Filed under: Feature | Tags: Californication, David Duchovny, Dexter, Esquire, Magazine, Rolling Stone, Serial Killer, Sexual addiction, Showtime, Téa Leoni, The New Yorker, Wired
MAGAZINE COVER OR DEXTER AD?: SHOWTIME BRINGS THE SHOW
Earlier in the week while reading my beloved Techcrunch, I noticed a Dexter ad which looked shockingly similar to my also loved Wired Magazine. Techcrunch called this out as a wrip-off of Wired and asked if this ad inspired viewers to watch Dexter. I respond with an emphatic, hell yes. Connecting the show to some of my favorite magazines is a fantastic way to imbibe Dexter with a universality and that everyone-is-talking-about-it mojo.
As I digged a bit deeper, I discovered a few more of these covers, each with its own magazine parody voice. Point. Set. Match. Showtime. I’m sold. Hell, I might even watch Californication (which follows Dexter) even though David Duchovny creeps me out. Below is a run-down of each Dexter ad along with the magazine’s actual September cover art. Pay special attention to the background text for some true copywriting talent that pulls off the fine line of wittiness meets drama seriousness. The only way they could up the ante for me would be if they actually partnered with each magazine to issue a select few special edition covers on newsstands.
Click on each Dexter cover to head to Showtime’s site for a trailer of the new season. Click on each magazine cover to head to the magazine’s web site.
Esquire
Rolling Stone
The New Yorker
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Bright House Networks, David Walliams, Democratic National Convention, NBC Universal, Television, Time Warner Cable, Weather Channel, Weather.com
Average viewer results from the third night of the Democratic National Convention per Nielsen and as reported by TV Week during the 10p hour, which featured a speech by Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden, had NBC first at 5.46 million, followed closely by CNN at 5.38 million, CBS 3.54 million, ABC 3.48 million, FOX News just a little under 2.70 million and MSNBC at 2.27 million. Also per Nielsen, the combined total viewer number during 10p from eight networks offering live coverage: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, BET and TV One declined from Tuesday night’s number to 24.0 million. The combined total among A18-49 viewers also decreased slightly to nearly 8.2 million. (Cynopsis 8/29)
Six of the country’s top cable TV providers that are involved with the industry’s Canoe Ventures have banded together to offer a new channel called Elections ’08 On Demand, a service that allows viewers to select a variety of political content whenever they want it. The new channel, available in about 32 million homes, was developed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Charter Communications, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks and represents Canoe Ventures’ first TV product. The New York Times (8/28)
HBO debuts the U.S. version of Little Britain USA on September 28 at 1030p, following new episodes of the comedy Entourage. Little Britain USA, with six episodes, is written by Matt Lucas and David Walliams, who starred in the UK/Australia edition and will continue to portray a variety of characters, some new and some from the original version, in all-new sketches. (Cynopsis 8/29)
Click the image below for a trailer of the new series.
Bravo’s finale of Shear Genius on Wednesday at 10p delivered 1.64 million A18-49 viewers as well as 2.54 million total viewers. (Cynopsis 8/29)
The European Commission has approved The Weather Channel and Weather.com sale to NBC Universal and its partners for $3.5 billion. More Landmark companies likely will be spun off as part of the transaction, according to the commission. CNNMoney.com/Dow Jones Newswires (8/28) , The Hollywood Reporter (8/28)
Nielsen projects TV households will increase 1.5% in the 2008-09 season, growing most in ethnic and over-55 homes, according to this report. Asian TV households are expected to grow the most: a rise of 4.4%, to 4.7 million. Mediaweek (8/28)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: AOL, Bebo, Facebook, Google, Myspace, Social network, Yahoo, YouTube
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
You’ll notice very few ad units while surfing YouTube, and none at all while watching videos contributed by ordinary folk like you or me. The reason? Google fears the legal repercussions of monetizing user generated content that may infringe on somebody else’s copyright. But YouTube’s homepage is different since it merely displays thumbnails that may lead to infringing content. And it has capitalized on that page by selling a video ad unit in the upper right-hand corner for $175,000 per day (plus a commitment to buy $50,000 more in advertising elsewhere on YouTube or Google). (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/28/youtube-to-squeeze-more-money-out-of-homepage 8/28)
Looking to make its broadband network as fast as possible for all users, Comcast has announced that on Oct. 1 it will set a limit on monthly downloads/uploads at 250 gigabytes. Charlie Douglas, a spokesman for Comcast, said the current median level for the company’s broadband users was in the range of 2 to 3 gigabytes, but he added that the country’s second-largest broadband provider had “some extremely high-bandwidth users that consume a disproportionate amount of data, and that can degrade service for others. To maintain a high quality of service for users, we’ve gone with this.” San Francisco Chronicle (8/29)
The FCC has set a deadline of Sept. 19 for the MSO to disclose details of how exactly it has been blocking access to P2P sharing sites and to submit a plan detailing how it will cease and desist the practice. (Cynopsis 8/29)
First came 360, launched in 2005 as an early attempt to get Yahoo into social networking, was unceremoniously shut down earlier this year. In 2006 Yahoo was unable to close a transaction with Facebook, despite being willing to pay up to $1.62 billion. Nor could they pull the trigger on a $1 billion Bebo deal (Bebo went to AOL for $850 million). Now Yahoo has shut down Mash, which launched less than a year ago and is best known for sporting a Darth Vader playing guitar and eating a banana image when it was in private beta. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/28/yahoo-shuts-down-mash-0-4-on-social-networking 8/28)
Can traffic to a Presidential Candidate’s homepage be used to gauge who will win this year’s election? Hitwise has published recent data on the traffic both American presidential candidates have seen in the last month (ending 8/23), and while the results may not shed much light on the forthcoming election’s outcome, they reveal a few interesting trends. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/28/which-presidential-candidates-home-page-is-more-popular-and-can-it-predict-the-election 8/28)
Most Viewed Political Videos on YouTube – August 2008 (as of 8/28)
Rank Candidate Video Views
1 John McCain 7,131,224
2 Barack Obama 5,301,090
3 Al Franken 103,553
4 Dennis Kucinich 101,462
5 Ralph Nader 88,515
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Android, Android Market, App Store, Apple, Google, iPhone, iPhone 2.0.2, RadioShack
Samsung’s answer to the iPhone — the Instinct — will gain another distributor when RadioShack begins selling the smartphone over the Labor Day weekend with a four-day price promotion in its 4,400 stores, the retailer announced. Those who sign up for a Sprint Simply Everything Plan can buy the Samsung handset for $130. TMC Internet Telephony (8/28)
Direct Line (iTunes link) is a service that helps you automatically navigate phone trees to get right to an operator (exactly what companies don’t want you to do). Install the application, browse of search the included companies, and select the one you want. Direct Line then calls the number and preselects the appropriate choices to get you to an actual person. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/28/direct-line-saves-iphone-users-from-automated-call-hell 8/28)
There’s a huge security problem in the latest iPhone 2.0.2: if you have your JesusPhone password protected, using a very simple trick gives anyone full access to your cellphone private information in Mail, SMS, Contacts, and even Safari. The two-step trick is even simpler to the one used in the past to gain access to the phone to install unlocking cards or jailbreak. Fortunately, there’s a way to avoid this obvious security breach until Apple fixes it. (http://gizmodo.com/5042332/huge-iphone-security-flaw-puts-all-private-information-at-risk 8/27)
Last May, Google announced the first set of winners in its two-part contest called Android Challenge. The challenge is meant to kick-start the creation of 3rd-party applications for its nascent mobile platform by enticing developers with a total of $10 million in awards. Today, Google is releasing the names of its second set of winners, 10 of which receive $275,000 and 10 of which receive $100,000. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/28/final-winners-of-android-challenge-announced 8/28)
Sprint unveiled some of the content and location-based services that will be available as part of its planned Xohm WiMax wireless broadband network. The technology will enable high speed connections to be established while driving, which should lead to all kinds of navigation and location-based recommendation services. So far partners in the Xohm venture include:
- uLocate – chosen for its Where platform powering friend finding and other location based mobile services
- Yelp Inc. – providing user ratings and reviews of local restaurants, shops, doctors, etc.
- Topix – offering local news based on location
- AccuWeather – providing location based forecasts, radar/satellite images, etc
- Google – powering search functionality, Google Maps, etc
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Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Best Buy, Bravia, Displays, DVD player, High-Definition Multimedia Interface, LcdProjector, Sony, Surround sound
TECHNOLOGY
With a pair of three-inch speakers and an integrated 30-watt amp, Logitech’s Squeezebox Boom portable music player is not very big — but that’s the idea. Making use of its newly purchased Squeezebox network music system, Logitech’s new device lets users roam their homes with the player, a step forward that led one company executive to tout the Squeezebox as a pioneer in delivering “high-quality audio” in a portable, compact package. Digital Trends (8/28)
Philips took the wraps off its new compact home-entertainment system in Berlin on Thursday as the company continues to move away from the larger 5.1 surround-sound systems. The CinemaOne, set for European release as early as the end of 2008, contains four speaker drivers on the sides with an integrated 4-inch subwoofer in the base, an iPod dock and upscaling DVD player with HDMI connectors. Pocket-lint.co.uk (8/28)
LCD manufacturers continue to put their models on a diet, led by Sony, which said Thursday that it would ship globally in the fall four Bravia series of monitors sized at 40 to 55 inches, with the smallest of those, the ZX1, to become, what Sony claims, the world’s thinnest LCD. Sharp demoed two new large-screen LCDs, with its XS1 Aquos just 23 millimeters deep — slightly more than 13 millimeters deeper than the Sony model. ElectronicHouse.com (8/28)
Best Buy is offering a $30 service that removes excess software that has been pre-loaded onto new computers. Software companies invest heavily in the installation of their products on new PCs and are concerned that Best Buy’s offer will devalue their efforts. Seattle Post-Intelligencer/The New York Times (8/27)
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Emeril Lagasse, Lil Wayne, Mark Spitz, Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart Living, Michael Phelps, NFL Network, Saturday Night Live
CNN attracted an average of 4.86 million viewers from 10 to 11:15 p.m. during the second night of the Democratic National Convention, a window that included the speech of Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. The network’s performance beat all other cable-news channels as well as the efforts of ABC News and CBS News. TVWeek.com (8/27)
Olympic multiple-gold medalist Michael Phelps has been tapped to host the season opening of Saturday Night Live on September 13. Musical guest is Lil Wayne. The same sort of on-TV notoriety befell Mark Spitz after winning his seven gold medals, and it didn’t work out well. Hopefully, Phelps will well surpass Spitz in this arena, as he did in the swimming pool. (Cynopsis 8/28)
NFL Network revamped its Sunday programming calling it NFL GameDay and will launch a new show this Sunday morning called NFL GameDay Morning at 10a, to coincide with the opening weekend of the NFL season. (Cynopsis 8/28)
Syndicated series The Martha Stewart Show returns for a fourth season September 15, distributed by NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution (check local listings). Joining Martha this season as regular cooking contributors will be Emeril Lagasse and Sarah Carey, Martha Stewart Living Food Editor and “Everyday Food” TV host, who will help Martha introduce her weekly “Cooking School” segments that begin October 21. (Cynopsis 8/28)
ABC Family premiered season two of its collegiate series Greek at 9p and drew in 841,000 Females 12-34, 1.2 million P12-34 and 1.6 million total viewers. (Cynopsis 8/28)
Last night’s fourth season opener of The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency on Oxygen at 10p delivered 322,000 A18-49 viewers, 238,000 W18-49 viewers and 167,000 W18-34 viewers. (Cynopsis 8/28)
NBC moved ahead and ordered nine additional episodes of Chuck for its second season. In addition, NBC gave a nod for a fourth season of America‘s Got Talent. From Warner Bros. Television, Chuck is scheduled to premiere new episodes September 29, while America’s Got Talent, from FremantleMedia North America and Simon Cowell’s company Syco will end its current run October 1. (Cynopsis 8/28)
Tonight Sundance Channel will begin airing Grey Goose Presents The Next Garde, a second season of short-form vignettes that showcase 12 emerging talents in a variety of fields. The dozen one-minute profiles are shot in hi-def and will air as interstitials on the linear network and via sundancechannel.com during the next month. (Cynopsis 8/28)
ESPN is in the early phases of developing a late-night talk show for its ESPN2 channel that’s being described as a cross between talk radio and the already established “SportsCenter.” One ESPN executive said the show would put a forward spin on the day’s biggest sports stories: “It would be tomorrow’s sports talk … tonight.” New York Post (8/27)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Apple, Firefox, Google, Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft, Mozilla, YouTube
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Some record companies concerned that Apple’s iTunes is negatively affecting the industry’s overall sales power are shying away from the online service. Musician Kid Rock’s “Rock ‘n Roll Jesus” album, released last year, was not available through iTunes, but still sold 1.7 million copies in the U.S. The Wall Street Journal (8/28)
AC/DC hasn’t licensed its music to iTunes, staying with album sales, which are more profitable.
When it comes to search, Microsoft is trying everything it can to become a serious player. It tried to acquire Yahoo, its latest version of Internet Explorer attempts to steer Web surfers away from Google, and then there is straight-out payola to search advertisers. I am talking, of course, of Microsoft’s Live Search Cashback promotion, which lets advertisers offer rebates to consumers who make a purchase after doing a Microsoft search. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/28/microsoft-live-search-cashback-scheme-fails-to-move-the-market-share-needle 8/28)
Mozilla, the non-profit organization behind the popular Firefox web browser, has extended its search deal with Google for another three years. In return for setting Google as the default search engine on Firefox, Google pays Mozilla a substantial sum – in 2006 the total amounted to around $57 million, or 85% of the company’s total revenue. The deal was originally going to expire in 2006, but was later extended to 2008 and will now run through 2011. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/28/mozilla-extends-lucrative-deal-with-google-for-3-years 8/28)
YouTube has turned on the ability to add full closed captions to videos. This will not only allow videos to appeal more directly to foreign audiences, but will give YouTube excellent data for searching videos and targeting ads to them. After all, a complete set of subtitles is the same as a transcript of the video. And you can upload subtitles for as many languages as you want. It’s excellent data. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/28/youtube-adds-closed-captioning 8/28)
To turn closed captioning on or off, click the CC button at the bottom right of the screen.
Attorneys representing online video sites around the country are salivating today over the Veoh summary judgment decision (I know this because I’ve spoken to a few of them). In a nutshell, here’s what we learned today: If you take reasonable precautions against copyrighted materials on your service, you may be ok. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/28/what-the-veoh-decision-means-for-youtube-and-others 8/28)
CSI creator Anthony Zuiker signed a deal with publishing house Dutton to create a trio of suspense/thriller “digital novels” that include print, online video and social networking components, reports Variety. At the end of each five chapters readers will receive a code they plug into a website in order to view filmed vignettes that act as a transition to the next part of the story. The first title, Sqweegel, is due out in the fall of 2009 about a retired FBI (who guessed it) forensic investigator who picks up cases on the side. (Cynopsis 8/28)
Why is it that both political campaigns feel the need to have their own social networks. Barack Obama has my.barackobama.com
and John McCain has McCainSpace, which just relaunched with a new design from KickApps after failing massively on its own. The new McCainSpace design itself is functional enough, giving McCain supporters a central place to discuss election issues via blogs, forums, videos, and photos. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/28/close-encounters-of-the-republican-kind-mccainspace-relaunches 8/28)
West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin chose Facebook to break the news about his newest film project with producer Scott Rudin – about the birth of Facebook. (He actually admits it was his researcher Ian Reichbach who started the group, given how technologically challenged Aaron is.) He gets points for using the medium he will be writing about to announce the deal and ping the crowd for backstories, but bloggers are already questioning his tech street cred. (Cynopsis 8/28)
Multiplatform music network Music Choice launched a special Live Your Vote thematic programming feature including a politically themed video playlist hosted by rapper/activist David Banner. A special Live Your Vote edition of Rock U features contributions from politically outspoken rock stars such as Tom Morello, Serj Tankian and Three Doors Down. (Cynopsis 8/28)
Lifetime, which doubled its revenue during the recent digital sales upfront, has acquired the ParentsClick Network, a San Francisco firm that develops social-networking Web sites for parents to share best practices in raising their children. As part of the deal, Lifetime gets control of MothersClick.com and more than 200 other URLs, including FathersClick.com. The Washington Post/paidContent.org (8/27) , Mediaweek (8/27) , Variety (8/27)
Video search engine Blinkx is partnering with Getty Images to help users more easily index Getty’s video and photo content. As part of the deal the company will leverage Blinkx’s AdHoc platform to place contextually relevant advertising against Getty Images’ multimedia, sharing resulting ad revenue. Getty’s digital video content includes live footage from the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. (Cynopsis 8/28)
Top Visited US Broadcast Network TV Websites (Week ending Aug. 23, 2008)
Rank Network Website Market Share of Visits
1 CBS www.cbs.com 32.09%
2 NBC www.nbc.com 27.21%
3 ABC www.abc.com 21.19%
4 FOX* www.fox.com 14.08%
5 The CW www.cwtv.com 4.75%
6 MNTV www.mynetworktv.com .69%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise, *includes traffic aggregated from stand alone websites americanidol.com, amw.com, familyguy.com, thelot.com and thesimpsons.com.
Top Visited US Broadcast Network TV Show Sites (Week ending Aug. 23, 2008)
Rank Network Website Market Share of Visits
1 CBS Big Brother 9 16.48%
2 FOX American’s Most Wanted 6.11%
3 FOX American Idol 5.73%
4 NBC Deal or No Deal 4.37%
5 ABC Dancing With The Stars 4.37%
6 CBS CSI 2.67%
7 NBC Heroes 2.62%
8 NBC The Office 2.53%
9 ABC Lost 2.50%
10 CBS Swingtown 2.46%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise
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