One of the hottest online video projects expected to go online in 2007 is known as "The Venice Project" - a veritable fusion of the best features of the Internet with the undisputed benefits of Television.

It was bound to happen sooner or later - with increasing digitalization of television content, the lines between the Internet & television were destined to blur. And thanks to huge broadband availability & emerging technology, what started as a trend a few years ago is now revving up rapidly. The Venice Project when completed for example, will be a secure P2P streaming technology that promises to couple TV-quality video with the marvels of the Internet!

And although we will have to wait awhile to apply the "proof of the pudding is in the eating", it does help to know that the Venice project is promoted by the stalwart duo of Janus Friis & Niklas Zennstrom. In their words, they want to eliminate the accepted limitations of TV (for example: limited no. of channels), while bringing TV into the Internet age by adding features like interactivity, e-community & EPG.

Furthermore, since the Venice project is based on "open source" software, there's also the distinct possibility that this platform will be extended by 3rd parties to leverage their own application ideas, hobbies & interests.

Incidentally, the Venice project is the latest in a long line of projects which try to meld old media with the Internet. Recently, another (once-notorious) peer-to-peer file-sharing platform Napster partnered with online music service Nayio.com. Repositioned as "digital music company", the new Napster will allow surfers to Nayio.com to hum a melody into their PC mikes. And match this with a track from its song library to provide a free snippet. Along with the option to purchasing a digital download from Napster.com. But of course!

Of course, with all the big media companies launching their own online music stores, intermediaries like Napster, BitTorrent and others may not find the going easy.

The Sleeping Giant?
What do the vast majority of citizens the world over share in common today? Across developed countries as well as the developing & the under-developed, more cellphones are penetrating into the world population than any other gadget! So why aren't ads on cellphones as ubiquitous as ad banners on the Internet as yet?

Of course, the cellphone (in its present avatar) is a little too personal for pushing ads like SMS / MMS files. But giving an option to download ads & sponsored messages may be far less offending than pushing commercial messages.

FMCG giant Unilever has just tried its first cell phone ad campaign for its margarine brand "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" in November 2006 - where cellphone subscribers with Internet access could click on ads, download video content and communicate with the brand ambassador via web-sites like the Weather Channel, USA Today & Hollywood.com.

As cell phones are increasingly used for data & Internet (apart from voice calls), mobile marketing should logically become more viable. So while 2006 may be the year for "trial & error" for mobile marketing, the year 2007 may hold a lot of hope for mobile advertising!

Marketing or Misleading?
Meanwhile Sony Corp becomes the second major MNC marketer to clandestinely promote & support a fake blog site. This goes beyond the grey area of stealth marketing (which is expected & accepted with resignation by consumers). It actually transgress the line between marketing & misleading.

Surprising how the best get tempted to adopt short-cut methods!

At the behest of Sony, viral marketing firm Zipatoni created a fake blog site alliwantforxmasisapsp.com to promote Sony PSP. (What a name for a blog!)

But the fact that Sony's phony blog did not even last as long as retail giant Wal-Mart's recent attempt to promote a fake travel blog is a sign that consumers are alert & do not take kindly to such attempts.

By the way, should we expect similar revenue models from social networking & consumer media sites like Myspace, YouTube which are controlled by big media companies?