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Cyn opsis: DIGITAL
11/12/08
Good morning, it’s Wednesday, November 12, 2008, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.
Warner Bros. became the latest studio to bow out of the broadband-happy Korean DVD market, according to the WSJ, choosing instead to license pressing and distribution rights to a local company. Warner Bros. follows Sony, Paramount, Universal, Buena Vista and 20th Century Fox which have all discontinued selling DVDs directly in the territory due to falling sales. DVD sales will drop to a projected $285 million this year – less than half of revenues in 2002. The presumption is that the lion’s share of the lost business is due to piracy. South Korea has the most advanced broadband infrastructure in the world (94% penetration rate,) offering blinding connection speeds at a fraction of the cost of U.S.-based services.
~ MULTIPLATFORM CONTENT NEWS ~
Sundance Channel and co-sponsor Dell are collaborating on a new 13-part short form series “Discovered,” profiling established and up-and-coming musical artists. The series will blend performances and outtakes from Spectacle: Elvis Costello with …, a new hour-long show premiering Dec. 3 on Sundance hosted by Elvis and co-produced by Sir Elton John’s Rocket Pictures. Discovered will air on Sundance Channel as in-break vignettes during Spectacle and will also streamed on the Dell Lounge with archival footage and photography of the artists. Subjects include Department of Eagles, Forro in the Dark and The Virgins.
Syndication company Litton Entertainment launched a Storm Stories companion web module for stations as monetizable additional content to the popular series. Stations can customize and add local sponsorship to several editorial features including video clips, a zip code-based weather time machine and an interactive game involving crisis weather incidents from the series.
The WB.com’s short-form series Sorority Forever launched on TVNZ on demand in New Zealand as part of a deal with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution. The channel will launch the 40-episode show with a 5-episode special followed by a new episode each weekday at tvnzondemand.co.nz.
Universal Sports is presenting its entire 28 hours of coverage of the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games on air and online this week with 4-hour programs each night from 7 p-11 p ET.
First Oprah – now Lifetime. The woman’s cable network has launched a co-branded retail site with Shop.com. myLifetime.Shop.com features buying guides and a comparison shopping engine that allows you to drill down by department and compare prices with tax and shipping factored into your purchase.
~ INNOVATORS & START-UPS ~
A group of digital and traditional media veterans announce the formation of Agility Studios today, financed by Denver-based private equity firm Nantucket Capital. Founders Scott Ehrlich, former VP of RealNetworks; Larry Tanz, former CEO of Live Planet; and Keith Quinn, SVP of Production and Development for LivePlanet, describe the venture as a full service boutique studio. The company says it will offer a full range of services necessary for creating and distributing content in the digital space. Agility aims to use its expertise in branded content packaging to finance higher budget projects as well as its understanding of decentralized distribution methods to churn out viral hits. “We plan to play at the edges,” says CEO Ehrlich referring to both higher and lower end projects. “We think the middle road is hard.”
Austin, TX-based online marketplace for vacation rentals HomeAway raised a huge $250 million round of additional financing led by Technology Crossover Ventures, on top of the $209 million it had already raised. HomeAway has consolidated a total of 11 vacation rental sites including VacationRentals.com, Abritel.fr and OwnersDirect.co.uk.
Intelligent media caching and bandwidth arbitrage solutions provider PeerApp raised $8 million in Series B funding. The round was led by existing investors Pilot House Ventures, Cedar Fund and Evergreen Venture Partners. The funds will be used to expand sales and marketing operations in broadband and wireless markets worldwide.
Call for Votes: Facebook has narrowed the field of apps competing for $225,000 fbFund grants to 25 candidates and is asking for users to help decide which apps deserve to be funded. For instance, Bar Tab allows you to send mobile coupons for real drinks to friends for $1. Vote by Nov. 30th.
~ GADGETS & APPS ~
Another software update for the iPhone is expected on Nov. 21, according to Greek blog iPhone Hellas. iPhone 2.2 will add Google Street View and Google Maps transit directions, offer the ability to download podcasts directly to the iPhone (no more synching everyday) and prompt users to rate their favorite apps to help users prioritize the motherload of applications now available.
Free media discovery app i.TV releases a newly updated movie guide for the iPhone and iPod touch. i.TV allows you to search for TV and movie listings and cast info, view trailers, and rate content. The latest version integrates with Netflix; tap the “watch button” to add movies or shows to your Netflix queue.
For just movies try the Showtimes from apptism. It utilizes the 3G iPhone’s GPS capabilities to automatically provide listings to theaters closest to where you are, providing driving directions, trailers, ratings and links to Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes reviews.
~ TECHNOLOGY DEALS, MERGERS AND SKIRMISHES ~
Massively multiplayer online (MMO) game company Nexon America kicked off a new promotion with 7-Eleven placing redeemable game codes on specially marked Slurpee cups. Nexon’s games are free to play but the codes can be exchanged for virtual goods in the games MapleStory, Mabinogi, Combat Arms and the appropriately named Sugar Rush, to be released in 2009.
~ DIGITAL ADVERTISING ~
Facebook rolls out its latest ad format – “engagement ads” – this week, notes The WSJ, which prompt users to share, post comments or RSVP to increase involvement. Once a user engages with an ad, a message is sent through the news feed to his or her friends list adding a viral component as well. The system is Facebook’s latest attempt at effectively monetizing its massive audience. According to comScore, Facebook’s share of U.S. online display spending was just 1.1% in June, compared to market leader FIM (which includes MySpace) with 15.9%.
Music blogging ad platform Mog.com says it has tripled its traffic in less than three months citing Quantcast metrics, surpassing 3 million unique visitors a moth. The Mog Music Network is now comprised of over 200 blogs.
~ TRENDS, RESEARCH, ETC. ~
Many digital pundits are saying Obama couldn’t have won without the internet – you know, those series of tubes all connected together. Facebook tends to agree. The site says candidates and their campaigns used Facebook as a means of engaging with potential voters in record numbers this year:
- 5.4 million + shared that you voted with your friends on Facebook
- 15 million + users of voting age in the U.S. logged into Facebook on Election day
- 1.5 million mentioned Obama, McCain, Palin, Biden or Election on their Facebook wall
- 2.4 million joined the Facebook Election Day event to help get out the vote
Facebook also announced that usage of its mobile products via mobile browsers or apps on BlackBerry, iPhone, Palm and Windows Mobile devices have tripled since the beginning of the year.
Ad holding company WPP Group is swapping its stake in TV research firm AGBNielsen to The Nielsen Company giving the latter a 100% share of the international audience measurement firm. In return Nielsen will transfer to WPP the following assets:
- SRDS, provider of media rates and data to the advertising industry
- PERQ/HCI, which provides a range of services to give insights into media planning, trading and post campaign effectiveness in the field of healthcare
- Its 11% share in IBOPE PDM, IBOPE LA and IMI.Com, which are part of the IBOPE Group, a Latin American multinational firm based in Brazil. WPP already holds a 31% stake in IBOPE. These assets will be added to The Kantar Group, WPP’s information, insight and consultancy division
RevX Systems announces the licensing and successful implementation of its Data Mediation and Reporting System to ActiveVideo Networks, enabling the delivery of near-real time audience measurement and business metrics for ActiveVideo Networks’ IPTV services.
~ EXECUTIVE MOVES ~
Big hire for NPR: SVP and GM of NYTimes.com Vivian Schiller is leaving the Times to become the new President and CEO of National Public Radio. Vivian is the second prominent digital veteran to join NPR in a month, joining former USA Today editor Kinsey Wilson, SVP and GM of NPR Digital Media. She succeeds Dennis Haarsager, who has kept the seat warm as intern CEO since March when he replaced Ken Stern. She will start on Jan. 5.
Fox Interactive Media executive Mickie Rosen has joined investment firm Velocity Interactive as an Investment Partner focusing on video, music, social media, publishing, games and online advertising. Mickie headed up entertainment for FIM as SVP and GM, Entertainment overseeing multiple sites including Rotten Tomatoes and AmericanIdol.com. She also led content acquisition and entertainment initiatives for the division, overseeing Fox on Demand on MySpace and negotiating the formation of Hulu.
Playlist hired former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta as CEO. He will work with the online music provider Project Playlist, an information location tool that helps users find music and buy licensed content. Owen was COO and Chief Revenue Officer for the Palo Alto-based social networking site. Playlist also announced that MTV founder Bob Pittman’s Pilot Group has invested in the company and that Bob himself has joined its board.
~ WEBSITE OF THE DAY ~
We’ve all heard that interactive properties are worth investing in because they can be great incubators of linear shows. That sounds good on paper but old media cynics tend to roll their eyes at such statements. To be fair, there are more and more precedents being set in this regard. Scripps’ Rate my Space began as an interactive feature on HGTV.com, relying on user submissions to collect images of viewers’ home projects and allowing others to discuss and rate them. Now it’s a hit show on the network. Discovery hopes to follow that pattern by creating a show around HowStuffWorks, an admired how-to themed video site founded a decade ago by North Carolina State Professor Marshall Brain that is loaded with interesting content. The weekly series, premiering on Discovery Channel at 8 pm on Thursday, Nov. 13, will tell real stories of how science is utilized to make our world a better place. What’s great about using a site like HowStuff as source material is that there is so much here to develop. The other nice thing is that the show comes with a built-in audience, one which Discovery is already busy harvesting on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
Housekeeping Note: The U.S. Unemployment Rate was just announced this morning (11/7/08) at 6.5%, up from 6.1% the previous month, and the highest number in 14 years. In an effort to help those who may find themselves out of work during these difficult economic times, Cynopsis is offering free Situation Wanted ads to all looking for work, for both new and returning clients, for the foreseeable future. To place an ad or for more information, email [email protected]. And lastly, to make sure even more people are seeing our classifieds, we are posting the full list of classifieds on our www.cynopsis.com homepage, updated daily. Be sure to check these listings regularly – some very talented people looking for work!
Later — Wayne
Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
11.12.08
Cynopsis Digital Ad Sales:
Chuck Bolkcom – 646-468-6180 / [email protected]
Mark Bohn- 203-583-1224 / mark@cynopsis. com
Classifieds – Trish Pihonak- 203-926-9878 / [email protected]
Cynopsis website – Video Resumes, Extended Classified Ads, Archives, and the Cynopsis Daily Video
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Cyn opsis CLASSIFIEDS – For More classifieds, visit the Cynopsis.com classifieds page here .
JOB OPENING: MGR, PRICING & INVENTORY/ONLINE ADVRTSNG SALES/Newtown CT: work with a cross-functional team to maximize digital media and sponsorship opportunities and revenue. Apply online at http://careers.taunton.com (11/19)
JOB OPENING: ACCT MGR, DIST. & FLD SALES/NY: Head region/division of 10 Distributors to Id. local rev., mkting and dist. opps. Exp. in Cable Sales, Mkting, & Acct Mgmt, 40-60% travel Rez: http://www.mylifetime.com/about-us/jobs (11/18)
JOB OPENING: AE/qubo/NY: Sell Nat’l on-air/line media. Gen new biz. Prsnt brand pos, mktg opportunities. Nat’l ad sales exp. required. Excl. interpersonal/org skills/MS Excel & PP. Apply: [email protected] (11/15)
JOB OPENING: SR RESEARCH ANALYST/DISCOVERY/MD: Resp for Brand Res, Ad & Media Effect./ROI, track metrics & success indicators for prog & initiatives. 2 yrs res exp. Client or supply mkt exp a must. Apply: www.discovery.com Req#8551 (11/15)
JOB OPENING: SUPERVISING PRODUCER/TLC/MD:Resp for writing/producing promos and mktg. projects for network;. 6+yrs. exp; proven writing/prod. skills, Avid Media Composure Exp. Apply: www.discovery.com Req#8553 (11/15)
JOB OPENING: SR. MGR-HARDLINES/Cookie Jar Ent/Burbank Min. 3-5 yrs Dom. License exp in Consumer Products industry with developed relationships. http://www.thecookiejarcompany.com (Careers). Send Res/CL: [email protected] (11/13)
JOB OPENING: PUBLICIST/Telepictures Prods/LA: Unit pub for synd TV show. News bkgd & exp on assign desk pref’d. Pitch/secure stories/content. Write/distrib releases.Fast paced enviro. 5-8yrs exp Res: [email protected] (11/13)
JOB OPENING: MKTG & SALES ASSOCIATE/IME-IESE Business School/NY: Min 3yrs exp in marketing education programs. Media/Entertainment background. Internet Marketing, lead generation, hands-on recruitment/sales. [email protected] jobC10 (11/13)
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] .
WINTER/SPRING INTERNSHIP/CREDITS ONLY: ENTERTAINMENT/COMM INTERN/Cynopsis Media/Shelton CT: Asst various depts as needed in advrtsng sales, mktg, & rsrch. Highly orgnzd & reliable Sophomores/Jrs/Srs; Excellent MS Word/Excel skills. Contact: [email protected] (11/15)
WINTER/SPRING INTERNSHIP/CREDITS ONLY: NewFest, NYC’s premier LGBT film organization, seeks interns to help with the 2009 Film Festival. Please email your resume to [email protected] (11/15)
WINTER/SPRING INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY: RESEARCH ANALYST/Trendrr (NYC): Analyze & produce reports work w/Mktg. Exp: Rsrch/data anlyst/stats/social media. Res: [email protected] (11/14)
SITUATION WANTED ADS, POSTED BY THOSE LOOKING TO BE HIRED … Interested in posting your Video Resume? Contact [email protected] for more information ….
SITUATION WANTED: EIC/LINE PRODUCER/PM: 15+ Ntwrk & cable exp ,Exec in Charge, Coord Prod, Line Prod, Prod Mgr seeking work in synd TV shows, sports, kids series, event prod opps, NY/NJ/CT. E-mail: [email protected] (11/19)
SITUATION WANTED: ONLINE EXEC PRODUCER/NY: 14+Yrs Online Project Mgmt/strategy/creative/Mktg/PR/Viral/Soc Ntwrk/content/copywrtng/adv/mgmt/acct. for entertainment & consumer brands. Email: [email protected] (11/19)
SITUATION WANTED: Freelance MKTG PROFESSIONAL with over 15 yrs of cable television experience developing and managing ad sales, affiliate, consumer promotions & events. Resume & client references available [email protected] (11/19)
SITUATION WANTED: TV DEVELOPMENT EXEC: nonfiction programming, with hits airing now, seeks Manager/Director position at Prod. co. or Network. Most recently was Manager at a Prod. co. (LA based, but would relocate) [email protected] (11/19)
SITUATION WANTED: ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER (NY) Interactive and print ad sales leader avail FT. Versatile, revenue generator, specialization in consumer vehicles (5+ yrs industry experience) [email protected] (11/19)
SITUATION WANTED: Smart, enthusiastic professional seeks EXECUTIVE ASST. or COORD. position at network or media co. [email protected] (11/19)
SITUATION WANTED: Exp’d MEDIA BUYER (Temp or Full-time) w/ 20+ yrs exp. negotiating R/TV/Cable/Sponsorships/outdoor for Blue Chip clients in any US market. [email protected] (11/19)
SITUATION WANTED: Award-winning WRITER/PRODUCER , animation & new media, available for freelance writing work. Experienced with short-form digital content. Reel & CV: www.elliotblake.com or contact [email protected] (11/19)
SITUATION WANTED: EXPERIENCED PROGRAMMING EXEC Acquisitions, Scheduling, Channel Development. US and Int’l experience. Great track record w/all platforms, incl Discovery & Tribune. Contact [email protected] (11/19)
SITUATION WANTED: EXP’D MEDIA RESEARCHER available. Credits incl both advertising sales and ad agency buying rsrch. Work with both primary and secondary resources. Work individually or manage a staff. Please e-mail: [email protected] (11/18)
SITUATION WANTED: PASSIONATE & CREATIVE MKT RESEARCHER (Temp or permanent) w/12 yrs exp. seeks to share skills & knwldg w/ companies to grow in challenging consumer landscape. Recently was VP w/ Top 20 rsrch co. [email protected] (11/18)
SITUATION WANTED: PROD/WRITER Creative & versatile w/over 16 yrs exp. Wanted: Sprvsng, Series, Show prod. or writer role. Credits incl: synd., Discovery, TLC, Style, Hallmark, WE, A&E. Many genres. NY-based. [email protected] (11/18)
SITUATION WANTED: CASTING DIRECTOR/PRODUCER – Freelce or P/T real people& actors! Lots of exp! Reality FUSE-Redemption Song, Discv-CashCab, TLC etc Commercials-Iphone, NY Lottery,V8, Maxwell House etc-NYC/NJ [email protected] resume (11/18)
SITUATION WANTED: Ambitious, energetic COMM./MARKETING professional w/experience in music & film seeks opp. w/ agency/network/prod. company. Skills: Graphics, Web Dev, Event Prod., Sales & Sponsorship. Email: [email protected] (11/18)
SITUATION WANTED: EXPERIENCED PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT, MARKETING & LICENSING MANAGER with 8+ years seeks position in LA. Worked at Disney with Fisher-Price, Hasbro, MegaBloks on Pooh, Princess, more. Contact [email protected] (11/18)
SITUATION WANTED: TV PRODUCER w/ exp in prod/, writing, rsrchng, booking,new media & licensing/contracts. Past credits incl synd talk, educational, new media and Discovery prgrmng. Seeks FT in NY area. Contact: [email protected] (11/18)
SITUATION WANTED: Creative children’s TV producer/director w/ 18+ yrs hands-on exp. seeks web/TV projects/agent/team to join. Credits: PBS Kids (Buster, Fetch!, Zoom), History, CBS, BBC. Screen reel & CV @ http://www.alangrazioso.com (11/13)
E-mail [email protected] for rates and specs for Job Openings.
Interested in posting your Video Resume? Contact [email protected] for more information ….
Are you looking for a job? Post your Situation Wanted Ad here — Email [email protected] for specs.
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