Articles of the Day
Online Videos Attract Broad Audience - Almost half of the U.S. population watches as least one online video per month, according to a new study of online video viewing habits. “One of the most notable things we found is the broad range of users,” says Michael Vorhaus, senior vice president and managing director at Magid Associates. “This is not any sort of niche behavior.”
Comcast Sued for Impeding Web Traffic To Peer-to-Peer Networks - Jon Hart claimed that Comcast impeded his visits to peer-to-peer sites like BitTorrent by slowing down service to those sites. Hart, who seeks class-action status, alleges that the delays happened after he upgraded to an ultra-high-speed Internet access plan specifically to access such sites. He accuses Comcast of breach of contract, among other claims.
Word-of-Mouth Marketing On The Upswing - Word-of-mouth marketing is expected to surpass $1 billion in 2007, making it one of the fastest-growing alternative media formats. In a new research report, PQ Media also predicts that spending on word-of-mouth marketing will grow at an annual rate of 30.4% and hit $3.7 billion by 2011. Helping drive the growth of WoM marketing are Web 2.0 technologies such as social networks, blogs that allow consumers to share information and opinions about brands and products.
Google Bids On Wireless Spectrum - Hot on the heels of Google’s Android announcement (commonly referred to as the “Gphone”), G’s next move will be to bid on open wireless spectrum set to be auctioned off by the FCC in January. The move is a logical step forward for a company whose mobile future depends on scale. Google’s wireless network would free consumers from the exclusive contracts binding them to certain handsets on certain mobile networks. Having its own network would also give the search giant leverage in negotiating deals to let its software run on rival carriers’ networks.
Microsoft Unveils Bold Expansion Goals - Microsoft’s Kevin Johnson, president of platforms and services, was in a bullish mood yesterday as he outlined the company’s Web advertising goals for the next three to five years. In something called the “10, 20, 30, 40″ plan, Microsoft aims to increase its share in Web search, page views, time spent per user and percentage of ad dollars. The software giant currently trails Google and/or Yahoo in each of these categories.
Microsoft Needs Yahoo To Achieve Goals - Microsoft’s so-called “10, 20, 30, 40″ plan may have left you scratching your head in disbelief-and for good reason: a 30 percent search share and a 40 percent Web advertising share sound like impossible goals for the next three-to-five years considering where the company is today. Sure, the $6 billion acquisition of aQuantive will help boost Web revenues, but not to such an extreme extent.
New Investment Fund Launched By Ex-AOL/IAC Execs - Yes, we need another investment/advisory fund for digital media…desperately. With every ex-AOLer on the advisory board. Snark aside, a new investment fund in digital media has been started by Julius Genachowski, former chief of business operations at IAC; Sean Greene, founder of The Away Network; and former AOL (NYSE: TWX) CTO John McKinley. It is called LaunchBox Digital, and operates like an incubator-with-advisors (FirstRound Capital, YCombinator, etc).
AOL acquires question-and-answer service Yedda - Time Warner unit AOL announced early Monday morning that it has acquired Yedda, a question-and-answer start-up that was founded in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2006. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition, according to a release from AOL, was all about Yedda’s code: the patent-pending semantic technology “automatically matches questions to other related questions and topics, while selecting the best available users to answer the question.” Yedda-powered features are set to begin appearing on AOL’s sites over the next few months.
WhiteFence Acquires GetConnected - WhiteFence, a Houston, Texas-based online comparison shopping site for residential home services, has acquired the IP rights and domain name of GetConnected Inc., a Boston-based operator of an ecommerce and integration platform service for merchants like Best Buy, AOL, Circuit City and Radio Shack. No financial terms were disclosed. WhiteFence has raised around $29 million in VC funding from firms like Adams Street Partners and Internet Capital Group, while GetConnected had raised around $25 million from Vantage Partners, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Atlas Venture and Asset Management Company Venture Capital.
Zustek Buys Adverb Media - Zustek Corp., an email marketing company recently acquired by Investcorp Technology Partners, has acquired Adverb Media, an interactive marketing, technology and services company. No financial terms were disclosed. The combined company will be known as Zeta Interactive.
Technology Crossover Ventures has invested $55 million in financial media company TheStreet.com - TheStreet.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSCM), a leading financial media company, today announced that Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), a leading provider of growth capital to late-stage private and public companies, has agreed to purchase a minority stake in TheStreet.com to support the Company’s accelerated expansion strategy. The investment of $55 million represents the purchase of preferred stock and warrants to purchase shares of common stock. The preferred stock converts into common stock at $14.26 per share. The five-year warrants permit TCV to purchase approximately 1.1 million shares of common stock at an exercise price of $15.686, or a premium of 10%.
MediaNews and Hearst Buy Majority in Classifieds Site Kaango For $20 Million - This was buried in newspaper conglom MediaNews‘s 10-Q filed earlier today with SEC: the newspaper group, along with The Hearst Corp., has bought 80 percent of online classifieds and software firm Kaango, for about $20 million. Kaango will be held by a newly formed LLC, which is 50 percent owned by each of the two. The remaining 20 percent of Kaango is owned by its founders and is subject to a call option and is expected to be purchased in the future, the company said.
Answers.com Extends Deadline For Lexico Acquisition by 48 Days; Ups Reimbursement if Deal Fails - Another sign that Answers.com (NSDQ: ANSW) may not be able to complete its $100 million acquisition of Lexico (parent of Dictionary.com) … in a filing with the SEC this morning, the company said that it has extended the original 180-day deadline (from July 13, 2007) by 48 days, to 228. In return for the longer wait, Lexico will get a $500,000 reimbursement if the deal falls through, up from the previously agreed $400,000.
Online Live Music Firm Control Room Sells Stake To PE Firm Intermedia - Online live music firm ControlRoom, which handled the big Live Earth series of concerts earlier this summer, has received investment from PE firm Intermedia. The NYC-based firm will use the money to expand its programming content beyond music and widen its distribution channels, it said. The PE firm is run by Leo Hindery, who previously ran the Yes Network, reports Reuters.
