Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
YouTube is starting to make higher-definition streams available on certain videos, based upon the uploaded source file. The feature applies to all clips, and is not restricted to partner content. Also: China is blocking YouTube after the video-sharing site posted videos showing protests in Tibet. (http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/03/youtube_slowly.html 3/14, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080317/ap_on_hi_te/china_youtube_blocked 3/17)
Note the link at the bottom of the video. Click on the link to toggle between higher and lower quality. It’s not HD but it looks a whole lot better. One simple thing that that YouTube can improve on: when I click to change to quality, video playback re-starts. OK for a 1 minute video but annoying for all others.
YouTube increased its lead over online video competitors in January, accounting for over a third of all views, according to the latest ComScore data, while overall video viewing dipped for the first time from 10.1 billion to 9.8 billion. More than 139 million U.S. Internet users spent an average of 206 minutes per person viewing online video in January. Google Sites also attracted the most viewers (80 million) and highest average minutes per viewer (109.9.)
Top U.S. Online Video Properties by Videos Viewed – January 2008
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Property Videos(000) Share (%) of Videos
Total Internet 9,814,010 100.0%
Google Sites 3,363,335 34.3%
Fox Interactive Media 584,132 6.0%
Yahoo! Sites 315,001 3.2%
Microsoft Sites 199,288 2.0%
Viacom Digital 197,737 2.0%
AOL LLC 118,033 1.2%
Disney Online 95,041 1.0%
Time Warner w/o AOL 85,467 0.9%
ESPN 81,402 0.8%
ABC.COM 49,017 0.5%
Source: comScore Video Metrix
Google CEO Eric Schmidt says he is concerned about the free flow of information on the Internet if Microsoft succeeds in acquiring Yahoo. Schmidt cites Microsoft’s “past history.” Also, Google is well positioned for a U.S. economic slowdown. “We tend to benefit from currency effects.” (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/google-well-positioned-us-economic/story.aspx?guid=%7B717E3D0D-8AE8-45F1-8DC2-35314AC9D3D6%7D 3/17)
Time Warner’s acquisition of the Bebo social networking site might not fix the AOL Internet unit, which will find it difficult to lure new ideas under current management, says UBS analyst Michael Morris. AOL has “unrealistic expectations.” Time Warner “would be better off without AOL.” (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=aoaTx5TN4iwo 3/14)
Nine Inch Nail‘s Pay What You Can offering of the Ghosts I-IV album racked up $1.6 million in sales during the first week it was available, despite it being widely available on P2P sharing sites.
Yet another indication that people will pay when the offering is fast and easy to use.
The Rookie, one of the many web/mobile spinoffs based on Fox’s hit action serial 24, is back for another season of 3-5 minutes shorts on Fox.com, chronicling the further adventures of American Counter Terrorism agent Jason Blaine (played by Jeremy Valdez – who made a cameo in Season 5 of 24.) Producers MindShare Entertainment & Science + Fiction and sponsor Degree deodorant are increasing distribution efforts from today to include the web, mobile, Comcast On Demand and DirecTV.
The Rookie: Day 3
Curb Your Enthusiasm co-star Jeff Garlin says he made his last stand-up appearance this past weekend in Cleveland. Fans looking for their next “Curb” fix while the show is on hiatus can check out today’s Abigail’sTeenDiary posting for a riff from Richard Lewis.
NBC Universal is paying about $6 million for a 35% stake in DriverTV, a Web site and video-on-demand channel that specializes in videos aimed at car shoppers. The investment is an effort to snare more of the automotive advertising dollars migrating online. (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120571463040740423.html 3/17)
Peer-to-peer technology, best known for pirating movies and music online, is being adopted by media companies as a cheap way to get video content to customers. File-sharing firm Pando is helping NBC provide DVD-quality downloads of its shows. Also: P2P saves NBC “a lot of costs.” (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080314/ap_on_hi_te/peer_to_peer_business 3/14, http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/nbc-media-moguls.ars 3/12)
CBS is launching a partnership that will syndicate local news widgets to blogs and social media sites in the markets of network-owned television stations. The CBS-created widgets can be embedded in a Web page and include news, weather, politics, as well as advertising. (http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/03/cbs_news_widget_expands_ad_opp.php 3/17)
Craigslist is not legally responsible for discriminatory housing ads posted on the site, says a federal appeals court. A lawsuit in 2006 accused Craigslist of violating federal housing laws by publishing ads that read “No Minorities” and “Requirements: Clean Godly Christian Male.” (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/15/BAVJVKN57.DTL 3/16)
Perez Hilton, the celebrity gossip blogger, is seen as a key music industry playmaker at South by Southwest in Austin, hosting one of the festival’s more coveted parties. Hilton’s blog postings are credited for helping to boost the sales of several music artists. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080316/ap_en_mu/sxsw_perez_hilton 3/16)
The United States is no longer the nation with the largest number of internet users. China overtook the US last month in users for the first time, according to the state-run China Internet Network Information Center. Researcher BDA China Ltd. estimates there are now over 220 million internet users in China, compared with 217.1 million in the U.S. Online ad revenue continues to lag in China, however, totaling $1.3 billion in 2007 compared to e-Marketer estimates of $21.4 billion in America.
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