Autobytel Leaps Onto Video iPod
By Mary Ann Milbourn, The Orange County Register, Calif.
Oct. 29–On a screen near you: Autobytel is banking on video iPods to attract consumers eager to watch its video car reviews and weekly auto news programs.
Autobytel Inc., hoping to set itself apart from its bigger competition, on Friday became one of the first Internet auto marketing firms to offer free video iPod downloads of car reviews and news of industry trends.
James Fabin, executive producer of Autobytel’s www.carTV.com, said officials at the Irvine-based company realized it had content that was a perfect match for the video iPod because video car reviews and a weekly auto news program already were offered on its five Web sites.
AutoBytel posted 10 downloads for iPods from its video library on Oct. 12, when Appleannounced release of its latest iPod model.
Fabin said early adopters discovered the downloads almost immediately.
The company put out the official word Friday to establish itself as a company on the cutting edge of consumer information services.
“Video is the wave of the future,” said Mike Rosenberg, head of marketing. “People are less tied to their PCs and are getting more information on cell phones, PDAs and iPods.”
George Peterson, president of Auto Pacific Inc., a Tustin consulting firm, said Autobytel was smart to set itself apart from larger, better-known consumer auto sites like Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds, which don’t have video iPod downloading yet.
“V-casts are right up there with blogs and podcasts (in popularity),” Peterson said. “This is something they need to have to go up against the Kelleys and Edmunds of the world.”
Autobytel is not the only auto site trying to carve out a niche in video iPods. Roadfly.org, a consumer auto site based in Virginia, announced Thursday the release of its first free video available for iPod downloading.
Autobytel officials think the site has several things going for it that will attract consumers to its iPod offerings. Besides professional videos, its downloads are free, while most other sites cost $1.99 each. Autobytel’s car reviews are also done by independent third parties.
Downloads now include CarTV weekly news, a review of the 2006 BMW Z4 and a tutorial on “How to iPod Your Car.” The company will gradually move all its content to iPod downloads.
In addition to carTV.com, Autobytel iPod downloads are available at www.autobytel.com, www.autoweb.com, www.carsmart.com and www.car.com.
The iPod initiative by Autobytel is an effort to get back on track after struggling for more than a year with accounting problems and management changes.
On Monday, it hired Merrill Lynch to pursue a sale, merger or acquisition, saying it needed to achieve greater scale to compete.
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