Margins Check: ‘Jackass 2.5,’ video ads, making money from YouTube, and more

Editor’s Note: Welcome to On the Margins, a feature for RCR Wireless News’ weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week, the RCR Wireless News staff considers events in the wider business world and how they could affect the wireless industry.
–Paramount Pictures announced it will debut its new “Jackass 2.5” movie online through Blockbuster’s Movielink service. The film will premier with 15- to 30-second commercials at the beginning and end. The release of the film in an online-only format shows that major movie studios are testing the digital distribution waters, efforts that could eventually include a mobile component.
–Video search site ClipBlast released a new version of its service at www.clipblast.com that includes ad-targeting capability. ClipBlast now pairs video with targeted ads using its “Intelligent Index” feature that categorizes content in real time. The news further highlights efforts by technology companies to add advertisements to online videos, and underscores the importance of the ad-supported revenue model for digital media.
–YouTube expanded its “Partner Program,” the video-sharing site announced on its blog. Now any content creator in the United States or Canada can apply to become a YouTube partner and possibly earn money from ads. A cash incentive likely will help boost YouTube’s store of user-generated content, and mobile firms focusing on user-generated offerings would do well to take note.
–Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution’s syndicated entertainment newsmagazine “Extra” arranged to carry segments from the red-hot online network No Good TV twice a week. The deal, which is strictly promotional for both parties, gives “Extra” a chance to lure younger Internet viewers to its show and affords No Good TV a chance to snare some of “Extra’s” female-centric audience for its online celebrity interviews. The news serves again to illuminate the growing power of Web videos, and their move from the Web onto TV.