A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM IAB

Cynopsis: DIGITAL

04/10/09

Good morning, it’s Friday, April 10, 2009, and this is your first early morning digital briefing. 

French lawmakers unexpectedly struck down a “three strikes” bill that would have enabled ISPs to cut off file sharers’ connections for up to one year upon their third piracy violation. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has championed the measure as a way to protect French culture and expression, had rounded up the necessary votes on previous drafts of the bill. But the final version was rejected 21-15, as most of the 577-member legislature decided to take the day off to avoid voting on the hot potato issue. Here in the U.S. the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives began hearings this week on a new initiative to fight copyright piracy abroad. Late this month the Office of the United States Trade Representative is scheduled release its “Special 301” report listing countries whose lack of intellectual property protection have the greatest adverse effects on United States industries.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE from ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES

 
This will be an important test case for both parties. The Universal Music Group is partnering with YouTube to develop a new music themed channel positioned to be the largest music video site on the web. Vevo (what is it with these 4 letter names?) will be built around a branded embedded player that will offer access to UMG’s entire catalog, integrating professional content with additional artist generated content (live clips, interviews, etc.) and YouTube-curated UGC. (Authorized mash-ups could be a huge lure here.) Vevo will also serve as a syndication platform, distributing ad supported music videos broadly across the web.
 
CBS, which kicked off its enhanced online & iPhone video coverage of the Masters yesterday from Augusta, released the final numbers for its NCAA March Madness On Demand product:

• 7.52 million unique visitors to the player (up from 4.76 million in ’08 – 58% growth)
• 8.6 million total hours of live streaming video and audio consumed – (2008 figure was 4.92 million – 75% growth)
• 515 thousand total hours of video and audio were consumed during the semifinal and championship games, a 51% increase over last year
• 2.77 million clicks of the Comcast-sponsored “Boss Button” (up from 2.5 million)

 
Activision is sourcing the crowd asking fans to vote on what tracks they’d like to see on the next Guitar Hero Smash Hits set list. Choose your favorite here.
 

 
Facebook officially hit 200 million active users, per a post by CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the company blog. (The problem now, of course, is what to do for an encore.) In other Facebook news, the social networking phenomenon began blocking “share on Facebook” tags added recently to P2P site The Pirate Bay after requests to remove the buttons were ignored, per Torrent Freak.
 
Music streaming service Spotify, still not officially approved for use in the U.S., launched “ libspotify,” an open API approach allow third party developers to write applications for the popular platform. Spotify allows users in Europe to listen to music from all the major record labels for free, with 20-second ads inserted every 30 minutes of listening time. Open APIs should open it up to gaming consoles, mobile phones and other digital devices while the start-up tries to convince the U.S. music industry that it is not a threat. Spotify scored a coup earlier this week in the UK when it signed a licensing deal with the Performing Rights Society (PRS) per The Times, which has been locked in a pricing dispute with YouTube since last month.
 

 
Tapulous‘s Tap Tap Revenge ranked as the top penetrated app on the Apple App Store in Feb., according to a new report from ComScore, which now measures audience size, demographic profile and online behaviors of Apple app users. Twelve out of the 25 most popular mobile apps were games. Among non-gaming applications, Stylem Media’s “Backgrounds” applications had the highest installed base, followed closely by the top social networking apps Facebook and MySpace Mobile. ComScore analysis of Apple app users also found that:

• 35% of all app users make $100,000 or more
• 54% of app users are in households make at least $75,000 per year
• iPhone users were at least three times more likely to visit several popular gaming sites, including Ultimate-guitar.com, IGN Entertainment, GameStop, AddictingGames, Xbox.com, Blizzard Entertainment, SourceForge and EA.com
• They were also at least three times more likely than average to visit several popular social/communication/entertainment sites, including: AOL Instant Messenger, Hulu, Twitter.com, Digg.com, iMeem and MTV.com

 
Top 25 Apps by Penetration of Apple App Users-Feb. 2009
Application         Penetration of Installs     Category            Developer
Tap Tap Revenge          32%                Games               Tapulous, Inc.
Backgrounds                27%                Entertainment     Stylem Media
Touch Hockey: FS5       26%                Games               FlipSide5, Inc.
Facebook                     26%                Social Net.          Facebook, Inc.
Pac-Man                      24%                Games               Namco
iBowl                          24%                Games               SGN
MySpace Mobile           23%                Social Net.          MySpace.com
Google Earth               22%                Travel                Google Inc.
Labyrinth                    22%                Games               Codify AB
Pandora                      21%                Music                 Pandora Media,Inc.
AIM                           19%                Social Net.           AOL
Flashlight                   19%                Utilities               John Haney
Virtual Zippo Lighter    18%                Lifestyle             Moderati Inc. & Zippo Manufacturing Co.
Movies                        18%                News                 Flixster
Hangman                    18%                Games               Jamsoft
Bubblewrap                 18%                Entert.               Orsome Software Ltd.
Lightsaber Unleashed   17%                Entert.               Lucasfilm Ltd
Shazam                       17%                Music                Shazam Entertainment 
Mazefinger                   16%               Games               ngmoco
Cube Runner                16%               Games               Andy Qua
Sol Solitaire                 15%               Games               Smallware LLC
Crazy Penguin Catapult 15%               Games               Digital Chocolate Inc.
Topple                         15%                Games               ngmoco
Sudoku                        14%                Games               Mighty Mighty Good
Remote                        13%                Entert.              Apple
Source: comScore Apple App Store Report
 
 

                                                                                    
The rumor mill continues to churn about how Apple will update the iPhone and iPod Touch this summer. A persistent one is that it will feature a new Broadcom chip what would allow it to connect to WiFi using the 802.11n standard. This would not only boost the quality of video streaming but it would also give the gadget FM radio streaming capabilities.
 
Virgin Mobile USA is trying to show its compassion offering an unlimited prepaid voice plan for $50 covered by up to 3 months of “Pink Slip Protection.” (Virgin will pay your monthly bill for up to 3 months if you get laid off.)
 
Photo sharing site Shutterfly launched a free iPhone/iPod touch app allowing users to access, upload and share albums from the device.
 

 
Digital studio and distribution shop RedLever has named Josh Crick as Senior Brand Strategist, responsible for developing customized branded entertainment programs on behalf of brands and advertisers. Josh joins RedLever from music marketing agency Nonstop Riot, where he was CEO and founder.
 
In-stream online video advertising network ScanScout added three new industry veterans and a sales firm to its sales team. Tom Anderson has been named Northwest Regional Manager currently based in ScanScout’s San Francisco office; Seth Bacharach joins as Eastern Region Sales Manager based in New York; and Sue M. Donahue was hired as Midwest Director of Sales, based in Chicago. Additionally, The DiCarlo Group has been appointed to represent ScanScout in the Southeastern U.S.
 

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

 
Microblogging meets micro-video podcasting. Santa Cruz-based video sharing site 12seconds (which limits submission to just that) introduced “12omercials.” Described as the first “Tweet-able” video ad platform, it allows brands (such as launch partners LG or Xobni) or individual users to upload classified ads or promotional videos to Twitter via the popular desktop client application TweetDeck. (12seconds completed an integration with TweetDeck in Feb.) The difference between a normal 12second upload and the 12omercial is that advertisers can add their Twitter ID and a campaign URL to the videos to help promote an idea, cause, or position. We can see this catching on as a way for brands to gain street cred it the fast growing Twittesphere.
 
Later — Wayne
 Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
04.10.09

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A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

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