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Apr. 10, 2007

San Francisco-based Web casting firm On24 says it is about to launch what could be a new method for monetizing search marketing, video sharing and other similar media in the B2B sector.

On24 will unveil Insight24.com, a B2B online network targeting IT professionals that will archive and categorize videos, podcasts and Webcasts, similar to the YouTube site.

The content will be available by permission from more than 100 consultants and tech companies, including IBM, Cisco and Hewlett-Packard. Some of them will be running for as long as almost an hour.

During its beta-testing, some B2B users were impressed with On24's new initiative.

Before, a telecom manager currently investigating the latest security products for VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) might have to dig through 100 million Google results to find a relevant entry. Insight24 will offer an easier path by grouping content into different categories along with abstract descriptions of each listing.

The new Insight24 Web site will be free to users and content providers.

Advertising and category sponsorship will be one revenue stream. Compensation for lead generation will be another as Insight24 is driving pre-qualified customers to the various B2B vendors.

However, Insight24 will build an audience through e-mail blasts and a 6-week-long online sweepstakes dangling a Panasonic Blu-Ray disc player.

According to Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a consulting firm in New York, overall B2B media spend is expected to surpass $30.2 billion in less than three years from now.

"As a whole, Business-to-Business is considered less sexy, but that's actually where the value really is," said Chris Shipley, co-founder of Guidewire Group, a San Francisco research firm.

Shipley added "these are people with money to invest in new products and technology. Meanwhile, B2B marketers sometimes are going after 16-year-old teenagers who don't have a lot of money to spend."

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Source: Brand Week