While it's obvious that technological evolution continues to accelerate in virtually every area of local interactive, it's also obvious that mobile is likely the single strongest area of revenue growth and product evolution for the next several years. Mobile devices (smart phones, tablets, even some forms of OTT devices) are exploding in terms of usage. This is good news for Broadcast Interactive Media (BIM) and for our clients as mobile (in all of its various facets and aspects) is native to and a key part of every product line and product roadmap decision that we make here at BIM.
As you review BIM's product lines as a prospective partner or customer, it's important to note that mobile is prominently featured or core to the product in every case. • BIM CMS (mobile web): our content management system features BIM's sMobile templates as a native part of the feature set offered to our publishing clients. Since we can auto-detect what type of device a user is viewing your site from (desktop browser, smart phone, tablet device, etc…), BIM can serve up the correct version of your site to the appropriate user. This includes all forms of text, images, video, and mobile ads for revenue generation. See notes below for more specifics on video and ads. • BIMVid (video CMS for mobile video): our video content management system automatically includes the ability to serve up video to various mobile devices based on our ability to transcode to any video format. So you're covered for video delivery to iPhone, Android, Blackberry, iPad, and other mobile/tablet devices. And because BIM has been the first local-media focused network to pioneer delivery of high quality video in 1080p, you can even deliver your content to OTT devices with no problems. • MediaStar Suite (scheduling and data for mobile DTV channels): BIM's MediaStar Suite of program management tools are designed to handle schedule updates for both traditional broadcast lineups and mobile DTV channels. The mobile DTV channel information is then seamlessly published and transmitted within the ESG spectrum, allowing for convenient, streamlined schedule administration. Schedule updates can also be simultaneously published to a station’s TitanTV Mobile Guide, available on their mobile-optimized site or on most local news application platforms. (see next bullet below). • TitanTV Mobile Guide (mobile EPG): our web-based, electronic program guides (EPG) include a mobile format so users can see what's airing on your live channels, no matter which type of device they are checking from. As our partnership with ThinkOptics/Remotec and the iWavit TVAid app shows, BIM can deliver extremely accurate TV listings in any format, including a configuration capable of powering iPhone or Android apps. • BIMLocal Digital Network (mobile revenue and ad campaigns): currently ranked #3 on comScore News and Information with steady growth in mobile users and impressions, BIMLocal can help monetize mobile impressions for all of our publisher clients. We can also deliver targeted and effective campaigns for agency partners seeking to reach mobile users for client campaigns. Chances are, whatever you're looking to do on the mobile front is already baked-in to an existing BIM product. Connect with a BIM sales manager or your existing point of contact at BIM and let us know what you need. We’ll be happy to set you up with demos, examples, testimonials or success stories. Go To Captain's Blog Main Page About Timur Yarnall, CEO Broadcast Interactive Media
The Telemundo Station Group, a division of NBC Universal, recently announced they’d be joining the BIM client family, migrating all 11 of their TV station sites to our video, mobile, and web publishing platforms.
While that's obviously great news for BIM, the real story here is how quickly a local media group such as Telemundo Station Group can go from being entirely dependent on an outside vendor (e.g. their previous platform) to quickly taking control of design, layout and feature sets for both web and mobile. While not all BIM partners need do this (our team in Madison provides full support for many of our clients), Telemundo Station Group took cues from NBC Owned TV Stations “sister sites” as an example of what is possible given a willingness and desire to take on an increased level of responsibility. After attending several days of training at BIM headquarters, followed by supplemental sessions via Skype, Telemundo Station Group designers and project managers showed real aptitude for the BIM CMS and, more importantly, a willingness to push the envelope a bit on site design and layout. Telemundo Station Group quickly realized that the benefit of having more control of their websites is the ability to produce innovative elements that will ultimately drive more traffic and user engagement. Several of these, such as the new Slide Deck (for photo galleries) and News Carousel (for key stories), are ones the team has wanted to do for some time. With the BIM platform, they now have the control to do virtually whatever they want, whenever they want.  SLIDE DECK  NEWS CAROUSEL And while launching websites is only the first step to generating higher engagement and revenue, Telemundo Station Group clearly has shown a commitment to continued growth and internal capabilities. This type of dedication is critical if local media is to thrive in the ever-changing digital landscape. Go To Captain's Blog Main Page About Timur Yarnall, CEO Broadcast Interactive Media
In the mid-90s, as a student in Stanford’s engineering department (both as a graduate and undergraduate student), I was told countless stories of "Bill and Dave" – the founders of Hewlett-Packard. Stories of the humble garage where they started the company and how their ideas ultimately gave birth to Silicon Valley. Pointed references to Stanford’s Terman Engineering Building which was named for one of Bill and Dave’s EE professors, Frederick Terman, who mentored the duo and even helped them raise their "seed capital" of about $500.
Along with the stories of Bill and Dave in the Engineering department was a constant emphasis on entrepreneurship -- doing quality work, building great companies, and focusing on excellence for the sake of excellence. It seemed that examples of this were all around us, with SUN Microsystems (SUN being short for "Stanford University Network"), Cisco, HP, Yahoo!, and Google all being launched from the Stanford campus or the area just around Stanford. It is with dismay, then, that I see the current situation at Yahoo, the troubles that HP has gone through recently, and what I would call a short term focus on the "3 to 5 year exit" at venture firms in general. The philosophy of building a great company seems to have taken a back seat (perhaps long ago) to focusing on short term wins and then getting out. Entrepreneurs and CEO-candidates are courted as star-athletes, signed to short term contracts, and then blown out if a company's stock price doesn't improve within 18 to 24 months. Perhaps this is inevitable in a post-dotcom-boom world, where getting rich has never been easier or more tempting. But it's also leading to a short term focus that is destructive to innovation. Many company founders today might find it laughable that Dave Packard actually won the coin toss that gave him the right to name the company Packard-Hewlett, but declined to do so because he thought HP sounded better. Or that his gravestone read humbly "Rancher, etc.." rather than "Founder of Silicon Valley and Billionaire". Or that it actually took HP an extremely long time to go public (10 years from its date of founding). But knowing this bit of Silicon Valley history is a good example for all who are tech entrepreneurs and their investors to follow. At BIM, as we grow our ad network and data services businesses, we aim to take a longer term view geared toward development and innovation. And while I haven’t contemplated my own epitaph quite yet, one legacy I strive for is to continue to grow BIM; debt-free and as smartly as possible. Go To Captain's Blog Main Page About Timur Yarnall, CEO Broadcast Interactive Media
Limelight announced today that it has acquired Clickability.
This is very good news for both BIM and for our clients, as Limelight has communicated that they are keen to continue investing in the platform and are retaining the CEO, management team, and staff at Clickability. From the sounds of it, for the meantime Clickability will operate as an independent business unit of Limelight and continue serving clients and partners as normal. This should allow for great development resources to be invested in the platform, potentially tighter integration with the Limelight CDN platform, and better support for our clients and partners. On a personal level, I'm proud to have been a co-founder of Clickability way back in 1999 and congratulate the Clickability CEO and management team that stuck with the company and achieved this result. Go To Captain's Blog Main Page About Timur Yarnall, CEO Broadcast Interactive Media
My blog doesn't normally cover anything related to politics, but given that the Wisconsin state government protests are happening literally outside the BIM offices (we're a block off the Capitol) it's a little hard to ignore.
Two things have really struck me about these protests:
• One, that they've remained peaceful despite passionate feelings on each side of the debate. Perhaps this stems from being in the Midwest, but I'm thankful that nothing has gone beyond words -- even with some very sassy signs like the ones here. (Several times in the past few weeks, I've thought how good it is to live in a democracy where expression such as this is allowed).
• Secondly, the extent to which protest organizers have used social media. Mubarak's fall in Egypt was attributed to Facebook to wide acclaim, but not enough has been said about the speed and efficiency with which these protests were organized. Perhaps it's not a surprise given that Madison is one of the most-wired communities in the USA, but it's been obvious that every form of social tool has been used — Facebook, Twitter, text, email, YouTube, etc… -- by both sides. So while it looks as though my walk to work in the morning will continue to be eventful for at least the next two weeks, I'll have the continued hope that things will remain calm and people will express their strongest feelings through in-person protests and by sharing content socially online. All of our partners at BIM can expect up-to-the-minute reporting right from our office windows! Go To Captain's Blog Main Page About Timur Yarnall, CEO Broadcast Interactive Media
In 2010, Groupon's smart engineering and social media integration drove user urgency and adoption in a previously unsuccessful online coupon business model. Like Groupon, BIM's trend forecasting and on-going technological development allow us to remain flexible and take advantage of new opportunities others may have already written off. Read more »
As BIM’s client roster has grown, it's become increasingly crucial that we provide a creative solution for development to occur on the station side. This option (we call it the Developer’s Model; Dev Access for short) provides access to our existing templates and allows for client-side development. Read more »
Every week (and especially this past week at NAB), I get questions from BIM clients and partners about next steps in our mobile strategy, which is a fantastic occurrence given that it shows that our station partners and our clients are looking ahead to the inevitable growth in the mobile space. Read more »
It’s no doubt that Google is an amazing company that has transformed both media and technology and the overall world in which we live (I'm a huge fan). But the recent announcement from Google that YouTube is launching YouTube Direct leaves me puzzled and with the general feeling that this is a dud. Here’s why. Read more »
During difficult economic times, it’s human nature for business owners to look at ways to cut expense and increase revenue. At least, that’s the thought I used to keep myself from throwing my laptop out of my office window when I read about the Wisconsin legislature’s budget bill that recently passed. Read more »
For me personally, the biggest charge I get out of being an entrepreneur is seeing things like this happen. Read more »
Recently, a client asked me how to differentiate between the data they collect on their own web sites and the data on free services like Alexa or Compete.com. Here is my response: Read more »
A fascinating aspect of the Mumbai attacks that has been much-discussed but can't be overemphasized to BIM's local media clients is how the first reports of the attacks were filed. It wasn't via an AP story or a locally based cameraman who happened to be in the area. Read more »
Three weeks ago I was speaking at a technical/CMS conference down in Austin, and the response of the attendees to several of my initial questions highlighted yet again the challenge facing local media (especially TV). Read more »
Recently, during one of my standard presentations to a group of prospective broadcast clients and TV news analysts, I asked what I thought to be a relatively easy question: "What's the number one trafficked site on the web, excluding the social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, etc...?" Read more »
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