Trial and Error

YouTube introduced a product today called “buzz targeting,” which tracks videos about to go viral and pairs them with ads.

It’s something Google CEO Eric Schmidt hinted at earlier this month on CNBC when he talked about new products coming out soon.

The new product predicts which videos are most likely to go viral by measuring acceleration of views, favorites and ratings activity. The service then allows advertisers to target their ads specifically to these videos on YouTube.

“Every advertiser hopes that their campaign will be the next big viral hit online, and they come to YouTube to reach the millions of video viewers who are on the site every day,” Shiva Rajaraman, YouTube product manager, said in a statement. “Buzz targeting lets them do both at the same time. They associate their brand with the hottest content of the day while reaching the most engaged users in our community.”

Lionsgate has used buzz targeting to promote the release of its film “The Forbidden Kingdom,” with ads running against more than 500 of the most popular partner videos in music and entertainment, including content from major music labels and videos from users in the YouTube, the video site said.

I like this tool because it has the potential to bring more advertisers into YouTube and because it’s a “smart” tool. It’s real-time and it’s about following the consumer and the videos that consumers are watching.

In related news, if you are looking for more information on Google’s Video Ad Sense, placing ads in online video and the trends in this business, check out this video from an Ad:Tech session. It’s about an hour long, but it features Google product managers discussing trends and how-to issues for online video ads.

Yahoo has found a way to bolster its Web video traffic in a big way.

The portal hit a high last week of 4 million streams per day for its new Web show “Primetime in No Time,” Beet.TV reported today.

Wow. That, folks, is an eye-popping number. I don’t have to do the math for you, but that translates into possibly 20 million views a week. How happy do you think Verizon is right now? (It’s sponsoring the show.)

If Yahoo is reporting accurately, that’s an amazing number of views for an online TV show. And it could be a clear sign of the trajectory for Web video (Hint: up, way up), especially in light of today’s New York Times article about the loss of 6 million prime-time TV watchers this year.

“Primetime in No Time” is a recap of what was on television the night before, along the lines of TV shows like E!’s “The Soup” and VH1’s “Best Week Ever.” The show launched in March.

Here is Beet.TV’s interview with Yahoo’s Karen Gilford, VP and general manager of entertainment at Yahoo.

The polls are closed. We will announce the winner of the first ever New Media Minute TVWeek.com Tournament for the Hottest Male Web Host on Wednesday May 14.

Today is the last full day of voting. C’mon boys! What will you do to represent? How will you get the fans to turn it on for you and send you to victory in the tournament? Now is the time to pull out all the stops and put your best tactics into play.

OK, so this Somerville dude. He is mega-determined to win the New Media Minute-TVWeek.com Tournament for the Hottest Male Web Host. Check out this video he just shot this afternoon taking his case to the streets of New York.

Will all you other contestants do the same?

So what everyone really wants to know these days is who the heck is Michael Somerville?

Because right now he is one of the top two contenders for the Hottest Male Web Host. And nobody seems to know him. Yet enough people seem to know him that he’s often leading in the votes, jockeying back and forth with Captain Speedo—aka David Price of “The Middle Show”—and Leo Laporte.

So who is this dark horse?

Well, you might not yet know him from his online persona. But I bet some of the ladies who read my blog will know him from his other life. He's Jake from Glamour magazine! You know … “Ask Jake,” the guy who gives you the guy’s perspective on relationships.

And that’s sort of what he does in his new show “Love, Somerville.” It’s a tongue-in-cheek series on relationships and it can be quite funny at times. Just check out this recent episode, especially when he breaks up with his girlfriend via a puppy greeting card.

So you want to be crowned the Web’s sexiest male host?

I’ve got one for you on how to win: Twitter.

Twitter, the online messaging service, is quite possibly the most powerful social marketing tool.

Leo Laporte, the host of This Week in Tech, is leading in our polls by a commanding margin. His good looks and charming personality notwithstanding, he’s also got Twitter in his favor. When you use Twitter, you post short updates on the service and those updates are read by your followers. People sign up to follow you and over time, if your Tweets are good and you’re enough of an online draw, you can amass a decent following. Leo Laporte has done just that.

He is ranked as the Twitter user with the second most followers. More than 28,000 people follow him and receive his short Twitter updates. So when he Twitters about the New Media Minute-TVWeek.com Tournament for the Hottest Male Web Host (as he did yesterday, God bless him), many of those followers came running to the polls.

He is second in followers only to Barack Obama, who has about 100 more. The third most followed is Kevin Rose, host of “Diggnation” and also a contender in our poll. He has 25,000 followers, but has yet to post a Tweet urging fans to vote for him.

Here is the list of top Twitter-ers: http://www.twitterholic.com/

Oh, and you can always follow me too: www.twitter.com/DaisyWhitney

And then there were nine.

After a heated week of voting in the first round of the New Media Minute-TVWeek.com Tournament for the Hottest Male Web Host, we find ourselves staring at the finish line in the final round. And it’s Winner Takes All. Mano a mano. Sudden Death.

That’s right. Eight guys made it out unscathed from the initial pack of 16 and we added a wild-card name to the final round, due to audience demand.

And now there will be no more brackets, no more whittling the boys down. Nope. It’s just a war of attrition, a battle 'til the end.

The male Web hosts left standing are: Leo Laporte (This Week in Tech), Gary Vaynerchuk (WineLibraryTV), Jeff MacPherson (Tiki Bar TV), Erik Beck (Indy Mogul), Michael Somerville (Love, Somerville), Kevin Rose (Diggnation), Martin Sargent (Internet Superstar), Chris Leavins (Cute with Chris) and David Price (The Middle Show).

You have until Friday at 2 p.m. Pacific to cast your vote. Go objectify!

The first round of voting in the New Media Minute-TVWeek.com Tournament for the Hottest Male Web Host officially closes today at 2 p.m. PDT. We’ve got a few tight races, so every vote counts.

Can Adam Roberts upset Gary Vaynerchuk? Will Chris Leavins beat Philip DeFranco? Is Merlin Mann staging a comeback over Leo Laporte? You have only a few hours left to weigh in on these and other burning questions.

Eight initial winners will move on to the final round, along with one wild-card pick. Those nine will go up against each other in a winner-take-all round that will run Monday through Friday of next week.

Then, the winner will be crowned.

Adam Roberts is rocking the vote. That’s right. The Food Network Web host and hottie-in-contention has rallied the troops.

After this post on his blog, Adam went from about 25% of the votes in his matchup with WineLibraryTV’s Gary Vaynerchuk to 47% of the votes in the New Media Minute-TVWeek.com Tournament for the Hottest Male Web Host.

In fact, this particular pairing has generated the most votes so far in the contest. (I’ll announce vote totals on Monday).

I wonder if Adam can pull it off and upset the king of Web marketing.