Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Craig Mundie, Eric E. Schmidt, Eric Schmidt, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, United States, YouTube
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Earlier today, the U.S. declared a public health emergency over the Swine Flu, after confirming 20 cases of the flu spreading to humans in New York, Ohio, Kansas, Texas and California. More than 80 people have died in Mexico from the disease, which has potentially spread to other countries, including Canada and France. Although Federal officials are urging Americans not to panic about the disease, fear of contracting the potentially deadly flu is quickly spreading over Twitter, Google, and blogs across the web. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/26/swine-flu-spreads-panic-over-the-web 4/26)
Eric Schmidt, 
Google’s CEO, and Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, have been named to President’s Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). According to a statement released by the White House, PCAST is an advisory group of the the country’s foremost scientists and engineers who will help the President and Vice President form policy related to science, technology, and innovation. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/27/googles-schmidt-and-microsofts-mundie-appointed-as-obama-tech-advisors 4/27)
Google plans to roll out a system that will bring high-quality news content to users without them actively looking for it, according to CEO Eric Schmidt. Users will be automatically served the kind of news that interests them. Google will sell advertising against premium content. (Iwantmedia 4/27, http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/2679 4/25)
Facebook is expected to open up core parts of its site to third-party developers so that they can build new services. The move means developers can build services that access the photos, videos, notes and comments users upload to Facebook, with users’ permission. (Iwantmedia 4/27, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124078628311057281.html 4/27)![[facebook]](image021.jpg@01C9C747.89E261D0)
Computers will freeze and drop offline with increasing regularity as the Web’s outdated infrastructure struggles to cope with the surging popularity of bandwidth-hungry video sites, analysts warn. YouTube reportedly uses as much bandwidth as the entire Internet took up in 2000. (Iwantmedia 4/27, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/5224306/Internet-users-could-suffer-brownouts-due-to-YouTube-and-iPlayer.html 4/27)
AOL is adding a twist to old-fashioned political journalism with the launch of its new political news and blog site, PoliticsDaily.com. The site, which will primarily focus on in-depth political commentary as opposed to breaking news, will only provide original content, from long-form analysis to blog posts on issues in the U.S. political landscape. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/26/aol-launches-online-news-magazine-politicsdaily 4/26)
MTV Networks exec and co-founder John Sykes will replace outgoing CEO Owen Van Natta as the new head of Project Playlist, the controversial music-sharing site. Van Natta is being named CEO of MySpace. Sykes, who helped launch MTV 25 years ago, left the company last year. (Iwantmedia 4/27, http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090424/project-playlist-names-former-mtv-exec-sykes-as-ceo-replacing-van-natta 4/24)
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Filed under: MISC | Tags: Barack Obama, Eric Schmidt, Google, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Time Warner, United States, us, Warren Buffett
U.S. president-elect Barack Obama has appointed a team of advisers, including Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Time Warner chairman Dick Parsons, to help guide his thoughts ahead of taking office. Other members of the advisory team include billionaire investor Warren Buffett. (Iwantmedia 11/7, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/3394087/Obama-appoints-advisers-including-Buffett.html 11/7)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Apple, CNBC, Eric Schmidt, Google, Jim Cramer, Mad Money, Yahoo.com, YouTube
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
NBC figured the gods wouldn’t present a better opportunity to unveil the initial results of its new cross platform TAMi (Total Audience Measurement Index) than the first 5 days of the Summer Olympics. A total of 113 million people viewed Olympic programming on Sunday on television, online, mobile and VOD. Traffic to NBCOlympics.com reached its highest level by far on Monday at 2 million uniques (a workday, of course); The site has delivered 17.7 million video streams so far. Visits to NBC’s mobile WAP site doubled from Friday (210,000) to Monday (476,000). Best of all for NBC these eyeballs are additive not cannibalistic – some 40% are returning to digital platforms to view events they already saw on TV. The message (to television advertisers) was clear: increased availability of content is unleashing a tide of interest in which all boat are rising. And multiplatform coverage is actually helping to increase TV viewership. (Cynopsis 8/14)
There’s nothing like a price cut to spark interest in new technologies. Broadband-delivered video set top service Vudu is running a summer sale offering 99 different movie rentals for 99 cents each, including box office hits Spider Man, Sweeney Todd and Cloverfield. The company also recently announced a new program extending the rental period for an additional 7 days for 99 cents ($1.99 for HD titles.) (Cynopsis 8/14)
Apple, the computer maker turned mobile-phone innovator, is surpassing Google‘s market value for the first time as investors await proof the Internet giant can turn new projects into money-makers. Google’s stock is feeling the impact of investor doubts about the health of Web advertising. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=ael35zlvO4Uc 8/14)
In an interview with Jim Cramer on CNBC’s Mad Money Google CEO Eric Schmidt promised never to sell ads on the Google homepage (the #2 most visited page on the net after Yahoo.com.) He also vowed to keep trying to monetize YouTube’s 1.3 million uploads made every 10 minutes. (Cynopsis 8/14)
YouTube has decided not to get into the live streaming or “lifecasting” business after all, according to Alley Insider, deciding the cash overlay is too prohibitive at a time when the company is trying to become cash flow positive (and justify its $1.65 million price tag.) (Cynopsis 8/14)
Web sites aimed primarily at women, from “mommy blogs” to makeup and fashion sites, are growing faster than every other category on the Internet except politics, according to comScore. Major advertisers — J.C. Penney, Crate & Barrel, Walgreens — are following the crowd. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/technology/14women.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 8/14)
Online video mashup tool creator GorillaSpot and Blockade Entertainment launched Mashade.com, a video game mashup site allowing fans to create their own reels from official video game trailers. (Cynopsis 8/14)
Demo Video
Online syndication marketplace Mochila is offering free ad-supported Olympic news and featured content to interested publishers, sourced from partners including The AP, The Guardian, Kyodo News International, Thomson Reuters, Getty Images and Zuma Press. Bloggers and larger publishers alike can syndicate Mochila’s sports content through a full suite of ad-supported publishing widgets, including interactive video and photo slideshow players. (Cynopsis 8/14)
¡Sorpresa! has secured the exclusive Spanish-language distribution rights to Hispanic virtual world Club Time Machine from vWorld Corporation Ltd. for the United States and its territories as well as the non-exclusive rights to the English version. For $5.95/month, $29.50/6 months or $56.50/year kids can join Club Time Machine and create their own “Hoover” avatars who fly around, earn gold to trick out their rockets with, play games and socialize with other kids. (Cynopsis 8/14)
A federal appeals court has ruled that open-source developers are entitled to certain ownership rights, even if their work is available for free. Legal experts say the ruling, which involved software used by model train collectors, has implications for the Creative Commons license used by many open-source programmers. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (8/14) , The New York Times (8/13)
An In-Stat report foresees rapid growth in the online video market as broadband access increases and consumers turn to streaming video from providers like Netflix. Nevertheless, more than half of survey respondents said they still prefer to buy hard copies of movies and TV shows rather than downloads. InformationWeek (8/13)
Live in-flight video services and in-flight broadband may help the airline industry cope with high fuel costs and other challenges, according to a report from MultiMedia Intelligence. In-Flight Broadband services are poised to grow to $936 million in 2012, up from initial revenue of $6.6 million worldwide in passenger revenues in 2008. The market for in-flight live direct broadcast video is projected to grow from $87 million in 2007 to $913 million in 2012. (Cynopsis 8/14)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: AOL, Credit Suisse, Eric Schmidt, Frank Quattrone, Google, Jerry Yang, Microsoft, Yahoo
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Yahoo‘s deal talks with AOL and Google haven’t changed Wall Street’s view that Microsoft will eventually win the takeover battle. “The best option is to accept the Microsoft deal,” according to Mike Binger of Thrivent Financial. AOL-Yahoo makes no sense since AOL is “a declining brand.” (Iwantmedia 4/11, http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0942900520080411 4/11)
Yahoo’s Jerry Yang and Microsoft’s Bill Gates (R) in a combination image.
Frank Quattrone is said to be advising Google CEO Eric Schmidt as the Internet giant figures out its next step in the takeover struggle between Yahoo and Microsoft. Quattrone, a former Credit Suisse banker, was cleared of obstruction of justice charges last year. (Iwantmedia 4/11, http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/google-ceo-taps-quattrone-as-adviser-in-yahoo-battle/ 4/11)
With all of the excitement surrounding Yahoo, it may be easy to forget that Google is still the king of online advertising, writes Paul La Monica. Also: “There is no indication that any of the prospective partners or acquirers of Yahoo have any plan to make Yahoo any more competitive.” (Iwantmedia 4/11, http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/10/markets/thebuzz/?postversion=2008041011 4/10)
Amidst all the hullaballoo, Yahoo found time to complete a distribution deal with Major League Baseball Advanced Media to feature a co-branded MLB.TV player on the Yahoo Sports portal in exchange for a share of the advertising and subscription revenue it generates. MLB.TV, which runs $119.95/year or $19.95/month, will continue to offer video subscriptions and manage ad sales on its own this season. Then Yahoo will take over subs and ad sales exclusively in 2009 and 2010, utilizing its Clickable format and new AMP management platform. (Cynopsis 4/11)
Starz is rolling out a new service called Starz Play that is targeted to broadband customers. Subscribers get access to 2,500 films and videos via corporate cousin Vongo as well as a live stream of the Starz channel. (Light Reading/Cable Digital News 4/10)
YouTube is introducing a feature for its video creators that will help them better understand where viewers are coming from. The feature shows creators whether viewers discovered their videos by search, through an e-mail or Web-site link, or watched it on another site. (Iwantmedia 4/11, http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/04/youtube_now_tracks_viewer_orig.php, http://youtube.com/blog?entry=P1y1CU54Fhg 4/9)
I decided to take a look at the new Insight features available by checking out one of my own most popular videos, Bill Gates describing his last day at Microsoft. While YouTube had previously added the ability to see where people were coming from on a map of the world (very cool), users can now investigate how those viewers found the video.
Video
Pie Chart of Viewer Origins
Top Sources
We all know by now that if you could vote on the Internet, Barack Obama would already be president. His Website has always attracted more traffic than those of other candidates. Unaffiliated video-endorsement site YouBama popped up spontaneously to collect video endorsements from supporters. MoveOn.org is getting its constituents across the Web to rally behind him. Even Silicon Valley digerati like Marc Andreessen love him. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/11/stats-obama-still-winning-on-the-web/ 4/11)
MySpace signed a deal to give exclusive international TV and DVD distribution rights to some of its original content such as Roommates and Special Delivery to ShineReveille, a distribution arm of the London-based Shine Group. No user generated content or branded channel content is included and MySpace will retain the rights to sell its shows online in international markets. (Cynopsis 4/11, http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0929275920080410 4/10)
USANetwork.com is trumpeting some high growth Q1 numbers heading into the upfront, including 3.1 million average site visits and 6.5 million video streams – double and triple digit increases from last year – and an average time spent of 29 minutes/per user. Q1 was the first full quarter its Character Arcade casual gaming site was operational, which now has 211,000 registered users. (Cynopsis 4/11)
CNN is preparing unprecedented multiplatform coverage that includes TV, radio and the Internet for Pope Benedict’s first visit to the U.S. Soledad O’Brien will anchor CNN’s coverage of the pontiff’s April 15 to 20 visit, which will include stops in New York and Washington. (Multichannel News 4/10)
Charlie Rose, the thinking person’s late night talk-show host, is undertaking an ambitious plan to edit 4,000 hours of interview archives into short Web videos running less than four minutes. A library of some 800 clips will be available when CharlieRose.com re-launches this summer. (Iwantmedia 4/11, http://www.beet.tv/2008/04/charlie-rose-re.html 4/10)
Job site Monster.com will become the exclusive provider of career tools and services for MSNBC.com and TodayShow.com. The agreement is a boon for Monster, which is struggling to maintain its dominance. The site will get direct access to MSNBC.com’s 35 million unique visitors. (Iwantmedia 4/11, http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080410/FREE/984090061/1057 4/10)
Newspaper sites collected 26.9% of the $7.5 billion spent in local online ad dollars in 2007, down from a 35.9% share in 2006, according to a new study from Borrell Associates. Paper sites are losing ground to pure play internet companies such as Google and Yahoo, which are beginning to set their sites more on local markets. Papers still enjoy a sizeable lead over local TV web sites which got 9.5% of the pie, an identical share that went to Yellow Pages sites in 2007. Not surprisingly video is the fastest growing local online ad component, expected to jump from $363 million in 2007 to $1.2 billion in 2008. (Cynopsis 4/11)
