Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
When Google reports fourth-quarter earnings Thursday, analysts will be looking for signs of an economic downturn. But according to some experts, the Internet giant’s focus on highly targeted, measurable advertising makes it more recession-proof than many other businesses. (http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/news/2008/01/google_recession 1/29)
News Corp.’s MySpace, the world’s largest online social network, will launch its program to court outside software developers on Feb. 5 in a bid to widen the gap against rival Facebook. It is also promoting MySpace business development exec Amit Kapur to a new role as COO. (http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN3063853720080130 1/30)
A growing number of university students around the world, known as “Facebook refusenicks,” are refusing to create accounts amid concerns that the social networking phenomenon comes at the expense of users’ privacy. But some non-Facebook users are finding themselves out of the loop. (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/student/student_life/article3152120.ece 1/29)
The Wall Street Journal, aiming to tap into the buzz of online social networks, is adding a feature to its Web site that will allow readers to see which stories are popular among that user’s Facebook friends. The new “SeenThis?” feature is powered by a company called Loomia. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080130/ap_on_hi_te/apfn_wsj_widget 1/30)
Yahoo announced that profit dropped 23% during the Q4 amid weak online ad sales and said it would lay off approximately 1,000 of its 14,300 employees next month to prepare for further “headwinds” expected in the marketplace. The company also unveiled a major new agreement with AT&T to begin sharing ad revenue on multiple platforms and to offer content to the telco’s TV, broadband and mobile customers. Att.net will relaunch next quarter powered by Yahoo applications and offer AT&T Wireless customers access to these services for no extra charge. Meanwhile AT&T U-verse TV customers will continue to have access to Yahoo content through the service’s interactive U-bar feature, available in select cities. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=aZ14d1kDP8mg 1/30)
Connectivity is fast becoming a competitive necessity in the airline industry. Another airline is adding WiFi service to its flights. This time, Continental. But it is the crippled, low-speed kind that can only handle e-mail and instant messaging. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/29/continental-takes-a-crippled-approach-to-wifi-in-the-sky 1/29)
Stephen Chao, fired from News Corp. in 1992, plans to launch a Web video company that will be an educational alternative to YouTube. The site, WonderHowTo.com, aggregates how-to videos, from the mundane (“how to tie a tie”) to the off-color (“how to train your cat to use the toilet.”) (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/business/media/30chao.html 1/30)
Filed under: WIRELESS
LG’s Voyager mobile phone gets put through the paces in this write-up from BusinessWeek. The device scores high marks for its tactile-response touch screen, although some feel its lack of multitouch capability make Web browsing a hassle. (BusinessWeek 1/30)
NBC.com announced it is launching a full roster of WAP-based mobile sites in the coming weeks for most of NBC’s shows, including nearly 40 mobile sites and three mobile video channels. NBC.com will also introduce widgets to allow mobile users to access content directly from the applications. Both NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker and NBCU Cable Entertainment/Digital President spoke yesterday at NATPE of trying to covert analog dollars to digital pennies. Even small CPMs across 40 mobile sites should help.
Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
Hollywood‘s striking writers say they will grant an “interim agreement” to organizers of the Grammy Awards, allowing the ceremony honoring musicians to be written by union members. The CBS telecast of the Feb. 10 event is expected to air in the traditional format. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080129/ap_en_tv/hollywood_labor_grammys 1/29)
Disney’s original movie “Minutemen,” about a trio of high school geeks-turned-time-travelers, pulled in 6.5 million viewers in its premiere Friday. The telepic was the 11th out of 12 Disney Channel original movies to draw at least 5 million premiere viewers since October 2005. (Multichannel News 1/28)
Hollywood‘s striking writers and major studios are said to be moving closer to bridging their divide after a week of talks. The outlines of a deal could be reached as early as this week. The parties are believed to be narrowing the gap in key areas, including pay for online distribution. (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-strike29jan29,1,2937606.story?ctrack=2&cset=true 1/29)
Although about 72% of TV viewers continue to screen the same amount of prime-time shows since before the writers strike, many now are watching different shows, according to a survey from media agency Carat. The poll found viewers are trying out different program genres, opting for repeat episodes or channel surfing, as well as looking at other forms of entertainment, including the Web, DVDs, magazines and video games. Multichannel News (1/28)
Starz is developing its first original drama series with a show based on the Oscar-winning film “Crash.” The network has ordered 13 episodes of the series, which will be co-produced with Lionsgate TV. (The Hollywood Reporter 1/29)
Viacom, the owner of MTV and the Paramount film studio, is “recession-resistant,” says chief Philippe Dauman, because consumers continue to go to the movies and watch television during a recession. Internet businesses will become a “larger and more integrated part” of Viacom, he adds. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=arUgJSCk1W2U 1/28)
The struggle between media moguls John Malone and Barry Diller over IAC/InterActive is taking a significant turn, with Malone’s Liberty Media now seeking to wrest the Internet company from Diller’s control. Liberty alleges “misconduct” by Diller; Diller dismisses the charge as “hogwash.” (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/liberty-media-moves-push-diller/story.aspx?guid=%7BDBDC2CAD%2DA9CB%2D42C9%2D8017%2D16796F66F51D%7D 1/28)
Verizon announced Monday that it had drawn more than 1 million customers for its FiOS TV, making FiOS the 10th-biggest cable provider in the U.S., beating Cable One, which has about 700,000 subscribers. (Mediaweek 1/28)
TVN Entertainment Corp. launched a new advanced VOD interactive tool that allows programmers to dynamically update VOD metadata before, during and after asset distribution to VOD servers. Mediacom, Bend Broadband and Lionsgate are among the first TVN clients to participate in the iPRI rollout.
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Facebook announced plans to enable application developers to extend functionality beyond the Facebook URL, meaning third-party sites will have the opportunity to monetize traffic generated by popular widgets such as RockYou and Renkoo. (http://www.allfacebook.com/2008/01/facebook-extends-platform-to-the-web 1/26)
CBS Interactive signed a two-year partnership agreement with The Recording Academy leading up the 50th Grammy Awards on Feb. 10. CBS Interactive will develop online programming, communities and promotions around the Grammy brand and the annual awards show broadcast. CBS will distribute the content across online, wireless and digital platforms including CBS.com, CBS Audience Network, CBS Mobile and Last.fm. (http://www.worldscreen.com/newscurrent.php?filename=cbs012808.htm 1/28)
NBC Universal’s Local Media Division is acquiring LX.tv, a Manhattan-based broadband television network Web site that produces original video content about entertainment venues around the New York and Los Angeles areas. LX.tv will produce programs for NBC television stations and Web sites. (http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080128/FREE/733452814 1/28)
I dig the site. The content is valuable and the user interface is easy to navigate through. Add in some location-based functionality and I’m sold. In other words, I don’t just want to see a line-up of random restaurant reviews. I would rather see these restaurants laid out on a map with links to the review available from a mapping interface.
As “Super Tuesday” on Feb. 5 approaches, MTV and MySpace.com are announcing the final installment of their “presidential dialogue” series. All candidates from both parties are invited to participate in the Feb. 4 event. So far, Hillary Clinton and Mike Huckabee have confirmed. (http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9859820-36.html 1/28)
The last time Digg officially announced how many registered users it has was back in March when it passed the one-million mark. Now, programming sleuth John Graham-Cunning extracted registration dates from Digg user profile pages to come up with an estimate of 2.7 million registered Digg users. Some of the key inflection points came in June, 2006 when Digg expanded beyond technology to cover world news and entertainment, and in December, 2006 when it added video links. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/29/digg-nearly-triples-registered-users-in-a-year-says-sleuth-programmer 1/29)
(Below) I believe in aggregation of my life online. I really do. But, honestly, now the number of social networking aggregators is rivaling the number of sites themselves. Stop the insanity!!!
Jason Calacanis has announced an expansion to the Mahalo social platfrom that allows users to access most major social networking sites within Mahalo itself.The idea of social networking site aggregation or single landing page isn’t new, we’ve covered startups aiming to provide a similar service, such as MyLifeBrand, ProfileLinker and Loopster, but none have really captured the imagination of the broader internet. Mahalo is trying to better these services by becoming the front page destination for those looking to access sites such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube and others. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/28/mahalo-expands-multiprofiles-one-stop-for-various-social-networking-sites 1/28)
Break.com, a popular Web site for young men, is launching three related sites and forming an advertising network with other Web publishers aimed at 18- to 34-year-old males, a highly-sought-after demo. Break, backed by Lions Gate, offers games and hosts user-posted videos and photos. (http://www.redherring.com/Home/23600 1/28)
(Below) CORRECTION to posted item yesterday.
In what may be the dumbest business move of the year so far, Qtrax announced its free music download service this weekend before bothering to sign contracts with three of the four major labels. Now the music companies are saying, “Wait a second, there is no deal yet. We’re just talking to Qtrax.” Without the labels on board, there is no service. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/28/qtrax-really-blows-its-launch 1/28)
Time Warner Cable will debut a new Web site to help subscribers more easily navigate the plethora of shows and movies available on video-on-demand. The site, www.twondemand.com, lets viewers see what others in their zip code are watching, search with a variety of criteria and preview new movies. (CED Magazine 1/28)
Filed under: WIRELESS
While mobile programmers still find themselves frustrated by the lack of standards and limited by carriers’ restrictive walled garden environments, hope sprung eternal at the NATPE Mobile ++ event that Google‘s new open platform Android system would shake up the industry. More than 7,000 developers have taken Google up on its $10 million challenge to develop new innovative apps for the mobile operating system since submissions began Jan. 2. The company is now thinking of the extending the March 3 deadline to encourage more sophisticated apps, according to Google Director of Mobile Diana Pouliot. Meanwhile handsets running the Android platform are due out during the second half of 2008. Japan’s biggest carrier NTT DoCoMo announced plans to release a line of Android phones yesterday.
According to a new report issued by Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi, one million iPhones of the 3.75 million sold have been unlocked to run on non-official networks. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/29/one-million-unlocked-iphones-beautiful 1/29)
ITV developer Zodiac Interactive launched a new mobile content search engine for cable and satellite TV, gaming platforms and next-generation DVD players dubbed Zodigo. It features a discovery/preference algorithm enabling users to find mobile content on multiple platforms and instantly download it to their mobile phones.
Original mobile content creator Intersport will launch the Spanish-language “En Espanol” mobile channel on the Sprint TV platform next month, its 4th channel carried exclusively by Sprint in the U.S. Intersport’s original entertainment, sports and music-themed destinations quickly became the most viewed channels on Sprint TV after launching last September, according to Jason Coyle, President, Digital Media for Intersport.
U.S. Mobile Video Subscribers
Quarter # of subscribers % of all mobile subscribers
Q3 2006 5.7 million 2.6%
Q4 2006 6.9 million 3.0%
Q1 2007 8.4 million 3.6%
Q2 2007 11.8 million 5.0%
Q3 2007 13.2 million 5.5%
Source: Nielsen Mobile Q3 2007 Mobile Video report
Leading Mobile Video Channels by Monthly Penetration of Mobile Video Subs
Programmer % of penetration
The Weather Channel 30%
NBC 29%
Fox News 25%
Fox Sports 22%
Discovery Channel 22%
ESPN 22%
Comedy Time 18%
ABC News 17%
CNN 17%
MTV 16%
Source: Nielsen Mobile Q3 2007 Mobile Video report
Filed under: GAMING
ESPN.com debuted Game Up, a monthly 30-minute online show devoted to video gaming hosted by ESPN video game analyst Aaron Boulding. Coverage includes game launches and reviews, studio tours, sneak previews, interviews and pro gamer tips.
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
Palm, whose sales are expected to fall for the second consecutive quarter, will close all but one of its eight stores as well as its 26 Airport Wireless outlets, the company disclosed Saturday. Palm has been in a losing battle with RIM and Apple for the smartphone market. (The New York Times/Bloomberg 1/28)
