Comments on: Media Futures: From Theory to Practice

By: nazzy

nazzy — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 21:25:43 +0000

I used to be of the same opinion, but then I saw this presentation video by Dick Hardt:

By: Andras Nagy

Andras Nagy — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 16:08:51 +0000

Well, interesting concept kept me reading quite a lot.More than that I tried it out, I registered and created a Root Vault. In todays world with this huge focus on privacy the idea that every single site/page I visit, every single click I make to be instantly recorded by another party its just too scary. (the possibility to go there and delete it manualy all the time is just not good enough).
However the whole market theory sounds pretty cool , the only problem is gathering the tradeble goods - the leads. I mean, after all, I am selling that data, what do I get in return? If there is no upside for me, the system has a flow.

By: TechCrunch

TechCrunch — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 06:29:22 +0000

Root.Nets Lead Market

Im intruiged by Seth Goldsteins Root.net, the first commercial application of the Attention Trust platform (see my Attention Trust posts here and here).
Seth wrote a lengthy and descriptive post outlining the service for all participant…

By: Maneuver Marketing Communique

Maneuver Marketing Communique — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 20:20:34 +0000

ROOT MARKETS: SETH GOLDSTEIN AND LEWIS RANIERI TRY TO SECURITIZE INTERNET LEAD GENERATION

Perhaps one of the most precious resources in any enterprise is a lead. A bona fide prospect for the product

By: Michael Arrington

Michael Arrington — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 07:18:06 +0000

Seth,

I echo Dick’s question. Clarify for us.

By: SteveH

SteveH — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 16:07:34 +0000

Arb will help drive out any pricing inefficiencies and take some of the risk from the “natural” buyers and sellers - if they do it rightm the return will exceed the commensurate risk - presumably Seth’s tools will allow arbs to make these judgemnets - Seth will be selling “picks and shovels” as well the “mine” to go dig for gold if you will.

Im a former arb and a newbie web guy so allow me a question: Does AdSense and the like provide pricing “transparency” of all transactions (ie like Stock Price Quotes from NYSE) to all participant including speculators? Do they even invite speculators into the game - at least in an easy, fast way?

By: Maultasch's Musings

Maultasch's Musings — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 02:09:40 +0000

The Right Model for Online Advertising?

What is the right model for online advertising? It’s a deceptively simple question. Deceptive because the avalanche of press Google and their AdSense program have been getting may make it appear that CPC (cost per click) is the model…

By: quoteunquote .:. yum 2.0

quoteunquote .:. yum 2.0 — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 12:48:59 +0000

Media Futures

Seth fleshes out his objectives for establishing an exchange for attention data, to encourage a shifting of credit risk from publishers/advertisers to investors and a move to CPL (cost-per-lead) metrics. All in all a bold vision for the future of…

By: Michael Raich

Michael Raich — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 19:03:23 +0000

Interesting concept. But there are three questions that come to my mind:
1) clearly, the risk of generating qualified leads is moved completely to the publisher. Is he a) willing to take the risk and b) does he have enough knowledge about the targeted consumer to create the most qualified lead?
2) who (and why) should anyone bear the higher transaction cost created by additional market participants?
3) is it really possible to aggregate consumer attention well enough to completely outsource it? As it may well work for some industries (standardized financial products et al), there might be too many unidentified factors in consumer behaviour that influence consumer purchase descisions in order to really qualify a lead.

By: seth goldstein

seth goldstein — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 01:21:42 +0000

Thanks Dick, Peter and Steve for smart comments.

So, what I am hearing is the following “ad networks such as doubleclick (web 1.0) and adsense (web 2.0) allow publishers to hedge out their inventory risk all the time, what’s the big deal?” and from steve kane, “how can you securitize something as fleeting as an ad unit?”. There are two unique factors that I may not have made clear enough: (1) a lead is different from an ad impression; whereas an impression/click is media-driven and contains no explicit personal data, a lead is simply X fields of data along with an intention to purchase Y service in Z time period. (2) a mortgage (aka “promise to pay”) is clearly worth a lot more than a lead, since it’s backed by a john hancock and actual property asset value. That being said, however, a lead is still simply a promise at an earlier stage of the purchasing cycle and can be priced accordingly. Granted, these promises are all over the price in terms of level of commitment, authenticity, and terminal value of the product or service (ie a real estate purchase throws off much more brokerage value than a cash advance loan), but that is then precisely where the opportunity lies.