New LG Blu-ray player will stream movies from Netflix
via Consumer Reports Electronics Blog
Viewers seeking easy access to prerecorded movies and TV shows will soon have a new option: LG says its next high-def DVD player, the BD300 Network Blu-ray Player, can stream content from the Netflix website directly to their TVs.The BD300, which will be available this fall, requires a broadband connection to access the Netflix website. Using the player's remote control, users can browse movies and TV shows, and access ratings and a synopsis of a program. Desired selections are then added to a personalized queue, which is displayed on the TV screen.
According to LG, once a movie is selected from the queue, it will start playing within 30 seconds, and viewers will be able to fast-forward and rewind the program as they do on a DVR.There are several questions that hopefully will be answered at a press conference this evening. For example, the companies didn't say if the programs would be available as high-def video streams, and if so, what the resolution would be. Based on other deals, we presume it will be sent as standard-definition video. And so far, there's no word on the expected price for the player. And while the companies said there would be "no additional charge" for content streamed from Netflix, they didn't say what level of membership, if any, would be required to access the Netflix library.The BD300, a Profile 2.0 player with Blu-ray's BonusView (picture-in-picture) and BD Live (Internet access) features, is the second joint product announcement from LG and Netflix this year. At the CES trade show in January, the two companies said that in the second half of the year LG would offer a settop box with a similar ability to stream movies and TV episodes from Netflix to TVs. Netflix also has a deal with Microsoft that allows Xbox 360 owners to access standard-def content from the Netflix website.We'll be attending the LG summer line show this evening, so stay tuned for more details about the BD300 and other LG products. LG has emerged as a strong brand in multiple consumer electronics categories, including TVs, Blu-ray and DVD players and recorders, and cell phones. Several LG models are listed in our LCD and plasma TV recommendations. For other fine choices see our Ratings of LCD and plasma TVs.
Surprise! A Big Media Company Finally Says Digital Revenue Actually Matters Now
via Silicon Alley Insider
Embedded in Disney's (DIS) latest filing with the SEC is a claim that might go down as a first in the annals of big media: Disney says it now has a meaningful digital business.
How meaningful? Disney won't say. But it says it was enough to help its broadcast TV group (the ABC network, plus the local stations ABC owns) show a slight revenue increase over last year in the face of a cratering ad market.
Disney's broadcasting revenue came in at $1.531 billion, up $7 million from the $1.524 billion the unit took in a year ago. That in itself is an achievement, considering the lower ratings at ABC and the decreased advertising revenue from automotive, consumer electronics and financial services. How'd they do it? In part, through digital revenue from ABC.com that went to the network and local stations, as revenue from the kids virtual world Club Penguin. Disney explains:
Broadcasting revenues increased $7 million reflecting higher internet revenues, partially offset by lower advertising revenues at the owned television stations. The increase in internet revenues included Club Penguin which was acquired in the fourth quarter of the prior year.
Revenues at the ABC Television Network were comparable to the prior year as the impact of lower ratings was offset by higher advertising rates and digital media revenues.
Until now, big media has been careful to note that despite the hype, digital revenues are a trickle -- an investment in the future but not meaningful today. That, in fact, is the core of their argument with the various labor guilds, which are looking for a piece of that revenue. Once, digital was fodder for press releases only. Now, it's significant enough to tell the SEC about.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
News Bytes: July 29-30
Tivo and Amazon Integration Update
via Cynopsis
Tivo completed a new integration with Amazon last week allowing viewers to purchase items sold on Amazon.com from their broadband connected Tivo. Product Purchase links will be embedded in interactive ads and TV shows that discuss products available on the site. The items will also be accessible via Tivo's Universal Swivel Search feature, allowing users to search for products as they relate to specific shows, movies, actors or directors. So far products related to Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Colbert Report and Burn Notice have been made available.
Industry Moves: MySpace ODs On New Execs; Oberfest Leaves LAT To Join
via paidContent.org
MySpace had a brief flurry of activity this afternoon, when reports came out that it had done some trimming of its staff. Turns out it was a yearly review thing, and some non-performing employees were let go, and new ones are being hired in their place.
Separate from that, the company has announced a slew of new senior execs at the social network, many of them familiar names in our industry:
-- Manu Thapar, SVP of Engineering. He was previously the VP of Engineering for Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), where he was responsible for software infrastructure engineering and ops.
-- Angela Courtin, SVP of Marketing. She was previously at MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA), as VP of Integrated Marketing, responsible for overseeing the West Coast department. At MySpace, she fills in the role that Shawn Gold held until last year.
-- Tish Whitcraft, SVP of Customer Care. Also ex-Yahoo, but her most recent role was VP of Global Customer Experience and Operations at ooma, the consumer Voip start-up.
-- Jason Oberfest, VP of Business Development. Prior to this he was Managing Director of Business Development and Product Management for Los Angeles Times Interactive. Effectively the business head of LATimes.com...will find out who the new head is.
-- Abe Thomas, VP of Online Marketing. Prior to MySpace, Abe was at eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) and PayPal.
@ LATV Festival: 'Content Is King, But Distribution Brings The Bling'
via paidContent.org
"Content is king, but distribution brings the bling," Brian Shin, founder and CEO of Visible Measures, said hesitantly on a panel this morning at the LATV Festival here in Hollywood. Sure it's corny, as he willingly admitted, but it's also a refreshing take on an aged line that nicely summarizes the space content providers – large and small – find themselves operating in today.
Greg Clayman, executive VP of digital distribution and business development at MTV Networks:
"There are audiences out there already that we can bring in, bring the content to and grow the overall pie," he said. As its syndicated more content to more channels its seen its audience grow overall and hopes it can bring many of those viewers back to their content on air. In that aim, MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA) has launched new properties like South Park Studios, which puts the entire show's catalog under one roof and enables viewers to embed that content into social networking sites and online video networks. "Over time we've been able to extract the key elements of our player to integrate it better into third-party players." On the retail side, Clayman said iTunes and Xbox are the No. 1 and No. 2 distributors for video purchased online.
"It's something that actually is picking up a lot of steam." But the larger opportunity lies in advertising, he said.
Jonathan Leess, president and GM of CBS (NYSE: CBS) Television Stations' digital media group:
Since 2004, CBS has been transforming each of its 29 owned TV stations into 24/7 digital content providers that play online, mobile and multiple distribution networks. CBS newsrooms produce about 400 hours of news coverage every week from which 500 short video news clips are produced every day. With that content at the ready, CBS has moved it portal strategy into one mostly pegged around syndication on a local basis. "There is a plethora of desire in uploading to these forums," he said. As CBS builds up its content play on multiple channels – many of which it owns – it's put a heavy emphasis on training hundreds of local sales representatives on selling in this medium.
John Fitzpatrick, director of business development at Blip.tv: The NYC-based startup provides video content providers with a series of monetization options that let them determine the type and source of advertising they'd like to use with their video. Pulling from six different ad networks, each day the company will pick the network that has the highest CPM and try to put those ads into its clients' content based on that data. Content providers that wish to plug in their own source of advertising are charged a $5 CPM for administrative costs while ads that are delivered by Blip.tv carry a 50-50 revenue share. "We've determined this concept of total potential audience. It's a false idea to think if you put your show in one place people are going to find it … you have to find your audience wherever they are," Fitzpatrick said. "The dollars are all over the map for web shows right now. It's really all over the map… No one's a millionaire yet as a result of working with Blip.tv."
Vid-Biz: Flixwagon, YouTube, AT&T P2P
via NewTeeVee
Flixwagon Opens Up iPhone Alpha; all users with a first-gen (jailbroken) iPhone running firmware 1.1.4 can now do live vidcasting from the mobile device. (Flixwagon)
YouTube Recalculating May Ad Share; vid site sends emails to content partners explaining that it needs to correct some revenue numbers, the result could mean a bump of up to 5 percent in pay for some partners. (TVWeek)
Wireless P2P File Sharing Forbidden on AT&T; company tells the FCC that it identifies P2P file-sharing apps as something that will cause extreme network capacity issues. (Multichannel News)
Report: Online Viewing Starts to Replace TV
via NewTeeVee
Networks continue to insist that online television viewing is additive, but I for one think there’s no way that will last long term. And for the first time ever in May, a significant portion of U.S.-based online viewers of prime-time episodic television shows failed to watch part of those shows on television as well, according to Integrated Media Measurement. Fifty percent of online viewers consider watching prime-time network shows online a replacement for television viewing, the firm said.
As for the other half, 31.3 percent use streaming episodes as catch-up, while 18.7 percent watch streaming episodes to fill in episodes they missed or re-watch something they’ve already seen on TV. But there’s no demographic difference among the three groups — they all trend towards affluent, well-educated, 25- to 44-year-old Caucasian female professionals.
“The migration of consumption from one platform to another is only a matter of time,” was IMMI’s conclusion.
Up to 20 percent of episodic content viewing occurs online, according to IMMI. They arrived at that number by counting a bit differently than previous reports, which measure which portion of a group of consumers view content online — anywhere from 16 to 43 percent, according to research we’ve collected.
Here’s the PDF of the IMMI report, via paidContent. IMMI studied some 3,000 teens and adults and 14 prime-time shows from two major networks in the fall of 2007 and the spring of 2008.
Vid-Biz: YouTube, Comcast, EXPN
via NewTeeVee
MediaSet Sues YouTube, Google; Italian media company says it found 4,643 copies of its programming on YouTube and is seeking damages of $779 million. (CNET)
Comcast Reports Q2 Results; cable company loses 138,000 basic cable subscribers, adds 320,000 digital subscribers (check out its broadband numbers over at GigaOM). (The Wall Street Journal)
ESPN Rebranding Extreme Sports Site; EXPN to become ESPN Action Sports, will be the hub of the ESPN Action Sports Network sites comprising verticals for surfing, skateboarding and more. (Broadcasting and Cable)
via Cynopsis
Tivo completed a new integration with Amazon last week allowing viewers to purchase items sold on Amazon.com from their broadband connected Tivo. Product Purchase links will be embedded in interactive ads and TV shows that discuss products available on the site. The items will also be accessible via Tivo's Universal Swivel Search feature, allowing users to search for products as they relate to specific shows, movies, actors or directors. So far products related to Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Colbert Report and Burn Notice have been made available.
Industry Moves: MySpace ODs On New Execs; Oberfest Leaves LAT To Join
via paidContent.org
MySpace had a brief flurry of activity this afternoon, when reports came out that it had done some trimming of its staff. Turns out it was a yearly review thing, and some non-performing employees were let go, and new ones are being hired in their place.
Separate from that, the company has announced a slew of new senior execs at the social network, many of them familiar names in our industry:
-- Manu Thapar, SVP of Engineering. He was previously the VP of Engineering for Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), where he was responsible for software infrastructure engineering and ops.
-- Angela Courtin, SVP of Marketing. She was previously at MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA), as VP of Integrated Marketing, responsible for overseeing the West Coast department. At MySpace, she fills in the role that Shawn Gold held until last year.
-- Tish Whitcraft, SVP of Customer Care. Also ex-Yahoo, but her most recent role was VP of Global Customer Experience and Operations at ooma, the consumer Voip start-up.
-- Jason Oberfest, VP of Business Development. Prior to this he was Managing Director of Business Development and Product Management for Los Angeles Times Interactive. Effectively the business head of LATimes.com...will find out who the new head is.
-- Abe Thomas, VP of Online Marketing. Prior to MySpace, Abe was at eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) and PayPal.
@ LATV Festival: 'Content Is King, But Distribution Brings The Bling'
via paidContent.org
"Content is king, but distribution brings the bling," Brian Shin, founder and CEO of Visible Measures, said hesitantly on a panel this morning at the LATV Festival here in Hollywood. Sure it's corny, as he willingly admitted, but it's also a refreshing take on an aged line that nicely summarizes the space content providers – large and small – find themselves operating in today.
Greg Clayman, executive VP of digital distribution and business development at MTV Networks:
"There are audiences out there already that we can bring in, bring the content to and grow the overall pie," he said. As its syndicated more content to more channels its seen its audience grow overall and hopes it can bring many of those viewers back to their content on air. In that aim, MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA) has launched new properties like South Park Studios, which puts the entire show's catalog under one roof and enables viewers to embed that content into social networking sites and online video networks. "Over time we've been able to extract the key elements of our player to integrate it better into third-party players." On the retail side, Clayman said iTunes and Xbox are the No. 1 and No. 2 distributors for video purchased online.
"It's something that actually is picking up a lot of steam." But the larger opportunity lies in advertising, he said.
Jonathan Leess, president and GM of CBS (NYSE: CBS) Television Stations' digital media group:
Since 2004, CBS has been transforming each of its 29 owned TV stations into 24/7 digital content providers that play online, mobile and multiple distribution networks. CBS newsrooms produce about 400 hours of news coverage every week from which 500 short video news clips are produced every day. With that content at the ready, CBS has moved it portal strategy into one mostly pegged around syndication on a local basis. "There is a plethora of desire in uploading to these forums," he said. As CBS builds up its content play on multiple channels – many of which it owns – it's put a heavy emphasis on training hundreds of local sales representatives on selling in this medium.
John Fitzpatrick, director of business development at Blip.tv: The NYC-based startup provides video content providers with a series of monetization options that let them determine the type and source of advertising they'd like to use with their video. Pulling from six different ad networks, each day the company will pick the network that has the highest CPM and try to put those ads into its clients' content based on that data. Content providers that wish to plug in their own source of advertising are charged a $5 CPM for administrative costs while ads that are delivered by Blip.tv carry a 50-50 revenue share. "We've determined this concept of total potential audience. It's a false idea to think if you put your show in one place people are going to find it … you have to find your audience wherever they are," Fitzpatrick said. "The dollars are all over the map for web shows right now. It's really all over the map… No one's a millionaire yet as a result of working with Blip.tv."
Vid-Biz: Flixwagon, YouTube, AT&T P2P
via NewTeeVee
Flixwagon Opens Up iPhone Alpha; all users with a first-gen (jailbroken) iPhone running firmware 1.1.4 can now do live vidcasting from the mobile device. (Flixwagon)
YouTube Recalculating May Ad Share; vid site sends emails to content partners explaining that it needs to correct some revenue numbers, the result could mean a bump of up to 5 percent in pay for some partners. (TVWeek)
Wireless P2P File Sharing Forbidden on AT&T; company tells the FCC that it identifies P2P file-sharing apps as something that will cause extreme network capacity issues. (Multichannel News)
Report: Online Viewing Starts to Replace TV
via NewTeeVee
Networks continue to insist that online television viewing is additive, but I for one think there’s no way that will last long term. And for the first time ever in May, a significant portion of U.S.-based online viewers of prime-time episodic television shows failed to watch part of those shows on television as well, according to Integrated Media Measurement. Fifty percent of online viewers consider watching prime-time network shows online a replacement for television viewing, the firm said.
As for the other half, 31.3 percent use streaming episodes as catch-up, while 18.7 percent watch streaming episodes to fill in episodes they missed or re-watch something they’ve already seen on TV. But there’s no demographic difference among the three groups — they all trend towards affluent, well-educated, 25- to 44-year-old Caucasian female professionals.
“The migration of consumption from one platform to another is only a matter of time,” was IMMI’s conclusion.
Up to 20 percent of episodic content viewing occurs online, according to IMMI. They arrived at that number by counting a bit differently than previous reports, which measure which portion of a group of consumers view content online — anywhere from 16 to 43 percent, according to research we’ve collected.
Here’s the PDF of the IMMI report, via paidContent. IMMI studied some 3,000 teens and adults and 14 prime-time shows from two major networks in the fall of 2007 and the spring of 2008.
Vid-Biz: YouTube, Comcast, EXPN
via NewTeeVee
MediaSet Sues YouTube, Google; Italian media company says it found 4,643 copies of its programming on YouTube and is seeking damages of $779 million. (CNET)
Comcast Reports Q2 Results; cable company loses 138,000 basic cable subscribers, adds 320,000 digital subscribers (check out its broadband numbers over at GigaOM). (The Wall Street Journal)
ESPN Rebranding Extreme Sports Site; EXPN to become ESPN Action Sports, will be the hub of the ESPN Action Sports Network sites comprising verticals for surfing, skateboarding and more. (Broadcasting and Cable)
Monday, July 28, 2008
News Bytes: July 28
YouTube To Partners: Oops, We Owe You Money
via Silicon Alley Insider
YouTube (GOOG) is admitting it miscalculated May advertising revenue and underpaid content "partners" by up to 5%, according to an email obtained by Daisy Whitney at TVWeek. YouTube pays content partners 55% of ad revenue, which generally comes out to about $8.25 for 1,000 views for the standard $15 CPM overlay ads it sells to advertisers.
According to the email, the company says it had previously calculated an impression for any video watched more than 30 seconds. But, after unspecified "enhancements" were made it "analyzed the reports and noticed that, related to the new change, some minor corrections needed to be made to the revenue numbers."
YouTube says "any change to revenue should be zero or, in some cases, positive up to around 5%."
YouTube didn't specify what "enhancements" it made to its accounting methods, but the fact that revenue is going up for some producers indicates it may have been undercounting impressions. YouTube recently stopped counting views generated when a video plays automatically, but that change wouldn't have increased the number of impressions per video. We're looking into it and will let you know if we learn more.
Hulu Gets All Widgety and Facebook-y
via NewTeeVee
One of the reasons Hulu caught on so quickly was the ability for users to embed full-length TV episodes and movies on their blogs and personal pages. Hulu says that its content has been distributed on 27,000 sites and over 500,000 individual embed players. Now the company is taking that distribution one step further and rolling out new widgets that expand those embedding options.
The widgets are available in four flavors. The Player Widget (shown here) is basically a mini-me Hulu, recreating the same site experience in a smaller package. The Show and Movie Widget updates with specific content you are interested in. The Picks Widget delivers updated lists of content like “recently added movies.” And the Summer Widget lists the latest content in Hulu’s Days of Summer promotion (though Hulu isn’t sure what it will do with it after the summer).
During his recent visit to NewTeeVee HQ (video after the jump), CTO Eric Feng also talked a little about Hulu’s upcoming implementation of Facebook Connect on the video site, which will launch in August. Facebook users will be able share their activity with friends and track each other’s activities on the site.
Here, Feng updated us on some Hulu user stats, the lack of HD content, and the Hulu experience beyond PCs.
Sprint Refreshes Mobile Web Portal
via mocoNews.net
Sprint (NYSE: S) has launched a new mobile home page that's now available on at least 40 of the carrier's mobile phones. Sprint Web, which rests on technology from ChangingWorlds, makes use of customers' previous usage to draw up an adaptive home screen that will be unique for each customer. The revamped portal also provides access to Google (NSDQ: GOOG) search, which is now the default mobile search provider for the carrier. The upgrade will appear automatically for any customer that accesses the web on one of the compatible phones. (Release.)
Facing Lawsuit, Redlasso Suspends Web Video Clip Service
via Digital Media Wire - connecting people & knowledge
King of Prussia, Pa. - Days after being served a copyright infringement lawsuit by broadcasters NBC (NYSE: GE) and Fox News (NYSE: NWS), Web video clipping service Redlasso announced on Friday that it will suspend access to its clipping service. "We believe we have always acted within the law and have been respectful of the networks rights. Unfortunately, they have forced our hand and are denying the blogging community access to the Redlasso platform that beneficially tracks the usage of newsworthy clips across the Web," said Ken Hayward, CEO of Redlasso. read more
Hulu Unveils New Widget Gallery
via Cynopsis
Hulu is attacking that sizeable segment of the market that's never heard of the service by unveiling a new Widget Gallery to help spread the word and remind loyal users to check back often for new shows. A selection of embeddable players allow users to queue and track featured, recently added or most popular videos from a number of environments including Facebook, Netvibes and Piczo. Hulu.com also began streaming its first soap opera - Guiding Light - on July 25 and will debut two other TeleNext Media shows As The World Turns today and Another World on July 29. An initial 18 episodes of each show will be made available with 3 additional episodes to be added each week.
Microsoft Works with Peter Safran
via Cynopsis
Exclusive games aren't the only thing that will drive users to a gaming platform. Microsoft is working with producer Peter Safran (Scary Movie, Meet The Spartans) to create a series of comedic shorts for free distribution on the 12 million member Xbox Live platform, directed by leading horror film directors including James Wan (Saw) and Marcus Nispel (Texas Chainsaw Massacre.) The 10-minute shorts, which will also be available on MSN and Zune, are actually pilots that could be developed into full blown online series, according to Microsoft.
Research: Short Form Video Still Dominates Online Viewing
via Cynopsis
Short form videos still dominate online viewing, according to a new study conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates & Metacafe. The online survey, which looked at the habits of 2,000 users aged 12-64, identified Comedy (37%), music videos (36%), UGC (33%), news (31%) and movie trailers (28%) as the top 5 short form categories. Other findings include:
50% of respondents watch online video weekly
11% watch online video daily
28% of those who watch online videos report watching less TV as a result
19% of online video users report regularly sharing a link to a video with someone else
Industry Moves
via Cynopsis
NBC Universal named Dan Bethlahmy to Director, Wireless Marketing, in the Digital Distribution group; Tracy Kim as Manager, Digital Products; and Emily Powers as Manager, Business Development. Each will oversee aspects of the company's digital distribution efforts for properties including Bravo, Chiller, CNBC, CNBC World, MSNBC, mun2, NBC Weather Plus, Oxygen, SCI FI Channel, ShopNBC, Sleuth, Telemundo, Universal HD and USA Network.
via Silicon Alley Insider
YouTube (GOOG) is admitting it miscalculated May advertising revenue and underpaid content "partners" by up to 5%, according to an email obtained by Daisy Whitney at TVWeek. YouTube pays content partners 55% of ad revenue, which generally comes out to about $8.25 for 1,000 views for the standard $15 CPM overlay ads it sells to advertisers.
According to the email, the company says it had previously calculated an impression for any video watched more than 30 seconds. But, after unspecified "enhancements" were made it "analyzed the reports and noticed that, related to the new change, some minor corrections needed to be made to the revenue numbers."
YouTube says "any change to revenue should be zero or, in some cases, positive up to around 5%."
YouTube didn't specify what "enhancements" it made to its accounting methods, but the fact that revenue is going up for some producers indicates it may have been undercounting impressions. YouTube recently stopped counting views generated when a video plays automatically, but that change wouldn't have increased the number of impressions per video. We're looking into it and will let you know if we learn more.
Hulu Gets All Widgety and Facebook-y
via NewTeeVee
One of the reasons Hulu caught on so quickly was the ability for users to embed full-length TV episodes and movies on their blogs and personal pages. Hulu says that its content has been distributed on 27,000 sites and over 500,000 individual embed players. Now the company is taking that distribution one step further and rolling out new widgets that expand those embedding options.
The widgets are available in four flavors. The Player Widget (shown here) is basically a mini-me Hulu, recreating the same site experience in a smaller package. The Show and Movie Widget updates with specific content you are interested in. The Picks Widget delivers updated lists of content like “recently added movies.” And the Summer Widget lists the latest content in Hulu’s Days of Summer promotion (though Hulu isn’t sure what it will do with it after the summer).
During his recent visit to NewTeeVee HQ (video after the jump), CTO Eric Feng also talked a little about Hulu’s upcoming implementation of Facebook Connect on the video site, which will launch in August. Facebook users will be able share their activity with friends and track each other’s activities on the site.
Here, Feng updated us on some Hulu user stats, the lack of HD content, and the Hulu experience beyond PCs.
Sprint Refreshes Mobile Web Portal
via mocoNews.net
Sprint (NYSE: S) has launched a new mobile home page that's now available on at least 40 of the carrier's mobile phones. Sprint Web, which rests on technology from ChangingWorlds, makes use of customers' previous usage to draw up an adaptive home screen that will be unique for each customer. The revamped portal also provides access to Google (NSDQ: GOOG) search, which is now the default mobile search provider for the carrier. The upgrade will appear automatically for any customer that accesses the web on one of the compatible phones. (Release.)
Facing Lawsuit, Redlasso Suspends Web Video Clip Service
via Digital Media Wire - connecting people & knowledge
King of Prussia, Pa. - Days after being served a copyright infringement lawsuit by broadcasters NBC (NYSE: GE) and Fox News (NYSE: NWS), Web video clipping service Redlasso announced on Friday that it will suspend access to its clipping service. "We believe we have always acted within the law and have been respectful of the networks rights. Unfortunately, they have forced our hand and are denying the blogging community access to the Redlasso platform that beneficially tracks the usage of newsworthy clips across the Web," said Ken Hayward, CEO of Redlasso. read more
Hulu Unveils New Widget Gallery
via Cynopsis
Hulu is attacking that sizeable segment of the market that's never heard of the service by unveiling a new Widget Gallery to help spread the word and remind loyal users to check back often for new shows. A selection of embeddable players allow users to queue and track featured, recently added or most popular videos from a number of environments including Facebook, Netvibes and Piczo. Hulu.com also began streaming its first soap opera - Guiding Light - on July 25 and will debut two other TeleNext Media shows As The World Turns today and Another World on July 29. An initial 18 episodes of each show will be made available with 3 additional episodes to be added each week.
Microsoft Works with Peter Safran
via Cynopsis
Exclusive games aren't the only thing that will drive users to a gaming platform. Microsoft is working with producer Peter Safran (Scary Movie, Meet The Spartans) to create a series of comedic shorts for free distribution on the 12 million member Xbox Live platform, directed by leading horror film directors including James Wan (Saw) and Marcus Nispel (Texas Chainsaw Massacre.) The 10-minute shorts, which will also be available on MSN and Zune, are actually pilots that could be developed into full blown online series, according to Microsoft.
Research: Short Form Video Still Dominates Online Viewing
via Cynopsis
Short form videos still dominate online viewing, according to a new study conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates & Metacafe. The online survey, which looked at the habits of 2,000 users aged 12-64, identified Comedy (37%), music videos (36%), UGC (33%), news (31%) and movie trailers (28%) as the top 5 short form categories. Other findings include:
50% of respondents watch online video weekly
11% watch online video daily
28% of those who watch online videos report watching less TV as a result
19% of online video users report regularly sharing a link to a video with someone else
Industry Moves
via Cynopsis
NBC Universal named Dan Bethlahmy to Director, Wireless Marketing, in the Digital Distribution group; Tracy Kim as Manager, Digital Products; and Emily Powers as Manager, Business Development. Each will oversee aspects of the company's digital distribution efforts for properties including Bravo, Chiller, CNBC, CNBC World, MSNBC, mun2, NBC Weather Plus, Oxygen, SCI FI Channel, ShopNBC, Sleuth, Telemundo, Universal HD and USA Network.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
News Bytes: July 24
Sony Announces DC Universe Online MMO
via Digital Trends
At this week's ComicCon in San Diego, Sony Online Entertainment is introducing DC Universe Online, a new massively multiplayer online game coming up for the PlayStation 3 that will enable players to create their own superheroes (or supervillians) and fight alongside (or against!) iconic DC comics characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Blue Beetle, the Flash, and Green Arrow…and, of course, bad seeds like Lex Luthor, The Joker, Brainiac, and Bizarro. "The rich, storied world of DC Comics has never been available to players like this before," said SOE president John Smedley, in a …Read
Vid-Biz: CDNetworks, Roku, Apple
via NewTeeVee
Roku Sold 100,000 Units? Dan Rayburn estimates that 1 percent of Netflix’s subscribers bought the little streaming box. (Streaming Media Blog)
The Possibilities of an Apple TV App Store; Saul Hansell predicts that, with Xbox opening up to developers, Apple’s set-top box might follow. (Bits Blog)
Public Knowledge Asks FCC to Deny Studios’ Waiver Request; waiver would allow studios to restrict copying of some HD movies to DVRs. (Broadcasting & Cable)
CBS Radio Gets into Web Video; company launches platform to allow its 140 radio stations to create custom video players for live performances, interviews and more. (MediaWeek)
Google Just Not Into Long-Form Video? Sources tell CNET that Google Video soured the company on the concept, remains focused on short-form. (CNET)
ManiaTV Signs 4 New Comedy Series; among the new offerings will be projects from Michael Palascak and the duo Paul Telner and Jason Fisher. (AdWeek)
Update: Thumbplay Sued Over Billing Practices; Thumbplay Responds
via mocoNews.net
Thumbplay is the latest company to get sued over mobile content billing, with claims the company is guilty of "either passive indifference or active cooperation in a scheme to defraud". The lawsuit alleges that "the rapidity with which the mobile content industry has grown has led to "a disastrous flaw": Billing and collection systems put in place by companies like Thumbplay have no "checks or safeguards" to protect against unauthorized charges showing up on customers' bills" reports Medill Reports. It was filed by a Chicago resident with the law firm KamberEdelson, which has apparently settled with Facebook and AT&T, and has another 11 cases of this kind pending. "Cell phones are morphing into credit cards, but the same security procedures don't apply to phone numbers, which are public information," said lawyer Myles McGuire. The exact size of the suit will depend on who joins it…
Thumbplay Responds: Thumbplay has responded to the lawsuit… "The lawsuit is utterly meritless. We have retained experienced, nationally-recognized counsel and intend to vigorously oppose these claims. As a leading member of the Mobile Marketing Association, Thumbplay strictly adheres to the Mobile Marketing Association's Consumer Best Practices Guidelines (PDF), and we have been active in developing and leading best practices for mobile advertising.
"Thumbplay has been recognized as a model of best practices in the mobile commerce marketplace (m-commerce). In fact, on May 6, 2008, Florida's Assistant Attorney General, William Haselden, praised Thumbplay at the Federal Trade Commission's two-day Town Hall meeting titled Beyond Voice: Mapping the Mobile Marketplace, which explored the m-commerce marketplace and its implications for consumer protection policy. He specifically cited Thumbplay's ads for being compliant 'in every way'."
Mobile Increases Total Internet Users By 14 Percent: Report
via mocoNews.net
VentureBeat has put up some slides Nielsen showed at its MobileBeat conference, and they're worth a look. Some quick stats: -- In the US 95 million pay for access to the mobile internet, but only 40 million use it regularly. That's the highest mobile internet penetration if you count who pays rather than who uses it. -- Mobile has increased the total number of internet users by 14 percent, although the extra users tend to follow some things more than others.
NBC Universal, Fox Sue Web Video Clip Service Redlasso
via Digital Media Wire - connecting people & knowledge
New York - NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) and News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Fox News Channel and Fox Television Stations have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Redlasso, an online service that offers clips of news broadcasts and other video and audio content to bloggers for republishing online, The Wall Street Journal reported.
read more
Thursday, July 17, 2008
News Bytes: July 17
Amazon Makes a Giant VOD Move
via NewTeeVee
Amazon introduced a Video on Demand store today, and in one fell swoop may have turned the world of home video on its head. The new store will stream 40,000 movie and television programs for rent or purchase directly to Internet-connected TVs or set-top boxes or PCs. This move will be felt throughout the industry.
Delivery: Similar to the Roku, Amazon will stream video directly into your home. The New York Times, which broke the story, does not mention anything about HD capabilities for the service. Given the cruddy state of bandwidth in this country, streaming could pose a problem in homes with multiple people online, but after tasting the sweet simplicity of streaming through the Roku, I’m convinced this is the way to go.
Storage: In an innovative twist (and one that would make GigaOM and Mark Cuban swoon), Amazon stores this video cloud on its end. Pull the content down only when you want, and if you purchase a movie, Amazon holds it for you — and you can access it on any connected device you own. While it’s supposed to help prevent piracy, I think a bigger advantage is that now your purchase should never get outdated by being in an old format.
Netflix Roku: Amazon’s streaming approach is similar to the Netflix’s Roku, but there are some key differences on both ends. On the content side, Amazon has Roku beat to a pulp, offering 40,000 titles compared with Netflix’s 10,000. However, Amazon is a la carte, while Netflix is all you can eat. Amazon has said that it will make its service available on other boxes, and Roku has said it is getting content from other “big name” content providers, so maybe the Roku will bring the best of both worlds?
Other Set-Top Boxes: Amazon has a deal to put the VOD store on Sony Bravia TVs, but look for Panasonic to hop on board as well. Who needs a set-top box when you can order up what you want directly from the TV? Sure, Apple has Disney movies and Amazon doesn’t (for now), but is that enough to make you buy an Apple TV? And renting movies through the HP MediaSmart Connect means downloading the content to your computer first. Who needs the hassle?
Cable and Telephone Companies: Amazon’s vast video library could make it easier to dump your TV provider, but cable and telcos could retaliate and choke Amazon at the source through tiered broadband.
Features TK: If Amazon can get firmly entrenched in your living room, it won’t be hard for it to expand its offering. Photo sharing, video sharing, web video, Internet radio, heck even buying regular stuff all becomes possible with the click of the remote.
The Devil Wears Online Video: Vogue Brings Big Budget Reality Series To The Web
via paidContent.org
Vogue magazine isn't about displaying cheap knockoffs. So in keeping with its expensive tastes, the magazine's Vogue.tv video site is prepping a $3 million, 12-episode reality series called Model.Live. With eight minutes per show, WSJ calculates that's $31,000 for each minute. Contrast that with the average online video, which Forrester says generally costs around $4,500.
Of course, most online video series can't attract big commitments from marketers like clothing retailer Express LLC, which is said to have agreed to pay something in the "low seven figures" to be Model.Live's lead sponsor. In return, the Conde Nast property has promised Express it will receive 83.4 million impressions on Bebo.com during the three-month life of the series. And though that number is hard to measure, Express is willing to take the gamble. The company felt comfortable after working on a much smaller video series with Ford Models last year, garnering two million hits after the modeling agency ran the videos on its own site. So whether or not Vogue.tv can fulfill its guarantee on how many users will view the ad, Express should be able to get greater exposure greater, as Model.Live will also run on Hulu, Veoh and AOL's (NYSE: TWX) community site Bebo.com, which aims to connect viewers with the series' stars.
Industry Moves: Disney-ABC Cable Networks' Estenson Heading To CNN.com
via paidContent.org
Kenneth "KC" Estenson is leaving his post as VP, digital media at Disney-ABC Cable Networks Group to join CNN.com as SVP/GM in September, a rep for the Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) owned CNN.com said. Estenson fills the vacancy left by David Payne, who we reported left the post back in April to start an online ad company.
It's worth noting that CNN.com went outside the company to fill the post. That said, hiring an executive from a rival is always tempting. Estenson has been with Disney (NYSE: DIS) since 2001. During the past seven years, he oversaw the digital media businesses across Disney's online, on-demand, mobile, broadband and wireless products and worked on Disney Channel Worldwide, SOAPnet and ABC Family. He also helped manage the creation of ABC News Now's broadband service. In his new post, he'll be reporting to Susan Grant, EVP, CNN News Services.
Former Yahoo Exec Karin Gilford Joining Comcast As SVP of Fancast
via paidContent.org
Karin Gilford, the former GM of Entertainment at Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) who left earlier this week, is joining Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) as we reported earlier. Now her position there is official: she is joining as as SVP of Fancast and Online Entertainment. Gilford will build and manage Fancast, the online video service from Comcast Interactive Media, as well as work on expansion of CIM in the online entertainment space. She will report to Amy Banse, President of CIM.
At Yahoo, Gilford was in charge of all programming, content and overall business strategies for Yahoo Entertainment's consumer websites, including Yahoo Movies, Yahoo TV and Yahoo omg!, and was based in its Santa Monica offices.
CIM also owns other online properties including Fandango, Movies.com, Comcast.net, thePlatform, Plaxo. Fandango and Movies.com will continue to be led by Chuck Davis, CEO of Fandango, Comcast.net will continue to be run by Scott Bailey, SVP of Comcast Interactive Media, and thePlatform and Plaxo will continue to report to Sam Schwartz, EVP of Comcast Interactive Media. More details in release.
TiVo Launches YouTube Viewing
via Digital Trends
Although DVR pioneer TiVo announced its plans way back in March, the company is finally ready to roll out support for viewing YouTube video using its Internet-connected set-top DVRs. Although the company has partnerships with dozens of Internet services that provide content for TiVo viewers, the YouTube move marks TiVo's first foray into direct streaming of online video. "With YouTube content now available on TiVo, on top of all the movies, music videos, songs and TV shows that are simply unavailable on cable and satellite, TiVo subscribers have more choice
NBC U Inks Broad Olympics Deal With Verizon (VZ)
via Silicon Alley Insider
Three weeks before the start of the Beijing Olympics, NBC U (GE) inked another distribution deal, this one with Verizon (VZ). The deal covers on-demand clips and replays of the Games on Verizon's FiOS TV, broadband and its mobile V-CAST service.
In addition: Verizon agreed to launch four NBC networks in high-definition on FiOS over the next few months: Bravo HD, CNBC+ HD, USA Network HD and Sci Fi HD. FiOS is also launching two other channels specifically for the Games dedicated to Olympic basketball and soccer.
The deal means wider dissemination of Olympics video clips, which will have pre-roll advertising attached. NBC U has committed to 3,600 hours of coverage total with 2,000 hours of live video online. The only other distributor for the video thusfar is MSN, which will carry NBCOlympics.com as part of a deal with Microsoft that includes using the Silverlight player to deliver video over the Web.
NBC says ad inventory for Games is 85% sold.
via NewTeeVee
Amazon introduced a Video on Demand store today, and in one fell swoop may have turned the world of home video on its head. The new store will stream 40,000 movie and television programs for rent or purchase directly to Internet-connected TVs or set-top boxes or PCs. This move will be felt throughout the industry.
Delivery: Similar to the Roku, Amazon will stream video directly into your home. The New York Times, which broke the story, does not mention anything about HD capabilities for the service. Given the cruddy state of bandwidth in this country, streaming could pose a problem in homes with multiple people online, but after tasting the sweet simplicity of streaming through the Roku, I’m convinced this is the way to go.
Storage: In an innovative twist (and one that would make GigaOM and Mark Cuban swoon), Amazon stores this video cloud on its end. Pull the content down only when you want, and if you purchase a movie, Amazon holds it for you — and you can access it on any connected device you own. While it’s supposed to help prevent piracy, I think a bigger advantage is that now your purchase should never get outdated by being in an old format.
Netflix Roku: Amazon’s streaming approach is similar to the Netflix’s Roku, but there are some key differences on both ends. On the content side, Amazon has Roku beat to a pulp, offering 40,000 titles compared with Netflix’s 10,000. However, Amazon is a la carte, while Netflix is all you can eat. Amazon has said that it will make its service available on other boxes, and Roku has said it is getting content from other “big name” content providers, so maybe the Roku will bring the best of both worlds?
Other Set-Top Boxes: Amazon has a deal to put the VOD store on Sony Bravia TVs, but look for Panasonic to hop on board as well. Who needs a set-top box when you can order up what you want directly from the TV? Sure, Apple has Disney movies and Amazon doesn’t (for now), but is that enough to make you buy an Apple TV? And renting movies through the HP MediaSmart Connect means downloading the content to your computer first. Who needs the hassle?
Cable and Telephone Companies: Amazon’s vast video library could make it easier to dump your TV provider, but cable and telcos could retaliate and choke Amazon at the source through tiered broadband.
Features TK: If Amazon can get firmly entrenched in your living room, it won’t be hard for it to expand its offering. Photo sharing, video sharing, web video, Internet radio, heck even buying regular stuff all becomes possible with the click of the remote.
The Devil Wears Online Video: Vogue Brings Big Budget Reality Series To The Web
via paidContent.org
Vogue magazine isn't about displaying cheap knockoffs. So in keeping with its expensive tastes, the magazine's Vogue.tv video site is prepping a $3 million, 12-episode reality series called Model.Live. With eight minutes per show, WSJ calculates that's $31,000 for each minute. Contrast that with the average online video, which Forrester says generally costs around $4,500.
Of course, most online video series can't attract big commitments from marketers like clothing retailer Express LLC, which is said to have agreed to pay something in the "low seven figures" to be Model.Live's lead sponsor. In return, the Conde Nast property has promised Express it will receive 83.4 million impressions on Bebo.com during the three-month life of the series. And though that number is hard to measure, Express is willing to take the gamble. The company felt comfortable after working on a much smaller video series with Ford Models last year, garnering two million hits after the modeling agency ran the videos on its own site. So whether or not Vogue.tv can fulfill its guarantee on how many users will view the ad, Express should be able to get greater exposure greater, as Model.Live will also run on Hulu, Veoh and AOL's (NYSE: TWX) community site Bebo.com, which aims to connect viewers with the series' stars.
Industry Moves: Disney-ABC Cable Networks' Estenson Heading To CNN.com
via paidContent.org
Kenneth "KC" Estenson is leaving his post as VP, digital media at Disney-ABC Cable Networks Group to join CNN.com as SVP/GM in September, a rep for the Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) owned CNN.com said. Estenson fills the vacancy left by David Payne, who we reported left the post back in April to start an online ad company.
It's worth noting that CNN.com went outside the company to fill the post. That said, hiring an executive from a rival is always tempting. Estenson has been with Disney (NYSE: DIS) since 2001. During the past seven years, he oversaw the digital media businesses across Disney's online, on-demand, mobile, broadband and wireless products and worked on Disney Channel Worldwide, SOAPnet and ABC Family. He also helped manage the creation of ABC News Now's broadband service. In his new post, he'll be reporting to Susan Grant, EVP, CNN News Services.
Former Yahoo Exec Karin Gilford Joining Comcast As SVP of Fancast
via paidContent.org
Karin Gilford, the former GM of Entertainment at Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) who left earlier this week, is joining Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) as we reported earlier. Now her position there is official: she is joining as as SVP of Fancast and Online Entertainment. Gilford will build and manage Fancast, the online video service from Comcast Interactive Media, as well as work on expansion of CIM in the online entertainment space. She will report to Amy Banse, President of CIM.
At Yahoo, Gilford was in charge of all programming, content and overall business strategies for Yahoo Entertainment's consumer websites, including Yahoo Movies, Yahoo TV and Yahoo omg!, and was based in its Santa Monica offices.
CIM also owns other online properties including Fandango, Movies.com, Comcast.net, thePlatform, Plaxo. Fandango and Movies.com will continue to be led by Chuck Davis, CEO of Fandango, Comcast.net will continue to be run by Scott Bailey, SVP of Comcast Interactive Media, and thePlatform and Plaxo will continue to report to Sam Schwartz, EVP of Comcast Interactive Media. More details in release.
TiVo Launches YouTube Viewing
via Digital Trends
Although DVR pioneer TiVo announced its plans way back in March, the company is finally ready to roll out support for viewing YouTube video using its Internet-connected set-top DVRs. Although the company has partnerships with dozens of Internet services that provide content for TiVo viewers, the YouTube move marks TiVo's first foray into direct streaming of online video. "With YouTube content now available on TiVo, on top of all the movies, music videos, songs and TV shows that are simply unavailable on cable and satellite, TiVo subscribers have more choice
NBC U Inks Broad Olympics Deal With Verizon (VZ)
via Silicon Alley Insider
Three weeks before the start of the Beijing Olympics, NBC U (GE) inked another distribution deal, this one with Verizon (VZ). The deal covers on-demand clips and replays of the Games on Verizon's FiOS TV, broadband and its mobile V-CAST service.
In addition: Verizon agreed to launch four NBC networks in high-definition on FiOS over the next few months: Bravo HD, CNBC+ HD, USA Network HD and Sci Fi HD. FiOS is also launching two other channels specifically for the Games dedicated to Olympic basketball and soccer.
The deal means wider dissemination of Olympics video clips, which will have pre-roll advertising attached. NBC U has committed to 3,600 hours of coverage total with 2,000 hours of live video online. The only other distributor for the video thusfar is MSN, which will carry NBCOlympics.com as part of a deal with Microsoft that includes using the Silverlight player to deliver video over the Web.
NBC says ad inventory for Games is 85% sold.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
News Bytes: July 16
Mobile Content Bits: Glu-The Dark Knight; mig33; Australia
via mocoNews.net
-- Glu Mobile launches Batman game: Glu Mobile (NSDQ: GLUU) released The Dark Knight, a mobile game based on the latest Batman installment set to hit U.S. theatres July 18. The game is Glu Mobile's second title for Warner Bros.; it's also releasing a suite of content associated with the film, including 31 wallpapers, 14 voice tones, four music tones and eight animated screensavers for mobile phones.
-- mig33 offering ringtones and wallpapers: mig33, a mobile social network, is expanding its catalog to include a range of new exclusive ringtones and wallpapers. The expansion came after the company's initial offering, mig33 emoticon packs drew more than 90,000 downloads in the first week. The community, which counts more than 14 million registered users on its rolls, is seeking more content partners and hopes to add more to its catalog in the coming months.
-- Australia launches content code: Australia's communications regulator has rolled out a new code of conduct to regulate online and mobile phone content with the aim of protecting children. The code follows a film rating-style system, and the kicker is that online and mobile companies who offer content that is likely to be rated MA15+, or unsuitable for those under 15, must hire "trained content assessors" to review and classify the content. (Release).
Vid-Biz
via NewTeeVee
HBO Digital Exec Leaves; Sean Atkins, who ran digital media ops and lead HBO’s Funny or Die investment, had only been at the company for a year. (paidContent)
Stickam Launches Pay-Per-View Service
via NewTeeVee
Now you can transform those backyard wrestling events into your own Wrestlemania, as Stickam today announced PayPerLive, a new service that lets users charge admission to their livestreamed events.
The service is in beta and currently accepting applications. In the press release the company said it would implement a tiered revenue-sharing program, with Stickam receiving 25 percent of the profits from each user-hosted event. We’ve contacted the company to find out more specifics and will update as we get them.
UPDATE: I spoke with some Stickam reps and they provided a few more details. The beta will initially be open to ten users, and will expand out from there to a hundred and then a thousand and so on until all the details and bugs have been worked out. Stickam will take 25 percent of the ticket price (a little more specific than just “profits”).
Livestreaming companies are still searching for a business model. NowLive has started partnering with traditional media companies to do red carpet coverage at movie premieres; Ustream has gotten into politics and will be streaming the Republican National Convention; and Justin.TV is reportedly working on a transaction system of its own.
Industry Moves: Blockbuster Hires Former WaBro Exec As New Digital Content VP
via paidContent.org
Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI), which is still trying to figure out this digital media thing, has hired a new VP of studio relation and digital media, a new position for the company. Longtime Warner Bros. exec Jeffrey Calman is the new VP based in LA, and will lead the content acquisition efforts for the company's Movielink and other digital services. His most recent position at Warner was in the studio's homevideo division where he was the EVP of VOD and electronic sell-through...he left two years ago and was consulting for various clients since then.
Blockbuster has been in the process of merging Movielink, which it acquired last year, into its own website and launch its online movie service on Blockbuster.com.
Comcast-Owned thePlatform Buys Social Media Apps Firm Chirp Interactive
via paidContent.org
thePlatform, the broadband and mobile video services provider that is now part of Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA), has acquired assets from San Francisco-based Chirp Interactive, a provider of social media applications...some of Chirp's employees are transitioning into the bigger company. Chirp's standalone service will not continue, but its community and content discovery features will be integrated within thePlatform's media publishing system. In addition, thePlatform, based in Seattle, is now expanding into Silicon Valley, including opening a branch office.
Chirp was founded last year, and had funding from Greylock Partners and Jeff Clavier's SoftTech VC, and angel investors Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn), Jay Adelson (CEO of Digg), and Dave Samuel (founder of Spinner.com and Grouper). The company's product, chirpscreen, was a desktop/screensaver based social app, but seems like it never took off and from the wording of the release, looks like thePlatform bought out the assets.
More details in release.
Nokia's (NOK) Symbian To Google (GOOG): We're Here To Help With Mobile!
via Silicon Alley Insider
Nokia -- via its Symbian mobile operating system subsidiary -- is happy to work closer with partner (and would-be rival) Google, an exec said today. What exactly does that mean? We're not sure.
"We already work together and so whatever collaboration, if there is an opportunity, we will be happy to collaborate with them," Symbian CEO Nigel Clifford said, according to Reuters. "And that could be on the application level or that could be on the more fundamental operating system level."
Interesting, but confusing. Does Nokia want Google to roll its Android operating system in with Symbian -- or something along those lines? We doubt that's going to happen. Could the companies work to make the operating systems play nicely with each other? Maybe.
Hard to interpret without more context, but worth keeping an eye on.
via mocoNews.net
-- Glu Mobile launches Batman game: Glu Mobile (NSDQ: GLUU) released The Dark Knight, a mobile game based on the latest Batman installment set to hit U.S. theatres July 18. The game is Glu Mobile's second title for Warner Bros.; it's also releasing a suite of content associated with the film, including 31 wallpapers, 14 voice tones, four music tones and eight animated screensavers for mobile phones.
-- mig33 offering ringtones and wallpapers: mig33, a mobile social network, is expanding its catalog to include a range of new exclusive ringtones and wallpapers. The expansion came after the company's initial offering, mig33 emoticon packs drew more than 90,000 downloads in the first week. The community, which counts more than 14 million registered users on its rolls, is seeking more content partners and hopes to add more to its catalog in the coming months.
-- Australia launches content code: Australia's communications regulator has rolled out a new code of conduct to regulate online and mobile phone content with the aim of protecting children. The code follows a film rating-style system, and the kicker is that online and mobile companies who offer content that is likely to be rated MA15+, or unsuitable for those under 15, must hire "trained content assessors" to review and classify the content. (Release).
Vid-Biz
via NewTeeVee
HBO Digital Exec Leaves; Sean Atkins, who ran digital media ops and lead HBO’s Funny or Die investment, had only been at the company for a year. (paidContent)
Stickam Launches Pay-Per-View Service
via NewTeeVee
Now you can transform those backyard wrestling events into your own Wrestlemania, as Stickam today announced PayPerLive, a new service that lets users charge admission to their livestreamed events.
The service is in beta and currently accepting applications. In the press release the company said it would implement a tiered revenue-sharing program, with Stickam receiving 25 percent of the profits from each user-hosted event. We’ve contacted the company to find out more specifics and will update as we get them.
UPDATE: I spoke with some Stickam reps and they provided a few more details. The beta will initially be open to ten users, and will expand out from there to a hundred and then a thousand and so on until all the details and bugs have been worked out. Stickam will take 25 percent of the ticket price (a little more specific than just “profits”).
Livestreaming companies are still searching for a business model. NowLive has started partnering with traditional media companies to do red carpet coverage at movie premieres; Ustream has gotten into politics and will be streaming the Republican National Convention; and Justin.TV is reportedly working on a transaction system of its own.
Industry Moves: Blockbuster Hires Former WaBro Exec As New Digital Content VP
via paidContent.org
Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI), which is still trying to figure out this digital media thing, has hired a new VP of studio relation and digital media, a new position for the company. Longtime Warner Bros. exec Jeffrey Calman is the new VP based in LA, and will lead the content acquisition efforts for the company's Movielink and other digital services. His most recent position at Warner was in the studio's homevideo division where he was the EVP of VOD and electronic sell-through...he left two years ago and was consulting for various clients since then.
Blockbuster has been in the process of merging Movielink, which it acquired last year, into its own website and launch its online movie service on Blockbuster.com.
Comcast-Owned thePlatform Buys Social Media Apps Firm Chirp Interactive
via paidContent.org
thePlatform, the broadband and mobile video services provider that is now part of Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA), has acquired assets from San Francisco-based Chirp Interactive, a provider of social media applications...some of Chirp's employees are transitioning into the bigger company. Chirp's standalone service will not continue, but its community and content discovery features will be integrated within thePlatform's media publishing system. In addition, thePlatform, based in Seattle, is now expanding into Silicon Valley, including opening a branch office.
Chirp was founded last year, and had funding from Greylock Partners and Jeff Clavier's SoftTech VC, and angel investors Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn), Jay Adelson (CEO of Digg), and Dave Samuel (founder of Spinner.com and Grouper). The company's product, chirpscreen, was a desktop/screensaver based social app, but seems like it never took off and from the wording of the release, looks like thePlatform bought out the assets.
More details in release.
Nokia's (NOK) Symbian To Google (GOOG): We're Here To Help With Mobile!
via Silicon Alley Insider
Nokia -- via its Symbian mobile operating system subsidiary -- is happy to work closer with partner (and would-be rival) Google, an exec said today. What exactly does that mean? We're not sure.
"We already work together and so whatever collaboration, if there is an opportunity, we will be happy to collaborate with them," Symbian CEO Nigel Clifford said, according to Reuters. "And that could be on the application level or that could be on the more fundamental operating system level."
Interesting, but confusing. Does Nokia want Google to roll its Android operating system in with Symbian -- or something along those lines? We doubt that's going to happen. Could the companies work to make the operating systems play nicely with each other? Maybe.
Hard to interpret without more context, but worth keeping an eye on.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
News Bytes: July 15
PS3 Gets Video Store and Rentals Tonight [Playstation 3]
Unveiling the new Home, Sony revealed that video rentals and purchases are finally coming to the PS3. Video will be fully integrated into the PlayStation Store, which will have a new video section. And you can transfer them to your PSP via USB, and have them on multiple devices at once! Standard and high def, with rentals running $3-$6 and $10-$15 for purchases. It takes about an hour to download a two-hour movie. Most of the major studios are on board (Kotaku has a partial list in their liveblog), and it goes live tonight!
Google to Mask Data Before Handover, YouTubers Now Safe From Viacom [Privacy]
In the ongoing legal kerfuffle between Viacom and Google, it was beginning to look like Youtube users were going to take the fall for the Goog. Privacy advocates cried foul when a judge ruled that Google had to turn over the IP addresses and user IDs of the viewers for every YouTube video to Viacom, but in a document filed yesterday both companies agreed to mask the user data, assigning arbitrary identifiers to users in lieu of actual info. The masking system will likely be similar to AOL's hilarious botched search dataset experiment two years ago, but I'd say a public release of this data is unlikely. [Ars]
TiVo 9.4 Summer Update Hitting Boxes This Month [TiVo]
It looks like TiVo's 9.4 Summer Update has been released ahead of schedule and will supposedly be hitting every box by month's end. This update brings six new features, two of which actually seem really useful for most TiVoers. Folders will now have the option to be played or deleted, and the guide can be viewed at any time (while watching live TV, a recording, or even a download, but obviously not during menus). Since TiVo's 9.4 priority page hasn't been posted yet this update should hit your box as a total surprise while you're sleeping. [Zatz Not Funny!]
Sprint and SK Telecom in Talks to Co-Develop Awesome Phones [Rumor]
SK Telecom is South Korea's largest mobile phone carrier, but they're definitely interested in a U.S. presence—it was a partner in Helio (before it got sold), and had a rejected $5 billion investment offer to Sprint last fall. While CNBC originally reported they were now in talks to buy Sprint, the WSJ says the two are actually talking about a partnership to co-develop phones and services, since they both run on CDMA. Awesome Korean phones and services on Sprint? Yes please. Sprint could definitely use the boost. But will the Ocean 2 live again? [WSJ]
ABC.com released some upbeat online viewing data for May from Move Networks, the online video vendor that powers its HD video player. Viewers watched a record 37 million episodes during the month - a 27% increase from April, or a total of 815 million minutes of full-length content (a 53% month-over-month increase.) A total of 400 million episodes have been viewed on the site since the original player launched in 2006. ABC.com will release its third version of the player this fall, with enhancements including:
True full-screen viewing, with no browser border
Closed captioning for the hearing impaired
Content sharing tools providing users with the ability send and share video links from full episodes with others through email or by embedding links on other sites
Enhanced navigation and video search capabilities that will allow users to search for series graphically, alphabetically, by genre or popularity
Apple announced there have already been 1 million iPhone 3Gs sold and over 10 million apps downloaded to IPhone and iPod touch users via the Apple App Store. So far games are proving to be the most popular apps - after all casual gamers come in all demographics shapes and sizes. In fact most of the current top 25 paid apps are games, including Sega's Super Monkey Ball (#1) and Pangea Software's Cro-Mag Rally (#5), both of which take advantage of the iPhone "accelerometer" motion sensor to help users navigate the interface. In Super Monkey Ball you're manipulating little monkey rolling around in a transparent ball. In Cro-Mag Rally you get to drive a number of primitive cars equipped with low-tech weaponry. Warning-both downloads will rack up $10 charges on the credit card registered with your iTunes account and both are highly addictive.
NBC Adds TVs, Movies to Xbox; in addition to Netflix content, Microsoft will be getting The Office (take that, Apple). (Wired Blog)
Sony and BSkyB Partner for Mobile Video; Go!View service to offer downloadable content from BBC, Disney-ABC, Sky Sports and more. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Unveiling the new Home, Sony revealed that video rentals and purchases are finally coming to the PS3. Video will be fully integrated into the PlayStation Store, which will have a new video section. And you can transfer them to your PSP via USB, and have them on multiple devices at once! Standard and high def, with rentals running $3-$6 and $10-$15 for purchases. It takes about an hour to download a two-hour movie. Most of the major studios are on board (Kotaku has a partial list in their liveblog), and it goes live tonight!
Google to Mask Data Before Handover, YouTubers Now Safe From Viacom [Privacy]
In the ongoing legal kerfuffle between Viacom and Google, it was beginning to look like Youtube users were going to take the fall for the Goog. Privacy advocates cried foul when a judge ruled that Google had to turn over the IP addresses and user IDs of the viewers for every YouTube video to Viacom, but in a document filed yesterday both companies agreed to mask the user data, assigning arbitrary identifiers to users in lieu of actual info. The masking system will likely be similar to AOL's hilarious botched search dataset experiment two years ago, but I'd say a public release of this data is unlikely. [Ars]
TiVo 9.4 Summer Update Hitting Boxes This Month [TiVo]
It looks like TiVo's 9.4 Summer Update has been released ahead of schedule and will supposedly be hitting every box by month's end. This update brings six new features, two of which actually seem really useful for most TiVoers. Folders will now have the option to be played or deleted, and the guide can be viewed at any time (while watching live TV, a recording, or even a download, but obviously not during menus). Since TiVo's 9.4 priority page hasn't been posted yet this update should hit your box as a total surprise while you're sleeping. [Zatz Not Funny!]
Sprint and SK Telecom in Talks to Co-Develop Awesome Phones [Rumor]
SK Telecom is South Korea's largest mobile phone carrier, but they're definitely interested in a U.S. presence—it was a partner in Helio (before it got sold), and had a rejected $5 billion investment offer to Sprint last fall. While CNBC originally reported they were now in talks to buy Sprint, the WSJ says the two are actually talking about a partnership to co-develop phones and services, since they both run on CDMA. Awesome Korean phones and services on Sprint? Yes please. Sprint could definitely use the boost. But will the Ocean 2 live again? [WSJ]
ABC.com released some upbeat online viewing data for May from Move Networks, the online video vendor that powers its HD video player. Viewers watched a record 37 million episodes during the month - a 27% increase from April, or a total of 815 million minutes of full-length content (a 53% month-over-month increase.) A total of 400 million episodes have been viewed on the site since the original player launched in 2006. ABC.com will release its third version of the player this fall, with enhancements including:
True full-screen viewing, with no browser border
Closed captioning for the hearing impaired
Content sharing tools providing users with the ability send and share video links from full episodes with others through email or by embedding links on other sites
Enhanced navigation and video search capabilities that will allow users to search for series graphically, alphabetically, by genre or popularity
Apple announced there have already been 1 million iPhone 3Gs sold and over 10 million apps downloaded to IPhone and iPod touch users via the Apple App Store. So far games are proving to be the most popular apps - after all casual gamers come in all demographics shapes and sizes. In fact most of the current top 25 paid apps are games, including Sega's Super Monkey Ball (#1) and Pangea Software's Cro-Mag Rally (#5), both of which take advantage of the iPhone "accelerometer" motion sensor to help users navigate the interface. In Super Monkey Ball you're manipulating little monkey rolling around in a transparent ball. In Cro-Mag Rally you get to drive a number of primitive cars equipped with low-tech weaponry. Warning-both downloads will rack up $10 charges on the credit card registered with your iTunes account and both are highly addictive.
NBC Adds TVs, Movies to Xbox; in addition to Netflix content, Microsoft will be getting The Office (take that, Apple). (Wired Blog)
Sony and BSkyB Partner for Mobile Video; Go!View service to offer downloadable content from BBC, Disney-ABC, Sky Sports and more. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Monday, July 14, 2008
News Bytes: July 11-14
Industry Moves
Endemol USA is getting ready to launch a new branded entertainment division focusing on television and digital media, per THR. It will be run by Jon Vlassopulos who is newly promoted to SVP/Digital Media and Branded Entertainment.
SN Digital, the interactive division of Scripps Networks, hired Jillian St. Charles as VP & Site Director for FineLiving.com. Jillian was most recently Online Director of Redbookmag.com.
Xbox Slashes Price
All good things come to those who wait. On the eve of the E3 conference Microsoft announced it was slicing the price of its latest Xbox 360 game console by $50 to $349 with a 60 GB hard drive. Meanwhile, the 20GB version was cut to $299 while supplies last. It was almost exactly a year ago when Sony dropped the price of the PS3 by $100 to $499.
From: Cynthia Turner Cynopsis
Google, Veoh Launch New Ad Initiatives
Google and Veoh have introduced new video ad initiatives to help publishers and marketers connect with consumers.
Google released new ad video ad units that support 728×90 and 160×600 formats. Unlike the old formats, these new units are standard IAB sizes that should fit more easily into existing ad placements on publishers’ sites. The ads hold a ribbon of thumbnails, which can be clicked to bring up the YouTube video player and accompanying advertisement.
Mefeedia CEO Frank Sinton, who tipped us off to the new Google ad sizes, was enthusiastic about their arrival. “This makes the YouTube AdSense player 100x more useful to publishers like Mefeedia (and potentially gets a LOT more views for YouTube videos, again),” said Sinton via email.
The ads are currently only supporting English and Japanese language accounts in Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, the UK and the U.S.
Read more of this story
From: NewTeeVee
Comcast Faces FCC Sanctions for Blocking Web Traffic
Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, violated federal guidelines when it blocked and degraded Web traffic, the head of the Federal Communications Commission will announce Friday.
The sanctions would be the first time the commission has come down on an internet provider for denying consumers the right to open, unfettered internet access. It may set a precedent on how the federal government oversees management of internet traffic flows in the future.
Last fall, Comcast reluctantly acknowledged that it had temporarily blocked certain peer-to-peer traffic (file sharing). The cable giant called its actions "reasonable network management."
But consumer rights groups and internet experts accused the company of violating the F.C.C.'s 2005 "Internet Policy Statement," which established four principles intended to guarantee consumers unfettered access to all legal Web content, applications, and services.
The chairman of the F.C.C., Kevin Martin, now agrees.
"The commission has adopted a set of principles that protects consumers' access to the internet," he told the Associated Press on Thursday night. "We found that Comcast's actions in this instance violated our principles."
The consumer advocacy group Free Press trumpeted Martin's decision as a victory for consumers.
"This is going to be a bellwether," said Ben Scott, federal policy chief for Free Press.
The decision, contained in an order to be circulated by Martin, brings the agency's nine-month investigation of Comcast close to completion. Martin, a Republican, is expected to gain support from the two Democratic F.C.C. commissioners for his position, which would ensure the order's passage when the commission meets on August 1.
Comcast has long maintained that the government's standard gives it the right to manage its digital traffic "reasonably" for the sake of "network management."
For almost a year, consumer rights groups have battled Comcast, after an Associated Press investigation discovered that Comcast was blocking legal peer-to-peer traffic.
Comcast faced further public outrage after it admitted to paying people off the street to sit at a public hearing at Harvard, while members of the public were prevented from attending. At the time, Comcast claimed it merely paid people to save spots at the hearing for Comcast employees, but the event's organizer disputed that claim.
From: Conde Naste Portfolio; Wired
Netflix Without the DVD: Now Integrated Within XBox; Also NBCU Shows on XBox
After its Roku box integration, which received critical acclaim for ease of use, Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) is continuing on its digital service integration within others: it has just announced a deal with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), where Xbox 360 will be able to stream thousands (well 10K, compared to its DVD collection of over 100K) of movies/videos onto their TV sets...The service will be free to Xbox Live Gold members who are also Netflix subscribers.
Xbox had its own movie collection for streaming and download, but not as many....this surely gives it another boost on its fierce competition with Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PS3. XBox has about 12 million users, so this also give Netflix a big user base, though of course with some duplications. Then of course there's Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) TV, which competes with these combo services. As an aside, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is a member of Microsoft's board, so that helps…
Then, Xbox/MSFT has also tied up with NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) to offer the media company's TV shows and movies on its Xbox Live online platform. More details in release.
VB: The two services will also now offer a Live Party feature which will allow users to watch movies together over Xbox Live virtually.
Also, separately, prior to E3, Microsoft said Sunday it will cut the price of its best-selling Xbox 360 Pro with a 20GB hard drive to $299 from $349 while supplies last. In early August, it will introduce a new model with a 60GB hard drive for $349.
Bloomberg: The gap will close as studios negotiate online rights deals for old movies, Hastings said in May. The lure to studios is that they will capture nearly all of the money Netflix now spends on postage, about a third of its revenue, Hastings said. "If you were the studios, you would want this to happen,'' said Hastings.
via paidContent.org
Industry Moves: Yahoo GM Of Entertainment Karin Gilford Leaving For Comcast
Karin Gilford, the GM of Entertainment at Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), is among the latest to leave the trouble Internet company...TC reported it first and we have confirmed it as well. She is leaving to join Comcast, though not clear in what position. Gilford was in charge of all programming, content and overall business strategies for Yahoo Entertainment's consumer websites, including Yahoo Movies, Yahoo TV and Yahoo omg!, and was based in its Santa Monica offices. She was part of the streamlining of Yahoo's media group announced in April, but lots has changed at the company since then...including an exodus of senior execs.
No word yet on who will replace her...more to come later.
via paidContent.org
MySpaceTV Eats Into YouTube’s Market Share
Fox Interactive Media took a chunk out of Google and the rest of the competition’s U.S. video views in May, according to comScore. FIM’s major video property is MySpaceTV, while YouTube accounts for 98 percent of Google’s video views.
YouTube usually just grows its share of the pie every month, but in May it dropped to 34.8 percent of video views from 37.9 percent in April. Most every other site on the top 10 dropped as well, but FIM (in second place, as usual) had 6.4 percent of video views, up from 5.1 percent in April.
We’ve asked MySpace to comment on whether they saw similar growth internally. Since these comScore reports are significantly delayed, these numbers are from before MySpaceTV got a major overhaul along with the rest of MySpace in a June redesign.
comScore said total video views grew to 12 billion this month, up 45 percent from a year ago and recovering nicely from a dip in April. And Hulu made its debut on the top 10 list, coming in last place with 88.2 million video views, and falling just short of the video viewer top 10 with 6.8 million viewers. Hulu had already broken into Nielsen’s top 10 video sites in April.
via NewTeeVee
Activision Blizzard Plans Digital Store to Compete with iTunes
San Francisco - Activision Blizzard (NASD: ATVI), the company recently formed through the merger of Activision and Vivendi's games division, is considering launching an alternative digital music platform to compete with Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes, company CEO Bobby Kotick said in an interview with the Financial Times. "I don't think there have been a lot of credible alternatives to iTunes but Guitar Hero certainly has that potential," Kotick told FT. read more
From: Digital Media Wire - connecting people & knowledge
Endemol USA is getting ready to launch a new branded entertainment division focusing on television and digital media, per THR. It will be run by Jon Vlassopulos who is newly promoted to SVP/Digital Media and Branded Entertainment.
SN Digital, the interactive division of Scripps Networks, hired Jillian St. Charles as VP & Site Director for FineLiving.com. Jillian was most recently Online Director of Redbookmag.com.
Xbox Slashes Price
All good things come to those who wait. On the eve of the E3 conference Microsoft announced it was slicing the price of its latest Xbox 360 game console by $50 to $349 with a 60 GB hard drive. Meanwhile, the 20GB version was cut to $299 while supplies last. It was almost exactly a year ago when Sony dropped the price of the PS3 by $100 to $499.
From: Cynthia Turner Cynopsis
Google, Veoh Launch New Ad Initiatives
Google and Veoh have introduced new video ad initiatives to help publishers and marketers connect with consumers.
Google released new ad video ad units that support 728×90 and 160×600 formats. Unlike the old formats, these new units are standard IAB sizes that should fit more easily into existing ad placements on publishers’ sites. The ads hold a ribbon of thumbnails, which can be clicked to bring up the YouTube video player and accompanying advertisement.
Mefeedia CEO Frank Sinton, who tipped us off to the new Google ad sizes, was enthusiastic about their arrival. “This makes the YouTube AdSense player 100x more useful to publishers like Mefeedia (and potentially gets a LOT more views for YouTube videos, again),” said Sinton via email.
The ads are currently only supporting English and Japanese language accounts in Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, the UK and the U.S.
Read more of this story
From: NewTeeVee
Comcast Faces FCC Sanctions for Blocking Web Traffic
Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, violated federal guidelines when it blocked and degraded Web traffic, the head of the Federal Communications Commission will announce Friday.
The sanctions would be the first time the commission has come down on an internet provider for denying consumers the right to open, unfettered internet access. It may set a precedent on how the federal government oversees management of internet traffic flows in the future.
Last fall, Comcast reluctantly acknowledged that it had temporarily blocked certain peer-to-peer traffic (file sharing). The cable giant called its actions "reasonable network management."
But consumer rights groups and internet experts accused the company of violating the F.C.C.'s 2005 "Internet Policy Statement," which established four principles intended to guarantee consumers unfettered access to all legal Web content, applications, and services.
The chairman of the F.C.C., Kevin Martin, now agrees.
"The commission has adopted a set of principles that protects consumers' access to the internet," he told the Associated Press on Thursday night. "We found that Comcast's actions in this instance violated our principles."
The consumer advocacy group Free Press trumpeted Martin's decision as a victory for consumers.
"This is going to be a bellwether," said Ben Scott, federal policy chief for Free Press.
The decision, contained in an order to be circulated by Martin, brings the agency's nine-month investigation of Comcast close to completion. Martin, a Republican, is expected to gain support from the two Democratic F.C.C. commissioners for his position, which would ensure the order's passage when the commission meets on August 1.
Comcast has long maintained that the government's standard gives it the right to manage its digital traffic "reasonably" for the sake of "network management."
For almost a year, consumer rights groups have battled Comcast, after an Associated Press investigation discovered that Comcast was blocking legal peer-to-peer traffic.
Comcast faced further public outrage after it admitted to paying people off the street to sit at a public hearing at Harvard, while members of the public were prevented from attending. At the time, Comcast claimed it merely paid people to save spots at the hearing for Comcast employees, but the event's organizer disputed that claim.
From: Conde Naste Portfolio; Wired
Netflix Without the DVD: Now Integrated Within XBox; Also NBCU Shows on XBox
After its Roku box integration, which received critical acclaim for ease of use, Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) is continuing on its digital service integration within others: it has just announced a deal with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), where Xbox 360 will be able to stream thousands (well 10K, compared to its DVD collection of over 100K) of movies/videos onto their TV sets...The service will be free to Xbox Live Gold members who are also Netflix subscribers.
Xbox had its own movie collection for streaming and download, but not as many....this surely gives it another boost on its fierce competition with Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PS3. XBox has about 12 million users, so this also give Netflix a big user base, though of course with some duplications. Then of course there's Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) TV, which competes with these combo services. As an aside, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is a member of Microsoft's board, so that helps…
Then, Xbox/MSFT has also tied up with NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) to offer the media company's TV shows and movies on its Xbox Live online platform. More details in release.
VB: The two services will also now offer a Live Party feature which will allow users to watch movies together over Xbox Live virtually.
Also, separately, prior to E3, Microsoft said Sunday it will cut the price of its best-selling Xbox 360 Pro with a 20GB hard drive to $299 from $349 while supplies last. In early August, it will introduce a new model with a 60GB hard drive for $349.
Bloomberg: The gap will close as studios negotiate online rights deals for old movies, Hastings said in May. The lure to studios is that they will capture nearly all of the money Netflix now spends on postage, about a third of its revenue, Hastings said. "If you were the studios, you would want this to happen,'' said Hastings.
via paidContent.org
Industry Moves: Yahoo GM Of Entertainment Karin Gilford Leaving For Comcast
Karin Gilford, the GM of Entertainment at Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), is among the latest to leave the trouble Internet company...TC reported it first and we have confirmed it as well. She is leaving to join Comcast, though not clear in what position. Gilford was in charge of all programming, content and overall business strategies for Yahoo Entertainment's consumer websites, including Yahoo Movies, Yahoo TV and Yahoo omg!, and was based in its Santa Monica offices. She was part of the streamlining of Yahoo's media group announced in April, but lots has changed at the company since then...including an exodus of senior execs.
No word yet on who will replace her...more to come later.
via paidContent.org
MySpaceTV Eats Into YouTube’s Market Share
Fox Interactive Media took a chunk out of Google and the rest of the competition’s U.S. video views in May, according to comScore. FIM’s major video property is MySpaceTV, while YouTube accounts for 98 percent of Google’s video views.
YouTube usually just grows its share of the pie every month, but in May it dropped to 34.8 percent of video views from 37.9 percent in April. Most every other site on the top 10 dropped as well, but FIM (in second place, as usual) had 6.4 percent of video views, up from 5.1 percent in April.
We’ve asked MySpace to comment on whether they saw similar growth internally. Since these comScore reports are significantly delayed, these numbers are from before MySpaceTV got a major overhaul along with the rest of MySpace in a June redesign.
comScore said total video views grew to 12 billion this month, up 45 percent from a year ago and recovering nicely from a dip in April. And Hulu made its debut on the top 10 list, coming in last place with 88.2 million video views, and falling just short of the video viewer top 10 with 6.8 million viewers. Hulu had already broken into Nielsen’s top 10 video sites in April.
via NewTeeVee
Activision Blizzard Plans Digital Store to Compete with iTunes
San Francisco - Activision Blizzard (NASD: ATVI), the company recently formed through the merger of Activision and Vivendi's games division, is considering launching an alternative digital music platform to compete with Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes, company CEO Bobby Kotick said in an interview with the Financial Times. "I don't think there have been a lot of credible alternatives to iTunes but Guitar Hero certainly has that potential," Kotick told FT. read more
From: Digital Media Wire - connecting people & knowledge
Thursday, July 10, 2008
News Bytes: July 10
Kodak Aims Theatre HD Player at Living Room
In an unusual move for a company still known mostly for its film technologies and digital imaging products, Kodak has announced its Kodak Theatre HD Player, an interactive device with a unique remote control aimed at bringing user's personal high-definition content—like photos and videos—from the home network to the living room high-definition television…but also tie into online media like podcasts, Internet radio, and other Web-based content. "The proliferation of HDTV technology has created a demand for HD content beyond standard television programming," said Kodak's
Disney Interactive Media Group Integration Begins With Long List Of Exec Changes; Handler Retiring
Major executive changes at the Disney (NYSE: DIS) Interactive Media Group, according to an internal email from Steve Wadsworth that just went out and has been obtained by paidContent. DIMG combines the Walt Disney Internet Group, which Wadsworth headed, and video gaming unit Disney Interactive Studios. This memo lays out the new organization with two global lines of business—Disney Interactive Studios (DIS) and Disney Online—as the roles for the various execs. Graham Hopper, the current EVP and GM of DIS, will continue to run Disney Interactive Studios while Paul Yanover, current EVP and GM of Disney Online in the US, will run Disney Online (DOL) globally. Club Penguin co-founder Lane Merrifield will run virtual worlds development and operations as part of DOL. Larry Shapiro will be responsible for DIMG global strategy, business development, corp communications and legal. Also, Mark Handler is retiring as head of WDIG International and has agreed to work with the company for the next six months.
Wadsworth: "We are organizing around the global development of interactive media products and content with the ability to focus on local distribution and local content requirements. In addition, we will be poised to take advantage of continued convergence between the game console platforms and the online/mobile platforms as technologies and consumer behaviour rapidly evolve. We are positioning ourselves to maximize the upcoming opportunities and putting the organization on the path to accelerate significant long term growth."
RealNetworks Sees Growth Of Snack-Sized Mobile Content; No iPhone Plans For Rhapsody
RealNetworks (NSDQ: RNWK), which helps carriers sell ringtones, ringback tones and full-track music, believes the continuing trend in mobile content is to provide a bite-sized or "snackable" content experience, whereas the TV and PC will be the venues for longer, richer, high-definition experiences, according to Analisa Roberts, RealNetwork's senior director of market planning and analysis. That's not a new concept in the industry, however, the thinking has started to get muddled with new entrants, like mobile broadcast TV, which offers full-length shows and movies, and other content providers that see phones with big screens and faster network speeds as away to move everything from TV or online over to mobile without any alterations. To be sure, RealNetworks provides the range when it comes to music, by selling slices of music that are used for ringtones and ringback tones and also full-track music downloads. Here's a snapshot of their thoughts on the matter:
On recent developments: About two years ago, RealNetworks acquired South Korean-based WiderThan for $350 million for its mobile music expertise and then more recently it bought Sony NetServices for $9 million to gain a European mobile music foothold. Last month, it gained recognition for launching an exclusive deal for Rhapsody with Verizon Wireless that includes both full-track and subscription music services.
Mobile Music by the Numbers:
-- Ringback tones: Ringback tones make up the bulk of RealNetwork's business when counting subscribers. As of Q1, they had 16 carrier deployments in 10 countries with 28 million mobile subscribers, which mostly have subscriptions. "Our ringback tone subscriber base continues to grow at a great rate....It's strong in the U.S. and Asia, but Europe is a focus and we are seeing traction there." To give an idea, 10.5 percent of the global subscriber base has a ringback tone subscription. It's particularly strong in Asia-Pacific, with the U.S. hitting 8.4 percent penetration. "It's at that stage, where it's really starting to get interesting.
-- Music on Demand: The full-track music service is deployed with 11 carriers in 10 different countries with more than 15 million downloads a quarter. "That's not huge for digital music across the board, but we are seeing big traction." The full-track music service was launched with Verizon (NYSE: VZ) previously, but then more recently it decided to go with Rhapsody, the music subscription service co-owned by RealNetworks and MTV. "We work closely with them. I think you'll see them both [VCast music and Rhapsody] up and running for awhile. There's no talk of VCast music going away, but it may morph into one business. We haven't gotten that far into the planning."
On Mobile Snacking: "It seems like everything is getting super sized. There's extra-large SUVs and Hummers and homes, but for some reason in mobile it is the exact opposite. We are into minimizing. No one wants a big handset, even though their fingers can't touch the buttons.....Mobile is perfect for snacking. People don't have to be tied to PC, and it doesn't have to be long, but they can still get the information, even if it's only one or two lines of text, or 15-30 second media clip. Either our attention spans that are shrinking, or is it because there's so much more information and we don't have time to consume all of it. The amount of content that's being sold isn't being diminished—it's that we don't want long-length content anymore." On MediaFlo's broadcast TV service:"MediaFlo is a good new service that's coming out, but I think it will be interesting to watch the popularity. We've been doing video for two years-plus in the U.S., and we've had full length HBO shows on there, and it's not live—it's streamed—but we continue to see the short pieces of content get more interest, like the recap of the day....It's a great to have and we'll see how it works out when MediaFlo has a good enough number of subscribers to have those kinds of debates."
The iPhone Won't Lead To More Mobile Consumption: The new iPhone won't lead to much more mobile consumption because most of the applications, including music and video, will only run on Wi-Fi networks or be consumed by users who side-load the content from the PC to the phone. By Robert's definition, those are not mobile experiences. "It won't be the device that leads to more mobile consumption because I don't consider Wi-Fi mobile," she said. She also doesn't expect RealNetworks to use the iPhone SDK to create applications for the iPhone other than games. That's because RealNetworks typically partners with the carrier, which has the billing and customer service-relationship with the subscriber. In Apple's (NSDQ: AAPL) model, that's not true.
"We could do a ringtone application for them, but we already do that today for Verizon and other carrier customers. The one thing is, is that in order to play in the mobile purchasing space, Apple will have to start looking at working with the carrier, but they really like their share of the profits." If RealNetworks were to handle the billing relationship with the iPhone user...."There are possibilities, but I don't think Apple would ever want Rhapsody on the device. It's a competing music experience."
Interview: Sega Mobile VP Chaplin: 'We Refer To The iPhone As The First Version Of Mobile 2.0'
The gaming industry came out early and strongly in favor of the new features the iPhone brought to the scene just over a year ago. Developers constantly chatted about how eager they were to build applications for the device, but had to wait seven months before Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) announced plans to offer its software development kit and launch an App Store where publishers could sell their work. mocoNews caught up with Sega Mobile VP Linda Chaplin today to talk about the iPhone's impact on the mobile gaming space and what it could spell for the future from other device makers. Here's some highlights from the interview:
-- Impact on wireless industry: "We refer to the iPhone as the first version of mobile 2.0 … I just think it's going to change our industry," Chaplin said. "It's been fantastic for the mobile industry as a whole. I think it has awakened the other hardware partners to want to do something more innovative. It's fantastic for us."
-- Evolution in mobile gaming capabilities: "We're thrilled we can make more unique and exciting games." Most mobile games in Sega's catalog have four or five levels, while the publisher's first title brought to the iPhone, Super Monkey Ball, has 110 levels of play.
-- App Store as sole distribution point and Apple's revenue share model: "We were a little bit limited with the type of value chain that we have been subject to in the past and it's tough. This is a much more fair revenue split … we look forward to a much more publisher positive revenue split."
More thoughts on content discovery and features yet to come, after the jump…
-- Discoverability on the iPhone: The device has brought content providers an entirely revamped opportunity to be found in the gauntlet of mobile content floating around. "It's fantastic for discovery of content." It also opens up the playing field. "Let's face it, it's been really tough on discoverability and the ability to find content on the carrier deck … we just weren't able to tap into the masses because they couldn't find the content."
-- Still to come: "I think that we can still make it even better." The iPhone's accelerometer, for instance, "it's good for some types of games, but not great for others … that's not something you can use in every type of game." What Chaplin would really like to see from the next leapfrog device is a physical d-pad: "There are so many unique things we can do … there's so much out there that can be discovered …there's nothing but excitement."
Analyst says Motorola "would be lucky" to get $500 million
Things have been looking pretty bleak for Motorola and its attempts to salvage its handset division for some time now, but a number of analysts are now painting an even clearer picture of just how bad things might be. According to BusinessWeek, some analysts are saying that with spin-off plans looking less and less likely, Motorola may revert back to its original plan to sell off the handset division outright, although Envisioneering Group's Richard Doherty says it "would be lucky to fetch $500 million." As BusinessWeek points out, that very same analyst pegged the business at a hefty $8 billion just last year. Analyst Richard Windsor of Nomura even went so far as to say that Motorola might actually have to pay someone to take the division off its hands. Now that's an idea we can get behind.
TheWB Boldly Announces Site Additions
TheWB.com doesn’t want you to give up on it yet. The site is adding old favorites and new online series for its official launch at the end of the summer. The news came via an announcement sent out last night, which was notable mostly for its use of bold type:
All of the feedback we have received has been amazing! We are hearing you loud and clear and promise fantasic pay-offs come August 27th.Since you’ve been asking, we’ll have more shows and episodes at launch including:
Oldteevee shows being included in the online roster are Everwood, Veronica Mars, Roswell, Angel, In Living Color (clips), MadTV, Firefly, and The Loop.
It also provided a little more detail about its original online series Sorority Forever, a college campus thriller (evidently there’s a “secret hidden behind the red door.”) The series launches September 8 (just in time for back-to-school), will have 40 episodes over eight weeks with new episodes daily.
The announcement also promises better video player quality, more features through Facebook and synched viewing so you can chat with your friends while watching.
Liz wasn’t too impressed with the beta site the first go around, but her feedback was amazing and she can expect fantastic pay-offs come launch time.
In an unusual move for a company still known mostly for its film technologies and digital imaging products, Kodak has announced its Kodak Theatre HD Player, an interactive device with a unique remote control aimed at bringing user's personal high-definition content—like photos and videos—from the home network to the living room high-definition television…but also tie into online media like podcasts, Internet radio, and other Web-based content. "The proliferation of HDTV technology has created a demand for HD content beyond standard television programming," said Kodak's
Disney Interactive Media Group Integration Begins With Long List Of Exec Changes; Handler Retiring
Major executive changes at the Disney (NYSE: DIS) Interactive Media Group, according to an internal email from Steve Wadsworth that just went out and has been obtained by paidContent. DIMG combines the Walt Disney Internet Group, which Wadsworth headed, and video gaming unit Disney Interactive Studios. This memo lays out the new organization with two global lines of business—Disney Interactive Studios (DIS) and Disney Online—as the roles for the various execs. Graham Hopper, the current EVP and GM of DIS, will continue to run Disney Interactive Studios while Paul Yanover, current EVP and GM of Disney Online in the US, will run Disney Online (DOL) globally. Club Penguin co-founder Lane Merrifield will run virtual worlds development and operations as part of DOL. Larry Shapiro will be responsible for DIMG global strategy, business development, corp communications and legal. Also, Mark Handler is retiring as head of WDIG International and has agreed to work with the company for the next six months.
Wadsworth: "We are organizing around the global development of interactive media products and content with the ability to focus on local distribution and local content requirements. In addition, we will be poised to take advantage of continued convergence between the game console platforms and the online/mobile platforms as technologies and consumer behaviour rapidly evolve. We are positioning ourselves to maximize the upcoming opportunities and putting the organization on the path to accelerate significant long term growth."
RealNetworks Sees Growth Of Snack-Sized Mobile Content; No iPhone Plans For Rhapsody
RealNetworks (NSDQ: RNWK), which helps carriers sell ringtones, ringback tones and full-track music, believes the continuing trend in mobile content is to provide a bite-sized or "snackable" content experience, whereas the TV and PC will be the venues for longer, richer, high-definition experiences, according to Analisa Roberts, RealNetwork's senior director of market planning and analysis. That's not a new concept in the industry, however, the thinking has started to get muddled with new entrants, like mobile broadcast TV, which offers full-length shows and movies, and other content providers that see phones with big screens and faster network speeds as away to move everything from TV or online over to mobile without any alterations. To be sure, RealNetworks provides the range when it comes to music, by selling slices of music that are used for ringtones and ringback tones and also full-track music downloads. Here's a snapshot of their thoughts on the matter:
On recent developments: About two years ago, RealNetworks acquired South Korean-based WiderThan for $350 million for its mobile music expertise and then more recently it bought Sony NetServices for $9 million to gain a European mobile music foothold. Last month, it gained recognition for launching an exclusive deal for Rhapsody with Verizon Wireless that includes both full-track and subscription music services.
Mobile Music by the Numbers:
-- Ringback tones: Ringback tones make up the bulk of RealNetwork's business when counting subscribers. As of Q1, they had 16 carrier deployments in 10 countries with 28 million mobile subscribers, which mostly have subscriptions. "Our ringback tone subscriber base continues to grow at a great rate....It's strong in the U.S. and Asia, but Europe is a focus and we are seeing traction there." To give an idea, 10.5 percent of the global subscriber base has a ringback tone subscription. It's particularly strong in Asia-Pacific, with the U.S. hitting 8.4 percent penetration. "It's at that stage, where it's really starting to get interesting.
-- Music on Demand: The full-track music service is deployed with 11 carriers in 10 different countries with more than 15 million downloads a quarter. "That's not huge for digital music across the board, but we are seeing big traction." The full-track music service was launched with Verizon (NYSE: VZ) previously, but then more recently it decided to go with Rhapsody, the music subscription service co-owned by RealNetworks and MTV. "We work closely with them. I think you'll see them both [VCast music and Rhapsody] up and running for awhile. There's no talk of VCast music going away, but it may morph into one business. We haven't gotten that far into the planning."
On Mobile Snacking: "It seems like everything is getting super sized. There's extra-large SUVs and Hummers and homes, but for some reason in mobile it is the exact opposite. We are into minimizing. No one wants a big handset, even though their fingers can't touch the buttons.....Mobile is perfect for snacking. People don't have to be tied to PC, and it doesn't have to be long, but they can still get the information, even if it's only one or two lines of text, or 15-30 second media clip. Either our attention spans that are shrinking, or is it because there's so much more information and we don't have time to consume all of it. The amount of content that's being sold isn't being diminished—it's that we don't want long-length content anymore." On MediaFlo's broadcast TV service:"MediaFlo is a good new service that's coming out, but I think it will be interesting to watch the popularity. We've been doing video for two years-plus in the U.S., and we've had full length HBO shows on there, and it's not live—it's streamed—but we continue to see the short pieces of content get more interest, like the recap of the day....It's a great to have and we'll see how it works out when MediaFlo has a good enough number of subscribers to have those kinds of debates."
The iPhone Won't Lead To More Mobile Consumption: The new iPhone won't lead to much more mobile consumption because most of the applications, including music and video, will only run on Wi-Fi networks or be consumed by users who side-load the content from the PC to the phone. By Robert's definition, those are not mobile experiences. "It won't be the device that leads to more mobile consumption because I don't consider Wi-Fi mobile," she said. She also doesn't expect RealNetworks to use the iPhone SDK to create applications for the iPhone other than games. That's because RealNetworks typically partners with the carrier, which has the billing and customer service-relationship with the subscriber. In Apple's (NSDQ: AAPL) model, that's not true.
"We could do a ringtone application for them, but we already do that today for Verizon and other carrier customers. The one thing is, is that in order to play in the mobile purchasing space, Apple will have to start looking at working with the carrier, but they really like their share of the profits." If RealNetworks were to handle the billing relationship with the iPhone user...."There are possibilities, but I don't think Apple would ever want Rhapsody on the device. It's a competing music experience."
Interview: Sega Mobile VP Chaplin: 'We Refer To The iPhone As The First Version Of Mobile 2.0'
The gaming industry came out early and strongly in favor of the new features the iPhone brought to the scene just over a year ago. Developers constantly chatted about how eager they were to build applications for the device, but had to wait seven months before Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) announced plans to offer its software development kit and launch an App Store where publishers could sell their work. mocoNews caught up with Sega Mobile VP Linda Chaplin today to talk about the iPhone's impact on the mobile gaming space and what it could spell for the future from other device makers. Here's some highlights from the interview:
-- Impact on wireless industry: "We refer to the iPhone as the first version of mobile 2.0 … I just think it's going to change our industry," Chaplin said. "It's been fantastic for the mobile industry as a whole. I think it has awakened the other hardware partners to want to do something more innovative. It's fantastic for us."
-- Evolution in mobile gaming capabilities: "We're thrilled we can make more unique and exciting games." Most mobile games in Sega's catalog have four or five levels, while the publisher's first title brought to the iPhone, Super Monkey Ball, has 110 levels of play.
-- App Store as sole distribution point and Apple's revenue share model: "We were a little bit limited with the type of value chain that we have been subject to in the past and it's tough. This is a much more fair revenue split … we look forward to a much more publisher positive revenue split."
More thoughts on content discovery and features yet to come, after the jump…
-- Discoverability on the iPhone: The device has brought content providers an entirely revamped opportunity to be found in the gauntlet of mobile content floating around. "It's fantastic for discovery of content." It also opens up the playing field. "Let's face it, it's been really tough on discoverability and the ability to find content on the carrier deck … we just weren't able to tap into the masses because they couldn't find the content."
-- Still to come: "I think that we can still make it even better." The iPhone's accelerometer, for instance, "it's good for some types of games, but not great for others … that's not something you can use in every type of game." What Chaplin would really like to see from the next leapfrog device is a physical d-pad: "There are so many unique things we can do … there's so much out there that can be discovered …there's nothing but excitement."
Analyst says Motorola "would be lucky" to get $500 million
Things have been looking pretty bleak for Motorola and its attempts to salvage its handset division for some time now, but a number of analysts are now painting an even clearer picture of just how bad things might be. According to BusinessWeek, some analysts are saying that with spin-off plans looking less and less likely, Motorola may revert back to its original plan to sell off the handset division outright, although Envisioneering Group's Richard Doherty says it "would be lucky to fetch $500 million." As BusinessWeek points out, that very same analyst pegged the business at a hefty $8 billion just last year. Analyst Richard Windsor of Nomura even went so far as to say that Motorola might actually have to pay someone to take the division off its hands. Now that's an idea we can get behind.
TheWB Boldly Announces Site Additions
TheWB.com doesn’t want you to give up on it yet. The site is adding old favorites and new online series for its official launch at the end of the summer. The news came via an announcement sent out last night, which was notable mostly for its use of bold type:
All of the feedback we have received has been amazing! We are hearing you loud and clear and promise fantasic pay-offs come August 27th.Since you’ve been asking, we’ll have more shows and episodes at launch including:
Oldteevee shows being included in the online roster are Everwood, Veronica Mars, Roswell, Angel, In Living Color (clips), MadTV, Firefly, and The Loop.
It also provided a little more detail about its original online series Sorority Forever, a college campus thriller (evidently there’s a “secret hidden behind the red door.”) The series launches September 8 (just in time for back-to-school), will have 40 episodes over eight weeks with new episodes daily.
The announcement also promises better video player quality, more features through Facebook and synched viewing so you can chat with your friends while watching.
Liz wasn’t too impressed with the beta site the first go around, but her feedback was amazing and she can expect fantastic pay-offs come launch time.
Mossberg Reviews New iPhone 3G
Newer, Faster, Cheaper iPhone 3G
Apple Inc.’s iPhone has been the world’s most influential smart phone since its debut a year ago, widely hailed for its beauty and functionality. It was a true hand-held computer that raised the bar for all its competitors. But that first iPhone had two big drawbacks: It was expensive, and it couldn’t access the fastest cellular-phone networks.
On Friday, Apple (AAPL) is launching a second-generation iPhone, called the iPhone 3G, which addresses both of those problems, while retaining the look and feel of the first model’s hardware and software.
The base version of the new iPhone costs $199 — half the $399 price of its predecessor; the higher-capacity version is now $299, down from $499. Yet, this new iPhone is much, much faster at fetching data over cellphone networks because it uses a speedy cellular technology called 3G. And it now sports a GPS chip for better location sensing.
The company also is rolling out the second generation of its iPhone operating system, with some nice new features, including wireless synchronization with corporate email, calendars and address books. And there’s a new online store for third-party iPhone programs that Apple hopes will make the device usable for a wider variety of tasks, including gaming and productivity applications. This new software and store will also be available on older iPhones, through a free upgrade.
I’ve been testing the iPhone 3G for a couple of weeks, and have found that it mostly keeps its promises. In particular, I found that doing email and surfing the Internet typically was between three and five times as fast using AT&T’s 3G network as it was with the older AT&T network to which the first iPhone was limited.
There are two big hidden costs to the new iPhone’s faster speed and lower price tag. First, in my tests, the iPhone 3G’s battery was drained much more quickly in a typical day of use than the battery on the original iPhone, due to the higher power demands of 3G networks. This is an especially significant problem because, unlike most other smart phones, the iPhone has a sealed battery that can’t be replaced with a spare.
Second, Apple’s exclusive carrier in the U.S., AT&T Inc. (T), has effectively negated the iPhone’s up-front price cut by jacking up its monthly fee for unlimited data use by $10. Over the course of the two-year contract you must sign to get the lower hardware prices, that adds $240, overwhelming the $200 savings on the phone itself. If you want text messaging, the cost rises further. With the first iPhone, 200 text messages a month came free. Now, 200 messages will cost $5 a month, or another $120 over the two-year contract.
The iPhone 3G still has a couple of features that made the first version unpalatable to some potential buyers. It uses a virtual on-screen keyboard instead of a physical one. While I find the virtual keyboard easy and accurate, not everyone does. Also, in the U.S. and in many other countries, the iPhone is still tied to a single exclusive carrier, whose coverage or rate plans may be unacceptable to some.
Here is a rundown of the changes in the new model.
Design: The new iPhone looks almost exactly like the old one. It is the same length and width, has the same big, vivid screen, and has the same number and layout of buttons. The main difference is the back, which is now plastic instead of mostly metal and curved instead of flat. It’s very slightly thicker in the middle, with tapered edges, and weighs a tiny bit less.
Apple has greatly improved the audio on the new iPhone. I found the speaker was much louder, for music and for the speakerphone. But the new phone produced an echo when used with the built-in Bluetooth system in my car. Also, the headphone jack is now flush with the case instead of recessed as on the first model, so it can accept any standard stereo earphones.
The camera, however, is still bare-bones. It can’t record video and has a resolution of just two megapixels. The power adapter is now tiny, at least in the U.S., but Apple no longer includes a dock for charging, just a cable.
Software: The basic software is similar. The biggest addition for some users will be full compatibility with Microsoft’s (MSFT) widely used Exchange ActiveSync service, which many corporations use. In my tests, I was able to connect the iPhone 3G to my company’s Exchange servers in a few minutes, and my corporate email, calendar and contacts were replicated on the phone. Any changes I made on the iPhone were reflected almost instantly in Microsoft Outlook on my company PC, and vice versa. Email was pushed to the phone as soon as it was received on the company’s servers.
One drawback: While you can have both personal and Exchange email accounts on the new iPhone, if you synchronize with Exchange calendars and contacts, your personal calendar and contacts are erased.
The new iPhone and upgraded older iPhones also will be able to use a new Apple consumer service, MobileMe, which offers synchronized push email, calendars, photos and contacts.
There are other improvements. You can now delete multiple emails at once, set parental controls and search your contacts. You can also save photos in emails or from Web sites. You can also now open Microsoft PowerPoint files sent as attachments, though I found in my tests that opening larger PowerPoint files crashed the phone.
Some software features missing from the first iPhone are still AWOL on the new one. There’s no copy and paste function, no universal search, no instant messaging and no MMS for sending photos quickly between phones.
Network: Like the old iPhone, the new one can perform Internet tasks using either Wi-Fi wireless networking or the cellphone networks. But the addition of 3G cellular capability makes the new model more useful for Web surfing, email and other data tasks when you’re not in Wi-Fi range. In my tests, in Washington and New York, I got data speeds mostly ranging between 200 and 500 kilobits per second. By comparison, the original iPhone, tested in the same spots at the same time, mostly got cellular data speeds between 70 and 150 kbps on AT&T’s old EDGE network. The new iPhone typically was between three and five times as fast as the old one.
While AT&T now has 3G networks in 280 U.S. cities, and aims to be in 350 by year end, it is converting its cellphone towers gradually, so not all areas of included cities have 3G coverage. The new iPhone falls back to EDGE speeds when 3G isn’t present.
One side benefit to 3G is that in some areas, voice coverage improves. At my neighborhood shopping center, where the first iPhone got little or no AT&T service, the iPhone 3G registered strong coverage. But I still found that calls regularly broke up on some major streets. In New York City, riding in a taxi along the Hudson, one important call was dropped three times on the new iPhone. Finally, I borrowed a cheap Verizon (VZ) phone and got perfect reception.
Battery life: Apple claims that over 3G, the new iPhone can get five hours of talk time, or five hours of Internet use. Talk time is twice as long on the older EDGE network, and Internet time is an hour better with Wi-Fi.
I ran my own battery tests using the phone’s 3G capability. Although I left the Wi-Fi function on, I didn’t connect it to a network, so the phone had to rely on 3G. In my test of voice calling, I got 4 hours and 27 minutes, short of Apple’s maximum claim and nearly three hours less than what I recorded in the same test last year on the original iPhone. In my test of Internet use over 3G, I got 5 hours and 49 minutes, better than Apple’s claim, but far short of the nine hours I got using Wi-Fi in last year’s tests.
More important, in daily use, I found the battery indicator on the new 3G model slipping below 20% by early afternoon or midafternoon on some days, and it entirely ran out of juice on one day. I overcame this problem by learning to use Wi-Fi instead of 3G whenever possible, turning down the screen brightness and even turning off 3G altogether, which the phone permits.
The iPhone 3G’s battery life is comparable to, or better than, that of some other 3G competitors. But they have replaceable batteries. The iPhone doesn’t.
Third-party software: If things go as Apple hopes, third-party software could be the biggest attraction to the new iPhone 3G, and to upgraded older iPhones. By some estimates, there will be hundreds of these programs, some free and some paid, almost immediately.
Apple didn’t supply me with programs for testing, but I managed to try several on older devices upgraded to the new operating system. I tested a game that used the phone’s motion sensors to control the action, and I tested several programs from America Online (TWX), including AOL Instant Messenger; AOL Radio, which streams music from the Internet; and AOL’s Truveo video search engine. All worked very well.
Among the programs Apple has publicly previewed were a sales automation program from Salesforce.com, a game called Super Monkey Ball from Sega and a program for bidding on eBay (EBAY). Also made public were a news reader from the Associated Press, a program for following live games from Major League Baseball and several programs for doctors, including the Epocrates drug reference.
Bottom line: If you’ve been waiting to buy an iPhone until it dropped in price, or ran on faster cell networks, you might want to take the plunge, if you can live with the higher service costs and the weaker battery life. The same goes for those with existing iPhones who love the device but crave faster cellular data speeds. But if you already own an iPhone, and can usually use Wi-Fi for data, you probably should hold off and get the free software upgrade before deciding whether it’s worth getting the new hardware.
by Walter S. Mossberg
Apple Inc.’s iPhone has been the world’s most influential smart phone since its debut a year ago, widely hailed for its beauty and functionality. It was a true hand-held computer that raised the bar for all its competitors. But that first iPhone had two big drawbacks: It was expensive, and it couldn’t access the fastest cellular-phone networks.
On Friday, Apple (AAPL) is launching a second-generation iPhone, called the iPhone 3G, which addresses both of those problems, while retaining the look and feel of the first model’s hardware and software.
The base version of the new iPhone costs $199 — half the $399 price of its predecessor; the higher-capacity version is now $299, down from $499. Yet, this new iPhone is much, much faster at fetching data over cellphone networks because it uses a speedy cellular technology called 3G. And it now sports a GPS chip for better location sensing.
The company also is rolling out the second generation of its iPhone operating system, with some nice new features, including wireless synchronization with corporate email, calendars and address books. And there’s a new online store for third-party iPhone programs that Apple hopes will make the device usable for a wider variety of tasks, including gaming and productivity applications. This new software and store will also be available on older iPhones, through a free upgrade.
I’ve been testing the iPhone 3G for a couple of weeks, and have found that it mostly keeps its promises. In particular, I found that doing email and surfing the Internet typically was between three and five times as fast using AT&T’s 3G network as it was with the older AT&T network to which the first iPhone was limited.
The iPhone 3G is hardly the first phone to run on 3G networks, and it still costs more than some of its competitors. But overall, I found it to be a more capable version of an already excellent device. And now that it’s open to third-party programs, the iPhone has a chance to become a true computing platform with wide versatility.
There are two big hidden costs to the new iPhone’s faster speed and lower price tag. First, in my tests, the iPhone 3G’s battery was drained much more quickly in a typical day of use than the battery on the original iPhone, due to the higher power demands of 3G networks. This is an especially significant problem because, unlike most other smart phones, the iPhone has a sealed battery that can’t be replaced with a spare.
Second, Apple’s exclusive carrier in the U.S., AT&T Inc. (T), has effectively negated the iPhone’s up-front price cut by jacking up its monthly fee for unlimited data use by $10. Over the course of the two-year contract you must sign to get the lower hardware prices, that adds $240, overwhelming the $200 savings on the phone itself. If you want text messaging, the cost rises further. With the first iPhone, 200 text messages a month came free. Now, 200 messages will cost $5 a month, or another $120 over the two-year contract.
The iPhone 3G still has a couple of features that made the first version unpalatable to some potential buyers. It uses a virtual on-screen keyboard instead of a physical one. While I find the virtual keyboard easy and accurate, not everyone does. Also, in the U.S. and in many other countries, the iPhone is still tied to a single exclusive carrier, whose coverage or rate plans may be unacceptable to some.
Here is a rundown of the changes in the new model.
Design: The new iPhone looks almost exactly like the old one. It is the same length and width, has the same big, vivid screen, and has the same number and layout of buttons. The main difference is the back, which is now plastic instead of mostly metal and curved instead of flat. It’s very slightly thicker in the middle, with tapered edges, and weighs a tiny bit less.
Like its predecessor, the iPhone 3G comes in two models distinguished only by storage capacity: 8 gigabytes and 16 gigabytes. The top model is available in black or white.
Apple has greatly improved the audio on the new iPhone. I found the speaker was much louder, for music and for the speakerphone. But the new phone produced an echo when used with the built-in Bluetooth system in my car. Also, the headphone jack is now flush with the case instead of recessed as on the first model, so it can accept any standard stereo earphones.
The camera, however, is still bare-bones. It can’t record video and has a resolution of just two megapixels. The power adapter is now tiny, at least in the U.S., but Apple no longer includes a dock for charging, just a cable.
Software: The basic software is similar. The biggest addition for some users will be full compatibility with Microsoft’s (MSFT) widely used Exchange ActiveSync service, which many corporations use. In my tests, I was able to connect the iPhone 3G to my company’s Exchange servers in a few minutes, and my corporate email, calendar and contacts were replicated on the phone. Any changes I made on the iPhone were reflected almost instantly in Microsoft Outlook on my company PC, and vice versa. Email was pushed to the phone as soon as it was received on the company’s servers.
One drawback: While you can have both personal and Exchange email accounts on the new iPhone, if you synchronize with Exchange calendars and contacts, your personal calendar and contacts are erased.
The new iPhone and upgraded older iPhones also will be able to use a new Apple consumer service, MobileMe, which offers synchronized push email, calendars, photos and contacts.
There are other improvements. You can now delete multiple emails at once, set parental controls and search your contacts. You can also save photos in emails or from Web sites. You can also now open Microsoft PowerPoint files sent as attachments, though I found in my tests that opening larger PowerPoint files crashed the phone.
Some software features missing from the first iPhone are still AWOL on the new one. There’s no copy and paste function, no universal search, no instant messaging and no MMS for sending photos quickly between phones.
Network: Like the old iPhone, the new one can perform Internet tasks using either Wi-Fi wireless networking or the cellphone networks. But the addition of 3G cellular capability makes the new model more useful for Web surfing, email and other data tasks when you’re not in Wi-Fi range. In my tests, in Washington and New York, I got data speeds mostly ranging between 200 and 500 kilobits per second. By comparison, the original iPhone, tested in the same spots at the same time, mostly got cellular data speeds between 70 and 150 kbps on AT&T’s old EDGE network. The new iPhone typically was between three and five times as fast as the old one.
While AT&T now has 3G networks in 280 U.S. cities, and aims to be in 350 by year end, it is converting its cellphone towers gradually, so not all areas of included cities have 3G coverage. The new iPhone falls back to EDGE speeds when 3G isn’t present.
One side benefit to 3G is that in some areas, voice coverage improves. At my neighborhood shopping center, where the first iPhone got little or no AT&T service, the iPhone 3G registered strong coverage. But I still found that calls regularly broke up on some major streets. In New York City, riding in a taxi along the Hudson, one important call was dropped three times on the new iPhone. Finally, I borrowed a cheap Verizon (VZ) phone and got perfect reception.
Battery life: Apple claims that over 3G, the new iPhone can get five hours of talk time, or five hours of Internet use. Talk time is twice as long on the older EDGE network, and Internet time is an hour better with Wi-Fi.
I ran my own battery tests using the phone’s 3G capability. Although I left the Wi-Fi function on, I didn’t connect it to a network, so the phone had to rely on 3G. In my test of voice calling, I got 4 hours and 27 minutes, short of Apple’s maximum claim and nearly three hours less than what I recorded in the same test last year on the original iPhone. In my test of Internet use over 3G, I got 5 hours and 49 minutes, better than Apple’s claim, but far short of the nine hours I got using Wi-Fi in last year’s tests.
More important, in daily use, I found the battery indicator on the new 3G model slipping below 20% by early afternoon or midafternoon on some days, and it entirely ran out of juice on one day. I overcame this problem by learning to use Wi-Fi instead of 3G whenever possible, turning down the screen brightness and even turning off 3G altogether, which the phone permits.
The iPhone 3G’s battery life is comparable to, or better than, that of some other 3G competitors. But they have replaceable batteries. The iPhone doesn’t.
Third-party software: If things go as Apple hopes, third-party software could be the biggest attraction to the new iPhone 3G, and to upgraded older iPhones. By some estimates, there will be hundreds of these programs, some free and some paid, almost immediately.
Apple didn’t supply me with programs for testing, but I managed to try several on older devices upgraded to the new operating system. I tested a game that used the phone’s motion sensors to control the action, and I tested several programs from America Online (TWX), including AOL Instant Messenger; AOL Radio, which streams music from the Internet; and AOL’s Truveo video search engine. All worked very well.
Among the programs Apple has publicly previewed were a sales automation program from Salesforce.com, a game called Super Monkey Ball from Sega and a program for bidding on eBay (EBAY). Also made public were a news reader from the Associated Press, a program for following live games from Major League Baseball and several programs for doctors, including the Epocrates drug reference.
Bottom line: If you’ve been waiting to buy an iPhone until it dropped in price, or ran on faster cell networks, you might want to take the plunge, if you can live with the higher service costs and the weaker battery life. The same goes for those with existing iPhones who love the device but crave faster cellular data speeds. But if you already own an iPhone, and can usually use Wi-Fi for data, you probably should hold off and get the free software upgrade before deciding whether it’s worth getting the new hardware.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
News Bytes: July 9
Hulu: A Consumer Success But Still A Small Business
Since Hulu launched three months ago, it has become a consumer success, joining Nielsen's top-10 video sites, and serving more video in May than ABC.com.
What does that mean in terms of gross ad sales for the NBC U - News Corp. JV? Not much. And net revenue? Even less.
We estimate Hulu will sell between $45 million and $90 million of advertising during its first 12 months -- April 2008 through March 2009. By the time it pays off its content partners, it will book between $12.5 million and $25 million in net revenue. (Which isn't bad for a start-up, actually.)
How do we get there? Assuming Hulu grows a fairly conservative 10% month-to-month in its first year -- it grew 20% from April to May, its first two full months of availability -- Hulu will have served 1.8 billon TV and movie streams by next March. We're assuming each stream results in at least one ad exposure, on average, but we'll allow for the possibility each stream results in two . One exposure at $25 CPM, or cost per 1,000 impressions, is $45 million in ad sales; two exposures would double that to $90 million. Read more…
Google: We Can't Figure Out How To Make Money On Web Video, Either
YouTube will generate about $200 million of revenue this year,* say two WSJ sources, short of Google's expectations. Chief salesman Tim Armstrong is trying to overhaul YouTube's overly complicated (and expensive) sales process, but the company is now considering much more drastic measures. WSJ:
Google plans to begin accepting "preroll" and "postroll" ads, which will run before and after some YouTube video clips, according to one person familiar with the matter. The plan under consideration, this person says, would give companies that post video clips the option to sell such ads, and share the revenue with Google. YouTube has long forsworn such ads because consumers don't like them. But advertisers consider them highly effective.
This is a big deal: Google's intense dislike of preroll is both aesthetic (they're a clumsy "old media" ad strategy, and Google doesn't like to think of itself that way) and practical (we're told that Google has found that 80% to 90% of video-watchers flee the instant they see one of the ads). So resorting to pre-rolls -- after Eric Schmidt had promised that YouTube had awesome new ad schemes in the works -- is an admission that the Mountain View brain trust is stumped. Read more…
AFTRA Ratifies Labor Contract; SAG Set to Respond Thursday
Los Angeles - The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), the other large Hollywood performers' union aside from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), announced on Wednesday that its members have ratified its previously announced labor agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) by a 62.4% margin. The new three-year deal includes a 10% increase in minimum payments, and creates new residuals for paid Internet downloads, ad-supported streaming and other new media usage. read more
Report: Americans Watching More TV, Web and Mobile Videos
New York - Americans are watching more TV than ever before, as well as more time online and on mobile devices watching videos, according to audience measurement firm Nielsen's first "three-screen" report. read more
Top Programming Exec Leaves Joost
The architect of Joost's many splashy TV deals is leaving the company. Yvette J. Alberdingk Thijm was named executive director of Witness, a human rights organization founded by Peter Gabriel.
Thijm was EVP of content strategy & acquisition at Joost, which was an important job when Joost was out signing content deals with TV networks in 2006 and 2007. In the past year Joost has been busier remaking the P2P TV service into a Web-based application that consumers would be more likely to use. We expect Joost to relaunch the service later this summer.
(Joost did announce a content deal today, adding shows from Japanese public broadcaster NHK.)
Thijm's departure further thins the ranks of Joost employees who were around for the Internet TV service's heyday. Joost recently hired two programming execs from Paris-based video sharing site Dailymotion: Danny Passman was named global head of programming strategy, and John Schultz, director of programming strategy.
Before Joost, Thijm was EVP of business affairs for MTV Networks International. She has been on the board of Witness since 2005. Her last day at Joost is July 15.
Since Hulu launched three months ago, it has become a consumer success, joining Nielsen's top-10 video sites, and serving more video in May than ABC.com.
What does that mean in terms of gross ad sales for the NBC U - News Corp. JV? Not much. And net revenue? Even less.
We estimate Hulu will sell between $45 million and $90 million of advertising during its first 12 months -- April 2008 through March 2009. By the time it pays off its content partners, it will book between $12.5 million and $25 million in net revenue. (Which isn't bad for a start-up, actually.)
How do we get there? Assuming Hulu grows a fairly conservative 10% month-to-month in its first year -- it grew 20% from April to May, its first two full months of availability -- Hulu will have served 1.8 billon TV and movie streams by next March. We're assuming each stream results in at least one ad exposure, on average, but we'll allow for the possibility each stream results in two . One exposure at $25 CPM, or cost per 1,000 impressions, is $45 million in ad sales; two exposures would double that to $90 million. Read more…
Google: We Can't Figure Out How To Make Money On Web Video, Either
YouTube will generate about $200 million of revenue this year,* say two WSJ sources, short of Google's expectations. Chief salesman Tim Armstrong is trying to overhaul YouTube's overly complicated (and expensive) sales process, but the company is now considering much more drastic measures. WSJ:
Google plans to begin accepting "preroll" and "postroll" ads, which will run before and after some YouTube video clips, according to one person familiar with the matter. The plan under consideration, this person says, would give companies that post video clips the option to sell such ads, and share the revenue with Google. YouTube has long forsworn such ads because consumers don't like them. But advertisers consider them highly effective.
This is a big deal: Google's intense dislike of preroll is both aesthetic (they're a clumsy "old media" ad strategy, and Google doesn't like to think of itself that way) and practical (we're told that Google has found that 80% to 90% of video-watchers flee the instant they see one of the ads). So resorting to pre-rolls -- after Eric Schmidt had promised that YouTube had awesome new ad schemes in the works -- is an admission that the Mountain View brain trust is stumped. Read more…
AFTRA Ratifies Labor Contract; SAG Set to Respond Thursday
Los Angeles - The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), the other large Hollywood performers' union aside from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), announced on Wednesday that its members have ratified its previously announced labor agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) by a 62.4% margin. The new three-year deal includes a 10% increase in minimum payments, and creates new residuals for paid Internet downloads, ad-supported streaming and other new media usage. read more
Report: Americans Watching More TV, Web and Mobile Videos
New York - Americans are watching more TV than ever before, as well as more time online and on mobile devices watching videos, according to audience measurement firm Nielsen's first "three-screen" report. read more
Top Programming Exec Leaves Joost
The architect of Joost's many splashy TV deals is leaving the company. Yvette J. Alberdingk Thijm was named executive director of Witness, a human rights organization founded by Peter Gabriel.
Thijm was EVP of content strategy & acquisition at Joost, which was an important job when Joost was out signing content deals with TV networks in 2006 and 2007. In the past year Joost has been busier remaking the P2P TV service into a Web-based application that consumers would be more likely to use. We expect Joost to relaunch the service later this summer.
(Joost did announce a content deal today, adding shows from Japanese public broadcaster NHK.)
Thijm's departure further thins the ranks of Joost employees who were around for the Internet TV service's heyday. Joost recently hired two programming execs from Paris-based video sharing site Dailymotion: Danny Passman was named global head of programming strategy, and John Schultz, director of programming strategy.
Before Joost, Thijm was EVP of business affairs for MTV Networks International. She has been on the board of Witness since 2005. Her last day at Joost is July 15.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
News Bytes: July 8
U.S. Takes Top Nod For Mobile Internet Usage: Report
Contrary to popular opinion, Americans do love the mobile web and use it in spades. The U.S. takes the top nod on mobile internet penetration among subscribers in 16 countries, according to a new report by Nielsen Mobile (PDF). The firm found that 15.6 percent of U.S. wireless subscribers use the internet on their mobile devices. The U.K. follows just behind at 12.9 percent while Italy took the third spot at an 11.9 percent penetration rate. “In the 16 countries we looked at, the U.S. is tops in terms of penetration and I would say that surprises me at this point,” said Nic Covey, the firm’s director of insights.
Some other interesting findings:
-- The average customer pays $11 a month for mobile web, up from an average of $9.22 a year ago.
-- In May, at least 40 million wireless subscribers accessed the internet from mobile device, however that’s still less than half the 95 million customers who already pay for access to the service in one form or another. Covey: “We’ve seen this trend for a while now … We don’t see that so much from other mobile media types.”
-- Top devices for accessing the mobile web in the U.S.: Motorola (NYSE: MOT) RAZR/RAZR2 (10 percent), Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone (4 percent), RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) BlackBerry 8100 series (2 percent), RIM BlackBerry 8800 series (2 percent) and Motorola Q series (2 percent).
-- Top mobile web devices in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and U.K.: Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N95 (5 percent), Nokia N70 (4 percent), Motorola RAZR/RAZR2 (3 percent), Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC) K800i (3 percent) and Nokia N73 (3 percent).
-- The U.S. mobile internet audience is almost evenly split between those over the age of 35 (48 percent) and those under the age of 35 (52 percent). Additionally, there are approximately as many teenagers using the mobile Internet as there are persons over the age of 55 (5.1 million persons age 13-17 and 4.4 million persons 55 and older).
-- The audience was still slightly more male than female--56 percent male and 44 percent female. The male bias of mobile internet use is consistent across markets and is most pronounced in Germany, where 75 percent of mobile Internet users are male. In general, Internet users in European markets skew more male than those in the U.S.
Nielsen Mobile concludes that the market has matured enough to warrant advertising dollars to follow in stride. Covey: “The adoption and the experience are improving at an impressive rate. I think marketers need to continue to be convinced to take the leap into the mobile internet.”
Strike Really Over: The Office Webisodes Come Back
A new season of webisodes from The Office resumes on NBC.com this Thursday to keep fans interested over the summer. Given the history of the first series of Office webisodes — The Accountants, which won Emmy and Webby awards — this resumption is worth noting: The series was used as a key example of good and popular content for which Hollywood writers were not being paid, the issue that prompted the three-month-long writers’ strike. The strike ended after the WGA negotiated a deal that gets its members compensated for their online work — and now the webisodes are back in action.
Check out this video from the picket line, where Office writers talk about how they’re upset over not being paid for their original web material. It’s nicely blunt — and very funny.
Yes, NBC is selling ads on the new season of Office webisodes — which detail returning webisode star Brian Baumgartner’s character Kevin’s “unique solution in an effort to pay back his looming gambling debts.” To be specific, there are already user-unfriendly 30-second prerolls on short previews for the show running on NBC.com. And there are no embeds or mention of the webisodes being posted on Hulu. But as a die-hard Office fan, I’ll probably be tuning in.
Nielsen: TV Up Online Vids Down (Slightly)
The reports of oldteevee’s deaths may be premature, if new stats from Nieslen are any indication. TV watching is up, with more than 282 million people watching more than 127 hours of television during the month of May. That’s a 1.4 percent increase in audience and a 4 percent jump in time spent. (Haven’t these people heard of Hulu?)
On the online video front, Nielsen found that 118.6 million unique viewers watched 7.5 billion streams in May 2008, with the average viewer watching 2 hours and 19 minutes of streaming video. These latest numbers are a slight drop from Nielsen’s April stats, when 119 million uniques watched 7.6 billion streams for a time spent of 2 hours and 28 minutes.
Nielsen also reported that 3 hours and 15 minutes of video was watched on mobile phones, which at first blush seems way too high, but according to Nielsen, “…this is a Q1 2008 estimate of only those mobile subscribers that subscribe to and use video on their mobile phone, over the past 30 days.”
Magna Predicts Healthy, But Slowing Gains For Online Video, Social Media; Search Continues To Rule
While fellow Magna ad spend forecaster Bob Coen has taken a slightly more pessimistic view of online ad revenue growth for this year, the IPG media firm has separately issued another report with a fairly healthy outlook for digital media through 2009. While Brian Weiser, Magna’s director of Industry Analysis, mainly tries to remind the industry that “traditional media never died” and is still thriving, his Emerging Media Forecast (PDF) notes that growth is slowing for social media, gaming and online video in 2009. Some highlights from the report include:
-- Search will grow by 24 percent to $13.8 billion. Search will remain the dominant “emerging” media category, and its growth will slow only slightly compared to this year’s forecast of a 26.5 percent gain over 2007.
-- Online video will experience the fastest growth within the emerging media category, seeing gains of 45 percent to $805 million next year. Still, compared to past years, that area is starting to slow, as in 2008, online video is expected to climb 54.2 percent; in 2007, online video gained 67.4 percent.
-- Social media will grow by 37.4 percent to $1.474 billion. But from 2006 to 2007, the social media space grew 141.7 percent, and then is expected to increase 60.8 percent by the end of 2008.
-- Gaming will grow by 27.4 percent to $296 million, mostly from online use, compared to 35.6 percent anticipated growth for 2008 and 51.9 percent in 2007.
-- Mobile will grow by 42.6 percent to $298 million. Still very healthy growth, but this year, Magna is calling for 74.2 percent gains, and 2007 came in 118.2 percent higher than the previous year.
-- Despite the coming conversion to digital TV next February and targeting through cable by Canoe Ventures, “advanced TV” will still have trouble attracting major marketers, Magna contends. Still, it should grow by 13.7 percent to $183 million by next year.
Contrary to popular opinion, Americans do love the mobile web and use it in spades. The U.S. takes the top nod on mobile internet penetration among subscribers in 16 countries, according to a new report by Nielsen Mobile (PDF). The firm found that 15.6 percent of U.S. wireless subscribers use the internet on their mobile devices. The U.K. follows just behind at 12.9 percent while Italy took the third spot at an 11.9 percent penetration rate. “In the 16 countries we looked at, the U.S. is tops in terms of penetration and I would say that surprises me at this point,” said Nic Covey, the firm’s director of insights.
Some other interesting findings:
-- The average customer pays $11 a month for mobile web, up from an average of $9.22 a year ago.
-- In May, at least 40 million wireless subscribers accessed the internet from mobile device, however that’s still less than half the 95 million customers who already pay for access to the service in one form or another. Covey: “We’ve seen this trend for a while now … We don’t see that so much from other mobile media types.”
-- Top devices for accessing the mobile web in the U.S.: Motorola (NYSE: MOT) RAZR/RAZR2 (10 percent), Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone (4 percent), RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) BlackBerry 8100 series (2 percent), RIM BlackBerry 8800 series (2 percent) and Motorola Q series (2 percent).
-- Top mobile web devices in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and U.K.: Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N95 (5 percent), Nokia N70 (4 percent), Motorola RAZR/RAZR2 (3 percent), Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC) K800i (3 percent) and Nokia N73 (3 percent).
-- The U.S. mobile internet audience is almost evenly split between those over the age of 35 (48 percent) and those under the age of 35 (52 percent). Additionally, there are approximately as many teenagers using the mobile Internet as there are persons over the age of 55 (5.1 million persons age 13-17 and 4.4 million persons 55 and older).
-- The audience was still slightly more male than female--56 percent male and 44 percent female. The male bias of mobile internet use is consistent across markets and is most pronounced in Germany, where 75 percent of mobile Internet users are male. In general, Internet users in European markets skew more male than those in the U.S.
Nielsen Mobile concludes that the market has matured enough to warrant advertising dollars to follow in stride. Covey: “The adoption and the experience are improving at an impressive rate. I think marketers need to continue to be convinced to take the leap into the mobile internet.”
Strike Really Over: The Office Webisodes Come Back
A new season of webisodes from The Office resumes on NBC.com this Thursday to keep fans interested over the summer. Given the history of the first series of Office webisodes — The Accountants, which won Emmy and Webby awards — this resumption is worth noting: The series was used as a key example of good and popular content for which Hollywood writers were not being paid, the issue that prompted the three-month-long writers’ strike. The strike ended after the WGA negotiated a deal that gets its members compensated for their online work — and now the webisodes are back in action.
Check out this video from the picket line, where Office writers talk about how they’re upset over not being paid for their original web material. It’s nicely blunt — and very funny.
Yes, NBC is selling ads on the new season of Office webisodes — which detail returning webisode star Brian Baumgartner’s character Kevin’s “unique solution in an effort to pay back his looming gambling debts.” To be specific, there are already user-unfriendly 30-second prerolls on short previews for the show running on NBC.com. And there are no embeds or mention of the webisodes being posted on Hulu. But as a die-hard Office fan, I’ll probably be tuning in.
Nielsen: TV Up Online Vids Down (Slightly)
The reports of oldteevee’s deaths may be premature, if new stats from Nieslen are any indication. TV watching is up, with more than 282 million people watching more than 127 hours of television during the month of May. That’s a 1.4 percent increase in audience and a 4 percent jump in time spent. (Haven’t these people heard of Hulu?)
On the online video front, Nielsen found that 118.6 million unique viewers watched 7.5 billion streams in May 2008, with the average viewer watching 2 hours and 19 minutes of streaming video. These latest numbers are a slight drop from Nielsen’s April stats, when 119 million uniques watched 7.6 billion streams for a time spent of 2 hours and 28 minutes.
Nielsen also reported that 3 hours and 15 minutes of video was watched on mobile phones, which at first blush seems way too high, but according to Nielsen, “…this is a Q1 2008 estimate of only those mobile subscribers that subscribe to and use video on their mobile phone, over the past 30 days.”
Magna Predicts Healthy, But Slowing Gains For Online Video, Social Media; Search Continues To Rule
While fellow Magna ad spend forecaster Bob Coen has taken a slightly more pessimistic view of online ad revenue growth for this year, the IPG media firm has separately issued another report with a fairly healthy outlook for digital media through 2009. While Brian Weiser, Magna’s director of Industry Analysis, mainly tries to remind the industry that “traditional media never died” and is still thriving, his Emerging Media Forecast (PDF) notes that growth is slowing for social media, gaming and online video in 2009. Some highlights from the report include:
-- Search will grow by 24 percent to $13.8 billion. Search will remain the dominant “emerging” media category, and its growth will slow only slightly compared to this year’s forecast of a 26.5 percent gain over 2007.
-- Online video will experience the fastest growth within the emerging media category, seeing gains of 45 percent to $805 million next year. Still, compared to past years, that area is starting to slow, as in 2008, online video is expected to climb 54.2 percent; in 2007, online video gained 67.4 percent.
-- Social media will grow by 37.4 percent to $1.474 billion. But from 2006 to 2007, the social media space grew 141.7 percent, and then is expected to increase 60.8 percent by the end of 2008.
-- Gaming will grow by 27.4 percent to $296 million, mostly from online use, compared to 35.6 percent anticipated growth for 2008 and 51.9 percent in 2007.
-- Mobile will grow by 42.6 percent to $298 million. Still very healthy growth, but this year, Magna is calling for 74.2 percent gains, and 2007 came in 118.2 percent higher than the previous year.
-- Despite the coming conversion to digital TV next February and targeting through cable by Canoe Ventures, “advanced TV” will still have trouble attracting major marketers, Magna contends. Still, it should grow by 13.7 percent to $183 million by next year.
Monday, July 7, 2008
News Bytes: July 3-7
After MICROSOFT (NASD: MSFT) began talks seeking partners for a YAHOO deal, YAHOO (NASD: YHOO) has decided to strike back by pursuing the same partners. Yahoo has been in talks with TIME WARNER (NYSE: TWX) and NEWS CORP (NYSE: NEWS). With Yahoo’s search ads deal with GOOGLE (NASD: GOOG) in regulatory purgatory, Yahoo is in dire need of a partner who can help boost its crumbling stock price.
CIRCUIT CITY’s (NYSE: CC) lead director resigned yesterday. Director Mikael Salovaara and another board member jumped ship after BLOCKBUSTER (NYSE: BB) pulled its billion dollar bid for the retailer. Circuit City is still looking to explore a sale or merger that could stabilize its finances.
From the ashes of StrikeTV.org founded by Peter Hyoguchi to raise funds for out-of-work TV writers comes Strike.TV, a new web portal preparing to launch more than 40 original web series later this summer including ad supported comedies, dramas and game shows. Shows to look out for in the coming weeks, per Variety, include:
Global Warming, starring SNL's Kirsten Wiig and The Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi
Unknown Sender, written by Steven de Souza with Timothy Dalton and Joanne Whalley
House Poor, created by Lester Lewis, writer and producer of The Office
The Challenge, written by Lloyd Garver starring Bob Newhart
Five or Die, written and directed by horror movie veteran Tom Holland
John's Hand, starring Garret Dillahunt and Kali Rocha
Smartphone content developer Handango has devised a new way to distribute its apps to users. The company is embedding them on Micro SD memory cards now available for purchase at Best Buy and bestbuy.com. Applications are bundled on separate cards organized by platform and lifestyle category.
Former Time Warner Cable executive Roger Keating starts today at Hearst-Argyle Television as SVP/Digital Media, reporting to President and CEO David Barrett. He replaces Terry Mackin who took a job running the Univision Stations Group earlier this year.
Watch and read Shelly’s commentary “The End of Analog Television”, which sheds light on the transition from Analog to Digital Television.
Analyst Whacks Entertainment Industry: Major Cannibalization Set To Begin… Now
By Joseph Weisenthal - Mon 07 Jul 2008 12:56 PM PST
Here’s a bracing tonic to cure that post-holiday hangover: Lehman analyst Anthony DiClemente kicked off the fresh week with a big, across-the-board downgrade of the entertainment industry. His message: digital media is proving too disruptive to the film and TV industries. The companies he called out specifically were Disney (NYSE: DIS), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Viacom (NYSE: VIA), News Corp (NYSE: NWS). and CBS (NYSE: CBS). This is kind of old news (see the stocks of all these companies), so the interesting question is timing. Why now? DiClimente’s view is that the cannibalization of physical media, DVDs particularly, has so far been limited, but that this is set to rapidly accelerate.
Accelerating the decline of the DVD are a slew of new digital distribution models that are starting to crack the mainstream: “To date, we have argued that until a capable video distribution player device finds a user-friendly means of transferring Internet-based movies and TV shows to the living room HDTV screen (i.e., widespread take-up of Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) TV penetration, Slingbox, Tivo, Xbox, or PS3 as potential device platforms), the traditional home video model remains “safe.” But given 1) recent declines in standard-definition DVD sales reported by the big box retailers, 2) new strategies from Apple that may emphasize lower-priced movie options including the more popular iTunes rentals; 3) a recent strategy from Sony (NYSE: SNE) that underscores the value of distribution as opposed to content; and 4) given the increasing likelihood of PC/TV integration, this “status quo” argument is bound to failure, and no longer tenable, in our view. We humbly believe the “long tail” argument of why packaged media “will last longer than you think” is also untenable, as investors who have touted the structural benefits of the newspaper, radio/TV station, and broadcast TV businesses have all recently observed.”
APPLE (NASD: AAPL) will release the 3G iPhone this Friday and while the phone’s pricetag has been slashed in half, the phone will not be cheaper in the long run. Subsidized by AT&T (NYSE: T), the new iPhone will retail for $200, however, analysts are saying that it will end up costing consumers a $1000 more than the iPhone 1.0 over the course of a two year contract. The increasing costs can be attributed to faster wireless spectrum and increasing Apple Mobile Me fee’s.
CIRCUIT CITY’s (NYSE: CC) lead director resigned yesterday. Director Mikael Salovaara and another board member jumped ship after BLOCKBUSTER (NYSE: BB) pulled its billion dollar bid for the retailer. Circuit City is still looking to explore a sale or merger that could stabilize its finances.
From the ashes of StrikeTV.org founded by Peter Hyoguchi to raise funds for out-of-work TV writers comes Strike.TV, a new web portal preparing to launch more than 40 original web series later this summer including ad supported comedies, dramas and game shows. Shows to look out for in the coming weeks, per Variety, include:
Global Warming, starring SNL's Kirsten Wiig and The Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi
Unknown Sender, written by Steven de Souza with Timothy Dalton and Joanne Whalley
House Poor, created by Lester Lewis, writer and producer of The Office
The Challenge, written by Lloyd Garver starring Bob Newhart
Five or Die, written and directed by horror movie veteran Tom Holland
John's Hand, starring Garret Dillahunt and Kali Rocha
Smartphone content developer Handango has devised a new way to distribute its apps to users. The company is embedding them on Micro SD memory cards now available for purchase at Best Buy and bestbuy.com. Applications are bundled on separate cards organized by platform and lifestyle category.
Former Time Warner Cable executive Roger Keating starts today at Hearst-Argyle Television as SVP/Digital Media, reporting to President and CEO David Barrett. He replaces Terry Mackin who took a job running the Univision Stations Group earlier this year.
Watch and read Shelly’s commentary “The End of Analog Television”, which sheds light on the transition from Analog to Digital Television.
Analyst Whacks Entertainment Industry: Major Cannibalization Set To Begin… Now
By Joseph Weisenthal - Mon 07 Jul 2008 12:56 PM PST
Here’s a bracing tonic to cure that post-holiday hangover: Lehman analyst Anthony DiClemente kicked off the fresh week with a big, across-the-board downgrade of the entertainment industry. His message: digital media is proving too disruptive to the film and TV industries. The companies he called out specifically were Disney (NYSE: DIS), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Viacom (NYSE: VIA), News Corp (NYSE: NWS). and CBS (NYSE: CBS). This is kind of old news (see the stocks of all these companies), so the interesting question is timing. Why now? DiClimente’s view is that the cannibalization of physical media, DVDs particularly, has so far been limited, but that this is set to rapidly accelerate.
Accelerating the decline of the DVD are a slew of new digital distribution models that are starting to crack the mainstream: “To date, we have argued that until a capable video distribution player device finds a user-friendly means of transferring Internet-based movies and TV shows to the living room HDTV screen (i.e., widespread take-up of Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) TV penetration, Slingbox, Tivo, Xbox, or PS3 as potential device platforms), the traditional home video model remains “safe.” But given 1) recent declines in standard-definition DVD sales reported by the big box retailers, 2) new strategies from Apple that may emphasize lower-priced movie options including the more popular iTunes rentals; 3) a recent strategy from Sony (NYSE: SNE) that underscores the value of distribution as opposed to content; and 4) given the increasing likelihood of PC/TV integration, this “status quo” argument is bound to failure, and no longer tenable, in our view. We humbly believe the “long tail” argument of why packaged media “will last longer than you think” is also untenable, as investors who have touted the structural benefits of the newspaper, radio/TV station, and broadcast TV businesses have all recently observed.”
APPLE (NASD: AAPL) will release the 3G iPhone this Friday and while the phone’s pricetag has been slashed in half, the phone will not be cheaper in the long run. Subsidized by AT&T (NYSE: T), the new iPhone will retail for $200, however, analysts are saying that it will end up costing consumers a $1000 more than the iPhone 1.0 over the course of a two year contract. The increasing costs can be attributed to faster wireless spectrum and increasing Apple Mobile Me fee’s.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
News Bytes: July 2
Robert Redford is taking a desk at Cablevision as a consultant to help produce a series of short films for mobile devices under the Sundance Channel brand, reports the New York Times. He will likely direct them and may even appear in a few.
Adobe released a souped-up version of Reader application yesterday, the first version that allows embedding of Flash movies, Shockwave animation and other rich media goodies in PDFs without having to load a separate player. Adobe also enhanced the newest Flash format to allow Google and Yahoo to index content created in Flash, making it searchable by users around the world.
Fox Interactive Media has taken out a lease for over 420,000 square feet of office space in the Playa Vista development in Los Angeles between LAX and Santa Monica, reports the LA Times. The plan is to bring MySpace, Photobucket, Fox Sports Interactive, IGN, Rotten Tomatoes, AskMen and Fox Interactive Media Audience Network under a single roof.
Home Depot is sponsoring a Spanish-language microsite and web show for Univision.com called Handyman Al Rescate (Handyman to the Rescue) featuring 6 minute tutorials on everything from how to organize your garage to how to remodel your bathroom.
Sanity Prevails, Blockbuster Not Buying Circuit City
Troubled rental chain Blockbuster has withdrawn its bid to buy troubled electronics retailer Circuit City. The company issued a one paragraph release explaining the news yesterday:
“Based on market conditions and the completion of our initial due diligence process, we have determined that it is not in the best interest of Blockbuster’s shareholders to proceed with an acquisition of Circuit City,” said Jim Keyes, Blockbuster Chairman and CEO. “We continue to believe in the strategic merits of a consumer retail proposition that would bring media content and electronic devices together under one brand. We will pursue this strategy through our Blockbuster stores as a way to diversify the business and better serve the entertainment retail segment.”
Vid-Biz
DVDs Dominate, But Young’uns Turning to New Ways; study from Knowledge Networks shows Generation Y (ages 13 - 29) streams and downloads, but isn’t buying, video content. (release)
Yo Joe! G.I. Joe Getting Webisodes
That sound you hear is an entire generation of nerds bursting at the seams with the news that their beloved ’80s childhood cartoon, G.I. Joe, is coming back as an animated web series.
The series is called G.I. Joe Resolute (was G.I. Joe Stay the Course too obvious?) and instead of running around, spouting kid-friendly safety tips in PSAs, these cartoon soldiers will be aimed at a more adult audience. It’s written by comics legend Warren Ellis and will feature people actually dying this time.
The series debuts in first quarter of 2009 on the G.I. Joe web site. (Which leaves plenty of time to promote the live action movie coming out.) The series will have 10 five-minute episodes, and it will be capped off with a 10-minute finale.
Roku's Netflix Player to stream content from other "big name" providers
Roku's Netflix Player got off to a hot start after launching just over a month ago, and apparently its creator has big plans for the plainly designed $99 box. According to a recent report over on Forbes, Tim Twerdahl, Roku's vice president of consumer products, has affirmed that a routine software update would be hitting later this year to enable content to be fetched and streamed from other "big name" providers. Regrettably, the conversation ended there, so there's absolutely no telling which "providers" he's referring to. Still, we're certainly intrigued by the idea of this thing becoming more versatile in the coming months, but wouldn't the name have to be tweaked at the very least?[Via Silicon Alley Insider]
Is Will Ferrell Two-Timing Funny or Die?
Have you no loyalty, Will Ferrell? While Funny or Die toils along, branching into video games to show that it’s stronger than just your wit alone, you’re off gallivanting on iBeatYou, online video home of new mom Jessica Alba and that traitor Baron Davis (see our initial review of the site).
Ferrell showed up on iBeatYou last week with costar John C. Reilly on the set of their movie Step Brothers. They announced a staring contest, which they are currently winning, though it only has five entrants.
So what’s going on? Is there a celebrity video site roll-up in the in the works?
Interview: People.com’s Golin, Hauser: Being More Aggressive By Being Soft; Games Channel Introduced
Celebrity-oriented news sites have grown substantially over the past year—comScore says the category’s traffic has grown 31 percent from May 2007 to May 2008. So while the space has been identified with TMZ, Gawker and PerezHilton, which tend to zero in on the more sordid aspects of the rich and famous, People.com editor Mark Golin and Fran Hauser, People Digital’s president, insist that their site’s softer touch not only resonates with readers more, but it keeps advertisers open to new initiatives as well. Note: Hauser is speaking at our EconCeleb conference later this month in Hollywood, talking about, what else, celebrity content and transforming the brand into digital platforms.
-- Games People.com plays: One of the new initiatives that People.com unveiled this past week is its new Games channel. Launching with six games, such as Celebrity Trivia, Hollywood Hangman, Love Connection and other fun revolving around entertainment, the channel is part of what Golin and Hauser say is a key part of the site’s growth strategy. Hauser: “We’ve built five channels over the last two years. When I came to People.com [in January 2006 as GM] it was only news and photos. Since then, we have built out five separate channels: StyleWatch, TV Watch, Video, archives and a celebrity database. And now we have Games.” The addition of the new channels—along with greater use of search engine optimization and promotion of its RSS feeds—have given People.com 9.2 million monthly uniques (according to May comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) numbers), says Hauser. Golin adds: “Look at the whole entertainment category grew by 31 percent year-over-year. But People.com grew 60 percent.”
Industry Moves
-- AOL: Platform-A (NYSE: TWX) has added two execs to its Midwest team and promoted a third in Detroit. Platform-A’s Midwest team will be led by Rick Simmons, as VP-sales. He moves over to Platform-A after three years at AOL Media Networks. Tina Ienna has been promoted to regional VP in charge of Platform-A’s Detroit office while former Yahoo sales exec Craig Schumacher is Chicago regional sales director. Release.
-- At Universal Pictures, Stan Scoggins has been upped to SVP-worldwide digital asset management for the studio’s creative services group, according to Variety. Having been in charge of the division since 1998, he developed Solar, the company’s online publicity and ad materials repository for its film and TV titles. Scoggins will continue to report to Dan Wolfe, EVP-worldwide creative operations.
Adobe released a souped-up version of Reader application yesterday, the first version that allows embedding of Flash movies, Shockwave animation and other rich media goodies in PDFs without having to load a separate player. Adobe also enhanced the newest Flash format to allow Google and Yahoo to index content created in Flash, making it searchable by users around the world.
Fox Interactive Media has taken out a lease for over 420,000 square feet of office space in the Playa Vista development in Los Angeles between LAX and Santa Monica, reports the LA Times. The plan is to bring MySpace, Photobucket, Fox Sports Interactive, IGN, Rotten Tomatoes, AskMen and Fox Interactive Media Audience Network under a single roof.
Home Depot is sponsoring a Spanish-language microsite and web show for Univision.com called Handyman Al Rescate (Handyman to the Rescue) featuring 6 minute tutorials on everything from how to organize your garage to how to remodel your bathroom.
Sanity Prevails, Blockbuster Not Buying Circuit City
Troubled rental chain Blockbuster has withdrawn its bid to buy troubled electronics retailer Circuit City. The company issued a one paragraph release explaining the news yesterday:
“Based on market conditions and the completion of our initial due diligence process, we have determined that it is not in the best interest of Blockbuster’s shareholders to proceed with an acquisition of Circuit City,” said Jim Keyes, Blockbuster Chairman and CEO. “We continue to believe in the strategic merits of a consumer retail proposition that would bring media content and electronic devices together under one brand. We will pursue this strategy through our Blockbuster stores as a way to diversify the business and better serve the entertainment retail segment.”
Vid-Biz
DVDs Dominate, But Young’uns Turning to New Ways; study from Knowledge Networks shows Generation Y (ages 13 - 29) streams and downloads, but isn’t buying, video content. (release)
Yo Joe! G.I. Joe Getting Webisodes
That sound you hear is an entire generation of nerds bursting at the seams with the news that their beloved ’80s childhood cartoon, G.I. Joe, is coming back as an animated web series.
The series is called G.I. Joe Resolute (was G.I. Joe Stay the Course too obvious?) and instead of running around, spouting kid-friendly safety tips in PSAs, these cartoon soldiers will be aimed at a more adult audience. It’s written by comics legend Warren Ellis and will feature people actually dying this time.
The series debuts in first quarter of 2009 on the G.I. Joe web site. (Which leaves plenty of time to promote the live action movie coming out.) The series will have 10 five-minute episodes, and it will be capped off with a 10-minute finale.
Roku's Netflix Player to stream content from other "big name" providers
Roku's Netflix Player got off to a hot start after launching just over a month ago, and apparently its creator has big plans for the plainly designed $99 box. According to a recent report over on Forbes, Tim Twerdahl, Roku's vice president of consumer products, has affirmed that a routine software update would be hitting later this year to enable content to be fetched and streamed from other "big name" providers. Regrettably, the conversation ended there, so there's absolutely no telling which "providers" he's referring to. Still, we're certainly intrigued by the idea of this thing becoming more versatile in the coming months, but wouldn't the name have to be tweaked at the very least?[Via Silicon Alley Insider]
Is Will Ferrell Two-Timing Funny or Die?
Have you no loyalty, Will Ferrell? While Funny or Die toils along, branching into video games to show that it’s stronger than just your wit alone, you’re off gallivanting on iBeatYou, online video home of new mom Jessica Alba and that traitor Baron Davis (see our initial review of the site).
Ferrell showed up on iBeatYou last week with costar John C. Reilly on the set of their movie Step Brothers. They announced a staring contest, which they are currently winning, though it only has five entrants.
So what’s going on? Is there a celebrity video site roll-up in the in the works?
Interview: People.com’s Golin, Hauser: Being More Aggressive By Being Soft; Games Channel Introduced
Celebrity-oriented news sites have grown substantially over the past year—comScore says the category’s traffic has grown 31 percent from May 2007 to May 2008. So while the space has been identified with TMZ, Gawker and PerezHilton, which tend to zero in on the more sordid aspects of the rich and famous, People.com editor Mark Golin and Fran Hauser, People Digital’s president, insist that their site’s softer touch not only resonates with readers more, but it keeps advertisers open to new initiatives as well. Note: Hauser is speaking at our EconCeleb conference later this month in Hollywood, talking about, what else, celebrity content and transforming the brand into digital platforms.
-- Games People.com plays: One of the new initiatives that People.com unveiled this past week is its new Games channel. Launching with six games, such as Celebrity Trivia, Hollywood Hangman, Love Connection and other fun revolving around entertainment, the channel is part of what Golin and Hauser say is a key part of the site’s growth strategy. Hauser: “We’ve built five channels over the last two years. When I came to People.com [in January 2006 as GM] it was only news and photos. Since then, we have built out five separate channels: StyleWatch, TV Watch, Video, archives and a celebrity database. And now we have Games.” The addition of the new channels—along with greater use of search engine optimization and promotion of its RSS feeds—have given People.com 9.2 million monthly uniques (according to May comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) numbers), says Hauser. Golin adds: “Look at the whole entertainment category grew by 31 percent year-over-year. But People.com grew 60 percent.”
Industry Moves
-- AOL: Platform-A (NYSE: TWX) has added two execs to its Midwest team and promoted a third in Detroit. Platform-A’s Midwest team will be led by Rick Simmons, as VP-sales. He moves over to Platform-A after three years at AOL Media Networks. Tina Ienna has been promoted to regional VP in charge of Platform-A’s Detroit office while former Yahoo sales exec Craig Schumacher is Chicago regional sales director. Release.
-- At Universal Pictures, Stan Scoggins has been upped to SVP-worldwide digital asset management for the studio’s creative services group, according to Variety. Having been in charge of the division since 1998, he developed Solar, the company’s online publicity and ad materials repository for its film and TV titles. Scoggins will continue to report to Dan Wolfe, EVP-worldwide creative operations.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
News Bytes: July 1
Whedon to Pioneer New Distribution Model
Joss Whedon’s upcoming writers’ strike-inspired web series, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, is the closest thing to a sure hit online, even if it is going to be a musical (hey, that’s just unusual — not bad!). Turns out Whedon has a pretty interesting plan for pleasing fans, making a big impact, and perhaps making a bit of money, too.
The plan (which was first posted as a comment on a fan site, I believe) is to release the three parts of the 42-minute project on July 15, July 17 and July 19 respectively, for free. But at midnight on July 20, “They will vanish into the night, like a phantom (but not THE Phantom – that’s still playing. Like, everywhere.),” as Whedon put it. After that, the whole thing will be available for purchase.
I like it! A way to have scarcity without signing some exclusive deal with a portal whose audience isn’t necessarily your fan base. A way to get everyone in the same place, buzzing about what you’re doing without depending on outside promotion. Hey, maybe it’s something only Whedon could do, but it’ll be exciting to watch it play out.
Read more of this story
VOD Stats; VOD households have grown to 42.5 million in 2008 from 12.9 million in 2003; will reach 60 percent of households by 2012, karaoke most popular free VOD content. (eMarketer)
IKEA to Launch Web Series; break out the Allen wrenches, as Illeanna Douglas stars in the new scripted comedy, Easy to Assemble. (TVWeek)
Starz Reorgs Management; Digital Consolidated Under Bill Myers
Starz, the cable TV network owned by Liberty Media (NSDQ: LINTA), has quietly reorg-ed its management operations, reports THR. Starz Entertainment, which oversees the brand’s linear and VOD channels, and Starz Media, the umbrella group for such third-party programming providers as Anchor Bay Entertainment and Film Roman, will be consolidated under Bill Myers, president and COO of Starz Entertainment...also consolidating under him is Starz’s digital content operations.
The changes were made a month ago, but not announced to avoid confusion as parent LIberty Media splits into two tracking stocks: Starz Media is part of the Liberty Capital tracking stock, while Starz Entertainment remains under Liberty Entertainment.
Staci adds: Starz spokesman Tom Southwick explains that the changes were made to organize around product lines and are “really aimed at the creative community” and to avoid internal competition and confusion over projects. In simple terms, Steve Shelanski handles acquisitions, while Bill Hamm has original programming. At the same time, the center of production and development moves to Burbank from Denver.
Television viewers are turning to the internet for a variety of reasons - catching up on episodes they missed, reading up on their favorite personalities, even viewing a show's bloopers or deleted scenes - according to a survey jointly conducted by Nielsen and CTAM. But both groups wanted the industry to know online viewing is no way replacing linear TV viewing; 94% of cable or satellite subscribers surveyed said they still prefer watching shows the old fashioned way. Here some likes and dislikes that came up in the study, along with some general trends:
-About 35% of adult broadband users surveyed have watched a full episode online
-Of those who went online looking for TV content, 87% turned to a network website
-The most popular forms were movie trailers (53%), UGV (45%), music videos & news (37%), comedy (31%) and sports clips (31%)
-A small but growing percentage of users are watching shows on their desktop PCs (14%), laptops (9%), video-enabled mobile phones (6%) and other portable devices (5%)
Joss Whedon’s upcoming writers’ strike-inspired web series, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, is the closest thing to a sure hit online, even if it is going to be a musical (hey, that’s just unusual — not bad!). Turns out Whedon has a pretty interesting plan for pleasing fans, making a big impact, and perhaps making a bit of money, too.
The plan (which was first posted as a comment on a fan site, I believe) is to release the three parts of the 42-minute project on July 15, July 17 and July 19 respectively, for free. But at midnight on July 20, “They will vanish into the night, like a phantom (but not THE Phantom – that’s still playing. Like, everywhere.),” as Whedon put it. After that, the whole thing will be available for purchase.
I like it! A way to have scarcity without signing some exclusive deal with a portal whose audience isn’t necessarily your fan base. A way to get everyone in the same place, buzzing about what you’re doing without depending on outside promotion. Hey, maybe it’s something only Whedon could do, but it’ll be exciting to watch it play out.
Read more of this story
VOD Stats; VOD households have grown to 42.5 million in 2008 from 12.9 million in 2003; will reach 60 percent of households by 2012, karaoke most popular free VOD content. (eMarketer)
IKEA to Launch Web Series; break out the Allen wrenches, as Illeanna Douglas stars in the new scripted comedy, Easy to Assemble. (TVWeek)
Starz Reorgs Management; Digital Consolidated Under Bill Myers
Starz, the cable TV network owned by Liberty Media (NSDQ: LINTA), has quietly reorg-ed its management operations, reports THR. Starz Entertainment, which oversees the brand’s linear and VOD channels, and Starz Media, the umbrella group for such third-party programming providers as Anchor Bay Entertainment and Film Roman, will be consolidated under Bill Myers, president and COO of Starz Entertainment...also consolidating under him is Starz’s digital content operations.
The changes were made a month ago, but not announced to avoid confusion as parent LIberty Media splits into two tracking stocks: Starz Media is part of the Liberty Capital tracking stock, while Starz Entertainment remains under Liberty Entertainment.
Staci adds: Starz spokesman Tom Southwick explains that the changes were made to organize around product lines and are “really aimed at the creative community” and to avoid internal competition and confusion over projects. In simple terms, Steve Shelanski handles acquisitions, while Bill Hamm has original programming. At the same time, the center of production and development moves to Burbank from Denver.
Television viewers are turning to the internet for a variety of reasons - catching up on episodes they missed, reading up on their favorite personalities, even viewing a show's bloopers or deleted scenes - according to a survey jointly conducted by Nielsen and CTAM. But both groups wanted the industry to know online viewing is no way replacing linear TV viewing; 94% of cable or satellite subscribers surveyed said they still prefer watching shows the old fashioned way. Here some likes and dislikes that came up in the study, along with some general trends:
-About 35% of adult broadband users surveyed have watched a full episode online
-Of those who went online looking for TV content, 87% turned to a network website
-The most popular forms were movie trailers (53%), UGV (45%), music videos & news (37%), comedy (31%) and sports clips (31%)
-A small but growing percentage of users are watching shows on their desktop PCs (14%), laptops (9%), video-enabled mobile phones (6%) and other portable devices (5%)
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