Articles of the Day
WMG Builds Ad-Supported Music Video Site - A few weeks ago, Warner Music Group said it was shifting its resources to focus more on digital distribution. The latest move: creating an ad-supported online music video archive. The site, which also will offer pay-per-download, will allow other websites to embed Warner video programming and includes other social net features, such as video sharing. Down the road, WMG sees subscription-based and mobile platforms for its video channel as well.
EMI, YouTube Agree Music Use Arrangement, Mash-Ups Covered - EMI has struck a licensing deal with Google covering use of its artists’ music on YouTube. The deal, which makes EMI the last of the majors to form an official partnership with YouTube, will not only allow the label to add its audio and video repertoire to the video site for the first time, it also includes royalties paid for music used over user-generated videos.
4A’s And ANA To FTC: We Want Answers! - With a joint letter to the FTC and the Justice Department, the 4A’s and the ANA made it clear that marketplace restriction is one of the possible implications of the $11 billion wave of online advertising mergers and acquisitions.
Yahoo’s Chief Tech Officer Gives Notice - Zod Nazem, an 11-year Yahoo veteran, announced his retirement yesterday as chief technology officer, effective June 8. It’s just the latest in a string of recent Yahoo talent departures.
Movie Downloads May Provide Ad Revenue Stream - In the past month, 15% of online Americans downloaded a full-length movie from the Internet, according to a study released by Solutions Research Group (SRG). The increase from 11% just seven months ago points to Americans’ growing comfort with using the computer to download long-form video–and highlights a possible opportunity for advertisers.
Comcast Wants To Lead Interactive Ad Charge - Comcast’s top executive believes it’s “imperative” the cable operator give advertisers a user-friendly way to beam targeted messages into millions of homes within the next several years. The same philosophy applies to interactive ads, in which a viewer could potentially engage in impulse e-commerce.
Auto Dealers Are Getting the Biz Online - The local Internet scene is heating up for automotive dealers and sellers, according to a recent report from Borrell Associates. Local online advertising by automakers, dealers and individual sellers will escalate to $4.2 billion in 2011, up from $2.3 billion in 2006. Data from the National Automotive Dealers Association (NADA) indicate that of the $7.8 billion spent on advertising by auto dealers in 2006, the Internet’s share was 11.5%.
EBay Ad Exchange Finds Network - After months of fruitless searching, eBay’s Online Media Exchange system, a Web-based, stock market-like exchange for buying ad time on television, finally found a TV network willing to participate in a test. OME’s partners, which include eBay and the four A’s, were on the verge of shutting the project down. Many TV networks objected that the exchange threatens the high price advertisers currently pay for TV ad time. But in the end, the Oxygen network, which skews heavily to women, cited an opportunity “to be exposed to more advertisers.”
YouTube Shot In Arm For Apple TV - A day after Fortune canned Apple TV as “a dud,” it announced a landmark deal with Google to show YouTube videos on the interactive TV device. Business Week wrote that by joining forces, “the electronics maker and search giant just extended their lead” in bringing Internet entertainment from the PC to the TV.
Google Gives Developers Gears, Gadgets - Barely two weeks after Microsoft announced it would be taking open software to task for infringing on some 235 of its patents, Google, one the Web’s largest users of open source products like Linux and the MySQL database, announced it would encourage free software developers by releasing a series of application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow developers to mash-up and enhance existing Google products and services.
U.S. Venture-Backed Company Valuations Decline from Last Year’s High Point But Remain Steady With a Year Ago - The median pre-money valuation for U.S. venture-capital backed companies dropped from the six-year high point it reached late last year, but remains higher than a year ago, according to the latest quarterly valuation report from Dow Jones VentureOne. At $18.5 million for the first quarter of 2007, the median is modestly above the $16.4 million median recorded in the first quarter of 2006, but slightly below the $20 million median it topped out at in the fourth quarter of last year.
