportunities.
Sounds great, but the missing ingredient in this deal is the ad revenue split. What exactly will content owners get? Half of the revenue? Seventy percent? What does MTV get?
Those details, which are critical for Auditude’s technology to be the real deal, are unknown at the moment. Unless content owners get a good revenue split this deal may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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