An Interactive Multimedia Business Directory – Systems, Methods and group of Application.
An Interactive Multimedia Business Directory – Systems, Methods and group of Application.
A brief description of the motivation and vision for the concept
I have been developing standardised interfaces for interactive TV. This work has been self funded. The outcome I sought is the ability to create interactive advertising, as well as making the same opportunity available to others.
Free iTV can be achieved through advertising sponsorship, as the content and exposure is more valuable to businesses than the value it provides home users, with internet alternatives. Therefore, this application provides a basis to create that advertising, for later sponsorship of content assets, distributed over IPTV networks. There are a number of “tricks” that makes this style of advertising mechanism more compelling than previously available methodologies, including advanced geo-targeting. Geo-Targeting enables localised advertising products and services to be sold to small to medium businesses, as a tool to pay for the delivery of on-demand content. My initial figures suggest that it would take 14 advertisers per hour, at a cost of 7c USD per advertiser, per user, to pay for the download of content, in a profitable manner. In Telecommunications terms, this means approximately 98 cents per user per hour of viewing. However, that model may be some time away.
In-order to develop a content repository, of participating businesses and related content asset; an interactive TV business directory would provide the framework required to cultivate this new industry, and the content it could produce. Once a mass of content has been developed, it can then be applied to entertainment and educational content, for sponsored delivery.
I believe this product, is a method and system, providing tools that are required in-order to substantiate the development of business advertorial products and services, by content developers.
I believe that in the future, every business will have interactive TV Advertising made available to them, in an affordable way.
A short personal or company presentation (competences, references and, if appropriate, areas of activity, number of employees, sales figures, form of company, etc.)
The iTV Company Pty. Ltd. is an Australian private company limited by shares. It currently has a sole director, being myself – Timothy Holborn. I have an advanced international network of professionals who are highly skilled in the area of IPTV. Provided funding, these resources can be activated. Further information about me can be found at www.linkedin.com/in/ubiquitous
The company has been facilitating a process of research and development, which has not required significant operational resources. It has been difficult to attract investment in Australia for the projects undertaken by the company; including but not limited to, a low-cost live webcasting technology; and, an online media management featuring a live Transcoding and distribution system, to any format / broadband connected device; and, an international standard for interactive TV.
The company’s focus is upon interactive TV technologies and the application of such technologies on broadcast and broadband networks, in an economically useful manner.
Concept Proposal
The iTV Company would collaborate with Project Contributors to develop an Advanced Interactive Multimedia Business Directory. The Interactive Video Business directory would provide localised advertising content to consumers. It would be produced for all businesses either by the business themselves or through a production company of their choice. This advertising content will showcase local businesses and their product / service offerings to the market. The business directory and its content would be used to source products and services by consumers on a pro-active basis.
The system will act as the businesses “iTV home page” for client exposure throughout the iTV platform. The Interactive Business Directories will provide mechanisms for advertisers to get value from their content. Their iTV Advertisements / titles would be made available to consumers in a range of ways; including but not exclusive to,
- A Reference ID
- User Search
- Integration into vertical market presentations (ie: the wedding guide, or the car repair guide)
- The ability for businesses to use their content, for sponsoring content delivery in their local areas.
The project would incorporate software development of all the relevant mechanisms required, for integration of any-such content into the media room platform. It would also require a range of marketing and operational development processes, to effectively promote the availability of the functionality throughout alpha, beta, pre-launch, and post-launch stages. Sponsorship and advertising business systems will be one of the principle aims of the project; in being able to associate any-such content, to other content as a market based content sponsorship and free on-demand, content delivery.
The Interactive Multimedia Business directory project would provide the tools and processes required to make it easy for all businesses, to produce an advertisement for their business. The advertisements would incorporate Video, Audio, user interactivity and other computer generated programmatically input-output based presentation materials. As previously mentioned, any such advertising packages could be produced either by the business or by a professional organisation, which specialises in such work.
The online video business directory provides the subsidisation of video content as well as the paid content delivery by businesses, of content packages that might leverage the content archives made available through the introduction of an interactive multimedia business directory.
A description of the concept proposal – Business model
Potential advertorial participants may be businesses, government, not-for-profit organisations and even start-up businesses or videographers. The delivery of content is charged to someone by the network operator.
The “interactive multimedia business directory”, is envisaged to incorporates a number of key components
- A content publishing system that provides media-room compliant content packages
- An menu-system complaint content management and presentation system
- An advanced targeting system
- A subscriber management, billing and measurement platform
- A media packaging and presentation API for the Mediaroom platform
- A web based content production system
The content production system would ideally be online WYSIWYG. Principally, such a system would enable a user with basic knowledge to produce a content package and deliver that content package to the media-room platform without any programming knowledge.
If a content producer is hired to produce content, for distribution over this platform – the system should provide the means for an advanced user to create more advanced packages for the system.
For the purposes of demonstrating the concept, I will focus describing the components to make available, for the WYSIWYG interface.
The User would need to create an account on a website affiliated, and at the discretion of the platform operator. The user would be identified, the account set-up, and the user would be “enabled” to the web-media room production package.
The production package would include a range of options. Including “add new page”, “add new content title” and “Add new assets”, as key functions. All assets required for the produced title, are uploaded to the content production platform.
Initially conceived revenue lines for the concept
- Advertising distribution
- Pay per viewer
- Pay per product (i.e. compilation)
- pay to sponsor content
- i. fixed fee
- ii. Auction
- Production
- Pay to create an account
- Pay to get the SDK
- Pay to get someone to make a video for you
- Content related revenues
- Broadcasters pay to manage accounts and/or incorporate functionality to broadcast delivered content
- Advertising pays for content viewership
- Click-through related revenue
- Pay for Referrals
- Pay for Sale
- Pay for SMS
A presentation on technical realisation (block diagram, basic technologies used, functions involved, resources required, scaling, etc.)
Regarding the technical feasibility of the project; I have spoken to the Microsoft TV Executives around the world, and the outcome is that this project is technically feasible. However, without an agreement with a service operator connected to an existing media room platform, the software development kits are not made available. Essentially the system is a web-based system. There are a range of international standardised specifications that should be used, principally delivered in XML. I believe the project can be for filled within the funding commitments made available by the Project Contributorsinteractive TV Award, as prescribed by the promotional materials.
I have not prepared advanced technical architecture or functionality specification, as I believe the spirit of this competition is to win the opportunity to collaborate with Deutsche Telekom, and there is likely a range of key business requirements your organisation would like to include; therefore, the principles I investigated pertained to whether there was any such existing system (whether or not it was unique) – finding that there is no existing system, and that it is a unique proposal at the time of due-diligence in preparation for this application; and, whether it was technically feasible to create – which I found to be so. There are no foreseeable technical problems preventing the development and commercialisation of this opportunity. I have existing agreements in-place that will help to lower the cost of development and commercialisation.
Industrial property rights or copyright in connection with the project ideas they have submitted.
The Concept of “the interactive multimedia business directory” was conceived by Timothy Holborn, founder of the iTV Company. There is no third party Intellectual property rights known to The iTV Company or Timothy Holborn, that might preclude the right of Timothy Holborn / The iTV Company in producing and commercialising the products and service conceived as part of the project.
Throughout the project there will be intellectual property assets of 3rd party organisations that will be utilised under standard commercial licensing terms. Principally, such Intellectual Property will be incorporated into commercially available software solutions and/or specification licensing parameters.
Thankyou for your time in considering this proposal. I look forward to a positive response, and a continued working relationship revolutionising local media industries, and the broader economic platform such tools provide our communities.
Project Owner: The iTV Company Pty. Ltd.
Founder and Director: Timothy Charles Holborn
