Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Google’s share price has dropped below $500 as investors grow concerned about competition from Microsoft’s potential merger with Yahoo. Google’s stock is also feeling the impact of concerns about the U.S. economy and a slowdown in advertising — which accounts for 99% of its revenue. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/feb/05/googlethemedia.google  2/5)

News Corp. will “definitely not” make a bid on Yahoo, says chief Rupert Murdoch. When asked if he would have any interest in Time Warner’s AOL unit, he says: “That’s an even easier question — no.” Murdoch adds that News Corp. has no acquisition targets in its sights at the moment. (http://www.thestreet.com/story/10401942/1/news-corp-no-interest-in-yahoo.html  2/4)

News Corp. is reporting that its fiscal second-quarter net income rose 1.2% on improved results in its television, cable-TV and Internet assets. In the company segment dominated by Fox Interactive Media and MySpace, earnings soared to $23 million from $1 million a year earlier. (http://www.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20080204-000636-1639  2/4)

MySpace finally followed suit with Facebook in opening up its platform to third party applications. The MySpace developers platform, which goes live today, Feb. 5, will enjoy some later adopter advantages. For one it will support Google’s OpenSocial initiative from day one, enabling interoperability between other social networks including imeem, LinkedIn, Ning and orkut. Additionally MySpace says it will focus on monetizing third party content by allowing developers to share in ad revenue sold by its national sales team. (http://www.informationweek.com/software/showArticle.jhtml;?articleID=206104114 2/5)

While News Corp. is thrilled about the ad-revenue growth of MySpace, many marketers are frustrated about plummeting click-through rates. “There’s too much [advertising] when you sign on,” says one 32-year-old user who likes the site, though he ignores the ads. “They don’t interest me.” (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2008/tc2008024_252834.htm  2/4)

AOL has acquired buy.at, a leading affiliate marketing network backed by VC house DFJ Esprit, reports TechCrunch UK. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but well-placed sources say the deal is worth in the region of $150 million (£75 million). (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/05/aol-acquires-affiliate-network-to-boost-ad-platform  2/5)

The Internet and other new technologies are giving a strong postgame presence to Super Bowl commercials. Visitors to YouTube are being offered an incentive to vote for their favorite spot: The commercial attracting the most votes will be featured on YouTube’s home page next Tuesday. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/business/media/05adco.html  2/5)

An estimated 80 million Americans, or 43% of the country’s online population, screened a prime-time TV show on the Web last year, according to a study by Solutions Research Group. Among the most-watched online programs are “Heroes,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Dancing With the Stars,” “Ugly Betty,” “Chuck” and “CSI.” The Hollywood Reporter (2/5)

TelevisionWithoutPity.com, Bravo’s Web site for television fans, will introduce video content and an original online series to its line-up of satirical commentary. The site’s first show is “The Week Without Pity,” an irreverent take on the best and worst guilty pleasures of the week. (http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6528497.html  2/4)

Online video site DailyMotion.com and viral comedy studio JibJab Media launched Politics Schmolitics, a new political satire destination to aggregate the latest politically-themed fare on the web. Obama Girl’s latest, “Super Obama Girl,” is headlining leading into Super Tuesday.

Even if the Hollywood writers strike ends this week, the genie isn’t going back into the bottle when it comes to Web video, say online video experts. The strike “opened many people’s eyes” to the wide range of Internet video. “Just how much ‘American Gladiators’ can one person take?” (http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/02/web_video_boom_will_outlive_wr.php  2/4)

The founders of DealLocker.com are launching a new online shopping site today called TypoBuddy that helps shoppers save through human error. Simply type in an item you’re looking for on eBay or craigslist, and the search tool pulls up auctions or items for sale that others have missed because the seller misspelled the entry.

Here’s an example using “Marc Jacobs” as search terms.  Now if we can’t spell Marc Jacobs, imagine the results on Ferragamo.  Thank you Typo Buddy.

Some interesting new figures have been released by eMarketer today that shows that podcasts are taking off in both traffic and revenue, and the outlook is even better again. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/04/podcasts-taking-off-again-emarketer  2/4)