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MTV, Nickelodeon Vets Plan Next New Networks: Online Video Sites For Enthusiasts - Internet startup Next New Networks, an online video service, is poised to deliver 101 community-based sites over the next five years focused on niche content targeted to 18- to-34-year-olds. Management comes out of MTV and Nickelodeon, while former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller is an investor and board member. He talks with OnlineMediaDaily about the startup and its community strategy.

Experts Mixed On Effect Of Microsoft Search Leader’s Departure - Christopher Payne may be missed for his innovation, but Microsoft’s problems with search are larger than any one person, say experts, following reports that the leader of Microsoft’s Windows Live Search group has left the company to found a Seattle startup. 

NBC Poised To Sell Digital Downloads - NBC will soon launch its own digital download store, where customers can purchase “SNL” clips and an entire season’s episodes of hit shows like “The Office,” an NBC executive said at the Multicultural Media Expo in Los Angeles this week.  

Media Stream Ad Models Still Evolving - Nearly 25 billion media streams were served in 2006, according to a new report by Accustream iMedia Research.. A study by Insight Express conducted for Advertising.com in January 2007 confirmed news and video as the most appealing types of content for streaming.  

Divvio Launches, New Technology To Enhance Search - Hossein Eslambolchi, the man who literally overhauled AT&T’s voice and data networks three years ago into a single Web-based entity, is developing a new technology that scours the Web for media and automatically brings it back to the user. The startup, called Divvio, will search for audio, video and text on your favorite subjects, then bring them together, creating a personalized multimedia channel that’s updated each time you sign on.  

Time Warner Sets Aside Final Reserve For AOL Merger - Hoping to finally lay to rest the specter of its disastrous merger with AOL in 2001, Time Warner is setting aside an additional $145 million to settle the last of the securities-fraud claims related to the deal. This brings the total amount spent on shareholder lawsuits to about $3.75 billion. This is the third reserve created by the media giant stemming from the merger, the company said, after exhausting a $3 billion reserve created in 2005 and another $615 million set aside late last year. In addition, the company had to pay the federal government $510 million and settle a separate Justice Department lawsuit.

Wikia Wants 5% Of Web Search - A new Reuters report divulges more information on Jimmy Wales’ collaborative search engine Wikia. The former futures trader, who founded the popular nonprofit encyclopedia Wikipedia, has repeatedly said he plans to go after Google with his latest wiki-based project. At a news conference in Tokyo, Wales said his short-term goal was to steal as much as 5% of the Internet search market, but he declined to give any earnings goals. The company has received $4 million in funding from “angel investors,” as well as a “very large investment” from Amazon Inc, according to the report.

News Corp, Newest YouTube Competitor? - News Corp apparently is mulling creating a video portal that could potentially rival YouTube. Fox Interactive Media head Peter Levinsohn reportedly told investors at a Bear Stearns conference this week that the company is in talks to amass a trove of video clips for online distribution. “We’re in very active negotiations with all of the media companies to create the most robust video offering from professional content on the Web,” he said, according to Variety.

@ OPA: The Media Investment Landscape: Convergence Of Tech and Media - The next year will see the return of the tech IPO - or a period of negativity in the web startup business, according to one of the investors behind Pluck and Tribe.net. Doing the math whilst speaking on a panel moderated by this site’s very own editor and publisher, Rafat Ali, Mayfield MD Allen Morgan provides analysis on the upcoming tech IPO landscape.  

Once Radio, Retail, MTV Ruled―Now Record Companies Have To Go Through iTunes - In the music industry, one thing hasn’t changed, and it’s that therecord companies can’t get their products across to potential buyers without an intermediary. Once it was radio and retail, later it was MTV, now the preferred way to get new music in front of people is iTunes. Today’s Wall Street Journal looks closely at how record labels are working with Apple.

@ OPA: Competing Visions of Community-Publisher Relationships - Should big publishers in a Web 2.0 world convert readers into producers within their walled gardens (outside-in), or seek out those who are already writing amateur content on their own personal turf (inside-out)? And what does that mean for the authority of traditional creators? Those questions fired up a Q&A session at the OPA forum in London this morning. User involvement in big media output again emerged as a key theme of this year’s forum, leaving execs to pick over the detail.

DJ-IAC Form JV For Community-Based Personal Finance Site To Be Headed By Dave Kansas - An interesting end-of-week CEO-level announcement from Dow Jones and IAC … They’re teaming up in a 50-50 joint venture to create a “community-driven” personal finance site based on content from various Dow Jones sites and technology/marketing from IAC’s Ask.com and LendingTree among others. Finance start-up vet Dave Kansas will be president of the venture, slated for a launch in the second half of 2007.

Cisco Buying Social Networking Sevice Tribe.net: NYT - Cisco, which recently bought Five Across white-label social networking service, is buying another has-been social network, Tribe.net, for the technology, reports NYTimes. The deal will give Cisco the technology to help large corporate clients create social networking services resembling to bring their customers together online, the story says. Tribe.net would remain an independent site, while its underlying technology would go to Cisco.

Neo At Ogilvy Bolsters Search Capabilities, Buys GSI - In a move that speaks to the growing importance of search to overall brand marketing strategy, Ogilvy Group’s digital and direct media unit Neo@Ogilvy has acquired search marketing consultancy Global Strategies International.

Avenue A/Razorfish Buys French Online Ad Firm Duke For $7.9 Million Plus Earnout - Proving earlier predictions about a hot takeover market for online ad shops, this one involves two: Avenue A/Razorfish, a unit of online ad agency aQuantive, bought Paris-based interactive agency Duke. The Seattle-based digital shop paid an initial $7.9 million to acquire Duke. The complete purchase price will be paid in cash. The final price will be determined by an earnout arrangement based on Duke’s profit contributions over the next three years and Duke’s net asset value on Monday.

Jupitermedia Deal Talks With Getty Images Ends - So no deal between Jupitermedia and Getty Images on the latter buying the former. So much for that. Most likely, one contentious point might have been how to offload the media division separately from he image division. It could also mean, among other things, that JUPM is in talks with another buyer.  

ClearWire Corp., a Kirkland, Wash.-based WiMAX company, priced 24 million common shares at $25 per share ($23-$25 range), for an IPO take of approximately $600 million. It had originally filed to raise just $400 million, before increasing its target to $500 million in an amended filing. The extra $100 million came after Clearwire opted to up its number of offered shares from 20 million to 25 million. It will trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol CLWR, while Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan served as co-lead underwriters. Seven other banks also participated. ClearWire has raised around $1.2 billion in private equity funding, including a $900 million infusion last year led by Intel Capital. Other significant shareholders include Bell Canada , Motorola and company founder Craig McCaw. www.clearwire.com  

FON, a Madrid, Spain–based company focused on developing a global network of shared WiFi connections, has raised $13 million in second-round funding. Return backers include Index Ventures, Google, Sequoia Capital and Skype – while four unnamed non-U.S. investors also participated (names to be released at later date). FON has raised around $35 million in total VC funding. www.fon.com  

Extreme DA Corp., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer of semiconductor design tools, has raised $7.57 million in Series B funding, according to a regulatory filing. Participants included Foundation Capital and Lanza Tech Ventures. www.extreme-da.com  

Napatech, a Denmark-based provider of Ethernet network interface cards, has raised $7.5 million in third-round funding. Return backers include Ferd Venture and Northzone Ventures. www.napatech.com  

Xradia Inc., a Concord, Calif.-based manufacturer of x-ray imaging systems for 3D tomography and nanotech applications, has closed its Series D round with $7 million. As previously reported, Harris & Harris Group provided $4 million of the deal, but other participants were not disclosed. www.xradia.com  

Viva Vision, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based provider of original mobile video programming, has raised $5 million in VC funding from Equal Elements. www.vivavision.com  

Flurry, a San Francisco-based provider of mobile email and RSS services, has raised $3.75 million in Series A funding. Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Draper Richards were joined by seed backer Borealis Ventures. www.flurry.com  

iForem Inc., a Redwood City, Calif.-based provider of a service for online storage and financial management of a trust, has raised around $2 million in Series A funding from Gabriel Venture Partners. Gabriel entrepreneur-in-residence Stephen Peiraldi is the company CEO, while Gabriel partners Scott Chou and Rick Bolander will serve on the board of directors.

Kinamik SL, a Barcelona, Spain-based provider of data integrity software for the governance, risk management and compliance markets, has raised €1.2 million in second-round funding. Spinnaker co-led the deal alongside a group of unnamed angels. www.kinamik.com  

AgInfo Global Link Inc., a Longmont, Colo.-based provider of information for the global food industry supply chain, has raised around $1.34 million in Series A funding led by Kinetic Capital, according to a regulatory filing. www.aginfo.com  

Fox Entertainment Picks New Digital Head From Inside News Corp. - Fox Entertainment named Dan Fawcett, a veteran company dealmaker, to head up the digital media group–a position that has been vacant since November.

TV Networks Give Emerging Media a Shot - If you’re in the sights of a network TV marketer, you may get e-mail and mobile alerts to check a blog post featuring a podcast and a game. You may also view some online video. If things go really well, you’ll spread the video virally. TV networks are giving emerging media their best shot this year, according to a new study by 360i.

Worldwide Internet Penetration Grew 10% in 2006 - Nearly 750 million people ages 15 and older used the Internet worldwide in January 2007, up 10% over January 2006, according to new data from comScore Media Metrix. India, the Russian Federation and China all saw heavy Internet user growth in 2006, growing 33%, 21% and 20%, respectively. China now has the world’s second-largest Internet population, with 87 million users ages 15 and older. The US had 153 million users ages 15 or older in January 2007.

Google, Baidu Race To Set Up Online Library In China - Google and Chinese search engine Baidu are racing each other to set up an online depository of books, reports Reuters. Baidu is forming relationships with universities and libraries―the Peking University Library in Beijing is mentioned, while Google is “co-operating with almost 20 local publishing houses”.

CBS Explodes Video But Polices YouTube - CBSNews.com SVP/GM Betsy Morgan said the company was fixed on sharing its videos on sites around the web, having realized it needed to give away some content elsewhere to drive viewers back to its own sites.

Imeem Partners With Snocap On Music Promotion; Will Share Ad Revenue With Labels - A streaming music-revenue sharing deal has been struck between hybrid IM and social net imeem and online music distributor Snocap. The deal calls for imeem to allow Snocap’s artists to stream music for free on the social net’s site. In return, Snocap, which is run by Napster founder Shawn Fanning, gets to promote artists from labels it has deals with to imeem’s 16 million users and the labels, aside having a new marketing avenue, can point to one site that gives them control over their content.

Nickelodeon’s TV Upfront Presentation Puts Digital Initiatives Center Stage - While Nickelodeon said it was sifting through 25 pilots for TV, most of the talk during its upfront discussion centered on its increased ad and content emphasis on digital media, with particular attention given to three new interactive series. Nickelodeon also announced that its sites pulled in their strongest performance ever this past February, The virtual world/social net hybrid Nicktropolis reached a network milestone by surpassing 1 million registered users since its January launch. Specifically, the site garnered approximately 2.4 million visits and more than 70 million pageviews, along with a total of 8.9 million game plays.  

Eager To Complete Sale To Go Fish, Bolt Finalizes Settlement With Universal - Universal Music Group and video sharing site Bolt.com have agreed to a final settlement estimated at $10 million or at least a third of the amount Go Fish is reported to be paying for Bolt. In exchange, as FT reported, UMG will drop its lawsuit against Bolt for copyright infringement. UMG can now concentrate on similar lawsuits against another video sharing site, Grouper, and MySpace; the music company sued the sites last fall, accusing them of allowing users to swap its artists’ music videos without permission and seeking $150 thousand per instance of copyright infringement, plus costs.  

AT&T-Yahoo Partnership, Up In 2008, Likely Won’t Be The Same―If Extended - As the Incredible Hulk of telecoms grows even stronger, AT&T has less reason to continue a co-branding partnership with Yahoo set to expire in April 28, or so contends the WSJ (sub. req.) in a lengthy, complicated piece based primarily on unidentified sources. The partnership dates back to 2004 when AT&T was still SBC. One anecdotal sign of trouble: reports that the Yahoo logo has been painted out on AT&T trucks.  

Movie Gallery Inc. (Nasdaq: MOVI) has agreed to acquire MovieBeam Inc., a Burbank, Calif.-based provider of on-demand movie services. No financial terms were disclosed. MovieBeam raised $52.5 million in Series A funding in 2005, from firms like Mayfield, Norwest Venture Partners, Intel Capital, Cisco and ABC. www.moviegallery.com www.moviebeam.com

UUSee, a Chinese operating of a video distribution website, has raised $23.5 million in VC funding. Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Highland Capital Partners co-led the deal, and were joined by Steamboat Ventures and return backers Sequoia Capital and Susquehanna International Group. www.uusee.com  

Impinj Inc., a Seattle–based provider of semiconductor and RFID technology, has raised $19 million in fifth-round question. AllianceBernstein led the deal, and was joined by return backers ARCH Venture Partners, GF Private Equity Group, Madrona Venture Group, Mobius Venture Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, Unilever Technology Ventures, UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, VentureTech Alliance and the Viterbi Group. www.impinj.com  

Provigent, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based provider of system-on-a-chip solutions for the broadband wireless transmission market, has raised $16 million in fourth-round funding. Globespan Capital Partners was joined by return backers Sequoia Capital, Pitango Venture Capital, Magnum Communications Fund, Ascend Technology Ventures, Delta Ventures and Qualcomm co-founder Andrew Viterbi. www.provigent.com  

RockYou, a maker of photo/slideshow sharing widgets for blogs, has raised $11 million in second-round funding at a $50 million post-money valuation, according to TechCrunch. Partech International led the deal, and was joined by return backers Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. www.rockyou.com  

Geni (f.k.a. Wikigenia), a West Hollywood , Calif.-based developer of a global family tree, has raised $10 million in Series B funding. Charles River Ventures led the deal, and was joined by return backer The Founders Fund. TechCrunch reports that the deal comes with a $100 million post-money valuation, whereas the $1.5 million Series A round had a $10 million post-money valuation. www.geni.com  

Casabi Inc., a Campbell, Calif.-based company that Web-enables home phones via broadband, has raised around $10 million in Series B funding, according to a regulatory filing. Canaan Partners was joined by return backers Mayfield Fund and Vanguard Ventures. www.casabi.com  

QD Vision Inc., a Watertown, Mass.-based developer of flat panel displays, has raised $5 million in Series B funding. Highland Capital Partners led the deal, and was joined by return backer North Bridge Venture Partners. VentureWire reports that the deal is being kept open for an additional $2 million in strategic commitments. www.qdvision.com  

Synfora Inc., a Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of application engine synthesis software used to design systems-on-chips, has secured around $3.5 million of a $9 million Series C round, according to a regulatory filing. Wafra Partners and Xilinx were joined by return backers ATA Ventures, Foundation Capital, and U.S. Venture Partners. www.synfora.com  

NewCross Technologies Inc., a San Mateo, Calif.-based provider of hosted VoIP for service providers, has raised $3.25 million in Series C funding, according to a regulatory filing. Participants included Columbia Ventures Corp. and Headway Ventures. www.newxt.com  

Platial Inc., a Portland, Ore.-based online aggregator of stories, reviews and multimedia for local geographies, has raised $2.4 million in Series A funding. KeyNote Ventures joined return backers Kleiner Perkins, Caufield & Byers, Omidyar Network, Ram Shriram and Ron Conway. www.platial.com  

MicroAzure Corp., an Alamo, Calif.-based lithium-ion battery startup, has raised $2.25 million in Series A funding led by DCM-Doll Capital Management, according to a regulatory filing. www.microazure.com  

MedPage Today LLC, a Little Falls, N.J.-based provider of real-time medical news for healthcare professionals, has raised $2.1 million. Milestone Venture Partners led the deal, and was joined by SJF Ventures. www.medpagetoday.com

Rostima Ltd., a UK-based provider of workforce management solutions, has raised £2.0 in second-round funding. Close Ventures led the deal, and was joined by Oxford Capital Partners and Rostima chairman Arthur Balland. www.rostima.com  

Tastemakers Inc., a Seattle-based online software startup, has raised nearly $1 million in Series A funding led by Amazon.com. www.tastemakers.org  

Peer39, a New York-based online ad marketplace operator, has raised $3 million in first-round funding from Dawntreader Ventures. The news was first reported by VentureBeat.

TPG and Cerberus Capital have been short-listed in the auction for Japanese consumer electronics company Victor Co. of Japan (JVC), according to The Deal. Second-round bids are due this week.

American Capital Strategies has invested $165 million in private equity and debt to acquire a minority stake in Geosign Group Holdings Inc., a Canadian search company and publisher of online B2C content. www.acas.com  

Starent Networks Corp., a Tewksbury, Mass.–based provider of mobile multimedia infrastructure solutions, has filed for a $115 million IPO. It plans to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol STAR, with Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers serving as co-lead underwriters. It has raised around $95 million in total VC funding since its 2000 inception, from firms like Matrix Partners (20.1% pre-IPO stake), North Bridge Venture Partners (20.1%), Highland Capital Partners (18.4%), Focus Ventures (6%) and the T-Mobile Venture Fund. www.starentnetworks.com

Glu Mobile Inc., a San Mateo, Calif.-based mobile game publisher, has set its proposed IPO terms to 7.3 million common shares being offered at between $10 and $12 per share. It plans to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol GLUU, with Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers serving as co-lead underwriters. The company has raised around $57 million in VC funding since its 2001 inception as Sorrent, from firms like New Enterprise Associates, BA Venture Partners, Globespan Capital Partners, Granite Global Ventures and Sienna Ventures. www.glu.com  

Aruba Networks Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based provider of wireless LAN technology, has set its proposed IPO terms to 8 million common shares being offered at between $8 and $10 per share. It plans to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol ARUN, with Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers serving as co-lead underwriters. It has raised around $86 million in total VC funding from firms like Artis Capital Management, Matrix Partners, Sequoia Capital, Trinity Ventures and WK Technology Funds. www.arubanetworks.com  

Opsware Inc. (Nasdaq: OPSW) has agreed to acquire iConclude Co., a Bellevue, Wash.-based provider of IT process automation software. The deal is valued at around $53 million, including $30 million in cash and 3.39 million shares of Opsware common stock. In addition, iConclude’s $7 million worth of existing cash will be distributed to stockholders at closing in the form of a dividend. iConclude had raised $12 million in VC funding since its 2005 inception, from firms like Cronus Ventures, Greylock Partners, Madrona Venture Group and Shasta Ventures. www.opsware.com www.iconclude.com

PlantCML, a Temecula, Calif.–based provider of mission-critical communications systems for emergency contact centers, has acquired Tel Control Inc., a Huntsville, Ala.-based provider of networked and hosted E911 solutions. No financial terms were disclosed, except that the transaction was funded by PlantCML owner Golden Gate Capital. www.plantcml.com www.tci911.com  

Panama Gives Big Brands Biggest Boost: Report - Big brand advertisers are getting the most so far from Yahoo’s Panama search advertising upgrade, according to the latest data on post-Panama performance. Fortune 500 advertisers are seeing click-through rates increase to 4.4% from 2.3%, according to SearchIgnite and RBC Capital Markets.

Kelsey: Online Directory Ads To Top $11B in 2011 - Advertising from online directories is expected to climb 22.3% every year for the next five years, topping $11.1 billion in 2011–up from $4.1 billion in 2006, according to a local advertising forecast released today by the Kelsey Group.

Gather.com Signs Five Major New Advertisers - Gather.com, a social network geared to a grown-up demographic, plans to announce new sponsorship deals today with several blue-chip advertisers: Charles Schwab, Expedia.com, Amtrak, AARP and Universal Music Classical/Decca.

Advertisers Want Independent Verification of Results - According to a new study by Forrester Research, reported by eMarketer, many marketers are dissatisfied with advertising’s return on investment (ROI), and only 21% of those clients surveyed would recommend their agencies’ services to others. At the same time, however, 76% of marketers had no way to determine their ROI from their lead agencies, and 69% said ROI is too difficult to measure.

Blog Reading Is a Free-Floating Affair - Readers mainly find out about blogs from other blogs. This may explain why blogs are still a blip on the screen for most marketers. Two-thirds of blog readers discover blogs by links on other blogs, according to a new report by Vizu Answers and Ad Age. Recommendations account for another 23% of blog finds.

Is Web Radio Ending? - On Monday, the Copyright Royalty Board, which licenses a variety of copyrights and organizes royalty fees, decided to raise royalty fees, a move that could cripple the fledgling Internet Radio business. As is, most radio Webcasters survive on thin ad margins due to their small audiences; the new rules would put many stations under. For example, AccuRadio, a Webcaster, makes about $500K in ad revenue. It currently pays $50K in royalty fees. Under the new rules, its royalty fees would be jacked up to an astonishing $600K, according to 2006 usage figures.

MTV To Build “Thousands” Of Sites Around Brands - MTV Networks, whose TV networks include MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and Spike TV, is set to unveil a bold new Web strategy to build thousands of new Web sites where users could watch, contribute and even re-edit its television programs. Sites will be built around everything from personalities to particular aspects of its shows. The new Web sites are part of a broader effort by MTV parent Viacom to distribute content from its properties through multiple channels, though decentralization could dilute corporate branding.  

Viacom Strengthens Ties With Microsoft - To the chagrin of Google and YouTube, Viacom on Tuesday strengthened ties with Google rival Microsoft in an agreement to place more entertainment programming onto Microsoft’s Xbox Live Web service. The software giant will make available a free, downloadable, HD version of a popular episode from Comedy Central’s “South Park,” as part of a promotion for its HD DVD add-on for the Xbox360. The idea is to spur more Xbox 360 users into buying shows from Viacom and other media companies.

Rashtchy: Google Users To Cause Online Ad Surge - The financial services firm Piper Jaffray raised eyebrows recently with a new report called “User Revolution,” in which it predicted that global Web advertising would exceed $81 billion in just four years, representing a 21% compounded annual growth rate. Rashtchy says Google is the most important company of this so-called “user revolution,” the first company to put users in control of everything.

MSN-Produced Content, Take Three - Microsoft has long pegged “branded entertainment” as a primary focus for growing MSN, its perennially beleaguered Web portal. After various efforts were met with modest success, video shows became MSN’s new strategy. For the cost of a low-budget 22-minute TV pilot, MSN has teamed up with the producer Reveille to create 10 shows. Some, like “Chef to the Rescue” and “The Big Debate,” have been greenlighted right away; others are still pending.

Should Google Buy Blinkx? - Article on reasons why Google should buy Blinkx.

Sony Brings Social Net, User-Gen Aspects To PS3 - In a move designed to maintain its competitive strength in the increasingly crowded video game space, Sony will unveil its new online, social network for the PlayStation3 console at Game Developers Conference in San Francisco today, according to various media reports.

2006 Online Ad Revenues Up 34 Percent: IAB/PwC - The last year seems to have been a very good one for internet ad spending and the last quarter was apparently a fantastic one. For 2006, online ad revenues totaled $16.8 billion, a 34 percent rise over 2005’s $12.5 billion, while Q406 broke all previous quarterly records with $4.8 billion, according to estimates by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The ad revenues that made Q4 the highest quarter ever reported represent a 32 percent gain over 4Q05 and 15 percent rise over Q306. 

Google Chief: YouTube Will Keep Focus On Licensed Content - Google CEO Eric Schmidt, speaking at an investor conference in San Francisco on Monday, said that YouTube’s strategy is to secure as much licensed content as possible while developing the ad model to monetize it, despite the company’s recent failure to secure major content deals with Viacom and CBS.

USA Today Relaunches Web Site As News-Driven Social Network - The new widescreen USAToday.com is replete with video, blogs, dynamic content sharing and recommendation tools. The expanded social-networking capabilities are designed to create a community around the news.

TV Brands Could Do More To Exploit Digital Efforts: Study - Despite a healthy curiosity in new marketing platforms, broadcast and cable TV networks are failing to capitalize on the digital investments they have made, says search marketing firm 360i, which analyzed 105 Web sites to reach its conclusion.

Blog Readers Look For Fun And Are Loyal - A new study ranked entertainment as the leading motivation for people who read blogs. Roughly 30% of blog readers read more than three blogs regularly, and many return daily to their favorites.

Newspapers Outsell TV Broadcasters With Local Online Video Ads - According to a new report from Borrell Associates, local online video advertising, worth about $161 million in 2006, is expected to grow to $371 million this year, or 5% of all local online advertising, and to exceed $5 billion in next five years. In 2006 the market for locally targeted online video ads became a legitimate market in Chicago , New York and Los Angeles (the three largest markets) worth more than $5 million each. The next 37 largest markets each saw more than $1 million in revenue from online video, according to Borrell.

Are Retail Sites Driving Consumers to Stores? - Research article with information on consumers researching and window shopping online, but going to brick and mortar stores to make the purchase. Findings claim that 58% of broadband users who researched products online and/or offline would purchase at a brick and mortar, while 36% would purchase online.

Google Adds Real Estate Giant To Google Base - Google last week cut a new deal to move more into real estate. The search giant is teaming up with real-estate engine Trulia to host more than 500,000 real-estate listings from real-estate giant Realogy, whose holdings include Century 21, Coldwell Banker and ERA. Realogy has its own search engine; but now, current and future listings will also appear on Google’s Google Base listings service, as well as Trulia, one of the best real estate engines out there.

Google’s Cutts: Future Of Personalization - Search marketer Gord Hotchkiss interviews Google’s SEO master blogger Matt Cutts on the effect Google’s move toward personalization will have on the “art” of search engine optimization. Per his previous interview with Marissa Mayer, vice president search products, services and the consumer experience, he found out Google’s personalization push will be less game-changing than a Google index update: only about two in 10 search results would be impacted by personalization, and never the No. 1 organic result.

Online Video Audiences Are More Valuable Than TV - Here’s a tough sell: Agency folks should be telling their clients to invest more in online video because it’s audiences are more valuable than TV audiences. Is that true? Pound for pound, yes, given that video audiences are more contained and engaged in what they’re doing, but this comes at the expense of TV’s massive reach. If your client is a national brand advertiser, don’t be surprised if they reject shifting a significant portion of TV spending to online video. If you work for a business-to-business, automotive or financial services company, they’re more likely to listen.

Big Media’s YouTube Frustration Underscored by ‘06 Revs - The press loves to document the downfall of the mighty. Google’s problems securing big media deals and effective monetization of YouTube’s massive user base and extensive video catalog have become a regular pastime for some reporters at big publications. Over the weekend, here’s what YouTube made in 2006: $15 million. That’s according to a Bear Stearns analyst note.

Merrill Lynch: MySpace Will Make Big Bucks - Look for MySpace to soon play a much bigger role in helping News Corp monetize its Web properties. That’s according to a particularly bullish report issued this morning by brokerage house Merrill Lynch. “MySpace is already one of the most widely used sites for video downloads on the Internet. With online video CPMs often running $40-$60, this could be a meaningful driver in the coming years,” states research analyst Jessica Reif Cohen in the report, “Internet assets to drive improved valuation.”

Online Auctioneer Right Media Hopes To Reinvent Advertising - Unless EBay Gets There First - Online display ad specialist Right Media was put on the map when Yahoo purchased a 20 percent stake valued at $45 million. Now, after experiencing revenue growth of 81 percent in the past six months, NY-based Right Media harbors ambitions of soon challenging its patron and other web giants like Google. But despite rapid success, Michael Walrath, 31, still finds it difficult to be taken seriously when he says he wants to reinvent the way display ads are bought and sold by using an “open auction platform,” he tells BusinessWeek.

NYTCO CEO: Digital Revenue To Grow By 30 Percent For ‘07; Overall Contribution Increasing - New York Times president and CEO Janet Robinson used Tuesday’s appearance at Bear Stearns 20th Annual Media Conference to outline the company’s blended approach to revenue as digital becomes more important. Robinson told the gathering: “In 2007, we will continue to build on our digital foundation. We expect digital revenues will grow approximately 30 percent to about $350 million, mainly through organic growth. We will focus on several key levers attracting more users, deepening their engagement and then monetizing our readers’ usage.”

YHOO: Close To Filling Major Vacancies; Panama’s Launch Smooth; Newspaper Deals Could Expand - Yahoo’s presentation at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference today covered a lot of ground as chairman and CEO Terry Semel and still-CFO Sue Decker tried to prove to investors and analysts that major problems are in the past.

Merrill Reduces Scripps’ Interactive Growth Outlook For First Two Quarters - In response to warnings Scripps made regarding its 1Q forecast on Tuesday, Merrill Lynch reduced its interactive revenue outlook from 28 percent to 14 percent. Merrill further reduced its 2Q outlook for Scripps’ interactive growth from 17 percent to 5 percent. Merrill has zeroed in on Scripps’ shopping comparison sites, Shopzilla, uSwitch and UpMyStreet. Scripps has said Shopzilla will face difficult revenue comparisons, while the UK-focused uSwitch is expected to benefit in 2Q and 3Q from a marketing campaigns starting in this quarter.

Friendster Switches From Yahoo To Google For Exclusive Search, Advertising - Social networking site Friendster has named Google as its exclusive advertising and Web search provider, according to Reuters―replacing a prior search deal with Yahoo. Financial terms were not disclosed; “the plan calls for text and display advertising to run on Friendster members’ personal profile sites, worldwide, and the company will introduce Google Web search across the site in the second quarter of 2007.”

Internet REIT Inc., a Houston, Texas-based acquirer and developer of domain names and websites, has raised nearly $38 million in Series B funding, according to a regulatory filing. Shareholders include Maveron and Perot Investments. www.internetreit.com

TicketsNow, a Chicago-based online event ticket marketplace, has raised $34 million in first-round funding. Adams Street Partners led the deal, and was joined by DFJ Portage Venture Partners and New World Ventures. www.ticketsnow.com  

Market Force Information Inc., a Boulder, Colo.-based customer experience information company, has raised $32 million in Series B funding. Monitor Clipper Partners led the deal, and was joined by return backers Centennial Ventures, Boulder Ventures, Vista Ventures and Hercules Technology Growth Capital. www.marketforceinfo.com  

Eons Inc., a Charlestown, Mass.-based media company focused on the 50+ population, has raised $22 million in Series B funding. Charles River Ventures led the deal, and was joined by Intel Capital, Humana Inc. and return backers General Catalyst Partners and Sequoia Capital. www.eons.com  

Rivulet Communications Inc., a Portsmouth, N.H.-based provider of IP network technology, has raised nearly $20 million in Series B funding, according to a regulatory filing. Backers include ATA Ventures, Performance Equity Management, Menlo Ventures and TMG Capital. www.rivulet.com  

RingCube Technologies Inc., a Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of portable personal computing solutions, has raised $12 million in Series B funding from Mohr Davidow Ventures and return backer New Enterprise Associates. www.ringcube.com  

Antenova Ltd., a Cambridge , UK-based provider of antennas andRF antenna modules, has raised $10 million. Artemis, CLS, Invesco and Panmure Capital were joined by return backers Quester, Cambridge Gateway Fund and FNI Venture Capital. The company has raised around $35 million in total VC funding since its 1999 inception. www.antenova.com

SpeechCycle Inc., a New York-based provider of on-demand automated agents for the cable and telecom industry, has raised $10 million in new venture funding led by M/C Venture Partners. www.speechcycle.com  

SEMDirector, a San Diego-based maker of search marketing automation software, has secured $5.95 million of a $6.65 million Series A round from Voyager Capital. The deal had been announced in January, but without a dollar amount. www.semdirector.com  

Clearspring Technologies Inc., an Arlington, Va.-based provider of widget syndication services, has raised $5.5 million in Series B funding. Novak Biddle Venture Partners and ZG Ventures co-led the deal, and were joined by angels like Mark Jung, Steve Case and Ted Leonsis. www.clearspring.com  

Agility Healthcare Solutions Inc., a Glen Allen, Va.-based provider of RFID-enabled workflow management solutions to the healthcare market, has raised $5.25 million in Series A funding, according to a regulatory filing. Backers include The Aurora Funds and Harbert Venture Partners. www.agilityhealthcare.com  

Vector Capital has agreed to acquire information security company SafeNet Inc. (Nasdaq: SFNT) for $28.75 per share. The total deal is valued at approximately $634 million. Merrill Lynch is acting as financial advisor to SafeNet on the transaction. www.vectorcapital.com www.safenet.com  

H.I.G. Capital has acquired Wexler Video LLC, a Burbank, Calif.-based provider of video production and postproduction equipment and related services to the television industry. No financial terms were disclosed. H.I.G. partnered on the deal with Wexler management and Telecorps Communications, a group comprised of: Rob McConnell, former CEO of Enterprise Software; David Carfolite, former VP and general manager of a group of television stations in the Carolinas ; and James Rosenfield, former president of CBS Television Network. www.higcapital.com www.wexler.tv

Meru Networks Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based WiFi company, has raised $27.6 million in Series D funding, according to a regulatory filing. D.E. Shaw was joined by return backers like Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, Clearstone Venture Partners, BlueStream Ventures, JumpStartUp Ventures, Evercore Ventures and NeoCarta Ventures. Meru has raised over $83 million in total VC funding since its 2002 inception. www.merunetworks.com  

Arxan Technologies Inc., a Bethesda, Md.-based provider of IP protection from software tampering, has raised $13 million in Series C funding. Legend Ventures and TDF were joined by return backers EDF Ventures, Paladin Homeland Security Fund, Solstice Capital and Trident Capital.

Rohati Systems Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based data center startup, has raised around $11 million in Series B funding from Matrix Partners and Foundation Capital. www.rohati.com  

Transera Communications Inc., a Cupertino, Calif.-based provider of virtual call center solutions, raised $10 million in Series C funding last November, according to a regulatory filing. Return backers include Accel Partners, Apax Partners and Storm Ventures. www.transerainc.com  

Airgain Inc., a Carlsbad, Calif.-based provider of wireless connectivity solutions, has secured $5.55 million of a $6.75 million Series F round, according to a regulatory filing. Backers include Gen 3 Partners and Northwater IP Fund. www.airgain.com  

Appistry Inc., a St. Louis-based provider of application fabric software, has secured $3.25 million of a $14 million Series B round, according to a regulatory filing. www.appistry.com  

Telkore Inc., a Mechanicsburg, Penn.-based provider of installation and maintenance services for wireless communication towers, has raised $1.4 million in Series A funding led by SJF Ventures. www.telkore.com  

General Atlantic and Francisco Partners have agreed to acquire Aeroflex Inc. (Nasdaq: ARXX), a Plainview, N.Y.-based provider of high technology solutions to the aerospace, defense, cellular and broadband communications markets. The deal is valued at approximately $1 billion, with Aeroflex stockholders to receive $13.50 per share. www.aeroflex.com  

Ripplewood Holdings LLC has completed its public-to-private buyout of The Readers’ Digest Association Inc. (NYSE: RDA) for $17 per share. The total deal was valued at $2.4 billion, with other members of the buying consortium including J. Rothschild Group, GoldenTree Asset Management, GSO Capital Partners, Merrill Lynch Capital and Magnetar Capital. Leverage was provided by JPMorgan, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Royal Bank of Scotland , while Merrill Lynch advised RDA on the deal. As previously announced, Mary Berner will succeed Eric Schrier as president and CEO of Readers’ Digest, with Schrier becoming an industrial partner with Ripplewood and a consultant to Readers’ Digest. www.readersdigest.com  

Silver Lake Partners and Texas Pacific Group have received European Commission approval for their pending $5 billion acquisition of travel reservations company Sabre Holdings (NYSE: TSG). www.sabre.com  

Alltel Corp. (NYSE: AT) has been shopping itself to fellow carriers like AT&T, Verizon and Spring Nextel, according to The Wall Street Journal. The report adds that Verizon has discussed an Alltel acquisition with several private equity firms. Alltel’s current market capitalization is approximately $22 billion. www.alltel.com  

Palm Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) has retained Morgan Stanley to explore strategic options, according to The Wall Street Journal. This could include anything from a sale, a stock buyback or a PIPE deal. www.palm.com  

YuMe Launches Video Network Promising Brand Safe Targeting - YuMe, a new video advertising network launching officially today, promises to bring more flexibility, addressability and measurability to the process of placing online video ads. It also offers a method to ensure that ads appear near ‘brand safe’ content.

Vibrant Creates Upfront Model For In-Text Ads; Chrysler Reserves - In-text ad firm Vibrant Media is now selling sponsored keyword ads upfront-style, allowing advertisers to lock up their terms for all of 2007. DaimlerChrysler is one of the first blue-chip advertisers to make a long-term reservation.  

Hearst To Launch 12 Video Sites Supporting Key Brands - Over the next 90 days, 12 Hearst titles–including Good Housekeeping, Esquire, and Cosmopolitan–will roll out video players supported by advertising opportunities including interstitial and pre-roll video. Hearst Digital chose the Maven platform.

Viral Video: Don’t Call It Boob Tube Any More - Viral advertising is going mainstream. Insurance companies, banks, and makers of dish soap are all actively doing it, reports ad tracking firm Competitrack. The company reviewed 3,000 “official” campaigns by more than 800 advertisers.

Avenue A | Razorfish Reports Mixed Bag From Early Panama Results - Search advertisers using Yahoo’s Panama upgrade have seen increases in click-through rates and decreases in cost-per-click, but a decrease in efficiency, according to Avenue A | Razorfish.

Viewers Warm to Online TV Show Sponsors - In what is becoming a familiar pattern, TV producers are finding an active second life for shows after they air. Consumers who access content via TV networks’ sites are more likely to consider the brands that sponsor that content. They also have high levels of engagement with streaming or downloaded video on network sites and are more likely to view those same shows on regular TV, according to a new study by Knowledge Networks.

$100 Million Valuation For Geni - Seven week old Geni raised a $10 million second round of financing last week, led by Charles River Ventures (see our coverage of CRV here), with a post-money valuation of $100 million. George Zachary from CRV is joining the Geni board of directors. This was originally passed to us as a rumor, and Geni founder and CEO David Sacks has confirmed the story.

Google’s Misleading Click Fraud Figures - ZDNet writer Donna Bogatin takes serious issue with the methodology Google uses in claiming their new click-fraud initiatives have improved the rate of click-fraud by 1000 times since December. “Google is NOT affirming that for every ten thousand clicks on AdWords ads, fewer than two are fraudulent clicks,” she says. Rather, for every ten thousand AdWords ads, the number of user-submitted clicks Google AGREES represent click fraud amounts to two.

Second Life Tax Controversy - In the real world tax season totally sucks, and now, sadly, it’s the same for participants in massively multiplayer online games. That’s right, on April 15 you now owe the man a portion of your earnings from that fine little real estate business you’ve set up for yourself in Second Life.

Trad Media Sites Become More Social - Aiming to make its Web site more interactive, USA Today has redesigned its site to feature user-created material far more prominently than before. “Our ambition is to help readers quickly and easily make sense of the world around them by giving them a wider view of the news of the day and connecting them with other readers who can contribute to their understanding of events,” the paper stated in an editor’s note explaining the redesign.

Google CEO: Mounting Cash Reserves Unlikely To Go To M&A Shopping Spree - During a Morgan Stanley investors’ meeting today, Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt appeared to be ruling out a big shopping spree with the company’s growing cash stash. Schmidt to analyst Mary Meeker via Reuters: “It is highly unliekly. One of the problems in high-tech industries is that successful companies tend to generate cash pretty liberably (but) they don’t have good places to put it.”

Microsoft Attacks Google’s Copyright Policy - Microsoft Corp. Tuesday launched a major offensive against Google, its closest rival in the Internet business, according to Reuters, saying the search giant takes an arrogant and possibly illegal approach to copyright protection. In a series of remarks, Thomas Rubin, Microsoft’s associate general counsel, told the Association of American Publishers that Google’s move into new media had essentially come at the expense of book, video and software publishers.

Microsoft Focuses On Takedown, Not Filters, For Soapbox - In case there was any doubt that Microsoft is heavily into DRM, the company put it on paper via a letter from entertainment go-to exec Blair Westlake to top media execs including NBCU’s Jeff Zucker, News Corp.’s Peter Chernin and Disney’s Bob Iger as well as the heads of major labels. In the letter first reported by Daily Variety, Westlake formally informed the execs of what you have to imagine has been said before—Microsoft is willing to work with them to provide a copyright-protection system that works. Or, as he calls it, “industry-leading notice and takedown.” The occasion was the opening of user-gen Soapbox to the public.  

BBC In Clips Deal With YouTube; Ad Rev Share; UK Blackout On News Clips - In a deal likely to raise some eyebrows in UK, BBC has done a more-than-trivial clips licensing deal with YouTube. Three YouTube channels - one for news and two for entertainment - will showcase short clips of BBC content, and the corporation will also get a share of the ad revenues generated on these channels. These are non-exclusive and set to run for several years.  

Glocer: Reuters To Create ‘MySpace Finance’ Site; Making Money From SL - Reuters plans to start its own social network this year – aimed at fund managers, traders and analysts, not teens, The Guardian reported. CEO Tom Glocer: “It won’t have the latest hot videos and the ‘why I am into Metallica and the Arctic Monkeys’ blogs. Instead we are going to give our financial services users the ability to post their research or if they are traders, their trading models.” The community will be exclusive to Reuters’ 70,000-plus messaging subscribers.

Adobe To Take Photoshop Online - “Hoping to get a jump on Google and other competitors, Adobe Systems plans to release a hosted version of its popular Photoshop image-editing application within six months, the company’s chief executive said Tuesday. The online service is part of a larger move to introduce ad-supported online services to complement its existing products and broaden the company reach into the consumer market, Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen told CNET News.com. ”

Google Ads To Appear On Social Networking Profiles - As social network operators struggle to monetize millions of pages of user-generated content, Italian-based provider Dada.net has partnered with Google’s AdSense to launch the friend$ program, offering bloggers and social networkers a way to earn some cash from their content.

Follow The Consumer: Microsoft Going Nearly All Digital By 2010 - A top Microsoft executive at the AAAAs Media Conference yesterday said that in three years, the bulk of its nearly $1 billion in U.S. ad spending will be in the digital sphere. Crowning it the “Era of Customer Participation,” senior marketing exec Mich Mathews said Microsoft is simply following its consumers, who are migrating to the Web and nontraditional outlets for information and entertainment.

Fox Will Offer Show Downloads Through Affiliates - Highlighting its aggressive efforts to harness new media, Fox will let consumers download shows like “24″ and “Prison Break” through the Web sites of its 200 affiliated TV stations in the coming months.

Facebook Extends Lead As Fave Young Adult Site - Where did college students spend winter break? If they’re like the rest of 17-to-25-year-olds surveyed by Youth Trends, they likely spent part of that time on Facebook. The social networking site topped the list of favorite sites in Youth Trends’ most recent quarterly survey, and it is now the first choice of nearly 70% of females ages 17-25.

Viacom Posts Big Web Gains In 4Q - Earlier this week, the traffic experts at Hitwise said that despite the pulling of Viacom content from YouTube, the Google video site’s traffic has grown 14% since then. Not to be outdone, Viacom Thursday unveiled impressive Web growth of its own, posting year-over-year gains of 90% on its Comedy Central site, 50% on its MTV site, and 30% on its Nickelodeon site.

YouTube Shifts Media Strategy To Smaller Companies - Big media may be frustrating YouTube’s efforts to license their content, so parent Google has responded by shifting its strategy somewhat. Big media deals are still on its radar, including one with the BBC, but Google’s new goal is to add more than 200 small media partnerships per quarter.

eBay: One-Sided Web Media Marketplace - The eBay Media Marketplace, which would allow buyers of national TV and other ad mediums bid for advertising slots via the Internet, certainly sounds interesting, but ad sellers thus far aren’t biting. Several blue-chip advertisers have signed up for the new service, which officially went live Wednesday for registration purposes. But here’s nary a seller in site.

Microsoft Buys Medstory Amid Push Into Healthcare - Microsoft Corp. is buying a small consumer health Web-search service as part of a broader push into healthcare software and Internet services. Medstory, a closely-held start-up in Foster City, Calif., runs a free search site that provides results from the Web and from select health and medical sources.

DoubleClick Buys UK Rich Media Firm Tangozebra For $30 Million - DoubleClick’s UK arm has bought UK-based online ad technology provider Tangozebra for about $30 million. The deal will let DoubleClick provide its clients with enhanced rich media and emerging ad formats, including podcasting and in-game advertising, among other capabilities, the company said. Both companies rich media activities in Europe will be merged. The UK company was owned by marketing services firm Media Square, which bought it less than two years ago. Tangozebra reported a pretax profit of $0.47 million in the year to Feb 28, 2006.