Cynopsis: DIGITAL

05/22/09

Good morning, it’s Friday, May 22, 2009, and this is your first early morning digital briefing. 

Sometimes when you want something done you’ve got to do it yourself. Traffic to NBC Local Media‘s newly redesigned web sites has more than tripled since NBC took over management from Internet Broadcasting, according to Beet.TV. Meanwhile operational costs have been reduced by 20% – 40%. The NBC O&O group is planning stage 2.0 of the site relaunches later this summer with a scheme to better contour each site to each local city.
 

 
In a play to appeal to PlayStation 3 owners, Warner Bros. is releasing a special version of Watchmen bundling the Director’s Cut of the movie on Blu-ray disc with the full version of a Warner Bros. Interactive video game, Watchmen: the End is Nigh. Part one of the game was released for Xbox Live, Windows PCs and the PlayStation Network in March.
 
The BBC renewed its partnership with YouTube and announced plans to create a selection of new channels for the portal. BBC Worldwide is planning a series of thematic channels around exploration, food, comedy, etc. BBC America will also launch a U.S.-only channel in the coming weeks, featuring excerpts from shows such as Torchwood and Doctor Who.
 
ABCNews.com completed a redesign featuring a more intuitive interface, improved navigation, more video and better search functionality. Search results are now categorized by type, date, show and section. A cool rotating video strip at the top showcases new clips from each one of ABC News’ prime time shows the way WSJ.com’s strip spotlights stories. Also, new embedded links now pop up when you mouse over headlines, leading users to links related by topic or show.
 

 
Former founders of Rockstar Games Jamie King and Gary Foreman are two of the executives behind 4mm Games, a new interactive gaming start-up focused on developing interactive entertainment titles for multiple platforms and devices. The company says it has secured significant title-based investment through a financing partnership with CEA Autumn Games. 
 
Twitter and Haiku? Not a bad combination when you think about it. Transit ad provider Titan Worldwide has launched the first real-time Twitter Haiku competition at the Kings Cross Station in London. Large display screen will showcase submitted poems within minutes of them being submitted to the Twitter address @kingsplace. The competition began Monday and runs though today, and asks commuters to reflect on the coming of Summer and what it means to them. Entries will be judged by Yoko Ono and leading U.K. poet Jackie Kay MBE.
 

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Twitter co-founder Biz Stone felt compelled to remind the ad world that Twitter doesn’t hate ads in a blog post. It’s banner ads that the company is not crazy about. “The idea of taking money to run traditional banner ads on Twitter.com has always been low on our list of interesting ways to generate revenue,” writes Biz. “However, facilitating connections between businesses and individuals in meaningful and relevant ways is compelling. We’re going to leave the door open for exploration in this area.”
 
AOL’s Platform-A remained the top ad network in the U.S. reaching over 176 million users or 91.5% of the total US internet audience, according to ComScore‘s April ad network rankings. Newcomer Fox Audience Network broke into the top 10 at #6 reaching 149.2 million users. Several ad networks in the top 25 achieved double-digit growth during the past year, led by Turn Inc. (up 121 percent), CPX Interactive (up 88 percent) and 24/7 Real Media (up 48 percent). 
 
Top 25 Ad Networks ­ – April 2009 vs. April 2008
                                                    Total Unique Visitors (000)
                                            Apr-2008        Apr-2009     % Change
Total Internet: Total Audience     190,728         192,875           1
Platform-A                                170,508         176,455           3
Yahoo! Network                         160,206         167,129           4
Google Ad Network                     155,882         164,518           6
ValueClick Networks                    140,930         160,307          14
Specific Media                           144,773         158,012           9
FOX Audience Network                     N/A         149,249         N/A
24/7 Real Media                           99,959         147,668          48
Traffic Marketplace                     114,682         143,519          25
Microsoft Media Network US         119,595         139,674          17
Tribal Fusion                              135,113         138,274           2
Casale Media – MediaNet             127,184         137,884           8
interCLICK                                107,961         134,834          25
Turn, Inc                                   60,617         134,028         121
Adconion Media Group                 117,965         133,498          13
CPX Interactive                           69,178         130,370          88
Collective Network                       88,279         129,808          47
ADSDAQ by ContextWeb               93,815         123,534          32
AudienceScience                             N/A         121,001         N/A
Burst Media                                89,670         116,727          30
Undertone Networks                     72,940          97,053          33
AdBrite                                      81,838          91,033          11
Pulse 360                                       N/A          82,574         N/A
Vibrant Media                              72,351          80,779          12
Adify                                             N/A          73,467         N/A
Kontera                                     52,159          72,870          40
Source: comScore Media Metrix
 

 
In an ongoing dispute, low cost flat panel TV manufacturer Vizio filed a lawsuit against Japanese TV distributor Funai Electric Co. for copyright infringement, alleging that its licensing terms, in concert with partners, violate several Vizio patents. Vizio is seeking to have a court block importation of Funai flat-screen TVs into the U.S., as well as damages for millions of units in past sales.
 

 
Virtual worlds may be a niche phenomenon now but the kids demo in particular is increasingly embracing such environments, according the eMarketer. Currently about 6 million or 37% of online 3-11 year olds visit virtual words. That number will jump to 9.6 million or 54% by 2013. That’s more than double the penetration expected by the teen demo, expected to reach 25% by 2013.
 
US Child Internet Users Who Use Virtual Worlds 2008-2013 (millions and % of total)
                                 2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013
Child internet users       15.6  16.1   16.6  17.0   17.4   17.8
Child virtual users           4.4    6.0     7.0    7.8    8.7    9.6
% of child users who      28%  37%   42%   46%  50%   54% 
use virtual worlds
Source: eMarketer, ages 3-11, visits at least monthly
 
US Teen Internet Users Who Use Virtual Worlds 2008-2013 (millions and % of total)
                                 2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013
Teen internet users       20.2  20.7   21.3  21.8   22.2   22.7
Teen virtual users          3.4    3.7     4.0    4.6    5.1    5.7
% of teen users who     17%  18%   19%   21%  23%   25% 
use virtual worlds
Source: eMarketer, ages 3-11, visits at least monthly
 

 
Google introduced a new speedier version of its Chrome browser with some much-needed new features including a full screen mode, a form autofill and the option to remove thumbnails from the new tab page.
 

 
Dean Ernst has joined digital delivery service Yangaroo as a consultant.  Yangaroo’s Digital Media Distribution System allows record labels to send broadcast-quality versions of their artists’ music to radio stations over the internet.
 

 
Pundits like to point out how little return on investment YouTube has given Google. And to be honest, at the rate of (Jefferies & Co.-estimated) $500 million/year in revenue, it is going to take some time to get back that $1.65 billion. On the other hand it was an all-stock deal – one that didn’t exactly rock Google’s share price. One should also keep in mind that YouTube’s usage and arguably its importance as a platform continues to increase every month. A YouTube blog posting claims 20 hours of video are now uploaded to the site every minute – up from 15/min. in Jan. and 6/min. just a year ago. More and more premium content providers turn to the site for its superior reach. And YouTube continues to add new features to encourage more participation. The site’s newest feature is the ability to post instant video responses to videos. Of course, this will end up costing Google more in bandwidth costs, but the approach makes sense – anything to keep the community turning first and often to the portal. After all, where else would you go looking for Jimmy Kimmel’s ABC Upfront Rant, the most frightening bit of truthiness since Steven Colbert’s Roast of President Bush. When the monetization puzzle get’s solved, the ROI will come.

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Later — Wayne
 Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
05.22.09

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