Marshall McLuhan said about Paradigm Shifts...  "By the time one notices a cultural phenomenon, it has already happened." MARKETING PLAN   JUST READ THE DIGITAL NEWS AND YOU'LL SEE WHERE OUR DIGITAL WILD WEST FILM FEST IS HEADED...RIDE WITH US...   At present there are around 4000 film festivals worldwide generating an annual audience of 30 million festival goers.   TV Market is Robust, but the Internet May Be a Reason   PASO DIGITAL FILM FEST MARKET RESEARCH   "I believe that I'll never shoot another film... on film." George Lucas     link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1370868150/bctid54052097001 wow check this out...   Internet Usage, Video Streams Soar From home and work computers, Google remained the most-visited site in the U.S. in April, with 150 million unique visitors. While 194.8 million Americans went online in April, overall Internet use was down 2.4% from March. Still, YouTube increased U.S. visitors month-over-month, with average visitors spending 2.9% more time on the video hub in April. The site hit an all-time high that month, as their U.S. viewers consumed 8.7 billion streams: up 7% month-over-month. Yet despite the slight monthly decline in time spent, Nielsen estimates that Internet access at home and work grew to 244 million individuals in the U.S. in April. Wikipedia managed to leapfrog over Apple to become the eighth-most-visited site in April -- even with questions about the dedication of its contributors. In addition, Americans streamed 14.7 billion videos in April -- the most streams ever in a month, according to Nielsen. While the number of videos streamed increased, however, total viewing time actually decreased during the period. There were 141.4 million unique U.S. video viewers who spent an average of 4 hours, 31 minutes viewing video over the course of the month, per Nielsen. ------------------------------------------ NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) Chief Executive Glenn Britt said Wednesday his company has an opportunity to win more broadband-only customers as broadband replaces TV as the cable industry's anchor product.  At an investor conference in New York City hosted by Sanford C. Bernstein, Britt said Time Warner Cable has been largely focused on selling its "triple-play" bundle, which includes broadband, TV and phone service. Now, he intends to shift focus to better exploit an opportunity to sell more "single-play" broadband to people who may get video service from a satellite operator or another alternative.  "Broadband is becoming more and more central to people's lives," said Britt. "It has become our primary product. People are telling us that if they were down to their last dollar, they'd drop broadband last." The comments came as the cable industry continues to grow its broadband subscriber base and gain share in the Internet-access market, while it loses video subscribers to satellite and telecommunications rivals. Economic weakness is also leading lower-income consumers to drop pay-TV service as the price climbs, and the rise of web video has also led to concerns that consumers will drop traditional pay-TV subscriptions in favor of online alternatives. "We've become less of a TV company than we were previously," said Britt, adding that the company's focus has shifted more toward its role as a provider of infrastructure for the delivery of media.   June 2011  mediapost.com ------------------------------------------ Study: Online Video Ads Beat TV Ads In Viewer Recall Viewers pay more attention to online video ads than to traditional TV commercials and also recall them better, according to new research that utilized Affectiva's facial tracking algorithms and second-by-second biometric modeling of cognition, excitement and stress levels. The research measured the reactions of 48 viewers watching one hour of programming in Interpublic Group's West Coast IPG Media Lab.  Conducted by the Media Lab during March in conjunction with video ad network YuMe, the study determined that on average, online viewers pay more attention to the screen than do traditional TV viewers -- and the greater attention levels carry over to advertising. Online video ads received 18.3% more viewer attention in the study than TV commercials -- a much higher disparity than the 8.5% greater viewer attention garnered by online video content over TV content. --------------------------------------- The Evolution Of Distribution  by Chris Young , Thursday, June 2, 2011   Once upon a time, television studio executives negotiated with one network to air the first run of their programming. If the show was a success, then the studios would eventually sit down with other distributors for syndication deals. Rinse, repeat, and everyone lived happily ever after. Oh, how times have changed. Today, content production houses must take into account streaming deals, VOD deals and other marketing and logistical considerations when looking to launch any form of original programming. And it is just the beginning. All signs point to the explosive growth of the online video world reaching even greater heights. Research released by Singapore-based ABI Research suggests that by 2016 worldwide online viewership will reach over 1.3 billion people. In a post over at his Forbes blog, Energy Intelligence, Mark P. Mills argues that we're at a point where content and the means by which it is distributed will change forever. "We've just started the biggest physical expansion of the content delivery system in the history of the human race," he says. But how will it change? Say goodbye to an old friend - the couch potato. Content creators today sit on the verge of an era in which the couch potato no longer just sits on his or her La-Z-Boy and takes in an episode of their favorite program - they'll start watching at home and continue viewing while in transit, while waiting at the doctor's office or during one of the hundreds of other scenarios in which your eyeballs may turn to a tablet or mobile device. You need to be able to provide your users with content that they consume in a manner that appeals to them the most and sometimes that means letting them start and finish viewing content in two different places. Going forward, viewers will need to be provided compelling content wherever their eyeballs may take them. By having a delivery system in place that satiates a viewer's appetite, you're taking significant steps towards guaranteeing that they'll receive far more value from the original programming. In doing so, you create what we like to refer to as the satellite effect: your ancillary content hubs will drive traffic back to your main venue for distribution. This serves two purposes: it drives traffic to and from your primary viewing hub; and from a monetization standpoint, provides potential advertisers with additional opportunities to attach themselves to your brand. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. In today's emerging content production and distribution market, it's critical to be everywhere your consumers find themselves -remaining top of mind with potential viewers is more important than ever before.   videoinsider.com -------------------------------------- Black, White and Red All Over: Newspaper Ads Dive The first quarter of 2011 brought no relief for the newspaper industry, which suffered another round of declines in print advertising revenues.  The first-quarter results from the Newspaper Association of America stand out against a general recovery in ad spending for other media, and suggest that newspaper print ad revenues are locked into a permanent, long-term decline. Total print advertising revenues fell 9.5% from $5.25 billion in the first quarter of 2010 to $4.75 billion in the first quarter of 2011, according to the NAA -- the lowest first-quarter revenue figure since 1983.  Those stats are down 55% from 2006, when total first-quarter print revenues came to $10.5 billion. This marks the 20th straight quarter of year-over-year print revenue declines. ----------------------------------------- Connected TVs seen as change agent for CE makers With the number of Web-connected TVs expected to grow significantly in the next few years, experts in the field already are looking at how the devices will alter the TV industry. One development, according to this report, is that smart TVs will change the playing field for CE manufacturers, which will be able to strike content deals with cable TV companies and over-the-top providers. ----------------------------------------- Net Broadband Subscribers Continue to Grow   In a new release from the Leichtman Research Group, the nineteen largest cable and telephone providers in the US, representing about 93% of the market, acquired nearly 1.3 million net additional high-speed Internet subscribers in the first quarter of 2011.  These top broadband providers now account for 76.6 million subscribers, with cable companies having 42.6 million broadband subscribers, and telephone companies having almost 34 million subscribers. Other broadband findings for the quarter include: Overall, broadband additions in 1Q 2011 amounted to 90% of those in 1Q 2010, with cable having 91% as many additions as a year ago, and Telcos 87% as many additions as a year ago The top cable companies added over 850,000 subscribers, representing 67% of the net broadband additions for the quarter versus the top telephone companies Comcast added 418,000 broadband subscribers in 1Q 2011, the most in any quarter since 1Q 2008 The top cable broadband providers have a 56% share of the overall market, with over 8.6 million more subscribers than the top telephone companies, compared to 7.4 million a year ago   --------------------------------------- Viewers pay more attention to online video ads than to traditional TV commercials and also recall them better, according to new research that utilized Affectiva's facial tracking algorithms and second-by-second biometric modeling of cognition, excitement and stress levels.  The research measured the reactions of 48 viewers watching one hour of programming in Interpublic Group's West Coast IPG Media Lab. Conducted by the Media Lab during March in conjunction with video ad network YuMe, the study determined that on average, online viewers pay more attention to the screen than do traditional TV viewers -- and the greater attention levels carry over to advertising.Online video ads received 18.3% more viewer attention in the study than TV commercials -- a much higher disparity than the 8.5% greater viewer attention garnered by online video content over TV content. This was largely due to the finding that when transitioning from program content to ads, the attention of TV viewers dropped off three times faster than that of online viewers.     mediapost.com ---------------------------------------- For Microsoft, Skype Opens Vast New Market in Telecom By buying Skype, Microsoft would immediately become a leader in online voice and video calls. In agreeing Tuesday to pay $8.5 billion to buy Skype, the pioneer in Internet phone calls, Microsoft is embracing a technology that is transforming the way people communicate at home and at work. And by stitching Skype technology into Microsoft products, used by hundreds of millions of people, the software giant could hasten the mainstream adoption of video communications, especially in businesses. The Microsoft-Skype deal, analysts suggest, also points to a rising wave of digital disruption in the telecommunications industry, as low-cost Internet-based communications put pressure on traditional carriers, especially their landline phone service. Says Mark R. Anderson, chief executive of the Strategic News Service, a technology newsletter, “The computer guys are going to teach the telecom carriers about the future of communications.” ---------------------------------------------- Time Warner Boosts VOD, Banks On BlackArrow Time Warner Cable, which is interested in boosting ad revenues for its video-on-demand offerings, has made an investment in BlackArrow, a firm that powers dynamic ad insertion in VOD.  With the investment, Joan Gillman, Time Warner Cable president, media sales, will join BlackArrow's board of directors. Other investors include Comcast Interactive Capital, Intel Capital and Motorola Mobility. The Time Warner Cable investment completes a funding round that has raised up to $27 million.     mediaone.com ------------------------------------------- Given a choice, the largest marketers want to spend a lot more money online and around video than they currently do, Still, all factors being equal, they would choose to advertise alongside content from Traditional Media Companies (TMCs) -- not just networks (NBC, FOX, ABC and CBS) -- but cable companies too (ESPN, VH1, etc) -- content creators that I've long categorized as "super premium" content providers. These companies happen to fear the cannibalization of offline revenues, the proverbial trading of analog dollars for online change, be it pennies, nickels, dimes or quarters (in every sense of the word, there is a wide chasm between a quarter and a dollar, I guess) ---------------------------------------- DirecTV started up its controversial "premium VOD" film service on April 21 with a marketing campaign for Sony Pictures Entertainment's "Just Go With It." The plan, with the backing of four studios -- Sony, Warner, Fox and Universal -- is to release movies 60 days after their theatrical debut. It would cost consumers $29.99, significantly more than the current price tag for DVD rentals or video on demand, which start up 120 days after theatrical release, with a price tag of around $4. Under its "Home Premiere" service, the new campaign theme line: "From the Big Screen to Your Screen. First." Messaging is airing on DirecTV's site. The new plan has received a massive outcry from the National Association of Theater Owners, given that it would overlap the distribution of movies to theaters where typical distribution deals are for 120 days. Some theater owners have threatened to potentially cut back on in-theater trailers from some films and studios. Analysts feel the revolutionary move could dramatically upset studio-theater owner business relations. ----------------------------- Given a choice, the largest marketers want to spend a lot more money online and around video than they currently do, Still, all factors being equal, they would choose to advertise alongside content from Traditional Media Companies (TMCs) -- not just networks (NBC, FOX, ABC and CBS) -- but cable companies too (ESPN, VH1, etc) -- content creators that I've long categorized as "super premium" content providers. These companies happen to fear the cannibalization of offline revenues, the proverbial trading of analog dollars for online change, be it pennies, nickels, dimes or quarters (in every sense of the word, there is a wide chasm between a quarter and a dollar, I guess).  Balancing Reach with Quality But of course, marketers don't only want quality, they also seek reach.  To reach scale, marketers have stratified ad buying since the advent of the World Wide Web.     yahoonews.com ------------------------------ Fast forward: the DVR is still a threat to marketers, but cord-cutting and Netflix subscriptions seem to have eclipsed it. Yet, even with the boom in social media, TV is apparently roaring, at least according to one analyst’s report Tuesday forecasting a healthy upfront market. One reason: a certain synergy has developed, where TV brand-building is driving Internet deep-diving. The dynamic has an element of direct response to it, with advertisers eager to drive people to the Web to make a purchase, get more information about a product, watch an added video, or become a Facebook friend and, if exceedingly lucky, become a brand evangelist. Chris Geraci, a managing director at OMD, noted Wednesday how the link is propelling TV spending --  which was hard to forecast during the second Bush administration.  “I don think back then any of us really envisioned  this reciprocal relationship that’s going on right now, where television is actually better because of the Internet," he said. "Not just online viewing -- that ability to get more information and get more involved in what you’re seeing.”            the tech news  April 2011 --------------------------- Yahoo has acquired the fledgling IntoNow, a company with a mobile platform that functions much like interactive TV. IntoNow, which went live in January, recently inked its first advertising deal with Pepsi. IntoNow has built a database that allows users to point an Apple mobile device -- an iPhone, iTouch or iPad -- at a TV screen and use the app to relay information about what they are watching to a Facebook page or Twitter feed. The system recognizes five years' worth of episodes across 130 networks. The system -- based on audio signals -- also can be set up to recognize particular ads, which is powering the Pepsi deal. There, users that point when watching a particular Major League Baseball-themed spot can have a barcode beamed back to their devices. They can take it to a retailer and get a free Pepsi Max bottle. -------------------------------- “I don think back then any of us really envisioned  this reciprocal relationship that’s going on right now, where television is actually better because of the Internet," he said. "Not just online viewing -- that ability to get more information and get more involved in what you’re seeing.”  ------------------------------------ Advertising-dependent television may have dodged one bullet this year only to be crippled later by an intensifying barrage of economic and tech threats that will alter its fragile status quo.  Just this week, the Internet Advertising Bureau confirmed that $26.4 billion in Internet media spending in 2010 handily beat $22.8 billion in newspapers. It's just a matter of time before it matches TV's dominant $28.6 billion in revenues last year, $16 billion of which is from broadcast and the remainder from cable.   After all, the online ad market grew 15% during the heart of the recession from 2009 to 2010. Why wouldn't it pick up more steam with increased consumer and enterprise digital adoption? Nascent mobile advertising has nowhere to go but up.   -------------------------------------- Arbitron/Edison say smartphones, social media, online radio among factors behind 20% increase in audio and video consumption  - Mike Shields Rather than killing traditional media, the preponderance of digital media and Web-connected devices has only spurred America’s media addiction, as the average person now squeezes media into seemingly every free moment of their lives. At least that’s according to a recent study conducted by Arbitron and Edison Research, which found that Americans are spending close to 20 percent more time consuming both the Internet as well as not-quite-dead-yet broadcast media like radio and TV, than they were 10 years ago. Amazingly, per the report—The Infinite Dial 2011: Navigating Digital Platforms—Americans are spending an hour and 21 minutes more time per day with media than in 2001.  Obviously the rise of the Internet and the fact that 51 percent of households now have two computers (versus just 24 percent in 2002) has a lot to do with that increase. But The New York Times notes that the explosion in smartphones over the past few years, buoyed by Apple’s iPhone, is expanding the average person’s engaged-with-some-sort-of-screen time, as every moment spent waiting in line, riding on a plane, or taking the train to work can be better endured nowadays with media.  ------------------------------ Supplanting search engines and other traffic drivers, social networks are sending an increasing share of readers to Web publishers.   During the first quarter of the year, Facebook and smaller social players drove 11% of all external referrals -- compared to the 41% sent by search engines -- according to new research by recommendation engine Outbrain. Not too shabby, considering that "most of the traffic sources we identify as 'social' have existed in a meaningful way for less than five years," says David Sasson, Outbrain COO. Of the six content verticals examined, stories in the news, entertainment and lifestyle categories were the most likely to receive traffic from social sources. "We assume that since these categories are heavily influenced by breaking news or what is happening in the zeitgeist, they are more likely to be shared among people's social circle," Sasson said. ----------------------- Major growth of U.S. online television has pushed the business to $1.6 billion in all revenue in 2010. The online revenue rise -- a strong 34.2% gain over 2009 -- came from both advertising and consumer fee revenues, according to IHS Screen Digest. One highlight of this growth was in advertising sales, which climbed 64.7% to reach $719 million in 2010, up from $436.8 million in 2009. Other surveys note that all U.S. digital video advertising was over the $1 billion mark for 2010. Still, the analyst says the big TV networks are moving slowly. IHS Screen Digest notes that Hulu -- a partnership that includes three of the four big TV networks, Comcast's NBC, News Corp's Fox, and Walt Disney's ABC -- doubled its advertising revenue growth in 2010 to $200 million. -------------------------- OMG: ABC Kills 'All My Children' and 'One Life to Live.' Check Out What the Replacements Will BeTVWeek ABC has announced that it is killing two of the most famous, longest-running shows on TV--the daytime soap operas "All My Children" and "One Life to Live." The shows will have their final episodes in September and next January, respectively. In their place ABC will launch two new shows. One is "The Chew," which will "focus on food from every angle--as a source of joy, health, family ritual, friendship, breaking news, dating, fitness, weight loss, travel adventures and life's moments," the network said in a statement. "The Chew" will premiere in September. The other new show will be "The Revolution," which ABC says is a working title. This program will be "about health and lifestyle transformations," the statement said, adding that the program will be "hosted by a team of experts and rotating guest contributors who help viewers transform all areas of their lives."           tvweek.com  April -------------------- Theater owners fuming over studios' VOD plan LAS VEGAS (Hollywood Reporter) – Feeling blindsided, theater owners were furious Thursday that four Hollywood studios didn't brief them on plans to launch a new premium video-on-demand (VOD) service on DirecTV late next month, followed swiftly by Comcast and VUDU. Exhibitors could respond by changing how they book films and play trailers. Adding to their ire, word of the service broke just as exhibitors and studios were together in Las Vegas for CinemaCon, the annual convention of theater owners. Throughout Caesars Palace, home of the show, meetings between distributors and exhibitors ended abruptly as theater owners scrambled to make sense of the news. Warner Bros., Fox, Sony and Universal are all on board, according to insiders. The movies will be available 60 days after their release in theaters for $29.99. Fox Searchlight titles will be offered 60 days from the date that they go wide. Theater owners say the shortening of the theatrical window could damage their business. Today, the average window is 120 days, although exhibitors have been amenable to a 90-day window in some cases.       YAHOO NEWS  March 2011 ---------------------------- Longer-form digital entertainment content destinations continue to gain popularity among U.S. TV viewers. In March, Netflix remained the biggest digital platform when it comes to the most time spent per viewer, coming in at just under 10 hours a month. Netflix was up 6.6% in March over February, to 9 hours and 53 minutes -- much of this coming from its longer movie content. Tudou.com, a big China-based video site that is similar to YouTube but offers far more full-length movie and TV content, picked up 4.5% month to month to 8 hours and 30 minutes. U.S.-based premium TV content site, Hulu, which runs full-length TV episodes, now averages 5 hours and 13 minutes a month, a 3.3% improvement. Broadcast TV network The CW witnessed its CWTV digital area drop 16.4% to 2 hours and 58 minutes. The CW typically gains or loses because it can be in heavy rerun mode, versus the big four broadcast networks, which tend to run more original TV episodes. YouTube, still the biggest video destination by far in terms of uniques and total video streams, sits in sixth place when it comes to time per viewer, now at 2 hours and 17 minutes -- a 5.2% hike. Shorter user-generated videos are being complemented with longer videos, including some full-length TV episodes.          mediapost.com ------------------------------- VideoNuze has learned that Netflix has struck a deal to acquire HBO from Time Warner and intends to dissolve HBO's linear cable channels, with its programs to be incorporated into Netflix's streaming library, available solely on the iPad. Terms of the deal are not yet known, but it is expected to be for stock only, with Time Warner becoming the biggest shareholder in Netflix. VideoNuze interviewed all the key participants late last night. From Netflix's standpoint, gaining access to HBO's massive library of popular original shows is an enormous coup, and is sure to accelerate its subscriber growth. The dissolution of HBO's popular cable channels however seems to fly in the face of conventional wisdom, given the billions of dollars the channels generate in annual fees.  ---------------------------- The cellphone has been more than a cellphone for years, but soon it could take on an entirely new role — standing in for all of the credit and debit cards crammed into wallets.  Instead of swiping a plastic card at the checkout counter, consumers would merely wave their phones. There’s just one hitch: While the technology is already being installed in millions of phones — and is used overseas — wide adoption of the so-called mobile wallets is being slowed by a major behind-the-scenes battle among corporate giants. Mobile phone carriers, banks, credit card issuers, payment networks and technology companies are all vying to control these wallets. But first, they need to sort out what role each will play and how each will get paid. ------------------------------- Web Shows Get Ambitious Tech, Media Companies Race to Create Video Hits That Look, Feel More Like TV Technology and media companies are racing to create Internet-video hits closer to the scale of traditional TV, as consumers start to watch more video on Internet-connected televisions and tablet computers. Netflix Inc. on Friday made the most expensive entry in the gold rush, saying it had cut a deal to produce a new drama starring Oscar winner Kevin Spacey on its Internet service. But companies like Yahoo Inc., AOL Inc. and Hulu LLC are also ramping up their efforts to secure original Web productions, investing more dollars in Web shows. Hulu, an Internet venture focused on distributing traditional TV shows, ...   --------------------------- Mobile cloud-based music streaming services to become mainstream by 2016, says ABI Research   3/20/2011 9:51 AM EDT Mass consumption of recorded music continues to evolve, as ownership continues to diminish in importance. A new study from ABI Research forecasts that by 2016 streaming (cloud-based) services will become a more important form of access to music than owning albums, songs or tracks. This shift will primarily be driven by the growing use of mobile handsets, especially smartphones, as listening devices. "The number of subscribers to mobile music streaming services is expected to approach 5.9 million by the end of this year," says industry analyst Aapo Markkanen. "ABI Research believes that number will exceed 161 million subscribers in 2016, meaning a compound annual growth rate of nearly 95%. Sometime in 2012 the Asia-Pacific area will become the largest regional market for mobile music streaming." ------------------------- Digital advertising will push local media advertising to double in five years' time to some $42.5 billion.  BIA/Kelsey says that means a 14.4% compounded growth rate every year until 2015. At the end of 2010, the media research company said local media was at $21.7 billion. One major reason is digital advertising -- which will represent 23.6% of all local advertising, or around $10 billion. BIA/Kelsey says all this growth coincides with anticipated improvement in the U.S. economy, which includes a continued rise in overall local advertising. U.S. advertising will see a 2.1% compounded growth through the next five years, reaching $153.5 billion in 2015 -- up from $136.3 billion at the end of last year. Also, consumer marketing "deal-of-the-day" deals through social sites -- Facebook and Twitter -- will contribute to a rapid digital advertising rise, climbing to some $3.9 billion by 2015.  mediapost.com  March 2011 ---------------------------------- The comScore 2010 U.S. Digital Year in review finds that the average number of people in our market who watched video online each day skyrocketed 32% to 88.6 million between December 2009 and December 2010. All other key metrics grew as well: number of viewing sessions per person (+13%), hours spent (+12% or 14 hours in December 2010), and number of streams per person (+8%). Time-shifted TV viewing online continues to be a key driver of these metrics, with both Hulu and individual on-air brands being the main beneficiaries. ComScore finds that in the last quarter of 2010 Hulu accounted for 323 million hours of viewing (+17%, year-over-year) while the combined viewing at the major network sites (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW) attracted about half of that (162 million hours). But it was the rate of growth among the indivi dual networks that proves most interesting. Direct viewing of TV from the TV brands' own sites had increased at a much higher rate than Hulu, up 82%. In other words, the networks are succeeding in pulling viewers over to their online hubs.   mediapost.com ------------------------------- Broadcast ratings erosion continues to tug at the big networks -- down double-digit percentages, while cable networks are up slightly -- through roughly three-quarters of the 2010-2011 TV season. Fox is again the leader among the big four broadcast networks in the key 18-49 audience -- making a rapid improvement from its disastrous start in the fall, when it was down double-digit percentages versus a year ago. This data comes from Turner Research via Nielsen, looking at the broadest measure of TV viewing -- live program plus seven days of time-shifted viewing -- from September 20, 2010 through March 20, 2011. The top-rated original cable series in the first quarter: MTV's "Jersey Shore," at 9.04 million viewers; followed by History's "Pawn Stars," at 7.62 million; History's "American Pickers," at 6.52 million; USA Network's "Royal Pains," with 5.47 million; BET's "The Game," at 5.31 million; and USA's "White Collar," with 4.88 million. ----------------------------- Barry Diller Says Internet TV Will Transform TV Biz  Diller said the Internet still has enormous potential to transform the distribution chain in the media and entertainment business, including the TV business. He said emerging online video services such as Google TV could bring about the end of the pay-TV industry's ability to bundle channels together, allowing consumers to access just the content they want. "The Internet's ability to put you, without any filter, straight to the consumer, is going to have a huge effect on video producers," said Diller. "The 'a la carting of life' becomes possible for the first time once you have a screen of sufficient size that connects you to this world of possibilities that is the Internet."    WallStreetJournal.com million people worldwide watched the U2 concert on YouTube Sunday night, he says. As media consumption continues to change, Levinsohn predicts that 2010 will be the year that video breaks through and becomes part of the mainstream advertising media buy. Supporting the prediction with stats from YouTube, Hulu, eMarketer, Yankee Group and others, he says YouTube streams about 1.2 billion videos per day worldwide. Hulu streams about 488 million monthly video streams. About 26% of the U.S. Internet audience streamed a full-length TV show in August. The average consumer watches about 157 videos per month, he says, citing comScore. Connected televisions will become the Messiah and push video over the edge. You will have the ability to sit on the couch and tap into any content anywhere in the world. More than 30 million Blu-ray players will be in the market by 2013, as well as 50 million connected televisions, according to the Yankee Group.

Online distribution pulls ahead of film Digital disrupts entertainment consumption model    Variety.com  Feb 09   The entertainment biz will remember 2008 as the year when global revenues from digital media exceeded revenue generated by movie theaters and home video combined. In its "Global Media & Entertainment Market Forecast, 2004 - 2012," London research firm Strategy Analytics reported that online and mobile channels accounted for $90 billion in worldwide revenues; the global filmed entertainment market generated $83.1 billion. "We're starting to see now that digital media is becoming a significant part of revenue for a lot of companies," says Strategy Analytics director of digital media research Martin Olausson. "A few years back, everyone was still discussing whether movies would be distributed online. That's not a discussion anymore."          Broadband downloading and streaming, terrestrial and cable video-on-demand (VOD), and mobile platforms are now all ways to watch entertainment content, from feature films and TV shows to made-for-Internet/mobile programming. Strategy Analytics' astonishing numbers imply that digital distribution may have already won the day.  Schaeffler says. "Technology makes digital distribution very desirable, and the forthcoming generations will demand it."         --------------------------------------------------- Comcast Corp.'s chief operating officer, Steve Burke, issued a warning to those content providers who sit by idly and complain about online viewing without doing something to change the TV business model. "An entire generation is growing up, if we don't figure out how to change that behavior so it respects copyright and subscription revenue on the part of distributors, we're going to wake up and see cord cutting."   He said the current OnDemand Online trial - offering viewers access to cable channel shows in exchange for identifying themselves as subscribers - was not an effort to "change the advertising model or get a minute back from content providers," rather it is a way to "get in front of the biggest social movement I've ever seen. Online video consumption is off the charts."   Previously cable operators have played down the extent of cord cutting and some Wall Street analysts say they've seen little real evidence of a supposed phenomenon that has subscribers canceling their cable subscription to watch online for free. Speaking at the CTAM cable marketing convention in Denver, Colorado on October 25, Burke described his fears if the industry does not move ahead to form new business models. The industry-wide TV Everywhere authentication project is a way to try to "take the cable industry and put it ahead "The biggest winners in market share shifts have been cable and the Internet," the Wall Street analysts wrote. "Although ad spend on broadcast netwot 30 days—and over half (51 percent) have streamed a full-length TV show in the same time period. verage t Mary Madden wrote in a report released Wednesday. -------------------------------------- Despite the global economic recession's drag on advertising budgets, the growth in online ad spending appears to be defying expectations, and is expanding at double-digit rates, according to the latest quarterly forecast from Publicis' ZenithOptimedia Group. The agency estimates that Internet ad spending will expand 10.1% in 2009, an increase of more than 1.5 percentage points over its last forecast in April. "Its familiar virtues of transparency, accountability and flexibility have proved even more attractive in a recession than ever," the Publicis shop writes in the new report, released early Monday morning. Based on current trends, the agency projects Internet ad spending will rise to $56.8 billion this year, or 12.6% of the global advertising economy. That means the Internet will pick up more than two points of worldwide advertising share, this year, and its momentum is only expected to accelerate. ---------------------- -------------- iTunes DIGITAL Sales Lift Three Acts To The Billboard 200 The first three sales weeks of January yielded a striking trend on the Billboard 200: Each week, an emerging act's new album charted based solely on digital sales. Thanks to favorable home-page exposure at the iTunes Music Store, free downloads, attractive pricing and a traditionally slow sales period, up-and-coming acts Erin McCarley, Company of Thieves and the Boxer Rebellion each debuted on the big chart.   ----------------------------------- Digital video and audio cables, similar to the ones that already connect TVs to DVD players, cable boxes and receivers, will soon come with a new capability: connecting those devices to the Internet. Manufacturers said Thursday that version 1.4 of the HDMI standard, for High-Definition Multimedia Interface, includes a data networking feature. That means that a set-top box that connects to the Internet could share its connection with other devices in the entertainment center, for easier access to Web video, e-mail and news, says Steve Venuti, president and CEO of HDMI Licensing. Devices with HDMI 1.4 ports could show up in small numbers before the holidays, and in larger volumes early next year, the group said. New cables will be needed to take advantage of the networking feature. ----------------------------------------------- News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch said on Thursday that the future of newspapers is digital Murdoch, in an interview with the N ews Corp.-owned Fox Business Network, also said that newspapers, faced with eroding print advertising revenue and circulation, are going to have to start charging readers on the Web. The News Corp. chief said newspapers in the future will continue to make money "from our readers, from our advertisers (but) the newspapers may look very different. "Instead of an analog paper printed on paper you may get it on a panel which would be mobile, which will receive the whole newspaper over the air, (and) be updated every hour or two," he said. "You'll be able to get the guts or the main headlines and alerts and everything on your Blackberry, on your palm or whatever, all day long.   -------------------------------------- RAB: Ad Revenues Fall 24% In 1Q   Total radio advertising revenue declined 24% in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau, which released the figures Thursday afternoon. Total revenues amounted to just over $3.4 billion -- a drop of over $1 billion from the first quarter of last year, when they amounted to about $4.5 billion. The precipitous drop suggests that further declines are on the way, as the radio business reels from the same recessionary trends that are affecting most other parts of the media. On the positive side, radio's digital revenues are still growing, increasing 13% in the first quarter to $101 million. But clearly, digital is still a very small part of radio's bottom line, representing just 3% of total quarterly revenues. ----------------------------------------------------- Limelight Networks® Acquires Mobility and Monetization Innovator Kiptronic, Inc. Tempe, AZ – 21 May 2009 – Limelight Networks, Inc. today announced the acquisition of Kiptronic, Inc., a privately-held provider of dynamic solutions for device-optimized content delivery and monetization. “A sweeping change in consumer behavior is driving a migration of media consumption from the PC to a wider variety of Internet-connected and mobile devices. Today, the distribution and monetization of content on these devices is complex and difficult to implement in a scalable fashion. The combination of Limelight Networks’ distributed computing and delivery platform with Kiptronic’s device-targeting and dynamic ad insertion technologies will allow us to provide the world’s largest media and entertainment companies a streamlined and scalable solution to this problem,” said Jeff Lunsford, chairman and chief executive officer, Limelight Networks, Inc. “We look forward to working with the talented Kiptronic team to bring to market additional innovative solutions for mobile and connected devices that will benefit our customers and our ecosystem partners.” ---------------------------------------------------- I Want My Web TV, Customers Say Internet-enabled TV may be only now coming into its own as a technology, but customers are already showing a great deal of interest in such products. That's the conclusion of a study released this week by the Consumer Electronics Association. According to the study, titled "Net-Enabled Video: Early Adopters Only?," 14.5 million consumers are considering purchasing an Internet-capable TV in the next 12 months. This amounts to "about half" of the potential audience. "As we saw at the 2009 International CES, Internet-enabled devices are taking the consumer technology experience to the next level, and nowhere is this more pronounced than with television," CEA's economist and director of research, Shawn DuBravac, said as part of the announcement. "Consumers want more from their TV experience and marrying traditional television with Internet access is providing the next frontier of the television experience."    myCEA.CE.org -------------------------------------------------------- Google challenged by new rival with all the answers - Wolfram Alpha A revolutionary new search engine that computes answers rather than pointing to websites will be launched officially today amid heated talk that it could challenge the might of Google.  Wolfram Alpha, named after Stephen Wolfram, the British-born computer scientist and inventor behind the project, takes a query and uses computational power to crunch through huge databases. The service can compute the distance between two cities, the population of a country at a specific date and the position of the Space Shuttle at a given moment. The user does not have to search through links provided by the engine; the answer comes immediately and, if appropriate, is accompanied by charts or graphs. What it does that Google, at the moment, cannot do is provide answers to questions that have not been answered already. ========================================= The Sorry State Of Broadband In 2000, the U.S. ranked 5th worldwide in broadband penetration, with 2.5 broadband lines per 100 residents. At the time, the No. 1 country was South Korea, with 8.4% penetration.  By 2007, however, the U.S. had slipped to 22nd place, with 21.5 broadband lines per 100 residents, lagging behind countries such as Bermuda (36.7), South Korea (30.6) and Japan (22.5). Those stats were compiled by Free Press for its new 123-page report examining the current state of broadband in the U.S. Not only do penetration rates lag, but service in America is also more expensive and slower than in many other countries. The average U.S. price is $53 per month -- more expensive than in 21 other countries -- while average advertised download speed is 8.9 Mbps, slower than 13 others. By comparison, Finland offers the cheapest service at $31 a month (with advertised download speeds of 13 Mbps), while the fastest country is Japan, with an average advertised downstream of 93.7 Mbps (for $34 a month). What accounts for this situation? Free Press says "massive policy failures" of the last eight years are to blame. Among others, the broadband advocacy group points to a decision by regulators (later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court) to classify broadband as an "information service" rather than a communications service. That move meant that ISPs no longer had to offer wholesale broadband to competitors -- which dealt "an immediate blow to third-party ISPs like Earthlink that relied on reasonable wholesale rates" and "ensured that U.S. consumers would be at the mercy of a duopoly marketplace," the report states. ------------------------------------------------------ NEW YORK Viewers are looking for laughs on their iPhones and Blackberrys, according to a new study from the Nielsen Co. Comedy is the top category in mobile video viewing, per the Mobile Video Report, a quarterly study that measures mobile subscribers who view TV or video clips on their cell phones, Blackberrys and other mobile devices.  Drawing from a sample of 3,348 viewers, the report finds that after comedy, weather ranked as the second highest video category, with sports, music and news/finance filling out the top five. Mobile viewing is quickly growing in popularity, with a 20 percent increase in viewership since last quarter’s study. More than 60 percent of those watching video on their mobile devices are below the age of 35, with 70 percent within the significant 18-49 demographic. NBC took the top spot in the brand ranking (with a 40.1 percent share of viewers), followed by Fox (38.3 percent) and MTV Networks (32.9 percent). YouTube ranked fourth in the brand rankings, but came in at the top of the channel rankings (29.4 percent), followed by the Weather Channel (28.9 percent), Fox (27.2 percent) and Comedy Central (25.8 percent). Viewers watch mobile videos for an average 13 sessions each month, at about 15 minutes per session. Teens under the age of 18 watch significantly more, averaging 20 minutes each session for 22 mobile sessions each month. ------------------------------------------------ Social Networking Generates Leads, Closes Sales for Marketers   According to a social media study by Michael Stelzner for the Social Media Success Summit 2009, 88% of marketers in a recent survey say they are now using some form of social media to market their business, though 72% of those using it say they have only been at it a few months or less. Marketer's Use of Social Media Tools Social Media % Respondents Using Twitter 86% Blogs 79 Linkedin 78 Facebook 77 YouTube or other video 41 Social bookmark sites 38 Forums 38 StumbleUpon 28 Digg, Reddit or similar 26 FriendFeed 18 Source: Social Media Marketing Industry Report, March 2009     Amazon Posts Profit Gains as Offline Rivals Struggle Amazon.com has joined Apple among the ranks of technology firms that are still growing robustly despite a shrinking economy.  Amazon, the online retailer based in Seattle, posted stronger-than-expected earnings during the slow winter months, attracting cost-conscious consumers with offers of free shipping and competitive prices for its wide variety of products. Amazon’s net profit rose 24 percent, to $177 million, or 41 cents a share, in the quarter ending March 31, up from $143 million, or 34 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. The company’s first-quarter revenue climbed 18 percent, to $4.89 billion, slightly surpassing Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters on average had expected $4.76 billion in revenue. Some analysts say Amazon has benefited from the downturn, with struggles at the Borders book chain, the bankruptcy of Circuit City and turbulence at a rival, eBay, all driving traffic to Amazon.com. The company said its electronics and general merchandise sales were up 38 percent, while media sales rose 7 percent. “Brick-and-mortar companies are going bankrupt and going out of business altogether and that is helping Amazon gain market share,” said Imran Khan, an analyst at JPMorgan. ------------------------------------------ Recession forces new focus in e-commerce marketing AP RETAIL WRITER NEW YORK -- Online retailers are shifting their marketing from traditional advertising to less expensive tools like Facebook.com and Twitter and e-mail as they seek market share or just work to retain customers, according to an industry study being released Tuesday. Conducted by Internet analysis firm Forrester Research for Shop.org - the online arm of the trade group National Retail Federation - the survey found that merchants believe online business is better suited to withstand an economic downturn than physical stores or catalogs, though they acknowledge challenges for both.  The study involved 117 online retailers polled between Feb. 18 and April 1. The companies, which Shop.org didn't name, reported scaling back hiring and their increasingly expensive search marketing programs, which include paying for top billing in the results consumers see for their Web searches. Online merchants whose business is beating expectations will likely fuel much of the e-commerce investments in the coming months, the survey found. "Online retailers want ... to be more efficient in getting a bigger bang for the buck," said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org. Developing social media marketing requires some investment in personnel, he said, but many merchants see big opportunities to spread a positive message about their brand for relatively low cost.   ----------------------------------------- More People Are Using PCs to Time-Shift TV, Skip Ads Mike Vorhaus on Digital Communications Published: May 04, 2009 Despite the level of buzz around ad skipping, not everyone owns a DVR. Our research shows about one-third of online households have a DVR (or think they do). But almost everyone owns a PC, and most of those folks are online. So, actually, they do own a DVR, as a PC with online video serves that purpose for many people. In our most recent Magid Media Futures online national study, completed in April, we surveyed a national sample of U.S. consumers and identified a sizable population that watches full-length TV shows online. The No. 1 reason these people watched TV shows online was to catch up on shows and shift viewing to a more convenient time. The only demographic groups that didn't care that much about catching missed shows were the younger males -- all the other demographic groups are mostly using online video to catch up or time shift. Interestingly, another major reason consumers like watching shows online is that there are fewer and shorter ads. We have confirmed this in focus groups: Consumers think watching shows online is a "good deal" in terms of fewer ads. --------------------------------------------- Disney Buys Into Hulu   Count Disney in. The Walt Disney Co. is joining NBC Universal, News Corp. and Providence Equity Partners as a joint venture partner and equity owner of the popular online video aggregator Hulu. The agreement is still subject to regulatory review, but once it closes Disney will have three seats on the Hulu board. -------------------------------------   MySpace And Fox Launch UReport News Corp. brethren Fox News and MySpace on Monday co-launched a citizen journalism platform named uReport through which MySpace members can upload photos and videos to Fox News from a computer or mobile device. With the service, MySpace members can share content with other members and become "uReporters" by uploading video and photos tagged by specific categories, including news, entertainment, and politics. The initiative is designed to create a larger and more engaged audience for Fox and MySpace, according to Jeff Misenti, Fox News vice president of digital. "The MySpace uReport community presents an extraordinary opportunity to expand our network," he said. Fox plans to feature select content in programming on Fox News Channel and FoxNews.com, while its editors have full control of the MySpace-uReport page. ----------------------------------------- Online Video To Grow 32% In '09 Despite the economic downturn and its inevitable strains on overall advertising expenditures, online video is clearly holding up as a beacon of change and growth, according to an online video forecast released Monday by Magna. Magna -- a unit of Interpublic's Mediabrands division -- forecasts that the U.S. market for online video will grow by 32% this year, rising from $531 million in 2008 to $699 million in 2009. "While these figures represent downward revisions from our forecast for the sector in the middle of last year -- prior to the subsequent escalation of the recession -- these gains will likely outpace growth rates for most other emerging media platforms," said Brian Wieser, global director of forecasting for Magna, and author of the report. In total, by 2011, Magna expects online video to generate slightly more than $1 billion in net advertising revenues for video content. This represents a compounded annual growth rate of 36% for each year between 2006 and 2011. ----------------------------------------   Facebook Now Twice The Size Of MySpace   Facebook is now nearly twice as big as its closest rival, News Corp.'s MySpace, Michael Arrington reports. In December, the social networking leader drew 222 million unique users, according to comScore, at a 10.8% month over month gain. More than 1 in 5 people who accessed the Internet in December went to Facebook. Arrington points out that Facebook now has nearly 100 million more worldwide users than MySpace, which after adding 4 million new users in December had 125 million members total. Facebook also had twice the number of page views in December: 80 billion versus 43 billion for MySpace. Arrington notes that only six months ago, the companies were neck-in-neck.   ----------------------------------- MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe will step down as chief executive officer of the social- networking Web site after falling behind rival Facebook Inc.  A replacement wasn’t named. DeWolfe will remain an adviser, Jonathan Miller, the top digital officer for parent News Corp., said today in a statement. MySpace President Tom Anderson is in talks with Miller about a new role. DeWolfe co-founded MySpace with Anderson in 2003 and ran the ad-supported company for almost four years under Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Former Facebook Chief Operating Officer Owen Van Natta is likely to replace DeWolfe, the Wall Street Journal’s All Things D Web site reported today. Facebook passed MySpace as the top social-networking site last year. “I don’t think advertising growth has reached their initial expectations,” said Michael Morris, a New York-based analyst with UBS AG. He rates News Corp. stock “neutral” and doesn’t own it. “The initial hopes of the business probably haven’t been realized.” April 22 (Bloomberg) ---------------------------------- NBC Universal witnessed revenue and profitability declines in the first quarter.  Net profits sank 45% to $391 million in the first quarter ending March 31, from $712 million in the previous period. Revenues slipped 2% to $3.52 billion, from $3.58 billion. One bright spot: cable revenues at its networks -- USA, SyFy, CNBC, and MSNBC -- continue to grow at a healthy rate. "While cable continued to deliver double-digit growth, NBC Universal had a tougher performance overall, due to a soft advertising market and fewer major DVD releases compared to a year ago," said chairman/ CEO Jeff Immelt of General Electric, NBC Universal's owner, in a release. ------------------------------------ Yahoo has decided to shutter its free GeoCities Web site hosting service later this year, the company announced Thursday. "We have decided to discontinue the process of allowing new customers to sign up for GeoCities accounts as we focus on helping our customers explore and build new relationships online in other ways," Yahoo said in a statement posted on its help page. The GeoCities help page advises current account users that they can continue to use the service until the summer. "We'll provide more details about closing GeoCities and how to save your site data this summer, and we will update the help center with more details at that time," the help page states.     yahoo.com Online video continues to expand -- now up 40% versus the same levels a year ago. Nielsen Online says March's 9.6 billion streams and 130 million Web users are a 38.8% hike over March 2008. Total streams for viewers during March were at an average 74.4 with the total time per viewer, in terms of minutes, at over three hours per month -- 190.7 minutes. Nielsen says the total time per viewer in March -- which includes progressive downloads but excludes video advertising -- was up a big 12.6% versus February. This seems to suggest -- as other research has found -- that users are watching longer-length videos. YouTube, the big Internet video site, continues to dwarf the competition in two big key areas -- 5.5 billion streams and 89.4 million unique viewers. Among streams, the next-biggest site after YouTube is hulu.com at 348.5 million. Yahoo comes after that at 231.8 million; Fox Interaction Media (which includes MySpace)is 207.5 million; Nickelodeon, 196.1 million; ABC.com, 176.9 million; MSN/Windows Live, 168.9 million; Turner Sports/Entertainment, 137.6 million; MTV, 123.8 million; and CNN, 103.5 million. Among the unique viewers, Yahoo came in second at 24.8 million, followed by Fox Interactive Media (which includes MySpace) at 14.7 million, and MSN/Windows Live at 12 million. CNN was next at 9.0 million; hulu.com, 8.9 million; ABC.com, 6.9 million; Nickelodeon, 6.4 million; MTV Networks, 6.3 million; and Turner Sports/Entertainment at 5.8 million. --------------------------------- HERE GOES BLOCKBUSTER... Blockbuster Inc.'s auditors believe the Dallas-based movie rental company might not be generating enough cash to fund its operations, again raising the possibility Blockbuster might have to file for bankruptcy reorganization. In the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP assessment released as part of a financial filing, the auditors wrote that Blockbuster's financial situation raises "substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern" or viable business. The company had warned investors last month that auditors were likely to raise those concerns. ------------------------------------ Google Inc. launched free downloads of licensed songs in China, while sharing advertising revenue with major music labels in a market rife with online piracy.   Lee Kai-Fu, president of Google in greater China, said one reason Google lagged in the mainland search market was because it did not offer music downloads, the missing piece to its strategy in a market where it trails leader Baidu.com Inc.   "We are offering free, high quality and legal downloads," Lee told reporters. "We were missing one piece ... we didn't have music."   The service offers downloads of some 350,000 songs -- from Chinese and foreign artists -- a number that will rise to 1.1 million in the coming months, said Gary Chen, chief executive of Google's partner www.Top100.cn, a Chinese music website co-founded by basketball star Yao Ming.   ----------------------------------- Everyone On The Planet Tweeting? Last week we noted that Twitter was going crazy and that we hadn't even seen March's stats yet. Well now we have. Twitter more than doubled its US unique visitors in March. That's right. Think back to four long weeks ago when you thought that Twitter might have peaked and that everyone you knew had jumped on the bandwagon. Well, now there are twice as many of those people. 9.3 million, in fact. That means Twitter's growth has accelerated from 33% in January, to 55% in February and now 131% in March. At a growth rate of 131% a month, literally every single person alive on the planet will have a Twitter account by the end of this year. ---------------------------------- The Internet has surpassed newspapers as the main source for national and international news for Americans, according to a new survey.  Forty percent said they get most of their news from the Internet, up from 24 percent in September 2007, and more than the 35 percent who cited newspapers as their main news source.  AFP Dec. 2008   Online retailer Amazon.com Inc on Friday reported its best holiday sales season yet, even as sales and traffic at U.S. store chains were the weakest in decades, sending its shares up nearly 4 percent.   12/27/08   Best Buy to launch Internet fund Published: May 28 2009 Best Buy, the largest US consumer electronics retailer, will launch an investment fund managed by former and current News Corp internet veterans that will focus on digital media as it seeks to expand beyond brick and mortar stores. The retailer, which invested $2.1bn to launch a joint venture with the UK’s Carphone Warehouse last year, purchased the Napster online music subscription service in 2008 for $121m and aims to invest deeper into the music, video, games and “personal media management” businesses. “Best Buy has connectivity to hardware and software manufacturers, (Hollywood) studios, DVDs and cell phones,” said Ross Levinsohn, a partner at Velocity Interactive Group, the venture capital firm that will help manage the new fund.“When you think about the breadth in how they touch consumers, their interest in digital media makes sense,” Mr Levinsohn said.   --------------------------------------   Viewers 35+ Drive Long-Form Video Streaming According to Nielsen Online, YouTube continued to rank as the No. 1 video Web brand with 5.5 billion total streams in April. Meanwhile, Hulu continued its explosive growth, increasing 490 percent in total streams year-over-year, from 63.2 million in April 2008 to 373.3 million in April 2009, making it the fastest growing brand among the top 10 Jon Gibs, vice president, media & analytics, Nielsen Online, said "Historically short form, clip-length video has ruled streaming on the Web... Hulu, along with pure-play providers...  have spent the past two years trying to convince consumers that the Internet can be a good place to watch full length programming...  April's strong showings... suggest that consumers are beginning to listen."  ------------------------------------------------------   February U.S. television stations will complete their transition to an all digital system. And with the transition comes great potential to increase breadth and capacity of program and service offerings. Broadcasters, advertisers and programmers across all platforms are scrambling to figure out how their business will change on February 17, 2009.  With this the Digital Film Festival we will take you there. --------------------------------------------------- ONLINE ADVERTISING AD BIZ POISED TO ENTER NEW FRONTIER--Advertising dollars that routinely would have gone to broadcast TV in years past are now going to cable and interactive television, the Internet and even non-traditional approaches like event marketing and public relations.  "Cable was just coming out, you didn't have the Internet--today, it's very, very difficult because the audience is so fragmented you can't gather a large number of bodies easily," said Burtch Drake, president of the American Assoc. of Advertising Agencies.  And a move towards branded entertainment and product placement is the industry's way of finding new approaches to reach consumers...Media Vest's Desmond seea a new landscape beginning to take hold within the next 18 to 36 months.  "The reality is that consumers or strategically based planning decisions are going to do more to change the traditional TV marketplace than anything we've seen in the last 20 years," she said.  New technologies like the Internet, video on demand and digital video recorders are changing the TV business every day.   Shoot Magazine 10/07   Not surprising the Internet is seen as the bright light in this ultimately mediocre advertising forecast. While newspapers, magazines and radio advertising are expected to lose share, "Worldwide Internet ad spending will climb to $44.6 billion from about $36 billion, increasing its share of the market to 9.4% from 8.1%," according to the ZenithOptimedia report.     Dec 07  www.mediapost.com -------------------------------------------------------------- TV stations could see tougher times if one research company's advice is heeded. BIGresearch, a Worthington, Ohio-based consumer research company, says top automotive advertisers are spending too much on TV compared to the influence that TV has with its consumers. It says 17% to 18% of consumers are influenced by TV marketing--but in aggregate, automotive makers spend 40% of their media on TV. For example, Ford Motor had 41% of its media budget going to TV, according to the researcher, with 18% of its consumers influenced by TV. All other media spending figures show that Ford under-spends, compared to their influence. BIGresearch says 16.5% of Ford's customers are influenced by newspapers, but that Ford only spends 5.9% of its media on newspapers.  With the Internet, 8.4% of Ford's consumers are swayed by Internet sites--but Ford only gives that media 3.9% of its media dollars. Radio brings 6.7% influence, but 1.5% of media spend. Outdoor sits at a 12% influence rate, but Ford only gives it 1% of budget. =============================================== The Internet has opened up what is being called “The Wild Wild West” of TV and movies again. It's almost like the old hay-day of movie studios where anything goes. For all of us who missed our chance the first time around, by not being financially conscious of the possibilities, the Internet reminds all of us that everyday there are new possibilities and new opportunities. Simply stated, the Internet is the biggest business in the history of the world. It's bigger than the movie business, television business, and record and radio business, and it is growing faster than any of the above and is creating a paradigm shift in the way that people are entertained, the way they buy their entertainment, and purchase goods and services.  Man is experiencing a cultural and economic para- digm shift.  History will continue to be written for then next few years.  Now that the dust has settled on the Internet front, we are seeing another huge growth period, especially in the online music, film and the purchasing of these mediums go to the Internet in mass with pay per view, VOD, streaming, and more.   WITH OUR SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM YOU CREATE A RELATIONSHIP ECONOMY   Social media and online communities are transforming traditional business functions, from marketing and human resources to technical support. Through user-generated content tools and engaging in conversations with their people - employees, customers, partners, and prospects - companies are learning that they can drive innovation, build brand awareness, and energize their audiences and ultimately improve retention, revenue, and their bottom line. As you will see from the websites above in the PRDFF INTERNETWORK, many that are the top in social networking, we have established links and pages with these, with each week the InterNetworking will grow and grow.  You will be connected to a virtual world through network identities, groups, and connections to others.   BIG + FOR OUR SPONSORS IS THE FACTS REGARDING DOCUMENTARIES:   VARITY MAGAZINE SAYS: The Film Festival Summit has seen its attendance double every year as orgs look to cash in on the festival craze.  The stakes are high and the payoff can be big.  Toronto's Piers Handling says, "The festival brings the kind of spending to the city of Toronto that is only bested by Christmas."   HOLLYWOOD REPORTER--REPORTS  "DOCUMENTARIES HOT ITEMS AT SUNDANCE" This years documentary slate at the Sundance  Festival, was according to many veteran attendees, on of the strongest in recent memory...This years edition of the country's premier festival of indepen- dent film will be remembered for documentaries, most of which will sind up on television in the next 12 to 18 months.   USA TODAY REPORTS-- It is clear that Docs are big, Documentaries that came out on DVD are beginning to show up in theaters.  Hollywood is taking notice, and studios are scouring film festivals for documentaries with breakout potential.  "Documentaries have arrived as a potent MOVIE force.   USA TODAY--There's definitely a sea of change afoot both in the music and film industry.  there may be two parallel phenomena, but they are working together very well...the reason is simple, audiences are starved for quality music...Bob Smeaton, director of FESTIVAL EXPRESS and THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY,  If music lovers miss a film in the theaters, and so many don't even make it there, he says, they can still buy the DVD and get the full length version in surround sound on home theater unit." MUSICAL DOCUMENTARIES: A CRESCENDO OF FILMS, DVDs THE SURGE OF INTEREST IN DOCUMENTARY FILMS HAS TAKEN A TUNEFUL TWIST AS FILMS ABOUT MUSICIANS AS DIVERSE AS JANIS JOPLIN AND JQAY ZARRIVE ON MOVIE SCREENS AND ON DVD TO INCREASING ATTENTION FROM MOVIE AND MUSIC FANS ALIKE... MARCH 2008, BILLBOARD MAGAZINE HAD SIX MOVIE SOUNDTRACKS IN THE TOP 30 OF THE BILLBOARD TOP 200 Retreating somewhat from earlier optimistic predictions, newspaper publishers and analysts now say next year will probably be just as tough for the troubled industry as 2007. With shareholders staking their hopes on a turnaround in 2008, this is bad news for newspaper stocks--and may also torpedo major deals like the planned buyout of Tribune Co. by real estate billionaire Sam Zell. Among Teens, a Content Creation Revolution San Francisco Chronicle Social networking sites are inciting more teens to create content online. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, nearly two-thirds of online teens have created something, from personal Web pages to online videos. The study credits social networks like MySpace and Facebook with furthering the trend. More than half of the survey's respondents said they have a social networking profile. More Gray, More Affluent, More Internet Shopping In the more than 80 metropolitan markets surveyed by Media Audit, a recent study shows that those who are over age 50 with incomes of $50,000 or more (the "graying and affluent") have increased from 17.0 million in 2004 to 22.3 million during the past five years. Collectively, the markets surveyed have an adult population of approximately 142 million. Bob Jordan, president of International Demographics, producer of The Media Audit, said "Since 2004 the percentage of  ‘graying and affluent' households has increased from 13.1 percent to 15.7 percent of all households in the markets (surveyed)... (and) this group is very rapidly embracing the internet as a shopping medium." In the prior survey, 50.2 percent had made at least one purchase on the internet during the previous 12 months. In the latest survey, that 50.2 percent increased to 65.6 percent.  According to Jordan, "The baby-boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, began impacting this segment of the population in 1996, and their impact will continue to be felt through 2014." USA Today in Feb. reported, "In tough times, nostalgia for rosier days seems to be driving a consumer appetite for retro products and design...Familiar is cozy, warm and enveloping.  And it's working better than anything else right now."  Levi, Coca-Cola, Kodak, Volkswagen and many other brands are using nostalgia to market.  "A lot of brands are going back to their roots," says Karen Marderosian, marketing director of Volkswagen, North America. As we blaze at warp speed into The Information Age the way that we are entertained and the way we live and purchase goods and services are changing right before our eyes,  marketing and merchandising can be a very exciting and profitable game.  We are actually experiencing a paradigm shift, while it is taking place, a very unique wave to ride...edge to cut, future to create.  It is what dreams are made of, or that spark that men like Albert Einstein and Thomas A. Edison might have had some flash upon and chance to ride as they created inventions that would also change mankind before their eyes.  It is said that there are a new breed of producers that are right now be working in their garage and soon they will own and run the new entertainment networks. The downside. "The retail stores and traditional distributors are on a path to destruction," Leigh says.  "The concept of a prepackaged CD is as dead as Gen. Custer."   LA Times reports DVD sales can mint studios more money from a film's DVD release than they do from the box office.  Warner Bros. Home Video Chief, Warren Lieberfarb, says, "DVD is the largest source of additional revenue and profit ever created in entertainment in such a short period of time."  DVDs are now being shipped by studios at about twice last years pace.  The DVD explosion is so profitable it has become one of the few bright spots for the media industry, and at the same time the VOD (video on demand), downloads and the mass migration of the market to watch movies on your computer, tv via the Internet,   And at the same time the Internet is evolving, while it is evolving, the paradigm shift is shifting even more and at a faster rate than any thing in the past years we have been seeing the Internet change the music industry, news papers, travel agencies, magazine industry and now the movie and television business will never be the same... USA Today reports, "Emerging technology has deeply rattled lots of business models and whole indust- ries over the centuries.  Electricity doused a booming kerosene business for lamps.  Cars overran the buggy business.  Digital cameras is doing the same to film.  Before television took America by storm in the 1940s, consumers had to pay for their visual entertainment...Just like personal computers in the past decade, TV sets whooshed into the market, bringing new, mind-blowing electronic capabilities into homes.  Before TV, people had to pay for visual entertainment.  As with file sharing and music, advert- ising-supported TV allowed people to suddenly see news and entertainment for free.  Weekly atten- dance at movie theaters dived from 80 million in 1946 to 12 million by 1972, according to The American Film Industry The number of films made dropped from 445 a year in the 1940s to 150 in the 1970s.  The studio system fell apart.  Not until the 1990s--and ironically, the boom in income from video rentals--did the movie industry truly recover from the blow of massively free entertainment.  In other words, it took Hollywood almost 50 years to figure out how to deal with TV. Amazon.com shipped out more than a million copies of the new Harry Potter book, making that day the largest distribution day of a single item in e-commerce history.  More than 760,000 advance copies were ordered from Amazon.com's U.S. Web site, up from 350,000 for "Goblet," and orders on its over- seas Web sites brought the total to more than 1.3 million. News reports indicate that Federal Express is experiencing a huge rise in the value of its company stock as a direct result of commerce on the Internet.  Powerful corporations like AT&T, Disney, General Electric, Microsoft, MCA Universal, Sony, Time Warner and IBM are investing billions of dollars into the Internet.  Reports indicate that there were more millionaires under thirty created on the Internet than through all other areas of business combined throughout the entire economic history of this country.  Amazon.com has the corporate wealth of Texaco Oil Corp.   The next big shift will occur when the vast majority of consumers no longer need computers to go on- line and this is taking place now with mobile, the iphone and the Internet, of course.  Barbara Walters asked Mr. Eisner of Disney a couple years back, "What is the future?"  Eisner said, "The Internet,  and the merging of the computer and the television." A shift that we are seeing is that the Internet companies are becoming bigger and with more capitol than the television and movie companies.  While at the same time we are seeing the entertainment business shift gears and now target hundreds of millions of dollars even billions of dollars into the Internet.  Just because Hollywood has not figured the Internet out does not mean it is not happening "Bigger than Dallas," as ole J.R. would say. THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL...OR THE SCREEN ON THE WALL Consumers Who Watch TV Online More Engaged Than TV-Set Watchers, Simmons Finds by Mark Walsh, Monday, Dec 24, 2007 7:00 AM ET CONSUMERS ARE 47% MORE ENGAGED in ads that run with television programs that they view online than those watched on a TV set, according to new research findings. A cross-media study by Simmons, a unit of Experian Research Services, also found that viewers are 25% more engaged in the content of TV shows that they watch online than on a TV. Newspapers And Local Home Magazines Losing Real Estate Advertising To Web According to a new release from Borrell Associates, real estate agents, who initially tried to appease home sellers by advertising more on traditional channels, this year cut their print budgets and pushed more money into the Web. Total ad spending on real estate has declined 3 percent this year, while spending on the online segment has grown 25.8 percent, hitting $2.6 billion. Borrell projects online real estate advertising to grow at 12.4 percent next year while total real estate advertising continues to compress. In three years, says the report, agents and brokers will be spending more ad dollars with online media than with the newspaper. Red Ink Forecast For Newspapers Next Year Retreating somewhat from earlier optimistic predictions, newspaper publishers and analysts now say next year will probably be just as tough for the troubled industry as 2007. With shareholders staking their hopes on a turnaround in 2008, this is bad news for newspaper stocks--and may also torpedo major deals like the planned buyout of Tribune Co. by real estate billionaire Sam Zell. Our Digital Film Festival and the Branding you will receive via the new multiplatform avenues of the Internet and the Digital Age are not presented every day now... don't miss getting your BRAND in our Brand-Wagon...   DISNEY TAKES BIG PLUNGE INTO ONLINE VIDEO...They are headed into the production of shorts, VOD, and creating short form shows for the Internet.    Los Angeles Leads Nation in HD-Capable Homes Nielsen Co. said Tuesday that 13.7% of TV households in the U.S. are equipped with an HDTV and HD tuner capable of receiving signals in HD, while 11.3% are equipped with an HD television and HD tuner and receive at least one HD network or station. Los Angeles has the highest penetration of HD-capable homes, or 20.4%, and New York has the highest penetration of HD-receivable homes, 17.5%. "The only way to succeed in the burgeoning world of scripted broadband entertainment is to embrace a new economic paradigm that has virtually nothing to do with the fat cat ways of Hollywood"...Eisner is testing the 'quality on a shoestring' model via Vuguru...one of his new projects was launched on Myspace, cost $2,300 to produce each 90 seconds episode.  Michael Eisner     “We are seeing profound changes in consumer behavior and we need to re-engineer our business models,” he said. “But change often needs a catalyst.  Last November we got one.”     Jeff Zucker   GET ON BOARD NOW AND RIDE THE INTERNETWORK OF SITES FOR SIX MONTHS PRE FESTIVAL AND 3 MONTH POST FESTIVAL.  MAKE NOTE OF THIS!!!!!!  YOU ARE GETTING 9 MONTHS OF LOCAL, NATIONAL AND WORLD WIDE ONLINE ADVERTISING... NOT TO MENTION THE ASSOCIATION WITH SUCH A CLASSIC AND CUTTING EDGE EVENT, CONTENT FOR YOU SITES VISITORS.   PASO DIGITAL FILM FESTIVAL Buffalo Benford Productions, LLC Paso Robles and Hollywood, California 323-850-8919 thepdff@gmail.com