Freelance Online Producer, KABC-TV

Los Angeles

Read the full post May 10th, 2007

Halo 3 sells millions (and it’s not out yet)

The most popular console video game, Halo, is gearing up for a third round. Halo 3 is due out this fall for Xbox 360, but it reportedly already sold 4 million in pre-orders — according to some very unofficial stats. You may remember Halo 2 set a record for the most sales in a 24-hour period by any form of media, and industry watchers believe Halo 3 could smash that record. Some people who are pre-ordering the game don’t even own a 360 yet. So why all the hype? Check out this video released by Bungie featuring one of its beta testers putting Halo 3’s multiplayer to the test. Killer.

If there were a way to measure it, I would bet that Halo 3 will take a significant bite out of television viewing for 18-34 year olds in the weeks after its debut.

S Mark adds in comments: “Come on, you are smarter than this article. How many Xbox 360s have been sold? If this was true, that would mean almost half of all owners have registered with Gamestop for a pre-order? Gamestop doesn’t account for 1/2 let alone 1/4 of any games total sales, but in this case they do? But hey the clerk said it must be true, so it must right??”

Cory adds: Good point, and I added “very unofficial stats” to the post above. Yet quite possible overall. Halo 2 pre-sold 1.5 million, and a lot has changed since November 2004: A lot more consoles are out there, game sales across the board are way up and many more people are pre-ordering their games these days. Regardless of specific numbers, this game will set new records.

8 comments May 10th, 2007

Facebook to add free classifieds

Between Craigslist and now Facebook, young people are being conditioned to never pay a penny for a classifieds ad for the rest of their lives. Facebook is unveiling “Marketplace” today, a free classifieds service for its 22 million active users (the sixth most-visited site in the country). Similar to Microsoft’s Expo classifieds, Facebook members can choose to make their listings available to their friends, their networks (school, workplace or region) or to the site as a whole. Yet another blow for newspapers.

5 comments May 10th, 2007

CNN promotes cross-platform sales

CNN bought out the ads on NYTimes.com’s media section to promote its cross-platform sales packages. The slogan: “More ideas on demand.” Here’s the Flash promotion.

Add comment May 10th, 2007

‘Inside Heroes’ on NBC.com aims to keep hype alive

While Heroes wraps up its last couple episodes and heads into the summer break, NBC.com is breaking out an original web series called “Inside Heroes” that aims to keep fans talking about the show. “Being able to interact with rich content all summer long is fun for the user and helps us keep the show brand top of mind,” said Vivi Zigler, Executive Vice President, NBC Digital Entertainment and New Media. Eight episodes will take fans behind-the-scenes of the making of the show from “visual effects, music, wardrobe, stunts, make-up effects, artwork and even the catering.” The first episode posts on May 21st. Release…

Read the full post 1 comment May 10th, 2007

Where have all the viewers gone?

Quoting now from an AP story today: “In TV’s worst spring in recent memory, a startling number of Americans drifted away from television the past two months: More than 2.5 million fewer people were watching ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox than at the same time last year, statistics show.” Everyone has a theory: early start to Daylight Savings Time, poor measurement of DVRs, boring TV shows and broader availability of video online. All of these likely have an impact. The bottom line is that these declines will have a significant impact. Even if people are watching TV as much as they did last year but it’s not being measured properly, the message has already been sent to advertisers: people seem to be watching less traditional TV. That perception is dangerous for the networks, especially when you consider that new digital revenues will not offset a drop in viewership of this magnitude, this fast. Your thoughts…?

13 comments May 10th, 2007

Fox to offer MySpace slots to Super Bowl advertisers

Fox is offering a little extra for advertisers willing to sink $2.7 million into a 30-second spot for next year’s Super Bowl: placement on MySpace. Advertisers will be able to offer customers “calls to action” after their spots run online, with coupons or links to their own sites, for instance. Explains the WSJ, “This marks the biggest move yet by a network to try to leverage its internet ties to buyers who are increasingly demanding a web component in their marketing plans.” (WSJ sub. req.)

Add comment May 10th, 2007

CBS, Viacom contribute to $45M Joost funding

The peer-to-peer video site Joost has landed a big $45 million funding round with five investors: Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Li Ka Shing Foundation, CBS Corporation and Viacom. “We’ve carefully selected these investors from a variety of interested parties, as they are best-in-class in their respective arenas and bring unique assets to Joost that will enable us to significantly accelerate growth and development of the Company,” said Janus Friis, co-founder of Joost. Press release…

Read the full post Add comment May 10th, 2007