"There are a great many headaches in online video that marketers have to consider before putting their budget into the space," said Matt Wasserlauf, CEO of BBE. "VINDICO removes those headaches for the marketer so that their experience is seamless."

That ease of use - and the accreditations - are helping more brands move into the video space, but before jumping, remember the video content is the key to success.

"It’s much easier to monetize professionally produced video content. [Now] the Hollywood establishment wants to be in the online space and there is going to be a movement away from user generated content into splashy and professional content," said Wasserlauf. "It’s going to be like the 1980s and 1990s were for cable. Back then there was a lot of paid programming and very little original content. Now, cable has some of the hottest programming. Online video is evolving into that now. We’re seeing a new era of high quality content, it’s still a small share but it’s going to be a huge driver for the bigger brands to move into the space in a more material way."

One thing brands are still looking for? Safe content, which is where video ad networks come in. With a video advertising network brands can choose the type of content and in most cases can target their ads more effectively than in the general online space.

"Brands are looking for safety and to date the content hasn’t been safe. But, the content is becoming and will continue to become safer," said Wasserlauf. "The medium [is also] getting more scalability. We’re taking on brands who were only in television and giving them comfort and a reason to be in the online space as well [as TV]."

In addition to Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies in the online video space, Wasserlauf says they are seeing more Fortune 1000 companies move into the arena.

MW: BBE is providing efficiency and effectiveness in online video. Efficiencies are captured by price, but not only price. We built VINDICO, our proprietary video ad-server and tracking system to remove the speed bumps and make buying in video more efficient. We’re solving effectiveness by aggregating premium content with in-stream video advertising and helping grow that content by producing quality video such as our Webby award winning series, Jen & Barb: Mom Life.

How are the key points of differentiation between BBE and competitors such as Tremor Media, Adconion and others?

Key points of differentiation with our competitors begins and ends with our focus: in-stream video. Companies like Tremor and Adconion built their early success on rich media and video in banners. BBE has always been focused on in-stream, high quality video. VINDICO, our proprietary, MRC-accredited video ad-server and our original programming, highlighted by our Webby award-winning Jen & Barb: Mom Life, are other points of differentiation for the company.

Can you see the exchange model becoming a part of the online video advertising world? Under what circumstances?

The exchange model has been slow to gain momentum, however in the long term it will definitely play an important role. I think we’ll see the biggest impact on the direct response side. As online video becomes mainstream, there will be a tipping point where tier-two and tier-three advertisers place more importance on the quantity over quality of content (tier-one advertisers will always keep quality in the forefront) . That’s when an exchange model will emerge.

In your opinion, are there parallels between BBE’s VINDICO subsidiary’s demand-side ad server and the emerging demand side platform model in display? What’s causing this development?

It’s all being driven by the demand for automation. Our clients need their video investment to be made simple (like display). Unfortunately video remains a labor intensive industry, however VINDICO makes it easy by automating the process and removing the labors of manual delivery. In turn, this decrease some of the cost of doing business. Which makes our clients very happy.

What is holding back more dollars being spent through online video advertising networks today?

The Big 4 are Education, Measurement, Creative, and Quality of Content.

How has your partnership with Quantcast evolved? Why is it important to BBE?

Measurement is huge focus for video networks. When we partner with companies like Quantcast, we are able to build better measurement tools which deliver more targeted campaigns and more robust results to our clients. This is a win-win for everyone in that it BBE is able to build a better product, Quantcast is able to captures more share of the online universe, and our clients become more comfortable investing more of their budget in video.

It would appear that marketers are just starting to buy efficiently audience across marketing channels - e.g. mapping individual user cookies across video, display, mobile. Is BBE ready to help the marketer understand attribution across all these channels?
Absolutely. We adamantly believe that cross-platform is where the future will be. In fact, we’ve just begun testing methodologies for showing scale against user data in video. It’s very exciting stuff. Can’t say much more beyond that.

What is BBE’s target market today? And can you share any trends that you’re seeing with your clients today?

Our client roster is primarily composed of the Fortune 500 companies, however we are seeing a distinct trend of video running deeper and bleeding quicker into Fortune 1000+ companies than we initially predicated. Online video is truly becoming a standard part of all media plans. Its now more familiar and in turn is more generally accepted. A crucial element fueling this evolution is the interest from smaller and regional companies who have limited funds, but need to be incredible efficient, effective, and targeted with their buys. Those are the clients that are really pushing the boundaries of the industry.

Last question - when does convergence happen between TV and online? Where is it on your roadmap?

Truth be told, everyone thought I would happen before 2010. It didn’t. But NOW we are really starting to see the acceleration. If I had to guess, I believe a complete convergence will happen in the next 2 -3 years. It’s definitely on the forefront of our roadmap.

BBE, one of the earliest video ad networks, is the designated video ad network working with the Publicis Vivaki unit on an industry standardization program called the Pool

Earlier this year,  BBE announced the launch of its Vindico analytics product.

Recently, the company has been accredited by the MRC.

And, the New York-based company is expanding its Web-original videos.

For an update, we spoke with CEO and founder Matt Wasserlauf.

Some people refer to online video advertising as the "Wild West." Others will caution you: "Enter at your own risk." And then there are those who simply stay away. But trust me when I say, don't stay away too long. If you've been thinking about getting into the game, you will, in my opinion, need three things to be successful: the right spirit, a top-notch media agency and a video ad-server.

Let us take these in order, then. It all begins with the right spirit -- your attitude and mind-set. Over the past 10 years, I've watched hundreds of brands enter the online video advertising fray. Some have succeeded. A good number, as we know, have not. But many of those that didn't could have averted failure had they only approached the medium with the right attitude.

One very solid example I can name is Unilever, one of my firm's clients that I cite for having the right kind of spirit. With impressive speed, Unilever has grown its business to become one of the largest spenders in online video advertising. But, more to my point, it has approached the space with a realistic appetite for risk that has been more of a benefit than anything else. Unilever even named its approach to online video buying, calling it a "reverse upfront" -- a savvy riff on the way TV time has historically been bought and sold. Unilever ultimately became so comfortable in the space it created a number of video Webisodes that today are among the most popular in the industry.

This deliberative level of engagement helped the company understand how best to leverage online video. As a result, Unilever can now recommend the right media tactics -- whether pre-roll, long-form, original programming, etc. -- to deliver brand-building media performance.

The next ingredient is the right media agency. The best ones are those that have integrated their online teams with their offline, traditional media buyers. This holistic, or what you might call 360-degree, approach considers the entire spectrum of media that's available before making a buy.

Consider what OMD did for McDonald's on a recent online advertising campaign.  OMD -- a leading media agency that my firm, BBE, often works with -- shepherded the creative shop TribalDDB to success. TribalDDB's challenge was to integrate the fast food advertiser into an original online show called "The Fantastic Two." OMD guided Tribal DDB, enabling them to format the program (five minutes in length), distribute the show (site list across BBE network) and set up the metrics of success (view through, reach, etc.).

This kind of comprehensive and detail-driven approach demonstrated its value in  the numbers; the campaign pulled in more than 20 million views to a unique audience of over three million. The New York Times advertising columnist Stuart Elliot highlighted the campaign in a November 16, 2007 article headlined, "Web Videos Stealing TV Viewers and Marketers." Elliott pointed out that a great media agency is essential to success in the online video advertising space.

OK, so you've got the right spirit and have engaged the right media agency partner. Now what?

Contract with a video ad-server. A video ad-server is a platform that allows advertisers to buy, serve, track and measure all of their online video ad activity. Depending on your industry (CPG, auto, retail, whatever), the measurement criteria will vary. But it's vital that online advertisers retain control over the way their campaigns are administered. Put another way, an advertiser and its agency must be able to tailor their online campaigns to meet stated objectives. Doubleclick and Atlas first demonstrated this capability 15 years ago, and since then, we've come a long way. Today, advertiser and agency control has become the rule in online video advertising, not the exception. And that's why you need a video ad-server.

But let's be clear about something: Not all ad-servers -- or platforms -- are created equal. When choosing among them, you must be sure that you have a clear picture of each platform's capabilities and are convinced that its approach is video-centric. Understand what kinds of data will be available to you, such as video audience or click through, and then match those against your objectives. The control that you and your agency exert over your online campaign will assure delivery of the metrics needed to guarantee success.

Rishad Tobaccowala, chief strategist for VivaKi, Publicis' digital platform, has admitted that his company won the Coca-Cola business largely because of VivaKi's video prowess. [BBE's video ad-serving division Vindico Group inked a deal in April to become VivaKi's preferred provider.] VivaKi is positioned to lead the largest video upfront in history because of its impressive track record in the online space.

To be effective, ads must be seen by the right people and measured by the right metrics. That's why finding the right video ad-server is the third and final step to winning big in online video advertising. Are you ready to win?

Rest assured, your competitors are.

VINDICO Group, a division of BBE, today announced its video advertising platform has been accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC), the industry association dedicated to establishing audience measurement that is valid, reliable and effective. VINDICO is the first demand-side video ad server to be accredited by the MRC, a process that requires companies to submit technology and processes to rigorous third-party audits to ensure compliance with industry standards. VINDICO’s accreditation indicates its video advertising platform is compliant with the MRC’s standards for Media Rating Research and the applicable guidelines published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Established in 1964, the Media Rating Council was created to audit and accredit audience rating services in an effort to improve the quality of audience measurement and to help ensure accuracy and transparency. More than 115 companies, such as Time Warner, MSNBC and New York Times, are MRC members, representing a broad spectrum of the media industry, from radio and broadcast to print and online publishers. The MRC works with independent CPA firms to audit members’ measurement services and provide accreditation.

“We applaud VINDICO’s efforts and leadership to gain accreditation for its online video ad serving products,” said George Ivie, CEO and executive director of the Media Rating Council. “This accreditation underscores the importance of video advertising and helps prepare online advertisers and agencies for further growth linked with MRC accredited measurement.”

The first ad-serving and tracking platform dedicated exclusively to video, VINDICO Group works with entities such as VivaKi and Universal McCann to provide video ad serving, tracking and analytics for campaigns across all ad networks. VINDICO offers a suite of planning and buying services that make it easy to buy, serve, track and measure video ad activity. Through VINDICO, online media buyers can work with multiple ad networks and receive standardized ad tracking and reporting for the entire online video industry. This accreditation will benefit dozens of VINDICO Group’s clients, which include The Pool™ participants such as BlackBerry, Denny’s, Disney Pictures, General Mills, General Motors, Kraft, Mars, U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless and Walgreens.

“VINDICO is solving for the market what DoubleClick solved for the banner ad space, providing an efficient and reliable way to serve video ads across multiple networks,” said Matt Timothy, president of VINDICO Group. “Putting our technology through the rigorous MRC accreditation process demonstrates our continued commitment to making online video as trusted and easy to work with as any other measured media. With accreditation by the MRC, VINDICO aims to give advertisers the confidence to make larger investments in online video."

“Industry benchmarks such as the MRC put video tracking and measurement on a solid foundation,” said Tracey Scheppach, Founder of The Pool at VivaKi. “We know that VINDICO's move will motivate more investment and accelerate the shift of advertising spend to online video. We are thrilled The Pool is working with the first third-party video ad server to receive the MRC’s stamp of approval.”

About VINDICO Group:
As the first ad-serving and tracking platform dedicated exclusively to video, VINDICO Group allows advertisers to buy, serve, track and measure all of their online video ad activity. Since 2006, VINDICO has been the gold standard in online video platforms, providing standardized reporting and analytics for the online video industry. The power of online video isn’t just the audiences it reaches and how it reaches them. Its strength also derives from its ability to track an ad campaign and precisely measure the campaign’s effectiveness. For more information, please visit http://www.vindicogroup.com.

About BBE:
Founded in 2004 by CEO Matt Wasserlauf, BBE is the digital media authority. The company helps advertisers, content producers and content distributors navigate the constantly shifting terrain in the online video space. BBE’s large-scale, online distribution network delivers original and syndicated content in a highly targeted, measurable way, making the online video space safe for advertising dollars. BBE’s online video network of over 2,400 Web channel partners delivers content 24/7. Collectively, these publishers have the capacity to reach an enormous audience, carefully segmented by specific viewer demographics.

About MRC:
The Media Rating Council (MRC) is a nonprofit industry association whose members consist of the blue chip companies of our industry including television and radio broadcasters, cablecasters, print organizations, advertisers, Internet organizations, advertising agencies and industry trade associations. The MRC charter is to maintain audience research confidence and credibility with the goal of securing for the industry audience measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective. The MRC was formed in 1964 at the urging of the United States Congress. Audience measurement services desiring MRC Accreditation are required to disclose to the MRC membership (and all customers) all methodological aspects of their service; comply with the MRC Minimum Standards For Media Rating Research; and submit to MRC designed audits to authenticate and illuminate their procedures. The membership evaluates these audits and the MRC Board grants Accreditation if deemed warranted. In addition, the MRC membership actively pursues research issues they consider priorities in an effort to improve the quality of Research in the marketplace. Further information about MRC’s accreditation and auditing procedures can be obtained from: www.mediaratingcouncil.org.

PR Contact
Meredith Obendorfer
Sparkpr for BBE
meredith@sparkpr.com
415.321.1882

It's a seemingly simple innovation that could juice the online-video advertising industry by $100 million and help restore the economics of quality content creation: let viewers pick their own ads.

Publicis unit Vivaki and publishers like Hulu, Yahoo and CBS believe a new online video ad format, the "Ad Selector," will change the economics of online video, justifying higher rates for advertisers and more engagement for consumers.

Vivaki, which is offering it to clients in the upfront, said there's a $100 million market for the new format this year, partly from its own clients, which include GM, P&G and General Mills, and partly from other agencies. That would move the needle for online video, which was a $1.1 billion market in 2009, according to eMarketer.

But Vivaki sees the format as a potential solution to an increasingly vexing problem: As high-value content, such as TV and movies, moves online, it earns fewer ad dollars and weakens the largely offline ecosystem that financed the content in the first place.

"The ad formats we are using are not properly monetizing the value of the value of the content," said Tracey Scheppach, senior VP-innovations director at Vivaki. "We know that as content becomes more digitized that the ad formats have to work harder so the ads continue to provide value."

Choice
Ad Selector seemed ideally suited to attack the problem. Advertisers would only pay when their ad was selected; publishers would get a much higher ad rate than a typical pre-roll. And consumers, of course, would at the outset of the video get to choose an ad from a category that interests them -- say automotive, fashion retail or food -- rather than being force fed whatever was cued up.

The concept was chosen as part of a yearlong research project Vivaki called "The Pool" as the format with the best potential to be embraced by publishers and brands. The format itself was invented by Hulu, but it had not been widely adopted because few advertisers had taken part.

To lure other publishers and agencies to embrace the concept, Vivaki figured it needed to build an ad server capable of placing those ads on major sites across the web. It toyed with the idea of creating a new joint-venture with tech providers but instead it created a coop with four start-ups: Panache, BBE's Vindico ad server, Visible Measures and Tidal TV. Panache will provide publisher-side integration, Vindico, the ad serving, Visible Measures, the measurement and verification, and Tidal TV, ad targeting.

Each of the coop members will get an equal share of an ad-serving fee, about 5% of the media buy. If, for example, an ad is sold at a $25 cost-per-thousand, the partners would split $1.50. (Vivaki doesn't get any money for selling clients into it, outside the normal agency fees it makes from handling clients media buys.) The revenue will support operations, but more importantly, help establish the start-ups involved in the video marketplace. "The economics wasn't the first question when you meet with these folks," said Tidal TV CEO Scott Ferber.

All the publishers that participated in Vivaki's "Pool" research -- Yahoo, Hulu, Discovery, BBE, Microsoft, CBS and AOL -- have agreed to take the ads. Notably absent is YouTube, which doesn't have much long-form content, but also does not yet permit third-party ad serving.

Cooperation
Initially, the start-ups involved were wary of working together since some of them considered themselves competitors. Ms. Scheppach summoned all four CEOs to Chicago and met with them individually before putting them in a room together.

"I think all of us, the CEOs, were entering that meeting with some trepidation," said Brian Shin, CEO of Visible Measures. "Is this a bake-off? It seemed like we were going to do different pieces. To her credit she was able to get everyone on the same page and working toward the same goal."

The biggest question now is whether other agencies will adopt the format. Initially Ms. Scheppach considered keeping Vivaki's involvement more discrete, so other agencies wouldn't view it as a Publicis-led project. "WPP could say they're not going to use it because it's from Vivaki but I think that's the wrong answer," she said. "We got it started but we're not leading it."

She dubbed it "The Rising Tide Co-Op," because the more publishers and advertisers participate, the better the entire ecosystem will work. She said the idea came from farming coops in her native Iowa, where individual farmers worked together to achieve a greater good.

And the system will need many advertisers if it's going to work, as each video will need to offer up ad options from at least three different categories, ideally varied enough so that they could be targeted at the interests of the consumer.

Adam Kasper, senior VP-managing director at Havas' Media Contacts, said he could see agencies viewing it as competitive, but that he'd feel obligated to at least try the format and offer it to clients. "I think we would want to test it and see how it works," he said. Plus, agencies may also participate for competitive reasons, he added. "You don't want a competitor out there saying they've got something you don't."

Mr. Kasper, whose clients include Carnival Cruise Lines, Fidelity and Volvo, has tried Hulu's Ad Selector and found it "valuable." The upside, he said, is it guarantees an opt-in impression unlike typical pre-rolls which are foisted on consumers. The downside is that if your ad is not selected, it might be hard to get scale quickly if you wanted to reach consumers with something timely.

Rates have jumped 15% to 30% the past year, say ad executives, boosted by demand and a limited amount of the most-coveted slots.

As consumers move online to view video, advertisers follow.

Matt Wasserlauf, CEO of online ad agency BBE, says the firm's clients, such as Kraft Foods, General Motors and Johnson & Johnson, are chasing the growing viewers.

"We put online ads in everything from TV shows and major league baseball games to short clips and news stories," he said. "The viewership has grown exponentially."

How this shakes out for media companies and ad agencies is difficult to tell. Some of the rise in online video ads is simply a shift of spending, especially from TV ads.

U.S. online video ad spending is expected to jump nearly 40% this year, much greater growth than any other type of ad and far above the overall expected rise of 5.5% for all online advertising, says eMarketer.

U.S. TV ad spending this year, by contrast, is expected to rise less than 1%, says Forrester Research. Yet U.S. online video ad spending came to just $908 million last year compared with $68.9 billion for U.S. TV ad spending.

Still, the trend is clear, forcing advertisers and ad agencies to get up to speed on online video advertising, which can differ significantly from TV advertising.

In the fourth quarter, U.S. online video ad spending jumped 72% from the year-earlier period to $315 million, says PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

"The vast majority of online video dollars is coming from TV," Wasserlauf said. "TV viewership has leveled off and viewership is growing in online video."

Advertisers are jumping on board, realizing the Internet could one day rival TV for distributing video, says Michael Henry, president of Outrigger Media, an ad agency specializing in video ad services. Its clients include Best Buy, Microsoft and Warner Music Group.

Big Spenders Coming Online

"Advertisers realize that online video advertising can play an important role in their overall media marketing mix, and this is starting to appeal to advertisers that have the real spending power," he said.

A March-April poll of 97 U.S. ad agency executives found that 94% planned to spend more on online video ads in the first quarter of this year vs. 87% in the same period a year ago, says BrightRoll, an ad firm.

"Video ad prices are up 30% over last year, and we're probably going to see an additional increase this year," said Leah Woolford, chief executive of USDM.net (U.S. Destination Marketing).

BBE's Wasserlauf says his firm has seen rates rise 20% from last year. Outrigger's Henry puts the hikes closer to 15%.

The most popular online video ads are called pre-roll. These are TV-like ads of 5 to 30 seconds that appear before a video starts. There is seldom more than a single pre-roll ad, with advertisers unwilling to test the patience of viewers.

Pre-Roll Most Popular

Pre-roll ads are sold by the number of times viewed. Today those rates often range from $15 to $50 per 1,000 views, depending on length and where the ad appears.

Limited inventory often dictates the highest prices, says Wasserlauf.

"An investment bank that wants to reach a high net wealth individual will spend $50 (per 1,000 views) on a site like the Wall Street Journal, because the Journal has a limited amount of video content on their site," he said.

Less popular but gaining traction are video overlay ads. These are text-based ads that appear for a few seconds near the bottom of a video program while it airs. Rates are $5 to $12 per 1,000 views.

Online video ads are more engaging than other types, say ad executives. Woolford says a good example is Toyota's "Swagger Wagon" ads for its Sienna minivan. In one, a father and mother relate, in rapper style, about how cool their minivan is. It's a viral hit, nearing 1 million views on YouTube in two weeks.

"You can engage the consumer much better with video than with a static (display) ad," Woolford said.

More than 180 million people in the U.S. watched 31.2 billion videos on the Internet in March, says research firm ComScore. That's up from 174 million and 28.1 billion in February and 152 million and 16.8 billion in April 2009.

TV networks are grappling with the question of free vs. fee in online video. They're putting more of their current fare online for free, often targeting the younger demographic coveted by advertisers.

An online survey of 1,050 consumers in February found that 23% of those under 25 watch all or most TV shows online; 54% watch at least some TV shows online, says survey taker Retrevo, a research firm.

The rise of more portable devices such as Apple's iPad tablet computer will only accelerate the amount of video viewed online, which should boost ad rates, says Retrevo co-founder Manish Rathi.

"People are spending more time online and with mobile devices," he said. "It's becoming easier to watch your TV wherever you are. That's pulling up online (ad) rates."

Walt Disney said on May 4 that iPad users have viewed 1.5 million episodes of ABC TV shows on iPads since they went on sale April 3.

Analysts say online video ad prices are rising for another reason: People watch them much more than they do TV ads, says Outrigger's Henry. "When somebody is watching a video online, they have to watch a 15-second or a 30-second pre-roll — they can't skip it before the content starts, so their attention is 100% focused," he said. "The ads are definitely more effective."

The Web sites of TV and cable broadcasters are popular with video advertisers, so the shift from TV ad spending to online video ads might not hurt them much in the long run.

Also popular are top Web portals such as Yahoo and Microsoft, but the dollar numbers are still too low to have much impact on their top or bottom lines. The Web properties don't break out ad revenue by type, and broadcasters don't break out online ad revenue.

Sports sites also are a draw for online video ads. Over 30 firms advertised during the CBS Webcast of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's men's basketball tournament in March. That's up from over 20 last year. The 17-day tourney drew a record 8.3 million online visitors, up from 7.5 million a year ago. They watched 11.7 million hours of video vs. 8.6 million in 2009.

CBS won't say what advertisers paid for online video ads. But rates likely will rise next year due to the turnout this year, says Jason Kint, CBSSports.com's general manager.

"You are certainly going to be able to charge higher ad rates for higher quality, compelling content," he said.

When John Muszynski, chief investment officer at SMGX, sat next to Tracey Scheppach, senior VP of innovations at VivaKi, in the opening of this year's upfront negotiations in Chicago, I felt like I was staring at the dawn of a new era in online video. That a holding company-level head of TV negotiations was working in partnership with the head of video innovation signals the beginning of a very new upfront, one that would be markedly different from those of the past.

The reason this year's upfront will be different from those of the past has everything to do with the ascent of online video. Two developments in online video that have made this possible are structure and scale.

Let's begin with online video's structure. To those of us who have worked in the industry for some time, this development has been a long time coming. Ad agencies are now assembling themselves so that the online group works more in coordination with the traditional broadcast groups. Agencies have recognized that video is video, whether it's online or on TV. This coordination has been necessary for a long time, but has been challenged from the start. To begin with, a lot of resentment existed fresh off the boom-and-bust cycle from the early '00s when Mark Cuban ran off with his billions from the sale of Broadcast.com to Yahoo. The promise of online video dimmed as the recession iced over the market and allowed the distance between broadcast and online to grow. When the YouTube sale to Google happened in 2006, these two departments became more curious of one another and the frost began to dissipate.

Now, here in 2010, leaders in online video are bringing online and offline together. I've referred to Starcom Mediavest and VivaKi, but others like Walt Cheruk and Andy Donchin at Carat are further examples of this. These groups understand that their clients need to have these efforts more integrated in order to secure premium content and efficient pricing. Clients are eager to extend leading positions in broadcast into online video and need the models to which they buy translate across these mediums.

The second reason that this year's upfront will be different from years past is because of scale. Rob Master, media director of Unilever, said in the Wall Street Journal on April 26 that "rate increases could push dollars away from TV." Mr. Master could not have made this statement unless scale existed online, and online video in particular. With scale in video today exceeding 33 billion streams per month, according to ComScore, online video can support a $6 billion market (today, it's only $1 billion). Clients such as Reckitt Benkiser and Mr. Master's Unilever are moving considerable budgets into the medium to capture those first-mover advantages, but we've only seen the tip of the iceberg. This year's upfront promises to be the catalyst.

So it is because online video has structured itself alongside TV and TV scale has begun to demonstrate itself online, that we're embarking on an entirely new chapter in online video.

Mr. Muszynski will have it no other way.

Jen and Barb, Mom Life, BBE’s hit original online series, is the winner of the Webby Award in the Best Reality/Variety Host category for the 14th Annual Webby Awards.

Beating out nearly 10,000 entries from all 50 US states and over 60 countries worldwide, this honor proves that Jen and Barb are filling a void for millions of women. As evidenced by the 45 million views garnered in the show’s inaugural season, no other original show in the “mom” space, or the entire online space, has shown this kind of reach.

With 64 percent of Americans admitting to watching some of their television online and 23 percent under 25 years of age watching most of their television online, according to a survey conducted by Retrevo, it is clear to see that the online original show Jen and Barb, Mom Life is a pioneer of the industry.

With celebrities like Paula Deen, Rick Foxx and Lulu Powers choosing to guest star in Jen and Barb, Mom Life, online programming is quickly gaining momentum due to increasingly busy schedules. Each five-minute episode, available 24/7 at www.jenandbarb.com, offers viewers the chance to join in the conversation about modern motherhood.

The show follows Jen and Barb, two real-world women, as they navigate through motherhood while maintaining successful marriages, careers and social lives. It also features original video content focusing on issues from child sports safety to play-date etiquette. For Jen and Barb, along with the 1.5 million viewers who tuned in to each episode last season, life isn’t over when you have kids – it’s just beginning.

Contact: Lauren Banyar Reich; lreich@jgordonassociates.com; 212-871-3020 x115

Hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet.

Jen and Barb, Mom Life, follows two real-world women as they navigate through motherhood while maintaining successful marriages, careers and social lives. The show features original video content focusing on issues from child sports safety to play-date etiquette. For Jen and Barb, along with the 1.5 million viewers who tuned in to each episode last season, life isn’t over when you have kids – it’s just beginning.

"Nominees like Jen and Barb are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards. "It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the nearly 10,000 entries we received this year."

As a nominee, Jen and Barb, Mom Life is also eligible to win a Webby People's Voice Award, which is voted online by the global Web community. From now until April 29th, Jen and Barb, Mom Life fans can cast their votes in The Webby People's Voice Awards at http://www.youtube.com/webby?x=realityvarietyhost

Winners will be announced on May 4th, 2010 and honored at a star-studded ceremony in New York City on June 14th.