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YouTube To Host Clips, Share Revenue with TV Networks
YouTube announced a deal to distribute news, sports and entertainment video clips from CBS, Showtime and CSTV Networks with an advertising revenue share. Sony BMG and Universal Music Group recently agreed to a similar deal to place their music videos on YouTube. CBS will provide short clips from "Survivor," "CSI," "CBS Evening News With Katie Couric" and other shows; CSTV will provide college sports clips; and Showtime will screen promotional videos. The record label agreements will allow YouTube users to add music clips into videos they create and post on the service. The deals will test YouTube's new copyright protection system that allows content providers to locate protected material on the service and choose to let it remain or be pulled.
10/25/2006 2:37:41 AM Google YouTube CBS Showtime CSTV Sony-BMG Universal-Music-Group video syndication
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Television's New Syndication Model Is RSS
RSS publishing service NewsGator announced an agreement with nbbc, the NBC-owned distribution/advertiser network of video clips. In this video J.B. Holston, CEO of NewsGator, explains how he is applying RSS technology to network TV content.
10/23/2006 2:37:26 AM RSS JB-Holston NewsGator NBC nbbc TV video
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Google Partners With Sony, Warner for Music Videos [TV Week]
Google's announced an agreement to feature music videos from Warner Music Group and Sony BMG, marking the Web-video service's first agreements to distribute record label content. Google will stream music collections on Google Video for free with advertising, or for purchase for $1.99 each -- in a revenue share with the music companies. Google will make music-video content available through the network of third-party Web sites where it places ads using the AdSense service -- and also plans to allow users to include music content from the labels in videos they create and post on Google Video.
10/16/2006 2:37:07 AM Google Google-Video Sony-BMG Warner-Music-Group video
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"Massively Social" Online Shows Blending Social Networks, Reality [TV Week]
Dubbed "massively social," a new Web-based programming genre is emerging amongst online dating shows – combining elements of reality TV, massive multiplayer gaming, and viewer-contributed video. Massively social shows encourage viewers to submit videos of themselves, answer trivia questions, and vote on winners as they play, watch and participate online together at the same time. 30-minute shows give way to short-form produced recaps and individual video segments. Online video-sharing site GoFish.com premiered “America’s Dream Date” earlier this month. The show runs online for 8 weeks and lets the viewer community play matchmaker. Heavy.com plans to debut "The Massive Dating Game" in August, followed by AOL in September with “Gold Rush” – built around a treasure hunt in which viewers compete for gold over the course of the 8-week show.
7/17/2006 10:08:52 AM massively social online reality show Heavy.com GoFish.com AOL
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Online Media & Entertainment Attracting New VC Funding
In the first three months of this year, venture capital investment increased 12% over the same period last year, with notable growth in the online media and entertainment sector. VC firms invested $254.9 million in blogging and online social networks in the first half of 2006 – exceeding total 2005 investments. Likewise, the $156.3 million pumped into online video will soon surpass last year's investment. News Corp’s $580 million acquisition of MySpace has inspired some 180 new companies vying to be the next YouTube. The volume of venture investment in the first quarter of this year was one-fifth the $28.1 billion spent at the height of the first Internet boom, in Q1 of 2000.
7/14/2006 10:08:41 AM Online-media entertainment venture capital VC funding Moneytree
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DVR Ratings Data Boosts Top Shows [MediaPost]
Nielsen reports that its new DVR ratings are delivering increases for almost all the shows in the top 25 and boosting some programs by 4-5%. For the week of Feb. 6-12, 19 of the top-25 shows among adults 18-49 saw ratings grow when DVR-playback viewing was added to live viewing. NBC's "The Office" grew by 4%, as did ABC's "Lost," Fox's "24," and NBC's "My Name is Earl." Fox's "American Idol" saw its 12.4 "live" rating increased three-tenths to a 12.7 in "live plus seven day" -- which adds DVR viewing during the seven days after broadcast to the "live" number. NBC's "The Office," one of the most popular downloads among shows offered on Apple's iTunes, received a 5% ratings jump from a 4.4 "live" number to a 4.6 in "live plus seven day." Sellers are expected to press for incremental payment for the added ratings during the coming upfront, which buyers will resist, since DVR users are thought to be fanatical commercial skippers. Syndicated shows were not heavily impacted by DVRs, with neither the top show, "Wheel of Fortune," or comedies "Everybody Loves Raymond" or "Seinfeld" affected by the DVR ratings.
4/26/2006 11:09:11 AM Nielsen DVR ratings NBC The-Office
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Bravo Opens iTunes TV Storefront
NBC Universal's Bravo Network began it
will sell TV shows a la carte on Apple iTunes -- adding reality series "Project Runway" in March along with selected episodes of "Inside the Actor's Studio." NBC began giving away iTunes downloads of the new Dick Wolf legal drama "Conviction". The network began selling other episodes for $1.99 once the show began its run.
4/24/2006 11:09:01 AM NBC Bravo iTunes Storefront Project-Runway
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Podcasting Ad Market to Reach $300 Million [Media Post]
A new report forecasts that ad spending in podcasts will grow from $80 million in 2005 to $300 million by 2010.
4/21/2006 11:08:55 AM Podcasting market-forecast
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Yahoo, CBS To Launch '60 Minutes' Website
Yahoo News and CBS announced they will produce a co-branded Web site dedicated to "60 Minutes," expected to launch in September. Yahoo has launched a preview site featuring 23 short clips of footage from Ed Bradley's interviews with Tiger Woods, and sponsorship by Buick.
4/20/2006 11:08:43 AM Yahoo CBS 60-Minutes website
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Fox Joins TV’s Internet Rush [Red Herring]
Fox Broadcasting announced it will rebroadcast its prime-time fare on the Internet in a revenue-sharing arrangement with its affiliates. The deal will allow Fox's local affiliates to share in web rebroadcast revenue, and will steer traffic to local station websites for program downloads. Disney recently announced it will rebroadcast its top shows online for free with skip-proof ads from P&G, Ford, and others. A recent study found that 80% of advertisers plan to shift more of their media budgets on web advertising. Advertising on blogs, podcasts, and web feeds is expected to grow 145% this year (from $20.4 million in 2005) and increase thirty-fold to $757 million by 2010.
4/18/2006 3:38:07 PM Fox affiliates Internet TV rebroadcasts
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One In Four View Web Video Weekly [Media Post]
A new study found that 24% of web users watch online video at least weekly, while 46% view online video at least once a month, and 5% watching online daily. 65% of those who view Web video weekly are male; with an average age of 33. Of those who watch online video, 58% percent view movie clips or trailers; 57% watch humorous clips; 56% view news and current events videos; and 47% view music videos at least once per month. Online video watchers said the most appealing content was video that could only be found online -- and not on TV, DVD, or other media.
4/14/2006 4:01:49 PM Internet video viewership Frank+Magid
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65% of Digital Cable Subscribers Using VOD [Center for Media Research]
A consumer research study found that 65% of current digital cable subscribers have used VOD; and that 16% of current VOD users report that they would be very likely to pay $0.99 to get a primetime program on-demand.
4/13/2006 11:17:12 PM VOD DVR penetration usage
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TV Ad Effectiveness Drops 7% In Non-DVR Households [Ad Age]
NBC Universal presented research findings that show households without digital video recorders are skipping more ads than those that use DVRs; and that the drop in commercial effectivess in DVR households is 3%, compared to a drop of 7% in non-DVR households. Media buyers are wondering why, if non-DVR households have been ad skipping to a much greater extent, have agencies been paying for ads. The issue arose when Nielsen began reporting separate streams of ratings data in December that recorded households playing back the shows via DVR within 7 days, in addition to those watching live broadcasts. The DVR debate is expected to crest in upfront negotiations in May. Research on DVR penetration by the 6 broadcast networks found that households with a DVR increase TV viewing by an average of 12%. DVR penetration is expected to rise from 12% of US households today to 18% by the end of the year and 35% by 2009-10.
4/12/2006 11:16:35 PM TV ad effectiveness DVR penetration
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Studios to Start Selling Major Films Online [Associated Press]
Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, and MGM announced they will sell major films for download-to-own through Movielink. Sony and Lionsgate will separately sell through CinemaNow. Downloadable new releases from Movielink will be comparable to DVD's ($20 to $30), with older titles priced from $10 to $20. Movielink will allow burning to DVD, though only for playback on up to 3 authorized PC's -- not via a standard DVD player or a portable video player. CinemaNow will not allow burning to DVD or transfer to other PCs. Some new films will be release online the same day they become available on DVD, though most will be made available within 45 days of their DVD release. Movies have been available in the past for rental through the Internet 30 to 45 days after DVD releases, with 24-hour viewing periods on computer screens.
4/11/2006 11:16:27 PM Hollywood films download-to-own Movielink CinemaNow
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AtomFilms Introduces Portable Media Player Services [Video Podcasting News]
AtomFilms announced a new mobile video service that makes its original short film and animation content available for download and playback on the PSP, iPods, PCs, and various mobile platforms. "AtomFilms To Go" is premiering with 10 titles and plans to add new titles weekly, including comedy and animation fare along with the "Cheney’s Got a Gun" musical parody chronicling recent hunting misadventures. Upcoming releases will include AtomFilms’ hits, film festival favorites, and worldwide premieres of original AtomFilms projects. AtomFilms has a monthly audience of over 5 million viewers.
4/10/2006 11:16:19 PM AtomFilms AtomFilms+To+Go PSP iPod
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Live-action 'The Simpsons' Video Goes Viral [Reuters]
UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB painstakingly recreated the entire animated opening sequence to "The Simpsons" using live actors as part of an on-air promotion for the Sky One network. The company decided instead to release the clip on the Internet as part of a word-of-mouth brand building exercise, and after less than a week the video had been viewed millions of times at online video sites like YouTube and Google Video. In contrast, NBC recently forced YouTube to take down "Saturday Night Live" clips that had been widely shared online. NBC now hosts the clips on its own advertising-supported site, which announces that "We've taken your viral favorites and gathered them into one convenient location."
4/7/2006 11:15:10 PM BSkyB live action The+Simpsons YouTube NBC Saturday+Night+Live
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Mobile Music, Gaming, Video To Reach $40 Billion By 2010 [InformationWeek]
Mobile phone content is forecast to reach $43 billion worldwide by 2010, up from $5.2 billion in 2004. Led by ringtones and ringtunes, 'mobile music' represents the largest and fastest-growing wireless content segment -- with last year's transition from polyphonic ringtones to ringtunes pushing global music content revenues for the year to $3.8 billion. The emerging wireless video category is expected to offer the most significant long-term opportunity in the mobile-content market. 400 million installed phones currently offer music codecs capable of playing music. TV-capable phones are expected to represent 12% of the global market in 2010.
4/6/2006 11:15:00 PM Mobile music gaming video market forecast
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iTunes Offers Monthly 'The Daily Show' Subscriptions [Los Angeles Times]
Apple's iTunes store began offering video downloads of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" in a new monthly Multi-Pass pricing package bundling a month of the two shows (16 episodes at $1.99 apiece) after they air, for $9.99. The new pricing is expected to appeal to TV studios with more of the predictability of a subscription.
4/5/2006 11:14:54 PM Apple iTunes iPod Comedy Central Multi-Pass subscription pricing
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NBC Premieres New Drama on iTunes [WorldScreen]
NBC made the premiere of its Dick Wolf legal drama "Conviction" available for free download on the iTunes Music Store for more than a week before its March 3 TV premiere, after which episodes will be available for download at $1.99.
4/4/2006 11:14:47 PM NBC Conviction premiere Dick Wolf iTunes episode download
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Cingular Launches New Mobile TV Service [News.com]
Cingular announced an on-demand mobile TV service called Cingular Video that allows viewers to watch short 3-5 minute clips from the Cartoon Network, NBC, ESPN, and 15 other channels. Cingular will offer exclusive short news clip content from Fox News clips of of "The Sopranos," "Sex and the City," "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Entourage" from HBO. The service will be free to Cingular customers purchasing a $19.99/month unlimited 3G data package, which also allows unlimited text messaging, e-mailing and picture sharing over the network. HBO clips will be available for a $4.99 per month subscription. Cingular has previously offered a 2.5G live TV service through MobiTV for $9.99/mo and a $4.99/mo data package. Cingular's 3G network will initially be available in 16 markets to owners of the LG CU320, Samsung SGH-ZX10, Nokia 6282, and LG CU500 handsets. Verizon Wireless offers its competing Vcast service for $15 per month with 300 channels of 1-4 minute video clips. Sprint Nextel charges $9.99 for its on-demand video service, which requires a $10 per month data package. 75% of respondents in a recent poll said they had no interest in watching TV on their cells.
4/3/2006 11:14:34 PM Cingular+Video mobile+TV
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40 Million Surf Internet Daily For Fun [Pew Internet & American Life Project ]
A study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 30% of Internet users go online just for fun or to pass the time. By comparison, 52% of Internet users go online to send or receive email on a typical day, 38% to use a search engine, and 31% to get news. Idle browsing has broad appeal, cutting through all races, income groups, levels of educational accomplishment. 34% of men use the Internet to surf for fun, and 26% of women do; with younger users the most likely to surf for fun. 39% of those with home broadband surf the Web for fun on a typical day compared with 23% of those with dial-up. 40 million people went online on any given day in 2005, compared to 25 million a day in 2004.
3/31/2006 6:16:51 PM Internet usage entertainment
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Atom Films' Relaunches AddictingClips.com with CGM [MediaPost]
Atom Films launched a redesign of its video directory site, AddictingClips.com, with an emphasis on consumer-generated media. Popular videos from the site will move to the flagship site at AtomFilms.com, where they may be monetized with pre-roll video ads as part of Atom Film's "Cash For Clips" program, which pays content creators a share of revenue. The goal of the new site is to take advantage of the large volume of content submitted to AtomFilms that does not make it onto the main site, which is much more tightly controlled editorially. A "Cash For Clips" program will pay content creators if their clips gain an audience and get moved to AtomFilms.com. Bolt Media is launching a "Spotlight" program which pushes outstanding user content, selected by the Bolt staff, to the front page -- though Bolt does not place ads in the content nor share revenue.
3/29/2006 4:06:12 PM AtomFilms AddictingClips CGM BoltMedia
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Time Inc.'s "Office Pirates" Bows with User-Created Video [Business Week]
Time Inc. has quietly launched OfficePirates.com as a new destination for user-created content and short-form video. The site is run by 5 full-time staffers and sponsored by Bacardi and Dodge Caliber. The site is banking on such user-generated content as SNL "featured player" Andy Samberg's highly entertaining rap video "Lazy Sunday," which became a viral hit on iFilm and YouTube -- playing over 5 million times on YouTube alone within weeks.
3/26/2006 1:12:23 AM Time OfficePirates.com Andy Samberg Lazy Sunday
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AOL Unveils In2TV Internet Video Service [TV Squad]
AOL launched its In2TV Internet television service, featuring thousands of free ad-supported episodes from some of the most popular TV series of all time -- provided by Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution. The shows may be streamed (not downloaded) in their entirety by Windows XP users only, either in-page or full-screen, and with an option for "Hi-Q" DVD-quality video. The site features 6 genre channels (each offering 10 rotating episodes of 5 shows) and 7 other feature/games pages (Star Play, TV Karaoke, Punch Line, Retro Runway, Betcha Didn't Know, Creme De La Classic TV and Pilot Theater). "LOL TV" features comedy shows such as Chico and the Man, Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, Head of the Class, Perfect Strangers, Welcome Back Kotter. "Drama Rama TV" runs Eight is Enough, Falcon Crest, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Sisters and Spencer: For Hire. "What A Rush TV" airs Dark Justice, Kung Fu, La Femme Nikita, Brisco County, Jr. and The Fugitive. "Vintage TV" offers Alice, F Troop, Growing Pains, Maverick and The F.B.I. "Heroes & Horror TV" features Babylon 5, Freddy's Nightmares, Lois & Clark, V and Wonder Woman. "Toon Topia TV" runs Beetlejuice, Pinky and the Brain, Freakazoid, New Adventures of Batman and Hysteria!.
3/24/2006 11:48:38 PM AOL In2TV WarnerBros DomesticCableDistribution
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SNL Adds Sketches to iTunes [WorldScreen]
NBC Universal has added Saturday Night Live sketches to the 12 other shows it has made available for download through Apple's iTunes video store. The sketches are bundles in 3 categories — "Best of SNL" (1-hour collections of sketches by individual performers), "Sketches" (offers individual sketches), and "Commercial Parodies”.
3/23/2006 11:48:23 PM NBC Universal SNL Comedy Sketches iTunes
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Video-sharing Site YouTube, MTV2 Team Up [Hollywood Reporter]
After facing recent criticism from broadcasters for letting its users upload pirated programming from the airwaves without permission, YouTube.com struck a partnership to obtain copyrighted content from MTV2. MTV2 is seeding YouTube.com with clips promoting new seasons and DVD releases for “The Andy Milonakis Show” and “Wonder Showzen.” YouTube recently modified to its site to make it a more corporate-friendly environment, now requiring users seeking to upload video content to agree that they own rights to the content they intend to distribute via YouTube.
3/22/2006 11:01:36 PM YouTube.com MTV2 video-sharing
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News Corp. Unveils Mobile Content Destination [WorldScreen]
Fox Mobile Entertainment launched a new website dedicated to mobile content, games, music and mobisodes. 'Mobizzo' is initially available for Cingular and T-Mobile phones, offering content aggregated from across News Corp divisions, other media companies and aspiring talent. Programming will include content from Family Guy, American Dad, Napoleon Dynamite and the upcoming release "Ice Age: The Meltdown". A la carte content will range from $1.99-$2.49 and monthly subscription plans average $5.99/month. Fox Mobile Entertainment is launching a multimillion-dollar television, print, radio, outdoor, and viral marketing campaign as part of its plans for a global rollout later this year.
3/21/2006 11:01:23 PM Fox Mobile Entertainment Mobizzo Cingular T-Mobile
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VOD Operators Embrace Dynamic Ad Insertion [MediaPost]
Cable operators are set to deploy VOD ad insertions that will improve over the 'evergreen' spot advertising that has required advertisers to "bake" their ads into programming for 3-4 month runs. Technology from Tandberg Television, SeaChange, and others will enable advertisers to deliver targeted and timely messages within VOD content, with market-specific spots targeted by time of day and triggered by user actions.
3/20/2006 11:00:57 PM On-demand advertising targeted
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CBS Offering Cell Phone News Alerts [Red Herring]
CBS introduced CBS News to Go, which for $0.99 per month will deliver video notifications of the latest news and entertainment headlines to subscribers’ mobile phones. E.T. to Go will deliver Entertainment Tonight video alerts for $3.99 per month. CBS will initially send 5 video alerts per day, though in the future the services will allow users to customize the types of alerts they receive based on topics and keywords. CBS is also creating miniature soap opera episodes for mobile phones, and recently streamed 60-second episodes of a show called "The Courier" over Verizon’s V Cast mobile video service after they were shown on TV and the web. Viacom is working with V Cast service to offer skits from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for viewing on cell phones. News Corp. recently launched mobile entertainment store Mobizzo with a variety of content that users can download to their cell phones.
3/17/2006 8:39:32 PM CBS-News-to-Go ET-to-Go The Courier CBS Viacom V Cast News Corp Mobizzo
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Facing Growing Competition, Yahoo Scales Back Webshow Originals [LA Times]
After announcing plans to capture mass audiences with new Web-exclusive video programming, Yahoo is now scaling back efforts to create original programs -– and instead highlight content created by its millions of users while serving as an online distributor for traditional media companies. Yahoo’s "Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone" attracted 1.2 million to 1.5 million unique visitors a month during the fall, representing 5% to 7% of Yahoo News visitors. NBC plans to launch its "StarTomorrow" search for music talent this summer, releasing video clips of 20 bands each week for 8 weeks, and letting audiences vote on the field until a victor emerges. AOL is developing Mark Burnett’s "Gold Rush," an online treasure hunt with clues leading viewers to gold hidden in 13 locations across the U.S. AOL also signed the producer of MTV's "Punk'd" and WB's "Beauty and the Geek," to develop 5 programs of 20 short episodes each. The webshows will rely on e-mail and instant messaging to pull viewers into the video experience. Fox Interactive Media is developing an online talk show with the creator of animated hit "Family Guy," which will be hosted by an animated infant character on the show and is designed to appeal to fans of the TV show and build the “Family Guy” franchise by extending the brand and establishing a vehicle to market and promote the TV show and DVD business. Amazon.com is developing "Amazon Fishbowl With Bill Maher" specifically for its website with the intent of selling books, CD’s, and DVD’s. While MTV averages 449,000 viewers on its most popular show, “True Life.” Blair Witch Project co-creator Daniel Myrick expects his new web-show “The Strand” to be profitable with an audience of 150,000. Video ads contributed $225 million of the $12.9 billion in US Internet ad revenue in 2005.
3/16/2006 8:39:10 PM Yahoo Kevin Sites Hot Zone AOL Gold Rush Fox Family Guy Webshow
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Monster House Producer Launches Online TV Network [WorldScreen]
A producer of Discovery Channel's Monster House announced plans to partner with streaming video service provider Maven to launch an online television network featuring all-original programming. The Fix (http://www.thefixtv.com) was devised to bypass the traditional network television model and will offer a home for celebrities and rock bands to create their own shows. Expected to debut in spring 2006, programming on The Fix will be original first-run featuring integrated product placements, and available for download to the iPod, cell phones and DVR's.
3/15/2006 8:38:45 PM TheFix online television network
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TiVo to Offer Free DVR's [Red Herring]
TiVo announced plans to multiple pricing options for its DVR service, including free set-top boxes -- which will include a more costly subscription to the service. The offer is design to stem potential customer losses amongst the two-thirds of TiVO customers who receive service through DirecTV and who will be targeted with the rollout of DirecTV's own DVR service in 2007. TiVo is also developing a customized version of its service for Comcast cable customers, expected to bow in mid-to-late 2006.
3/14/2006 8:38:23 PM TiVo Free DVRs
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Fox Uses MySpace Social Networking to Promote
Fox is using its popular social-networking service, MySpace.com, to promote new television shows. A recent stealth marketing campaign for Fox’s comedy “Free Ride” was built around “Free Ride” characters “Nate” and “Dove.” MySpace profiles for the characters appeared as random pages for two 20-somethings in Johnson City, Mo, and did not mention the “Free Ride” show. The pages listed the characters’ book choices, music interests, favorite TV shows (all Fox shows), and personal videos. Viral marketers then brought the characters to life, networked them within the MySpace environment, and generated traffic to the Nate and Dove’s profile pages. As the comedy’s premiere approached, Fox began placing ads for “Free Ride” on the MySpace profile pages linking to Fox.com and featured a MySpace page for "Free Ride" that includes a video trailer, profile pages for the show’s 9 characters, and a way for other MySpace users to become ‘friends’ of the show and link their profiles to the site. Acquired by News Corp last summary, MySpace reaches 50 million members and is expected to serve as a marketing channel for the 20th Century Fox film studio, the Fox network, FX, Speed Channel, TV Guide, and DirecTV. News Corp announced plans to use MySpace as a promotional vehicle to help launch its new "My Network TV" television network on Fox-owned station this fall.
3/13/2006 8:38:06 PM News Corp Fox MySpace TV Social-Networking Free Ride Nate Dove
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Rural Broadband Users Closing Gap [USA Today]
A recent survey found that 24% of rural Americans had broadband Internet access at home in fall of 2005, compared to the 9% rate reported in 2003. Broadband access amongst urban and suburban dwellers rose to 39% from 22% in 2003. 62% of country dwellers use the Internet via broadband, dial-up, or at work -- compared with 70% elsewhere.
3/10/2006 8:37:33 PM Urban suburban broadband Internet access adoption
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Comcast to Test Nielsen VOD Measurement [Multichannel News]
Comcast announced it will conduct a trial of Nielsen Entertainment’s new “On Demand” Web-based reporting service to measure and aggregate anonymous on-demand usage data to interpret real time on-demand viewing habits on its Comcast On Demand service. Comcast recently extended its nonexclusive multiyear agreement with Rentrak to use its “OnDemand Essentials” VOD measurement system to report and analyze aggregate VOD-viewership data. Comcast subscribers watched 1.4 billion on-demand programs last year, more than double the number watched in 2004.
3/9/2006 8:37:17 PM Comcast Nielsen Rentrak On Demand VOD usage reporting
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TV Catches the Net Video Vug [News.com]
Bravo TV began airing "Outrageous and Contagious: Viral Video," a new half-hour series featuring popular video shorts circulating the Net. USA Networks announced plans to air a 1-hour pilot based on eBaumsworld.com, a Web site of extreme videos submitted by users. ABC News recently introduced its "Seen and Heard in America" online service to collect viewer videos captured on multimedia-equipped cell phones and incorporate into shows like "World News Tonight" and "Good Morning America." ABC News has previously tested user-generated video within various news shows, including Hurricane Katrina coverage.
3/7/2006 8:36:50 PM Bravo TV Outrageous and Contagious Viral Video USA Networks eBaumsworld ABC News Seen and Heard in America
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Dish, CNN Roll Out Interactive TV News [MediaPost]
Dish Network is launching a CNN Enhanced TV channel featuring a system that lets viewers explore background on stories of interest using their remote control. The service uses technology from OpenTV to allow viewers to continue watching CNN's live broadcast while accessing up to 5 different CNN news reports from CNN.com in text format. OpenTV's technology works on both cable and satellite and has been used to run interactive ads for Dish advertisers such as Mercedes Benz, whose ads allowed consumers to order a brochure, set up a test drive, or view a photo gallery and look at vehicle specs. While OpenTV's system enabled response rate tracking and ad targeting, EchoStar and various advertisers have opted not to target due to privacy concerns. EchoStart is considering an incentive system by which subscribers receive bonus features or discounts for agreeing to receive targeted advertising.
2/24/2006 11:13:15 AM Disn CNN Interactive TV News Advertising OpenTV
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Video Content Goes Interactive [ClickZ]
Automaker GM recently found a unique way to incorporate interactivity into an online video campaign by letting users compete for a chance to win a Pontiac Solstice by hitting on VH1 VJ Rachel Perry 'virtually' with their best pickup lines. United Virtualities recently launched a streaming video format called Shoshmosis, featuring a clickable Flash layer. Avant Interactive and Launch Ideas launched new "clickable video" technology in a campaign for Honda allowing users to click on apects of video footage of the 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid to see close-ups and detailed information on each feature in an adjacent 'meta' pane. Coca-Cola is running clickable video ads on NASCAR.com.
2/22/2006 9:18:59 AM GM Pontiac Solstice clickable video United Virtualities Shoshmosis Avant Interactive Honda Accord
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PSP to Ship 20 Million Units in 2006 [GamesIndustry.biz]
Sony PSP manufacturing partner Samsung said that Sony expects to ship 20 million units of the Playstation Portable in 2006. Sony reported shipment of 10 million units during 2005 - with 3 million units shipped to the UK. Nintendo's DS handheld sold 13 million units in 2005.
2/17/2006 1:16:07 PM Sony PSP 2006 sales forecast
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Surf the Web, Watch TV on Nintendo DS [GameDaily]
Nintendo announced web browser and TV tuner support for its DS handheld gaming device. The Opera web browser will be sold on a DS cartridge in Japan this June for approximately $32, allowing users to surf the Internet via Wi-Fi. Nintendo’s DS Terrestrial Digital Broadcast Receiver Card will allow DS users to watch digital TV broadcasts. Nintendo is targeting sales of 10 million units in Japan this year.
2/15/2006 1:15:36 PM Nintendo DS Portable Web Browser TV Tuner
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NBC Universal Ramps Up Its Stations' Web Sites [MediaPost]
NBC Universal is upgrading its TV station websites with increased video, Web-exclusive content, podcasts, and wireless applications. WMAQ Chicago, WNBC New York, and KXAS Dallas have started with the new format while 11 other NBC-owned stations will upgrade over the next several months. Each station will produce daily webcasts hosted by anchors, to be featured in a top-level video player on station home pages along with news clips on health, weather, entertainment, sports, and consumer news. NBC Universal is encouraging its individual stations to produce Web-specific content that can be shared by the entire group. "The Download" is a Web-only daily magazine program produced by WVIT Hartford. WNBC New York will produce an online version of movie review show "Reel Talk."
2/10/2006 1:14:24 PM NBC Universal Station Websites Video
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Users Prefer Ad-Supported Video [ClickZ]
A new consumer study found that users prefer watching online video ads versus paying the now-standard $1.99 for commercial-free programs, by a margin of more than 3 to 1. 62% of respondents said they would prefer getting missed TV shows free online with commercials versus 17% chose paying $1.99 for an ad-free version.
2/8/2006 1:13:49 PM Free Online Video TV Show Downloads Research
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Disney Launches Broadband Channel for Preschoolers [Reuters]
Disney launched a learning-oriented online subscription service aimed at preschool children. Priced at $49.95 per year, “Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online” was developed with the help of educational experts to focus on pre-kindergarten skills such as letter and number recognition. The subscription broadband service includes no advertising, and features interactive story books and "fun learning" tools based on "JoJo's Circus" and "Higglytown Heroes" and other characters and shows from Disney Channel's "Playhouse Disney" programming block. Disney plans to integrate “Preschool Time” into Disney Connection, a broadband network offered to subscribers of high-speed Internet services provided by Comcast, Adelphia, MediaCom and Verizon. Disney also offers Toontown Online, a multiplayer game for ages 8 to 12, and Blast, a multiplayer game for 5 to 9 year olds – and is developing broadband services for older game players with a multiplayer game based on the "Pirates of the Caribbean" due to launch this year.
2/3/2006 1:12:40 PM Disney Playhouse Preschool Time Online Broadband Channel
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Yahoo Hopes to Make Network Flop a Net Hit [Wall Street Journal]
Yahoo! is developing ABC’s abandoned “The Runner” reality TV show concept into a broadband hybrid of a narrative video production and an online game, focusing on the pursuit of a fugitive traveling between secret locations around the U.S. Video clips of 3 to 5 minutes in length will be published regularly through Yahoo's site, and viewers will be challenged to solve online puzzles about the fugitive's real-world location as they interact with Yahoo instant messaging, maps, and search services. “The Runner” will be produced by Mark Burnett and LivePlanet. Yahoo separately confirmed it is developing another Internet reality project, "Wow House," that will follow the efforts of families upgrading their home electronics. Yahoo’s first online show, “Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone” is now in its fourth month, though has attracted meager audiences and little new advertising, ranking 451 among all news and media sites in visits from U.S. consumers. Yahoo played 4 billion music videos in 2005 and delivered 4.4 million video streams of shock jock Howard Stern during his last day on terrestrial radio in December. 335,000 simultaneously viewers tuned in for the takeoff of the space shuttle Discovery on Yahoo's site last July.
2/2/2006 1:12:27 PM Yahoo LivePlanet Internet TV The Runner
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Softbank, Yahoo Start Internet Television Service [Reuters]
Softbank and Yahoo Japan have formed a company to broadcast television programs via the Internet. The joint venture, TV Bank Corp., will operate a new streaming video service called "Yahoo!Doga", a portal site for 100,000 movies, sports and music shows and drama series from Japan, Taiwan and South Korea to be offered with advertiser sponsorships and on a pay-per-view basis.
2/1/2006 1:12:04 PM Softbank Yahoo Internet TV
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iTunes Downloads Boost TV Viewership [iMedia Connection]
NBC credits the availability of its shows on iTunes for the recent increase in prime time viewers of its comedy "The Office," delivering a 5.1 rating among adults 18 to 49 up from a 4.5 the week prior. ABC has also seen ratings increases for "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" since they were added to Apple’s store in October. The total audience for “Lost” rose 14% and ratings for adults 18 to 49 are up 28% over the same time last year. “Desperate Housewives” saw its audience grown 7% with ratings amongst adults 18 to 49 ratings up 3%. Now at 100 million broadband users, 74% of the total US online population now has high speed Internet access. 25 million (19%) have watched or downloaded video online in the last 30 days.
1/30/2006 3:41:15 PM Apple iTunes video NBC The Office ABC Desperate Housewives Lost ratings increase
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CBS Debuts 60-Second Shows [Red Herring]
CBS announced it will debut an experimental set of original micro-series for cell phones. The 40-60 second episodes of "The Courier" will run for 7 nights. The show will be broadcast during or following hit shows such as Cold Case, Criminal Minds, and CSI: Miami. After their network broadcast, the show will be available for viewing on cell phones through Verizon Wireless' V Cast service and on the CBS.com website. The show will feature interactive story lines promotions by its single advertiser, Pontiac. CBS is separately developing mini soap operas exclusively for cell phones. Verizon Wireless currently offers its V Cast subscribers clips of popular CBS shows such as CSI: Miami; CSI: New York; Survivor; The Amazing Race; The King of Queens; and The Late Show with David Letterman.
1/27/2006 3:31:26 PM CBS micro-series The Courier mobile TV
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Brits Not Gaga for Mobile TV [Red Herring]
U.K. wireless carrier BT found that consumers would rather use a cell phone to listen to radio than watch TV programs. The 1,000 London cell phone users in the trial listened to mobile radio for an average 1.5 hours per week and watched mobile TV for 1 hour per week. BT also found that 2 out of 3 subscribers said they would pay 8 pounds ($14) per month for the bundled mobile TV and radio service, raising doubts over consumer willingness to pay $20-range prices for a stand-alone mobile TV service. A recent study of US mobile users found that 1 in 8 respondents would be willing to pay for mobile video.
1/26/2006 3:20:31 PM British Telecom mobile TV radio trial
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TV Ads Made Quick and Cheap on the 'Net [News.com]
Los Angeles-based startup Spot Runner launched a new service allowing companies to create television ad campaigns over the Internet for as little as $500 to run within as little as a week. Spot Runner offers a library of generic commercials which advertisers can personalize and target customers by demographic, network and neighborhood. Advertisers can buy air time on major broadcast/cable networks including CNN and ESPN.
1/26/2006 3:11:56 PM Spot Runner self-service TV advertising
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Broadband Gold Rush Is On [Television Week]
Startup iWatchNow.com has spent $3 million to develop a video player and secure video rights to 3,000 hours of classic, cult and hard-to-find shows like "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "The Andy Griffith Show," "Dragnet," "Bonanza" and movies such as "Night of the Living Dead" and "The Toxic Avenger." Viewers have the choice of paying 99 cents per view or watching an ad-supported version for free on iWatchNow.com. Meanwhile, Google is selling "Survivor" and other commercial-free CBS programs for $1.99 apiece and Apple is selling shows from ABC and NBC. Recent deals giving are giving major broadcasters about 70% of revenue their shows generate online. News Corp. announced plans to make shows from FX and Fox Broadcasting available for download on DirecTV DVRs before they air on the networks. CBS has made shows available on-demand with Comcast, and NBC has done so with DirecTV. The Web site is breaking even on its $125,000-a-month operating costs, averaging 6,337 viewers per hour. AOL's In2TV offers a competing service offering classic shows from the Warner Bros. catalog such as "Welcome Back, Kotter" and "Kung Fu" free of charge.
1/23/2006 2:51:17 PM iWatchNow TV show downloads
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Comcast, Bon Jovi Duet [Variety]
Comcast announced it will offer hours of behind-the-scenes Jon Bon Jovi footage filmed during his concert tour via free cable VOD for Comcast's digital customers and on Comcast.net to the company's 8.1 million broadband Internet subscribers. Music is the fastest-growing category on Comcast's on-demand menu, with a 135% increase in music video orders to 33 million in November '05.
1/20/2006 2:22:19 PM Comcast Bon Jovi VOD
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ESPN, ABC Sports Tune Into iTunes [Media Post]
Walt Disney will now offer football games through its deal with Apple's iTunes Music Store. The games are offered as condensed 15 minute-long shows with no commercials and can be purchased for $1.99 each. Other Disney content is included in the deal from Touchstone Television, ABC Family, ABC News, Buena Vista Television, Disney Channel, SOAPnet, and Walt Disney Feature Animation. Touchstone will offer "America's Funniest Home Videos" and "School of Rock." ABC News will offer free, ad-supported video podcasts with segments from "Good Morning America" and "World News Tonight." Except for news videos, all Disney-ABC content will continue to be commercial-free. ESPN will offer "This is SportsCenter" commercials for free through the iTunes Music Store, along with interviews from "SportsCentury" and clips from reality show "Knight School" (which will premiere on iTunes before beginning its exclusive run on ESPN). The new content supplements Disney's original deal with iTunes which includes "Commander in Chief," "Desperate Housewives," "Lost," "That's So Raven," and "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody." NBC Universal has 11 shows on iTunes and cross-marketing support including featured NBC program pages on the iTunes site and specific tune-in information that drives viewers back to traditional television. NBC promotes the iTunes Music Store through promotional "swipes" that appear on the TV screen when a show is aired.
1/19/2006 2:17:04 PM ESPN ABC iTunes
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Yahoo! Streams CBS Sitcoms [MediaPost]
Yahoo! began offering free streams of two ad-free episodes of the CBS sitcoms "Two and a Half Men" and "How I Met Your Mother." CBS recently offered free streams of UPN's "Everybody Hates Chris" on Google's video website, also carrying no ads.
Yahoo! also streamed the debut of the WB's "Supernatural" series earlier this year, and the premiere of Showtime's "Fat Actress."
In March, social networking site MySpace.com will webcast the premiere episode of NBC's "The Office" comedy a week ahead of its scheduled broadcast pilot. CBS recently made 3 episodes of sci-fi series "Theshold" available on CBS.com.
1/18/2006 2:00:25 PM Yahoo Google CBS UPN Free Episode Video Streams
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NBC Adds Interactivity to "Deal or No Deal" [ITVT]
NBC offered an interactive TV game on the Web and via mobile to accompany Endemol's gameshow "Deal or No Deal" during the week of its US debut. "Lucky Case Game" was promoted and explained during the show as viewers playing on mobile phones were asked to send their case choice via SMS and viewers interacting on NBC's website were also asked to pick a case number. Winners were then chosen at random from the viewers who had selected the correct lucky case, and announced at the end of the show.
1/16/2006 12:10:38 PM NBC Endemol Deal or No Deal Interactive
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Verizon in Mobile VOD Deal with The WB Network [ITVT]
Verizon has signed a deal with The WB Network to make on-demand scenes and trailers from WB shows, "Everwood," "Gilmore Girls," "Smallville," and "Supernatural," available on Verizon's V CAST mobile TV service the day before the show airs. Warner Bros. is also offering Looney Tunes and Hanna Barbera cartoons on the service including "Bugs Bunny," "The Flintstones," and "Scooby-Doo."
1/13/2006 1:44:11 AM Verizon VCast Warner Bros Everwood Gilmore Girls Smallville Supernatural Bugs Bunny The Flintstones Scooby-Doo
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Yahoo Shapes Up Online Video Project [San Francisco Chronicle]
Yahoo announced it has filmed a $100,000 pilot for a reality series called "Wow House" to be broadcast online. The program follows two families as they refurbish their homes with $10,000 in new electronics. Wow House joins other original Yahoo video programming including a war correspondent, an adventure writer, a weekly NFL football wrap-up show and exclusive rock music performances. 4.4 million viewers watched Yahoo's December broadcast of Howard Stern celebrating his departure from FM radio to satellite, 214,000 simultaneously. 10 million viewers have watched JibJab's "Grumpy Santa" short. 1.2 million saw the "Fat Actress" premiere online. And Yahoo viewers watch 2.9 billion music videos in 2004.
1/11/2006 1:40:11 AM Yahoo TV reality series Wow House
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VH1, iFilm unspooling 'Web Junk' [Hollywood Reporter]
VH1 is launching the first programming project resulting from MTV's $49 million purchase of online video aggregator iFilm. "Web Junk 20" is a weekly show compiling clips and shorts, to be aired on VH1 and screened on-demand via VSpot, VH1's broadband network. "Web Junk 20" counts down the strange and humorous body of videos spreading virally around the Internet, and will include celebrity material, current news, local TV and viral Internet clips. iFilm will research the clips used in the show and will offer each for viewing on iFilm.com, in addition to its use on VH1 and vSpot. Now offering video upload, iFilm provides viewers with an easy method of uploading clips for inclusion in "Web Junk 20." VH1 expects that within 6 to 9 months, virtually everything it does will have a viewer-generated component to it.
1/11/2006 1:29:01 AM VH1 iFilm Web Junk 20 webshow
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