The DM News Video Center officially opens for business today at www.DMNews.com/video with a selection of video segments providing news, analysis, interviews and announcements.
Prominently featured in the opening-day lineup is a two-part interview with DM legend Lester Wunderman, who talks about his new book, “Being Direct: Making Advertising Pay,” and what he sees as the future for online marketing.
Other interview subjects include David O. Schwartz, president of 21st Century Marketing, who describes a new video e-mail service his company is representing, as well as Phil Carpenter, vice president of SideStep Inc., who explains his company's role in search marketing in the travel business.
News stories include a recap of the holiday shopping season online, AOL's belief that it is beating spam and the reintroduction of a postal reform bill in the House.
DM News editor in chief Tad Clarke described the Video Center as “a terrific way for busy direct and online marketers and advertisers to access the latest news, information and tips from cutting-edge companies.”
One of the most exciting features on the Video Center, he said, is called “DM News Interviews the New Leaders.” This was created to highlight the marketers and suppliers who are creating new technologies and business models and “reinventing the business.”
An exclusive interview with Craig Newmark, founder of the hugely successful Craig's List, will be featured on tomorrow's site, Clarke said.
According to DM News publisher Ronald L. Sichler, the video Webcasts will be offered free and will be supported by sponsorship dollars and paid supplier profiles. This is a model similar to the one being employed by a number of other media companies such as Forbes.com, ABCNews.com and WashingtonPost.com.
Sichler said sponsorships can be purchased for the entire Video Center, for individual videos or for individual categories. The four categories in the DM News model at present are Breaking News and Analysis, DM News Interviews the New Leaders, Sponsored Provider Profiles and News From DM News.
In pre-release testing, some users had difficulty accessing www.DMNews.com/video because of firewalls. To fix this, IT manager Robert Kravath said the user's network administrator needs to open port 1935 on their sites. Visitors encountering these or other problems are advised to contact the DMNews.com Webmaster by e-mail at [email protected] .
