Internet Marketing News: Multimedia Special Edition
Compiled by Tracy Chapman

THE VALUE OF WIDESPREAD BROADBAND
Senior Analyst Ben Macklin examines information from Criterion Economics to explain that widespread broadband usage will only occur in the US if users perceive a greater need for the service than they do now.

EROTIGO: WHERE NO PALM HAS EROTI-GONE BEFORE
Relying on only viral marketing so far, Erotigo is appealing to a new breed of handheld user. Editor David Berkowitz and analyst Ben Macklin engage in a threesome with Erotigo CEO Stephanie Schwab.

3G INTERRUPTED
Service providers in the United States had been drooling in anticipation of the arrival of third generation mobile wireless broadband services, but they will be disappointed by recent events.

JAZZING UP THE BANNER: STREAMING MEDIA 101
Some players in the streaming media space are looking to video to spice up "traditional" advertising units like the banner ad, as well as skyscrapers and other new interactive marketing units. In our fourth installment on the topic, we offer guidance ranging from technical issues (What is "sniffing"?), to vendor issues (Who should you choose?), to the all-important issue in the current ad market -- cost. Note: This article also mentions that the IAB just issued guidelines for video and audio ads, saying that both should wait for user interaction to begin, and should include pause and/or stop buttons, rather than playing automatically.

DIGITAL HOLLYWOOD (Event)
This year’s Digital Hollywood, once again at the Beverly Hilton, includes keynote addresses on DRM, subscription services, VOD, interactive television, wireless media, content syndication, and peer-to-peer, as well as expanded broadband infrastructure and streaming media coverage.

BIG BLUE: TALK WITH A WEB SITE VIA PHONE
IBM pushes forward with the VoiceXML standard with a new software kit for novice voice technology programmers.

ANOTHER CHANNEL, ANOTHER CHALLENGE
Just as the whole world was thinking "WAP," the honors have gone to SMS. But the really interesting issue for the world’s marketers is that of building and controlling brands in the medium.

A TINY DOSE OF JAVA ADDS SMARTS TO PHONES
A new platform, which opens up an exciting world of possibilities for wireless advertising, may be coming soon to a cell phone near you.

BROADBAND MEDIA: LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP
How long will it be before broadband for consumers revolutionizes television and video entertainment? After all, some 40 million households in the United States will gain access to broadband during the next three to five years. But broadcasters and other programmers would do well to temper their enthusiasm, at least for now: the time isn’t right to invest heavily in broadband programming.

RYAN: DESPITE CURRENT WOES, ONLINE ADS HAVE A BRIGHT FUTURE
DoubleClick chief executive Kevin Ryan took center stage to defend his flagging industry. According to Ryan, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong about the way the online ad industry is working at present. Instead, "how we’re doing today is actually about 95 percent linked to the economy…" However, Ryan conceded that while the industry is doing much right, there’s nevertheless much that can be done better. For instance, the industry could improve its work in measuring the impact of frequency on branding, and especially, the impact of online campaigns on offline sales

WHITE PAPERS: B2B EMAIL MARKETING’S BEST FRIEND
White papers may be your last, best chance to get the click-throughs you want in B2B email marketing, as it’s being practiced today. By using them, you can also capture essential company and contact information, which can result in successful lead generation. According to February 2001 stats compiled by eMarketer, white papers are the second most-consulted source of information by corporate end users.

WEBTRENDS DELIVERS WEB SITE INTELLIGENCE
Alexis Gutzman takes a look at WebTrends, log file analysis software that helps you turn too much data into information, and ultimately into intelligence.