MONTREAL – BRANCHEZ-VOUS!, the Montreal-based Internet media company, today launched two new online video portals, banking on the belief that video advertising will fly.
The two web sites, BRANCHEZ-VOUS.tv and BV2.tv, are both aimed at young adults, largely male, and tuned in technologically.
While the first will offer news and information, BV2.tv will focus on video entertainment. Both feature video clips, lasting from one to five minutes, available on demand, free of charge.
Patrick Pierra, president and CEO of BRANCHEZ-VOUS! Inc., said that a decade after the emergence of the Internet as an essential media, the time is right for “second generation portals that focus on video content”.
In some cases, Pierra told www.cartt.ca, the videos will be preceded by short advertising videos or animation of between 10 and 15 seconds.
“Obviously, if people had the choice, they would not want to watch ads. But people understand that it’s needed, and they will be very short, with a maximum of one ad per video,” Pierra said.
The company, which operates BRANCHEZ-VOUS.com, a French-language site aimed at those interested in technology, believes that this ad-supported model will work.
More and more advertisers see web video as a good vehicle, he said, because “it unites two things that had been irreconcilable. The video image opens the door to the imagination and allows a brand name to be established, while the Internet can precisely measure the return on the advertising investment”.
Moreover, he said, web-based video ads reach a certain group of consumers who are active and watch little television, but who can be reached at work.
Peak hours for the company’s main site are between noon and 1 p.m., when people are on their lunch hour and looking for news, and between 4 and 5 p.m., at the end of their work day, he said.
As a result, BRANCHEZ-VOUS.tv is aimed at those adults working in technology-driven industries. Every day at noon, it will offer a one-minute technology news capsule, and every afternoon, it will present video news stories from the private TQS-TV network. Every week, there will be conversations with journalists from newsmagazines such as L’Actualité or features, such as road tests of new vehicles.
BV2.tv is targeted more to young adult males with its focus on entertainment. There will be music videos and interviews, with hip hop artists for instance, excerpts and reviews of video games, and extreme sports videos.
Citing U.S. industry research, Pierra said web videos increased by 81% in 2004 over a year earlier to about 1.2 billion videos a month, and video ads are projected to increase this year by 64%.
Albeit, the number of video ads remains modest, worth about $200 million U.S., Pierra acknowledged, but the trend is clear.
He presented the two new portals to ad executives in Montreal Tuesday, and he said the reception was good. Many recognize the path of the Internet’s development, he said, and indicated they will be developing video ads.
Glenn Wanamaker is www.cartt.ca’s Quebec Editor
