Cynopsis: DIGITAL
06/30/11
Good morning, it’s Thursday, June 30, 2011, and this is your first early morning digital briefing. If you would like to read this or any other Cynopsis edition online, click here.
News Corp.’s once-hot social networking site MySpace has been sold to ad network Specific Media for the bargain basement price of $35 million – nearly a third of the $100 million the company was reportedly seeking and just a sliver of the $580 million News Corp. paid for the site in 2005. Many of MySpace’s 400 or so employees were let go on Wednesday. Jack Kennedy, EVP of Operations for News Corp.’s digital group, oversaw the sale process while Allen & Co. marketed the social networking site to buyers. Specific Media has raised $100 million from private equity firm Francisco Partners to date and is no stranger to acquisitions – purchasing online video site Broadband Enterprises (BBE) last October.
China’s largest online video portal Youku signed a deal with Warner Bros. Entertainment‘s local joint venture to license between 400 and 450 Warner Bros. movies for the new Youku Premium VOD service, per Reuters. Youku Premium launched on Tuesday but has processed more than 200,000 paid transactions since beta testing began in Oct., 2010.
Netflix has obtained streaming rights from Open Road Films, an indie film studio launched by Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment. The service will be the only place online that offers “Killer Elite,” starring Robert DeNiro and Clive Owen and scheduled for theatrical release in September.
CMT will premiere a new Rascal Flatts music video, “Easy,” across multiple platforms including the CMT channel, CMT.com, CMT Pure and, for the first time, within the network’s new Facebook game, CMT Presents Platinum Life: Country. The game enables players to design and customize their own country music avatars then hit the road and tour venues alongside famous bands.
MTV’s bilingual/bicultural network Tr3s is premiering a couple of new web series on its web site this summer: Foodie-targeted “Grillin’ with Rico” begins July 2 while “El Spooky Show,” centered around Spooky, the giant Mexican hamster MTV International introduced during the World Cup last year, appears from August.
The mobile payment service launched by Twitter-cofounder Jack Dorsey, Square, shored up $100 million in financing in a round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The company processes credit card transactions without a contract using a free credit card reader app for the iPhone, Andriod or iPad, collecting 2.75% of the sale.
Social web browser RockMelt, available for both PCs/Macs and the iPhone, has closed on a $30 million round of financing led by new investors Accel Partners and Khosla Ventures and existing investor Andreessen Horowitz. (That gives the company two ties to Facebook – both Marc Andreessen and Accel’s Jim Breyer sit on the Facebook board.) RockMelt integrates with popular social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter to allow users to include their friends as they wander the web.
Video slideshow creation tool-maker Animoto has raised $25 million in a new funding round led by Spectrum Equity Investors with Madrona Venture Group and Amazon.com participating. The company is utilize the funds to “capitalize on the imminent convergence of photos, videos, mobile and the digital living room,” according to blog post from CEO Brad Jefferson.
FremantleMedia Enterprises has acquired the worldwide distribution rights (outside of N. America) for the new comedy series, Web Therapy, based on Lisa Kudrow’s wry web series. The show premieres on Showtime in the U.S. on July 19 at 11 pm et/pt.
Mobile video ad company Vdopia unveiled a new technology to enable advertisers and publishers to seamlessly bypass Flash and pesky plug-ins to run video ads on the mobile web across iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry. The “.VDO” file format is designed to simplify ad campaigns, allowing marketers to utilize existing assets in a write-once, play everywhere format. Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, Microsoft and Samsung are among the brands to have tested the format during its trial run, according to Vdopia.
The IAB opened the doors of its new IAB Ad Lab by hosting the first of several national privacy roundtables organized by U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). The roundtable series is designed to head off government regulation by promoting the industry’s self-regulatory privacy efforts.
Advocacy group Consumer Watchdog has asked the FTC to look into whether Facebook’s virtual currency system Facebook Credits, which becomes mandatory on the platform from Friday, violates antitrust laws. Facebook Credits, used to buy virtual goods and other items within the site’s fast-growing social gaming space, skims 30% of revenue generated by gaming companies off the top and prohibits developers from using any other pay system.
Local media digital media vendor WorldNow signed deals with station groups Grant Broadcasting and West Virginia Media Holding to add a total of 18 new sites to its web, mobile and video management platform. As part of the agreements, WorldNow will also provide the groups with local sales training and access to its national advertising sales network.
An overwhelming majority of Americans believe they should be able to remotely access all their digital devices from wherever they are including while on vacation (74%), while in bed (48%) and even while on their honeymoon (17%), according to a new TeamViewer survey conducted by Harris Interactive. About 30% of Americans said they are now using more computing devices than in any prior year and 63% say they use at least two computers, smartphones or tablets on a weekly basis.
Sony announced that Andrew House, who heads the company’s videogame business in Europe, will succeed Kazuo Hirai as President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, effective Sept. 1. Kazuo was upped to Executive Deputy President in March, a move that was believed to put him in line to succeed Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer when he retires in 2013. Also effective September 1, Hirai will become chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment International (SCEI).
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone writes in a blog post that he is joining fellow company alumnus Evan Williams and Jason Goldman to run San Francisco-based start-up incubator Obvious Corp., the venture that helped found Twitter among other start-ups. Williams had said he was stepping away full time from Twitter in March.
Cinema ad sales firm Screenvision has hired Suzanne La Forgia as SVP/National Sales. She will report directly to Mark Mitchell, Chief Revenue Officer, from July 5, managing sales teams in New York, Chicago, Detroit and LA.
Ian Buxton will be join the website ForScotchLovers as Managing Editor, effective July 1.
Google+ is the search giant’s answer to Facebook, offering the chance to chat or share photos, messages and videos with friends or groups of friends. The company seems to have learned a valuable privacy lesson when it introduced Google Buzz in Feb. 2010. Google+ launches with a superior user interface when it comes to controls and privacy protections. Some 13 settings and options are included to help you control who sees what you post. Your friends and acquaintances can be placed into “circles” of varying access. Most important, options like geo-location tracking of photos can be added, but start out as an opt-in instead of an automatic feature. (IMHO, this approach contrasts sharply with Facebook, which routinely adds radical privacy-eroding features by default and describes its privacy policies in such a confusing manner that it takes a lawyer to understand what you’re getting yourself into.) Google has also redesigned its minimalistic homepage – check out the black bar of options at the top of the page. The new design will soon roll out to mobile apps to deliver the same uniform look and feel across all platforms.
Later – Wayne
Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis Digital
06.30.11
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JOB OPENING: COORD, PROD FIN/LIFETIME/NY: Support Prod Mgmnt with invoicing, budgeting, monthly close &analysis.2 yrs exp in fin/acctg/prod within a media environment. To apply: www.aetn.com/careers.html (7/1)
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SITUATION WANTED ADS, POSTED BY THOSE LOOKING TO BE HIRED … There is no charge for placing your Situation Wanted ad … for more information contact Trish Pihonak at trish@cynopsis.com
SITUATION WANTED: Recent college graduate looking for ENTRY LEVEL JOB IN PR/PROMOTIONS/MARKETING in television broadcasting. NYC based. Please contact Elissa Henderson at Henderson.Elissa@gmail.com (7/8)
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SITUATION WANTED: CREATIVE MEDIA MIND Seeking to assist, Entry- Junior level positions, B.A. & Communications/Media background, 3-5 years of experience domestically & internationally. NY based. Please contact, SarahCottell@gmail.com (7/7)
SITUATION WANTED: NEED A BUDGET DONE?? LINE PROD/EIC – 15+ yrs. exp- budgets done in all formats TV & Features- Accurate, Reasonable fast turn around. Email: mmillertvmaker@gmail.com (7/7)
SITUATION WANTED: AUDIO ENGINEERS – SAE graduates seeking internship and staff positions in all fields of audio. NYC based. Contact Job Placement Coordinator Jeff Lanier at nyc.placement@sae.edu (7/7)
SITUATION WANTED: CREATIVE HARD WORKING MIND Seeking Assist position, Entertainment law firm exp /Television production background, 3-5 years of experience. NY based. Available NOW! Please contact, MMungin@aol.com (7/7)
SITUATION WANTED: Dedicated & Experienced ADV. SALES PLANNER (NYC) Sales proposals, resolving client discrepancies, quarterly post analysis, special sales service projects, expert computer skills. Contact- runelyon@aol.com (7/6)
SITUATION WANTED: RESEARCH DIR/SALES – 20+ yrs Media, Nielsen, Hispanic Mkt, Research, Sales, and Presentation experience. How can I help you? Email: ericadlerresearch@gmail.com (7/6)
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