Cynopsis: DIGITAL

11/24/09

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, November 24, 2009, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch may consider Google an anathema but the company is considering a pact with Microsoft’s Bing search engine to drive web users to the company’s newspaper sites, per the FT. Microsoft has also approached other publishers about removing their content from Google as a way to raise its profile. Such deals would set a precedence that would require search sites to pay publishers for repurposing and linking to their content. Yet many observers say that News Corp. risks losing huge swaths of traffic by not appearing on Google’s market-leading search engine – the platform enjoyed a 65% market share in Oct., compared to just under 10% for Microsoft’s combined search products.
                                                         

 
Domain name aggregation deals have spread to the world of Twitter. MSNBC.com will increase its Twitter presence from 27,000 followers to 1.4 million when it merges with BNO News‘ popular @BreakingNews feed in early 2010, reports B&C. MSNBC.com will also sprinkle its own news within the @BreakingNews’ new wire service.
 
IFC Entertainment has licensed 53 titles to Netflix‘s Watch Instantly service including Errol Morris documentary “The Thin Blue Line” and the debuts of Christopher Nolan (“Following”) and John Sayles (“Return of Secaucus Seven.”)
 
Hallmark Channel is ringing in the holiday season with a number of social initiatives, complementing its 450-hour block of Christmas-themed programming: 

• Friday night “Movie Nights” hosts hoops & yoyo (two animated Hallmark card characters) will give their first-ever interview on Hallmark’s Facebook page
• the Countdown2Xmas Twitter Feed will offer daily holiday tips from celebrity/lifestyle specialist Allana Baroni
• the channel is also pitching materials to entertainment bloggers to help spread the word

PBS’ NOW is giving thanks to caregivers of returning veterans, posting the full episode of this week’s show on the topic on PBS.org. The show focuses on how little has been done to help these family caregivers and outlines proposals to provide support going forward.
 
The Possibility Shop is a new web series hosted by Courtney Watkins and produced by the Jim Henson Co., premiering this week on both FamilyFun.com and Disney Online. The series is full of primers on launching fun projects and activities around the house, particularly around holidays like Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day and Earth Day. Clorox is the show’s exclusive sponsor.
 

 
Professional-themed social network LinkedIn has finally completed opening up its platform for 3rd party developers in the hopes of making the site a stickier destination. The Developer.linkedin.com hub provides API’s and pre-developed widgets to allow developers to pull in data from members’ profiles, making LinkedIn a powerful social enabler in applications developed for business-oriented sites. Companies that have already developed applications around the platform include Microsoft, TweetDeck and Amazon.com, which built a tool for LinkedIn.com that shows what your contacts are reading.
 
Now when you’re browsing Hulu videos you can help find what you’re looking for with the help of new User Tags, enabling users to create custom keywords or category labels to help group, track and discover new videos. Go to any show or watch page and click on the new “Tags” tab. From there, simply check the box next to any of the existing tags for a video or use the “add” field to create a new one.
 
San Francisco-based online and mobile video platform Kyte announced it is opening offices in the UK and Germany, adding 5 execs and announcing 5 new customers. New clients include German broadcasters N24 and ProSieben, German social network studiVZ and UK newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror.
 

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM CYNOPSIS MEDIA

 
Following the takeovers of AdMob, reCaptcha and Gizmo5, Google announced its latest acquisition on Monday, agreeing to acquire display ad start-up Teracent Corp. The company develops algorithms that help advertisers contour how their display ads are distributed on the web. The San Mateo, CA-based company provides a streamlined interface that allows advertisers to swap out designs, colors, messaging and images of their ads in real time in order to react to intraday trends within the market. Expect to see these features integrated into campaigns run on the Google Content Network as well as through DoubleClick.
 
Adify’s quarterly Vertical Gage Report, which measures online CPM data across 13 categories on Adify’s platform, found that the food vertical had the highest growth rate during Q3 leading up to the holidays, nearly doubling since Q2. It also revealed that real estate CPMs  ($7.62 in Q3 2009) continue to rise and that internet audiences are spending more time on vertical ad network sites than in Q3.
 

 
eBay experienced some search outtages over the weekend blaming an upsurge in live listings, just as buyers started to gear up for the holiday shopping season. In an effort to restore full functionality, the site temporarily disabled some secondary search features. Things should be back to normal now.
 
Digital music and video distributor The Orchard has entered into a partnership with TrustNordisk to handle marketing and digital distribution of its entire film catalogue. TrustNordisk is the largest film sales company of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands.
 

 
Disclaimer to those Twitter stats we published yesterday: the figures just include unique visitors to the Twitter web site and do not include third-party application or mobile phone usage, according to Nielsen. That’s not to say that apps that feed into the Twitter community such as TweetDeck, TwitPic, Tumblr, etc. aren’t also losing followers, however. Nielsen studied audience retention on a number of those apps last April and found that about 60% of users who try these services end up abandoning them after one month – about the same abandonment ratio as on Twitter.com.
 
Mobile web payments and analytics company Bango Inc. has entered into a multi-territory agreement to provide Fox Mobile Group with its mobile web billing platform services worldwide.
 

 
TV Chatter is a new social iPhone app from San Francisco-based Frog Design that enables TV viewers to participate in Twitter conversations about TV shows. While watching a show on a TV or PC, users can follow relevant streaming commentary about the program, reply to others or filter their followers to set up private chat/viewing experiences.
 

 
Kyte‘s new expansion (see above) includes the addition of several new hires in Germany and the UK. Maks Giordano, a former executive for SevenOne Intermedia, and Gary Poepl, former sales director at the digital arm of Hubert Burda Media, will run the German office as Managing Directors. Meanwhile Richard Cohen takes the role of Managing Director in the UK, joined by Sam Jones, Director of Sales & Marketing and Andrew Mendoza, member of Kyte’s executive advisory board.
 
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced that the Board of Directors re-elected its President & CEO, Bruce Paisner, for a two-year term. Bruce has been at the helm of The International Academy since January 2004. His new term starts January 1, 2010.
 

 
Roku, the company that makes the $99, scratch that, $79 streaming media set-top for Netflix and other content owners, launched a new free Channel Store aggregating music, photos and video content from some of the web’s cutting edge brands including Pandora, Facebook Photos, Revision3, Mediafly, TWiT, blip.tv, Flickr, FrameChannel, Motionbox and MobileTribe. Roku has also recently expanded its set-top line up to include 3 models including with Wi-Fi “N-standard” enabled Roku HD XR model, and struck additional premium content partnerships with Amazon’s VOD store and MLB.com to help internet content fans easily solve that pesky last-ten-feet problem of getting streamed content to their television. Roku’s not doing anything that hasn’t been done before – Tivo owners have enjoyed wireless broadband functionality and access to many of the same services for years. (Personally speaking, you’ll have to pry my Tivo from my cold dead hands.) But Roku’s efforts to promote itself as a platform for professional digital media is significant (and a significant threat to cable and satellite providers) because it’s very easy to use and doesn’t require a month subscription fee. The list of Trojan horse set top makers who have tried to sell digital delivery devices for the home is long but Roku’s low price makes it a pretty attractive alternative for cord cutters.
 

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Later — Wayne
 Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
11.24.09

Cynopsis Media Facebook Page here – all of our Job Listings and Top Stories reported here first!

Cynopsis Ad Sales:
Chuck Bolkcom, Pres/COO – 646-468-6180 / [email protected]
Classifieds – Trish Pihonak- 203-926-9878 / [email protected]

Member of Interactive Advertising Bureau (iab)

To subscribe to any Cynopsis edition(s) click here . 
To unsubscribe , click here or click the button at the end of this email.

Cyn opsis CLASSIFIEDS – For More classifieds, visit the Cynopsis.com classifieds page here    .

JOB OPENING: NEWS SERVICES SALES:  National distributor seeking experienced station sales representative to sell news services. Candidate must have local news and syndication sales experience. [email protected] (12/3)

JOB OPENING: SALES SERVICE EXEC/National Football League/NY: Work closely with the Acct Exec selling and servicing new and existing national & corp sponsorships to direct clients & advertising agencies. Apply@ www.nfl.apply2jobs.com (12/3)

JOB OPENING: ACCT EXEC/NFL/NY: Exp’d media sales professional to provide mktg/media solutions to new & existing nat’l advrtsrs. Pckg/sell media across NFL.com & NFL Wireless. Work w/ TV sales team. Apply@ www.nfl.apply2jobs.com (12/3)

JOB OPENING:  ADV PLATFORM SALES MGR/NY/Cablevision: Exp’d Sales Prof to drive ad rev. & new biz.Excel rels w/ media clients & proven sales record. www.cablevision.jobs ref#9563BR (12/3)

JOB OPENING: PREDITOR: LI based media co seeks Preditor with extensive promo exp within the cable/network news, sports or music arena. Must be a Final Cut Pro MASTER. Send resume and link to your reel to: [email protected] (12/2)

JOB OPENING: DIR PROMOTIONS/GSN/Santa Monica: Exp in TV/media  securing partnerships and promotions, strategy planning and executing cross platform initiatives. Email Res & CL to [email protected] (12/2)

JOB OPENING: ART DIRECTOR/truTv/NYC:  5yrs in tv/cable ntwk. Design & A/D projects for on-air, originals, & ad sales promos. Well versed in broadcast design & mng a team & agencies. Resume: [email protected] (12/1)

JOB OPENING: AFFILIATE MRKTG, INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS MGR/Univision/NYC:  Develop/Execute distributor marketing and media partnerships/exp in media and consumer marketing/Spanish fluent a plus. EOE Send resumes: [email protected] (12/1)

JOB OPENING:  AFFL MRKTG, MRKTG COORD/Univision/NYC: Provide admin, creative & campaign Dept support: Arrange mtgs, process T&E, invoices, billing. Maintain website & shared drive. EOE Send resumes to: [email protected] (12/1)

JOB OPENING: SYNDICATION PROFESSIONAL/Danny Lipford Media: Exp placing nationally syndicated tv show. Must have established contacts w stations/groups. Some travel. No ad sales. Benefits/Salary/Commission. [email protected] (11/25)

INTERNSHIPS – These positions are for credit only – nobody gets paid here. These ads are always posted for free , and students work for school credit only. For more information on the specs for posting an Internship ad, email Trish at [email protected] .

SPRING INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY:EVENT PROD/MGMNT: Small Elite Event Co. NYC; Needs energetic person;Exc organizational/computer skills,admin support; Flex sched 2/3 days/wk. JR/SR. [email protected] (12/2)

SPRING INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY:  TV/Film Development: Superb Entertainment/NBC Universal: looking for an excellent writer to provide administrative support and also contribute to projects as its a small company 2-3 days a week [email protected] (12/1)

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 [email protected]

SITUATION WANTED: Available LOGGER seeking transcription work. Can transcribe interviews, B-roll and various types of footage. Onsite or Virtual. Email: [email protected] (12/3)

SITUATION WANTED: PERSONAL ASSISTANT POSITION. Organized, diligent, and reliable with background in writing, PR, event planning, and Web management. English/French fluent w/ written comprehension of Dutch. Contact: [email protected] (12/2)

SITUATION WANTED:  DESIGN, ILLUSTRATION & ART DIRECTION (NYC):   20 years experience working concept through completion. Portfolio: www.baerdavis.com Email: [email protected] (12/2)

SITUATION WANTED:  SCRIPT DOCTOR/PROD w/ 16 yrs as Brdcst exec can consult/edit/polish your TV/film/web pitch/bible/screenplay. Credits inc. DeGrassi, DaVinci, Dragon Boys. Exp w/ convergence models No freebies. Contact: [email protected] (12/1)

SITUATION WANTED: Productions requiring an experienced composer for high energy/high impact movie trailers. Compensation negotiable based on project. Visit www.BenKopec.com for credits & reel or e-mail me: [email protected] (12/1)

SITUATION WANTED:  DIRECTOR/VIDEOGRAPHER who luvs beauty, fashion. Directs TV shows, spots, Web BTS etc worked wt Jessica Simpson, Ken Paves, Diane von Furstenberg, Michael Beckwith, P!nk.. http://hepburn.la; [email protected] 310.430.1362 (11/26)

SITUATION WANTED: CASTING DIRECTOR/PRODUCER 13+yrs exp. reality TV casting & producing. Intelligent, hardworking and great sense of humor! Available immediately, link to resume: http://realitystaff.com/?id=625, [email protected] (11/26)

SITUATION WANTED:  MEDIA/MARKETING/DIGITAL/ON-LINE/NYC :  Entry Level Position for recent College Grad. Comm Major. Exc Organizational Skills, and Computer Skills. [email protected] (11/26)

SITUATION WANTED: PRODUCER/WRITER/DIRECTOR (NY) Ultra-creative, award winning, all formats, all genres, all major networks and major cable. Fast, frugal and fun! [email protected] (11/25)

E-mail [email protected] or call Trish Pihonak at 203.926.9878 for rates and specs for Job Openings.

Are you looking for a job? Post your Situation Wanted Ad here — Email [email protected] for specs.

Cynopsis Media LLC
One Corporate Drive, Suite 724
Shelton, CT 06484
203.926.9878

All outgoing e-mails are scanned and sent out virus free. Copyright Cynopsis 2009