Articles of Day
MySpace Music Transforms Social Network From Promotional To Commercial — Confirming weeks of rumors, MySpace on Thursday outlined its big plans for MySpace Music, which will be jointly operated by Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group. The ambitious service, slated to roll out over the next several months, will offer free ad-supported streaming audio and video files, DRM-free MP3 downloads, and ringtones, along with a host of e-commerce offerings from brand merchandise to tickets. MySpace Music will span the entire MySpace network, including its Music home page, artist profile pages, and individual member profiles. Members will be able to personalize their music content, create playlists, stream songs from their profiles, and link to the work of favorite artists.
Fox Interactive Restructures Sales Organization, Unveils Ad Network — News Corp. this morning announced a restructuring of its Fox Interactive Media unit, including the launch of a long-awaited online advertising network, and the departure of long-time Chief Revenue Officer Michael Barrett, as it flattens out its interactive sales organization. Adam Bain was named president of the new online ad network, dubbed Fox Interactive Media Audience Network, which will combine inventory across Fox’s existing interactive content network with that of third-party publishers. The company said the network would leverage Fox’s HyperTargeting technology, as well as its proprietary ad-serving platform.
Zillow Launches Mortgage Marketplace Offering Custom Loan Quotes — Real estate website zillow.com has launched a mortgage marketplace offering borrowers an anonymous way to request custom loan quotes directly from registered lenders. In turn, lenders can respond at no cost to an unlimited number of loan quote requests directly from borrowers. Zillow Mortgage Marketplace attempts to extend Zillow into another facet of home ownership, and includes a lender public feedback system where borrowers rate the lenders they choose to contact.
Gartner Outlines How Digital Can Survive Recession — Faced with an economy spiraling downward into recession and online spending at risk, what’s an Internet executive to do? Restate the case for digital media, make the most of existing assets, rethink your ad strategy and cut costs. Those are the steps prescribed by Gartner in a new report that serves as a sort of survival guide for online businesses during the downturn. Rather than lying low, digital bosses should reiterate the long-term value of new media to traditional media companies. “New media should be seen as an integral part of the overall strategy, rather than a collection of strange and risky new ventures that can be cut when budgets are tight,” Daum wrote.
Craigslist Valuation: $80 Million in 2008 Revenue, Worth $5 Billion — Why is Craigslist worth more than meets the eye? Because it’s run like a non-profit. Craig Newmark and co. don’t give a damn about generating revenue or profit, and more power to them. But if Craig ever want to sell Craigslist, he’d probably want to get something closer to true value for it–which means we need to think about the company’s real earning power. ClickZ has summarized a recent report from Classified Intelligence: 2007 Est. Revenue: $55 million, 2008 Est Revenue: $81 million, Monthly Pageviews: 9 billion, Monthly Job Listings: 2 million, Monthly Ad Listings: 30 million and Employees: 25.
Yahoo’s Smarter, Voice-Powered Mobile Search — Yahoo announced major upgrades to its oneSearch mobile service this week, with the primary focus on voice-powered technology. OneSearch users can now speak their queries into the phone and get results that go beyond simple links. A search for “New York,” for example, could return local subway schedules, while a search for “sushi restaurants” could turn up a list of geolocated eateries with open reservations. The new mobile search also takes advantage of Yahoo’s Search Assist query suggestion tool. OneSearch 2.0 is currently only available for BlackBerry users in the U.S., but Yahoo plans to expand the platform internationally and onto more than 500 devices by the end of 2008. The voice-search tech is powered by Cambridge, Mass.-based Vlingo, a two-year-old startup that Yahoo has invested some $20 million in.
Apple Surpasses Wal-Mart As Number One U.S. Music Seller — Less than two months after edging out Best Buy and Target for the number two spot, Apple says it has now passed Wal-Mart as the number one largest music retailer in the U.S. Citing NPD Group’s MusicWatch survey, Apple claims five-year-old iTunes has sold over four billion songs to more than 50 million customers. Apple also claims its catalog of six million-plus songs is the world’s largest. NPD bases its findings on the amount of music sold during January and February 2008. Release. It could be coincidental that the news happened to hit the same day that MySpace unveiled its own new DRM-free music venture.
Seesmic Acquires Twitter Desktop Client Twhirl — Social video start-up Seesmic has acq-hired Twhirl, a desktop client that allows users to connect with text messaging social services like Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku sans browser. Seesmic will use Twhirl to enable video conversations. Twhirl creator Marco Kaiser will be joining Seesmic. The service will remain free to use.
Liberty Media Ups Stake In DirecTV To 48 Percent — Liberty Media, which recently traded its stake in News Corp. for 41 percent of DirecTV has bought an additional 78.3 million shares of the satelite operator, bringing its stake to 48 percent. Of course, because it’s Liberty, the purchase is anything but straightforward. As the company explains it: “To fund the purchase Liberty borrowed $1.98 billion against a newly executed equity collar on 110 million DIRECTV common shares. The equity collar is a series of puts and calls with maturities ranging up to 4.4 years.” Glad they cleared that up. The stake will be attributed to the company’s Liberty Entertainment tracking stock.
Buzznet Acquires Qloud For Undisclosed Amount — Buzznet Inc., a Los Angeles-based social media community focused on music and pop culture, has acquired Washington, DC-based social music company Qloud, according to Mashable. No financial terms were reported. Buzznet last year raised a $6 million Series B round, and PaidContent reports that it’s added another $25 million from investors like Interscope Records. Backers include Redpoint Ventures and Anthem Venture Partners. Qloud had raised capital from Steve Case’s Revolution.
Vomba Acquires Adware Company WhenU — Adware company WhenU, known in recent years as one of the cleanest adware purveyors in the market, was quietly bought by the Vomba Network several weeks ago. Neither company has announced the move, but industry observers say they recently became aware of a change in ownership, in part because the end-user license agreement for WhenU’s adware programs was updated March 6 to reflect the company’s new corporate parent. Privacy watchdog Truste last year accepted both New York-based WhenU and Montreal-based Vomba into its whitelist program for trusted downloads, but delisted Vomba in June. At the time, Truste said that Vomba “made a business decision that they no longer want to make the financial commitment to maintain certification.” Truste also said that Vomba was exploring “new and creative distribution methods, particularly in the peer-to-peer market,” which it would have had to discontinue to remain on the whitelist.
Time Inc. Acquires 51 Percent Of Mexican Soccer Site MedioTiempo –Time Inc. has acquired a 51 percent stake in MedioTiempo, a Mexican soccer site that claims to be the biggest sports site in the country. The deal was mentioned in a quote from Time Inc. spokeswoman in an AdAge piece about the company’s portfolio strategy. A rep from the company, the magazine publishing arm of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), confirmed to us the deal, and explained that the site was launched in 1999 by three entrepreneurs with a passion for soccer. The actual acquisition was finalized in the past month. In addition to claiming the mantle as the biggest sports site in the country (their own claim), the company also says its the fifth biggest standalone site in any category. The site is now part of Grupo Editorial Expansión, which publishes a number of magazine titles in Mexico, and was acquired by Time Inc. in 2005. Prior to taking this majority stake, no outside company had invested in the site. The three founders are now employed by GEE. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Euro RSCG Aquires San Francisco Digital Shop Kadium — Ad agency Euro RSCG Worldwide has bought full-service digital shop Kadium. Terms were not disclosed. Euro, which is owned by French ad holding company Havas, is integrating Kadium with its offices in San Francisco, which is where Kadium is also based. Kadium principals Kevin Newby, Mike Fung and Derick Daily will join the management team of Euro RSCG SF; Newby will be director-digital services, while Fung and Daily become co-ECDs. Source: PaidContent
Hearst Acquires UK-Based Map Of Medicine From Informa — Another deal in the hot health info space… Hearst has acquired Map of Medicine, a UK-based medical info service targeting doctors, from B2B media firm Informa. The web-accessible service, launched in 2000 and acquired by Informa in 2005, offers decision-making tools based on so-called evidence-based healthcare principles. The company has partnered with the National Health Service as part of the UK public health service’s modernization campaign. Hearst says it will mesh Map of Medicine with its Zynx service, which monitors clinical and patient data to aid healthcare decision making. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
J.D. Power Acquires Social Media Market Research Firm Umbria — J.D. Power, the market research and forecasting business owned by McGraw-Hill, has acquired blog-oriented market research firm Umbria. The Boulder, CO-based firm tracks and analyzes how client brands are being talked about on blogs, message boards and other social media platforms. The idea is pretty straightforward: J.D. Power, which already does this through more traditional means, wants to add a social media component. Competitors include Buzzmetrics, which was acquired by Nielsen; Cymony, acquired by TNS; and independent Buzzlogic. Umbria has raised $6.7 million from investors Arrowpath Ventures, Sequel Venture Partners and Vista Ventures. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
