Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: AOL, Facebook, FriendFeed, Google, Myspace, Rupert Murdoch, Seesmic, Twitter
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Traditional and new-media companies are getting “creative” out of necessity, as all advertising-driven media are being hit hard by the recession. Later this summer, a major movie studio will pay celebrity blogger Perez Hilton to “tweet” for a week about a forthcoming movie. (Iwantmedia 5/18, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/05/17/MNH217LDF5.DTL 5/17)
MySpace is debuting six albums from major acts, including Eminem, Tori Amos, Phoenix, Busta Rhymes, Method Man & Redman, Kate Voegele and Lionel Richie All six albums will be streaming in their entirety on each artist’s respective official MySpace page days before their release. (Iwantmedia 5/18, http://music-mix.ew.com/2009/05/ew-exclusive-my.html 5/15)
Once again, the Internet is shifting before our eyes. Information is increasingly being distributed and presented in real-time streams instead of dedicated Web pages. The shift is palpable, even if it is only in its early stages. Web companies large and small are embracing this stream. It is not just Twitter. It is Facebook and Friendfeed and AOL and Digg and Tweetdeck and Seesmic Desktop and Techmeme and Tweetmeme and Ustream and Qik and Kyte and blogs and Google Reader. The stream is winding its way throughout the Web and organizing it by nowness. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/17/jump-into-the-stream/ 5/17)
NBC News anchor Brian Williams and ABC News anchor Dan Harris are launching side gigs as music bloggers. Both of their blogs appear to be passion plays, rather than calculated attempts to reach younger audiences. Williams vows not to become “a tragic hipster.” (Iwantmedia 5/18, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090517/ap_en_mu/ap_on_tv_anchors__tunes 5/17)
Comscore has a fascinating post
today talking about the relative decline in paid search ad clicks when compared to search query volume in the U.S. Search queries are up 68% in the last year, but paid clicks are up only 18% in the same period. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/16/longer-queries-driving-down-ad-impressions-how-about-bankrupt-advertisers/ 5/16)
Rupert Murdoch’s plan to put News Corp. Web sites behind a pay wall is will be “like putting toothpaste back in the tube.” So says Jack Matthews, CEO at Fairfax Digital Media, the online arm of a News Corp. rival in Australia. Matthews says he is “bullish about mobile devices.” (Iwantmedia 5/18, http://edition.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/05/18/online.pay/ 5/16)
The FBI is willing to do just about anything when it comes to tracking down bad guys. They did the widgets thing last year. And today they announced that they’ve “set up shop in several social media websites.” They’ve now got profiles on Facebook, Twitter class=”snap_preview_icon”> and YouTube profiles are highlighted. They even have billboards up in Second Life. (Iwantmedia 5/18, http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/15/fbi-adds-facebook-youtube-twitter-profiles-myspace-completely-dissed/ 5/15)
Epix, the online movie service being developed by MGM, Paramount and Lionsgate, has selected video-streaming systems from Akamai Technologies. EpixHD.com will use a dynamic-streaming feature from Akamai that uses Adobe Flash Media Server 3.5 and adjusts its performance based on the capabilities of a user’s computer. Multichannel News (5/18)
NBC Universal, Applebee’s and agency Starcom are working together to develop a research model that will more precisely quantify the relative effectiveness of on-air and online video ads. The test, which will play out during the next three months, will include a number of NBCU’s assets, including NBC and MSNBC. Mediaweek (5/17)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, Ashton Kutcher, Google, Myspace, News Corporation, On the Web, Ted Turner, Time Warner
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Amazon.com is unveiling a program that pays bloggers for Kindle e-reader subscriptions to their posts. Amazon will pay registered bloggers 30% of its subscription fee. At a $2 per month price point, a blogger could make $50,000 per year with just 7,000 annual subscribers. (Iwantmedia 5/14,http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/05/14/amazon-to-pay-bloggers-for-subscriptions 5/14)
Very nice. Thank you Amazon. Just published Daily Marauder. The format is a bit wonky but what the hell, still cool none the less. Love that Amazon even generates a Kindle preview so that you can see what your blog looks like on the device. FYI, Newspaper companies, speak to Kindle. They have it.
Actor Ashton Kutcher, in a quest to fulfill his promise to “ding-dong-ditch” Ted Turner‘s house after winning a race to attract 1 million followers on Twitter, unfurled a giant banner with his microblogging account’s name over the CNN logo on the Time Warner network’s building in Atlanta. (Iwantmedia 5/14,http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/05/14/cnn.kutcher.prank/index.html 5/14)
Google’s new search products demonstrate the company’s continued ability to innovate, says Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. The Internet giant will maintain its search leadership “for the foreseeable future.” Google’s position is “essentially insurmountable.” (Iwantmedia 5/14,http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/05/13/is-google-insurmountable 5/13)
Just weeks after a Swedish court found the four men behind the Pirate Bay Web site guilty of promoting copyright infringement, illegal file-sharing of music is as rampant as ever, says the U.K.’s PRS for Music. “The Pirate Bay trial has done nothing to discourage file sharing.” (Iwantmedia 5/14,http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f6fe991c-3fd0-11de-9ced-00144feabdc0.html 5/14)
U.S. social network advertising spending will fall 3% to $1.14 billion in 2009, from $1.18 billion in 2008, according to a forecast by eMarketer. MySpace is described as “the major problem.” While it has been cash cow for News Corp., “the brand has lost its shine.” (Iwantmedia 5/14,http://www.adotas.com/2009/05/myspace-drags-down-social-network-ad-spend 5/14)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: AOL, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Myspace, Twitter, Yahoo, YouTube
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Twitter handles are fast becoming as desirable as buying domains and Tweexchange
hopes to be a marketplace for Twitter members to exchange, buy or find Twitter usernames from other existing members. Tweexchange also lets you easily find what Twitter handles have been taken and recommends alternate usernames for your desired Twitter handle. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/01/tweexchange-is-the-ultimate-twitter-name-marketplace 5/1)
The White House finally got around to setting up a MySpace page. It is spare and tasteful and doesn’t say MySpace anywhere on the page, unlike the White House page on Facebook which is clearly a Facebook page. The page is dominated by the most recent White House blog post, which currently features a YouTube video of Obama shooting hoops with the UCONN Huskies women’s basketball champs. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/01/the-white-house-gets-a-myspace-page-to-show-off-obamas-hoop-skills 5/1)
It was the last part of the advertising sector to fall and may be the first to recover, but online advertising is now in a recession. With the four largest Web advertising companies (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL) having reported March quarter financials, we can get a pretty good sense of how the sector did as a whole. If you add up the online advertising revenues of these four online advertising bellwethers, the total online advertising revenues for the quarter came to $7.9 billion, a 2 percent decline from a year ago and a 7 percent decline from the fourth quarter. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/01/the-online-ad-recession-is-officially-here-first-quarterly-decline-in-revenues/ 5/1)
Hulu has just released the latest in its series of star-studded ads, this time featuring Dennis Leary in a spot called ‘The Leary Mission’. He plays an alien trying to turn humans’ brains to mush by watching TV online. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/01/new-hulu-spot-the-leary-mission 5/1)
CBS is now the lone Hulu holdout among the big four broadcast networks. CBS, which runs its own video site, TV.com, issued a statement following Disney’s announcement: “Controlling our own rights for [our] content — in all media — preserves its value.” (Iwantmedia 5/1, http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/230979-ANALYSIS_All_Eyes_on_CBS_Digital_Strategy.php 4/30)
Disney’s deal to put ABC television shows on Hulu suggests Google’s YouTube may have to rethink its revenue-sharing business model. Content creators may start seeking payments from Google. (Iwantmedia 5/1, http://www.smartmoney.com/news/ON/?story=ON-20090430-001097-1959 4/30)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Facebook, Facebook Connect, Mark Zuckerberg, Myspace, News Corporation, Sheryl Sandberg, Social network, Twitter
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
More than 60% of Twitter users stop using the microblogging service a month after joining, according to Nielsen Online. “Twitter has enjoyed a nice ride over the last few months, but it will not be able to sustain its meteoric rise without establishing a higher level of user loyalty.” (Iwantmedia 4/29, http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090428/tc_afp/usitcompanyinternettwitternielsen 4/28)
Bravo is tapping into the hottest social networks to help fans participate in The Real Housewives of New York City finale. On Tuesday, May 5 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, fans can utilize Twitter, Facebook Connect and live mobile chat integrations on BravoTV.com to interact directly with their favorite Housewives live and the ladies will respond in kind during the finale. (Cynopsis 4/29)
MTV is joining forces with both Facebook and Twitter for its new “The Alexa Chung Show.” The show will be similar in format to MTV’s former “TRL.” Audiences — whether on the set or watching from home — will be asked to tweet their reaction to guests while the show is on the air. (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002926.html?categoryid=1009&cs=1 4/28)
IAC/InterActiveCorp CEO Barry Diller is stockpiling cash and says he aims to “spend it intelligently.” Speaking at the USA Today CEO Forum, he says Facebook is “the real deal.” However, “nobody can buy Facebook now.” Also, Web video will evolve “just like the movie business did.” (http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2009-04-28-diller-ceo-forum_N.htm 4/29)
Facebook is on a “clear path to be cash-flow positive next year,” says COO Sheryl Sandberg. One indication that 2009 is an important year: Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s 24-year-old founder and CEO, has committed to wearing a tie everyday to the office, she adds. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aKLGItgfmt48 4/28)
With its new management team, News Corp.’s MySpace “looks more like a media and entertainment portal,” observers say. If MySpace comes to define itself that way, the site could incorporate social networking like Facebook, but with a focus on “consuming entertainment.” (http://www.thewrap.com/article/2736 4/28)
Network’s digital arms are beginning to get serious about monetizing their content. NBC.com will launch a series of targetable segments starting in Q2 2009 enabling advertisers to target groups of users using a menu style selection matching their target to NBC audience clusters or custom segments. The network also unveiled a whole new suite of ad delivery solutions and products geared toward attracting premium brand ad dollars. (Cynopsis 4/29)
One way to possibly track the spread of the swine flu is to look at where spikes in search activity around related terms is occurring. Google already does this with its Google Flu Trends
, and has now extended that analysis on an experimental basis to Mexico with a site it just put up called Experimental Flu Trends For Mexico. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/29/searching-for-the-swine-flu/ 4/29)
The U.S. District Court for Massachusetts set aside a prior jury verdict against content delivery network Limelight, stating that Limelight doesn’t in fact infringe upon Akamai‘s CDN patents. Limelight hopes to reverse expenses of about $66 million saved for potential damages and interest in the case. Akamai promised to appeal the ruling. (Cynopsis 4/29)
Top U.S. Online Video Properties by Videos Viewed -March 2009
Property Videos (000) Share (%) of Videos
Total Internet 14,468,345 100.0
Google Sites 5,919,530 40.9
Fox Interactive Media 437,098 3.0
Hulu 380,102 2.6
Yahoo! Sites 334,724 2.3
Microsoft Sites 288,239 2.0
Viacom Digital 277,753 1.9
CBS Interactive 191,686 1.3
Turner Network 167,323 1.2
Disney Online 125,248 0.9
AOL LLC 105,237 0.7
Source: comScore Video Metrix, Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks. Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video
Top U.S. Online Video Properties by Unique Viewers – March 2009
Property Unique Viewers Average Videos
(000) per Viewer
Total Internet 149,410 96.8
Google Sites 100,382 59.0
Fox Interactive Media 55,156 7.9
Yahoo! Sites 42,524 7.9
Hulu 41,564 9.1
CBS Interactive 35,400 5.4
Microsoft Sites 32,194 9.0
Viacom Digital 27,168 10.2
AOL LLC 22,349 4.7
Turner Network 19,644 8.5
Disney Online 12,965 9.7
Source: comScore Video Metrix, Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks. Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Chris DeWolfe, Hulu, Jason Kilar, Myspace, Nikki Finke, Public Broadcasting Service, Television, YouTube
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Hulu CEO Jason Kilar insists that the video site doesn’t cannibalize cable television. “The reality is actually different.” In fact, pay TV customers are increasing, he says. Also, Hulu has lured 49% more viewers since co-parent NBC began promoting it with commercials. (Iwantmedia 4/22, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aULJwPCFWsgE 4/22)
No more speculation or leaks, it’s official. As Techcrunch wrote yesterday, MySpace cofounder Chris DeWolfe
will shortly be leaving the company. He’ll remain on board as a strategic advisor. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/22/confirmed-myspace-ceo-chris-dewolfe-steps-down/ 4/22)
Times are tough in the online advertising space. Yahoo reported a 78% drop in net income, which totaled $118 million for Q1 compared to $537 million a year earlier. Revenue dropped 13% to $1.58 billion, down from $1.8 billion Q1 2008. Double digit declines in display advertising and revenues from affiliated sites didn’t help. Even search revenue on the company’s owned-and-operated sites dropped by 3% year-over-year to $399 million. (Cynopsis 4/22)
Twittering actors and industry bloggers are threatening the role of the once mighty Variety as the premier source for Hollywood news. Nikki Finke’s blog is “the one to beat right now.” Still, actors, directors and producers are bypassing the press — and blogs — via Twitter feeds. (Iwantmedia 4/22, http://www.observer.com/2009/media/get-me-rewrite-once-variety-ruled-holywood-press-twittering-stars-and-cutthroat-blogs-hav 4/21)
The Public Broadcasting Service is launching its own video site, allowing online viewers to stream many of its top shows, including “Masterpiece Theater,” for free. PBS is joining the ranks of Hulu and YouTube — places for consumers who aren’t wedded to watching TV on a TV. (Iwantmedia 4/22, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-pbs22-2009apr22,0,5015075.story 4/22)
The real-time web is all the rage, with FriendFeed widely deploying live feeds earlier this month and Facebook working hard on bringing real-time streams to its homepage. Now YouTube is looking to get in on the action, and is currently testing a new feature dubbed ‘YouTube RealTime’, which allow users to see which of their friends are currently online, the videos they’re watching, and comments they’ve left. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/22/youtube-starts-experimenting-with-real-time-feeds/ 4/22)
Google is introducing Profiles, a service that allows people to create personal profiles that will turn up during Web searches for their name. The service is seen as Google’s attempt to take on Facebook and Twitter. “This improves Google’s relevancy in people search.” (Iwantmedia 4/22, http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-04-21-google-profiles-smiths-search_N.htm 4/21)
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the software maker isn’t interested in buying Yahoo and will focus on gaining market share in Internet search through innovation. Microsoft, however, is believed to be stepping up talks with Yahoo about a partnership to challenge Google. (Iwantmedia 4/22, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ap.6RXsXVGmE 4/22)
Global recorded music sales fell by more than 8% in 2008 to $18.42 billion, led by a sharp drop-off in the United States, according to the world music trade body IFPI. The music industry is facing the transition by consumers to cheaper digital song formats and rampant piracy. (Iwantmedia 4/22, http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSTRE53K5VY20090421 4/21)
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE, Feature, ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Boxee, Facebook, Interactive television, Marie-Jose Montpetit, Media Lab, MIT, Mobile phone, Myspace, Social TV, Television, User-generated content, YouTube
IS TV SOCIAL?
Photo Credit: Sangrea.net
Guest Writer: Dr. Marie-Jose Montpetit
You can add ratings in YouTube, tell your friends in Boxee what you are watching, update your Facebook from your TV. So TV is truly connecting you with your social network. But is it a new hit thing or the rediscovery of a common TV experience?
Mass events were and remain always social: natural catastrophes, major sport events and popular shows are always better when watched together and discussed the next day. They also define a “group’s brand” – who watches what. With multiple TVs per households TV viewing has become more isolated but still many shows are better consumed in a group. The new social TV redefines the living room and the water cooler of the 50s on a global scale; re-defining who is “close” to you. With tools that create your personal TV listings and DVRs to record them, you can share and rate them socially.
Photo Credit: Jobing.com
Interactive TV has been around for a while, albeit without a real uptake. Are social networks finally giving it it’s sought after market? It surely seems so. There is a convergence in the TV world right now with the emergence of online video and user generated content favoring a more “connected” TV experience. To enable this experience, devices like mobile phones are getting better screens and set top boxes are becoming higher quality in performance. In addition, the focus is now on user experience and personalization and of course integration with Facebook, MySpace and other social networks.
But the nature of Social TV has also evolved. From adding IM to a football match to adding widgets to tell you the weather, social TV is morphing into a much more rich set of interactions. As a colleague of mine, Kevin Brooks said recently, it’s about defining “identity” and “proximity”: implemented well Social TV can combine the “lean back” experience of watching with the “lean forward” of interaction.
This isn’t only limited to just TVs but on any device: mobility is about people too. Some pundits have claimed TV is dead. Maybe it is just changing for the better: TV is now connected, mobile and of course social.
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Facebook, Google, Hulu, Masters Tournament, Myspace, Starz, Television program, YouTube
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Google has just announced its Q1 2009 results, and for the first time ever, there has been a dip. Revenue fell 3% for the quarter versus the fourth quarter of 2008. But, for the year, revenues were still up. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/16/google-shows-a-3-sequential-dip-in-revenues-first-one-ever 4/16)
Facebook is closing the gap on Myspace in the U.S. in traffic by unique visitors slowly creeping up on Myspace’s No. 1 social network position. Worldwide, Facebook took that crown long ago (in April, 2008). But in the U.S., MySpace has been more difficult to displace. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/16/closing-the-gap-facebook-only-9-million-visitors-away-from-passing-myspace-in-us 4/16)
YouTube announced today new measures it is taking to more prominently feature and broaden the range of content available on the site from studios including Crackle/Sony Pictures, CBS, MGM, Lionsgate, Starz, the BBC, Anime Network, Cinetic Rights Management, Current TV, Discovery, Documentary Channel, First Look Studios, IndieFlix, National Geographic. The site will now feature a new ‘Shows’ tab in the YouTube masthead, which will allow users to browse through television content by genre, network, title, and popularity. The site now features thousands of full TV episodes, as well as hundreds of movies. Some videos will be available in HD. At this point the majority of content will come from older TV shows and movies – series like ‘Party of Five’ and ‘Married With Children’, not the current seasons we’ve been seeing on Hulu. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/16/youtube-takes-aim-at-hulu 4/16)
Adding a ‘show’ tab doesn’t prioritize professional content like a whole site built for it. Party of 5 vs. Family Guy? Easy choice.
CBS taking home in millions of dollars from online streaming of the Masters Tournament and other sporting events. The network raked in $30 million alone from the NCAA’s March Madness basketball tournament. Users “will actually pay for online sports content.” (Iwantmedia 4/16, http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/apr2009/db20090415_833886.htm 4/15)
If you want to take a peek at how AOL plans to take on Facebook, you need to look beyond Bebo (the social network it bought for $850 million last year) to theBoot, a country music site hidden away off in a corner of AOL Music. A very interesting experiment is going on at theBoot that represents a major plank in AOL’s social-networking strategy. It shows how AOL plans to take on Facebook Connect, which is Facebook’s way of letting other Websites tap into its members and their activity streams. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/16/its-a-socialthing-aols-plan-to-take-on-facebook-connect-with-lifestreaming-and-chat 4/16)
CBS site TV.com, a rival to NBC Universal and News Corp.’s Hulu, says it is in talks to replicate its U.S. video-on-demand service in the United Kingdom through partnerships with broadcasters. Recent reports suggest that Hulu is in talks to launch a U.K. version. (Iwantmedia 4/16, http://www.nma.co.uk/Articles/42187/Hulu+competitor+TVcom+in+talks+for+UK+partnerships.html 4/15)
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey has taken control of her own Twitter name, @oprah, she announced on her Facebook page today. And tomorrow, she’ll start using it, on her show. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/16/oprah-first-tweet-will-be-tomorrow-with-ashton-kutcher-on-the-show-soccer-moms-to-take-over-the-service 4/16)
Yahoo is said to be seeking buyers for HotJobs — and other properties could follow the employment site out of the door. Yahoo struck a deal to buy HotJobs in 2001 for $436 million. Yahoo could spell out what other divisions are for sale when it reports earnings on Tuesday. (Iwantmedia 4/16, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e21df062-2a16-11de-9d01-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1 4/16)
The producers behind Web series “MoCap, LLC,” which revolves around the denizens of a motion-capture studio, say they have found the perfect TV platform for their show — the young male-centric Spike TV. On April 24, the network will kick off six episodes of the series, which is produced by Albie Hecht, Spike’s first president. TVWeek.com (4/15)
Thirteen.org re-launched their website with nineepisodes of the classic series Soul!, a variety show promoting African-American artistry, community and culture from the seventies.
This sh*t is amazing. I’m now entranced watching this episode with Taj Mahal in it from Dec 13, 1972. I may not have been born yet but I still feel connected to this inspirational music from an artist with this much passion and instrument knowledge. Maybe it’s not digital downloads that are killing the music industry. After watching this, I think music just needs to get its groove back.
Steve Brill, Gordon Crovitz and Leo Hindery Jr. are starting a company, Journalism Online, aiming to build a system to allow newspapers and magazines to charge for online access. For unlimited subscriptions, the firm is “playing with a figure of $15 a month.” (Iwantmedia 4/16, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/business/media/15brill.html?_r=1 4/15)
The best way for newspapers to escape their dismal state is to “invent a new product,” says Google CEO Eric Schmidt. “Incumbents very seldom invent the future,” he adds. Schmidt is in talks with newspapers about a new advertising model that “understands your history.” (Iwantmedia 4/16, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/opinion/15dowd.html 4/15)
The National Basketball Association’s NBA.com today will introduce its new look, which will include five new video channels. One of those channels will exclusively feature the larger-than-life personality of former “Round Mound of Rebound” and current TNT analyst Charles Barkley. TVWeek.com (4/15)
Time Warner Cable, which continues to take heat this week for its metered broadband plan, would like the FCC to back off insisting that ISPs meet net neutrality obligations per Ars Technica, noting a response to the FCC’s call for input regarding the stimulus plan. “Now is not the time, nor is this the appropriate proceeding, to engage in a debate about the need for net neutrality obligations,” the company writes. (Cynopsis 4/16)
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