Archive for March 17th, 2008
YouTube is now offering many videos in a higher quality format — and letting users decide if they want the higher quality versions, or the original faster playing files. They aren’t just limiting the higher quality to partner content, but videos coming in from the greater Interwebs as well. The offering is dependent on the source material uploaded to YouTube, of course - but to help support the initiative, uploads of up to 1 GB are now supported. You can select a higher-res version on a video-by-video basis, or change your account settings so that you always get the good stuff.
March 17th, 2008
SportsBusiness Journal has a fascinating look at the many criticisms that are thrown at ESPN - including weak ratings, arrogance, a heavy reliance on its multi-platform strategy, the news/programming dividing line and more. A PowerPoint presentation has apparently been floating around that lodges many of those complaints - and the SportsBusiness Journal looked at each of the claims from an independent lens. Some league officials regularly express frustration at the decisions made by ESPN’s news operation — especially when it casts a negative light on a sport or player. NBA commissioner David Stern was upset about a piece in ESPN The Magazine leading up to this year’s All Star Game: “We’re having a great year, so ESPN decided that what you should do if you’re a magazine is you write an article going into All-Star about how terrible things are,” Stern told the Oregonion. “Maybe its because (the game) was on TNT.” At the same time, an unnamed executives for Versus was said to be upset because a parade of ESPN hosts spent the day of the NHL All Star game last year dumping on the league and Versus itself.
ESPN currently brings home nearly a third of Disney’s annual revenue — but some see a major threat on the horizon as leagues increasingly work to start their own leagues and take control of their content. The story even outlines criticism against ESPN’s production value, saying some feel “ESPN’s offering has the look and feel of coming off an assembly line, with little creativity or personality to distinguish them.”
March 17th, 2008
WKRN was digitally aggressive under the leadership of former station management, but it would appear the recent Young layoffs have now hit Web staff. Blogger A.C. Kleinheider managed VolunteerVoters.com, a site launched nearly two years ago to cover a local Senate race. He was laid off last week. His final post offered very kind words to the local community bloggers:
…Of course, that only happened because I was standing on the shoulders of some very generous people. Those people, of course, were you, the bloggers whose words I cut and pasted and the commenters whose sometimes inspired, sometimes delightfully ad hominem words made this space a “go-to” hub for those interested in Tennessee politics to come and see “what was going on in blogosphere.”
The community has responded with over 100 comments so far, including some harsh words for the station: “PS–WKRN—You’re making yet another mistake.” The station’s current GM did post a nice comment about Kleinheider.
March 17th, 2008
CBS stations in five markets (Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver and San Francisco) have launched the CBS Local Ad Network, with more markets coming soon. Partners embed a widget on their sites, which combines content with an ad unit. CBS stations sell the ads (for $5 to $10 CPMs) and give the partners a revenue share (undisclosed). CBS says it expects to add about 20 million impressions in each market every month from the network. Here’s a screen grab of UrbanSpoon, in the San Francisco market, with a promo in the medium rectangle ad space…
If you click the promo, it goes here with more information.
March 17th, 2008
