Advertising, ad campaigns, ad agencies, and the people that make it happen

The so-called "Britney Bomb" at MTV's Video Music Awards (where rumors have it she was "Bombed" before she went on stage, to "Bomb" all over again) certainly did no harm to the ratings for Viacom's MTV, but it was also, significantly, a great day for online video providers--particularly MTV. According to the Street.com, MTV's strategy to show the awards once on cable television provided the boost it wanted for its Web site. And Britney Spears' "universally celebrated" disaster comeback helped drive the highest day of traffic ever on MTV.com in terms of unique visitors and video streams. In addition, the Spears-driven online frenzy also proved to be a red-letter day for Google's YouTube. To the annoyance of Viacom, Spears' performance was the most-viewed clip on the Google video site, which is being sued by the MTV parent for $1 billion for precisely that kind of thing. Of course, per YouTube's compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, clips of the Britney Bomb were removed at Viacom's request. But by that time, the damage was done.

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Yeah... And go easy on the vermouth!