Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Google is said to be exercising a right to force Time Warner to buy back the search giant’s stake in AOL or take the Internet unit public. Google invested $1 billion in AOL in 2005; the stake’s value is now believed to be worth about $250 million. Time Warner says it is “evaluating its options.” (Iwantmedia 2/4, http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2009/02/02/daily61.html 2/4)

President Obama may face friction from the leading U.S. cable providers on his plan to wire rural areas for high-speed Internet access. Cable giants are seen as unlikely to participate unless lawmakers provide more money for installation of costly broadband lines. (Iwantmedia 2/4, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aElDFE0IfbEc 2/3)

An audio recording of “Batman” actor Christian Bale losing his temper while working on a movie set hit the Internet this week. The tirade soon became the basis for more than one music remix on YouTube. In less than 24 hours, one remix received more than 110,000 hits. (Iwantmedia 2/4, http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2009/02/03/Bale_tirade_becomes_YouTube_sensation/UPI-90221233694011 2/3)

It’s audio only but I think this picture provides a good visual.

MySpace is in the spotlight today because it revealed that 90,000 registered sex offenders have been kicked off its site in the past two years. But where did all of those sex offenders go? Some evidence suggests that a portion of them are now on Facebook. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/03/thousands-of-myspace-sex-offender-refugees-found-on-facebook 2/3)

Strangely, I don’t think I would befriend any of these guys even if I didn’t know they were sex offenders.

Google is starting a service enabling Web-site owners to integrate news headlines from the Google News aggregator into any Web page. The service could help newspapers “reach new audiences.” Participants can control the types of stories in their chosen news feed. (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/add-google-news-to-your-website.html 2/3)

Social media app creator RockYou, creator of Facebook hits like SuperWall, added a new IAB standards-compliant video ad format to its widget ad network to enable advertisers deliver video ads across its vast network of social network users. RockYou, which serves more than 130 million users worldwide across Facebook, MySpace and other social networks, will focus on creating customizable integrated ad programs that combine video with other targeted applications. (Cynopsis 2/4)

IAC/Interactive Group eked out a profit during Q4 but missed revenue projections due to the horrible decline in display advertising diminishing cost-per-click rates across many of its sites. For the full year, IAC reported a loss of $156.2 million compared with a loss of $144.1 million in 2007. The company’s revenue climbed 8%, totaling $1.45 billion in 2008. (Cynopsis 2/4)

CBS Interactive and Procter & Gamble’s Head & Shoulders shampoo brand are teaming up to produce an original Web series, “Heckle U,” starring Tom Arnold, debuting on CBS.com and TV.com. CBS sees Web originals as a “win-win for both programmers and marketers.” (http://www.tvweek.com/news/2009/02/cbs_interactive_head_shoulders.php 2/3)

Four Google executives began trial in Milan yesterday facing charges of privacy violation and defamation of character, per the NYTimes. The case involves the posting of a video in 2006 in which 4 kids tease a boy with Downs Syndrome. “To our knowledge, this is the first time an individual has been criminally charged for violation of data protection laws that occurred by the company he or she works for,” Trevor Hughes, executive director of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, is quoted as saying. (Cynopsis 2/4)

HD video portal and content delivery service Vuze, one of the biggest critics of Comcast’s P2P throttling practices chastised by the FCC, is now calling for an examination of Cox Cable’s traffic management practices. In a blog entry Vuze General Counsel Jay Monahan points to Cox’s recently published Congestion Management Policy, noting that users who engage in “low priority” activities including P2P streaming may now see their connection hampered. Vuze utilized P2P architecture to delivery HD video content for its clients. (Cynopsis 2/4)

USANetwork.com reported double and triple-digit increases in key metrics in 2008 including unique visitors and time spent per user, citing internal Omniture numbers. The site’s Character Arcade casual gaming portal racked up 10 million page views per month, on average. Fans spent an average of 142 minutes/month using USA’s Character Rewind full episode and clip video player with Monk and Burn Notice registering as the two most viewed series, respectively. (Cynopsis 2/4)

Seattle-based RealNetworks released some preliminary revenue numbers and impairment charges for Q4, expecting $151-$153 million in revenue but also a write down of $185-$200 million, categorized as “impairment of goodwill and acquired intangible assets.” (Cynopsis 2/4)

User generated content consumption will continue to grow as US internet users plug into the world of blogs, social networking and UGC video, according to eMarketer. Blogs had the highest rate of engagement in 2008, with 54% of the US internet user base consuming this content. Social network users made up 41.2% of the base while user-generated video viewers represented 36% of users. (Cynopsis 2/4)

US User-Generated Content Consumers by Content Type 2008-2013 (% of internet users)
Genre                 2008    2009    2010    2011    2012    2013
UG video             36.0% 39.8% 42.5%   44.8%  47.2% 49.2%
Social networking 41.2    44.2    46.9       49.1    50.5    51.8
Blogs                   54.0    58.0    61.0       64.0    67.0    69.0
Wikis                   33.9    36.6    39.0       41.0    42.6    43.9
UGC consumers    60.0    62.0    64.0       66.0    68.0    70.0
Source: eMarketer