SaysMe.tv, which launched April 24, gives individuals the opportunity to sponsor political ads and run them on TV and online. Users choose from a library of ads or create their own and arrange to play the ad on the network and locality of their choice, with their name attached to it with a sponsored by message. The ads can run on cable at CNN, Comedy Central, ESPN, Fox News, MSNBC and MTV and in a few local broadcast markets. The ads also play online, with buyers loading them on their blogs, websites and social networking pages. In this week’s iChat, SaysMe.tv CEO Lisa Eisenpresser explains how SaysMe.tv works and discusses the implications it has for political advertising.
iSPOT: When did you launch?
Eisenpresser: This week, so we’re brand new.
iSPOT: Can you give us some background on how SaysMe.tv works?
Eisenpresser: SaysMe is a bridge between the web and TV. It’s gives regular folks without advertising budgets the opportunity to run 30 second ads on TV. They can choose an ad from our library or create and upload their own 25 second commercial and choose their market and network and run the ad branded with their name on it.
iSPOT: You have a library of commercials?
Eisenpresser: We have a library and we are reaching out to professional outfits like BarelyPolitical and 23/6 and individual videographers we see that are creating compelling content for YouTube. We want to tell them that now that you’re already doing it, here’s a business model so that every time someone runs your 25 second creative with your name on it, you get paid a royalty.
iSPOT: Have the political ads been made for individual candidates?
Eisenpresser: They’re pro and con for all the candidates. We’re a neutral platform of the people. We hope to have plenty of choice for pro and con for all the candidates. There will also be ads for PETA and pro-choice and pro-life and pro-war and anti-war and the Humane Society and the church and everything else you can imagine.
iSPOT: How do you arrange to broadcast the ads on cable networks?
Eisenpresser: We are just like any media buyer, we aggregate demand. We work closely with cable players to hook our system into theirs for approval and buying. We’re an e-commerce front end.
iSPOT: How do people arrange to have the ads run?
Eisenpresser: Go to our site–it’s as easy as browsing through your iPhone. Use the interface which mirrors the ease of the Apple product. You browse through the library, choose an ad that represents your belief or we encourage people to make their own ad and upload it. Then you roll over the networks and prices and choose the network with the demographic you want to reach and your market. We are ramping up city by city starting with those that are affected by the primaries, but soon we’ll have presence in 92 cities. Right now we’re only in Indiana and North Carolina and we ran in Philadelphia. We will very quickly have a presence in all major media markets. Once you’ve chosen your ad, you choose your network and market and your ad becomes yours to embed anywhere you want on the web and send out to your friends and let everyone know where you stand.
iSPOT: Can people create their own ads?
Eisenpresser: Absolutely, we encourage anyone with a point of view and creative way of getting it across in 25 seconds to enjoy the impact of the web and television.
iSPOT: If someone creates their own ad, how do they get it into your system?
Eisenpresser: They go to the user submission link and upload the ad based on our tech specs.
iSPOT: Can you go into more detail about the how ads can run online?
Eisenpresser: In the same way that YouTube videos are embeddable, ours are as well. They can be forwarded to your friends from our dashboard, they can be blasted out to your contacts, they can be embedded on your blog, your web page and social networking site. We’re building out a suite of consumer friendly tools to share the ads and personalize them.
iSPOT: Will political candidates use them?
Eisenpresser: It’s mostly a place for citizens, but campaigns can post their ads, too. Those ads would be subject to the $2300 campaign contribution limits, whereas individual ads made not in coordination with a campaign can be run to people’s hearts content.
iSPOT: Do the ads run once or can they run them more often?
Eisenpresser: They run as many times as you want. If your budget is $100 and you’re picking $50 ads you can run it twice. We have ads for as little as $25 that can run on a major cable network in Raleigh or Charlotte, N.C., or Philadelphia. We’re aggregating demand so we buy in bulk.
iSPOT: At the end of an ad, can any other content be added besides the name?
Eisenpresser: At the moment, we are sticking to paid for by your name, which is similar to the political ads that run online. Paid for by the sponsor shown here gives people a really good way to attach their name to their voice and in the future we may provide more customization features like pictures and graphics.
iSPOT: What kind of ads do you have in your library?
Eisenpresser: Man on the street, some are very funny. They’ve been created by production companies and individuals, most by individuals. We are reaching out to those people to bring us their 25-second ads and get paid every time someone runs them. “Obama Girl” had over 60 million views on the web. If a tiny percentage of those people ran it on TV with their names on it, that would be significant royalties for the producer.
iSPOT: How do the royalties work?
Eisenpresser: When you upload your ad to the user submission page, you sign a royalty agreement. You have rights to the footage and you’re uploading and signing a royalty agreement.
iSPOT: So you’re actually reaching out to two groups of people: the people who create the ads and the people who want to play them?
Eisenpresser: Yes, the people who create the ads and the people who sponsor them.
iSPOT: What impact do you think your service will have on the upcoming election?
Eisenpresser: I’m hoping we start to see a lot more messages that were created by the people for the people. Not by the candidates for the candidates.
iSPOT: How do you think this changes political advertising?
Eisenpresser: This is the next generation of advertising. Some of the best advertising will be homespun, by, about and for the people. TV will be punctuated by raw real voices like you see on the web.
iSPOT: When you started the company why did you make it politically oriented? Can’t any kind of ad run this way?
Eisenpresser: We timed it to debut during the 2008 campaign season because people are passionately engaged and invested in the election and we wanted to give them the opportunity to make their opinions count rather than passively writing checks and wondering how their money gets spent. They can choose to create and target their message, it’s a much more tangible and satisfying way to be engaged in politics.
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