Cynopsis: DIGITAL

11/03/08

Good morning, it’s Monday, November 3, 2008, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.
 
The FCC is receiving last minute pressure to suspend or delay to big votes scheduled for Tuesday. Despite pressure from broadcasters, the FCC appears to ready to rule on whether to allow unlicensed use of the “white space” – the unused portion of the public airwaves not allocated to TV broadcasters – when television goes digital in February. However another commission vote scheduled for Tuesday may in fact be tabled, according to the WSJ. This proposal would change the intercarrier compensation rules that specify how telecom providers pay each other to exchange voice and data communications traffic between systems. Consumer groups, rural phone carriers, congressional leaders and voices within the FCC are pushing for more public debate on the issue.
 

 
MTV‘s Choose or Lose campaign enters the home stretch today as the network plans to utilize the latest interactive social tools the cover the election on Nov. 4 & 5:

• ChooseorLose.com, MTV.com and MTVNews.com will feature a real-time TwitterVision map of the U.S. including Twitter messages from young people, SMS messages from viewers and messages and videos from the campaign’s crew of 51 citizen journalists
• MTV News will have teams on the ground in New York, Chicago, and Phoenix providing man on the street interviews
• MTV/Knight Street Team 08 reporters from 15 battleground states will broadcast live
• mobile-to-web coverage including in-depth videos, blogs and Twitter updates
• Two MTV citizen journalists will take part in the first-ever AP continuous live video stream, “Big Issue: Election Results,” available to some 2,000 Web sites of newspapers via AP’s Online Video Network
• MTV is airing an exclusive Q&A with Barack Obama this morning at 9 am ET in which the senator answers questions submitted by users

 
Win or Lose John McCain scored high ranks among viral video fans for his comic timing and depreciating sense of humor. The Presidential hopeful appeared live with Tina Fey (as Sarah Palin) on SNL over the weekend in a mock QVC infomercial. (“Barack Obama purchased airtime on three major networks,” joked McCain. “We, however, can only afford QVC.”)
 
Internet Broadcasting and the AP are teaming up to offer local TV station partner sites a special “Election Night” package per B&C, offering election result updates every 3-7 minutes rather than the 30-60 minute updates it says are typical of local media sites. Content includes a national presidential results map and links to a wide selection of national and local news sites providing election video clips and breaking-news coverage.

 
Professionally-themed social network LinkedIn launched a number of new applications to help members customize their profiles, share information and create project-based entries. Box on LinkedIn shares files within your network. Amazon on LinkedIn allows you to discover what your network is reading. TripIt on LinkedIn allows you see where your network is traveling. SixApart on LinkedIn updates members’ blog posts.
 
Online video platform Clearleap secured $3.3 million in venture debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank. Clearleap says it will use the funds to enhance development of infrastructure and business management products for IPTV service providers and content owners. The funding announcement follows a $9M Series A equity investment from venture capital leaders Trinity Ventures and Noro-Moseley.
 
Instant messaging and chat provider Meebo will integrate embeddable Meebo chat rooms into Comedy Central’s Indecision2008.com to host live user commentary during election and post-election television coverage. The network will promote Meebo on-air on Nov. 4 directing amateur pundits to the site to weigh in with their opinions.
 

 
Check out greenMeter from Hunter Research and Technologies, a new iPhone app that keeps track of your car’s carbon footprint and fuel efficiency. The program uses the device’s internal accelerometer to measure forward acceleration and compute engine power, fuel economy, fuel cost, carbon footprint, and oil consumption. More advanced measurements such as drag coefficient, vehicle pitch and rolling resistance can be calculated using estimates available on the company’s site.
 

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM CTAM

 
The Interactive Advertising Bureau introduced 5 new best practices initiatives to spur growth and improve efficiencies in online advertising:

• E- Business Interactive Standards is an XML-based solution for automating the transfer of business order information between ad agencies and media companies
• Interactive Advertising Workflow Best Practices provides process recommendations to agencies and publishers for improved communications and operations
• Digital Video Ad Serving Template (VAST), an XML-based solution designed to standardize communication between digital video players and servers. VAST allows publishers to increase digital video yield by utilizing ad networks to sell unsold inventory and reduce friction with buyers by allowing third-party ad tags
• Ad Load Performance Best Practices details how agencies and publishers should develop and serve digital advertising campaigns to reduce load time and improve performance
• Best Practices for Rich Media Ads in Asynchronous Ad Environments establishes a standard set of rich media implementation rules for rich media ad vendors, creative development teams and publishers when serving ads into dynamic environments

 
The prospect of the Justice Dept. approving a search alliance between Google and Yahoo appear to be dimming as both sides consider walking away from the table, according to the WSJ.
 

 
Confirming a theme long espoused by proponents of online video streaming, Nielsen released data from its new 1,000 home TV/Internet Convergence Panel that says watching video online doesn’t necessarily take away from TV viewing. Video junkies are the power users in both mediums: the top fifth of internet users spend more than 250 minutes/day watching television, compared to 220 minutes of television viewing by people who do not use the internet at all. Conversely the lowest consumers of television also have the lowest usage levels for the internet. Other findings include:

• Nearly 31% of in-home internet activity takes place while the user is watching television. About 4% of TV viewing occurs when the consumer is also using the internet
• Roughly 50% of panelists had viewed some streaming content online, led by Female Teens (82%), Male Teens (64%), Men 18-34 (57%) and Men 35-54 (55%)
• Nearly 60% of panelists and more than 80% of people who watched TV and used the internet that month had simultaneous sessions
• Teens are the most likely demographic to have simultaneous TV/Internet usage, but Adults 35-54 have the most simultaneous usage minutes

 
The premiere of 30 Rock last Thursday on NBC seems to indicate a similar win/win relationship between online and on air views. Following the viral explosion of Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin impersonations on SNL, the show was watched by a record 8.5 million viewers (4.1 rating/10 share in 18-49 demo)  – a huge boost from last season’s average audience of 6 million.
 

 
Online boarding pass provider Sojern, Inc. hired Neil Strow as its East Coast Sales Director. Based in New York, Strow will be responsible for driving sales and growing the Sojern advertising network. Previously Neil served as VP/Ad Sales for the Travel Ad Network (TAN).
 

 
Polling isn’t just for politicos. The ability to “ping the crowd” to gage public opinion can be invaluable for marketers, programmers or other curious souls who want to get a feel for which way the wind is blowing. Now you don’t need a weatherman to know which way that proverbial wind blows. Check out Urtak.com, a new collaborative public opinion tool that queries its users with thoughtful yes or no questions designed to measure political, social and moral trends. Ask, answer and browse previously asked questions and categories. The Question of the Day is meant to query particularly timely issues.

Later — Wayne
 Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
11.03.08

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