Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Microsoft says Google is attempting to unfairly corner the online advertising market and placing consumer data at risk. The charges came during a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday on antitrust concerns about Google’s proposed acquisition of advertising firm DoubleClick. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/27/AR2007092701191.html 9/28)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was spotted this week in Seattle, headed for meetings with execs at Microsoft. His appearance lends credence to several recent unattributed reports that Microsoft is contemplating a major investment in the fast-growing social network. (http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/27/magazines/fortune/fastforward_facebook.fortune/index.htm 9/27)

Yahoo is planning some wholesale changes to its entertainment offerings, promising more synergies between its music, games, movies, TV and celebrity gossip omg! properties, according to a blog posting by Head of Entertainment and Video Vince Broady. Expect more portability, social functionality and user-generated features.

CBS is launching CBS EyeLab, a digital-production studio that will create and distribute short clips cut together from the network’s most popular shows. The content will look something like the videos found on YouTube. The network plans to embed advertising in the clips. (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119094721013842325.html 9/28)

With events like MTV/MySpace presidential dialogues underway, the folks at Endemol USA’s Joe Cartoon thought they’d get into the spirit of the proceedings. Users are asked to visit blenderpoll.com to cast their votes on who they do NOT want to see in the White House (the reward being they get to see them blended.) Hillary Clinton is the most pureed candidate so far.

Stop what you’re doing right now and play this.  My selection for who I do NOT want to see in the White House: Newt Gingrich.  For those who know, we have very similar last names. . .it could ruin my social life.

Social music site Imeem inked a licensing deal with Sony-BMG to offer its music on an ad-supported basis. Imeem allows users to create and share playlists of music, videos and photos in exchange for sitting through embedded ads, revenue from which is shared with content providers. Warner Music (after suing the company for copyright violation) is also supplying the site with tracks and videos while EMI is also reportedly in talks to do so.

I like the idea of imeem but can find very similar functionality in Facebook which begs the question: who wants to construct yet another user profile?  [sigh] I have user profile fatigue.

Sample Imeem Profile

Joost signed a licensing deal with MLB to offer on-demand games and highlights from the 2007 postseason for any users of the P2P service residing outside of the U.S. and Japan.

Joost User Interface

Many execs attending the fourth annual Advertising Week conference admit that they have misjudged exactly what consumers want these days. Figuring that out may be the media industry’s top challenge, they say. One exec sees user-generated content as “a big thing that is here to stay.” (http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSN2621809620070927 9/27) 

Fox News selected Cambridge, MA-based Maven Networks to power a newly-enhanced video platform across FoxNews.com, the planned Fox Business channel site and its affiliate web sites. The Maven system will enable Fox to syndicate ad-supported clips and build an archive of branded news clips that can have local ads dynamically added. Fox News plans to double its video offerings as well as add interactive features. 

A new breed of interactive studio called Deca.tv was founded in Santa Monica by Sony Pictures veterans Michael Wayne and Chris Kimbell, with $5 million in funding from Mayfield Fund, General Catalyst Partners and Atomico Investments. Rather than serve as a destination for content, Deca aims to develop, finance, market and distribute quality digital entertainment projects across multiple platforms, hoping hit properties will help fund losing propositions.  

U.S. venture-capital investment in the first six months of the year jumped 9% from the previous year, says a study from VentureOne and Ernst & Young. The biggest chunk went to the San Francisco area. “Silicon Valley is back to its usual self,” says Matt Marshall, editor of the VentureBeat blog. (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-09-27-boom-2_N.htm 9/27)

The Motion Picture Association of America is suing two Web sites, Cinematube.net, Ssupload.com, claiming they illegally post copyrighted movies like “The Bourne Ultimatum.” The Hollywood trade group says: “We will continue to scour the Internet for these illegal sites.” (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adHTvnhK01gI 9/27) 

NBC Universal’s Digital Insights and Innovations team and online video site Veoh shared some interesting research this week at the Carat Digital Exchange regarding online viewing’s affect on TV consumption, as reported in Mediapost.

• Heroes, NBC’s most popular show online, attracted 48% of all users who went to NBC.com to watch video
• Black Donnellys, including episodes which never aired on NBC, was the second most popular series seen by 25% of viewers
• The heaviest NBC.com viewing occurs at night, although there is also a spike during lunchtime
• Click rates on personalized recommended clips were 2.4%, compared to .3% for all clips, according to Veoh

Here are some responses to the above research:

• Think about the target demo for a show like Heroes.  Still having trouble figuring out why this audience has a higher propensity for online viewing?
• For the Black Donnelly fan base, if you offer episodes of their favorite show anywhere, they will find it.  This statistic proves that the fan base moves where the supply is. 
• So, what you’re saying is, people watch when they’re not working or at school?  Shocking!  I’m sorry.  Should I have used the sarcasm tags on this one?
• Wow. . .so people watch recommended clips more than they would watch a random video.  Again. . .shocking!

Disney.com drew in a record 23.3 million unique visitors in August, in part because of the launch of new online games and interactive features. Future enhancements for the site include user-generated content and more international versions, Disney said. (Internet Retailer 9/26)