Welcome to issue 4 of Dialogue, our client newsletter for CNET Networks UK commercial partners.

It's been another year of massive growth for us at CNET Networks UK, and it’s a real pleasure to keep you, our commercial partners, up to date with what’s happening around the business.

We continue to invest heavily on product development, putting software at the heart of our business. After the successful roll out of the new version of ZDNet UK, relaunched around Web 2.0 community tools, it's exciting to see another launch go live with www.atlarge.com. Our research informed us there is a big opportunity around business travel, and there is no doubt that this is an attractive audience for advertisers.

Additionally we have been concentrating efforts on our broadband video output. We outline a couple of the many things we are doing in original video content, with the CIO Vision Series, and the Special Report+, as well as our take on why broadband video is so important for an interactive content business like ours. As you read on you will see that we are streaming a lot of video to a lot of users.

I hope you find this issue useful.

Tom Bureau, UK Managing Director

How many great business websites are based exclusively around user-generated content (UGC)? We're not sure there are many. That all changed this month with the launch of atlarge.com. Published by CNET Networks UK and managed by the editorial team at silicon.com, atlarge.com is a first in UGC for professionals. atlarge.com is the destination for people who need to travel connected. Written by business travellers for business travellers, atlarge.com is a unique online community giving professionals the information they need to get connected from any commercial airport in the world. Whether you're interested in wi-fi, 3G, connection charges or other connectivity issues, atlarge.com covers it all. We've all missed vital emails or been unable to access critical apps on the road. Maybe we don't have the right kit. Maybe we just don't know what to expect when we travel to unfamiliar places. atlarge.com enables travellers to read about each other's experiences at these hubs. And, naturally, as this is UGC, they get to write about their own experiences too, rating and commenting on key points. When it comes to impartial advice, nothing beats those who travel the same routes as you and frequent the same lounges, and who will be brutally honest about coverage or an access point that no longer works. At CNET Networks UK, we're really excited about atlarge.com; it's a truly global service that dovetails with our existing business-technology brands - whether about strategy, IT or products. The website is already attracting an audience and generating much interest across other websites. atlarge.com also offers new marketing opportunities for organisations looking to target the attractive demographic of affluent business travellers. Contact sales@atlarge.com to find out more about sponsorship and partnership opportunities. It's early days but we have plans to expand atlarge.com next year to cover areas such as hotels and public spaces and introduce features such as membership, advanced search and multimedia uploading. In the meantime, don't just take a look at atlarge.com - contribute and share your experiences with others. Make sure you travel connected.

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CNET Networks UK, in association with the Bathwick Group, is proud to launch a new product: the Special Report+. The Special Report+ is a unique offering that combines bespoke editorial content centred on a specific theme or topic with an independent analyst research report. The report is provided by the Bathwick Group, a specialist strategic research company with over 20 years' experience in the IT sector. The first Special Report+, sponsored by Orange, was published last week. Based on primary research led by CNET Networks UK into the needs and opinions of our global audiences, it combines editorial and multimedia content with an in-depth research report, and is available across our network. The user experience is optimised through the choice of content the Special Report+ provides; users can easily get a quick overview, in-depth insight into the analysis or simply view the raw data. Through the close integration of editorial content, analyst research, video content and PR activity, the Special Report+ creates an excellent thought-leadership platform to showcase client products and services. Through sponsoring the Converged Communications Special Report+, Orange is achieving on its objectives of engaging with their target audience and effectively delivering a number of content rich and contextually relevant PR and Marketing messages. For more information about sponsoring a Special Report+, please contact matt.davies@cnet.com

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CNET Networks has recently launched the CIO Vision Series, sponsored by IBM. Published across our global network of websites (including silicon.com, ZDNet UK, CNET News.com, Tech Republic, ZDNet China, ZDNet Japan, ZDNet Australia, ZDNet.com, ZDNet France and ZDNet Germany), the unique video content features interviews with 30 of the world's leading CIOs. CNET Networks' journalists probed these industry leaders to discover the IT strategies driving their companies forward. Click here to watch the videos now and find out what's driving innovation at Yahoo, which technologies are helping British Airways to meet today's business challenges, and how the top CIOs are syncing up with business counterparts and collaborating with COOs and CEOs. IBM is the exclusive sponsor of this original video content. The sponsorship has already proved to be a great success, raising awareness of the IBM brand, positioning the company as an innovator, and ultimately driving brand consideration among IBM's target audience of C-level executives. IBM has been so pleased with the results that it is now using the video content at its events and on its corporate website. Contact matt.hunt@cnet.com to find out more about exclusive sponsorship opportunities with CNET Networks.

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While it is still early days, there is little doubt the internet will continue to grow in significance as a platform for video content. More than any other factor, entrenched broadband access is driving online video's growth, and the $1.65bn Google recently paid for YouTube is proof that the video revolution is underway. As a result, video is no longer a gimmick. Content providers should be taking the delivery of a multimedia content strategy seriously, and developing it fast. We have our own stats to back this up - in November, over 2.5 million video content streams were delivered to users across CNET Networks' UK properties alone. The demographic usage of internet video is also interesting - while the biggest audience numerically is 18-24 year olds, when it comes to market penetration, 35-49 year olds are the heaviest users, with 31 percent viewing internet videos*. In other words, it would be shortsighted to peg video content and advertising creative at 'kids'. The exciting bit now is to increase user experience and maximise marketing opportunity. Currently, the majority of video advertising is made up of in-stream ads, which are widely seen as the most effective way of communicating a message to the user. The use of a pre-roll is a simple, traceable and user-accepted method of attaching appropriate advertising to video content. In the future, interactivity and integration will be key. Clickable video with 'hot spots' is already being experimented with, and flash-based banners with inset video, or banners that roll over to expand a video window, are all ways of integrating video into a site that break away from the traditional video player. It's likely that television and the internet will continue to find new ways to complement each other - video represents a common ground for the two media, not a battlefield - and this is good news for marketers and advertising agencies as marketing campaigns start to extend TV's reach to the online space. Possibly more than any other advertising format, internet video has the potential to blend key marketing tactics together. We've got a fun ride ahead of us. * eMarketer

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