Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Google vice president Marissa Mayer announced Google Chrome is coming out of beta in an interview with Michael Arrington at Le Web 08. The Google’s open source browser has a number of eager customers, including OEMs who can’t offer the browser until it is in full release. Chrome’s Windows client has been in beta since its roll out 3 months ago, and with the new move will likely spur bundling with Google Toolbar and Google Apps. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/10/google-takes-chrome-out-of-beta 12/10)

Google has released its Zeitgeist 2008, a comprehensive look at the top searches of 2008. Among the “fastest rising” U.S. searches in contrast to 2007: Obama, Facebook, Att, iPhone, YouTube, Fox News, Palin, Beijing 2008, David Cook, and Surf the channel. (Iwantmedia 12/10, http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2336535,00.asp 12/10)

2008 Fastest Rising, United States

1. Obama
2. Facebook
3. Att
4. iPhone
5. YouTube
6. Fox News
7. Palin
8. Beijing 2008
9. David Cook
10. Surf the channel

It appears even Santa is joining the web video craze. Check out WiredSanta.com, a new interactive video streaming site where kids can post letters directly to Mr. Kringle through the web. Vancouver-based Out To See Entertainment is producing a new video each day from Santa’s workshop, acknowledging some of the kids who write in and encouraging adults to contribute to the venture. Partial proceeds go to inner city literacy outreach program People of Many. (Cynopsis 12/10)

Log in to the AOL-owned Bebo social network this morning and you’ll see a whole new home page. Like AOL.com, they’ve integrated direct access to AOL, Yahoo and Gmail email accounts, as well as a feed reader. They’ve also fully integrated the Social Thing activity tracker (AOL acquired Social Thing in August 2008), and are adding content that you may like based on a new content recommendation engine that the team has built from the ground up. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/10/bebo-social-inbox-launches 12/10)

Yahoo and Electronic Arts have added to the mounting number of job losses. Yahoo said it would begin handing out pink slips Wednesday. The toll could reach 1,400 job cuts. EA, the electronics gaming company, has also announced staff cuts but has not specified the number. (Iwantmedia 12/10, http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/10/news/economy/job_cuts/index.htm 12/10)

Yahoo Brickhouse, the two year old San Francisco based Yahoo business unit to foster new product development, is to be shut down by the end of the year, says a source. The announcement may be as early as Wednesday. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/09/yahoo-to-close-brickhouse-by-end-of-year 12/9)

PC maker Acer is sponsoring a UGC video contest to promote the launch of the Aspire One, its first “netbook” PC. Upload a film that demonstrates your directorial genius for a chance to win one or other prizes including an Xbox 360 or a Microsoft Zune. Winners will be decided by the public, based on total YouTube views, comments, honors and overall ratings. (Cynopsis 12/10)

YouTube accounted for nearly 40% of all videos viewed online in Oct., ten times the market share of its closest competitor, according to the latest ComScore Video Metrix numbers. Hulu moved up to #6 in video view rankings with 235 million videos viewed. Hulu also had the longest average view per session among top 10 destinations at 11.6 minutes. More than 147 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 92 videos per viewer in October. Google Sites attracted a record 100 million online video viewers, or more than two out of every three users who watched video during the month. Fox Interactive ranked second with 60.8 million viewers, followed by Yahoo sites (45.2 million) and Microsoft sites (30.7 million). (Cynopsis 12/10)

Top U.S. Online Video Properties* by Videos Viewed – October 2008
Property                                        Videos       Share (%) of
(000)           Videos
Total Internet                                13,536,595          100.0
Google Sites                                   5,373,783           39.7
Fox Interactive Media                         519,926            3.8
Yahoo! Sites                                      363,426            2.7
Viacom Digital                                   305,258            2.3
Microsoft Sites                                   286,464            2.1
Hulu                                                  235,096            1.7
Turner Network                                  228,024            1.7
Disney Online                                     126,611            0.9
AOL LLC                                             122,580            0.9
ESPN                                                 104,724            0.8
Source: comScore Video Metrix
* Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks
Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video

Top U.S. Online Video Properties* by Unique Viewers – October 2008
Property                                    Unique Viewers  Average Videos
(000)               per Viewer
Total Internet                                   147,283           91.9
Google Sites                                     100,475           53.5
Fox Interactive Media                          60,791            8.6
Yahoo! Sites                                       45,187            8.0
Microsoft Sites                                    30,696            9.3
Viacom Digital                                    25,658           11.9
HULU.COM                                         23,993            9.8
AOL LLC                                             22,743            5.4
Turner Network                                  20,858           10.9
Disney Online                                     13,757            9.2
CBS Corporation                                 13,639            4.7
Source: comScore Video Metrix