I always get a lift when I hear a new, catchy Internet word or some Web brand that simply has no business meaning in the physical world. Yahoo Research recently came out with a new name for subject matter enthusiasts they call “passionistas,” while other online think tanks call the trendy segmentation of content “slivering.” So, in the spirit of contributing to this new Web 2.0 glossary, let’s see if I can add my two cents, or at least a few syllables into the mix.
Virtually every meeting I attend these days I hear the words “content” and “monetizing.” These two buzzwords apparently have officially replaced those 90s favorites: “paradigm” and “interactive.” The extreme power of good content and the need to monetize have led me to coin a new phrase that I release to you right here and now. My new word is “Contenize” (kon-ten-ize) and I currently define it as the process of turning hot online content into cold cash.
Content, as we know from Internet grade school, is “King,” and money is what every good King likes to count. Currently, there seems to be this massive movement where businesses are scouring their closets to determine what content they have, what they can create, how others can contribute to their stockpile, and eventually how they can monetize through content delivery. This is the basis of “contenizing.”
Recently, the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) announced that the Internet world has reached a new milestone in online advertising. In the first half of ’07, there has been nearly $10 billion spent in online ads. This is up almost 30 percent from the same time last year. This impressive growth forces the question everyone should be asking themselves, “How can I get in on the content monetizing gold rush?”
The first task in being a good “contenizer” is to ask yourself whether your content is packaged and ready for the types of ads that are flowing downstream. The days of logo sponsorships and static banners are history. If you want to capture the new online marketing dollar, you need to have the platform ready that supports what the advertisers want -- rich media options with creative blending in your content. You'd better also be prepared to have your content and advertising flow to a multitude of appliances.
The second area of effort needs to be in developing new levels of content. Push for internal content development; blog, create, and stream video material; integrate user-driven content; and look to create new content partnerships that expand the control of your subject area. Now is clearly the time to build up content inventory -- and the more you use rich media, the more attractive you will be for the new online marketing dollar.
The bottom line is, no one wants to look like an online advertiser anymore. Marketers want to be seamlessly integrated into rich online products. It all comes down to connecting with rich content. Digital agencies today are looking to place highly creative campaigns that entertain as much as they inform and push their call-to-actions through a number of new media avenues.
The challenge to getting in on the digital advertising rush is to gather every possible source of content you can, focus on a specific market area, and create the distribution channels to carry the ad freight over the new channel options. In the meantime, I’m going to dedicate myself to being a better “contenizer” and help those around me do the same.
— Peter W. Bowman, Executive Vice President, Avericom
As tech advances, the tools and technologies get into the hands of ordinary people. No longer is there a need to go to school to "become" something (though it can certainly help). You wanna be a videographer? The hardware and software requirements are quite low. You wanna be a writer? You have more self publication options than ever before. You want to be a recording artist? There are hundreds of avenues for you to enjoy success without ever dealing with a label or the RIAA.
Niche markets are the new market.
Now that content development has exploded across the planet and now that millions of people are becoming content creators, we are seeing business systems evolve that allow these people to monetize themselves easily (and enrich the companies they do business with). New business models are being created, and while many will fail, some will also succeed, and success breeds imitation.
We are getting quite near a world where good ideas = significant income without having to build a business plan, secure VC funding, or become a manager. This is a beautiful thing, as it is generally much more interesting to be an idea developer/content creator than it is to be a manager.
Spot on -- yeah if net is going to become the primary medium of advertising than we may need to be more creative and catchy rather than using just conventional online contents.
Podcast is the term that bugs me, even though I use it all the time. It's a short, descriptive and unpretentious word (unlike, say, blogosphere or contenization) but I don't like the way it subtly promotes Apple. Marketing seamlessly integrated into rich online products, just like the blog recommends.
I can list a few tech terms I’m getting tired of hearing, and “blogosphere” is starting to rise to the top.
Check out Ben Worthen’s post: Tech Terms We Hate on the Wall Street Journal Online. He grits his teeth every time he hears (and uses) following tech expressions: “users,” “solutions,” “end-to-end,” and “space.”
Great Post and great comments. I think the problem with content per se on the web is about the dispersed information that should be aggregated to make sense and drive sensible ad traffic. Not sure if sensible refers to intent based, but aggregators will win in the long run. The more you are able to lock up a user and consume his / her time sans distractions the better you would be able to monetize. Check this out - the next generation aggregators and some cold cash in the making :)
"The first task in being a good “contenizer” is to ask yourself whether your content is packaged and ready for the types of ads that are flowing downstream."
Isn't the first task to ask yourself whether you have any content worth wrapping ads around? And if not, gettsum? A lot of blog and social networking sites don't, especially if you are looking for proprietary, hard to come by, useful & original information that helps you do a real job (as opposed to sitting around doing what I do, blogging and making stupid videos).
By that, I mean, often the companies that talk about monetizing content don't have, and never will have, content that people would pay for.
Great post, Peter. I think newspapers are the most stuck in the zone you are talking about. Many are getting very good changing types of content on the web, but right now, for the most part, newspaper web sites are today's immediate, electronic version of tomorrow's newspaper. So, newspaper publishers haven't determined the method to monetize the web content, yet the web content effectively canniabalizes print revenue.
I am sure you word will catch on quickly because it resembles the other annoying web language (I mean that annoying part with respect) ;) . Even though I use "blogosphere" all the time I really don't like that word and I am not sure really anyone does. What I like about your Internet word is it's meaning. I think the idea of creating rich content is becoming lost in the blogosphere (there I did it again, I used that word) because people are being driving by monetizing. On the other hand I think those that are not using smart monetize are missing out. Great post! ;)
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