Articles of the Day
Lonely Planet Launches Video, Social Networking Site - Travel media company Lonely Planet has launched LonelyPlanet.tv, an online community marrying professionally created video programming with a hearty dose of user-generated videos, blogs, forums, ratings, booking services, and other travel-centric applications. Advertisers are being sought.
Advertising.com Nabs Ad Serving Duties For NBC/News Corp. Venture - As befits its status as one of the launch distribution partners, AOL’s Advertising.com will also provide the display and video ad management services for the new NBC/News Corp. video site due out this summer.
YouTube Adds TestTube For Chat, Audio Features - As rival video ventures prepare to challenge YouTube’s dominance, the Google unit is gearing up with new features and offerings. Similar to customization features long offered by MySpace, YouTubers can now tailor their personal profile pages with unique color schemes and content. The video-sharing leader has also gone live with a new TestTube area where users can experiment with beta YouTube features focusing on live chat and audio.
Web 2.0: The Wow Factor - As we began pulling out of the recession, experts said we would again start to see “big ideas” from the Internet. But not until the explosion of social networking and UGC models in 2006 did Web 2.0 really begin to take off. That growth is now fueling dozens of new sites and categories.
Compete Introduces Attention-Based Web Metrics - Online consumer market research firm Compete today unveils a free attention-based Web metrics service at www.compete.com. The new metrics fuse engagement and traffic into a single picture of a site’s marketing value. Compete’s attention-based metrics aim to allow marketers to understand how much attention a site garners relative to the total amount of time people spend online–demonstrating the true marketing value of that site.
FX Solutions Raises $100 Million From Francisco Partners - FX Solutions, a Saddle River, N.J.-based operator of an online currency trading platform, has raised $100 million from Francisco Partners, as part of a company recapitalization. FX Solutions was advised by Giuliani Capital Advisors.
NBC/News Corp. Take Back Control–With No Guarantees - For big media, the digital media conundrum comes down to a question of economics, whose answer–thus far, anyway–doesn’t look all that promising. The power a site like YouTube gives to its users sets a scary precedent for traditional media companies. The News Corp.-NBC Universal joint venture represents a reluctant step forward by big, bulky companies into a fast-paced new world of potentially diminishing returns. Indeed, some skeptics wonder whether there’s any benefit at all to media companies posting their content online. Even so, the future of this business is still advertising, and much has yet to be decided. Partnerships need to forged, ad units need to be established and then standardized–and meanwhile, it’s only getting easier for consumers to post and share media online.
Google Joins DoubleClick Talks - The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Google has now entered the race to buy the ad-serving firm DoubleClick, potentially leading to a fierce bidding war between the Web’s biggest firms. Last week the Journal reported that Microsoft was the frontrunner to buy the ad-serving giant, but now that the price has surpassed $2 billion, the software giant appears less likely to do so, the sources said.
WTO Rejects U.S. Ban on Web Gambling - Just a day after the founder of BetOnSports LLC was arrested for facilitating illegal online gambling in the United States, the World Trade Organization hit back at the U.S. Justice Department’s broader policy banning offshore companies from doing business with American citizens.
EMI Drops DRM For New Premium Line-Up, Higher Price; Apple First - It’s official - EMI Music just became the first major record label to drop digital rights management on its digital downloads - but many consumers must pay more. EMI is launching a new line of “premium” downloads at twice the current audio quality that will come without usage restrictions.
It’s Official: Tribune To Go Private At $34 A Share—If Sale Goes Through; Cubs To Be Sold - After months of the corporate equivalent of water torture, the Tribune Company will go private and sell its sports interests—including the Chicago Cubs—under the terms of a deal orchestrated by Chicago developer Sam Zell. He will invest $315 million of his own and while employees will hold all the common stock under what is known as an ESOP (employee stock option plan).
MySpace Ad Revenue Pegged To Grow 201 Percent: Merrill Lynch - After bringing in a relatively meager $90 million in ad revenue, MySpace is poised to generate ad revenues of $271 million this year – a 201.1 percent increase, according to a forecast by Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen. Not only that, she also predicts that in 2008, Fox Interactive Media, of which MySpace is the largest piece, will produce its first profit: an estimated $208 million (including help from an ad sharing deal with Google), BW reports.
