Daily Marauder

ONLINE/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Google CEO Eric Schmidt says his company’s multiyear deal with MySpace is performing better than originally planned. But he declines to comment on details of the deal, and whether the arrangement to provide advertising alongside MySpace member profiles has turned profitable yet. (http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN2437268920071024  10/24)

MySpace and Facebook are not a fad, writes Pali Research analyst Rich Greenfield on his password-protected blog. “While AOL is attempting to morph into an ad network, its fundamental problem is that it does not know a lot about its users compared to social networks.” (http://paliresearch.com/blog/2007/10/25/aol-becoming-less-and-less-relevant-and-lowering-numbers-due-to-twc  10/25) 

(Below) I just vomited a little bit.

More than half of U.S. residents want the government to regulate Internet video just like television content, according to a poll from 463 Communications, a public relations firm that specializes in tech issues. Some people see online video as “spiraling out of control.” (http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/10/24/Poll-Internet-video-should-be-regulated_1.html 10/24)

When it comes to the disruptive power of the Internet, most incumbent media companies still “don’t get it,” says Barry Diller, CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp, at the Forbes MEET II conference. However, he does praise News Corp. for MySpace and Time Warner for TMZ.com. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i0c6a315db8be49afbb100b388986bfcd   10/25) 

Disney CEO Bob Iger, speaking at the Forbes MEET II conference, says the best way to fight digital piracy is to go on the offensive. But Disney doesn’t sell via BitTorrent, he adds, because “we don’t want to put a Disney movie on a digital platform with ‘Best Breasts on the Web.’ ” (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i67186c6df1899184b341293c37d2a145    10/25)

Apple’s Steve Jobs is facing resistance from content creators that are unhappy with the pricing structure for television shows carried on the iPod. NBC, in a feud over pricing, recently pulled all current shows from iTunes. All major networks have begun rerunning shows on their own Web sites. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/24/AR2007102402410.html  10/25) 

News Corp.’s U.K. publishing arm News International is taking a stake in Globrix.com, a soon-to-launch property search engine. “We see our model as more like a Google,” says Globrix CEO Daniel Lee. “We make our money by reserving part of the search page for advertising.”  (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bc401968-824e-11dc-8a8f-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1  10/25)

Ex-Google employees Bismarck Lepe and Sean Knapp have teamed up to start their own interactive-video firm Ooyala, and they will soon roll out a Web-based platform that allows content owners to upload and manage multiple videos and get reports on online viewership. The “Backlot” software will also enable viewers to interact with the videos. (Forbes 10/24)

JibJab, the online video/animation firm based in Santa Monica, has raised another $3 million in funding, reports PEHub. The round was from its existing investor Polaris Venture Partners. The company raised a first round of about $6.4 million last year. (http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-jibjab-gets-anothe-3-million-funding 10/24)