Cynopsis: DIGITAL
02/24/09
Good morning, it’s Tuesday, February 24, 2009, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.
President Obama has chosen former MPAA lobbyist and current FTC member Jon Leibowitz to serve as the next Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, reports Bloomberg. The body that reviews mergers and enforces consumer protection laws, the FTC has already warned that it may take a closer look at behavioral targeting practices if the online advertising industry doesn’t successfully establish and adhere to self-regulatory guidelines. Leibowitz himself has been a critic of the industry’s lack of transparency and Byzantine opt-out solutions and has pushed the government to take a stronger tack toward privacy policies.
Following the success of CNN’s immensely popular Facebook integration during the Inauguration, ABCNews.com is teaming with Twitter and multiplatform news network ABC News Now on a new interactive web venture dubbed “Nightline Now” tonight during President Obama’s State of the Union address. Users will be able to post “tweets” on Twitter as they watch live streaming of the address then see their comments show up simultaneously on ABCNews.com and ABC News Now.
In a bid to increase engagement on its website History.com launched its first original web series regaling viewers with “great and telling tales” of unusual tidbits of arcane knowledge from historian Timothy Dickinson. The show, available in snackable ad-supported clips, features crude animation in the Monty Python tradition and is available as an exclusive to the AETN Digital site.
With print revenues dropping precipitously magazine publishers are scrambling to develop their properties for digital platforms. Sony Pictures Television’s The Minisode Network will be the latest to adopt SI’s Swimsuit edition, launching exclusive 5 minute minisodes showcasing past bikini-clad beauties. A total of 26 episodes will premiere on Sony’s Crackle.com before expanding to partner outlets such as YouTube, Hulu and TV.com on March 16.
Boosted by a wealth of new interactive features and video content, Disney-managed Oscar.com saw major year-to-year increases on Oscar Sunday, with unique visitors and page views up 57% and 87%, respectively. Users spent an average of 11.63 minutes on the site per visit, a 15% bump from last year.
Alterna’ TV announced today a new multicast strategy for its latest channel offering, Hola TV. The channel, which targets young Hispanic audiences with a variety of lifestyle and news showsis now available to broadcasters throughout the continental U.S as a 24/7 digital subchannel play. Hispanic multicast programming has become a competitive landscape as Hola TV faces competition from both established players like LATV and newcomers such as Estrella TV, scheduled to launch later this year.
Not surprisingly Twitter traffic spiked dramatically during the Oscar telecast as users chimed with their two cents about who won or wore what. Stars like Ashton Kutcher kept their fans abreast of the party scene with comments and photos using the TwitPic mobile photo app that allows users to post pics directly from their phones.
Glam.com also figured out a cool way to integrate Twitter feeds on the show with video clips on the GlamTV console. The interface allows users to enter tweets on the console by logging into their own Twitter accounts directly from the site.
All hope may not be lost for internet start-ups seeking funding. Netscape founder Marc Andreessen announced on Charlie Rose last week that he is creating a VC fund with partner Ben Horowitz to help seed technology companies. Check out the interview to hear Marc’s thinking on the future of the newspaper business (shut down the print editions tomorrow), the patience of Facebook’s monetization strategy and the wonders of devices like the iPhone that get the user interface right.
L.A.-based gossip blog Defamer has been folded into Gawker Media’s N.Y.-based flagship blog Gawker.com as the site’s entertainment column.
Microsoft has formed a coalition of prominent online publishers to consult on the development of its PubCenter ad management tool. The new Publisher Leadership Council includes Viacom, The New York Times, Dow Jones Online, Time Inc. and IAC.
At its annual leadership meeting The IAB announced the release of its final Audience Reach Measurement Guidelines to once and for all to define key industry metrics and foster greater accuracy and reliability of all forms of online audience measurement. The guidelines call for full disclosure of methodology, suggest that audience measurement should be spearheaded by clients not sellers, and call for internal numbers tracked by systems such as Omniture to be excluded from ad contracts.
The IAB also announced the creation of task forces to address data ownership and media contracts between buyers and sellers of interactive advertising – two of the industry’s most contentious issues. The task forces represent a cross section web publishers, portals, search engines, ad networks and exchanges.
Finally the IAB and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s) agreed on actions to be taken up by the 4A’s/IAB Reinvention Task Force to reduce the costs and complexity of buying and selling interactive advertising. Actions, to be discussed with the 4A’s beginning in March, include:
- Standardization in business document formats, including the beta release of an XML-based solution for automating the transfer of business documents
- Updating the 4A’s/IAB Standard Terms and Conditions to reflect the current operational and marketplace environment
- Improving automated exchange of impression and other metric data for discrepancy resolution and billing
Interactive advertising start-up EyeWonder announced a deal with web 2.0 ad company Collective Media to integrate EyeWonder’s in-stream ad solution into the latter’s display advertising network. The idea is to enable publishers to deliver any interactive in-stream ad format, including interactive overlays, from any third-party rich media provider after a one-time integration with the site’s video player platform. The solution, in compliance with IAB’s video ad serving standards, includes reporting features and supports several existing video platforms including Adobe’s Flash and Microsoft’s Silverlight.
British film exhibitor Vue Entertainment signed a deal with 3D projection system provider RealD to outfit 200 Vue screens with RealD 3D systems.
The explosion of video on multiple platforms is still a tide in which all boats are rising as video consumption grew during Q4 across all three major platforms – TV, internet and mobile, according to Nielsen‘s just released A2/M2 Three Screen Report. Viewing on television reached a record 151 hours/month. Those who watch video on the internet consumed another 3 hours of online video per month. Mobile video viewers watched nearly 4 hours per month on mobile phones and other devices. Other highlights of the report include:
- Video viewing on mobile devices and DVRs jumped by the largest margin during the quarter (each about 9% vs. Q3) as 11 million reported viewing video on phones or PDAs and 74 million watched DVR programming
- And while audiences of all ages are watching online video, the trend for younger 18-24 year old viewers – broken out by Nielsen for the first time – suggest a dramatically increased reliance on the internet for video viewing. The demo spent nearly the same amount of time (about 5 hours a month) watching video online as they did watching DVR programming
- Even younger viewers (aged 12-17) watched less video on TV, DVRs and the internet than last quarter but spent almost 6.5 hours a month watching mobile video
- When broken down by gender, females 2+ watched more TV and more online video than by almost 8% points but men consumed almost twice as much video on mobile phones
Overall Usage Number of Users 2+ (in 000’s) – Monthly Reach
4Q08 3Q08 4Q07 % Diff Y/Y
Watching TV in the home 285,313 282,289 281,376 1.4%
Watching Timeshifted TV° 73,934 67,656 53,914 37.1%
Using the internet 161,525 160,070 156,323 3.3%
Watching Video on internet 123,195 120,362 n/a n/a
Using a Mobile Phone 228,920 224,495 n/a n/a
Mobile Subscribers Watching
Video on a Mobile Phone 11,198 10,260 n/a n/a
Source: The Nielsen Company
Monthly Time Spent in Hours: Minutes Per User 2+
4Q08 3Q08 4Q07 % Diff Yr to Yr Absolute Diff Yr to Yr
(4Q08 to 4Q07) (4Q08 to 4Q07)
Watching TV in the home 151:03 140:48 145:49 3.6% 5:13
Watching Timeshifted TV 7:11 6:27 5:24 33.0% 1:47
Using the internet 27:04 27:18 26:08 3.6% 0:56
Watching Video on internet 2:53 2:31 n/a n/a n/a
Mobile Subscribers Watching
Video on a Mobile Phone 3:42 3:37 n/a n/a n/a
Source: The Nielsen Company
Video Audience Composition – Age 4Q 2008
K2-11 T12-17 A18-24 A25-34 A35-44 A45-54 A55-64 A65+
On TV 10% 6% 8% 13% 14% 17% 15% 18%
On the Internet 7% 8% 8% 16% 19% 20% 15% 7%
On Mobile Phones n/a 19% 11% 34% 20% 11% 5% 1%
Source: The Nielsen Company
Video Audience Composition – Gender 4Q 2008
F2+ M2+
On TV 53% 47%
On the Internet 54% 46%
On Mobile Phones 37% 63%
Source: The Nielsen Company
Samsung Mobile has figured out a new way to deliver content to mobile devices. A new collaboration with Paramount Digital will preload the Mission Impossible trilogy of films on a 2G microcard, available for free with the purchase of a touchscreen Samsung Drive from Alltel Wireless. Buyers must mail in proof of purchase by April 16 to receive the microcard.
Jeffrey Reyna has been upped to VP/Digital Distribution Business Affairs at Sony Pictures Television (SPT), reporting to Chris Elwell, SVP/Distribution. In this role, Jeff will negotiate deals related to the acquisition and distribution of content across all platforms as well as the production and distribution of mobile games and personalization products. Most recently, he served as Senior Counsel of Legal, Corporate and Distribution for SPE.
Destination Media’s Gas Station TV has hired Victor Germain as SVP/Business Development to lead key category strategies such as wireless, finance, and consumer packaged goods from the company’s New York office. Victor comes to GSTV from Screenvision.
Media companies are lagging behind in the rush to reach iPhone users in the most engaging way possible–through individual applications made available at the friendly neighborhood app store. Online video production/distribution start-up Kyte.tv has launched an iPhone Applications Framework as an easy way for media and entertainment companies to adopt their own Kyte channels as fully branded iPhone or iPod Touch apps. Using the turnkey solution content providers can build apps to offer video, photos or music; multimedia chat functionality; advertising; or even a download module enabling music, photo or text files to be saved on the device. Universal Music Group’s Interscope Geffen A&M label is the first to use the system, launching apps for a handful of artists including The Pussycat Dolls and Soulja Boy Tell E’m.
Later — Wayne
Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
02.24.09
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