Kyte gets Google AdSense, fresh new mobile sites
On Monday night video-broadcasting platform Kyte is launching several new ways to make money with its service. Included are two new ad servers from AdTech Helios IQ and Lightningcast, as well as a new option to pick up Google AdSense (for video) which includes pre-roll, graphic display ads, and endcap text ads. These join Kyte's internal ad manager, and help fill out any ad inventory depending on how popular your shows are.
It's worth noting all of this is still only for pre-recorded content, and as such can't be used for monetizing live streaming shows. I'm told this is something on Kyte's road map, which when implemented would give publishers a new way to pull in revenue from live broadcasts besides relying on ads outside of the Kyte player.
The new mobile pages (click to enlarge)
(Credit: Kyte.tv)Alongside the new ad partners, Kyte is launching branded mobile pages that let artists or other content providers organize all their work into a single mobile-friendly page.
This is going live with two Interscope Records artists: Lady GaGa and the All-American Rejects. Here users can watch content streams that are optimized for their device (3GP for Nokia users and QuickTime streams for iPhoners), and interact with other users like they'd do on the normal Kyte service. This includes live chat and an in-line comment system.
Mobile pages can be saved to your mobile device like you'd save a bookmark. In the iPhone's case it's nothing more than a home screen shortcut which brings you right to the artist page.
Channel owners are able to customize both the layout and the style of these mobile pages to their taste, as well as pick out any ad units that can go on the bottom or top of the page. For now it's a manual process that involves a little hand holding with Kyte staff, but in the future publishers will be able to use a simple dashboard tool to update and make changes on the fly.
While these changes may seem trivial to the casual user, providing additional ways to monetize mobile online video is a big deal. It's not quite there for live streaming, but Kyte's very close. In the meantime, the current system is set up to let publishers big and small add advertising that can be tacked on to all content--both old and new.
Josh Lowensohn is an associate editor for Webware.com, CNET's blog about cool and otherwise useful Web applications and services. If you've found a site you'd like profiled, shoot him an e-mail. E-mail Josh.
