Since acquiring Blogger in 2003, Google has launched a large network of company blogs - on a wide variety of topics. One such site - “Google Health Advertising Blog,” recently featured a post that took aim at Michael Moore’s new film “Sicko.” The premise of employee Lauren Turner’s item was to encourage health industry advertisers to purchase AdWords targeted at people searching for topics related to the film. The entry quickly triggered criticism. Turner later stepped back and said the opinions were hers alone - not Google’s official stance.
Then, the “Official Google Blog” weighed in on the flap:
We’ve been proponents of corporate blogging for some time, despite the significant communication challenges that obviously arise from having many voices from all parts of our company speak publicly through blog posts. In this case, the blog criticized Michael Moore’s new film “Sicko” to suggest how health care companies might use our ad programs when they face controversy. Our internal review of the piece before publication failed to recognize that readers would — properly, but incorrectly — impute the criticisms as reflecting Google’s official position. We blew it.
Forbes keenly pointed out that Google senior software engineer Matt Cutts operates a personal blog where he often weighs in company-related topics. It’s a kind of split personality,” industry analyst Danny Sullivan told the magazine. “Here you’ve got Turner using her personal opinion on the official blog. But Cutts is putting official opinion on his personal blog. If you want to decipher Google’s opinion, it’s very easy to get mixed up.”
July 2nd, 2007
NBC’s Marc Graboff had a fast chat with Fortune Magazine to talk about his new role running NBC with Hollywood hot shot Ben Silverman. Fortune half-jokingly asked if reinventing the broadcast TV model could mean a return to sponsor-branded programs of yore like Texaco Star Theater. Graboff noted anything is possible - and cited examples like Pond’s face cream presenting USA’s “The Starter Wife” - complete with a product integration deal He also says Silverman will handle the duties of finding new hit shows, while he’ll take care “of everything else.” And you’ll never guess what show from another network he covets… Yeah, American Idol.
July 2nd, 2007
AOL pulled back the curtain on its new video portal today. The site is pretty straightforward - but its video search works remarkably well - pulling in a wide variety of sources, including MSN, CNN, YouTube, CBS News and others. You can also upload your own video to the site. AOL says its seen the number of unique users grow for the video channel grow to more than 8 million per month.
July 2nd, 2007
Sony and Nielsen will work together to increase the effectiveness of Nielsen’s video game advertisement monitoring, the companies announced today. Aggregate user data from the Playstation Network will be combined with Nielsen’s People Meter panel to better measure how well-viewed ads inside video games are viewed. Full release after the jump.
FOSTER CITY, Calif. and New York, July 2 PRNewswire — The Nielsen Company and Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA) today announced an initiative to develop a measurement system for game network advertising that will help make game software a more competitive advertising platform.
Under the arrangement, SCEA will share with Nielsen game network traffic and other data from its PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(TM)) systems and
PLAYSTATION(R)Network, including PlayStation Home. Nielsen will then analyze and benchmark the data to create new measurements for calculating the reach, frequency and effectiveness of game network advertising for the benefit of the entire industry. Usage data provided by SCEA to Nielsen will include enabled first- and third-party software titles accessed through PS3s and PLAYSTATION Network. The initial rollout will begin in the North American market.
Developed and managed by Nielsen, an independent research organization with more than 75 years of experience in audience measurement, this innovative, fully-transparent and highly-accurate measurement system is intended to mitigate the risk to the advertiser and lead to the growth of the industry.
Highlights of the arrangement between Nielsen and SCEA include: — Nielsen will combine the SCEA census data with its own game usage data currently collected from more than 12,000 U.S. television households in its National People Meter panel to generate a more integrated view of usage and advertising performance. — Advertisers and agencies will be able to calculate CPMs across PS3s and PLAYSTATION Network with greater detail and accuracy. — This fall, Nielsen will begin monthly reporting on, and ranking of, audience statistics and user activity from across PLAYSTATION Network as part of its syndicated GamePlay Metrics measurement product, which is scheduled to launch in July 2007. — Nielsen is also working with SCEA to identify server data and determine media data formats that will greatly enhance SCEA’s capabilities to deliver the right ad to the right person at the right time across PLAYSTATION Network.
The initial results of this joint effort are expected to be released later this year.
“SCEA and Nielsen intend to introduce a new kind of discipline and rigor to the measurement of game advertising that will create enormous value for advertisers, game publishers and game players alike,” said Phil Rosenberg, senior vice president, SCEA. “Working closely with Nielsen, which has a global footprint that is well-aligned with our own, we look forward to clearly demonstrating the effectiveness and reach of both dynamic and static ad placement within games.”
“SCEA’s contribution of its game census data, combined with Nielsen’s data sets, represents a milestone in our efforts to bring greater legitimacy and accuracy to game advertising measurement,” said Jeff Herrmann, vice president of Nielsen Games. “By marrying SCEA’s server-side data traffic with our standard ratings metrics, we will be able to provide advertisers with a much more robust picture of the impact of their game network advertising and of those consumers who are actually playing games, all while preserving consumer privacy.”
Today, Nielsen collects information on the general usage of game systems, connected and otherwise, through its National People Meter sample of more than 12,000 U.S. television households. At launch in July, Nielsen GamePlay Metrics will provide, for the first time, metered game usage and demographic information by game title, genre and platform that provides new insights into the popularity and usage of games among U.S. consumers — data that can better inform the buying and selling of in- and around-game advertising.
About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information including mobile media (Nielsen Media Research), business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek), trade shows and online information. The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands and New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.
About Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.
Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. continues to redefine the entertainment lifestyle with its PlayStation(R) and PS one(R) game console, the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system, the PSP(R) (PlayStation(R)Portable) system, the ground-breaking PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(TM)) computer entertainment system and its online and network services the PLAYSTATION(R)Network and PLAYSTATION(R)Store.
Recognized as the undisputed industry leader, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. markets the PlayStation family of products and develops, publishes, markets and distributes software for the PS one game console, the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system and the PSP system for the North American market. Based in Foster City, Calif. Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. serves as headquarters for all North American operations and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment.
“PLAYSTATION”, “PlayStation”, “PS one” and “PSP” are registered trademarks and “PS3″ is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
July 2nd, 2007
Fox’s reality sing-a-thon American Idol had the most product placements during the first quarter, according to Nielsen Monitor Plus. The top 10 had a combined total of 8,893 mentions - up a tad from the same period in 2006. Seven out of those top 10 were reality shows - with CBS drama NCIS taking the scripted prize.
July 2nd, 2007
According to an internal memorandum, NBBC is closing and its services are being partly folded into NBC Universal’s new joint video venture with Fox. The joint venture (known temporarily as “NewSite”) will incorporate some of NBBC’s assets, but those who have made deals with NBBC are out of luck, according to the memo sent to its partners:
As part of our contribution, nbbc must sever all on-going business relationships in preparation for the merger. Therefore, this note serves as your 30-day notice of service termination with nbbc. NewSite is an independent operating entity and may reach out to you to explore potential business partnerships.
Created as a way for sites to establish partnerships and monetize content, NBBC had just launched in beta in September, 2006. The company had about 150 big-name content partners.
July 2nd, 2007
Analysts say Apple has sold about 500,000 iPhones since letting the device out of the gate Friday afternoon. That’s an opening weekend of $250 - $300 million in sales. About two percent of buyers have experienced delays in activating their service. Anectodal evidence suggests people are preferring to pony up the extra $100 for the iPhone with eight gigs of memory (double the four gig model that sells for $500).
July 2nd, 2007
CNN.com has launched its live streams to the site as it officially ends its Pipeline program. The new live video player echoes Pipeline - you have choices of streams to watch. The player has a black background and links to a few stories. I hit my share of snags and delays using it this morning, but the experience generally worked. There remains the odd obsession CNN has with stretching its video to 16:9 widescreen even when the video was shot in 4:3.
July 2nd, 2007
Opus the Penguin, ever suggestible, gets caught up in the iPhone mania in this week’s “Opus.” He goes on a cash-throwing rampage to get one, only to find out what happens to early adopters. Click through for the full strip, which is sadly lo-res.
REPORT: Apple has sold 525,000 iPhones since June 29 (not counting Opus’s purchase)
MORE: LR commenter Paul K. points us to a higher-res version at Salon.
July 2nd, 2007
<rant>
Every station has done this before: some big product comes out, a producer goes to eBay and searches for it, and they quote the highest price they can find to make it sound like a bigger story. Stop it. An extreme is not a story, and it adds hype to a story that doesn’t need your help to be bigger. Checking the prices right now on eBay, prices are not far off from retail. That’s probably because, as Don posted earlier, there are still iPhones available at the stores. So, producer at a network morning show, what does it add to the story when you report on national TV that the cost on eBay is $2,799? I just found one for $20,999,999 (at least shipping is included). That doesn’t mean that’s how much the phone costs. You can still buy the 4GB model for $499 and the 8GB model for $599, plus tax.
</rant>
July 2nd, 2007
