Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
YouTube has just launched a new portion of its site dedicated to HD content, allowing users to easily browse through what is now the largest archive of high definition content on the web. The move has been a long time coming – in the last few weeks the site has been gradually building up to a large scale HD launch with the introduction of a 16:9 video player and the ability to watch HD on selected videos, but until this point it has been difficult to separate the HD content from videos encoded at YouTube’s normal resolution. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/18/youtube-finally-embraces-hd-launches-huge-video-player-and-topical-portals 12/18)

Facebook long ago passed MySpace in global visitors and time spent on the site, but now it appears to be gaining ground on Google.  A couple days ago, Facebook released some new statistics on user growth and engagement on the site. It now has more than 140 million active users, 70 percent of whom are outside the U.S. Only half are in college, and the fastest-growing demographic is 25 years and older. There are now 52,000 apps on Facebook, created by 660,000 developers.  (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/18/facebook-is-gaining-ground-on-google-in-time-spent-on-the-internet 12/18)

Global comScore Data

After improving video search functionality, Hulu launched a number of a new features this month to enhance user experience, including, a new personal recommendation section suggest videos based on previous viewings, selected videos from shows such as The Office, Heroes and 30 Rock are now embeddable in HD. Any embedded Hulu video is also now viewable in full-screen mode, the Closed Caption Filter allows you to browse all videos with C.C, and the buffer progress bar, activated when you pause a video, tells you how much of the video you’re watching. (Cynopsis 12/18)

ESPN is gearing up for its most comprehensive multiplatform coverage of the College Football Bowl season yet providing coverage of 29 games on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Radio, ESPN360.com and ESPN Mobile TV. ESPN360.com will offer a live simulcast of every ESPN and ESPN2 game telecast as well as both ABC bowls on short turnaround. ESPN Mobile TV will simulcast 23 of the games on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 – 21 of them live. (Cynopsis 12/18)

Online video service Joost sent emails out to is users yesterday notifying them that the client version of the Joost service will no longer work as of Friday, Dec. 19. Joost introduced a web-based version of the service based on Adobe’s Flash technology in October and has been fast at work migrating its video to other platforms including the iPhone and Facebook Connect. (Cynopsis 12/18)

The digital mixtape is dying on the Web. The RIAA is killing it just like it tries to kill anything that smacks of consumer-driven innovation. Digital mixtapes are nothing more than shared playlists. Sites that make it easy to create and share music in this fashion are shutting down left and right. Muxtape bowed to legal pressure from the RIAA earlier this year, and now Mixwit is shutting down as well. The service will cease to exist before the end of the year. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/18/mashup-culture-under-attack-mixwit-goes-the-way-of-muxtape 12/18)

Thanks to zippy Internet connections at the office, America’s work force increasingly is using work hours to watch online videos, according to a study by Nielsen Online. The study showed that the greatest amount of Internet video viewers, 65%, did so from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Mediaweek (12/17)

The National Venture Capital Association is predicting a “difficult” year in 2009 as the global financial crisis continues to spread like a virus through the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Some 92% of venture capitalists surveyed predicted a slowing of venture investment in 2009 vs. 2008, which is expected to reach the $29 to $30 billion range by year-end. Sixty-one percent believe the decline will be greater than 10%, dropping overall investment below $27 billion in 2009. However, there will still be plenty of ventures receiving money, albeit smaller contributions. More than half (53%) of VC executives predict that they will invest in the same number portfolio companies in the coming year, if not more. (Cynopsis 12/18)

History.com launched a video-centric Christmas mini-site taking a look at the origins of Christmas and Santa Claus and information on the history of the holiday both in the U.S. and around the world. The backstory of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is even here – (The “ninth reindeer” is the creation of Robert L. May, a copywriter at the Montgomery Ward dept. store.) (Cynopsis 12/18)

E! Online debuts its Celebrity Addictionary today, an interactive tool allowing users to coin new words and phrases to show off their celebrity knowledge. Ex: “swag hag” is a star who will do anything in exchange for an Oscars gift bag. Users can take Celebrity Addictionary with them via widgets, twitter feeds and wireless devices. (Cynopsis 12/18)

AOL’s Bebo plans to join forces with RDF Digital to produce a 26×6′ weekly magazine show tentatively titled, “B-Box”, designed to highlight the best new content on the social media network. Each episode will feature re-occurring strands, including ’60 Second Celebrity’, where celebs reveal a hidden talent or complete a challenge chosen by the presenters. (Cynopsis 12/18)

Downturn or no, U.S. online video advertising is poised to continue its growth spurt for the next several years according to the latest eMarketer projections. Online video ad spending will increase a healthy 44.8% in 2009 but will not break the $1 billion mark until 2010. (By comparison, search spending is expected to reach nearly $13 billion in 2009.) U.S. online social network spending will also continue to expand, although much more modestly. While video has major brands and premium content behind it, social ad formats are still considered more “experimental,” suggesting that advertisers are still kicking the tires in this arena. (Cynopsis 12/18)

U.S. Online Video Advertising Spending, 2007-2013
Year     Total Spending (millions)
2007        $324
2008        $587
2009        $850
2010        $1,250
2011        $1,850
2012        $3,000
2013        $4,600
Note: includes in-stream, in-banner and in-text adds
Source: eMarketer

U.S. Online Social Network Advertising Spending, 2008-2013
Year     Total Spending (millions)   % change
2008          $1,175                          33.8%
2009          $1,295                          10.2%
2010          $1,335                            6.3%
2011          $1,420                            6.7%
2013          $1,640                            8.3%
Source: eMarketer