Archive for March 1st, 2007
As previewed at CES, Verizon Wireless has just launched a broadcast TV service for mobile phones featuring live access to eight 24-hour channels: CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN, Fox Mobile, MTV, NBC 2Go, NBC News 2Go and Nickelodeon. The $15/month service went live in 20 markets including Seattle, Chicago, Dallas and Denver. VCast Mobile TV is delivered over a separate wireless network operated by Qualcomm, and it requires a new handset capable of receiving the broadcast signal. At the same time, MobiTV, which offers a similar service — although frequently at less quality — announced it had reached 2 million subscribers. Cingular/AT&T’s live TV service, MediaFlo, isn’t expected to launch until later this year.
LG’s VX9400 mobile phones with Verizon V Cast Mobile TV service.
March 1st, 2007
A handful of companies are putting the finishing touches on technology that serves relevant advertising nested inside video clips. One startup, ScanScout, uses speech-recognition software to automatically and instantly serve ads along the bottom of the player that correspond to words spoken in the video. Blip.tv has been testing the service since the fall, and CEO Mike Haduck says he believes it’s more effective than just matching ads with the metadata that’s provided by video creators. (WSJ sub. req.)
March 1st, 2007
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The last night of powerhouse American Idol helped Fox edge out CBS in February sweeps for the most-watched network in the key 18-49 year-old demographic. ABC finished third and NBC fourth.
March 1st, 2007
It’s a big day at ABC News, as World News surpassed NBC Nightly News in both total viewers and the 25-54 demographic for the first time since 1996. ABC News chief David Westin brought a case of champagne to the World News rim to congratulate the staff on its February sweeps win. Over at NBC News, executive producer John Reiss has been reassigned after two years on the job. “(He put) his heart and soul into the best television he could muster from all of us for the past two years,” blogs Brian Williams. “The last occupant of that job, Steve Capus, went on to run NBC News — so the bar is high for the man who has been my partner in crime around here for as long as I’ve been a nightly occupant of that chair. He leaves the job with the thanks of all of us.” Nightly lost an average of 570,000 viewers over the last year. CBS Evening News, now with Katie Couric, lost an average of 120,000 over the same period. World News gained 60,000.
Adds Andrew Tyndall: “Certainly, 570,000 viewers seems like an awfully large number of viewers to have mislaid – but since Nightly was the first of the three broadcast networks to make a big deal about offering its broadcast newscast, in its entirety, online – so viewers did not have to watch on Nielsen-rated television – at least some of those 570,000 must be still watching, but at msnbc.com instead. Given Lost Remote’s party line that online is an opportunity for broadcasters rather than a threat of cannibalization, Bergman seems to be sending mixed messages to NBC here: implying that somehow offering viewers a choice of platforms results in the opposition popping champagne corks.”
Cory adds: “I’ll respond to Andrew’s comment with a quote from NBC’s own chief digital officer, George Kliavkoff: ‘All of our research departments say folks who watch TV online are more likely to go watch on television… for us, it’s all additive,’ he said last month. MSNBC.com’s Nightly Netcast doesn’t cannibalize the newscast’s TV ratings, on the contrary, it allows new viewers to sample it and provides an alternative for TV viewers who missed it. So where did the viewers go? Sure, aging viewership is certainly a factor, but I believe people are watching less evening news because they’re reading more of it online during the day. National and international news is everywhere online (not to mention cable news), and the evening newscasts have become optional. In today’s busy lifestyles, optional TV viewing is increasingly a thing of the past.”
March 1st, 2007
To know Michael Rosenblum is to have an opinion. Michael’s supporters (and yes, disclosure, I am one) find him funny, engaging, insightful and fearless. Michael’s detractors find his vision of VJs (video journalists who report, shoot and edit) to be anti-journalism and only in support of cutting costs. But I like reading work that challenges my notions, and I know the LR Faithful do as well. Michael has started a blog, and it’s going to engender the same passion as when an opinion of his gets on one of the TV-related boards. (He’s the only guy I know that can crack three figures on a comments board with ease.) Michael goes deeper into history than you may think to find examples of those unwilling to adapt to new technology. Michael ties together threads from Edward III and the Battle of Crecy, Alexander Graham Bell, and Jacob Perkins, inventor of refrigeration. Rosey is not subtle. And I recognize by recommending his site I’ll see the same comments he sees. That’s cool. Debate is healthy. TV newsrooms are firing people every week. That’s the reality. That’s not the fault of technology, it’s the fault of people who don’t see the benefits of it and don’t adapt to it. And if you still think you disagree with everything he says, read this item on “breaking news.”
March 1st, 2007
Thanks to a surge in revenue from its movie division, Viacom said its Q4 profit nearly tripled over a year ago. On the earnings call, Viacom brass released some interesting details on its digital growth. “We are very pleased to have more traffic on our sites since we took down our video from YouTube because we are able to monetize that as opposed to someone else doing so,” said CEO Philippe Dauman, who released January year-over-year growth numbers in unique users for ComedyCentral.com (+90 percent) and MTV.com (+55 percent.) Astute Lost Remote readers will remember the Viacom purge began on February 2nd, and Dauman doesn’t release February-over-January numbers, so it’s unclear if the sites’ growth rate accelerated or remained the same. (Hitwise reports that visits to YouTube grew 14 percent in the two weeks after the takedown.) Meanwhile, MTVN’s virtual worlds — Virtual Laguna Beach and Virtual Hill — now have over 360,000 registered users. Dauman said MTV’s digital revenue is up more than 60 percent, and he believes Viacom will reach its goal of $500 million in digital revenues in ‘07. “Down the road, it will be harder and harder to segregate digital from the traditional media growth,” Dooley said. “Two-thirds of our digital ad sales growth sold in tandem as one package negotiated with the advertisers. They are melding together faster and faster as we go quarter to quarter.” Which I imagine contributes to the challenge at media companies today to try to figure out how to account for internet revenues apart from TV revenues.
March 1st, 2007
We’ve been hearing a lot from Gannett over the last several months about “crowdsourcing” and “networked journalism.” Now the company is gearing up to relaunch USAToday.com with an incredible array of social functionality — in fact, more than I’ve seen on any newspaper site in the country. Now, the design isn’t spectacular, but let’s focus on the features. First off, users can create their own profiles, add friends and start their own blogs. You can vote for stories, which pushes them up a recommendation list on the home page. You can comment on any story, and the most-commented stories are also ranked. And the recommendations and comments are shareable with friends. Users are also encouraged to upload photos, which will have “report abuse” links. USAToday.com’s “On Deadline” blog is available front-and-center on the home page with a click of a tab. And perhaps the most surprising feature is USAToday.com will display aggregated lists of their competitors’ headlines, via RSS, which link directly off the site. Bravo. Of course, we still have to put the site through the motions when it launches this weekend, but it looks very promising. Jeff Jarvis reports on some of the background behind the redesign, as well as more details. Home page screen grab follows, which is available full-screen here.
So, what do you think so far?
Adds Aidan in comments: “Very impressive — looks to be perhaps the most interactive design I’ve seen from a major mainstream news org. I love the RSS element — says someone in management actually gets it. Of course, anything would be a step up from the current site.”
Adds Rex: “I’m impressed with the functionality, but unimpressed with the presentation. I would be worried that the cool features get lost in the messiness.”
March 1st, 2007
Mark Cuban thinks the Academy shouldn’t have issued a cease-and-desist order to YouTube to pull down clips of the Oscars, but not for the reason you might think. After all, Cuban doesn’t believe media companies should allow YouTube to “become the de facto manager” of their brands by aggregating eyeballs around their content. But he has a unique solution for the Academy: get a bunch of interns and edit 10-second clips of the Oscars that end with a graphic that plugs Oscar.com for full video. Then upload them, en masse, to YouTube. “I wouldn’t post this video one time,” Cuban writes. “I would post this video 100 times. And I would do the same thing for EVERY moment and segment in the Oscars. The reality is that YouTube viewers will grow tired of scanning through every video and just click over to Oscars.com.” He’s probably right, but of course, this would be all-out war with YouTube. And perhaps frustration isn’t the best way to motivate users to visit your site, but does it matter if they weren’t going to visit your site in the first place?
Adds Echy in comments: “If as you say the viewer wasn’t going to visit the site of the content owner then it’s okay to let YouTube keep the content for free? You’re out of your mind. Don’t get me wrong. I could care less about the Oscars, YouTube and most of the video available on the internet. But this idea that letting someone else display content that belongs to someone else is wrong. It won’t generate more viewers for the content provider (read paid ad views) because the viewer never has to visit the content generators site. They just keep going back to YouTube.”
Adds Safran: “In this model, how many people do you suppose would watch the clip, get fooled and then think, ‘Hey, good for them! I’m gonna go to Oscars.com now.’ Alienating and tricking your biggest fans is a lousy way to drum up traffic.”
March 1st, 2007
Several NBC executives tell the NY Times that the network is poised to replace the executive producer of Nightly News, John Reiss. ABC World News has made great strides over the last several months in closing the ratings gap with NBC.
March 1st, 2007
We’ve been writing about the four-part Frontline series, News Wars, but if you have time to watch just one, make sure it’s part three — an extremely well-done examination of the internet’s impact on journalism. From the turmoil at Tribune’s LA Times to a pointed interview with ABC News chief David Westin about the news value of Primetime Live, this is mandatory viewing. And you can watch it online.
Adds Dave in comments: “The bigger issue is that news used to be a product of many products (including sports, talk, entertainment, etc). In this way, it could afford to be a public service write-off. Now, it’s the main product (especially on the local level). With increased competition including cable news and the internet, it’s no wonder profits are dropping. Locals need to begin developing multiple products; each targeting different demos / niches on the local level to bring in more revenue. This can be done progressively over time and implemented on-air and online.”
March 1st, 2007
