Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA by Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Measuring viewer “engagement” on TV is simple. You count how many people tune into a given show. It stands to reason that the most popular shows would also be the most popular ones on social networks. But that is not exactly the case. Networked Insights, a company that measures brand engagement on social networks, compared the top ten TV shows for the week of September 22 to 28, as measured by Nielsens, to the most talked about TV shows on social networks, as measured by which ones were most commented on, linked to, shared, or rated. The comparison is for the 18 to 49 year-old demographic. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/27/the-most-watched-tv-shows-are-not-the-most-talked-about-online 10/27)

For most people, watching Web video is predominantly a streamed experience on their computers. But an important and substantial portion of Web video is still downloaded to be watched later, or transferred to a different screen (usually an iPod, but sometimes a flat-screen TV). The problem with downloads is that they don’t fit neatly into the advertising model that rules most other Web video. CEO Mike Hudack of Blip.tv revealed that his company has found a way to dynamically insert ads from DoubleClick into video downloads on iTunes and elsewhere. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/28/bliptv-figures-out-how-to-serve-ads-in-itunes-videos 10/28)

Microsoft made a major announcement today – they will be offering “lightweight” versions of Office applications – Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote – through the browser. Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari will be supported. Users will be able to read and edit documents from the browser. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/28/microsoft-office-embraces-the-browser-thank-you-google 10/28)

MTV launched a free online music-video service this week that eventually will be supported by advertising, according to this report. The site, at mtvmusic.com, is looking to capitalize on the popularity of other online video ventures, including Hulu.com, the partnership between NBC Universal and News Corp., which currently is the sixth-most-popular U.S. video site on the Web. Advertising Age (10/27)

An update to Techcrunch’s recent post on Facebook Connect: Facebook is pushing partners hard to be prepared for an official November 30 launch.   24 of 26 announced launch partners have yet to integrate Facebook Connect. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/28/facebook-connect-launch-scheduled-for-november-30 10/28)

Some online-advertising networks are shutting down while others are cutting costs as growth in online spending slows and venture-capital funding begins to dry up. AdBrite recently cut 40% of its work force. Other ad networks “are in severe trouble and could be closing their doors.” (Iwantmedia 10/28, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122514803617173825.html 10/28)

On the heels of announcing an expanded relationship with the New York Times website last week, Brightcove is adding all of AOL to its video-distribution client list. Like the New York Times, AOL is an investor in Brightcove.  But the deal is a coup for Brightcove 3, the latest version of its online video platform. Brightcove 3 will power all the video on AOL, which is one of the top ten destinations on the Web for video. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/27/brightcove-snags-aol-video-deal 10/27)

There’s been more downsizing in the start-up space (TechCrunch’ s Layoff Tracker counts 573 tech start-up layoff so far) and cost-cutting moves have begun to hit the creative side of the business. Web studio Revision3 announced a wave of layoffs and is shutting down production on Pixel Perfect, PopSiren and Internet Superstar. Revision3 also said it will cease distributing EPIC FU and Wine Library, both of which are produced by independent studios. EPIC FU producer Smashface followed with the news it was forced to lay off three members of its production team. (Cynopsis 10/28)

The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, on behalf of a broad class of copyright holders, will join with Google to host a teleconference today to discuss a settlement agreement that would expand online access to millions of in-copyright books and other written materials in the U.S. from the collections of a number of major U.S. libraries participating in Google Book Search. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/28/authors-and-publishers-associations-settle-with-google-over-125-million-lawsuit 10/28)

Leading online firms Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! along with human rights groups have agreed to a common set of principles that will serve as a guide for doing business in countries that place strictures on free speech. Under the Global Network Initiative, the companies promise to “narrowly interpret and implement government demands that compromise privacy.” The Wall Street Journal (10/28) , The New York Times (10/27)

SlideRocket, an online presentation application that produces slideshows that rival (and in many cases, better) PowerPoint, has launched to the general public. The site had previously been available under a public beta, and is now removing the beta tag and introducing a set of pricing tiers along with some impressive new features. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/28/sliderockets-impressive-online-presentation-app-hits-general-release 10/28)

Top 10 Search Providers for September 2008, Ranked by Searches (U.S.)
Provider                    Searches (000)      YOY Growth     Share of Searches
All Search                   8,089,226               9.4%               100.0%
Google Search             4,825,556              20.8%                59.7%
Yahoo! Search             1,464,478               1.5%                 18.1%
MSN/Windows Live         953,504               7.1%                 11.8%
AOL Search                   335,187             -24.6%                  4.1%
Ask.com Search             178,217              12.1%                  2.2%
My Web Search               53,825               33.4%                  0.7%
Comcast Search              51,935              -13.1%                  0.6%
AT&T Worldnet Search     30,086             237.7%                  0.4%
NexTag Search               17,775              -29.3%                  0.2%
Dogpile.com Search        17,574                -5.3%                  0.2%
Source: Nielsen Online, MegaView Search

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