Mochila, an online content marketplace, has released an ad-supported slide-show player for photos. The 300-pixel-wide widget allows publishers to embed static or dynamic image-content into their Web sites, free of charge.
Mochila delivers images owned or distributed by numerous providers, from Getty Images and Associated Press to the smaller SplashNews. In-stream supplier credit and caption information accompany images. Fixed display and text-ad advertising accompany the Mochila Slideshow Player, which also serves rich-media ads for every three or four images displayed. The revenue-generating scheme is similar to the ad-supported image-licensing model recently introduced by GumGum.
The slideshow player can restrict image content to specific categories or keywords, such as a celebrity name. As new images are added to the Mochila inventory, the widget dynamically updates itself with images that matching previously established criteria. Users have pause and autoplay options, a drop-down thumbnail view and full-screen views of photos.
Some Mochila clients, including Egotastic.com and CelebrityBabyScoop.com, have already adopted the widget. The two news-and-gossip Web sites are personal blogs that exemplify the rising demand for celebrity imagery, particularly in social media.
Unfortunately, they also exemplify the misuse of imagery and copyright infringement pervasive in social media and celebrity blogs in particular.
Some images on Egotastic.com are credited to photo agencies, suggesting that appropriate licensing arrangements have been made. However, instances of less-than-full adherence to copyright laws are plentiful. A cursory review of the homepage reveals a number of images scanned from print magazines, including Demi Moore's photo from the cover of Harper's Bazaar and pictures of Lake Bell and Carla Bruni originally published by GQ.
CelebrityBabyScoop.com appears to be more copyright-conscious, crediting all of its images to various photo agencies. However, it's running a poll that features an image of Patrick Dempsey, his family and a remnant of the People magazine logo.
Still, these two sites are among the more aware members of social media, as evidenced by their Mochila memberships. Many bloggers remain unfamiliar with the law, while others, including the often-sued celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, choose to willfully disregard it.
There is a clear market for ad-supported licensing models by Mochila, GumGum and others. Whether or not such products can also have an effect on infringement rates remains to be seen.