Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA by Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Netflix and TiVo will begin a partnership in December that will enable viewers to watch Netflix’s Web-based “Watch Instantly” TV episodes and movies via their TiVo set-top boxes. The collaboration is seen as a big advancement in the video industry’s drive to offer online TV and movie content on regular TV sets. The New York Times (10/30) , The Washington Post/The Associated Press (10/30)

Facebook blew past MySpace in visitors from across the world back in April, but the global gap continues to widen. According to the latest figures from comScore, Facebook attracted 161.1 million unique visitors worldwide in September, compared 117.9 million for MySpace. For Facebook, that number was up from 4.7 percent from the 153.9 million people who visited the social network in August. Visitors to MySpace declined 1.6 percent globally from 119.8 million. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/29/facebook-widens-the-gap-with-myspace-internationally 10/29)

Sony Pictures Entertainment is installing new management, opening a new headquarters and preparing to commit a range of new full-length Sony TV shows and movies to Crackle.com reports THR. Eric Berger, who oversaw mobile entertainment at Sony, will take over at Crackle replacing Jonathan Shambroom, who has overseen the site since February. The site plans to premiere as many as five 13-episode original series each quarter beginning early next year with Angel of Death from comic-book artist Ed Brubaker. (Cynopsis 10/30)

Turner Sports-managed NBA.com launched the NBA League Broadband service offering access to up to 40 live games per week, the first time NBA games have been available online. Bells and whistles include a mosaic video player allowing fans to watch and track up to 3 games at once. The service is currently available for the early bird price of $169 for the season. Subscribers to the TV version get the broadband service for free. (Cynopsis 10/30)

Meanwhile the NHL is offering free access to its Game Center Live service today to drum up interest. A full season of hockey games also costs $169. (Cynopsis 10/30)

Comcast’s Fancast.com launched a new weekly blog called “Ask Judah,” featuring 30 Rock co-star Judah Friedlander fielding questions from users on any and all topics. His blog will run on Thursdays and Fridays to promote both linear and online viewing of 30 Rock. (Cynopsis 10/30)

Last month AOL began releasing parts of its new tear-down-the-walls home page strategy, allowing users to view email from Yahoo and Gmail.   Today they launch the rest of the new features. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/30/the-walls-come-down-on-aolcom 10/30)

Retailer Hot Topic, Inc launched ShockHound a music-based site offering MP3s, band merchandise, music videos and editorial content allowing indie artists upload and sell their work. (Cynopsis 10/30)

Zazzle, the site that lets you custom-design and sell everything from T-shirts and hoodies to sneakers and skateboards, has launched a new feature that may well put it leagues ahead of its competitors: embroidery. And while the prospect of having an embroidered shirt may not sound appealing at first (I’ve always associated embroidery with tacky nametags emblazoned on polo shirts), Zazzle’s new feature is very impressive and will likely draw a large number of new customers. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/30/zazzle-launches-custom-embroidered-clothing-who-knew-stitching-could-be-this-cool 10/30)

MSNBC‘s newest politico Rachel Maddow has got her own site now featuring full podcasts of her nightly show and a customizable interface allowing users to create embeddable playlists of their favorite clips. Viewers can also interact with Rachel using msnbc.com’s own social media news site Newsvine or via Twitter. (Cynopsis 10/30)

The growth rate of online video ad spending will peak at 78.9% in 2012 when both traditional and alternative media companies will be distributing far more professional-quality video content online, and when the national elections and the summer Olympics will contribute far more to video ad spending than they did in 2008, according to eMarketer projections. (Cynopsis 10/30)

U.S. Online Video Advertising Spending Growth, 2008-2013

Year % change

2008 55.9%

2009 48.5%

2010 53.3%

2011 65.2%

2012 78.9%

2013 70.6%

Source: eMarketer

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