Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Not only did Apple update iTunes overnight, but it also updated Apple TV.  In addition to the usual security and bug fixes (including one that sounds pretty ominous: “maliciously crafted movie file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution”), there’s now a Genius playlist feature. (http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/10/03/apple-tv-updated-now-has-genius 10/3)

Google’s YouTube, which is yet to figure out how to best monetize its audience, is adding post-roll advertisements. The post-rolls, like all ads on YouTube, only play on a portion of the 4% or so of the site’s videos uploaded by official partners with revenue-sharing agreements. (Iwantmedia 10/3, http://newteevee.com/2008/10/01/youtube-rolls-out-post-roll-video-ads 10/1)

In honor of the impending election, Yahoo is making a few changes to its search engine to help streamline common queries and convince people to vote. Users that search for keywords like “Obama” and “McCain” will be presented with small biographies, poll summaries, and recent news articles related to the candidate. Searches for “presidential poll” will generate a list of poll results, and users can further refine searches by specifying a state as part of their query. Finally, the search results page will now feature a “Vote” button in the corner whenever you search for a term related to the election. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/03/yahoo-makes-election-news-only-a-keyword-away 10/3)

Google, which is maturing and looking to reinvigorate its slowing growth, is shaking-off of its reluctance to advertise itself. The search giant recently held discussions with several Madison Avenue agencies, including Wieden + Kennedy and the boutique firm Taxi New York. (Iwantmedia 10/3, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122299236642900625.html 10/3)

Fox Business launched a new YouTube channel this week offering news and opinion on the presidential race. “America’s Election HQ” is the first of three YouTube channels that will be opened in the coming weeks featuring Fox News and Fox Business reporting. Mediaweek (10/2)

With credit tightening and consumer confidence shaky, you know this is going to be a tough year for holiday sales. A forecast that came out this morning from Lehman Brothers (now Barclays Capital), puts Internet sales over the upcoming holiday season growing at just 8 percent, compared to 19 percent growth last year (and 26 percent in 2006). That’s still better than the one percent growth in holiday ales expected at physical department stores, but the fourth quarter is make-or-break for many e-commerce sites and the slowdown in growth is not going to help. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/03/its-going-to-be-a-grinch-christmas-slowdown-forecast-for-online-holiday-sales 10/3)

ABC took the top spot this week among Hitwise’s ad supported broadcast network website rankings, edging out NBC and easily besting CBS, which held the top spot most of the summer. Hitwise also factored in PBS Online in a separate ranking for the first time and the site drew a 36% share of the broadcast-related traffic for the week – nearly double that of its closest competitor ABC – as Americans turned to site for news on the political race and the financial crisis. Dancing with the Stars was the #1 ranked TV show site following its premiere while NBC’s Heroes jumped up to the #3 spot from #10. On the cable side CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight was tops among the cable networks (adult only) moving up from #7 the previous week. (Cynopsis 10/3)

Top Visited US Top Visited US Broadcast Network TV Sites (Week ending Sept. 27 2008)
Rank                Network Website    Market Share of Visits
1  ABC             www.abc.com 28.77%
2  NBC           www.nbc.com 28.62%
3  CBS            www.cbs.com 21.52%
4  FOX*           www.fox.com 13.13%
5 The CW      www.cwtv.com 6.85%
6 MNTV   www.mynetworktv.com 1.11%
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 Sept. 27, 2008)
Rank   Network       Website                      Market Share of Visits
1          ABC          Dancing With The Stars       15.01%
2          NBC          American’s Got Talent           8.84%
3          NBC          Heroes                                 6.37%
4          NBC          The Biggest Loser                  4.26%
5          ABC          Grey’s Anatomy                     3.32%
6          FOX          Terminator: Sarah Connor      3.30%
7          FOX          America’s Most Wanted          3.25%
8          NBC          The Office                             3.15%
9          NBC          Deal or No Deal                     2.39%
10         CBS          NCIS                                     2.30%

Source: Custom report from Hitwise

Top Visited US Cable Network TV Show Sites – Excluding Children’s Programming (Week ending Sept. 27, 2008)
Rank   Network                   Website                   Market Share of Visits
1    CNN                       Lou Dobbs Tonight             5.06%
2    Comedy Central       South Park                        4.97%
3    Fox News                O’Reilly Factor                   4.30%
4    Comedy Central       The Daily Show                 3.66%
5    BET                        106 & Park                        3.64%
6    MTV                        The Hills                           2.97%
7    Food Network          Paula’s Home Cooking        2.36%
8    Fox News                Hannity & Colmes              2.21%
9    MSNBC                    Countdown w/Keith O.       2.07%
10   Bravo                      Project Runway                 1.96%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise