The top 10 advertisers in the U.S. had a 5 percent reduction in TV ad spending for the first three quarters in 2007 compare to a year ago. That’s almost $670 million.

Pundits are saying that advertisers have shifted spending into digital media instead since Nielsen is reporting that they’ve seen $180 million more spent on digital media during the first three quarters. That’s a total of $742 million, a 24% increase from a year ago for the first three quarters this year.

Although digital media ad spending is up, it’s still no match for TV advertising spending. According to the most recent figures, TV takes in $9.06 billion in advertising.

Technorati Tags: digital media, advertising, TV

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Comcast said that it has over 6 billion views for its video on-demand (VOD) service after four years from it first launched. This year alone, Comcast has over 1 billion hours of on-demand content watched, which comes out to 250 million views a month and 100 views every second.

In fact, Comcast touted how it is beating Apple’s iTunes by 2 to 1, with its 100 views every second.  iTunes has had over three billion music downloads so far or about 58 downloads a second, said Comcast.

That’s an interesting comparison. I mean, there are obvious differences. Such as:

Number of Customers. As of September 30, 2007, Comcast has over 24.2 million cable subscribers. Numbers on iTunes aren’t easy to find, but it is probably over 10 million. So this comparison doesn’t really mean much. Comcast subscribers are already paying a monthly fee. iTunes customers buy a la carte songs or shows, without a monthly fee.

Content. iTunes sells mostly music. Comcast sells mainstream VOD Hollywood movies.  Many more people are likely to buy VOD from their TV screens, than buy digital music over the Internet. Not a very good comparison as far as content.

Computer vs. TV.There’s also the case of the screen. With Comcast, it’s people watching TV. With iTunes, it’s computer users. Naturally, VOD usage will be higher. At least for now. iTunes is getting more Hollywood hits. And iTunes is available in 19 countries, as opposed to Comcast’s 1 country.

Comcast has over 6 billion VOD views because it is a cable giant in the U.S. And because VOD is much easier and more convenient than renting videos at a store. And because people are seeing the benefits of watching TV on your own schedule, like Tivo DVRs.

So expect VOD trends to continue to grow, but keep an eye out for iTunes. They’ll be growing too.

Technorati Tags: Comcast, VOD, iTunes, Apple

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Web 2.0 is all about interactivity and talking with web visitors. And YouTube is full of people leaving comments on videos.  But have you ever really sat down and read many comments on YouTube? Popular videos have hundreds of comments. Most of the comments are either spam, trolls or other annoying people.

That’s why Rohit Bhargava, a marketing professional, writes on his blog that he sees no point in publishing videos in YouTube and allowing comments. Sure, blogs are great forums for conversations, but YouTube, he says is filled with “people posting racist views about kids, using swear words and having all kinds of useless, mean and idiotic ‘conversations.’” He writes:

“For some reason, commenting on videos encourages stupidity.”

Now, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people who comment on Digg, YouTube, blogs, MySpace or any other sites. However, using comment moderation is important to limit the amount of spam and trolling. After all, lots of blogs moderate their comments, but very few YouTubers moderate their comments.

And I doubt that commenting on videos encourages stupidity, but people must feel comfortable with the level of anonymity that YouTube has.

I think that’s the most interesting thing. Why do people believe they can leave dumb or racist comments on public forums? Would they ever say these things in person? Face to face with someone else? No. Absolutely not. But people feel safer when behind the veil of the Internet and their keyboard.

Bhargava says he advises people to “embed the video elsewhere and choose to moderate or remove comments on YouTube altogether.”

I agree. Especially, if you’re a company trying to use YouTube in business: turn off or moderate comments. Trying to keep a professional look to your video can backfire if visitors are subjected to spam comments or vicious trolls trying to shock people.

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