Spending on Old Media Ads to Stagnate; Online Will Double

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Chantilly, Va. – Though local advertising is expected to
grow at only a modest rate over the next five years, the amount spent online is
expected to more than double, according to a new survey by BIA/Kelsey.

The firm
forecasts that spending on traditional media will decline from $115 billion to
$108.2 billion by 2014.

At the same time, however, spending on interactive
media is projected to grow from $15.2 billion to $36.7 billion.

"Even with
improvements in the overall economy, we do not anticipate a rapid recovery
among traditional media over the forecast period, because we believe the
structural change in the local media industry has accelerated," said Neal
Polachek, the president of BIA/Kelsey.

Total local ad spending is expected to
increase just 2.2% annually during the period, hurt by larger than previously
forecast declines in newspapers and direct mail.

 

Related Links:
http://www.bia.com/pr220210.asp

MySpace to Refocus on "Discovery" Amid Management Shake-up

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– In the wake of the management shake-up at News Corp.’s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace that included
the departure of CEO Owen van Natta after less than a year on the job, the
company plans to refocus on "Discovery," recommending various people
and media content to users in a bid to keep them coming back, TechCrunch
reported.

The strategy was reportedly revealed to employees during a meeting
held last week at the company’s headquarters in Los Angeles, attended by some 600 employees
and broadcast to satellite offices.

MySpace also recently launched a new
activity stream feature that TechCrunch’s sources say will be the "backbone"
of the Discovery plan.

Similar to Facebook’s activity stream, MySpace’s new "Stream"
feature includes friends’ status updates, but also informs a user of songs a
friend is listening to, or music videos they are watching.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ugxca
(TechCrunch)

Report: Wal-Mart to Acquire Vudu Online Movie Service

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
3

San Francisco
– Retail giant Wal-Mart (NYSE:  WMT) has agreed to acquire online movie service Vudu, The
New York Times reported, citing two people briefed on the deal. Founded in
2004, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Vudu offers a
Web-based movie and TV episode distribution service, which can connect directly
with televisions via set-tops and other devices.

The company has raised a total
of $21 million in funding to date, from backers including Benchmark Capital and
Greylock Partners.

The Times reports that Wal-Mart and Vudu "began
informing Hollywood studios and television
manufacturers of the deal on Monday."

Vudu has already secured deals to
embed its service in devices made by Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Toshiba, LG, Vizio
and Mitsubishi.

Wal-Mart’s previous foray into online movie downloads, a
partnership with HP, was shuttered a year after its launch in 2007.

 

Related Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/technology/23video.html

http://snipurl.com/ugwsl
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.vudu.com

Missouri Man Gets Two Years for Camcording "The Dark Knight"

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – A Missouri man accused of
camcording "The Dark Knight" in a movie theater and then trafficking
in counterfeit DVDs has been found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison.

Robert Henderson, of Grandview,
Missouri, was also ordered to pay
$24,738 in fines. Henderson
pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement charges after he was
apprehended in 2008 as part of an investigation by the Motion Picture
Association of America (MPAA).

"This is an appropriate sentence for a very
serious crime, and we hope it will serve as a warning to would-be movie thieves
that they will face severe consequences for engaging in these activities,"
said Mike Robinson, senior vice president of content protection, and chief of operations
for the MPAA.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ugwz3
(PDF: MPAA statement)

http://snipurl.com/ugwvl
(TorrentFreak)

http://snipurl.com/ugx0k
(DMW previous coverage)

U.S. Intl. Trade Commission to Probe Nokia on Apple Patents

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Washington
– The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has launched an investigation
into whether Finland-based Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has infringed upon 13 of Apple’s (NASD: AAPL) patents on
mobile phone technology.

Apple alleges that Nokia has not given Apple fair
licensing terms on patents that are included on essential smartphone
technologies like Wi-Fi.

The USITC previously announced an investigation of
Apple, prompted by a complaint from Nokia, into whether Apple is infringing ten
Nokia patents.

Both companies are asking the USITC to ban imports of cell
phones that contain the allegedly infringing technologies.

Both companies have
also separately filed patent infringement lawsuits against one another in
federal court in Delaware.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ugwh3
(All Things D)

http://snipurl.com/ugwi1
(DMW previous coverage)

http://snipurl.com/ugwi5
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.usitc.gov

On2

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Google Completes $124.6 Million Acquisition of On2

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Mountain View,
Calif. – Google (NASD:  GOOG) has announced the
completion of its $124.6 million acquisition of video encoding firm On2
Technologies, following a vote by On2’s shareholders to approve the deal. Google
said that it plans to repurchase an equal number of shares on the open market
that it issued as part of the transaction, to be funded from available working
capital.

"Through rapid innovation in browsers and web standards, the
Internet is becoming the leading platform for development," said Sundar
Pichai, vice president of Product Management at Google.

"We believe On2’s
engineering talent and technology will be an incredible asset for us as we work
to improve this platform."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ugweh

http://www.on2.com

Guinness World Records Acquires Bragster.com

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

London
– Guinness World Records (GWR) announced on Monday that it has acquired
Bragster.com, a site that lets users upload videos of their dares and bragging
feats.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2006, London-based
Bragster counts 70,000 content generators, whose videos are viewed up to 7
million times monthly.

GWR said that Bragster.com will remain a completely
separate entity, and maintain its own brand and target audience.

The company intends to
encourage Bragster users to post videos of Guinness record attempts and messages about
their record feats.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ugw0j

http://www.bragster.com

Social Marketing Firm Dukky Raises New Funding

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New Orleans
– Dukky, a provider of direct response marketing services that utilize social
sharing technology, announced on Monday that it has closed a second round of
funding, and has now raised a total of $3 million to date.

The latest round was
led by LongueVue Capital.

New Orleans-based Dukky recently launched the
commercial version of the software platform, which adds social sharing elements
to traditional marketing mediums like direct mail.

The company will use the
funds to advance sales and marketing activities.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ugvy4

http://www.dukky.com

YouTube Streams Tiger Woods' Public Apology Live

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Bruno,
Calif. – Tiger Woods on Friday
made his first public statement since a sex scandal compelled him to seek
treatment and take a leave of absence from the PGA Tour, and Google’s YouTube
was one of several outlets to offer a live video stream of the event. Speaking
from the headquarters of the U.S. PGA Tour in Florida, Woods was apologetic and said he
plans to return to the game — perhaps as early as this year.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ufg93
(Wired.com)

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