Cynopsis: DIGITAL

07/09/08

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, July 9, 2008, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

Online ad tracking service NebuAd is being called before a panel of Senators today to address privacy concerns regarding its targeting methods. The hearing, which will also call officers and lawyers from Microsoft, Google and Facebook, is the result of vociferous complaints from groups such as The Center for Democracy and Technology and the FTC’s Consumer Protection Bureau, which will also testify at the hearing. (The latter proposed a set of behavioral ad privacy principles late last year.) In attempt to head critics off at the pass NebuAd announced a new set of privacy protections yesterday, promising to notify consumers when their online activity is being tracked and offer them a way to opt out of the service. There’s a strong sense in the industry that these privacy battles being fought today will have serious repercussions for years to come, both on consumer rights and company profits.

 
The Office junkies will be pleased to know the second series of original webisodes will go live from tomorrow at 3 pm ET on NBC.com. This season, sponsored by Comcast, Sony Electronics and Priceline, will revolve around Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) as he tries innovative ways to pay back his looming gambling debts.
 
Msnbc.com experienced record streaming in May delivering over 125 million video streams including 27 million videos on todayshow.com and over 13 million on nightly.msnbc.com.
 

 
Video entertainment site Metacafe introduced a new feature called wikicafe notes VideoNuze, allowing users to continually update metadata-based tags and descriptions on videos to increase the likelihood they come up in video search engines. As most search engines rely on metadata when crawling for content, these systems are only as good as the tags that accompany the inventory. Putting users to work on improving descriptions is a perfect example of how crowdsourcing can improve end results on the web.
 
Online video platform Vidshadow signed a syndication agreement with Fora.tv to distribute its ideas-based video content across its network and portal. Fora.tv features content from dozens of academic and non-profit providers including The Aspen Institute, C-SPAN and The Brookings Institution.
 
Independent video sharing site Dailymotion saw unique visitors increase by 18% month-over month in May to 5.7 million uniques, according to ComScore.
 

 
D-Link is finally ready to release the DSM-330 DivX Connected HD Media player in the U.S., DivX’s first foray into hardware. (It was out in the UK in November of ’07.) The device, which connects to a home network via Wi-Fi or Ethernet, streams the widest variety of media music, photo and video formats yet from a PC to a TV including DivX video and VOD files in up to 720p resolution. Unlike the Apple TV, the DSM-330 has no hard drive, so it requires you keep your PC on at all times.
 
Vodafone would like the world to know that Kiwis will be the first customers in the world to get their hands on a iPhone 3G. (New Zealand is almost a full day ahead of New York.) 
 

 
Disney owned & operated stations offered to wave retransmission consent charges to a group of 91 small MSOs who operate in the markets it serves for a period of 3 years to provide a grace period leading up to the digital transition. The American Cable Association has been lobbying the FCC to regulate the wholesale programming market, complaining large programmers are forcing smaller cable operators to carry more channels than their customers need. The ACA is saying the move is tantamount to Disney admitting the retrans consent market is broken.
 
The Chicago Tribune will be the next major paper to make editorial cuts, announcing it will eliminate about 80 newsroom jobs, amounting to about 14% of its current staff.
 
Gannett completed its acquisition of multichannel shopping and ad services ShopLocal, purchasing the ownership stakes from Tribune and The McClatchy Co it didn’t already own.
 
Video compression specialist Sorenson Media released a new software developers kit enabling developers to add the Sorenson Spark decoder to nearly any digital device with an embedded programmable processor. The decoder allows playback of high-speed Flash-based video on cell phones and portable media devices. (Sorenson Spark is the codec currently used on YouTube.)
 

 
Magna Global downwardly revised its online ad spending forecast from 16.5% to 12% year-over-year growth based on projections of $11.7 billion in interactive revenue. Universal McCann, another Interpublic group, also pulled back on its national ad spending projections, predicting only a 2.2% rise in U.S. total ad spending to $285 billion. One bright spot is online video ad spending, expected to grow 45% in the coming year to $805 million.
 

 
Viewers are consuming more video than ever before thanks to the proliferation of content on multiple screen and devices, according to data released from Nielsen, the first time the company has compared viewing across TV, the internet and mobile. Instead of one platform suffering, they all seem to be benefiting. The average user (2+) is watching more TV than ever before (4% more compared to May of last year.) A small but growing number of internet and mobile phone users are watching video online (2 hrs, 19 min per month), as well as on their cell phones (3 hrs, 15 min per month).  

• 220 million Americans have internet access at home and/or work and 73%, or 162 million went online in May
• 119 million unique viewers watched 7.5 billion video streams in May 2008 
• As of Q1 2008, 91 million Americans (36% of all mobile phone subscribers in the U.S.) owned a video-capable phone    

 
Time Spent in Hours: Minutes Per User 2+, Per Month
                                                May 08   May 07  % Diff
Watching TV in the home*            127:15    121:48     4%    
Watching Timeshifted TV*                5:50       3:44   56%   
Using the Internet**                     26:26      24:16     9%    
Watching Video on internet**           2:19       n/a      n/a   
Watching Video via Mobile Phone       3:15       n/a      n/a   
* TV includes live viewing plus any playback viewing; Timeshifted TV is playback primarily on a DVR but including playback on services like Start Over as well as playback from a DVD recorder.
** Internet figures are from home and work.  Hours:minutes are based on the universe of persons who watch online video.
Source: Nielsen
 
Micro-blogging service Twitter, known as much for its frequent outages as its Silicon Valley buzz, continues to add users according to a new report from Hitwise. Twitter’s market share of returning visitors (who have used the service more than once in the past 30 days) have held steady at around 55% give or take since March, despite almost daily outtages. Although most users twitter from their phones, its website has also seen impressive growth.
 

 
Wall Street Journal tech reporter Walt Mossberg, whose iPhone 3G review also comes out in print today, makes his debut on Fox Business Channel this morning before assuming a usual spot on Thursdays. The WSJ has a deal with CNBC that prevents Journal reporters from appearing on Fox Business programs but apparently News Corp. found a way around it. 
 
Technology venture capital firm Valhalla Partners hired Saj Cherian as Principal and Leon Zilber as Research Analyst to its team of executives. Most recently, Sal was active in wireless strategy and business development for NBC Universal where he focused on scaling the company’s mobile advertising business. Leon was a senior analyst at Alliance Bernstein, where he was responsible for improving operations of the recently merged Fixed Income group.
 
Travel Ad Network added former BusinessWeek Sales Director Keith H. Kenner as Midwest Sales Director, a newly created position based in Chicago.

 
Google validated the virtual world phenomenon by launching Lively, it’s own browser-based virtual world featuring avatars, customizable rooms and the usual virtual interactions users have come to expect (including chatting enabled by GTalk). Google has simplified things for novices by providing a number of room and world templates. And worlds can be embedded into web pages, which should make for some fun experimentation. The success of the platform will ultimately be determined by the support it receives from content and application developers. The first high profile participant is National Geographic Channel. Nat Geo teamed with Million of Us LLC to create a virtual room for its new L.A. Hard Hats show, highlighting the experiences of workers building a virtual 3D skyscraper.  

Later — Wayne
 Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
07.09.08

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