Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: AdMob, App Store, Apple, Distimo, DoubleClick, Google, Social network service, YouTube
Now that in-app purchasing has been live for a few weeks in the iTunes App Store, and Apple is now ranking the top-grossing apps, whether they start out as free or paid, we have some initial data on what kinds of apps are pulling in the most money from in-app purchases. (In-app purchases allow apps to offer a free version and then make money by requiring consumers to pay for additional features or content). Today, Distimo put out a report (download it here ) which breaks down the top 40 grossing in-app purchasing titles by category. Games, social networking, and Book apps are doing the best job upselling consumers from free apps to paid enhancements. Music, news, and finance apps, not so much. (Techcrunch11/10)
Today’s announced deal to by mobile ad startup AdMob for $750 million is Google’s largest acquisition since its $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick in March, 2008, and its third-largest ever after the $1.65 billion YouTube acquisition in 2006. (Techcrunch11/10)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Barnes & Noble, CBS Interactive, CNET Networks, DoubleClick, Google, Google Affiliate Network, Performics, Quincy Smith
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Amazon, watch out. Earlier today, Google launched an affiliate ad network. Or, rather, it rebranded Performics, the affiliate ad network that came along with its purchase of DoubleClick, as the “Google Affiliate Network.” As with other affiliate networks such as Amazon’s, participating Website publishers get paid a fee for each referral that results in a sale. Existing advertisers include Bank of America, Barnes & Noble, Citi, Target, and Verizon. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/30/google-launches-affiliate-advertising-network-courtesy-of-doubleclick 6/30)
CBS announced the closing of its acquisition of CNET today. The deal, first announced last month, will bring CNET under the control of Quincy Smith’s CBS Interactive division, “the premier online content network for information and entertainment.” (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/30/cbs-finishes-acquisition-of-cnet-quincy-smith-addresses-the-troops 6/30)
Slide and Vh1 excel at making products geared towards America’s lowest common denominator. The first makes SuperPoke, a popular social network app that lets you send text messages saying you’ve done “stuff” to your friends. The latter produces reality show classics like “Flavor of Love”, “Rock of Love”, and “I Love New York”. And next week, their powers will combine to bring you VH1’s SuperPoke!Fest: a four day reality show marathon to promote a new show called “I Love Money” that will give users a chance to see their very own SuperPokes live, onscreen! (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/30/slide-and-vh1-team-up-to-annoy-the-hell-out-of-you 6/30)
Yahoo launched a suite of new Olympics-themed content including a new website from Yahoo Sports, a new mobile web site (m.yahoo.com/2008games) and a special search feature providing shortcuts to help users find Olympics schedules, news, metal tallies and scoring. (Cynopsis 7/2)
The luxury giant LVMH for the second time successfully challenged eBay in a French court, arguing that 90 percent of the Louis Vuitton bags and Dior perfumes sold on eBay are fakes. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/technology/01ebay.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin 7/1)
Antoine Antoniol/Bloomberg News
Pierre Gode, an LVMH adviser, outside of court.
For most people on the Web, if Google or Yahoo cannot find something, it doesn’t exist. That has been one of the biggest drawbacks to creating a Website or application that displays itself as a Flash (SWF) file. Search engines could see the file, but they could not see what was in it. Until now. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/30/once-nearly-invisible-to-search-engines-flash-files-can-now-be-found-and-indexed 6/30)
Television viewers are turning to the internet for a variety of reasons – catching up on episodes they missed, reading up on their favorite personalities, even viewing a show’s bloopers or deleted scenes – according to a survey jointly conducted by Nielsen and CTAM. But both groups wanted the industry to know online viewing is no way replacing linear TV viewing; 94% of cable or satellite subscribers surveyed said they still prefer watching shows the old fashioned way. Here some likes and dislikes that came up in the study, along with some general trends:
- About 35% of adult broadband users surveyed have watched a full episode online
- Of those who went online looking for TV content, 87% turned to a network website
- The most popular forms were movie trailers (53%), UGV (45%), music videos & news (37%), comedy (31%) and sports clips (31%)
- A small but growing percentage of users are watching shows on their desktop PCs (14%), laptops (9%), video-enabled mobile phones (6%) and other portable devices (5%)
Online ad spending will continue to grow at double-digit rates through 2013 despite economic conditions, according to a new report from JupiterResearch cited in CNET. Online ad spending is expected to increase 19% this year in the U.S. to $23.8 billion with search continuing to be the dominant category. Video advertising is projected to quadruple to $5.1 billion by 2013. (Cynopsis 7/2)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Advertising, DoubleClick, Google, Online advertising, Performics, Search engine marketing, Search Engines, Searching
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Google is reporting the biggest workforce reduction in its nine-year history, cutting 300 jobs at DoubleClick, the online advertising company it bought last month for $3.24 billion. Also: DoubleClick plans to sell off its search marketing arm, Performics, which employs 200 staffers. (Iwantmedia.com 4/3, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=aHPI8hip9Zr8 4/2)
A major change Google made last month to its AdWords algorithm is resulting in a double whammy for some advertisers: The rates they are paying for ads are skyrocketing while conversion rates for those ads are dropping. Disgruntled advertisers dub the move the “Google slap.” (Iwantmedia.com 4/3, http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/04/march-google-sl.html 4/2)
Thirty-second commercials on YouTube perform just as well as ads on television, says a study commissioned by Google. Online ads are better at “communicating the brand.” (Iwantmedia.com 4/3, http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/04/video_ads_as_effective_as_tv_a.php 4/2)
MySpace settled its copyright spat with Universal Music Group, clearing the way for Universal to join the social network’s planned online music shop, expected to launch in the coming days. The service is positioning itself to be a one-stop-shop for music fans, offering music streaming, MP3 downloads, concert tickets, ringtones and merchandise. Participating labels Universal, Warner Bros. Music and Sony-BMG will retain a small piece of the venture, as well as a revenue share of sales. (Cynopsis 4/3, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-myspace3apr03,1,6270782.story 4/3)
Singer/songwriter Ingrid Michaelson of NYC distributed her music on MySpace before it appeared on an Old Navy commercial and Grey’s Anatomy.
Craigslist could “easily” rake in $100 million with a few minor changes to improve service, according to a report by research firm Classified Intelligence. The firm estimates Craigslist’s 2008 revenue will be about $81 million this year, a figure described as “amazing.” (Iwantmedia.com 4/3, http://clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3628994 4/3)
After Perez Hilton posted streams of songs by Britney Spears on his gossip site, Sony/BMG and its subsidiary Zomba filed a lawsuit against the blogger. In response, Perez says that Sony/BGM artists will no longer appear on his site: “Why should we help the company suing us make money????” (Iwantmedia.com 4/3, http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/04/perez-hilton-an.html 4/1)
NBC Digital Entertainment is preparing a bevy of new original online content to complement NBC’s new summer and fall line-up. Look for new original webisodes built around Heroes, Chuck, The Office and 30 Rock. Web original Fears, Secrets and Lies will be the division’s first user-driven interactive series, inviting users to submit their deepest, darkest secrets via video blogs which the hosts of the show and celebrity guests will play upon. New NBC shows will also feature plenty of digital extensions, including an interactive adventure game built around Crusoe and interactive mobile events synched to the live broadcast of XIII. Many of the new shows will be streamed in their entirety on NBC.com. (Cynopsis 4/3)
Don’t forget to check out the 8-minute catch up reel of Battlestar Galactica on SciFi.com before the final season begins on Sc Fi on Friday night at 10 pm ET. It’s inspired, of course, by the 7 minute Sopranos. (Cynopsis 4/3)
Battlestar Galactica Recap
Jessica Rose, no doubt lonely since her stint as LonelyGirl15 ended, landed another acting gig on a web thriller on the way from 60Frames called Blood Cell. It looks like what the Blair Witch Project might have been if David Cronenberg directed it. (Cynopsis 4/3)
The webisodes aren’t yet live but you can watch the trailer by clicking the image below. Looks fairly Ring-esque but interesting none the less. Would be interesting if they played with the cell storyline on the mobile platform as well.
As Al Gore’s Current Media gets ready for its IPO
, the cable channel is drawing more on its Website audience for TV content. Today, it is launching Current News, a three-minute wrap-up culled from audience submissions on the Web that will play every hour on Current TV. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/02/current-news-an-even-easier-way-for-web-audiences-to-get-on-tv 4/2)
Check out the computerized female voice which narrates the user-submitted news stories creating these videos for all to watch. The robot voice is a bit creepy. Perhaps, use this video to scare your neighbors. I’m not sure how applicable this random assortment of news is but an innovative idea none the less.
DailyMotion is out to superserve cinema buffs with a new section of film-related content. Cinema Dailymotion features full-length indie films and documentaries, clips, interviews, trailers and related content from partners including Magnolia Pictures, IFC Films, Film Independent and Strand Releasing. (Cynopsis 4/3)
Comcast rolls out its first DOCSIS 3.0 “wideband” internet service this week in Minneapolis-St. Paul, offering download speeds of up to 50 Mbps and uploads of 5 Mbps. A wideband connection requires a fatter wallet, however. It’s priced at $150/month. Comcast is offering lesser speeds in the market for less: 8 Mbps down runs $53/mo. and 6 Mbps down goes for $43/mo. (Cynopsis 4/3, http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6547304 4/2)
(Below) Yet another news aggregator site. YEAH!! At this point, we’ll need an aggregator site to aggregate the aggregators. [sigh] I know. I know. Pot. It’s kettle calling.
Former magazine editor Tina Brown is teaming up with InterActiveCorp chief Barry Diller to launch her own news aggregator Web site. The site will be edited by Edward Felsenthal, a former Wall Street Journal deputy managing editor. Brown promises the site will offer “a new take” on aggregation. (Iwantmedia.com 4/3, http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2008/04/tina-brown-to-partner-with-barry-diller-on-news-aggregation.php 4/2)
Streaming video and music delivered online, over IPTV network and via mobile handsets will generate $70 billion in revenue over the next six years, according to a new report from Insight Research. That’s a compound annual growth rate of over 28%. (Cynopsis 4/3)
