Report: U.S. Online Ad Revenues Up 17% to Record $6.4B in Q3

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York – U.S. third quarter Internet ad revenues rose 17%
from a year ago, to $6.4 billion, according to a report from the Internet
Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC.

"Advertisers are shifting more of their
brand messaging online, accounting for this welcome surge in a difficult
economy," said PwC partner David Silverman.

"This trend reflects the
accelerating shift in consumer behavior towards the internet and away from
traditional media."

Spending for the first half of the year was up 11.3%
to $12.1 billion, the IAB reported last month.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2dfcmhc
(IAB)

Warner Music Q4 Loss Widens; Annual Digital Revenue Up 8%

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York – Major record label Warner Music Group (WMG) (NYSE: WMG)
reported a net loss of $46 million during its fiscal fourth quarter, as overall
revenue fell 13% despite a 7.1% uptick from digital revenue sources.

As the
only standalone, publicly-traded major record label, Warner Music’s detailed results
of its operations and finances are closely scrutinized, while those of the
other majors are less forthcoming and nested within results of their parent
companies.

The company noted that an increase in digital sales during the quarter “was more
than offset by contracting demand for physical product.”

Warner reported
digital revenue growth of 8% for its full fiscal year, and digital now accounts
for 40% of its U.S. recorded music revenues — but annual revenues overall fell
7% from the prior year.

 

Related Links:
http://www.wmg.com/newsdetails/id/8a0af8122c353d41012c56ba06bf0f65

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20023042-261.html

http://tinyurl.com/29nacv6
(Billboard)

Google, French Publisher Reach Deal on Book-Scanning Project

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Paris – Google (NASD: GOOG) has struck an agreement with French publisher
Hachette Livre, ending a dispute over the rights to scan out-of-print titles
for inclusion in its digital library project, The New York Times reported.

Unlike the lawsuit settlement hammered out between Google and U.S. publishers
last year, Hachette’s agreement with Google permits the publisher to control
which books Google may scan.

Any books scanned by Google will be made available
for sale as e-books by Google, or by Hachette to third-party retailers — as well
as to France’s own national book-scanning project.

French courts have sided
with publishers claiming Google’s book-scanning project violates their copyrights,
and other litigation is still pending.

But Google hopes the deal with Hachette will
"serve as a framework for other French publishers and maybe other
publishers around the world," Dan Clancy, director of Google Books, told
The Times.

 

Related Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/business/global/18book.html

 

Hulu Plus Officially Debuts; Price Cut From $10 to $8

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – Hulu Plus on Wednesday officially launched to
the public, opting to discount the price of the subscription TV episode
streaming service from $9.99 to $7.99 per month.

The joint venture between NBC
Universal (NYSE: GE), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) and Disney (NYSE: DIS) said that any users who subscribed at $9.99 during
the preview period will receive a credit for the difference in price, applied
to their next billing cycle.

Hulu Plus offers full current and back seasons of
both current and classic TV shows.

The company said it has attracted
advertisers including Bud Light, McDonald’s, Nissan and Microsoft for the
launch of Hulu Plus.

Beyond the PC, Hulu Plus is available on connected TVs and
Blu-ray players from Samsung, Sony, and soon LG, Panasonic and Vizio; set-tops
from Roku, Sony, and soon TiVo and Western Digital; the PlayStation 3 and soon
Xbox 360; and mobile devices including Apple’s iPhone and iPad.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/25lr7zd

Amazon Studios

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Amazon Studios to Co-produce User-Submitted Screenplays

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Seattle – Amazon.com (NASD:  AMZN) on Wednesday debuted Amazon Studios, a
new venture that aims to solicit screenplays from users and eventually help
produce feature-length films. Through monthly and annual Amazon Studios Awards,
the company plans to award $2.7 million in total prizes to participants over
the next year, with the top projects to be produced under a first-look deal
with Warner Bros. Pictures.

Filmmakers and screenwriters may submit both
scripts and test movies at least 70 minutes in length to the Amazon Studios
site.

Users will be able to view test movies and help in the development
process, and winners will be chosen by a panel, based on commercial viability.

Any
film that Amazon helps produce will garner the screenwriter a rights payment of
$200,000; if the film grosses more than $60 million at the U.S. box office, the
original filmmaker or screenwriter gets a $400,000 bonus.

 

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2c2ayr7

http://studios.amazon.com

Top Indie Labels Exit eMusic, Cite Addition of Major Labels

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York – Digital music service eMusic has informed
subscribers that tracks from seminal independent labels Domino,
Merge and Beggars Group will be removed from the service as of Nov. 18.
"This is as heartbreaking to us as it is to you," reads a note on
eMusic.com. "Please know we have done everything we could to keep them from
leaving. Forging deals with our label partners can be pretty complex. As many
of you know, labels have come and gone over the years, and we hope to see these
labels back soon."

The exit by the indie labels comes as eMusic prepares
to add 250,000 new tracks licensed from Universal Music to its service.

The
company’s expansion into major label deals — eMusic has also licensed Sony
Music and Warner Music tracks — appears to have played a role in the indies’
moves.

"We wish this hadn’t happened, but as eMusic has brought major
labels on board, they have changed the terms on which they deal with labels in
certain ways, some of which we have found impossible to accept, in our own
interests, those of our artists, and ultimately those of their fans,"
reads a statement from Beggars Group.

"We have loved eMusic, and the
support it has given to our music, but it was the dedicated home for
independent music and is, in our view, not that any more."

A statement
from Merge adds that "it would be harmful to the interests of Merge and
our artists to continue our partnership [with eMusic] at this time."

 

 

Related Links:
http://www.emusic.com/messageboard/viewTopic.html?topicId=263050

http://tinyurl.com/28xoezr
(Billboard)

Fallout: New Vegas

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Report: U.S. Game Sales Down 4% in October to $1.07 Billion

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Port Washington, N.Y. – U.S. video game sales declined for
the seventh month in a row in October, falling 4% to $1.07 billion, according
to a report from market research firm NPD Group. NPD said game hardware sales
were down 26% in October, to $280 million. "Console and portable hardware
unit sales were both down about 30% versus last October, but an increase in the
average retail price for console hardware softened the dollar sales impact a
bit," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

"The best-selling hardware system
for the month was the Nintendo DS, while the Xbox 360 was the only platform to
realize unit sales improvement over last October. While the PS3 overall did not
experience an increase from September to October, the PS3 bundle with Move
experienced a 15% increase over September 2010."

Game software sales were
actually up 6% during the month, to $605 million.

The top-selling game was
Take-Two Interactive’s (NASD:  TTWO) "NBA 2K11," followed by Bethesda Softworks’
"Fallout: New Vegas" — which NPD reports sold 679,000 units in
October.

"Rock Band 3," from Harmonix — the studio Viacom recently
put up for sale — took the fifteenth spot in the sales chart, but NPD noted
that, "based on solid reviews, this game has the potential to perform well
over the holidays."

"Software sales were up 6% in dollars, driven by
console software. Interestingly, unit sales of online playable console games
were up 16% while sales of those that are not online playable were down 2%
versus last October," NPD’s Frazier added.

 

 

Related Links:
http://www.npd.com

European Incubator Seedcamp Raises New $4 Million Fund

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

London – Seedcamp, a European seed funding and start-up
incubator, announced that it has raised $4 million in the first closing of its
second fund.

New investors Notion Capital, 360 Capital Partners, Team Europe,
Ahti Heinla and Lars Hinrichs joined previous investors Atlas Venture and Index
Ventures in contributing to the fund.

Seedcamp said this fund is already 50%
larger than the first fund it raised in 2007 — which invested in 22 companies.

The firm has already backed 11 companies out of its second fund, and plans to
triple that number over the next few years.

Seedcamp typically invests up to
$67,000 in a start-up, in exchange for 8-10% equity, and includes three months
of incubation in the deal.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/32az9mt

http://tinyurl.com/28afpfz
(VentureBeat)

1...1,1161,1171,118...1,459Page 1,117 of 1,459