Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Academy Award, Alec Baldwin, Kodak Theatre, New York Yankees, PhiladelphiaPhillies, Steve Martin, Time Warner, World Series
The World Series gave the Fox network world-class ratings last week as the New York Yankeessquared off against the Philadelphia Phillies in four much-watched games. Fox can thank baseball for a huge average audience of 14.69 million viewers (8.8 rating, 14 share). (AP 11/3)
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin have been named the dual hosts of the 82nd Academy Awards. You’ll remember Martin hosted twice before – for the 73rd and the 75th annual awardsfest. The Academy Awards will air on Sunday, March 7, 2010 on ABC and be presented at the Kodak Theatre. (Cynopsis11/4)
Time Warner is reporting third-quarter earnings fell 38% on particular weakness in publishing. Still, the media giant topped analysts’ expectations. The publishing group saw a 40% decline in earnings. The segment has long been the topic of rumors about its future. (Iwantmedia11/4, Smartmoney11/4)
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Academy Award, Arts, Harvey Milk, Movies, NBC Universal, Sean Penn, Starz, United States
Looking to whip up excitement about its upcoming “Party Down” series, Starz will release the first episode to multichannel providers a week before the March 20 debut. Partners such as Charter, Comcast, Cox, Mediacom and Insight plan to offer the episode, beginning March 13, via their on-demand and online services. Multichannel News (3/4)
NBC Universal announced the day-and-date release of the Focus Features film Milk, winner of two Academy Awards including Best Actor for Sean Penn‘s performance as Harvey Milk. The film will be available On Demand (VOD) March 10, the same day it releases on DVD and BLU-RAY HI-DEF from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. (Cynopsis 3/5)
Killing the DVD platform one day-and-date release at a time.
FOX announced it will premiere variety series Osbournes: Reloaded, headlined by the eccentric Osbourne clan of Ozzy, Sharon, Jack and Kelly, on March 31 at 9p following American Idol. The show will integrate audience interaction and comedic stunts as well as recurring segments such as “Osbourne in the USA” where the family works in places like a fast-food drive-thru. After its premiere, FOX will air additional Osbournes: Reloaded episodes as a series of specials throughout the season. FremantleMedia North America produces. (Cynopsis 3/5)
Michael Angelakis, Comcast’s chief financial officer, said the country’s largest cable provider would increase revenue, cash flow and revenue-generating units in 2009. “To what extent will we grow those metrics, I’m not 100% sure,” Angelakis said at an investor conference in Florida on Wednesday. “We are very confident we will grow those metrics.” CNNMoney.com/Dow Jones Newswires (3/4) , OneTRAK (3/4)
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Academy Award, American Broadcasting Company, American Idol, CBS, LL Cool J, NCIS, Television, United States
CBS is winning viewers in head-to-head competition with Fox juggernaut “American Idol,” demonstrating rival programs can succeed against TV’s most-watched show. CBS’s crime drama “NCIS” is attracting 44% more 18-to-49 age viewers, with rock music and funnier dialogue. (Iwantmedia 2/26, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aYRvKbA3092E 2/25)
Actor/rapper LL Cool J was tapped for the CBS spinoff of NCIS, cites Variety. LL Cool J will play a tough yet likable former Navy SEAL who goes undercover for the NCIS unit based in Los Angeles. CBS will air the spinoff as one half of a two-part NCIS episode later this season. (Cynopsis 2/26)
ABC sold 26 minutes of advertising time for about $72 million in its Feb. 22 Academy Awards broadcast, the most since 2004, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Marketers still “understand the unique power of TV advertising for marquee events such as the Academy Awards.” (Iwantmedia 2/26, http://www.tvweek.com/news/2009/02/abc_made_72_million_on_26_minu.php 2/25)
Citing double-digit ratings growth among key demographic groups by Discovery Channel and TLC, Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav said the cable programmer’s U.S. networks generated an 8% revenue increase in the fourth quarter of last year. That news — plus an optimistic guidance for this year — sent the company’s shares 13% higher in Wednesday trading. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (2/26) , The Hollywood Reporter (2/25)
Television advertising is not only as effective as ever — it is possibly even increasing in effectiveness when it comes to increasing sales, claims a study by the Advertising Research Foundation. People want to “zone out and watch TV and let the communications wash over them.” (
Iwantmedia 2/26, http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/direct/e3i03e9df1ef7d2112b4dd3f3ed8d4374bb 2/25)
ABC Family now can lay claim to the entire 153-episode span of “Gilmore Girls.” The network had acquired the rights to the first six seasons, and now it has added the seventh, which it will begin running in June. TVWeek.com (2/25)
Mediacom, the country’s ninth-largest cable provider, added 33,000 revenue-generating units in the fourth quarter of last year and raised its average revenue per unit 8.9%, to $90.88. Overall, the company reported revenue rose 8.3%, to $360.2 million. OneTRAK (2/25) , Multichannel News (2/25) , CED Magazine (2/2009)
Tivo has expanded its Stop||Watch DVR measurement service adding 17 more cable networks including IFC, Sundance Channel, BBC America, Universal HD and the Weather Channel. Tivo says 16 of the 93 networks in now monitors using its 20,000 home sample are not rated by Nielsen or other competitors. (Cynopsis 2/26)
Liberty Media doesn’t plan to combine the satellite operations of DirecTV with Sirius XM Radio, says CEO Greg Maffei. Bundling subscriptions to DirecTV and Sirius XM may be an “opportunity down the road.” Last week Liberty agreed to buy a 40% stake in Sirius XM. (Iwantmedia 2/26, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-briefs26-2009feb26,0,133240.story 2/26)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Academy Award, Apple, Ashton Kutcher, Charlie Rose, Facebook, iPhone, Marc Andreessen, Twitter
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Boosted by a wealth of new interactive features and video content, Disney-managed Oscar.com saw major year-to-year increases on Oscar Sunday, with unique visitors and page views up 57% and 87%, respectively. Users spent an average of 11.63 minutes on the site per visit, a 15% bump from last year. (Cynopsis 2/24)
Not surprisingly Twitter traffic spiked dramatically during the Oscar telecast as users chimed with their two cents about who won or wore what. Stars like Ashton Kutcher kept their fans abreast of the party scene with comments and photos using the TwitPic mobile photo app that allows users to post pics directly from their phones. (Cynopsis 2/24)
(Below) Now here is a company thinking out of the box. This should be a lesson to us all. Stop complaining. Start reinventing and monetizing.
Glam is seeking to make money by editing streams from Twitter. The women’s online publisher launched a widget that lets users tweet their thoughts about this year’s Academy Awards. Glam’s editors edit the stream to make advertisers more comfortable with the tweets. (Iwantmedia 2/24, http://venturebeat.com/2009/02/22/glam-edits-oscars-twitter-feed-and-makes-money 2/22)
Following the success of CNN’s immensely popular Facebook integration during the Inauguration, ABCNews.com is teaming with Twitter and multiplatform news network ABC News Now on a new interactive web venture dubbed “Nightline Now” tonight during President Obama’s State of the Union address. Users will be able to post “tweets” on Twitter as they watch live streaming of the address then see their comments show up simultaneously on ABCNews.com and ABC News Now. (Cynopsis 2/24)
Netscape founder Marc Andreessen announced on Charlie Rose last week that he is creating a VC fund with partner Ben Horowitz to help seed technology companies. Check out the interview to hear Marc’s thinking on the future of the newspaper business (shut down the print editions tomorrow), the patience of Facebook’s monetization strategy and the wonders of devices like the iPhone that get the user interface right. (Cynopsis 2/24)
Rapper star Eminem is suing Universal Music over how much he is entitled to when the world’s largest music company sells his work to third-party distributors, including Apple’s iTunes. At stake is potentially hundreds of millions of dollars from digital downloads. (Iwantmedia 2/24, http://www.thewrap.com/article/1549 2/23)
Welcome to the future, Safari fans, because the Safari 4 beta just hit the download shelves
and it’s ready to tear some things up in Tiger and Leopard and even Windows. The download requires the latest security patch (2009-01) but other than that you’re ready to ride. (http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/02/24/safari-4-finally-a-reason-to-come-back 2/24)
Comcast will launch by the end of this year a video-on-demand service that will play out on the Internet. The service reportedly will be called On Demand Online, and Comcast rival Time Warner Cable is mulling a similar new product offering. Reuters (2/23) , Home Media Magazine (2/23)
AOL is launching AOL Classifieds, a site that enables consumers to search through millions of local classifieds listings for every ZIP code in the United States, as well as to post their own ads for free. The site is developed in partnership with classifieds service Oodle. (Iwantmedia 2/24, http://blog.clickz.com/090223-173154.html 2/23)
Yahoo is unveiling several tools to help marketers better target their online ads, as the Internet company tries to win back business during the recession. The services include targeting graphical ads to users who have searched for particular terms in Yahoo’s search engine. (Iwantmedia 2/24, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123543765554954735.html 2/24)
President Obama has chosen former MPAA lobbyist and current FTC member Jon Leibowitz to serve as the next Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, reports Bloomberg. The body that reviews mergers and enforces consumer protection laws, the FTC has already warned that it may take a closer look at behavioral targeting practices if the online advertising industry doesn’t successfully establish and adhere to self-regulatory guidelines. Leibowitz himself has been a critic of the industry’s lack of transparency and Byzantine opt-out solutions and has pushed the government to take a stronger tack toward privacy policies. (Cynopsis 2/24)
L.A.-based gossip blog Defamer has been folded into Gawker Media’s N.Y.-based flagship blog Gawker.com as the site’s entertainment column. (Cynopsis 2/24)
In a bid to increase engagement on its website History.com launched its first original web series regaling viewers with “great and telling tales” of unusual tidbits of arcane knowledge from historian Timothy Dickinson. The show, available in snackable ad-supported clips, features crude animation in the Monty Python tradition and is available as an exclusive to the AETN Digital site. (Cynopsis 2/24)
At its annual leadership meeting The IAB announced the release of its final Audience Reach Measurement Guidelines to once and for all to define key industry metrics and foster greater accuracy and reliability of all forms of online audience measurement. The guidelines call for full disclosure of methodology, suggest that audience measurement should be spearheaded by clients not sellers, and call for internal numbers tracked by systems such as Omniture to be excluded from ad contracts. (Cynopsis 2/24)
Microsoft is creating a council of Web companies to help it develop a new advertising platform for publishers. The council will include IAC/InterActiveCorp, Dow Jones Online, New York Times Co., Time Inc. and Viacom. Goals include enhanced targeting and measurement. (Iwantmedia 2/24, http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Microsoft-partners-with-Web-apf-14441309.html 2/23)
The explosion of video on multiple platforms is still a tide in which all boats are rising as video consumption grew during Q4 across all three major platforms – TV, internet and mobile, according to Nielsen‘s just released A2/M2 Three Screen Report. Viewing on television reached a record 151 hours/month. Those who watch video on the internet consumed another 3 hours of online video per month. Mobile video viewers watched nearly 4 hours per month on mobile phones and other devices. (Cynopsis 2/24)
Other highlights of the report include:
- Video viewing on mobile devices and DVRs jumped by the largest margin during the quarter (each about 9% vs. Q3) as 11 million reported viewing video on phones or PDAs and 74 million watched DVR programming
- And while audiences of all ages are watching online video, the trend for younger 18-24 year old viewers – broken out by Nielsen for the first time – suggest a dramatically increased reliance on the internet for video viewing. The demo spent nearly the same amount of time (about 5 hours a month) watching video online as they did watching DVR programming
- Even younger viewers (aged 12-17) watched less video on TV, DVRs and the internet than last quarter but spent almost 6.5 hours a month watching mobile video
- When broken down by gender, females 2+ watched more TV and more online video than by almost 8% points but men consumed almost twice as much video on mobile phones
Overall Usage Number of Users 2+ (in 000′s) – Monthly Reach
4Q08 3Q08 4Q07 % Diff Y/Y
Watching TV in the home 285,313 282,289 281,376 1.4%
Watching Timeshifted TV° 73,934 67,656 53,914 37.1%
Using the internet 161,525 160,070 156,323 3.3%
Watching Video on internet 123,195 120,362 n/a n/a
Using a Mobile Phone 228,920 224,495 n/a n/a
Mobile Subscribers Watching
Video on a Mobile Phone 11,198 10,260 n/a n/a
Source: The Nielsen Company
Monthly Time Spent in Hours: Minutes Per User 2+
4Q08 3Q08 4Q07 % Diff Yr to Yr Absolute Diff Yr to Yr
(4Q08 to 4Q07) (4Q08 to 4Q07)
Watching TV in the home 151:03 140:48 145:49 3.6% 5:13
Watching Timeshifted TV 7:11 6:27 5:24 33.0% 1:47
Using the internet 27:04 27:18 26:08 3.6% 0:56
Watching Video on internet 2:53 2:31 n/a n/a n/a
Mobile Subscribers Watching
Video on a Mobile Phone 3:42 3:37 n/a n/a n/a
Source: The Nielsen Company
Video Audience Composition – Age 4Q 2008
K2-11 T12-17 A18-24 A25-34 A35-44 A45-54 A55-64 A65+
On TV 10% 6% 8% 13% 14% 17% 15% 18%
On the Internet 7% 8% 8% 16% 19% 20% 15% 7%
On Mobile Phones n/a 19% 11% 34% 20% 11% 5% 1%
Source: The Nielsen Company
Video Audience Composition – Gender 4Q 2008
F2+ M2+
On TV 53% 47%
On the Internet 54% 46%
On Mobile Phones 37% 63%
Source: The Nielsen Company
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Academy Award, Al Sharpton, George Bodenheimer, New York Post, News Corporation, Peter Chernin, Rupert Murdoch, Wall Street Journal
Some 36.3 million people watched this year’s Academy Awards, up about 4 million from last year’s least-watched Oscars show. Still, there are only two Oscar telecasts with fewer viewers. The largest Oscars audience was in 1998, when 55.2 million watched “Titanic” win best picture. (Iwantmedia 2/23, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090223/ap_en_tv/oscars_ratings 2/23)
Peter Chernin, the long-time president and COO of News Corp, is leaving
the company after protracted negotiations over his contract could not be resolved. Chernin’s salary was $28.8 million in the last fiscal year, which was $1.3 million more than even Rupert Murdoch’s take-home pay. Chernin helped Murdoch build and oversee his vast media empire over the past 20 years, and his departure no doubt will raise all sorts of questions about the future of the company. He will be leaving when his current contract expires on June 30. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/23/with-chernin-out-at-news-corp-what-happens-to-fim 2/23)
Rev. Al Sharpton is calling on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to review the waiver extended to News Corp. for cross-media ownership. The move continues the protests over the political cartoon of a monkey published last week in News Corp.’s New York Post. (Iwantmedia 2/23, http://www.wpix.com/landing/?Sharpton-Calls-On-FCC-To-Investigate-New=1&blockID=220606&feedID=1404 2/23)
With expensive content-contract renegotiations to come, ESPN faces pressure in the current economic climate and last month said it would cut nearly 200 unfilled jobs, suspend new hires and freeze executive pay. However, network executive George Bodenheimer remains positive: “We feel we’re well-positioned in terms of our deals and business model.” The Wall Street Journal (2/23)
Over the weekend, the Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors with a vote of 73% to 27%, SAG voted against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’ “last, best and final offer dated February 19, 2009.” SAG’s Board admitted they entered the negotiations last week with AMPTP by “sending an unmistakably clear message that we were ready to make a deal” and basing negotiations on the terms of the previous contract offer from AMPTP dated June 30, 2008. (Cynopsis 2/23)
NBC is selling individual thirty-second commercials in the finale episode of ER at a reported $425,000 each, cites B&C. The two-hour final episode, slated for April 2 at 9p, reunites several former cast members including George Clooney, Noah Wyle and Anthony Edwards and will be preceded by a 60m retrospective of the 15-year old series. Based on information obtained from TNS Media Intelligence, thirty-second spots in this season’s ER have been priced at $135,000 each. (Cynopsis 2/23)
CBS picked up a new comedy pilot called Ace in the Hole starring actor/comedian Adam Carolla as a husband/father who is also a driving instructor. (Cynopsis 2/23)
Jenna Elfman tries television again as she headlines CBS’ comedy pilot Accidentally on Purpose. Elfman, seen back in 2006 on the short-lived CBS comedy Courting Alex and in recent guest spots on ABC’s Brothers & Sisters and NBC’s My Name Is Earl, will portray a movie critic who gets pregnant following a one-night tryst. (Cynopsis 2/23)
“Project Runway” filmed its sixth-season finale Friday at New York’s Bryant Park during Fashion Week, as the Weinstein Co. and NBC Universal continue to fight in court over rights to the reality-TV hit. The combatants have yet to go to trial, and the outcome will be subject to appeal. (Iwantmedia 2/23, http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090220/FREE/902209973 2/20)
Time Warner Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc. are parting ways as Time Warner elected to spin-off a pro rata dividend of all TWC common stock it held to Time Warner stockholders. The two entities expect the separation will be finalized by the end of this current quarter. (Cynopsis 2/23)
A lot of things have been spelling the doom of television in recent years — DVRs, channel surfing, fragmentation, clutter, digital media — but recent analysis shows TV advertising may be as effective as ever. “We haven’t seen a significant trend in the erosion of effectiveness of TV,” said Douglas Brooks, a Media Marketing Assessment executive. Advertising Age (2/23)
Scripps Networks, which had about 9% growth in ad sales last year compared with about 3% to 4% on average among cable networks, is going into upfront with an emphasis on relevance to people going through hard times. Sales executive Jon Steinlauf told Multichannel News that the Scripps slate was “well-suited to these times because they provide skills for homeowners to help them cook and entertain, do home projects, save money.” Multichannel News (2/23)
More than 100 original movies will air on basic cable networks this year. Multichannel News reports the movies reinforce a network’s brand, are less of a financial commitment than multiyear, multiepisode scripted series, and are meeting a demand by viewers who are staying home for movie night rather than going out because they have less money in the recession. Multichannel News (2/23)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Academy Award, Hulu, NBC Universal, News Corporation, Recording Industry Association of America, Video clip, Wall Street Journal, YouTube
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
While people are watching video in ever-increasing numbers across all media and screens, the largest growth came in mobile video and on time-shifting devices, according to Nielsen’s report on fourth-quarter viewing habits. Internet video logged twice the gains of traditional television in terms of time spent watching and number of viewers, while mobile viewers increased 9% compared with the third quarter. The Wall Street Journal (2/23)
Hulu, founded by NBC Universal and News Corp., has become a better online video moneymaker than Web darling YouTube. But Hulu’s real victim might be cable companies: “Why pay $100 per month for a cable subscription when you can get so much great stuff online for free?” (Iwantmedia 2/23, http://www.newsweek.com/id/185790 2/21)
A video clip of Academy Awards host Hugh Jackman rehearsing his Oscars shtick in advance of the ceremony allegedly was “leaked” online by a production assistant. But the organizers of the awards are believed to have produced the clip, intending it to go viral. (Iwantmedia 2/23, http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2009/02/sneak-peek-see.html 2/20)
That leaked U2 album is causing all sorts of trouble. The unreleased album, which is due out on March 3, found its way onto BitTorrent and was downloaded hundreds of thousands of times. That, apparently, sent music industry lawyers over at the Recording Industry Association of America into a fit. As a result, word is going around that the RIAA asked social music service Last.fm for data about its user’s listening habits to find people with unreleased tracks on their computers. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/20/did-lastfm-just-hand-over-user-listening-data-to-the-riaa/ 2/20)
If Facebook has one standout application it has to be Photos. Measured on its own, it is the largest photo site on the Web. A full 69 percent of Facebook’s monthly visitors worldwide either look at or upload photos, based on comScore data. And more than 10 billion photos have been uploaded to the site. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/22/facebook-photos-pulls-away-from-the-pack/ 2/22)
Online photo editing site Picnik is quickly climbing the ranks of photo sites from seemingly nowhere. In January, according to comScore, the site attracted 6.6 million unique visitors worldwide, a tenfold increase from the year before. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/23/picnik-is-emerging-as-one-of-the-fastest-growing-photo-sites-on-the-web 2/23)
Late last week, Microsoft Research shared a couple of things about Social Desktop, a prototype of which they are debuting at TechFest 2009 in a couple of days. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/23/microsoft-research-a-look-at-the-intriguing-social-desktop-prototype 2/23)
Comcast has confirmed that its thePlatform unit will provide backing technology for a new online video initiative that would allow cable customers to access “more content in more places.” The company, which previously has powered online video for the BBC, PBS and Fancast, said the move “is also good for cable programmers because it doesn’t put subscription fees at risk, and gives them the ability to give their audiences the experience they want and expect.” The New York Times/GigaOm (2/20)
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Filed under: MISC | Tags: Academy Award, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fox Searchlight Pictures, ShowClix, Slumdog Millionaire, Southern California, Ticketmaster, Time Warner
“Slumdog Millionaire,” the big winner at this year’s Academy Awards, almost didn’t get distributed. The film, made for about $15 million with a cast of unknowns, was picked up by News Corp.’s Fox Searchlight after Time Warner closed its small-picture divisions. (Iwantmedia 2/23, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aQYtugbs.BpY 2/22)
Three Southern California men are being charged with illegally posting pirated copies of Hollywood movies, including Oscar contenders “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” on the Internet. The three face as much as three years in prison if convicted. (Iwantmedia 2/23, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=abIdddTU1bqo 2/20)
With the proposed $2.5 billion merger between TicketMaster and Live Nation looming large, many venue owners and promoters are up in arms, deeming the deal anti-competitive and monopolistic. Now ShowClix, a TicketMaster competitor that launched in early 2007, is launching the Fair Ticketing Fund, setting aside up to $5 million to entice venues and promoters away from the pending Live Nation Entertainment goliath. Other ticket vendors are also beginning to offer similar deals, including TicketBiscuit, which launched a $10 million fund last week. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/20/ticketing-startups-launch-multi-million-dollar-funds-to-combat-ticketmaster-merger/ 2/20)
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