We spoke with Internet superstar Charlene Li of Forrester Research.  She’s been thinking a lot about the model of advertising surrounding online video; she predicts it will take many forms.

Charlene says that YouTube’s business model will inevitably become advertiser based, and she sees contests and sponsorships as a very promising area for the start-up.

She thinks banner ads are not a particularly successful format for sites like YouTube, as people are watching videos, not the banners. She is keen on the success of the Diet Coke/Mentos viral video ad. That’s an example of adding short advertisement to the end of a clip, known as a post roll.

…..Good reading here:

For a great article on YouTube and its possibly looming copyrights problems, read Heather Green’s piece in the August 7 issue of BusinessWeek. 

And check out one of the latest viral marketing videos to sweep the Web: a rap spoof of the preppy life, spotlighting Smirnoff’s Hard Ice Tea. According to an article in the Cape Cod Times, the video has been viewed over 320,000 times on YouTube.

— Andy Plesser

NET HELPS INSURGENT DEMOCRAT NED LAMONT

Ned Lamont’s victory last night in the Connecticut race for the Senate is impressive, and certainly some of the outcome is a result of a very successful online component to his campaign.  Joe Trippi spoke to us about this last month. Here’s his post.

Coming Clean: Forrester Research and Joe Trippi are former clients of Plesser Holland, publisher of Beet.TV

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