Cynopsis: DIGITAL
5/31/07
Good Morning, it’s Thursday, May 31, 2007 and this is your first early morning digital briefing.
Apple TV may prove to be relevant to digital media consumers after all. From mid-June Apple TV boxes will accept a free software patch that will enable wireless streaming of YouTube videos, with the viral video mecca planning to make thousands of current clips available each week until the full catalog is accessible later this fall. Sales of the $299/$399 Apple TV unit have been sluggish at best, as users are limited to being able to watch only what they purchased from iTunes on their TV sets.
CBS made an acquisition that will be music to the ears of social networkers. The network acquired last.fm for $280 million, a music-oriented site that builds communities around different genres by targeting listeners, artists and labels. Last.fm creates a profile of each user based on their musical tastes, makes individual song lists to determine tracks to recommend and helps pair up users with similar tastes. The company will continue to serve its 15 million global users from London, and founders Felix Miller, Martin Stiksel and Richard Jones will continue to run it. This is the second addition to the CBS Interactive portfolio in as many weeks, following last week’s acquisition of WallStrip.com and earlier investments in Joost and Spot Runner.
Fox Interactive Media made the long-rumored acquisition of Photobucket official for a price of $250 million, weeks after a tussle with MySpace that had the social network blocking users from embedding content originating from the photo-sharing site. Photobucket is the photo-posting service that allows users to create slideshows, postcards and video mash-ups. Fox also agreed to buy Flecktor, which provides similar web-based tools for creating photo and video presentations.
News Corp. and NBC Universal‘s “new site” joint venture added Fuel TV, Speed, Oxygen, Sundance Channel and TV Guide Broadband to its content provider/distribution partner roster. New site will feature shows such as The Bad Girls Club, Big Ideas for a Small Planet and America’s Next Producer as well as syndicate them across its network of affiliated sites including AOL, MSN, Yahoo and MySpace.
Bud.tv may be down but it’s not yet out. Anheuser-Busch is planning to revamp the site to focus more on social networking and shorter programming, according to The Wall Street Journal. Look for bite-sized one-minute clips instead of six-minute videos that are now the norm. Bud is also planning to begin aggregating content from other sites and push bud.tv content to outside venues to attract more traffic.
Apple officially launched iTunes Plus, a selection of DRM-free music tracks offered for $1.29 from the DRM catalog including singles and albums from The Rolling Stones, Coldplay, Frank Sinatra and, for the first time, Paul McCartney’s solo career. Apple is also offering 30-cent upgrades to those who bought the DRM version of tracks, and predicts half of its complete library will be available DRM free by the end of the year. The company separately announced iTunes U, consisting of free course lectures, language lessons, lab demos and campus provided by top US universities including Stanford, UC Berkeley, Duke and MIT.
AOL launched a new consumer tech news site called Switched.com featuring technology-related news, gossip, buying guides and how-to tutorials. It will be run under the AOL News umbrella, but it has a very bloggy look. (In fact it offers feeds to Engadget right on its home page.)
Do you want movies on that pizza? Starz‘ Vongo broadband video service is offering a promo with Dominoes Pizza to give a free 30-day trial of the service to anyone that orders a pizza online. The companies are also giving away a flat panel LCD HDTV, a laptop and twenty 1-year Vongo subscriptions.
Digital Music Group will launch a channel on Veoh from this summer, featuring a selection of video content from its library of more than 4,000 hours of shows. DMGI’s catalog includes classic shows (I Spy, My Favorite Martian) stand-up footage (Jamie Foxx) and contemporary performances (Criss Angel).
Online gaming rental company Gottaplay Interactive, a Netflix for games, is adding social networking features. The site now allows users to comments on games, send messages to individual gamers, make buddy requests and view the libraries/rental histories of each other.
Community video site Heavy.com launched a user-generated talent series “Circus of Awesome,” originally developed as a promotion for Hot Tamales Ice candy.
~ TECHNOLOGY DEALS, MERGERS AND SKIRMISHES ~
Microsoft unveiled the prototype of Surface, a coffee-table style touch-screen computer designed to provide a new interface in the home for digital media. Measuring 30 inches diagonally, the PC can be used by multiple users by the same time, contains multiple cameras and can facilitate “painting” and other hands-on types of user interfaces that could facilitate new some interesting new applications. Microsoft is planning to sell Surface to hotel chains initially, with a price tag somewhere in the range of $5,000 to $10,000.
Monster.com inked a deal with Comcast to provide online job search tools to the Comcast.net portal. Monster has been diversifying to reach job seekers in locally-branded portals, also signing recent deals with Community Newspaper Holdings and Internet Broadcasting.
Motorola is laying off 4,000 workers in addition to the 3,500 job cuts announced earlier this year. The company is trying to adjust to falling sales of its cellphones.
Viacom agreed to sell Famous Music publishing to Sony/ATV for about $370 million. Famous Music’s catalog includes more than 125,000 songs including the albums of Shakira and Eminem and the film scores of The Godfather and Mission Impossible.
GetConnected will integrate its commerce engine into Sling Media’s SlingPlayer software to enable Slingbox customers to purchase premium digital content and services from local area cable, Internet and satellite providers. The GCi add-on will be integrated into SlingPlayer and be available on Sling Media’s website later this quarter.
AOL’s Advertising.com subsidiary Third Screen Media is teaming with mobile game provider Hovr to sell, manage, and deliver ads into its free mobile game applications and communities. The deal will adds a new venue for Third Screen’s TSMI Network of mobile inventory and a way for Hovr to server users with relevant opt-in ads targeted to gamers.
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) is helping promote the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Broadband Emmy Awards this year, which is recognizing creative ad work distributed between May 1, 2006 and April 30, 2007. Advertisers and agencies can enter work in four categories: best use of ads on stand-alone devices and best use of creation and distribution of interactive commercial advertising on portable devices, set-top box devices and video games. Meanwhile Emmyonline.org completed phase one of website redesign.
There are already winners and losers emerging in the Second Life ad community, according to a round up in Ad Age this week, as some advertisers struggle to attract visitors to their virtual worlds. Still, playing in the fake world is still much cheaper than branding in the real one. Successful virtual marketers recommend: don’t try to force a virtual presence; try and offer value to avatars other than just a “product”; keep content constantly updated and don’t always expect a direct sales link.
~ TRENDS, RESEARCH, ETC. ~
The number of global mobile broadcast TV subscribers will grow from 4.4 million today to an estimated 155.6 million by the end of 2012, according to new report by independent market analyst Datamonitor. That’s a compounded annual growth rate of 66.2%. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to have 76.3 million subscribers by then, Europe an estimated 42.7 million subscribers and the U.S. a subscriber base of 35.6 million. However lack of interoperability and fragmentation of content-bearing technologies may slow mass-adoption.
Nearly 19 million consumers downloaded a game to their mobile phone during the first quarter of 2007, according to Telephia, an increase of 47% from the previous year.
Jordan Warren was named President of Agency.com‘s San Francisco office, filling a role vacant since Alan Burgis left the company last fall. Jordon was running his own integrated marketing firm called Eleven before this. He will support Chan Suh, CEO and co-founder of the Omnicom agency.
Mindshare Interactive Campaigns named former Digitas executive Huard Smith as EVP. He will report to Dan Solomon, CEO of MindShare Interactive.
LIN TV Corp. hired James Burnes as Regional Internet Director for the Midwest region. He will work directly with general sales managers, marketing directors, news directors and internet teams on Lin’s Midwestern stations, reporting to LIN TV VP/Internet Robb Richter.
Here’s a viral video site that kills two birds with one stone, so to speak. FrenchMaidTV.com offers practical instructional videos on how to accomplish elemental tasks online such as creating a video podcast, registering a domain name, bartering online or the latest, finding the music you like. They happen to choose three scantily clad “French Maids” to demonstrate these tasks, but hey, why not? Anything to prevent premature click-throughs. You can also subscribe to FMTV as a podcast from iTunes, or embed clips anywhere you like.
Thanks to: Jeremy McMillian Sodaent.com Los Angeles
A new website will be featured here everyday for you to check out. Some are TV-centric, some creative, some just plain strange, but all have something to do with this crazy business. Email me your suggestions at [email protected] and if I include the site you mention, your name, company and city will be credited. Only one mention per calendar week, to make it fair.
Later — Wayne
Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digitals
05.31.07
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JOB OPENING: MANAGER, ON-AIR PROMOS/Fox Sport Net/Pittsburgh: 2+yrs net/cable on-air promo exp/mgt of overall promo ops and planning; produce & schedule element; ensure execution. Submit CV’s via www.foxcareers.com /FNG6738 (6/7)
JOB OPENING: SALES ASSISTANT/BET, NY: Detailed-oriented, organized, multi-tasker, exc comm & math skills.Prof w/excel, Bachelors degree req. Email resume: [email protected] (6/7)
JOB OPENING: SALES PLAN’R/BET, NY: Prepare Sales Plans, Mng mult Accts, 2 yrs exp in Cable Sales or buying a must.Detailed-oriented, org’d, multitasker, exc comm & math skills, BA req. Email resume: [email protected] (6/7)
JOB OPENING: NAT’L TV BUYING AMD/BUYERS (LA) /SUPERVISOR (NY): For major agencies. Exp with network, cable and syndication. Relo avail for LA positions. Resumes to: [email protected] (6/7)
JOB OPENING: SR MGR NA CONSUMER PROMOTIONS/HASBRO: 7+ yrs exp consumer promos for consumer products. Must have experience executing promos at retail. Agency exp a plus. Loc: East Longmeadow, MA. Apply at www.hasbro.com/careers (6/7)
JOB OPENING: DIRECTOR-TV INTEGRATIONS/LA: www.daviebrown.com . Oversee integration of brands in TV. Thorough knowledge of industry & prior exp essential. Res to: [email protected] (6/6)
JOB OPENING: SALES PLNR/NAT’L GEO/LA: Mng all deals, develop & create sales proposals. BA & strg written skills req. 1-2 yrs exp sales/cable adv. Apply www.FoxCareers.com FNG6882 (6/6)
JOB OPENING: PROD ACCT/Rainbow Media/NYC: Track, report financial info for VOOM. Handle invoices & monitor expenses. BS/BA req’d. Acct exp a plus. To apply, visit www.cablevision.jobs and apply to job ID 3397BR (6/5)
JOB OPENING: PUBLICIST/VERSUS/Stamford, CT: Support/contribute to publicity efforts of fast growing sports cable net.3+ yrs related exp.Apply at www.versus.com EOE (6/5)
JOB OPENING: SR. RESEARCH ANALYST/Fox Sports/LA: 3+yrs cable/broadcast research. Nielsen systems exp. Strong knwldg of PhotoShop/Flash/Scarborough. Strong presentation /analytical/communication skills. Reply to www.foxcareers.com (6/5)
JOB OPENING: PLANNER /Oxygen/Chicago: Support 2 AEs in National Ad Sales w/ all aspects of sales. 2+ yr cable exp or advertising agency. Resume to:[email protected] ref job title in subj ln. Go to www.oxygen.com for more info. (6/5)
JOB OPENING: SALES ACCT EXEC/BBC Motion Gallery/NYC: Mng adverts, corp & new media biz, grow assigned mkt, 4 yrs exp media related sales. Biz dvlpmnt, cld call, dirct cust acct mngmnt, sales targets. Res: [email protected] (6/5)
JOB OPENING: ASSISTANT/BBC Motion Gallery/NYC: College grad asst VP in ops, rsrch/biz projects. Comp skill, accounting assumptions. sum info, attn dtl, reliable. know media indstry/dig tech, vid contnt. Res: [email protected] (6/5)
JOB OPENING: OPRAH.COM PROD/HARPO/CHI: Work w/ The Oprah Winfrey Show & related franchises to expand/create/design/prod web content for Oprah.com. 5yrs+ prod’g web content w/ exceptional writing skills. Apply: www.HarpoCareers.com (6/5)
JOB OPENING: BROADCAST SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTORS/TRAINERS: Extensive US travel. 12 month + contracts. 5 yrs general media exp. BAs, trainers, and power users please apply. Email: [email protected] or call 860 632 3705. (6/5)
JOB OPENING: SR WRITER PROD/Sundance Ch/NY: 5+ yrs exp. Concept & prod promos for all major on-air & off-channel campaigns. Support CD w/ proj mgmt. Shoot exp, great creative, Final Cut skills req’d. Res: [email protected] (6/2)
JOB OPENING: INTEGRATED SALES EXEC/Sundance Ch/NY: 5+yrs sales/mktg exp.Dev/sell/exec multi-platform, integ’d partnerships for “like minded” clients.Creative media mktg & savvy prof w/ proven rec.Res: [email protected] (6/2)
JOB OPENING: TRAFFIC SUPRVSR, NTWRK OPS/BBC Am/Silver Spring MD: Schdl, traffic, validate trans lgs & mtrls for bcast 2-4 yrs exp in traffic or ntwrk/bcast ops, Exp w/ traffic management systems. RES/CV: [email protected] (6/2)
JOB OPENING: MARKETING DIR/NAT GEO/WASH DC: Overseeing DVD/ digital prod development & mrktng initiatives for new releases/back titles, to deliver on strategic plans & financial goals. BA + 6 yrs apply at www.nationalgeographic.com (6/2)
SPACE AVAILABLE: Three Edit Rooms, Fully Functioning, and Production Pit available for rent June 1. Edit rooms have all equipment needed: Final Cut & multiple decks. Turn key situation (phone, T1, cleaning) Call Katie at 212.242.1400 (6/1)
JOB OPENING: SYNDICATION SALES. Seeking smart aggressive closer with creative touch and natural sales personality to round outTV distribution sales staff.Looking to groom new industry superstar.Resumes to: [email protected] (6/1)
JOB OPENING: RESEARCH ANALYST/LIFETIME TV NY: Support LFT Networks prgming and mkting functions; analyze LFT Networks ratings perf; BS/BA plus 1-2 yrs exp. using Nielsen Apply at: http://www.lifetimetv.com/about/jobs.html (6/1)
JOB OPENING: DIRECTOR, PROGRAM ENTERPRISES MARKETING/MTV/NYC: 7+yrs Cons.Prod Mrktg exp, Strng Leadership, Licensing/Retail/Mrkt rsrch exp, Strg interpersn’l/org skills, Home Ent exp/MBA A+ EOE/M/F/D/AAP. Apply www.mtvncareers.com (6/1)
JOB OPENING: EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, ON-AIR PROMOS/NICK/NYC: 8+yrs On-Air Promos exp, Strg creative & writing skills, Strng Mgmt exp, Knwldge of pop-culture/kid’s demo/comedy EOE/M/F/D/AAP. Apply www.mtvncareers.com (6/1)
JOB OPENING: RSRCH PROJECT MGR/CNN/NY: 3+ yrs TV rsrch/agency exp, Multi-tasker, strong analytical/problem solving skills, previous management skills preferred&proficient in Nielsen applications; info www.turnerjobs.com Res: [email protected] (6/1)
JOB OPENING: MOBILE VIDEO PROGRAMMER/VH1 MOBILE/NY: Resp for end-to-end programming of VH1’s mobile video srvcs. Work w/ other VH1 platforms to acquire content. 2 yrs mobile media exp required. Cover/CV to [email protected] (6/1)
JOB OPENING: DIRECTOR OF CASTING/ENDEMOL USA/LA, CA: Cast network non-scripted presentations, pilots and series. Deliver celebrities and undiscovered talent. Min. 5 yrs casting experience. Apply: [email protected] (6/1)
JOB OPENING: DIRECTOR, DOCU DEV & PRODUCTION 2spots, MTV/NYC: 5+yrs develpmnt/prod exp, Strg knwldg/Prod exp of Cinema Verita Docs, Knwldge of pop culture/MTV brand/News & Docs Progmng EOE/M/F/D/AAP. Apply www.mtvncareers.com (6/1)
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SUMMER INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY: NYC dist co. seeks Media Biz Dev Intern to asst in strategic financial/mktg plan’g & implementation. Financial modeling exp & business background a must. Internship is unpaid. Res: [email protected] (6/5)
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SITUATION WANTED: ASST/COORDINATOR/NYC: 4+ yrs freelance on independent films. Asst in ent industry. Excellent skills incl. computer, multitasking, communication. Available immediately. Contact: [email protected] (6/6)
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