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In the online test, advertisers can upload a thirty-second MP3 file and buy radio spots on “hundreds” of stations targeted by location, station type, day of the week and time of day. “After the radio ads are run, you will be able to view online reports that tell you exactly when your ad played,” wrote a member of the Google Audio Ads team. (WSJ sub req.)
5 comments December 7th, 2006
Seattle-based Zillow, the site that offers free home estimates, is now encouraging homeowners or their real estate agents to post for-sale listings for free. Or, if you’re not so sure you want to put your home up for sale, you can post a “Make Me Sell” listing that displays a dream price that would convince you to sell. While Zillow leaves the transaction to the buyer, seller and any agents involved, the free listings are creating an alternative to the Multiple Listings Service. As you may expect, the move is causing more waves in the real estate industry, especially considering Zillows deep pockets ($57 million in venture capital), smart management (created by former Expedia founder) and hefty traffic (3 million uniques last month.) Keep an eye on this one.
1 comment December 7th, 2006
This is a no-brainer to me, although I’m a little biased as the publisher of a niche site. A new study found that users find ads on smaller, niche sites more interesting and engaging than ads on sites with over 1 million uniques. “People are more engaged and more involved in the smaller sites that speak to a topic of keen interest to them,” said Kate Riegner, Media Screen’s director of research.
3 comments December 7th, 2006
This is unbelievably cool. As part of the Discovery show, “Everest: Beyond the Limit,” three sherpas were rigged with mini cameras and satellite transmitters as they climbed the mountain. Two photographers shot video as well. When it was all over, they synchronized the five video feeds, together with audio, and posted it on Discovery.com in an innovative player that lets you experience the climb in real time. You can select any of the three feeds and watch them side-by-side. You can select which audio sources to listen to — which is mostly radio transmissions and heavy breathing (the camera on the left is stereo left, and vice versa.) And then you can drag through the timeline and select different hours of the day to watch. Extremely well done. (Thanks, Jeff!)
So far, one of my favorite moments is hour 7, 45:45, on the Ken Cam. (Make sure you have the audio up). Now THAT’S cold.
7 comments December 7th, 2006
The search for James Kim and subsequent discovery of his body attracted exponentially more attention online than the Iraq Study Group’s report yesterday. For example, as of 1:30 p.m. PT, the Kim story was ranked #1 on MSNBC.com with 1 million page views and the Iraq story was #12. SFGate.com reported that the Kim story received 3,300 page views a minute in the hour after his body was found. Other sites in the Bay Area and Northwest also received substantial traffic bumps.
3 comments December 7th, 2006
Have a news junkie in your life? Well, CNN.com suggests you buy him or her a $24.95 gift certificate redeemable for a year of Pipeline service. By the way, Pipeline will celebrate its one year anniversary this week. CNN has been tight-lipped about subscription numbers, but it says it remains committed to the pay video service.
4 comments December 7th, 2006
Rex over at Fimoculous has put together a list of 30 blogs that you probably aren’t reading. And for even more, read the comments underneath it. It’s amazing to realize these are just scratching the surface of the thousands of great blogs out there.
2 comments December 7th, 2006
Seattle-based Pluggd says it has “perfected the user experience” for audio and video search, and I have to admit, it’s rather amazing. The demo on their site allows you to search for words mentioned in an ESPN Radio sportscast. The colors on the bar illustrate how likely the word or phrase is used in a conversation. But the cool part is the fact it will find related words. For example, type the word “injury” and it will find a story about Kobe Bryant’s sprained ankle, although the word “injury” was never spoken. Pluggd makes the association by crawling sports articles and drawing correlations between words. Wow. It’s not perfect, though, as I searched for “New York” and it found a story on Barry Bonds and the Giants — not the NY Giants, of course, but the SF Giants. Still, very impressive. The company just landed $1.65 million in funding from Intel and others, so media companies can expect to hear from Pluggd soon. (Via PaidContent)
Add comment December 7th, 2006
It’s that time of year again (always in the weeks before the Macworld conference) to link to another rumor that Apple may buy TiVo. I think this is the third year I’ve heard it.
Add comment December 7th, 2006
The FCC is sticking by its guns contending that Fox’s broadcasts of the ‘02 and ‘03 Billboard Music Awards are indecent. (The line in ‘03 from Nicole Richie: “Have you ever tried to get cow shit out of a Prada purse? It’s not so fucking simple.”) Fox, CBS and NBC say the FCC’s tough new criteria for determining which swear words are indecent is inconsistent. Responds the FCC, “Tellingly, the networks spend virtually no effort defending Fox’s broadcasts or arguing that the commission erred in determining that they were indecent and profane. Instead it devotes its efforts to attacking nonfinal orders involving other parties, and raising abstract claims regarding news and sports broadcasts that are far removed from the entertainment programming at issue here.” Fox had said that the FCC crackdown marks the end of “truly live television,” but the FCC said it draws a distinction between live news and sports programming and entertainment programming.
2 comments December 7th, 2006
A startup called TurnHere will shoot and edit a video ad for as little as $300 a pop. Then for a little more, it will feature the ad in its own travel and entertainment directory, as well as distribute it via search engines. “It’s dirt cheap,” said Colin McAuliffe, a freelance filmmaker. It’s TV advertising for smaller companies, without the TV.
4 comments December 7th, 2006
MTV Networks is forming a division of TV and internet properties that focus on younger, male demographics. Comedy Central, Spike TV, TV Land, iFilm, Atom Films, XFire and GameTrailers are all part of the new unit. “Housing these brands together … can unlock some more growth potential to serve the audience and advertisers in a 360-degree way,” said Judy McGrath, chairman and chief executive of MTV Networks. (WSJ sub. req.)
1 comment December 7th, 2006
In a complex deal, News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch has agreed to transfer his 39 percent stake in DirecTV (as well as three regional sports networks) to John Malone’s Liberty Media, and Malone agrees to sell back his $11 billion stake in News Corp. The deal would solidify Murdoch’s control of the company.
5 comments December 7th, 2006
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