MTVN launches mobile division
Former MTVN VP of wireless strategy, Greg Clayman, will lead the new group as SVP, MTVN Mobile Media. He’ll report to MTVN global digital media president Mika Salmi.
1 comment December 18th, 2006
Archive for December 18th, 2006
On demand and DVD at same time
Safran has been going off for years about how movie release windows should collapse to a single day to capitalize on the buzz: theatrical release, DVD release and VOD release all at once. Well, we’re getting closer. Comcast is running a trial that gives its subscribers in Philly and Denver the ability to pay $4 to watch a movie via VOD on the same day it’s released on DVD, instead of the normal 30-45 day delay. “I don’t expect it to cannibalize sales on DVD,” said Andrew Mellett, vice president for the video-on-demand division of Warner Digital Distribution. “What we are really interested in seeing is whether this increases the buy rates.” Um, yes, it will.
Add comment December 18th, 2006
Barbera exit, stage right
Cartooning legend Joe Barbera has died at the age of 95. If anyone ever made the world a better place simply by being in it and doing what they loved, it was him. Thanks for the laughs, Joe. AP obit here.
Add comment December 18th, 2006
Craigslist CEO: Profits!? We don’t need no stinkin’ profits!
So OK, I’m putting words in Jim Buckmaster’s mouth, but it is better than Forbes’ headline: Newspaper Killer. The lords of finance may scratch their heads over the business plan at the Web’s open source classified superpower, but craigslist users haven’t asked the company to start capitalizing on their massive unique user count (47th overall) and stunning page views (7th overall, 3.35 billion in October). So what do Craig and Jim and their two dozen other staffers do? They ask their users what they want, and then they give it to them. Asks UBS analyst Ben Schachter, “Is maximizing profit not part of the equation?” “That’s definitely not part of the equation,'’ Buckmaster answers. “That’s never been a goal … We have been fortunate to do well by doing good, whatever phrase you want to use, by focusing only on improving the service for users.'’ Forbes says “the business plan, by any rational standard, is completely insane.”
11 comments December 18th, 2006
‘Person of Year’ sponsor gets punk’d by YOU
Pity Chrysler. They spent some serious bucks to sponsor the whole TIME “Person of the Year” presentation over at CNN.com. And how does their ad begin? “YOU MIGHT NOT BE PERSON OF THE YEAR…” They must be slapping themselves today. “We thought that was a safe assumption!” (Thank you, LR reader Wil for sending in the screen grab.)
Thanks to Chrysler, I am now in the throes of an existential crisis.
3 comments December 18th, 2006
It’s not about your homepage: videos play in RSS
Take a look at how I watch videos now. My personalized Google homepage takes in a feed from YouTube. Instead of clicking through to the YouTube page, the video plays right off the RSS reader. YouTube gets the play credit, I’m less inconvenienced, everyone is happy. This is why your newsroom’s homepage is no longer the center of attention. Your video needs to do this. What are you doing to earn a square inch of someone’s personalized homepage? Why should I subscribe to your RSS feed? This would do it…
1 comment December 18th, 2006
Networks may announce YouTube rival soon
The NY Times reports that NBCU, News Corp, Viacom and possibly CBS will announce as early as this week that they’re teaming up on a new site to take on YouTube. The idea is to offer an ad-supported site that features the media companies’ clips, as well as encourage users to upload their own. But executives warn, the deal could still fall apart because of the unprecedented amount of collaboration between the competing companies required to pull it off. And CBS is in talks with Google about selling radio time, which is complicating matters. But the question remains, can big media create its own YouTube? Will user switch? Posting professional video is easy, but getting users by the millions to start posting their own is a challenge (although the networks certainly have enough promotional muscle to get the word out.) And technology is critical, so will acquiring an existing site like MetaCafe, as rumored by TechCrunch, be enough to get things rolling?
3 comments December 18th, 2006
Reuters video goes mobile, complete with pre-roll ads
Reuters, which has had a video offering for a while now, is putting out news vids for mobile phones. The news clips will range from 30 seconds to a few minutes. Of special interest - the Reuters videos will have pre-roll ads of 15 seconds. Will pre-rolls work on mobile phones? A 15 second ad before a 30 second clip may not be a crowd-pleaser, but at least Reuters is finding a way to make some money. The ad buy is a cross-sell, too - advertisers buy the mobile ads and the site ads as a package deal.
1 comment December 18th, 2006
Question those statistical cliches
Today is the busiest day for the post office all year. The Monday after Thanksgiving is the busiest online shopping day. What do these statements have in common? We don’t question them. But do you know the statements are accurate? We usually quote the AAA or some shopping organization or whatever. “Cyber Monday” may turn out not to be the busiest online shopping day after all. What if tomorrow turns out busier for the post office? Language Log takes a look at “The Spread of Bogus Numbers” and finds that questioning generally accepted statistical cliches usually determines out they are wrong. A recent story, for example found that British teens use 20 words for a third of what they say. This was supposed to be shocking - a deterioration for the Mother Tongue. Only one problem: the article about those uneducated teens used 20 words for 40% of what it said. We pretty much all do.
Add comment December 18th, 2006
PBS puts pilots for new science series online first
An interesting test is going on at PBS, as they will stream pilots for three series they are considering airing on the network. Perhaps more interesting is that PBS is putting the shows online before airing them two days later. Wired Science, Science Investigators, and 22nd Century. Starting Jan. 1 the pilots will be streaming at PBS.org and available for download at iTunes. The shows will then air starting Jan. 3. PBS will choose one as a regular series, and viewers can vote for their favorite. Hence, PBS is informally calling this test “PBS Idol.”
Add comment December 18th, 2006
