London – Automaker MINI on Friday debuted what it says is
the first slow-motion 3D film, in the form of a two-minute ad that will screen
before movies in cinemas. Created by ad agency BSUR, the "MINI vs
MONSTER" ad features a monster truck jumping a row of MINI automobiles.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4rlvywc
San Francisco – Social games publisher Zynga said this week
that its “CityVille” game has amassed over 100 million monthly active
users on Facebook, just over a month after its release, CNET reported.
Meanwhile, the company’s “FarmVille” title counts over 57 million
active users, and Zynga’s titles collectively count over 215 million monthly
active users and 50 million daily active users.
Related Links:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20028436-17.html
Los Angeles – For the first time, Google’s (NASD: GOOG) Android passed
Apple’s (NASD: AAPL) iOS as the most prevalent platform on Millennial Media’s mobile ad
network in December, the firm said in a report this week.
Android saw an 8%
increase in December, and accounted for 46% of all impressions on the
Millennial network — compared to 32% for Apple’s iOS.
Android ad requests grew
141% from the third to the fourth quarter, compared to 12% growth for Apple.
Android also generated the most revenue through applications, taking a 55%
share in the fourth quarter, to Apple’s 39%.
The firm noted that Apple
remained the top manufacturer of devices on its ad network, a position it has
held for the past 15 months, and was trailed by Samsung and HTC.
Related Links:
http://www.millennialmedia.com/research/mobilemix
New York – Microsoft’s (NASD: MSFT) Bing search engine saw searches
increase 5% in December, and "Bing-powered" searches accounted for
25.8% of all those conducted during the month, behind leader Google (NASD: GOOG) which
claimed 69.7% of the market, according to a report from Experian Hitwise.
Following Bing-powered search — which includes searches via both Bing and
Yahoo (NASD: YHOO), which Bing now powers — was Yahoo, with 15.2%, and standalone Bing.com
searches, which accounted for 10.6%.
The firm noted that Bing and Yahoo saw the
highest "success rates" in December, meaning that 81% of searches
executed on those engines resulted in a visit to a website. By comparison,
Google achieved a success rate of 65%.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/6cjkeqv
(Hitwise)
New York – Spotify, the European streaming music service
that postponed an expected U.S. launch in 2011, is close to a deal with Sony (NYSE: SNE)
Music, and has "gained the support" of at least one other major
record label, the New York Post reported, citing two music industry sources.
The company is reportedly "days away" from a deal with Sony, which if
true would signal a potential end to rumored difficult negotiations between
Spotify and labels on its U.S. launch.
Labels are reportedly wary of Spotify’s
unlimited, ad-supported free streaming service, and are asking for very large
upfront payments.
Spotify also offers a premium, subscription-based service
free of ads.
"Negotiations are progressing well, but [we have] nothing to
confirm at this stage," a Spotify spokesman told The Post.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/47mgovo
(N.Y. Post)
Washington – The Justice Department is considering blocking
Google’s (NASD: GOOG) planned $700 million acquisition of Massachusetts-based ITA Software,
a developer of software used to organize flight information by most major
airlines and travel distributors. Citing a person with knowledge of the matter,
The Washington Post reported that the department is examining whether the deal,
first announced in July, will give Google too much power in the travel search
market.
Under federal law, the government has 30 days to attempt to quash a deal
once a company has stopped cooperating with its information requests.
The Post
reported that the Justice Department is preparing its court case for when
Google closes the deal, which could happen at any time.
ITA’s software is used
by airlines such as American, Continental, Southwest, United, US Airways and
Virgin Atlantic, as well as online travel sites including Hotwire, Kayak,
Orbitz and TripAdvisor.
The company was founded by computer scientists from
MIT.
Related Links:
http://investor.google.com/releases/2010/0701.html
http://tinyurl.com/47w5tf4
(Washingto Post)
New York – In a major shake-up to the company’s Internet
content business, AOL (NYSE: AOL) has announced a trio of media partnerships that will
outsource much of the writing previously done in-house.
The company has signed
deals with The Sporting News to provide sports content, Everyday Health for
health content and Move Inc. for real estate listings. Financial terms of the
deals were not disclosed.
"We will be partnering with companies in areas
that add strength to the consumer experience and drive profitability for
AOL," said CEO Tim Armstrong. "The three deals we are announcing
today universally improve AOL and allow us to build for the future."
According to AdWeek, the most profound change may be in the area of sports,
where beginning March 1 visitors to AOL’s home page who click on the
"Sports" tab will by redirected to the website of The Sporting News.
It was just two years ago that AOL rebranded its sports content as
FanHouse.com, hiring a stable of prominent journalists.
The company said it
plans to retain some of those writers, as well as the FanHouse brand, though
details remain unclear.
The news comes on the heels of a year in which AOL
signed deals with more than 20 content partners and digital studios in a bid to
bolster its programming.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4qdelhy
http://tinyurl.com/4872m6f
(AdWeek)
Los Angeles – Disney (NYSE: DIS) has voiced concerns to the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) about conditions the agency is considering
imposing on its approval of the proposed merger of Comcast (NASD: CMCSA) and NBC Universal (NYSE: GE),
the Los Angeles Times reported.
Media reports earlier this week indicated the
FCC chair Julius Genachowski wants approval of the deal conditional on Comcast
being compelled to provide TV shows to rival online services, and agree to be
bound by open Internet conditions for a period of seven years.
Susan Fox, a
vice president of government relations for Disney, this week met with senior
staff of FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker, and according to a regulatory
filing disclosing the conversation spoke about Disney’s concerns "that may
be dependent on or that would affect the marketplace negotiations of
independent third-parties."
The Times notes this is the first public
action that Disney has taken in the merger review process; Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) and
Viacom (NYSE: VIA) have also registered opinions, with the latter voicing concern that
Comcast will favor its own programming over that of third-party producers.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4fav7tx
(Los Angeles Times)
http://tinyurl.com/4sm6yv4
(DMW previous coverage)
Port Washington, N.Y. – U.S. video game sales declined for
the second straight year in 2010, with total spending on hardware, software and
accessories down 5% to $19.3 billion, according to a report from market
research firm NPD Group. Spending on all game software content was flat in
2010, coming in at an estimated $15.4-$15.6 billion. "This year, declines
in portable and console game sales were offset by new physical PC game sales,
which increased by 3%, and increases in the consumer spend occurring via
digital download, mobile gaming apps, social network games, and used
games," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.
Microsoft’s (NASD: MSFT) Xbox 360 was the only
hardware system to see a year-over-year sales increase in 2010; in December,
the company sold a record 1.86 million units.
However, the Nintendo DS was the
best-selling hardware system in December, and now counts an installed base of
47 million units sold in the U.S. — surpassing the PlayStation 2.
The
top-selling game in December was Activision Blizzard’s (NASD: ATVI) "Call of Duty:
Black Ops," was has now sold more than 12 million units across all
platforms — more than twice as many as the second best-selling title of the
year, Electronic Arts’ (NASD: ERTS) "Madden NFL 11," NPD noted.
Among PC games, "World of Warcraft: Cataclysm" and "Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty" were the best-selling titles of 2010, together accounting for 14% of all PC game sales.
Related Links:
http://www.npd.com
