More Local Video: Fox Enters the Picture

Fox Interactive Media will launch a self service video ad tool, according to the company’s stations group GM Ron Berryman. He announced the product, known as FIM AdStore, from the stage at DDL on Friday.

This will be geared towards local and national advertisers that wish to create video ads and then bid on CMP inventory on FIM properties. It will initially be available to advertisers through Fox TV station websites, and will essentially connect advertisers to video producers and writers through an online community.

This joins the quickly growing segment of companies that offer easier ways for companies of all sizes to produce and distribute video online. Many of these companies were in full force at DDL, including Mixpo, PixelFish, BuzzSpot, VideoBloom and SpotMixer.

These each have different models, explored at the links above, and are experimenting with different price points and channel strategies to reach SMBs. At this early stage of local merchant video, experimentation is expected as are lots of company launches, before we see a shakeout in the space.

The challenge will be finding the right channel relationships to reach a very fragmented SMB market. Yellow Pages are one route that many vendors are vying for (TurnHere has been the most successful here), as are newspapers, and national or regional companies with localized constituents like real estate agencies and auto dealer groups. Spot Runner has been creative in signing such deals with Coldwell Banker and Lexis Nexis.

Fox could have some success signing up companies on its own, given it’s name brand and online reach. Meanwhile its television assets offer the saleability of cross channel video distribution, which could be attractive to some advertisers if bundled in.

More coverage from ClickZ‘s Kate Kaye who was also in full force at DDL last week, and interviewed Berryman.