Digital bodhi

The killer is here

Sudheendra — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 05:49:49 +0000

Google – the internet giant launches video on search. What does this mean and what impact is it going to have on the online brand advertising side of life?
Now, this is amazing news for advertisers who have videos, but don’t have too much money to spend. It is also good news for advertisers who have a lot of money to spend on branding – they are most likely to get 2-3 times more impressions / clicks than what they would, if they go with video ad networks.
Google has been the most preferred network for any advertiser over the years. The first place somebody doing online promotions wants to be on is Google. Why? It’s cheaper than any other, the targeting is much better if managed well, changes are easy to accommodate, ROI that is by far the best in comparison and lastly, not to forget – the brand name. People “Google” for information. That says it all. The word “Search “has been replaced by “Google”. So now, when Google says it is launching a video on search product, what does it mean for advertisers all over the world and those in India particular? Let’s take a look.
What revenue models could Google offer for this product? A CPM which is a third of what the other networks would offer? A CPC on par with display ads on regular networks? Either case, it’s a big advantage for advertisers who can spend less to gather more eye balls. The placement of the ad unit is superb-right on top and right in front of the eye. You cannot miss it. You may at the most ignore it if you don’t want to see it, but you will surely lay your eyes on it. As in the case with other networks, the ad can never appear on the second fold. So your impression is never going to be a waste. Since it comes from Google, it cannot be considered intrusive as the giant has always been a promoter of Ethical and non-intrusive advertising. You get your keywords right and you are in for some amazing results.
You will never have to worry about under or non-delivery of your ad impressions or clicks. The trillions of searches that happen and the billions of clicks Google produces with plain and non-jazzy text can only mean a few million more clicks on video ads. Apt, relevant, to the point, and the best part being, you chose your audience and you cannot blame Google if something goes wrong. It is something which is totally under your control. So now, if video ads can be as effective as search has been over the years, produces better results than other sources of video advertising at a third of the prices, who would not want to be there and spend more.
What are the consequences? I can see Google’s market value increasing many folds in the next one year- for sure. I can also see the existing video ad networks re-thinking their strategies. Why would anybody pay 250-300 CPM’s when they could get their audience at less than a third of that price? Why would anybody pay a CPM if Google offers a CPC on this model? What would happen to the ad slots available on websites that usually run videos? Would they be give way to display ads? This would mean there is more inventory than before and is unused. Would they come cheaper? Would it mean that display advertising is also going to take a hit on the pricing? Now that Google has put up Youtube pre rolls, mid rolls and post rolls for sale – will other websites run their video bits without many ads or no ads at all? A few of these questions are tough to answer now, but I see a most probably yes as an answer to quite a few of them.
There are a few things that work against this model of Google, though the impact may not be much if the thought behind the marketing plan is right. It is you, who has to manage the keywords, the video changes and the landing pages, but with a video network, they would have done most of the work for you. But I would rather think in this way – if I am spending a third of what I should have spent on other video networks, I might as well use another third of the money hiring a specialist to do this work for me and still end up saving the third third. There is no clarity as yet on the video length that will be allowed by Google and what innovations it can come up with. However, Google being Google, am sure will come up with a way to tackle these issues. Must be child’s play for them. Their servers are amazing and plentiful. Streaming is not a big issue. It will all depend on your connection. If Google comes up with a way where the original video ad will remain in place even after the users skip through multiple search pages, I don’t see a reason why a user will not click on the play button.
Overall, I foresee a change in the market dynamics once this product is in full swing and we get to hear some test results. I am sure there will be companies willing to be bunnies in this experiment and a case study will not take more than a month to come about. It is going to be an exciting 2012 and news relating to online video industry will be heard practically every few days, be it in terms of some amazing technology that other players may come up with to combat this latest product by Google and the retaliation by Google itself, the ups and downs in market shares, the monies spent on online video advertising and how the market shares move about, who closes down and who rises up. Welcome 2012.

Why are the Pedestrians not fined for breaking traffic rules

Sudheendra — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 06:38:32 +0000

It was peak traffic hours in Bangalore and driving 15 Kms usually takes about an hour to an hour and a half. I was wondering why it should take so long. The vehicle density of the city? Narrow roads? Too many traffic signals? While pondering over these points, my eyes fell upon a few people who were walking. What I saw made me wonder – should pedestrians also be penalised for not obeying the traffic laws?
It is easy to miss the walking class or just ignore them as a set of people who do not contribute to traffic woes. Think again. They do. What I saw made me think hard and this write up is, by no means a message for the Bangalore Traffic Police or the Police of any other city / town in the country. It is just a democratic use of democratic rights with a little sarcasm put in to spice up the reading. I would not want this writing to sound or feel like the script of the movie that got the Razzies for the script writing department.
Coming to the point – here are a few incidents I cannot resist to mention – A middle aged man, probably in his thirties, walking a good 3 feet away from the pavement expecting the motorists to go around him to avoid bumping into him. The last thing I expected him to do was play hop skip and jump in the 3 feet left between him and the footpath. Fortunately he did not. Due to the slow moving traffic, I had the opportunity to observe him for almost 300 years and believe me; he walked in a dead straight line as if he were giving a drunken driving test to the police. If you drew a line bordering the footpath and his “line of action “they would never meet. Probably the footpath was more crookedly patterned than his walk of life. I was on the right side of the road and luckily, I overtook him in a few minutes. The vehicles on the left side of the road had to take an altered path.
I was standing at a signal, first in line and ensuring that I do not cross the white line. A group of college girls started walking from the other side of the road and came close to the divider. The signal turned green and as I set my foot on the accelerator, two of the girls raised their hands and ordered me to stop. Taken by surprise, and having no clue what to do, I went ahead and pressed my feet a little. What happened next can be called funny or frustrating. Just as I got close to one of the girls, she gave me a look that looked like conveying a message to this extent “you better slow down and let me cross”. What the hell? Is that how you are treated for following a traffic rules?
The next incident is quite similar to the one quoted above, but the lady who was attempting to cross the road was probably braver than all the college girls put together. The signal was already green and a few cars had crossed. Out of nowhere I see this lady in front of me, hands raised, ordering me to stop and allow her to cross. I braked and was lucky enough not to have the car behind crash into me. He braked too, but he was not as lucky as I was. Poor guy! He must have spent close to 5000 to get the dent repaired. Am not sure if his car was insured.
Thinking of the audacity of the lady to have done something like this, I wonder – why don’t the traffic police think of doing something to stop such things. Why are the motorists always fined for not following traffic rules? Why are the pedestrians not fined when they walk half way down the road on the wrong side of the road? Why are the pedestrians not fined when they attempt to cross the road at a signal when the traffic is in full flow and it is not their turn to cross? Why are they not fined when they run across the road at a place where they should not be crossing in the first place?
I am sure every rider / driver who reads this will agree with me. Pedestrians also need to follow the rules. If the reader is a pedestrian for a majority of the time, please think again before you attempt anything that could be dangerous for you or for others on the road. Even I am a pedestrian during the evenings mostly. However, I do take a little care to avoid inconvenience.

8 months and more to come

Sudheendra — Mon, 09 May 2011 09:04:55 +0000

The little angel was born and life changed,
the smiles widened and the mind was charged.
A different path had to be tread,
with care, concern, peace and no dread.
The first grip of the hands, the first spreading of the lips,
the first crawl, the first standing and the first shake of the hips.
She gave us moments to cherish for life,
so happy were me and my wife.
Every day there is something new for her to do,
and she needs them fast like they say “without much ado”
When her fingers touch the face with the nails et all,
it feels like the flowers of the fall.
So tender, so warm, so firm and yet so smooth,
it calms us to no end – the smile that shows no tooth.
The wait for the day when she utters her first words,
has been no less exciting than walking on swords
What else will she do, what all will she learn,
How far will she go, is a little concern.
Then the thought crosses my mind- she is MY daughter,
Her life can only have laughter.

My Internet Journey

Sudheendra — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 09:02:08 +0000

The year was 1998 when I heard that something called “Internet” was new and happening. Website, email, password were technical terms which were hard to understand. Coming from a very middle class family with no computer at home and hardly a few internet cafes that charged something like Rs 50 an hour, Internet was a hard nut to crack. “Do you have an email id? “ was a frequent question and a super chance to show how technically advanced you were. 3 out of ten times “what’s your password” also cropped up and it was funny to see the reactions.
Cut to end of 1999 and beginning of 2000 when the Y2K scare hit the headlines where all you could hear was data loss, non functioning of email id’s and the likes. Then nothing happened. Internet only became cheaper. It was down to Rs 30 an hour in the cyber cafe’s that operated on 128 KPBS speeds and shared it between about 10 desktops. People started visiting cyber cafes more frequently. Those who had no clue about the QWERTY keypad had a tough time typing out messages and those who had learnt it on a traditional typewriter broke a few keyboards and escaped silently ( I was one of them too ).
I still remember my first email id – suds_deep@usa.net- a combination of my name and my brother’s. It had taken about 40 minutes to create on the super speeds available at that time. I had this email id for a couple of years before USA.net became a paid service. Those days were wonderful. You always wanted to keep your email id secret and give it to those near and dear ones in college ( who you met everyday) and at home, but still went to the cafe once in a few days to check if you had got any mails .
This was the time of MIRC chat – probably the only chat system available initially where you tried to make as many friends as possible and boasted to your friends about the number of chat friends you had. It was also the time of desibaba and the likes. You sat glued to the monitor as the picture unraveled ever so slowly. The temperatures kept rising and fell all of a sudden when enough skin was not visible. You felt like not paying the money for surfing time used. It was a waste of money. 4 pictures was the most you could see in an hour and even one iota of disappointment was not bearable. You had compromised on a litre of petrol that could take you to college on your bike for 2 weeks and had traded it for a monthly bus pass.
It was later on that I got introduced to the likes of yahoo where emails were easier to view and react to. Interface designing took quantum leaps. Banner ads hardly existed. Even if they did – whoever looked at them? Videos on the internet were still a thought I believe (and now I am a salesman who sells this very thought). Mobile phones were unheard of and later on when we heard about them, they were simply not affordable.
I remember purchasing my first PC for 32 grand with the intent of learning how to use excel , word and a few programming languages. Ultimately, it was used to play games, watch movies and copying music and video CD’s for friends and for FREE. It shut down whenever there was a power cut and having a 20 min backup UPS would mean 7-10 grand more which a middle class family could never afford.
Now, its i Pads, blackberries, smart phones, pomegranates (if you have seen the latest video on FB – though I feel it is a joke), 2MBPS speeds at home, video chat, video conference and no clue about what else is going to come up.
The past was exciting, the present is too and the future is expected to be even more exciting. But it has been a fun journey which makes you smile, laugh at the “stupid” things you did then, which seemed very thoughtful and intelligent at that point of time.

The first kick

Sudheendra — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 06:22:17 +0000

Friday – 19’th June 2010 :
It was about 8.00 PM and a partially cloudy and pleasant day was almost to end and so was the week. My wife and me were sitting at home watching TV and dinner was still half cooked. All of a sudden, my wife ordered me to put my hand on her 7 months pregnant belly and for the first time in my life, I felt the little kick. Whether it was the hand or the leg that I felt, I don’t know. The feeling was heavenly.
I am sure the baby must have been happy too, as these initial days are the only days where you can actually kick your parents and they feel happy about it.
The discomfort that a lady goes through during pregnancy is unimaginable. I have seen it happening for the last 7 months. Vomits, mood swings, leg pains, hunger but not able to eat much and the list goes on. But that moment, when we both felt the little one kicking inside, all of them were forgotten and there were only smiles on the face. Little drops at the corner of the eyes that were confused – to come out or not to come, the light headed feeling and the joy in the hearts are feelings you rarely feel in life. That moment is etched in the memory like a monolith carving that stays for centuries.
Now that we have felt it kicking from the inside, we are waiting to feel the kick directly. Another 2 months away and the restlessness is growing each day. The hours at work go away so very quickly, but once we get home and realize there is going to be an addition soon, time ticks by at snail’s pace. Theory of Relativity I guess. Looks like it has its applications in day to day life and situations.
The elders say its all a matter of time. Days and months and years will pass. The baby will grow and have a baby of its own. But this first contact for a to be dad cannot be measured. It is like a photograph taken with added features of touch and feeling. It cannot be forgotten.

The Prison

Sudheendra — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:33:31 +0000

The prison was made of flesh and blood
with a soul trapped inside.
The more it tried to free itself,
the farther it got from the world outside

Expression of thoughts, expression of feelings, expression of itself,
were eluding it for a very long time.
It was only able to hear the voices from outside,
while its own voice was not worth a dime.

It shouted, it pleaded, it begged to be heard,
but the confines of the human body seemed sound proof.
It had no friends within to confide in,
it had never tried to mingle and had always stayed aloof.

It soon heard voices it had never heard before,
and began to think about what they could be.
It heard them speaking to something called mind,
and realized it was not very difficult to break free.

I dreamed another dream

Sudheendra — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 07:38:27 +0000

The dream was fragrance filled with appreciation from all corners,
and the garden I was in, had flowers in all stages of bloom.
The lilies, the hyacinths, the sunflowers and the roses,
seemed bright and sprightly, with no sign of gloom.

The king of roses had its head held high,
as the garden was attracting people from outside too.
The fragrance was attractive and spread far and wide.
All the flowers felt they were painted Royal Blue.

Two little seeds of weed were attracted by the fragrance,
and wandered into the garden of no gloom.
The King of roses let them in with open arms,
and dark clouds on top began to loom.

The weeds began spreading their seed and encircled the very foundation.
The King of roses watched in despair
as the once enchanting fragrance began to die.
The climate and the weed had become a pair.

The creepers had to be destroyed to restore the calm
but the climate, on their side had always been.
Having no other choice,
I dreamed another dream.

Survival – Written Feb 14 2001 – a bad phase of life

Sudheendra — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:45:55 +0000

I am a loner, wherever I go
There is not the need, nor the want
There are so many seeds that I sow
But there is always the taunt,
The taunt with a wicked smile
Conniving and full of deceit
The sad memories have grown as a pile
And the good ones have taken retreat
It is as if the good ones were never there
Only the others remained sketched
At the lucky people, with jealousy, I stare
But love seemed to be a dream, far fetched
The basket of failed attempts is full
But it seems to have lost its bottom
In me, there is neither the patience, nor the pull
And everything seems like endless autumn
The leaves would rot or dry
But the stem would be left alive
The helplessness would never have an alibi
There was not other choice, I had to survive
Survive like the lone cactus in the desert sands
Where there is no acknowledgement of existence
And you, nobody understands
Where survival makes no sense
(where death makes no difference)

Why the Little Master is called Little Master

Sudheendra — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:11:30 +0000

IPL 3 and the Little Master shows the world that T-20 is not just about going berserk and trying to hit every ball across the fence. A masterfully constructed innings of 71 against KKR had a few exquisite hits to the fence that showed class, timing, placement and above all – grace.
If you look back at all his previous innings in the current IPL you will see the same streak over and over again. One particular shot off Chris Gayle – a neat little flick off the pads that sent the ball racing between two fielders to the mid wicket boundary is what sets him apart from the others. A small placard held by a member of the audience that was flashed across the TV screens for a mere 4 seconds says a lot about this Master – “ There are two types of players, One- Sachin Tendulkar, Two- the rest”.
I remember reading somewhere about how a bowler got so frustrated with Don Bradman hitting boundaries at will that he shouted to the captain “ For God’s sake, put the fielders in the gaps “. When Sachin is on song, I guess this is what would apply. Given the fact that cricket in India has religious overtones to it and that a few cricketers are possibly more famous and have a greater fan following than movie stars, it is no surprise when you see signs that say “ Cricket is our religion and Sachin is our God”.
20 years on the field and having faced bowlers like Imran Khan, Malcolm Marshall, Walsh, Ambrose and the likes, this man has come a long way and rightfully deserves all the respect and love showered on him. Many of the players who started their careers after him are now commentators, coaches or retired and away from cricket. This man is a war horse whose hunger for runs seems to be growing and sometimes makes you wonder – will he ever retire? Will India let him retire?
He has records in both the old forms of the game and I believe records in T-20 are also not far away. 200 runs in one ODI innings, highest runs in both forms of the game, highest centuries in both forms of the game and the hunger does not subside. Is he selfish or is it just the love for the game? Kapil Dev is once said to have commented on Sachin’s legs – If i had thighs like that, I would probably play another 10 years.
Surely, the best modern cricketer of the day. During the presentation ceremony post the match with KKR, Harsha Bhogle called Sachin up to speak. Sachin kept talking about the support he got from the other end. Harsha stopped him mid way and said – we have always been hearing you talking about others. Let’s talk about you now. Did you not have a blast while batting? Thats humility, modesty and having a firm head on the shoulders.
A heartfelt thanks to Sachin for the entertainment he has provided over the last 20 years. A true Master of the game

Footprints in the sand

Sudheendra — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:00:19 +0000

The sun was setting behind the sea
and the couple walked hand in hand,
lost in the words of love.
I watched their footprints lie side by side.
They spoke only one language.
The waves washed them away
but many more kept coming.
When this pair departed,
another pair would appear,
tracing the same path,
spreading the same message.
I saw them walk towards me
and then past me.
My presence was unnoticed.
The warmth from the held hands
slipped into the air, and touched my face.
It passed into my heard and I got up,
in search of footprints to be seen beside mine.