Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

The WSJ is reporting that Google and Yahoo are negotiating with the Justice Department to remove their objections to the search deal the two companies signed in June but haven’t yet implemented. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/14/will-a-volume-cap-make-the-yahoogoogle-deal-work 10/14)

Fans of “30 Rock” will be able to get a look at the show’s season premiere a week early. NBC is making the full episode available on NBC.com next week — seven days before its on-air takeoff. The debut will be streamed on the site starting Oct. 23, as well as on sibling site Hulu. (Iwantmedia 10/14, http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=92564 10/13)

Encouraged by the huge success of those Sarah Palin skits, NBC Universal is planning to build a standalone site for Saturday Night Live like Comedy Central has done for The Daily Show, per B&C. The site could include a mix of classic sketches along with dress rehearsal footage never seen before by the TV public. (Cynopsis 10/14)

YouTube will be the big winner of this year’s U.S. presidential election, according to Andrew Rasiej and Micah L. Sifry, writing on Politico. Google’s video-sharing site “is the killer application.” Online video and YouTube “will be recognized as the medium that changed it for 2008.” (Iwantmedia 10/14, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14535.html 10/14)

YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley, 29, left, and Steven Chen, 27, pose with their laptops at their office.

Photo: AP

Digital entertainment producer DECA signed a partnership with YouTube comedy duo Smosh created by Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox. DECA will provide financing, ad sales, marketing and distribution services for Smosh as it seeks to monetize its audience. Smosh ranks as #3 most subscribed to channel on YouTube all time with 555,000+ subscribers, receiving over 9 million streams a month. (Cynopsis 10/14)

Brightcove, the Internet-TV provider that has been supplying advanced solutions to cable nets such as Showtime, FearNet and Lifetime, has announced that its Brightcove 3 platform is now available to other programmers. The latest technology features several enhancements over the company’s previous versions, including a highly customizeable video player, better integration of editorial elements and more robust bandwidth delivery. TVWeek.com (10/13)

Microsoft is releasing its latest version of Silverlight today, its platform for advanced web applications and video that has been in beta testing since March. The company says Silverlight, which is vying for market share with Adobe’s ubiquitous Flash, is now installed on roughly 25% of the world’s computers. (Cynopsis 10/14)

BookRix.com launched as a social network and viral marketing tool for aspiring authors where members can upload, share and comment on original content such as novels or comic books. BookRix features a user-friendly interface that displays creative works in a flipbook format that can be distributed to other platforms. Members review and rate uploaded material and the best received is featured more prominently on the site. (Cynopsis 10/14)

A survey of 40 major ad agencies and media buyers by Feed Company found that 70% of marketers expect to increase their viral video ad budgets in the coming year. Yet ad agencies are seeking improvements on how viral video campaigns are tracked and executed: 95% of respondents seek greater accountability from vendors responsible for tracking campaign effectiveness, and more than half say there is a need for better execution of strategies. (Cynopsis 10/14)

Newspapers online ad revenue fell 2.4% to $777 million during Q2 according to the Newspaper Association of America after 17 straight quarters of growth. (Cynopsis 10/14)