Archive for June 19th, 2007
Frank N. Magid Associates is out with its latest survey of online video usage, and the results are staggering - if not surprising. Daily video usage by Internet-enabled 12 to 64-year-olds jumped 56% in the past year. A full 14% of that wide demographic swath said they watched video online each day. Thirty-five percent of males age 18-24 view video online each day — that number explodes to 80% when you increase the metric to a week. Even the group with the lowest weekly usage - women 55-64 - had a pretty decent number: 39% of people in that group said they watched once per week. Wow. The survey also found that more than a third of 12 to 64-year-olds watched news stories - but as you might expect, the number is higher for older respondents.
June 19th, 2007
It’s better than a Dwight Schrute bobblehead: The Office will soon be a video game. Low-cost game maker MumboJumbo grabbed the rights to the NBC show, and hopes to debut it in the fall. The game is expected to be “simple” from a technology standpoint, and won’t be available on the latest consoles - instead going to Nintendo DS, Sony PSP and the PC. It will be available for download as well.
June 19th, 2007
In April, Cory told you about the fired Santa Barbara News-Press journalists who started up their own news site to compete while they fight to get their jobs back. The National Labor Relations Board this week rejected the group’s plea to seek a court order to reinstate the eight fired reporters. The case will go to trial next month.
But here’s the thing: that renegade news site is impressive. Clean, open design. Tons of news. Well produced video. Plus, the venture is expanding - staffers are producing a 30-minute newscast every other week that airs on public access TV.
June 19th, 2007
Gawker has a strongly worded internal memo from Time Magazine managing editor Rick Stengel to his staff: “(E)valuations of every Time writer, correspondent, and reporter will be based on the quality and quantity of the contributions each of you makes to both the magazine and to TIME.com.” After a revamp earlier this year, Stengel notes that pageviews to the site are up 70% since last year, and time spent on the site is up 50%. But, he says - the site needs more original content. “All of this will only make you better at what you do - and make TIME stronger. It will serve you and serve our readers, who can and should expect the same devotion to great writing and reporting online as in print.” Amen. Imagine if every local newsroom boss sent out a similar memo…
June 19th, 2007
A director at The McClatchy Company, Kevin McClatchy has invested in Gather.com, a social network. Hearst and The McGraw-Hill Companies are also investors. Release…
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ABCNews.com says its traffic has grown 21 percent year-over-year — 10.2 unique visitors and 132.5 million page views in May, the first full month after launching a new design that emphasizes user participation. Also in that same month, ABCNews.com said user registrations jumped 328 percent from the previous month with users posted more than 70,000 comments. Press release below…
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This would be a massive shift: Nielsen is considering integrating its online audience measurement with its household ratings system, according to Daily Research Online:
The plan would involve fusing data from its National and Local People Meter samples with Nielsen//NetRatings’ Internet panels to report the relationship between television and Internet consumption. If agreed, this would require the installation of new meters and software into the existing TV ratings panel to enable Nielsen to simultaneously track online usage in those households.
On the one hand, this will cut down on some of the resistance stations have when it comes to putting original content on the web. On the other hand, it does artificially connect two distinctly different products. What do you think?
June 19th, 2007
David Lebow has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of Internet Broadcasting, the nation’s largest network of TV station Web sites. Mr. Lebow was previously Executive Vice President and General Manager of AOL Media Networks.
(Disclosure: My employer, Hearst-Argyle, owns a portion of Internet Broadcasting, and I work at the IB headquarters.)
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Online dating websites are a $700 million industry, and chances are good you know someone who is finding dates online. NBC is now helping all those online daters by launching ondating.tv. “Hosted by Andrea Syrtash, a certified dating coach, each ON Dating show serves as a 3-8 minute primer on how to date in the 21st century, offering viewers advice on topics ranging from how to write the perfect profile to proper online etiquette to selecting the site that’s best for you.” The site features a very large and high-quality 16×9 video player, which works great thanks to the quality level at which this online video is produced.
Read the full post June 19th, 2007
Two powerful websites are working closer together as Weather Channel content is now more prominent on msnbc.com. Check out the new Weather page on msnbc.com to see the new content. Among the offerings are customizable current conditions, 36 hour forecasts, and regional and national weather maps from weather.com.
June 19th, 2007
