For those who are unfamilar, Current TV was founded by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt-- it is available on cable and satellite television as well as online. Their content features both professionally produced material and user generated. Their approach to advertising is therefore well aligned with their focus on user generated content.
Here is the link to the information on Current TV's website:
You can also read a little about it here:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/has_current_solved_the_user_ge.php
The article cites Hyatt's lecture in which he states that 9 out of 10 of Current's viewers prefer the user generated ads. The key is that Current partners with corporations to create these ad contests, again like Dorito's did, but on a much smaller scale; again like the Dorito's case, the winners receive financial awards, but they are typically pretty small, 1000-5000$. The advertisers themselves generally sign one year contracts with the network, for about $ 1 million. A great way for them to reach a young audience while externalizing production costs for ad creation... Of course there is also a lot of risk for this type of ad creation-- mitigated to some degree in Current's case by the fact the sponsors choose which ads will be aired. Still as popular as this form may be with Current's viewers, I cannot imagine that user generated ads will ever truly be widespread. It is just too important for companies to really control and mold their brand image, and reach their specific targets. The Current model offers one fun facet of the much larger marketing strategy for these companies. Of course what we will see-- and probably do now although I don't know too much about the ad agency industry-- is professional agencies developing user generated expertise and adding that to their tool kit. So the middleman won't be replaced in the end, but just adapt to this new model.
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