Broadcasters and Marketing - Paid Watching There's an app for that

If you want to know what God thinks of money, look at the people he gives it to

Anon, which of course means that I, Lindsworth Deer, wrote it in New England

And with that start, one can see why as a Developer I can make money from apps, just not a lot of it, albeit I am now hoping that with the renewed interest in security on the Google Android OS Platform, and the coming of more Google android based tablets, not to mention the newly minted Blackberry 9800 Torch and the much rumoured BlackPad, that maybe God, assuming he exists of course, may think of me when next he decided to let a wind-“fall”.

Adventists and their belief in God is amusing, but even in the Apps Universe created by CEO Steve Jobs et al, faith has found a footing, with more religions making apps to allow the faithful to worship their God – and yes, atheists such as yours truly also have their place too with their own apps as stated in the article “Faith and smart phones commune in religion apps”, published Tuesday August 3, 6:24 am ET By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor. Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com).

Geo-Location also appears to be trending, with Foursquare, the King of Geo-location Social Networking, leading the pack and now starting to make the badges useful, with everything from advertisement partnerships to tie-ins with airlines with the introduction of their latest badge, the “Mile High Badge” that rewards you for boarding a plane and confirming you are on the plane via Gogo Inflight Internet as stated in the article “FourSquare and Gogo Form Their Own "Mile High Club"”, published Monday August 2, 4:12 am ET by Jennifer Van Grove, Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com). George Clooney no doubt will love this, famous for his role in the movie Up in The Air.

Music requesting on a WebTV portal with an option to go national to express your love for someone is not really trending, but is an interesting comeback and reinvention for a concept still common on the old Broadcast Media Radio, be it on FM, XM Satellite Radio or HD Radio as stated in the article “Music Video Request Show Lets FaceBook Users Call the Shots”, published Wednesday August 4, 5:54 am ET, by Brenna Ehrlich, Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com), which the Big Three (3) Broadcasters are yet to embrace.

And yet combining these three (3) apps, there is an interesting way to give CVM TV that well needed boost in its advertising revenues, whether God wishes them to have it or not, assuming it exists. And yes, there is an App for that, this time on Apple iPhone 4.0 and its cousins, Google Android OS smart phones and the Blackberry 9800 Torch, which I can now finally call a smart phone. Flame On!

In fact, this idea that I have purloined from the above apps can actually turn the entire RJR Communications Group into one gigantic Ad Viewing Social Network, somewhat reminiscent of Brown Dawg, my idea for a Mobile Social Networking with Geo-location for Telecom Provider Digicel, also based on advertising.

It is rather simple premise: the best way to deliver advertising is via a targeted approach as stated in the article “Study: Like it or not, behavioral ad targeting works”, published March 24, 2010 9:01 AM PDT by Caroline McCarthy, CNET News – The Social (http://www.cnet.com). My concept differs, however in that you would pay the persons to watch your advertising here in Jamaica.

The Broadcaster would register viewers and their mobile phones using Government of Jamaica Identification i.e. National ID, Passport, Birth Certificate, Driver’s License using a online secure form process, with the relevant identification being scanned as a JPEG and sent along with the application.

On confirming their identity, the registered advertisement watchers, or Ad Watcher becomes a member of the Ad Watchers Social Network, in much the same way one becomes a member of a Social Network such as FaceBook, Twitter or FourSquare, possibly even with the same features like a Social Network.

The Ad Watchers, as I would call them then confirmed their interest in the Social Network by choosing to “like” a series of advertisements in any given time slot that they can watch, the number of registered Ad Watchers registered to watch or listen to a certain advertisement controlled so that a certain advertisement is not overbooked to the point that payout become onerous and may result more loss of revenue than is necessary, effectively somewhat like Social Network FaceBook and the “Like” Feature or Twitter and choosing to “Follow” a person’s postings.

Each time an Ad Watcher watches the advertisement, they basically have to send in a SMS (Simple Messaging Service) or text message or via a tailor made app for the downloaded to their smart phone with a pre-assigned message e.g. “Saw your Ad!” at the exact time that they saw the advert to the assigned number using the SMS provisioning software from CoreTalk Communications Limited, a feature somewhat similar to the “Check In” Feature on FourSquare, a Geo-location Social Networking Website.

The SMS software from CoreTalk Communications Limited, which would be installed on a computer assigned to receive the SMS being sent in, would record the SMS as a targeted hit, confirming that the Ad Watcher had watched or listened to the advertisements. At the end of a thirty (30) day period, the viewer is paid via whatever means that they are comfortable with, based on a fractional cut of the advertising revenue e.g. 90% to the Broadcaster, 10% to the registered viewers per advertisement.

The genius of this concept is that it would allow viewers a legitimate reason to want to watch advertising and thus guarantee viewers in otherwise unoccupied timeslots, thus allowing Big Three (3) Broadcasters to place programming in time slots that traditionally would be empty, as viewers, knowing that they can earn by becoming Ad Watchers and watching advertisements, would eagerly want to watch television just so that they can “check in” via SMS to indicate that they saw an advertisements.

This in turn would mean that the Big Three (3) Broadcasters could attract more advertisers, as they could demonstrably guarantee that they have a specific number of persons who are dedicated to watch their advertisements in any given timeslot, based both on the Registered Ad Watchers and the times that their Statistical software on their computer assigned to receive the SMS records each Ad Watcher “checking in” whenever they see an advert.

Sensibly, the Big Three (3) Broadcasters would have to make watching an advertisements worth their Ad Watchers time, thus JA$100 per targeted hit would make sense, pending a review from the Big Three (3) Broadcasters of course, not to mention legal issues relating to privacy of customer information.

This concept of paying viewer to watch advertising may seem counterintuitive, as advertising is usually pinned to popular programming, and not paying viewers to watch an advertisement. But it makes sense, as when the concept catches on via word-of-mouth, more people will join in and soon it creates not only a captive audience of Ad Watchers but potential buyers of products, effectively Behavioral Targeted Marketing as stated in the article “Study: Like it or not, behavioral ad targeting works”, published March 24, 2010 9:01 AM PDT by Caroline McCarthy, CNET News – The Social (http://www.cnet.com), which guarantees more advertisers and thus more advertising revenue for the Broadcaster.

Best of all, this is a tried and tested proof of concept as this is how Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter works and is a business model being attempted locally here in Jamaica by Bishop Damion Ffriend of the Ebenezer Tabernacle Apostolic  Church, an entrepreneur who partnered with another businesses entrepreneur named Robert Gregory Jr. to form Jamaica Advertising Advantage as stated in the article “Click for Cash”, published Sunday August 1 2010, by Avia Collinder, Gleaner Writer, The Jamaica Gleaner (http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com).

This is a very good time to launch this service, as there are persons in Jamaica with Apple iPhones, Blackberry’s as well as the new Motorola Milestone, the re-christened Motorola Droid X, and thus a free app can be made for this similar to FourSquare App that is on multiple smart phone Operating System Platforms that is downloaded once the interested viewer registers and has their identity confirmed.

Combined with the SMS service provided by the CoreTalk Communications Limited SMS Service, the Broadcaster can guarantee a potential captive audience of every mobile phone and smart phone in Jamaica, thus making the phrase “There an app for that!” truly applicable to Big Three (3) Broadcasters, who are always looking for ways to get people to watch television and listen to radio advertising and thus occupy more of their otherwise empty timeslots with advertisements from potential advertisers.

These advertisers, who upon hearing this concept being offered by the Big Three (3) Broadcasters, would most likely be more than interested. Simple as that!! I Give you the RJR Ad Watchers Social Network……….albeit the name needs a little work………hmm….and CVM Communications Group and LOVE TV/Radio can also launch their own copycat version as well.