Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: App Store, Apple, Black History Month, Hulu, iPhone, ITunes Store, Joost, Wall Street Journal
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Amazon.com reported profits climbed 9%, to $225 million, on revenues that increased 18%, to $6.7 billion, in the fourth quarter. The online-shopping giant has been able to buck the economy’s downward trend by aggressively opening new product categories and offering steep discounts and free shipping. 
ClipSyndicate/Bloomberg (1/29) , The Wall Street Journal (1/30) , Financial Times (1/29)
Joost is having some real success with its iPhone/iPod touch app. The company announced that the free player has been downloaded more than 1 million times from Apple’s App Store less than two months after its release. The global Web video service recently expanded with 11 new content partners, providing access to thousands of hours of anime, comedy, drama, movies, music, documentaries, sci-fi, and sports via Wi-Fi connections. (Cynopsis 1/30)
Looking to update your mp3 music collection to make it DRM-free? Apple updated the iTunes store to allow more flexibility in its “update my library” feature. Now you can choose entire albums to update, or choose which songs from each album you’d like to convert to DRM-free versions. Each update still costs 30 cents/song. (Cynopsis 1/30)
Hulu is offering over 30 historical and informational videos in honor of February’s Black History Month. The videos touch on a number of different topics, including Brown vs. the Board of Education, the Freedom Riders, Harriet Tubman and the Tuskegee Airmen to name a few. Click the logo below to check it out. Hulu will also present each Super Bowl commercial moments after it has Hulu has aired on live broadcast. Check it out at www.hulu.com/superbowl.
Travelzoo, a publicly traded travel site launched in 1998, has annouced that it purchased the domain “Fly.com” for $1.8 million. According to Travelzoo’s announcement, Fly.com will be the home of “a new information web site to be launched in Feburary”. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/30/travelzoo-buys-flycom-for-a-lofty-18-million 1/30)
The “Generations Online in 2009″ report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project overturns some commonly held assumptions about teen behavior, finding that 78% of 12- to 17-year-olds game online, while only 67% participate in social-networking sites. Mediaweek (1/29)
The number of amateur creators contributing to the user generated content phenomenon reached 83 million in the U.S. last year, according to eMarketer. That number will continue to increase over the next five years as internet users become more eager to contribute to the conversation, surpassing 108 million creators or 50% of the internet audience by 2012. Yet the enthusiasm for the UGC genre, which led to Google’s purchase of YouTube for a cool $1.65 billion, has waned as economic models to monetize the content have failed to materialize. (Cynopsis 1/30)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Apple, CBS, CharlieHunnam, EMusic, iTunes, ITunes Store, KurtSutter, Victoria's Secret
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Will the music subscription business ever grow beyond its current niche? It looks increasingly doubtful. Today, eMusic announced that since it launched its current music subscription service in 2003, customers have downloaded 250 million songs. Apple’s iTunes, by comparison, has sold more than 5 billion songs 
since it opened the iTunes Store in April, 2003. That makes eMusic one twentieth the size of iTunes. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/20/emusic-250-million-songs-downloaded-itunes-5-billion 11/20)
CBS will extend the Victoria‘s Secret Fashion Show event to multiple platforms. The special will be televised on CBS December 3 at 10p yet can be previewed prior on the special dedicated website at www.cbs.com/victoria with videos, photos and more. CBS.com will also host a Social Viewing Room where the complete fashion show can be viewed following the broadcast at www.cbs.com/socialviewing. In addition, CBS Mobile is working with MediFLO USA allowing a Victoria’s Secret TV channel on FLO TV. (Cynopsis 11/20)
Multiplatform men programmer RipeTV has teamed with Ultimate Fighting Champion creator Art Davie to come up with an entirely new sport created exclusively for digital: XARM fighting. XARM combines arm wrestling with boxing and various martial arts. The winner of the XARM tournament will earn the title of “XARM Heavyweight Champion” and take home a $10,000 prize. (Cynopsis 11/20)
Fancast.com will be hosting a live forum with Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam and series creator Kurt Sutter on Monday, Nov. 24, two days prior to the FX show’s season finale. The hour-long live chat will start at 2 pm ET and will be available to embed live on third party sites. Email Fancast’s Derek Collins at
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document.write( addy59815 );
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Derek_Collins@Comcast.com to arrange a live embed. (Cynopsis 11/20)
Yahoo appears to be quite serious about openness and promoting third party content and applications on their massively visited home page. Today they’re announcing the addition of an eBay widget to the new Yahoo home page, which is still being tested with just a subset of Yahoo users. The widget will be added to the My Applications dashboard area on the left. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/20/yahoo-continues-to-embrace-this-openness-thing-ebay-widget-on-yahoo-home-page 11/20)
The Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers just released their quarterly report on U.S. online advertising revenues. For the quarter, they estimate online advertising revenues were almost $5.9 billion ($5.865 billion, to be exact), which is an 11 percent increase from the same quarter a year ago and a 2 percent increase from the second quarter of 2008. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/20/iab-reports-us-online-advertising-reaches-59-billion-in-the-third-quarter 11/20)
Platform-A led ComScore‘s October Ad Focus rankings reaching 91% of the 190.6 million Americans online. Yahoo! Network followed reaching 86% and Google Ad Network captured the third position reaching 83% of Americans online. ValueClick Networks moved up one position to #4 reaching 82% of online users and Traffic Marketplace rose one position to #8 reaching 74%. (Cynopsis 11/20)
Top Visited US Top Visited US Broadcast Network TV Sites (Week ending Nov. 15, 2008)
Rank Network Website Market Share of Visits
1 ABC www.abc.com 29.60%
2 NBC www.nbc.com 24.10%
3 CBS www.cbs.com 22.25%
4 FOX* www.fox.com 14.92%
5 The CW www.cwtv.com 8.36%
6 MNTV www.mynetworktv.com .78%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise, *includes traffic aggregated from stand alone websites americanidol.com, amw.com, familyguy.com, thelot.com and thesimpsons.com.
Top Visited US Broadcast Network TV Show Sites (Week ending Nov. 15, 2008)
Rank Network Website Market Share of Visits
1 NBC Heroes 6.41%
2 NBC Deal or No Deal 5.86%
3 ABC Dancing With The Stars 5.70%
4 FOX America’s Most Wanted 4.67%
5 NBC The Office 4.35%
6 CBS Survivor 3.71%
7 NBC The Biggest Loser 4.29%
8 FOX American Idol 3.21%
9 ABC Grey’s Anatomy 2.70%
10 CBS Ghost Whisperer 2.33%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise
Top Visited US Cable Network TV Show Sites -Excluding Children’s Programming (Week ending Nov.15, 2008)
Rank Network Website Market Share of Visits
1 Comedy Central South Park 6.74%
2 Food Network Paula’s Home Cooking 4.95%
3 Comedy Central The Daily Show 2.92%
4 Discovery Channel Dirty Jobs 2.91%
5 MTV The Hills 2.67%
6 BET 106 & Park 2.64%
7 Fox News O’Reilly Factor 2.63%
8 Bravo Real Housewives of Atlanta 2.51%
9 Food Network 30 Minute Meals 1.99%
10 MSNBC Countdown with Keith O. 1.98%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise
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Filed under: Feature | Tags: Abbey Road, Apple, Audio, Beatles, Bloomingdale, iPod, iTunes, ITunes Store
BEATLES TO APPLE: FINALLY SHOWING JUST A BIT OF LOVE
For a limited time, you can pick up a Beatles-branded iPod to satiate the Beatles fan in you. Only 2,500 have been produced and are being sold exclusively at Bloomingdales.
If you’re a fan of The Beatles, then you know that the band has yet to show some love and offer their wares on the Apple iTunes store, much to the disdain of their fans. Despite the new iPod sporting a laser-etched Beatles logo on the front and a silhouette of the Abbey Road album cover on the back, The Beatles have still not come to an agreement with Apple over distribution of their albums through the store.
So, while you do get 13 albums of The Beatles music in all of its glory, ripping it onto your iTunes library and then transferring to your iPod is up to you. If you didn’t want the music sold through the iTunes store, I get that (ok not really). But why not produce digital files loaded onto these iPods exclusively?
Apparently, the deal didn’t include negotiations with Apple at all. Hence, the weirdness. Etchstar, the company which offers the laser engraving worked with Bloomingdales to design the iPod etching paired with the CD’s.
I guess if you have $795 to spend (see price below), you can afford to have your assistant prepare your iPod for you. Big pimpin’.
What’s Included
120 GB black iPod with Beatles branding
13 Original Beatles CD’s
2 Masters and the “Love” CD
Engraved Guitar Pick
Packaging designed by Psycho Bunny
Price
$795 plus shipping
How to Get One
Click here or on the image above
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Filed under: Feature | Tags: Amazon MP3, Amazon.com, Apple, Google, iPhone, ITunes Store, Mobile phone, T-Mobile
SMARTPHONE DEATHMATCH: GOOGLE’S G1 VS. APPLE’S IPHONE
Today, Google’s long-awaited mobile phone (G1) went on sale online and in T-Mobile stores domestically. Above is a side-by-side comparison of the two phones. Click the image above for a larger version.
The Low Down
Full disclosure. I haven’t tested the G1 yet. The facts above were pulled from the press release. Usability means quite a bit to me as I’m sure it does to most mobile users so I can’t speak to the full picture. What I can say is, I dig that the G1 has pix messaging capability, which continues to frustrate me in its absence with reference to the iPhone. I also dig that it’s cheaper. I don’t like that the iTunes store has been replaced with the Amazon mp3 store on the G1. Even though I have a DRM-free experience on the Amazon store, the iTunes interface is one I have come to love and adore. It’s like the difference between shopping at a Virgin megastore and a Walmart. Lame. I also don’t dig the 1GB included storage in comparison to the 8GB or 16GB. My iPhone sneezes at 1GB.
In Short
I’m not heading to the T-Mobile store anytime soon. If however, you’re down with the G1 and want one stat, click here.
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Android, Apple, Facebook, Google, iPhone, ITunes Store, Rob Corddry, YouTube
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Google just released third quarter earnings
class=”snap_preview_icon”>. It reported revenues of $5.4 billion (about $4 billion after traffic acquisition costs are taken out, which is what Wall Street looks at) and profits of $1.3 billion. The $4 billion in revenues is right around what investors were expecting, and non-GAAP net income of $4.92 a share was well above the $4.79 consensus. Better control over costs contributed significantly to the upside surprise. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/16/google-struggles-with-third-quarter-earnings-liveblogging-the-conference-call 10/16)
YouTube will need at least two years to start making a meaningful contribution to parent Google’s revenue, analysts say. The concern for investors is that as Google’s revenue growth starts to decelerate there will be renewed focus on YouTube’s huge bandwidth and hosting costs. (Iwantmedia 10/17, http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUSVN153151520081016 10/16)
High definition has become a huge attraction at its iTunes store, according to Apple, which said Thursday that the four major broadcast networks were providing prime-time episodes on iTunes this season. Apple also said that since sales began last month, viewers have downloaded more than 1 million HD episodes. InformationWeek (10/16) , CNET (10/16)
TheWB.com introduced its latest original series slated to launch in December, Children’s Hospital, created by The Daily Show’s Rob Corddry. Rob stars with an ensemble cast of doctors (including Megan Mullally as The Chief) who exhibit all kinds of inappropriate behavior in front of the terminally ill pre-teens. WBTVG’s in house Studio 2.0 is producing. (Cynopsis 10/17)
Facebook unveiled the 25 winning applications developed under the fbFund, a program that will give each winner $25,000 to go toward develop their new ideas. Check out the rundown on the Facebook developer’s blog. Bottle Rocket, which will exist both online and as an iPhone app, looks like a winner. It allows you to compare notes with your friends on what wines they like and dislike to help you make an informed decision on the spot. (Cynopsis 10/17)
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg is plotting a possible push into the digital-music business in the wake of MySpace’s launch of MySpace Music last month. The social-networking giant is talking to a number of song-streaming services and music community sites about an outsourcing deal. (Iwantmedia 10/17, http://www.nypost.com/seven/10172008/business/friends_of_the_band_134022.htm 10/17)
Time Warner social-networking site Bebo plans a minimum of six original productions for 2009 under a newly created program banner dubbed “Bebo Originals.” The move makes Bebo’s efforts similar to that of television networks that commission, schedule and promote shows. (Iwantmedia 10/17, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/technology/news/e3i2fb2f5317350048136afc8b2be8afb3b 10/16)
Ratings-challenged NBC is making the case that its programs are being seen by a huge audience when multiple platforms are added to the mix, reports TVWeek. For instance, NBC’s latest TAMi or Total Audience Measurement Index figures reveal that the premiere of The Office generated an aggregate 22.5 million impressions including 15.5 million on TV, 6.9 million streams online, 37,515 downloads (via iTunes, MSN and Amazon), 33,389 views on VOD and 37,775 via mobile devices. These numbers dropped across all platforms for the Oct. 9 episode however, to 12.8 million aggregate impressions including 10.9 million on TV, 1.9 million via streaming, 14,648 via downloads, 7,070 on VOD and 11,104 on mobile. (Cynopsis 10/17)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Apple, Best Buy, iTunes, ITunes Store, NPD Group, United States, us, Wal-Mart
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Although music subscription service Rhapsody‘s customer base is down to 1.85 million from 1.9 million earlier this year, analysts predict that a recently signed deal with Verizon Wireless could help the company tap into a new market. Unlike the popular iTunes, Rhapsody users do not own the music they download but can only access it as long as they pay for a subscription, which has been a difficult sell, according to this analysis. USA TODAY (8/5)
Apple’s iTunes store held onto its lead as the No. 1 music retailer in the U.S., despite gains from Amazon after the launch of its MP3-download store. Runners-up to iTunes were Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Amazon and Target. The NPD Group surveyed music customers ages 13 and older who purchased music in digital or CD form. PC Magazine (8/5) , CNET (8/5)
Comcast reportedly has agreed to pay $125 million for DailyCandy, an e-mail-based newsletter covering fashion and culture for upscale, urban women. The newsletter, currently owned by investment firm Pilot Group LLC, will become part of Comcast Interactive Media, which includes sites such as Fancast, Fandango and Movies.com. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (8/6) , The Hollywood Reporter (8/5)
The Pew Internet Project
has released a report detailing the search habits of Americans, and they confirm what many of us already know: Internet search has become a part of daily life for many people, to the point that it is challenging the dominance of Email, the web’s longstanding killer app. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/06/search-challenges-email-as-most-popular-daily-online-activity 8/6)
VH1 muscled its way into the crowded landscape of celebrity news with Scandalist, a celeb/pop culture blog launching with – you guessed it – a list of the Top 100 Celebrity Scandals of all time. In case you’re curious, The Murders of Tupac and Notorius B.I.G. edge out the Monica Lewinsky Affair and the death of Princess Di. (Cynopsis 8/6)
Federated Media Publishing and Microsoft teamed up to launch CrowdFire, a social networking platform for uploading, sharing and remixing music and musical performances with the festival scene as a sweetspot. (Cynopsis 8/6)
Hulu increased its HD Gallery of shows adding a few full episodes of shows such as Heroes, The Office and 24 as well as nature programming, movie trailers and the entire Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. (Cynopsis 8/6)
The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has tapped MySpace to create an online portal for the upcoming election season that will include live streaming video and real time polling. The site, called MyDebates.org will be open to anyone (you don’t need to create an account), and will launch as we get closer to the first debate on September 26. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/05/myspace-to-offer-official-web-portal-for-presidential-debates 8/5)
The web is full of hipsters scouring the indie music scene for the next big thing. And while there is no shortage of communities where these trendsetters can share their picks, they’ve never stood to gain anything from being ahead of the crowd (aside from a slight sense of superiority). Popcuts, a Y Combinator-funded music store that launches today in public beta, is looking to reward these early adopters by paying store credit to the first people who buy a song that later goes on to become popular. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/06/y-combinators-popcuts-pays-you-to-find-good-new-music 8/6)
Google’s DoubleClick division is utilizing NBC Universal Digital Media’s herculean Olympics coverage to showcase In-Stream, a new capability to serve video ads within the Microsoft Silverlight 2 platform. The IAB-compliant system is designed to integrate with the reporting features of DART for publishers, provide a full complement of tracking metrics and accommodate a range of video ad effects including Shadow Ads, Bugs, Telescoping and Interactive Video elements. (Cynopsis 8/6)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Google, ITunes Store, Mediaset, Nickelodeon, Silvio Berlusconi, Television, Television program, YouTube
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ESPN today is expected to announce a new online offering called ESPN Action Sports Network. The portal will serve as a hub for a collection of Web sites that focus on unconventional sports, such as surfing, skateboarding, motocross and snowboarding. Los Angeles Times (free registration) (7/30) , paidContent.org (7/29)
Nickelodeon made some of its classic TV series available via Nick Rewind, a new catalog at the iTunes Store. Nick Rewind will feature a mix of full-length episodes, seasons and best of volumes of Nick live-action and animated shows including: The Amanda Show; Clarissa Explains It All; Rocket Power; Hey Dude; Doug; and a range of other titles. (Cynopsis 7/30)
Mediaset, the media company controlled by Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, is filing a lawsuit against YouTube and its owner Google, seeking “at least” $779 million for the “illegal distribution” of its audio and video files. Some 4,600 Mediaset videos are said to be on YouTube. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aoHtEN0evdos 7/30)
EarthLink says it wants to facilitate consolidation in the Internet dial-up access market, fueling speculation that it may be eyeing a deal with Time Warner’s AOL. “It simply makes good economic sense to consolidate,” says EarthLink CEO Rolla Huff. “It’s worth aggressively pursuing.” (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB121736759842294717.html 7/30)
Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp is reporting a second-quarter loss after writing down the value of certain divisions before it splits into five parts next month. The businesses IAC is keeping post-breakup increased earnings because of a new advertising contract with Google. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=aSpX5M1mTrpY 7/30)
More than 20% of viewers surveyed watch some amount of primetime television programming online and half of these users are watching programming as it becomes available online, according to a new report by Integrated Media Measurement Inc. (IMMI). The other 50% are using the Web as a tool to watch past programming they have missed, or to re-watch segments of episodes they have already seen. Online viewing of a particular program was higher than DVR viewing of that same program, suggesting that the fairly large segment of non-DVR owners are adopting the computer for time-shifting rather than buying a DVR or dealing with cable providers’ clunky user interface. Consistent with other recent findings, the largest segment of online television viewers are white, affluent, well educated, working women aged 25-44. (Cynopsis 7/30)
A study by Integrated Media Measurement shows that 50% of respondents who said they watch some amount of prime-time TV online are doing so instead of viewing the content on a TV set. The study suggests that an increasing number of consumers are using their computers to view longer-form programming and not just short snippets. Advertising Age (7/29)
