Finding the right
college, from home
CollegeClickTV, a new site, posts videos of students
By Heidi Dawley
Dec 9, 2008
With a year away at college now bumping $40,000 and more, the hunt for the right school is a lot less about the prestige of the institution and a lot more about what's the right fit that also makes sense economically.
That calls for deep research of the sort one would put into buying a house, and when you think about it they're not dissimilar. Four years of school can approach what one pays for a house.
There's one crucial difference. There's a lot more driving. The typical pursuit of the right school means long weekend road trips.
Or it did.
Enter CollegeClickTV, a new web site that offers all the traditional statistical information one would find combing through U.S. News & World Report's annual college guide but also the very critical information those long weekend road trips set out to find: what the school is really like.
The site features hours of unscripted video interviews with college students talking about the school.
"We want to be everything collegiate. Whatever you want to know about college, we want to be the place you find it, some of it straight from the students that are attending these colleges," says Eric Yaverbaum, president of CollegeClickTV.com.
But CollegeClickTV is interesting as well as for what it says about the direction of the internet in this age of broadband and social networking. It's the opportunity to enter niches and bring fundamental change to the way folks do things.
Broadband has made social networking possible, and social networking has had the effect of changing how people acquire information, from a top-down process to a peer-to-peer process.
In the case of colleges, it's no longer just the dean talking. It's students too, and it's what they say that's probably more important to candidates looking at the school.
"That demographic is very interested in transparency, authentic peer-to-peer, non-scripted information —what you call real opinions," says Yaverbaum.
It makes applying for college a lot cheaper and less time-consuming as well.
CollegeClickTV.com was founded by advertising veteran Glenn Pere, who also funded the venture. Starting out, it makes its money by charging the colleges for posting their videos. At some point it will begin to carry advertising.
It launched with 30,000 unscripted video interviews with students, faculty and local merchants from 200 colleges, and in time it plans to expand to include the bulk of U.S. colleges and universities.
The aim is to become a hub for all information needed to steer the students through the research and application process, and to that end it has partnered with some key players in the college search business: U.S. News & World Report, the Princeton Review and CliffNotes.
CollegeClickTV reports that it is now getting about 10,000 unique visitors a day, with many visitors staying for as long as two hours.
"It is an internet generation and that is here to stay. What sites like ours will do is create better marriages for the student and where they want to go. It will save money," says Yaverbaum. "For the colleges it allows them to speak in a language that will be heard."
***
Meanwhile, in online ratings for the week ended Nov. 30, according to Nielsen Online, Google claimed the top spot among parent companies, followed by Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL LLC and News Corp. Online. For the fifth straight week, the top five brands were Google, Yahoo, MSN/Windows Live, Microsoft and AOL Media Network.
AT&T claimed the top advertiser spot with 1.27 million impressions, followed by Experian Group Limited at 1.11 million. With 10.8 million ads served, Yahoo was again the top advertising site, well ahead of No. 2 MSN at 1.9 million.
In a week that included Thanksgiving, sessions per person per week fell by two from the previous week to 15, and domains visited per person slipped three, to 39. PC time per person plunged 12.5 percent compared with the previous week to almost 16 hours and 30 minutes.
|
Top 25 parent companies
Through Nov. 30 |
|
#
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time Spent per Person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1
|
Google
|
97,366
|
67.4
|
0:36:42
|
|
2
|
Microsoft
|
88,852
|
61.5
|
0:42:16
|
|
3
|
Yahoo!
|
82,260
|
57.0
|
1:00:07
|
|
4
|
AOL LLC
|
49,467
|
34.3
|
1:24:36
|
|
5
|
News Corp. Online
|
46,150
|
32.0
|
0:41:15
|
|
6
|
eBay
|
37,037
|
25.7
|
0:45:47
|
|
7
|
Amazon
|
34,391
|
23.8
|
0:16:55
|
|
8
|
Apple Computer
|
27,833
|
19.3
|
0:36:52
|
|
9
|
InterActiveCorp
|
27,517
|
19.1
|
0:10:19
|
|
10
|
Facebook
|
27,390
|
19.0
|
0:55:41
|
|
11
|
CBS Corporation
|
25,714
|
17.8
|
0:10:10
|
|
12
|
Wikimedia Foundation
|
23,651
|
16.4
|
0:10:30
|
|
13
|
Wal-Mart Stores
|
23,078
|
16.0
|
0:10:23
|
|
14
|
Walt Disney Internet Group
|
22,626
|
15.7
|
0:25:50
|
|
15
|
New York Times Company
|
21,847
|
15.1
|
0:09:34
|
|
16
|
Turner Network (Time Warner)
|
20,500
|
14.2
|
0:18:39
|
|
17
|
Target Corp.
|
18,385
|
12.7
|
0:07:02
|
|
18
|
AT&T Inc.
|
18,363
|
12.7
|
0:17:05
|
|
19
|
Landmark Communications
|
18,001
|
12.5
|
0:12:47
|
|
20
|
Scripps Networks Interactive
|
16,724
|
11.6
|
0:05:42
|
|
21
|
Glam Media
|
15,776
|
10.9
|
0:09:04
|
|
22
|
RealNetworks, Inc.
|
14,697
|
10.2
|
0:15:38
|
|
23
|
Comcast Corp.
|
13,971
|
9.7
|
0:26:01
|
|
24
|
CraigsList
|
13,690
|
9.5
|
0:34:52
|
|
25
|
Viacom Digital
|
13,475
|
9.3
|
0:22:22
|
|
* Time Warner division excludes Turner Network’s audience
Source: Nielsen Online
Note: The parent level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs owned by a single company or division.
|
|
Top 25 brands
Through Nov. 30 |
|
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1 |
Google
|
89,684
|
62.1
|
0:24:50
|
|
2 |
Yahoo!
|
81,373
|
56.4
|
1:00:18
|
|
3 |
MSN/Windows Live
|
66,691
|
46.2
|
0:42:22
|
|
4 |
Microsoft
|
55,431
|
38.4
|
0:16:34
|
|
5 |
AOL Media Network
|
49,467
|
34.3
|
1:24:36
|
|
6 |
Fox Interactive Media
|
39,043
|
27.0
|
0:43:19
|
|
7 |
YouTube
|
39,005
|
27.0
|
0:30:21
|
|
8 |
eBay
|
30,664
|
21.2
|
0:49:10
|
|
9 |
Amazon
|
29,687
|
20.6
|
0:16:31
|
|
10 |
Apple
|
27,833
|
19.3
|
0:36:52
|
|
11 |
Facebook
|
27,390
|
19.0
|
0:55:41
|
|
12 |
Wikipedia
|
23,465
|
16.3
|
0:10:32
|
|
13 |
Wal-Mart Stores
|
21,371
|
14.8
|
0:09:52
|
|
14 |
Ask Search Network
|
18,421
|
12.8
|
0:09:23
|
|
15 |
Target
|
18,217
|
12.6
|
0:07:02
|
|
16 |
Blogger
|
17,931
|
12.4
|
0:05:09
|
|
17 |
CNN Digital Network
|
15,962
|
11.1
|
0:17:51
|
|
18 |
Weather Channel
|
15,898
|
11.0
|
0:13:54
|
|
19 |
Glam Media
|
15,776
|
10.9
|
0:09:04
|
|
20 |
AT&T
|
14,815
|
10.3
|
0:19:32
|
|
21 |
Real Network
|
14,697
|
10.2
|
0:15:38
|
|
22 |
About.com
|
14,406
|
10.0
|
0:03:19
|
|
23 |
Craigslist
|
13,673
|
9.5
|
0:34:54
|
|
24 |
Crossmediaservices.com
|
13,470
|
9.3
|
0:05:57
|
|
25 |
Best Buy
|
12,961
|
9.0
|
0:09:48
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online
Note: The brand level is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs that has a consistent collection of branded content. |
|
Top 25 advertisers
(excludes house ads)
Through Nov. 30 |
|
#
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
AT&T Corp.
|
1,267,213
|
|
2 |
Experian Group Limited
|
1,109,150
|
|
3 |
Netflix, Inc.
|
1,007,607
|
|
4 |
Scottrade, Inc.
|
945,095
|
|
5 |
HSBC Holdings plc
|
702,886
|
|
6 |
Apollo Group, Inc.
|
694,499
|
|
7 |
Vonage Holdings Corp
|
668,644
|
|
8 |
Sprint Corporation
|
604,888
|
|
9 |
Bidz.com
|
552,769
|
|
10 |
General Motors Corporation
|
533,976
|
|
11 |
Verizon Communications, Inc.
|
526,941
|
|
12 |
Ford Motor Company
|
503,684
|
|
13 |
Amazon.com, Inc.
|
492,002
|
|
14 |
United Online, Inc.
|
480,923
|
|
15 |
eBay, Inc.
|
436,345
|
|
16 |
ING Groep N.V.
|
421,746
|
|
17 |
Target Corporation
|
419,767
|
|
18 |
InterActiveCorp
|
349,528
|
|
19 |
E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp.
|
314,489
|
|
20 |
Fandango, Inc.
|
296,752
|
|
21 |
American Express Company
|
251,442
|
|
22 |
The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.
|
229,664
|
|
23 |
Time Warner Inc.
|
226,980
|
|
24 |
NexTag, Inc.
|
226,207
|
|
25 |
Hewlett Packard Company
|
220,706
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Top 25 advertising sites
(excludes house ads)
Through Nov. 30 |
|
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Yahoo!
|
10,803,172
|
|
2 |
MSN
|
1,901,585
|
|
3 |
Comcast.net
|
1,574,644
|
|
4 |
MSNBC
|
1,247,031
|
|
5 |
MySpace
|
1,137,776
|
|
6 |
AOL.com
|
873,820
|
|
7 |
The Weather Channel
|
736,491
|
|
8 |
FOXNEWS.COM
|
716,864
|
|
9 |
IMDb
|
628,925
|
|
10 |
Facebook
|
612,458
|
|
11 |
Amazon
|
412,562
|
|
12 |
ESPN.com
|
375,457
|
|
13 |
Juno
|
351,266
|
|
14 |
eBay
|
331,269
|
|
15 |
YouTube
|
278,709
|
|
16 |
New York Times
|
272,567
|
|
17 |
Photobucket
|
261,114
|
|
18 |
NetZero
|
243,531
|
|
19 |
CNN Money
|
222,452
|
|
20 |
Pogo
|
217,739
|
|
21 |
Perezhilton.com
|
192,258
|
|
22 |
Tagged
|
183,546
|
|
23 |
CNBC
|
178,133
|
|
24 |
CBS SportsLine
|
177,670
|
|
25 |
AT&T Worldnet
|
172,946
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Above data does not include any house advertising activity. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Average use
Through Nov. 30 |
|
|
Current Week
|
Last Week
|
% Change
|
|
Sessions/Visits per Person
|
15
|
17
|
-11.76
|
|
Domains Visited per Person
|
39
|
42
|
-7.14
|
|
PC Time per Person
|
16:29:58
|
18:51:00
|
-12.47
|
|
Active Digital Media Universe
|
144,372,364
|
139,444,875
|
3.53
|
|
Current Digital Media Universe Estimate
|
225,229,705
|
225,259,312
|
-0.01
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online |
|
|
|
