RealNetworks adds ads to RealPlayer
Published: 07 Dec 1999 10:46 GMT
With Monday's launch of RealNetworks' RealSystem G2 Enhanced, the days of commercial-free video on the Web are one step closer to extinction.
That's potentially great news for companies trying to make money on the Internet, but not so great for consumers hoping to avoid the barrage of advertising they face on that other medium, television. "It's essential that the Web start making money, and advertising is part of that," explained Larry Gerbrandt, senior analyst for media consulting firm Paul Kagan Associates "You've got three options: advertising, pay per view or e-commerce. Advertising is the least painful of the three to consumers."
Monday's announcement that the new advertising extension of its server software, RealServer 7.0, is now able to incorporate advertising is a boon to Web content providers who, up to this point, have had difficulty trying to insert ads within video. The increased ad impressions are a necessary part of making money with online video content, the company said.
The technology will allow ad banners to run within the RealPlayer window underneath streaming content, and works with existing ad servers and banner inventories. It can also insert the video, audio and flash "rich media" advertisements that companies are so hungry to serve up as they gear up for the arrival of broadband.
Through a partnership with online advertising provider DoubleClick, RealBroadcast Network, RealNetwork's Internet broadcast service, plans to provide services for online content providers who don't already have their own advertising divisions.
Besides its ability to handle integrated advertising, the new version of RealServer 7.0 is two-and-a-half times more scalable than its predecessor, enabling better bandwidth capability and fewer "buffering" message Web users have come to loathe, the company said. The new RealSystems package also includes a new online presentation tool created in collaboration with Intel. RealPresenter G2 creates live and recorded Internet broadcasts using Web pages or PowerPoint presentations that include video and audio narration. Like most of Real's software, a basic version and minimal hosting of RealPresenter presentations is available for free, with hosting for additional streams available for a fee.
Paul Thelen, group product manager for Internet systems at Real, acknowledged that Presenter isn't likely to be a profit-making venture. "The goal is not to make a lot of money, but to be an enabler of a killer application for corporate enterprises and educational environments," Thelen said.
RealProducer 7.0, the next version of its streaming video creation software, has increased encoding capabilities that allows video to encode in faster than real time, according to the company.
Microsoft, RealNetworks primary rival in the streaming media market, said Real will be stretched thin by its attempt to cover all facets of streaming technology. Kevin Unangst, lead product manager for Microsoft's streaming media division, said that Windows Media Player 4.0 also has ad-insertion capabilities and a partnership with Internet marketing profiler Engage Technologies that enables the same kind of seamless ad insertion.
"They don't go far enough," Unangst said. "They're taking their same approach of trying to do it all themselves and one company can't do it all."
RealNetworks' Thelen disagreed. "We live and die by streaming media. That's all we think about," said Thelen.
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