OnMedia RSS

Multimedia... Will Blogs rule?

Steve_Rosenbaum — Sat, 10 May 2008 12:11:10 -0700

In the future content will be king. ~~In the future content will be king~~ . Strike that, content will become a commodity. I know that sounds really bad, but stay with me for a sec. It's happening already. There are hundreds of thousands of videos. Thousands of indie films. Zillions of recordings of unknown bands.

[...]

Journalism Drives Innovation

AO — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:54:23 -0700

On May 21st and 22nd, the Innovation Journalism conference at Stanford is bringing the driving forces of journalism and innovation together. For the AlwaysOn members and bloggers, it’s going to be a great time to network and interact with innovation and journalism bigshots.

The conference will also host a visit by the World Economic Forum (WEF), which will present its new Global Agenda[...]

Spot Runner Secures $51M

AO — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:00:09 -0700

Yet another ad network—one we think will get acquired soon—has picked up a heavy investment. Another sign VCs don’t think online advertising will suffer from short-term economic woes.

From the press release:

Spot Runner today announced that global media leaders Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) and Grupo Televisa, along with renowned institutions Legg Mason Capital Management* and Groupe Arnault/LVMH, as well as existing investors

[...]

Taiwan’s Touch Takes Aim at iPhone

WSJ — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:37:24 -0700

Taiwan’s High Tech Computer Corp is taking aim at the iPhone with its newly released version of the “Touch” smartphone. At 3 million units sold, Touch Diamond is giving Apple a run for its money (overseas, of course).

From WSJ:

High Tech Computer Corp. unveiled a new version of its popular "Touch" smartphone, as the Taiwanese mobile device maker seeks to challenge better-known rivals like Apple Inc.

[...]

Apple shifting power balance in mobile

John_Shinal — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:26:12 -0700

Apple is doing for handset makers what upstarts like mig33 and Thumbplay are doing for mobile software companies -- tilting the balance of power in the wireless applications market away from the big carriers.

[...]

The Open Mobile Competition Begins?

AO — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:27:54 -0700

Google, in either another move for the good of mankind or for the good of Google, has registered a "concern" with the FCC that Verizon Wireless may not be committed to open-access on the spectrum.

From the Standard:

Google concerned about Verizon's open access

Google has asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to obtain a pledge from Verizon Wireless that it will honor

[...]

Startups Seek New Ad Formats

OnMedia — Tue, 06 May 2008 10:59:32 -0700

So when’s that ad money coming in? As investors clamp down, startups are looking for hipper ad formats. Real people will smell a rat.

The ad from Dexter below tells the whole story—an embeddable video ad that friends can send to eachother. Meebo is experimenting with a new ad strategy that eschews in-your-faceness and relies on friend referrals. Now it's up to the ad agencies to make videos that'll go viral.
[...]

IAB Flattens Video Ad World

AO — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:22:57 -0700

The ad world just got one step closer to closing that gaping gap between eyeballs and ad dollars. The IAB announced much-needed standards for in-stream online video ads today.

From the press release:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau Launches Digital Video In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines
Simplification and Efficiency Lead the Way to Continued Explosive Growth

[...]

AP Launches Mobile News Network

AO — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:12:19 -0700

Big Media ain’t dead yet. The AP has launched what it expects will be “a single access point for both news and advertising, both national and local” on smart phones.

AP launches Mobile News Network

NEW YORK -- The Associated Press today debuted its Mobile News Network, a multimedia news portal targeted at wireless users who want access anytime and anywhere to international, national and local news content from the cooperative and its members.

[...]

GodTube Gets $30M

AO — Mon, 05 May 2008 11:04:56 -0700

GLG Partners believes in the market for ministry, according to paidContent's Rafat Ali. The religious video-sharing site won a $150 million valuation.

From paidContent:

Hoping For Ungodly Returns: Christian Video Sharing Site GodTube Gets $30 Million Funding

GodTube, one of the fast growing Christian online video sharing and social networking sites, has received a big $30 million funding round from hedge fund GLG Partners, paidContent.org has learned.

[...]

Mobile TV Taking Hold

NYT — Mon, 05 May 2008 09:58:05 -0700

Mobile TV has spread from the Far East to Switzerland and Italy. AT&T is betting the US will soon follow suit, and has embraced faith in advertising to cover big infrastructure costs.

From NYT:

Mobile TV Spreading in Europe and to the U.S.

BERLIN — Every day in Switzerland, 40,000 people watch a 100-second television news broadcast on their cellphones.

[...]

Microsoft Abandons Yahoo Bid

CNET — Sun, 04 May 2008 08:25:47 -0700

Steve Balmer said there will be no deal and no takeover after talks with Yahoo fell apart on Saturday. Yahoo's next act is a tough one. Meanwhile, Google is rubbing its hands.

From CNet:

Microsoft is withdrawing its offer for Yahoo after talks between the two companies broke down on Saturday, a source told CNET News.com.

[...]

Flash Coming to More Mobile Phones

WSJ — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:41:21 -0700

Sony Ericsson, Nokia Corp., LG Electronics Inc., and Motorola Inc. signed an agreement with Adobe to make Flash video available on handsets. The Mobile Web is slowly becoming more user-friendly.

From

Viewing Your Sites on Handsets in a Flash
Cellphone Makers Jumpstart Browsing With Help From Adobe

Surfing the Web on cellphones is a major headache.[...]

Google May Evade Antitrust Probe

WSJ — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:50:51 -0700

Yahoo is getting close to carrying Google ads, as Microsoft prepares to either drop its bid or get hostile. Google could never get away with this under other circumstances. They're loving it.

From WSJ:

Yahoo May Be Set to Unveil Plan to Carry Google Ads

Yahoo Inc. could announce an agreement to carry search advertisements from Google Inc. within a week as it braces for Microsoft Corp.

[...]

Google's #1 Goal: YouTube Payoff

CNET — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:20:38 -0700

Eric Schmidt admitted Google hasn't yet figured out how to turn the $1.6B investment into a profit stream. Despite growing scepticism about YouTube's worth, we think Goog will figure it out this year.

From CNET:

Google CEO Eric Schmidt likely surprised few by confirming Wednesday that his company's video-sharing powerhouse YouTube isn't quite throwing off lots of cash.

[...]

Adify Bought for $300M

AO — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:11:27 -0700

We called this one years ago. Adify is a 2-time OnMedia 100 winner. They join the ranks of AO cover boys Quigo and Blue Lithium who sold for big money after being featured as top AO winners. AO blogger John Shinal says the price tag was $300M.

From the Adify Blog:

Adify Customers, Partners, Employees and Investors –

[...]

Adify On Ad Network Values

John_Shinal — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:10:37 -0700

It was just a month ago that Adify CEO Russ Fraidin told me that he thought his company would be worth more than $300 million "sooner rather than later."

Turns out he was right.

[...]

Exclusive: ScanScout Teams with Clearspring

AO — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:27:22 -0700

Adsense worked because it was a one-stop shop for publishers and advertisers. The mess that is online video, widgets and ad networks needs simplification. This partnership is a smart move.

From the Press Release:

ScanScout Partners with Clearspring to Enable Viral Sharing of Video Advertising
Video Advertisers Can Now Reach Facebook, MySpace, Google, and Yahoo through Viral Distribution

[...]

Another Print Paper Closes Shop

NYT — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:54:36 -0700

Rumors of newspaper deaths are not exaggerated. The Capital Times, Madison's 90-year-old daily newspaper, has stopped printing, and will focus exclusively on web content.

From NYT:

Reluctantly, a Daily Stops Its Presses, Living Online

With print revenue down and online revenue growing, newspaper executives are anticipating the day when big city dailies and national papers will abandon their print versions.

[...]

Twitter Picks Up More Funding

CNET — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:45:17 -0700

Maybe last week's outage and subsequent revolt made it look important. Maybe it was the departure of two chiefs. Whatever the reason, a few more investors have sunk up to $20M more into Twitter.

From CNET:

Twitter gets another round of funding

Posted by Charles Cooper
Tweet and ye shall have.

A source familiar with the negotiations tells me that Twitter signed a term sheet for "either $15 million or $20 million" last week.

[...]

VCs Hungry for Chinese Video

WSJ — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:18:10 -0700

Tudou.com, China's YouTube, just received $57M from a set of undisclosed investors that included firms from the US and Singapore, in addition to China. VC appetite for Chinese companies remains unabated.

From the WSJ:

Chinese Video Web Site Sparks Investor Interest
By LORETTA CHAO

[...]

The BitTorrent-Comcast Project

Andy Plesser — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:47:41 -0700

BitTorrent & Comcast are working on technology to "Speed the delivery of video in the years to come".....and P2P is green!

[...]

Video Flips for the Future

Steve_Rosenbaum — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 09:05:02 -0700

Its hard to imagine it. A company comes out of nowhere and build a next-gen video camera that is going toe to toe with Sony, Panasonic, and Cannon almost over night. But it's true, and its called The Flip - and there are some key lessons to be learned in the Flip story.

[...]

AOL Traffic on the Rise

WSJ — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:43:53 -0700

AOL's traffic numbers are proving what we all suspected: a constellation of highly targeted niche sites are the best bet for big media.

From WSJ:

A yearlong effort by AOL to transform its content Web sites into crowd-pleasers is beginning to pay off.

Traffic to the sites -- including AOL Money & Finance, entertainment, and the male-oriented Asylum -- grew 15% to 56.5 million unique U.S.

[...]

Meet Google's New CIO

CNET — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:05:05 -0700

Google tapped Benjamin Fried to replace Douglass Merrill as CIO. Fried worked on the original World Wide Web software, assisted Google's IPO, and loves ultimate frisbee--a perfect fit.

From CNET:

Google has found its new chief information officer, CNET News.com has learned: Benjamin Fried, a programmer who rose through the ranks to run much of Morgan Stanley's computing infrastructure.

[...]

Buzzd Gets Series A

AO — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:18:06 -0700

Greycroft and Monitor Partners led the round. Buzzd , a location-based cityguide, keeps the night club crowd clued in to what's happening in their vicinity.

From the press release:

Buzzd Gets Series A Funding To Bring Real Time Updates of City Happenings To Mobile Generation

24 Apr 2008 NEW YORK, NY (April 24, 2008) – Buzzd, a location-based cityguide and social network on the mobile

[...]

Apple Blows Out Estimates

AO — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:58:21 -0700

Apple reported second quarter results way above even the most optimistic Wall Street projections--43% revenue growth and 51% growth in computer sales. Jobs must have missed the recession memo.

From the press release:

Apple Reports Record Second Quarter Results
Revenue Up 43 Percent Year-Over-Year

CUPERTINO, California—April 23, 2008—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2008 second quarter ended March 29, 2008.

[...]

Facebook Tightening Up

John_Shinal — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:33:51 -0700

Joyce Park, CTO of Renkoo, talks about the ups and downs of developing applications for Facebook, which she says is tightening up controls on developers after some bad actors used spam and other dirty tricks to increase their user base.

[...]

Linden Lab Gets New CEO

WSJ — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:29:19 -0700

Philip Rosedale, founder of Linden Lab, developer of Second Life, will be replaced by Organic Inc CEO Mark Kingdon. Rosedale, quite the visionary, undoubtedly has more crazy ideas to pursue.

From WSJ:

Linden Lab Recruits New CEO

SAN FRANCISCO -- Linden Lab, developer of the animated environment Second Life, said it recruited Mark Kingdon to serve as the closely held company's chief executive officer.

[...]

Agencies on ComScore Flap: meh

WSJ — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:43:24 -0700

Last week's revelation that ComScore's stats can be misleading has had little effect on ad agencies' opinion of the web tracking service, according to the WSJ. Who else have they got? Alexa?

From WSJ:

Agencies Know the Score on Web Tracking
ComScore's Bust
On Google Clicks
Is Hardly a Surprise
By EMILY STEEL

[...]

WPP Extends into China

AO — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:03:56 -0700

WPP has acquired a minority stake in HDT, a well-connected Chinese ad network. HDT has distribution agreements with all of China's major portals and video sites--the global media march continues.

From the Press Release:

WPP Digital takes stake in HDT Holdings Technologies Inc. in China
21 April, 2008

[...]

Google Up 17%, comScore Down 8%

WSJ — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:39:45 -0700

Remember Chicken Little's announcement last week? "Google ad clicks are slowing! Recession is hitting the Valley!" ComScore forgot a few numbers. You can come out of the bunker now.

From WSJ:

[...]

AOL Buys Sphere, Microsoft Unfazed

NYT — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 07:53:22 -0700

Funny how the acquisitions pick up when there's a deal on the table. With the Yahoo/Microsoft/Google/AOL/MySpace debacle up in the air, AOL is flexing its M&A muscle.

From NYT:

[...]

Oak Pours $50M Into Federated Media

AO — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 07:16:20 -0700

The VC media feeding frenzy continues. FM's portfolio includes Boing Boing, Ars Technica, Ask A Ninja & Digg. Will the deal mean better coverage for Oak's portfolio? Stay tuned...

From the [...]

FCC Spectrum Leftovers

WSJ — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:02:14 -0700

While most agree that Kevin Martin's $19B airwave auction was a success, critics in Congress are upset that the big Telecoms won. We are too. Maybe some leftovers can go to fresh competition.

From WSJ:

Congress Debates Future Of Unsold FCC Spectrum

By COREY BOLES
April 15, 2008 2:11 p.m.

[...]

Google Seeks Lead Role in China

WSJ — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:20:31 -0700

From the WSJ:

BOAO, China -- Google Inc. aims to become a market leader in China's Internet-search market in about five years, said Kai-Fu Lee, president of the company's Greater China operation.

Google also is exploring investments in Chinese companies that focus on social networking and mobile Internet as part of its strategy to expand in China, a burgeoning market that analysts estimate may already exceed the U.S.

[...]

Schmidt on Salesforce Partnership

John_Shinal — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:40:25 -0700

Google CEO Eric Schmidt says that the integration between GoogleApps and Salesforce.com's on-demand software is just the first step toward what he expects to be a bigger partnership between the two companies.

"I think we'll be doing a lot more" with Salesforce.com, Schmidt said of the two firms, which are each

[...]

Denton Unloads 3 Gawker Sites

AO — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:51:47 -0700

From Denton's internal email:

I'm amazed we've managed to keep a lid on this news; that, given your naturally gossipy natures, must be a first! We're spinning off three sites: Idolator, Gridskipper and—this one may be a surprise—Wonkette. There were indeed some rumors about Maura Johnston's music blog late last year; they were true of course.

[...]

Vator Box on beatboxing founders and next-gen social networks

Bambi.Francisco — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:56:17 -0700

In this episode of Vator Box, the show where we rate your pitches, Paul Martino, CEO and founder of Aggregate Knowledge was our guest host.[...]

CNN Betting on Long Form Vids

Andy Plesser — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:57:28 -0700

CNN has been creating Web specific video for some time. Live streaming has greatly increased since the news organization took the subscription wall down around its paid streaming service known as Pipeline.

I caught up with Sandy Malcolm, Executive Producer of CNN.com about how the Web has afforded her company with new ways to present video. She told us

[...]

Passion Vs. Pragmatism

Steve_Rosenbaum — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:56:37 -0700

Entrepreneurs are driven by passion to build and create. There's a fair amount of hubris in believing that you can imagine things that don't currently exist, and the create them. And it takes a pretty active imagination to close your eyes and see the world using, enjoying, even paying for something that currently exists only in your head. As a lifelong startup[...]

Rocketboomer May Sell Reputation

mattwbowman — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:52:35 -0700

Andrew Baron, founder of Rocketboom, is selling his Twitter account with all 1500 followers on eBay. Call it a publicity stunt or a meaningful speech act (ala Chris Anderson's pr email expose)--either way it'll spark some interesting debate about credibility and privacy.

[...]

Is Content Worthless?

Jonathan_Handel — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:48:31 -0700

“Content is king,” many people believe, meaning that films, television shows, music, news and information are more profitable assets than the technology used to deliver them. But there's an older, cautionary aphorism that applies as well: “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.” Content may be king, but, ironically, its perceived value today is being driven towards zero.

[...]

Ustream Winning Livecast Race

AO — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:25:07 -0700

Live video streaming service Ustream picked up an $11.1 million A-round from DCM and existing investors Labrador Ventures and The Band of Angels. The cash infusion may help it outpace competitors Justin.tv, Qik (which also picked up $3M this week), and Mogulus. The space is getting crowded, and there are only so many Web 2.0 conferences to stream.

-The AO Take
What's your take?[...]

What Time Warner Wants to Fund

Bambi.Francisco — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:10:02 -0700

[...]

Murdoch, AOL Rush the Field

AO — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:07:42 -0700

News Corp. has joined forces with Microsoft to forge a three-way deal for Yahoo. Meanwhile AOL is closing in on a deal to fold itself into Yahoo. The spectacle is clogging the blogosphere.

From WSJ:

Yahoo Inc.

[...]

Voyeurism and Brand Control

Bambi.Francisco — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 08:27:56 -0700

We're back again with Drew Curtis of Fark.com fame.

[...]

Imeem Scoops Up Snocap

AO — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:32:17 -0700

The music media consolidation continues. Yesterday imeem, a social network focused on music and playlists, bought Snocap, which enables indie music artists to license their own content and sell it online. Last week, several of the less-social music media sites showed signs rolling-up. We're hoping the conglomeration affect doesn't end up handing the entire new-media music world over to the big media tycoons.
[...]

Video. The end, and the begining.

Steve_Rosenbaum — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:13:36 -0700

Friends - the next chapter promises to be an interesting one for the video space. There’s a Chinese proverb about the curse of interesting times. And that is pretty spot on.

So, video. huh. It seemed like it was going to be HUGE. Now, with costs mounting and Madison Avenue yawning - you can start to hear the background chatter rising.[...]

YouTube Opens Ad Sales

Andy Plesser — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:47:43 -0700

YouTube, which introduced overlay advertising into its video clips on the channels of certain "qualified" content producers, is allowing some producers, including CBS, to sell advertising themselves, on their own terms.

Breaking the news on this is my colleague Daisy Whitney of TV Week who visited YouTube's San Bruno headquarters to interview Jordan Hoffner

[...]

Google, Verizon and the Spectrum

AO — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:45:35 -0700

Google, Verizon Wireless and the rest of the FCC airwave auction bidders are now free to speak about what went on in the "double super secret" closed sessions. Goog tells the story best:

For three weeks at the end of January and early February, a small team of us holed up in

[...]

Right-Now Buyers

Robert_Dykes — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:46:34 -0700

AlwaysOn continues its discussion with NebuAd founder and CEO Robert Dykes with a look at how advertisers using behavioral targeting can cope with audiences that are increasingly sensitive to privacy. Dykes discusses how NebuAds' techniques can ensure user anonymity and build a community of right-now buyers.

AlwaysOn: NebuAd and other companies using ISP data have been criticized for the amount of information they can tap into.[...]

Adobe's Web HD Concept

Andy Plesser — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:37:08 -0700

[...]

College Video Networks

Bambi.Francisco — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:54:20 -0700

Drew Curtis of

[...]

Radiohead Widget Monetizes Music 2.0

AO — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:20:05 -0700

Everyone loves to hate the record labels, but how will artists make money? Just as many new media companies are relying on conferences for cash flow until the ad dollars catch up, Radiohead's tour-plugging on their free music offering may be a new solution for indy rockers. Check out their widget below:

[...]

NYT Discovers Social Media Generation

Steve_Rosenbaum — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:32:48 -0700

Sometimes it takes a media outlet with the scope and impact of the NY Times to tell us what we've all kind of known... Kids These Days just aren't consuming their fathers old style media.

So when Brian Selter writes on the front page: "According to interviews and recent surveys, younger voters... are replacing the professional filter — reading The Washington Post, clicking on CNN.com — with a social one" you've got to sit up and take notice.
[...]

Selling (to) the Community

Robert_Dykes — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:25:58 -0700

New marketing (as characterized by Seth Godin, among others) operates on a very different premise from that of traditional marketing. Traditional marketers strive to find the "right" consumers and interrupt them at the "right" time. New marketing shifts that premise and says that letting consumers find the right "information" (what they want) at the right "time" (now!) enables the identification and cultivation of niche audiences and buyers.
[...]

Is Google Slowing Down?

AO — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:21:54 -0700

Data from comScore indicate that Google's paid clicks in February rose only 3% compared with the same month a year earlier - could a macroeconomic dampening of commercial queries be the culprit.

From Marketwatch:

[...]

Zipidee close to B Round

John_Shinal — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:16:31 -0700

If you want to go where the startups go for venture capital funding in Northern California, you head to Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park.

While there's also a fair number of firms with offices in Palo Alto and San Francisco, the leafy office parks that sit back from this avenue on the edge of Silicon Valley reads like a Who's Who list of VC firms.

[...]

Commercial Vids Work on Facebook

Andy Plesser — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:20:11 -0700

Josh Bernoff, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, told me that some marketers are finding success by putting videos into social networks. Not ads, but content of value to the members of the networks.

He talks about successes of big and small marketers and explains the values of such interaction which is far greater than cost-per impression.

[...]

Google Has Archived NYT, TIME

Andy Plesser — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:56:22 -0700

Google News, the aggregation platform for news from thousands of news sources, has a short shelf life. After news stories are posted, they expire after 30 days.

However, all these stories, plus millions of older articles never posted, reside on Google News Archives.

[...]

Adobe Introduces DRM for Flash

Andy Plesser — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:55:27 -0700

Flash, the ubiquitous Web plug-in that has driven the success of YouTube and the vast majority of online video has one big limitation: its files are not protected from being saved, mashed or republished.

Apple's QuickTime and Microsoft's Windows Media Player have robust security protocols.

[...]

Big Web Misses the Video Boat

Steve_Rosenbaum — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:18:40 -0700

•Dear Jeff Bezos, Amazon is asleep at the wheel.
•Ebay, You should have been vBay 24 months ago.
•Craig Newmark, Do you know you own a TV network?

Guys - you're blowing it.

You see, video isn't passive entertainment - it's the voice of your customers. And from looking at the traffic on YouTube, there's no shortage of it.

But you're blowing it - and here's why.
[...]

Digital Media Funding-Q4

Don.Jones — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:11:41 -0700

During the quarter, the Internet and Digital Media sectors raised a total of $1.45 billion in new venture capital investment between 169 companies. That represents an increase of 14% in Internet total investment over the previous quarter and a 2% decrease for Digital Media. While venture funding is up, merger and acquisition activity is down, with significantly fewer M&A deals in the sector and only $103,000,000 in total reported consideration.
[...]

Wireless & Mobile Funding Report

Don.Jones — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:13:40 -0700

During the final quarter of 2007, the four reviewed sectors raised a total of $732 million in new venture capital investment between 70 companies. Funding amounts were 4% less in the aggregate than the previous quarter. The number of companies funded also dropped, by 8%. These numbers reflect essentially flat to slightly lower activity versus the previous quarter.

[...]

Future of Interactive Advertising

Matt_Booth — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:11:15 -0700

The Kelsey Group recently released the company's annual forecast for the global advertising market. Traditionally, the forecast focuses on changes in the local directional media landscape (Yellow Pages, local search and Internet Yellow Pages). As part of the research effort, we consider the various consumer behavioral shifts and the ad spending changes in the global market.

[...]

AP Launches YouTube Channel

Andy Plesser — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:57:07 -0700

The Associated Press, the world's largest news organization, has recently launched a significant presence on YouTube with its own channel. Editors are uploading about 250 videos a week, Beet.TV has learned. The AP began uploading these videos over the past month or so.

[...]

Newsweek Proclaims UGC 'over'

Steve_Rosenbaum — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 08:50:16 -0700

There are a number of things wrong with the Newsweek article titled: "Revenge of the Experts" - but it provides a really useful lens to look at the changes taking place in both Content and Search on the web.

Perhaps most importantly, I agree with Tony Dokoupil's thesis, but strongly disagree with his conclusion. One of the things that traditional media has done is suggest to[...]

Online Advertising Needs Standards

John_Shinal — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:54:21 -0800

It's no secret that advertiser spending on Web video is lagging expectations -- at least for those trying to get more of it.

The topic was much talked about

[...]

OnMediaNYC Redux

OnMedia — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:10:19 -0800

Our friends at Boston.TV put together this video recap of OnMedia NYC. We're looking forward to having them at our upcoming Venture Summit East in Boston.

This is one of the slickest examples of quality niche online programming we've seen, and they've got plans to grow the product for other cities. They've got interviews with local Red Sox heroes, high school sports rundowns, and an upload section thats getting traction from local bands.[...]

VideoEgg Moves Beyond CPM

Andy Plesser — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:02:09 -0800

Microsoft is paying 50 cents per interaction with its ad.

In a major development in the way advertisers pay for advertising in video ads, VideoEgg has launched a new performance-based advertising system called AdFrames.

One of the first advertisers to sign on is Microsoft, which is advertising new features in Office 2007. Instead of

[...]

Why Facebook should buy Meetup.

Steve_Rosenbaum — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:59:25 -0800

The Facebook phenomenon - the emergence of virtual worlds as powerful communities - is strangely triggering something else. The resurgence of physical communities.

This isn't a theory. It's a fact.

Just look at my frequent flier miles if you want proof. As I write this, I'm in Las Vegas for Affiliate Summit - then heading to Monterey for the TED[...]

Google Unveils Adsense for Video

Andy Plesser — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:06:45 -0800

Overlay text and banners are ready to roll for publishers big and small.

In what may well be a landmark development for the monetization of online video, Google has launched a program to provide video publishers and video services companies with overlay advertisements.

[...]

Citigroup's Mahaney on Microsoft-Yahoo

John_Shinal — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 08:21:47 -0800

Citigroup stock analyst Mark Mahaney tells Vator.tv managing editor John Shinal in this interview that Microsoft's hostile $44 billion bid for Yahoo will likely succeed, despite the hurdles it faces.

"If you were a betting person you'd have to bet that this deal goes through," although probably at a higher price than the $31 a share Microsoft offered, Mahaney says.

[...]

More Social, More Mobile, More Money

OnMedia — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:41:33 -0800

Where is the Media Industry headed in 2008? What new user behaviors and technologies are disrupting the ad market? How will M&A and IPOs be affected? KPMG and AlwaysOn asked over 300 VCs, CEOs and industry insiders in Silicon Valley and New York City to tell us where they see the media world headed in 2008. Here's what they had to say...

[...]

Why Revver Matters.

Steve_Rosenbaum — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 20:01:53 -0800

Why Revver Matters.

Ok, so you've heard the grumbling. Revver was sold for something less than the 10x multiple that its investors had hoped for. Maybe this is it - the beginning of the video shake out that will leave YouTube as the de-facto video platform.

Let's explore the video space at this moment in 2008, and see if that seems like a reasonable conclusion.

[...]

Let Yahoo go, Steve Ballmer!

John_Shinal — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:09:38 -0800

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is right now trying hard to make the Yahoo deal happen. He wants it bad. He wants Yahoo as part of Microsoft to help him solve the Google problem.

Google is still dominating the search ad market even after Microsoft has spent billions on internal product development.

[...]

CEO Bill Sagan on Wolfgang's Vault

John_Shinal — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:32:16 -0800

Bill Graham, the legendary music impresario who staged hundreds of concerts for rock acts like Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and the Doors, kept a treasure trove of those performances.

After Graham died, the live music and video recordings, poster art and other memorabilia were acquired by Wolfgang's Vault founder and CEO William Sagan.

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Yahoo Has Clickable Pre-Rolls

Andy Plesser — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 09:20:14 -0800

In November, Yahoo! quietly introduced clickable pre-roll ad units with a "call to action," meaning visitors who watch a video, see a pre-roll ad and are encouraged to click on the ad to find more information.

Rebecca Paoletti, Director of Video Sales Strategy told me on Friday that some of these new units are getting clickthrough rates ten times greater than conventional ads.

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Unleash Mobile Advertising!

OnMedia — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:37:03 -0800

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Video Ads Need a Blippin Standard

Andy Plesser — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:53:38 -0800

Standardization of Online Video Advertising is Essential, says Blip.tv's Dina Kaplan

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Tim Draper on building a new-media brand

John_Shinal — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:20:23 -0800

The real-time, interactive nature of the Internet will offer revenue opportunities for content creators that were rarely available using the traditional Hollywood business model, according to venture capitalist Tim Draper.

However, taking advantage of those opportunities -- ranging from online merchandising to placing ads in front of fans -- will require

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Are You A Curation King?

Steve_Rosenbaum — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:46:26 -0800

Content is King! Web 2.0 Remix

Ok, it's an old saw. Content is King. Only, it's not. We all know it. Content is massive, fast growing, overwhelming, and increasingly hard to wrangle.

Just try and sort through the blogs, twitter feeds, cable channels, magazines, tv networks, podcasts, and mass[...]

Media M&A Appetite Still Growing

OnMedia — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:02:59 -0800

We all know VCs and startups have to be bullish about 2008, despite a rocky economy, but when a top analyst says digital media M&A will be up, even after an explosive 2007, it's worth another look.

JP Morgan's Imran Khan said at OnMedia NYC this month that we'll continue to see Google, eBay, Amazon, Expedia and company dole out big bucks for media startups, because hunger[...]

The Power of Niche Content

Andy Plesser — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:55:40 -0800

Little Wine Library TV is Beating the Wine Spectator!

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OnMedia 100: Where Are They Now?

Tolman Geffs — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:45:42 -0800

Released in January 2007, the AlwaysOn OnMedia 100 list highlights “game-changing players in advertising, marketing, and promotion”. These online media, technology and marketing services companies were very active in M&A and financings throughout the year. Taking a look back on 2007:

Ten of the OnMedia 100 companies were sold;
Another 10 made acquisitions; and

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Omnicom on Metrics: Hits v Sales

OnMedia — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:33:42 -0800

Bruce Nelson, Omnicom's Vice Chairman, gave his historical perspective of the evolution of 20th/21st-century media at AO's OnMedia conference last week. He had some interesting things to say about metrics - if you measure hits, you'll end up with a lot of frat humor. As lead and sales tracking improves, maybe the quality of online content will too.
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Cracking the Online Branding Code

OnMedia — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 11:26:00 -0800

Last week, a panel of big-name marketing execs tackled the question of how to crack the online branding code.[...]

Jeff Jarvis Finds his MoJo

Andy Plesser — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:30:26 -0800

Little Nokia n82 Camera Phone Loom Large in Video Journalism

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VC Cafe Shines a Light on Israel

John_Shinal — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:36:07 -0800

Israel has the highest ratio of startup companies per capita, according to Ezequiel (Eze) Vidra, who founded the Web site VC Cafe to help shine a spotlight on that nation's entrepreneurs.

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Will a Recession Hurt New Media?

OnMedia — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:18:05 -0800

Silicon Alley Insider's Henry Blodget asked top media entrepreneurs the tough question at OnMedia NYC last week.[...]

Yahoo's YouTube: Flickr Video

Andy Plesser — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:57:37 -0800

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Boomers Will Pay for Online Video

Andy Plesser — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:58:51 -0800

Exclusive: IBM's chief media strategist releases study showing consumers over 45 will pay for online video subscriptions.

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Mad as Hell at Big Media

OnMedia — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:19:56 -0800

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Why Draper's Betting on Content

Andy Plesser — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:05:07 -0800

VC Titan Tim Draper says content providers are becoming more important ...and Glam is the fastest growing company on earth.

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OnMedia VC Survey Results

Brian_Hughes74172 — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:53:17 -0800

In preparation for OnMedia NYC, AO and KPMG wanted to find out how the forces of new media have affected the marketing, branding, advertising, and public relations industries. Below are the results of a survey we conducted of more than 300 VCs, CEOs and insiders in the media industry.

So where are the investment dollars going and will they turn a profit?[...]

The 2007 BOB Awards

OnMedia — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:01:06 -0800

AO honors the top Internet advertisement videos of 2007.

AlwaysOn is pleased to announce the winners of the first annual Best of Broadband (BOB) Advertising Awards. In 2007, the marketing industry scrambled to follow the eyeballs onto mobile, user-generated, online and interactive content, and launched several experimental campaigns, often failing miserably.[...]

Newsweek Builds Production Team

Andy Plesser — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:10:39 -0800

Jon Meacham has Video Editor's Letter...and Beet.TV is on the Set

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InDiggNation: the Web 2.0 honeymoon ends

John_Shinal — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:03:18 -0800

Why would the founders of Digg, the fast-growing social news site that says it gets more than 20 million unique monthly visitors, keep trying to sell it?

The question could have two answers, both of which may be true: either Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson want to get rich and/or the traffic on the site they run isn't quite what it seems.

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22 Billion Served. UGV Rocks out 2007.

Steve_Rosenbaum — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:23:13 -0800

While the old media world twiddled its thumbs, UGV has been on the march... slowly chewing up the furniture as it absorbs attention, devices, and mindshare for emerging media consumers.

Accustream iMedia Research logged a remarkable 70% increase in views in the past 12 months... eMarketer broke the story with some great graphics:
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Dynamic Ads Take a Giant Step

Andy Plesser — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 08:18:02 -0800

YuMe grabs NBC direct ad-insertion Business.

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The OnMedia 100 Top Companies

OnMedia — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 09:27:20 -0800

We proudly present this year’s OnMedia 100. With this list of top private companies, AlwaysOn’s editors and our panel of industry experts introduce a new generation of game-changing players in the marketing, branding, advertising, and public relations industries.

These 100 companies have emerged in an exciting year in the world of digital media.[...]

Facebook + Google = New Media Math

Steve_Rosenbaum — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:39:33 -0800

Facebook + Google = New Media Math
Commerce in the Cloud changes everything.

Sometimes, driving down the highway, you're going so fast everything seems like a blur.

If you think you may be getting lost, slow down and look around.

Right after the new year, I spend a day or two thinking about the past twelve months and the next twelve. Kind of a review/preview period.
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Google Like a Gigantic Parasite

Andy Plesser — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 22:55:41 -0800

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Mashable 2.0

John_Shinal — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:56:19 -0800

The bravery of William Wallace or the poetry of Robert Burns may be the best-known Scottish cultural exports among the traditional set, but for the more-youthful online crowd, Pete Cashmore and Mashable.com are the man and story of the moment.

The Internet news site founded by Cashmore calls itself the world's most-popular social networking blog and gets more than 5 million monthly page views to back up the claim.

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Scoble Launches New Video Network

Andy Plesser — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:03:30 -0800

Robert Scoble, who pioneered tech videoblogging at Microsoft with Channel 9 and produced hundreds of segments during his tenure at PodTech, is launching a new business television network for Fast Company.

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DRM is dead. Now everyone, play nice...

Steve_Rosenbaum — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 19:24:57 -0800

Last year, at CES - the word was DRM. It was around ever corner. It was plastered on every booth. It was on the lips of every hardware manufacturer and content owner. We will protect your content. We will provide a digital watermark. We will keep you safe from pirates. Your content is under siege, and you need to embrace our DRM or your entire revenue[...]

Birth of a new medium

John_Shinal — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:36:16 -0800

The latest figures on Web video viewing show just how many consumers have glommed on to the Internet as a regular source of news and entertainment.

A report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project released this week shows that the percentage of Internet users who went to a video-sharing site grew 45% during 2007, rising from one-third to almost one-half ofWeb surfers.

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NYT is Off the Grid

Andy Plesser — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:32:11 -0800

With its move to the new

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Open Media Warfare

Tony Perkins — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:54:37 -0800

Over the last five years, AlwaysOn has frequently declared that there’s an Open Media Revolution going on and that many of the silly and arrogant old practices of Big Media are toast. “Editors controlling all the content that pops up under their brands—gone. Subscribers and viewers being invisible to each other—gone. Hello, user-generated content! Hello, online community!” You know our shtick by now.
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Exclusive: NBC Makes Shows Sharable

Andy Plesser — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:03:33 -0800

NBC Nightly News and other MSNBC Shows will be Sharable via Embed

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2008, the Year of Nano-Networks

Steve_Rosenbaum — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 07:02:18 -0800

It used to be there were two worlds. Creators and Consumers.

But that paradigm is gone. Exploded. Today, consumers create content, make and share digital goods, and are powering a shift that can be seen in the rapid growth of web properties that facilitate creation and connection.

YouTube. Facebook. Twitter. The iPhone. uStream. Magnify.net. Threadless. CraigsList.
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GigaOM CEO Malik has heart attack

John_Shinal — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:12:59 -0800

from John Shinal, Vator.tv

GigaOmni Media founder and CEO Om Malik, 41, is recuperating from a heart attack suffered Dec. 28, the company said in a blog post.

"It's been a tough week," said Paul Walborsky, the company's COO, who came on board in August to run non-editorial operations for the online network.

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