The Tour de France wrapped up this past weekend, and while it may not be a premiere sporting event in the eyes of most Americans, it still has a major worldwide following.

Despite being marred by doping scandals this year the tour has a large and affluent fan base, spread across the globe and frustrated by the lack of international coverage.

Online video offers a tremendous opportunity in this area. While it can’t solve the drug problem, a successful integrated web platform could improve access, and provide a better experience to cycling fans worldwide.

Continue Reading at Tilzy.TV

ClickZ is reporting the launch of the NYTimes.com Video Lounge, featuring five long-form ads from exclusive sponsor FedEx.

The NYTimes.com is running five clips from the Fed Ex Stories page, a series of videos showcasing what people do at Fed Ex.

I’m curious to see how much engagement these video units get, buried on the bottom of the page.

DoubleClick today announced they have created a new online video ad format. It features “high-impact teaser ads with short flashes of video” and will be used initially to promote the upcoming The Bourne Ultimatum.

I’m not sure if the time and effort going into creating new types of ads like this (or this) is worth the money, but it’s interesting to see so many new options. Check it out here and let us know what you think.

Relatively slow day. Some earnings news (IACI, CBS) but otherwise odds and ends:

• Comedian Harry Schearer and former CBS Radio Exec Rob Barnett have launched My Damn Channel which is more or less a Funny or Die Clone with a flashier UI.
• The NewsCorp Dow Jones deal is done. Again. But this time it’s official.
• Looks like the Republican CNN-YouTube Debate has been postponed. Candidates are claiming the date is too close to a fund raising reporting deadline. Equally likely that other GOP candidates, like Romney, “think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman.” Patrick Ruffini however is cautiously optimistic and I think pressure from Republican new media strategists will win out.
• Shira Toeplitz breaks down the millions campaigns are spending online. “One of the biggest trends to come out of these reports is the blurring line between an Internet team, a communications shop and the rest of the campaign.”
  
• iTunes announced they have sold more than 3 billion songs. All I can think about is the $30 million they missed out on by charging $.99 instead of a dollar.

YouTube is looking for rappers in their second installment of the OntheRise contest. Emcees have the chance to win a $10,000 Guitar Center gift certificate and a single recorded by G-Unit/Interscope Records.



YouTube users will vote for the final winner out of a field of 20 chosen by a panel including 50 Cent. The winner will be announced on September 7th, nice publicity for 50’s new album which drops, so to speak, four days later.

YouTube can only hope to match the success of last year’s Underground contest in which the final four bands were unveiled on Good Morning America. The winning video in that contest by a group called Maldroid received more than a million views and despite receiving some big label attention signed with indie label Fuzz.

“We had a sweet video before we had a band” they write on the Fuzz website. “Some say we are starting our band in reverse but the reality is we are evolving to an ever changing musical landscape.”

The steam pipe explosion in New York several weeks ago once again displayed the power of citizen journalists. And after getting all information from non-traditional media sources we asked:

When will someone create a user-generated news site that offers greater rewards for those who capture video of these events?

Companies like NowPublic in the news today for raising new funding, Associated Content and NewAssignment.net are doing exactly that.

But are they viable without the involvement of existing news organizations? To be successful these companies need advertising dollars. And that requires an audience, which requires credibility which requires professional journalists people trust.

Regardless of how many individuals contribute, the news found on these citizen journalism sites is far below the standard of professional organizations. And the value add from professional producers and seasoned editors cannot be underestimated.

So to truly create the best of both worlds, news organizations should empower citizens by offering them equal value for what they report. Their editors and advertiser dollars mean they can support and improve the best citizen reporting, while offering better coverage to the public.

Maybe old news, but I’d never noticed it until playing with ABC’s new HD streaming player. In an interesting but arguably least valuable piece of ad inventory yet, ABC launches a full-page interstitial-esque ad when a user pauses a stream on the player. The content window shrinks and is pushed aside to create a full player banner unit to take its place. See below.

Clearly this is designed to create added value for the show’s sponsors, but what is this ad unit designed to accomplish? The user has willingly disengaged to do something else. Yes, I know it extends the brand throughout the entire user experience. And yes, you may as well fill the screen with something while the viewer answers the phone. But is this not the online advertising equivalent of “if a tree falls in the forest….”? Or is this more of their version of an ad that plays when someone fast forwards through the ad pod on their DVR?

Thoughts???

An e-commerce startup funded in part by Apple founder Steve Wozniak is using new technology to bring high-quality video to used car sales according to Reuters. The company is founded by Luke Thomas and two other former UC Berkeley grad students who researched compression technology.

While the high-res video currently on Hotswap is clearly an improvement over the low bitrate encoding found on sites like YouTube, the video in DIVX format isn’t HD quality or the near-HD Thomas claims can be mimicked.

But the claim that their technology significantly reduces upload time is important. And if they can find a way to improve the resolution of standard web formats like Flash through improved compression technology that would be a big deal.

The Tour de France wraps up on Sunday, and while it may have fallen off the radar of most Americans since Lance Armstrong retired there’s still good coverage and some classic moments on video sites worth watching.


Above: This year’s race has been marred by doping scandals.



Above: Probably the most viewed of this year’s race. Poor dog.



Above: Armstrong attacks Ulrich after fall in 2003 - shows how intense the race can be. And how good Lance Armstrong was.



Above: A Horse breaks loose during the 1997 Criterium International. Not the Tour de France, but too good to leave out.

The BBC launched their iPlayer service today in beta allowing users to download content that has aired on the network during the past 7 days and watch it for up to 30 days after that. And while as the demo below is kind of cool, why is this needed?

BBC iPlayer from mauee and Vimeo.

Television is still a better viewing experience than the computer. Users can view all the content available through iPlayer and more on demand with a DVR. Once it’s available internationally that will add some value but who knows when that will be? And how many people overseas will really watch?

This project began as the integrated Media Player (iMP) in 2003 at which time it was an innovative idea, especially so because of it’s early use of P2P. But after a 9 month “Public Value Test” and years of waiting they are just now releasing an outdated platform that as far as I can see doesn’t have much demand.

Only time will tell if enough people are willing to go to the difficulty of downloading and viewing BBC content on the computer screen, but as the format of BBC’s own promo (in a 256×144, 34k bitrate windows media video) shows, they’re still way behind when it comes to online video.

UPDATE: They also have this demo for higher bandwidth users at 224k.