YouTube crashes for a couple hours

What to do? What to do? I guess I’ll have to go dust off the TV…

Update: Two hours later, it’s back (6:30 p.m. PT). Whew!

Add comment July 25th, 2007

Second Life is a marketing wasteland

In a long article titled “How Madison Avenue Is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life,” Wired lays out the age old question which may as well translate into “What if Linden Labs threw a party and no one came?” Or at least, a party where no one sticks around because there really isn’t anything to do in Second Life once you’ve wasted hours trying to figure out how to use it. About 85 percent of the avatars that have been created are abandoned and there are precious few frequently returning monthly visitors, leaving marketers an audience of about 100,000 Americans to pitch on their expensive little islands. It all adds up to a reality that is nowhere near as exciting as the claim that there are 7 million ‘residents’ of Second Life’s virtual reality.

3 comments July 25th, 2007

Looks like bad news in Q2 for newspapers and local TV

Second quarter earnings are starting to come in from the newspaper and local tv station owners, and the advertising exodus isn’t stopping. Scripps came in with higher profits, boosted from the cable networks, but was below estimates with print advertising revenues down in classified and local and also lower political advertising in the broadcast group (disclaimer: I work for Scripps). The New York Times doubled profits on the sale of their television group, but reported a 6.9 percent decrease in advertising revenue. Tribune Company saw a 59 percent drop in earnings, but managed to check falling revenues to only 7 percent due to cost-cutting measures. Unfortunately, the third quarter is not looking much better, and companies are already issuing warnings.

3 comments July 25th, 2007

Massive to place ads in EA Sports games

Recently purchased by Microsoft, Massive has inked a deal to sell dynamic advertising into EA Sports franchise titles, such as the popular ‘Madden NFL 08.’ In game advertising is growing fast. Marketers around the world spent just $26.1 million on dynamic in-game advertising in 2006, according to estimates from Yankee Group, but the researchers project that figure will rise to $100 million this year and $645 million in 2010. Cory Van Arsdale, Massive’s chief executive, said there is huge interest from marketers looking for ways to reach video games’ sweet spot demographic: 18 to 34-year-old males, who, according to JupiterResearch, watch less TV than the average Web-connected American, but make up more than half of console gamers. As of press blog time, there was no word if the game would feature avails on the backs of photographers wearing red vests.

Add comment July 25th, 2007

CNN’s YouTube debate scores big ratings

Lost Remoters have given their impressions about the YouTube CNN debate, but to the network executives, the real results are in. The format that some call ‘gimmicky’ delivered the highest viewership for a debate among adults 18-34 in cable news history. Overall, Nielsen says the debate averaged 2.6 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched debate so far this season.

2 comments July 25th, 2007

New NBC stations chief praises niche strategies

New NBC owned-and-operated stations chief John Wallace is urging his GMs to take a niche approach to their local markets. “You’ll see a big change in the focus on local, in terms of our digital strategy,” he says. “It’s our intent to have a bigger presence in niche communities and get away from general news.” Wallace praised WCAU’s recent site launch, DigPhilly.com. There are a lot of unique qualities in each marketplace,” Wallace says. “There’ll be a very different look and feel to how we present content in that marketplace. There’ll be major reliance on [general managers’] local expertise.”

Wallace is right on the mark, as Lost Remote readers know from my previous posts.

5 comments July 24th, 2007

SF power outages crash major sites

I was wondering why Craigslist was down. And Technorati, Yelp, LiveJournal and many more, thanks to six back-to-back power outages in the SOMA neighborhood of SF. Brutal.

1 comment July 24th, 2007

Online sports ad spending to skyrocket

Online ad spending for sports will hit $727 million this year, including paid search. And it will top $1 billion by 2011, predicts a report from eMarketer. The only challenge is sports video, which is riddled with restrictions and relatively unpopular — only 11 percent of users are “likely” to watch sports video online compared to 50 percent with news video. “Video quality does matter with sports,” said Paul Verna, senior analyst, eMarketer. “And there’s also the social aspect of watching a football or baseball game.”

Add comment July 24th, 2007

Paula Zahn out at CNN

First, Campbell Brown leaves NBC for CNN. Now Paula Zahn is leaving CNN.

2 comments July 24th, 2007

ABC.com debuts high-def player

As promised, ABC.com has launched its high-definition video player in beta — the first for a network TV site. It includes a single episode each of Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty to get you started before the new fall season. ABC.com says there are a few system recommendations including a “late model, fast computer,” screen resolution of 1300×770 and minimum bandwidth of 2 Mbps. Screen grab from Grey’s Anatomy inside the full-screen player…

I gave it a swing on my home DSL connection — which is not 2 Mbps — and the video stuttered frequently, but the quality was excellent. (Anyone else try it on a higher-speed connection?) You may remember ABC.com won an Emmy for the first player they built, and this new addition just reaffirms the site’s technological leadership in video playback.

Adds ChickenEye in comments: “I have a 10 Mbps Cable connection and a Core 2 MacBook Pro. It’s gorgeous and stutter free (and the little HD bandwidth meter on the bottom right lights up at full quality - which you’re not quite at in your screenshot). Definitely a sign of things to come!”

21 comments July 24th, 2007

Lost Remote getting new jobs section

Yes, I know, I know, I’m way behind updating jobs. It was getting too much to handle manually, so I’m doing a deal with a vendor to power a new jobs board, coming ASAP.

And yes, my real job has been busy lately. Cool new stuff coming soon.

1 comment July 24th, 2007

Photos of the hated NFL vest

As you probably know, the NFL has a new rule that will require sideline photographers to wear a red NFL vest with Canon and Reebok logos plastered on it. Photo District News has photos of what it will look like here. (Thanks, Allen!)

Adds Jeri in comments: “I think the vests could’ve been a hell of a lot worse. The logos are actually pretty small. I was expecting CANON across my back.”

8 comments July 24th, 2007

TiVo HD goes on sale for $300

TiVo has debuted a new high-definition DVR, and it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than the $799 Series 3. The $299 TiVo HD can record 20 hours in HD (180 in SD), can records two shows at once, but it’s not compatible with TiVoToGo. (Thanks, Eric!)

8 comments July 23rd, 2007

SI buys stake in Takkle.com

With all the activity surrounding the high school sports space, it’s no surprise that Sports Illustrated is making a minority investment in Takkle.com. The two companies already have a content-sharing partnership surrounding SI’s “Faces in a Crowd” feature.

Add comment July 23rd, 2007

Hearst buys UGO Networks

In the latest media acquisition of a technology company, Hearst has purchased UGO Networks for around $100 million, reports Forbes. UGO is a network of young male-targeted websites that brings in 11 million uniques a month. “CEO J. Moses has been trying to sell his company for more than two years,” writes Erika Brown in Forbes. “Just about every media giant out there has taken a look at the deal, and then taken a pass.” But for UGO, persistence has paid off. (Via PaidContent)

Add comment July 23rd, 2007

Reactions to the new NFL rules

If you work for a local TV station, let us know how you’re dealing with the new NFL rules in comments below (you can be anonymous.) Training camps are getting underway, and I’m curious how far stations will go to fight the NFL’s mafia-like restrictions…

3 comments July 23rd, 2007

Your impressions of CNN-YouTube debate?

So, how did it go? There are a billion reaction stories online, among them…

-   NY Times: “Yet while there was a new format for the debate, which was sponsored by CNN and the video-sharing Web site YouTube, the change went only so far: Candidates frequently lapsed into their talking points, and there was little actual debate among them.”

-   Tom Shales in the Washington Post: “The major flaw looming over the two-hour telecast was that it wasn’t a very good telecast. CNN put the videos up in a relatively tiny window within a giant onstage screen.”

-   Joe Garofoli in the S.F. Chronicle: “Videos conveyed a poignancy that e-mailed questions often cannot…. Questions were asked by atheists and a melting animated snowman as well as by a man who asked the candidates what they’d do to protect his baby — a large rifle laid across his lap.”

So what do you think? A great concept or a failed experiment?

11 comments July 23rd, 2007

iPhone could be vulnerable to attack

Apple’s Macintosh is renowned for its nearly virus-proof operating system. But a report in today’s New York Times suggest that the company’s iPhone (built on that same operating system) might not be quite as secure. A former employee with the NSA had his iPhone log on to a custom-built website. The site then “injected a bit of code into the iPhone that then took over the phone.” The phone sent off a raft of recent text message and other files. The story notes that the exploit could even turn the phone into a “portable bugging device.” The New York Times pointed its readers to a detailed site — with a name that speaks for itself: ExploitingTheiPhone.com.

3 comments July 23rd, 2007