On another level, however, I understand the motivation. When it comes to delivering audio-visual content to a wide audience, the Internet has lowered the barriers to entry so far that anyone with even the dinkiest camera can become a major broadcaster. The television industry may face a crisis of overhead when a large number of scrappy upstarts deliver comparable value with almost no fixed costs. Also, there are some aspects of the television business that the Internet simply does better, specifically when it comes to reaching an audience.

So there is the scent of blood in the water, and out of the resulting frenzy a few lessons have appeared. Here are four of them.

There doesn’t have to be a difference between a “channel” and a “show.”

You probably have a clear understanding about what a television channel is. Comedy Central is a channel. Your local CBS affiliate is a channel. A channel is the thing you tune in to at a specific time to watch a particular show. A channel runs a lot of shows on it. Time Warner Cable offers 900 channels. This seems like too many. Bruce Springsteen wrote “57 channels and nothing on.” That sounds so quaint now.

But if you have a conversation about YouTube channels with this concept of a “channel” in your head you may experience some cognitive dissonance. There are “tens of millions” of channels on YouTube. One company, Machinima, operates 3,380 of them. That’s literally 100 times as many channels as are owned by NBC Universal, and it’s not enough. YouTube just launched 100 more channels with premium content. YouTube must be using the word “channel” differently. Except they’re not.

Both a YouTube channel and a television channel deliver a stream of content from a transmitting device to a receiving one. Viewers tune in to a television channel by selecting its number; they reach a YouTube channel via its URL. The main difference is that the cost of creating a television channel from scratch is incredibly high, while on YouTube it’s pretty close to zero. Unlike television, a YouTube channel can turn a profit with very little programming. The comedian Ray William Johnson, for example, has one of the most lucrative channels on YouTube. It plays one show. That show adds 12 minutes of new programming per week.

If a channel online costs next to nothing, and you can build one around a single show, then why do television shows need television channels at all? Every once in a while there’s a lot of fuss about getting cable channels à la carte. But who cares about that when you can have à la carte programming?

I like to think about this in the context of “The Daily Show.” On cable, you’re limited to 30 minutes of “The Daily Show” per day, and you have to tune in at 11 pm or set your DVR to watch it. There could easily just be a “Daily Show” channel, with all the extra programming that Comedy Central now reserves for the Web site, plus spinoffs for the various “Daily Show” correspondents. More content means more places to sell advertising, which means more profit. One challenge, of course, would be getting the audience to modify its behavior, but new technology seems to be inspiring this already.

Programming can now be delivered to your television set through a remote control.

Let’s define “remote control” as a handheld piece of electronics that tells your television set what to do while you’re sitting on the couch. Smartphones and tablets fit into this category, and before you argue that this definition is too broad, I submit that an iPhone is no less a remote control than it is a camera. It commands your television set far more profoundly than your traditional remote control. At least, if you have an Apple TV. Which you should.

The Apple TV comes with a technology called AirPlay, which allows you to throw videos wirelessly from your phone or tablet to your television set. Got a movie sitting in iTunes on your computer? You can watch it on TV via AirPlay. Find a video you want to watch embedded on a Web site you read? If AirPlay is available, a little button will pop up and you can stream the video to your TV. Need some good recommendations? Try one of the many “discovery” apps out there, like Shelby.tv or ShowYou or VHX. They skim your Twitter and Facebook feeds looking for videos your friends have posted. And you can throw those to your TV.

There are apps for ESPN and Discovery Channel and PBS and other traditional channels that allow you watch their shows, on demand, on your TV, via AirPlay. There are also a growing number of apps for channels that have never been included in a traditional cable provider’s lineup. The Wall Street Journal’s news channel, WSJ Live, is one of them. Time Warner Cable doesn’t carry it, but my iPad does.

I should note that WSJ Live is also available in the main Apple TV library, so you don’t actually need to use AirPlay to watch it. But the fact that you can illustrates my point. The remote control has become a very personal device, one that you carry around with you all day long, one that you use to store and index your favorite media. A viewer is just as likely to watch a channel she’s added to her home screen as anything available in the cable menu. The programming of her choice routes through her remote control.

Marketing and distribution are often the same thing.

Last month, IFC released the entire first episode of the second season of “Portlandia” online a week before its airdate. They used an embeddable video player, so that any online publication could feature the episode on its Web site. Individual sketches from the show were also made available in the same way. IFC didn’t just tease the show or talk it up, they let people actually see it for themselves. The result was an 81 percent increase in viewership among 18-49 year olds when the show returned to the network.

There are few examples of this sort of thing happening before the Internet. A movie poster hanging in a theater where that movie is playing, perhaps, or a DVD insert in a magazine ad. But this is something the Internet does really well. A single sentence can promote a film and deliver it to your computer at the same time. Allow me to demonstrate: “This video is amazing.”

That, of course, is the lifeblood of online publishing. Here’s something that resonated with me, I’m recommending it to you, my audience. They call it “curating” now. Somehow that word got separated from “blogging” recently, and I’m not entirely sure how or why. I think Tumblr and Pinterest had something to do with it. But curating, which is a thing bloggers do, is a distinct talent. It’s highly respected in other manifestations, such as museum curators or fashion buyers or television programmers. It was curators who spread that “Portlandia” preview around. And when you factor in the marketing power they brought to that show, and you consider how much a network pays to advertise a program in general, there’s only one conclusion to draw. Online curators are the most undervalued talent in the television industry.

A few of those new YouTube channels seem to recognize the power of the curatorial voice. Vice, Pitchfork, SB Nation and the Bleacher Report all received funding to create new YouTube programming. Presumably their editors will create shows that they’d want to watch themselves, and with that level of personal investment, they’d vouch for those shows to their readers.

Television is no longer that different from publishing.

Just last week, the Gawker Media site Kotaku announced a programming schedule similar to that of a television network. This strategy was conceived well over a year ago, and is designed to sell audience size to advertisers, the way television does, rather than pageviews, which have been dropping in value for years.

This is only the latest example of conceptual overlap. Video embedding took off after the launch of YouTube, turning online publications into versions of The Daily Prophet, that newspaper from Harry Potter with the magical moving pictures on the front page. Some Internet video hosting and streaming services are built on content management systems designed for online publishing. When you upload a video to Blip, the last thing you click to make it go live is “publish.” Awl Music, the music video channel launched by The Awl in January, is run entirely on Tumblr. You can watch it on a television set connected to Google TV.

Both traditional and online publishers are producing original video series with increasing frequency. Reuters, Slate and The Wall Street Journal all have news and documentary programming on the new YouTube channel lineup. The New York Times and New York Magazine have been doing their own video programming for years. It’s only a matter of time before some of these compete with the cable news channels.

Eric Spiegelman produces the Web series “Old Jews Telling Jokes,” which is about to launch its fifth season. He helped bring the hit Japanese television show “Retro Game Master” to Kotaku.com, and he helped launch AwlMusic.tv in partnership with TheAwl.com.

None of those guys have announced their plans for that, yet. But Myspace has: It says it will offer an “over the top” service in the first half of this year.

Wait. Myspace?

Right, Myspace: The once-hot, then very un-hot social network that News Corp. (which also owns this Web site) sold for a bag of chips last year. Its new owners, Specific Media, have made general murmurs about reviving the site, but other than rounding up an endorsement from Justin Timberlake, they haven’t spelled out what they’re doing.

So here’s the idea: Offer a full suite of TV programming — the same stuff you’re paying for via cable or satellite, and sell that bundled up with all sorts of cool interactive goodies. Pricing? TBD.

So that’s a plan, at least. No idea if it’s going to be a reality. Specific CEO Tim Vanderhook says he’s talking to TV programmers about the deals he’ll need to launch the service, but doesn’t have them yet and won’t go into details. And bear in mind that the Consumer Electronics Show, where Specific/Myspace is making the announcement, is ground zero for vaporware announcements.

If nothing else, though, Specific’s announcement points out how plausible the idea of a Web-based pay TV service now seems to lots of sober people. Many cable programmers are just fine with the idea, as long as: 1) the new services pay full freight, and 2) the new services don’t want to break up their bundles. That is, if you want Viacom’s Comedy Channel, you’re also going to have to get VH1. Etc.

But if you’re ok with that, and if you your money is good, the programmers are happy to take it. In their mind, this is like the ’80s and ’90s, when the satellite guys bought their way into pay TV, or more recently when AT&T and Verizon did: More outlets for them equals more money.

Here’s Specific’s press release, which is quite confusing, because it plays up music and a connection with Panasonic and “social TV” — which is usually a fancy way of saying you watch TV just like you always do, but Tweet about it. And someone will pay us for it, maybe.

But I spoke with Vanderhook earlier, and he insists that the real thrust here is a full package of TV programming, delivered over the Web, to any device with a broadband connection.

I’ll believe it when I see it. But it’s sure fun to speculate about in the meantime.

MYSPACE AND PANASONIC PARTNER TO UNVEIL NEW SOCIAL TV SERVICE

Delivers social experience through over-the-top platform across 2012 Panasonic VIERA Connect-enabled HDTVs

CES 2012 – LAS VEGAS (January 9, 2012) Myspace (www.myspace.com), a leading social entertainment destination that lets artists and fans share and discover content, today announced the launch of Myspace TV, a new service that makes the television experience social. Available on the next generation of Panasonic VIERA Connect™-enabled HDTVs, Myspace TV puts viewers in control by allowing them to discover, share and comment on the programs they’re viewing.

Initial channels on Myspace TV will be music-focused, leveraging Myspace’s unparalleled music rights and leading library of 100,000 music videos and 42 million songs. Myspace TV will expand beyond music, however, to encompass movies, news, sports and reality channels, with a growing lineup of today’s most popular broadcast and on-demand content. Audiences will not only be able to view their favorite television programs, but Myspace TV will also allow them to chat about what they’re viewing while they’re viewing it and invite friends to watch with them virtually. The platform fully integrates social and television in new ways that add a dimension to content discovery and evolve the traditional television experience. A companion app will be available on tablets and smartphones, providing instant sync capabilities for a seamless experience.

“Myspace was the first successful social network because it allowed individuals to share their interests, listen to music, express their creativity and connect around the things they love,” said Myspace CEO Tim Vanderhook. “Historically, TV has been a shared experience, as people gathered together to watch their favorite programs. Our belief was that we could enhance the TV experience by increasing viewers’ ability to connect to both content and each other. By partnering with Panasonic, we’re bringing together the content that people love and a social experience in one service: Myspace TV.”
Myspace co-owner Justin Timberlake added, “We’re ready to take television and entertainment to the next step by upgrading it to the social networking experience. Why text or email your friends to talk about your favorite programs after they’ve aired when you could be sharing the experience with real-time interactivity from anywhere across the globe? As the plot of your favorite drama unfolds, the joke of your favorite SNL character plays, or even the last second shot of your favorite team swishes the net, we’re giving you the opportunity to connect your friends to your moments as they’re actually occurring. This is the evolution of one of our greatest inventions, the television. And, we no longer have to crowd around the same one to experience it together.”

Myspace TV intends to return the diminishing social element of television by connecting viewers around content, simplifying discovery by creating fan communities empowered to comment, rate, chat and invite friends to view programming together in real-time.

Launching in the first half of 2012, Myspace TV’s over-the-top television service will be offered across the Panasonic VIERA Connect platform. VIERA Connect is Panasonic’s connected TV platform, which offers access to Internet-based video-on-demand content and applications, ranging from news and fitness, to social networking and online gaming. VIERA Connect requires no external box or PC1 and is accessed via a single button on the television remote control.

“Year after year, Panasonic’s VIERA Connect Smart VIERA TV platform has continued to expand rapidly but with a singular focus to deliver to our consumers an extremely robust and interactive connected TV experience that can be customized and enjoyed on their large-screen HDTVs,” said Joseph Taylor, Chairman & CEO, Panasonic Corporation of North America. “We are proud to partner with the new Myspace on the debut of Myspace TV on our VIERA Connect Smart TV platform. By partnering with a brand like Myspace on the VIERA Connect Smart TV platform, we’re taking connected TV to a whole new level of engaging, interactive experiences for consumers.”

Myspace is currently inviting a select audience to participate in the beta launch of its TV service through a fully integrated experience on laptop devices. To be considered for invitation, entertainment fans can submit their information at http://www.myspace.com/tv.

The Los Angeles-based company is aiming to become the eHarmony of e-commerce, meaning that it is trying to help e-commerce providers match the right shopping experience to the right shopper, in real time.

The reason SteelHouse is optimistic is that its president and CEO, Mark Douglas, was the VP of technology at eHarmony for almost four years.

Investors in the latest round include Greycroft Partners, Rincon Venture Partners and Lighthouse Venture Group. The company’s original investors are Baroda Ventures and Silicon Valley angel Ron Conway. The company had previously raised $1.55 million in a first round.

SteelHouse is building a behavioral platform that allows e-commerce companies to present different offers to shoppers, based on the personality and behavior of the person visiting. Some of its clients include Comedy Central, Mrs. Fields, SkyMall, eCampus.com, Evite and Cooking.com.

The company says it will use the capital to continue investing in its technology.

I am not one for celebrity roasts, but I am looking forward to this Comedy Central skewering of Charlie Sheen.

Since his character was killed off on the hit television series “Two and a Half Men,” Sheen has been making himself roastworthy.

Enjoy this clip of the Sept. 19 show, featuring “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane:

And here’s a TV network taking them up on the offer: Viacom’s Comedy Central, which is counting on Twitter to promote its “Comedy Awards” show tonight.

The network has linked up with the service before. Last month, for instance, it devoted on-screen real estate throughout its Donald Trump roast to hashtag terms it wanted viewers to use as they talked up the show on Twitter. Users who obliged ended up creating free, real-time advertising for the program.

Comedy Central plans to do the same thing with tonight’s show. But it’s taking the integration deeper by buying a “promoted trend” in advance of the broadcast.

Click through and you’ll end up at a page promoting the show, the network’s attempt to create an annual Oscars-style event (which was taped two weeks ago, a fact the network isn’t trying to hide: you can see the winners here). And if you end up on the site while the show is airing tonight, you’ll see a livestream of the telecast, along with a dedicated Twitter widget.

The network is hoping it will be able to get other related terms to trend–for free–as the day goes on; it has recruited about a dozen of the comedians that will appear on the show to actively Twitter about it in advance.

Twitter and Comedy Central were hoping to push the partnership even further by embedding a livestream of tonight’s broadcast on Twitter.com itself, alongside the “#comedyawards” page. But technical issues forced them to scrap the plan Friday morning.

Comedy Central isn’t relying solely on Twitter to push tonight’s show. It will simulcast the show on five other Viacom-owned channels, including Spike and VH1. And for good measure, it will stream the show to Apple’s iPad and iPhone, and handsets running Google’s Android.

But it’s most excited about Twitter, in large part because comedians themselves have flocked to the service in the last couple years. “It just seems like a natural fit”, says Steve Grimes, who oversees digital for the network.

Twitter is quietly excited, too. Even without the embeded video feature, tonight’s show gives it a chance to promote a cycle that would be particularly virtuous for Twitter: TV networks advertise on the service, get higher ratings, and can charge more for their own advertising. Repeat.

But as I learned, the effects wizards at ILM have a secret weapon that shares a lot in common with your PC at home. If you play any graphics-heavy games, your PC probably has a graphics processing unit in it, and chances are pretty good that GPU card came from Nvidia. As you might expect, displaying ever-more realistic scenes in a PC game is similar in many respects to what you need to make a wicked cool effect in a movie. And in certain cases they’re better than even the most powerful traditional CPU chips from the likes of Intel or Advanced Micro Devices.

The story goes that when he was working on a scene for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” Chris Horvath was asked to create a “tornado of fire” (the picture above is borrowed from that scene). At the time, the conventional way of doing it just didn’t produce a satisfying result. “We needed to do this very complicated fire simulation and we just didn’t have a solution to do it,” said Craig Hammack, an ILM visual effects supervisor who was sitting near Horvath at the time.

Someone suggested to Horvath that he try working with GPUs, and not only that but writing an effects program to take advantage of their unique computing capabilities. (Horvath tells the story in the video below.) The result was a piece of internal ILM software called Verté that reduced the desired fire effects to a series of flat two-dimensional images linked together to look like they were 3-D.

Next came a new tool called Plume, used to simulate the movements of fluids. It’s written to take advantage of a newer Nvidia parallel computing technology called CUDA. Suddenly, the work required to create deeply complex visual effects involving images of fire or water sped up considerably because the software written for Plume could talk directly to the graphics chip itself.

“We used to have a smoke simulation engine that we had been using for I don’t know how long, and it rendered on CPUs, and the turnaround time was about a day,” Kirk Haller, ILM’s director of research and development told me. “You’d have to set things up and feel pretty confident that you were doing the right things,” because you wouldn’t see the result until the day after.

Plume changed the game in a big way. Developed first for use on “The Last Airbender,”, it allowed artists working on simulations to mess around with them on the fly, literally changing settings on software dials. “It’s a very friendly system. People who aren’t experts and don’t know exactly what numbers and settings to put in on the old system could tweak the settings and learn how it behaves, and get the artistic refinement and the look that they want,” Haller told me.

Plume sped things up so much on “Airbender” that effects artists were able to work with director M. Night Shyamalan in near real-time, allowing him to have input on how the simulated fire and water and air would look in each shot and how it would affect the characters on the screen, Olivier Maury, a research and development engineer at ILM, told me. Instead of waiting a day to see the results of each day’s work, an artist could work up as many as several versions of a complex simulation every day.

That’s why Plume–which is a proprietary tool–is now being used on every film currently in the works at ILM. And that’s a lengthy list, including “Cowboys and Aliens,” “Pirates of the Caribbean 4” and “Transformers 3,” to name but a few.

Plume simulation renders are run on a rack of 12 Nvidia Quadroplex 2200′s. Each machine in the rack contains two GPU chips, but each chip has 240 cores, the central computing brain of the chip. That means this rack has 5,760 computing brains jamming on simulations and effects shots at any time. That’s some serious horsepower. The rack is situated only steps away from the “Death Star” rack I showed you last week, though, silly me, I didn’t have the presence of mind to shoot any footage of it.

I wasn’t able to shoot any video to demonstrate any of this. But the folks from ILM like the results they’re getting from the Nvidia GPUs so much they appeared in a video about it last year that coincided with the release of “Airbender,” and it shows a good bit of the evolution of the process from “Potter 6″ to “Airbender.” Chances are you’ll be seeing a lot of shots first created in Plume in movies coming this summer.

PREVIOUSLY:

• A Virtual Tour of the Town of Dirt, from the Animated Film “Rango”
• Lucasfilm’s Data Center, and an Encounter With the Real Death Star
• Meet Kevin Clark, Master Not of the Force, but of Data

Not bad, but I’m certain I’m not the only one hoping that somehow “Saturday Night Live” gets in on the action by reviving its old “Celebrity Jeopardy” sketch from a few seasons back. Perhaps Sean Connery could hack Watson’s programming? You know what would happen.

PREVIOUSLY:

• Done With Silly Game Shows, IBM’s Watson Finds a Job
• All Humans Bow Before the Mighty Watson, Master of “Jeopardy”
• IBM “Jeopardy” Challenge Day 2: Very Different From Day One
• IBM “Jeopardy” Challenge Day One Ends in a Tie
• That Human Vs. Machine Practice Round of “Jeopardy” Didn’t End the Way You Heard It Did
• “Final Jeopardy” Question: Would You Buy an E-Book Without an Ending?
• This Supercomputer Defeated Human Champions of a TV Game Show in 2011
• I’ll Take Computer Company PR Stunts for $1,000,000

Which might explain why the Onion has not one but two shows on TV right now, both based on the great stuff the satirists are already doing on their Web video site.

There’s SportsDome on Comedy Central, a beat-for-beat replication of ESPN’s SportsCenter. And starting tonight on IFC, there’s the Onion News Network, an uncanny amalgamation of News Corp.’s Fox News, Time Warner’s CNN, Comcast’s MSNBC et al.

Here’s a representative sample:

Snowy Conditions Proving Hazardous For Nation’s Idiots

I think it’s pretty great, but I’m a 100 percent biased observer, since I’ve been friends with some of the Onion crew for forever–think pre-Netscape. If you want a less objective take on the new show, you can check out this glowing New York Times review, or this measured one from Time.

Last week, I stopped by a promo for the show–a real/fake press conference starring the fake newsreaders, in character, moderated by Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter, who appeared as himself–and then sat down for a chat with Carol Kolb, a longtime Onion writer (and a pal–see above).

We talked in a makeshift green room set up at the very serious Paley Center for Media, and midway through, our conversation gets interrupted by the show’s cast. But that just makes it more real, right? If your coworkers aren’t cool with a few f-bombs, then this isn’t safe for work:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110121/backstage-at-the-onions-new-tv-show/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20101118/time-warner-cable-offers-cheaper-tv-package-without-espn/ http://allthingsd.com/20101118/time-warner-cable-offers-cheaper-tv-package-without-espn/#comments Fri, 19 Nov 2010 06:15:28 +0000 Nat Worden http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=32858 Time Warner Cable Inc. is rolling out a lower-priced cable TV package called “TV Essentials” that excludes major cable networks like ESPN, Comedy Central, TNT, Fox News, MSNBC, Fox regional sports networks and MSG.

The offering will begin Monday on a test basis in New York City, where it will cost $39.95 per month, and northern Ohio, including Cleveland and Akron, where it will cost $29.95 per month. Those prices are 12-month promotions, and Time Warner Cable spokeswoman Maureen Huff said the retail value of the package is $49.99 per month.

The package is aimed at lower-income customers that have been struggling in the weak economy. Time Warner Cable and other major cable operators have suffered a slowdown in their subscriber performance in recent quarters, with some consumers dropping cable TV service as unemployment remains high and the U.S. housing market continues to struggle.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101118/time-warner-cable-offers-cheaper-tv-package-without-espn/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20101116/another-tv-guide-for-web-video-but-shufflr-wants-your-friends-to-do-the-work/ http://allthingsd.com/20101116/another-tv-guide-for-web-video-but-shufflr-wants-your-friends-to-do-the-work/#comments Tue, 16 Nov 2010 20:30:50 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=25913 Smart people are sure that you’re going to watch more and more Web video from the comfort of your couch.

But if that’s the case, how are you going to decide what to watch? The world of Internet video is exponentially bigger than the 500-channel universe you already have, and usually ignore, via your cable box. Who’s going to help you navigate that?

Lots of people, it turns out. In fact, that’s one of the most popular ways to attack the Web video business: Try to create what will turn out to be the Web’s version of TV Guide, and make money by selling content or advertising once you’re big enough.

That’s really what Boxee is up to, if it can get scale. Ditto for Clicker. And Google TV and Apple TV, really. And really, if you think about it, that’s what Hulu would like to do, if Jason Kilar could get his way. Etc.

Here’s yet one more competitor: Shufflr, a newish start-up run by Bangalore-based Althea Systems. Althea has rounded up $3 million via a Series A round from Intel Capital, and is using the money to build out its product, a browser that works on laptops and, soon, phones running Google’s Android platform.*

Shufflr’s pitch is pretty simple: They sort through lots of video feeds–from everyone from YouTube to Comedy Central to Blip.TV–and offer up suggestions about what you’d like to see.

They’re based in part on what you’ve said you like on Twitter and Facebook, and in part on what your friends have said they like, by forwarding a link. And Shufflr plays the video for you–using the original distributors embedded advertising–on its own player.

It’s an interesting concept, but the problem with all of these machine-based recommendation engines is that they’re more clumsy than you’d like.

Shufflr, for instance, can figure out that I like “comedy,” but then it spits up everything that anyone has ever thought is funny. And there’s a whole lot of not-funny stuff there. At least in my humble opinion.

I think that’s not that much of a problem when you’re sitting on a laptop, idling for a few minutes between meetings and just want to watch…something. If you don’t like it, you flip away very, very quickly

But on your couch, which is the use case Shufflr is pushing here, I think your standards are higher. Or different, at least: I’m happy to flip through dud channels on my own, but if some software suggested stuff that I didn’t want to see, I’m not sure I’d stick with it very long.

And I’m sure that, statistically, I’m much more likely to enjoy something that one of my Facebook friends likes, or that someone I follow Twittered about. But that’s a very big group, and the truth is, I probably only care what a very small number of them say about what to watch on the Web. (I’m still angry at Clicker CEO Jim Lanzone, for instance, for raving about “Kick-Ass,” which I ended up renting on VOD. You owe me $4.99, dude.)

But that’s the problem that most recommendation sites and engines have, no matter what the topic is: You really don’t care what everyone you know says about everything–you care what a few people say about something very particular.

In any case, Shufflr is less than a year old, so they’ve got a bit of time to get better. But they’d best do it quickly: Plenty of other folks are trying to crack the same code.

Here’s a demo video, followed by a video Q&A I did with co-founder Rajnish (that’s his full name):

Shufflr – A Social Video Browser from Shufflr on Vimeo.

*Shufflr runs on Adobe’s Flash, which is why it won’t be available on Apple’s iPad/iPod/iPhone platform for a while–the company will need to spend a little time porting its software into an Apple-approved version.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101116/another-tv-guide-for-web-video-but-shufflr-wants-your-friends-to-do-the-work/feed/ 2 http://allthingsd.com/20100809/the-lesson-of-demand-media-and-aol-the-online-content-business-is-a-looooong-march-to-the-big-time/ http://allthingsd.com/20100809/the-lesson-of-demand-media-and-aol-the-online-content-business-is-a-looooong-march-to-the-big-time/#comments Mon, 09 Aug 2010 21:56:41 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=31696

After news of the Demand Media IPO filing came out late last week, I was not that surprised to get an email from someone deeply involved in building an online content business.

“If they are worth over a billion with those financials, I can’t wait to find out what we are worth. What am I missing?”

Well, nothing actually, as Demand’s filing to raise $125 million in an initial public offering at a reported $1.5 billion valuation showed that making it big in the online content business was still slow going.

That said, Demand is surely going and, in fact, growing smartly from $170.3 million in revenue in 2008 to $198.5 in 2009 to possibly reaching–based on six months of 2010 results–well above $230 million in 2010.

That’s due to its increasing growth in traffic, largely via Demand’s popular eHow site and a network of others. According to the most recent numbers from comScore (SCOR), Demand’s properties make it the 17th-largest in the U.S., with 54.6 million unique monthly visitors.

But the media business at Demand is still small, relatively speaking to other big content companies, with the content and media part of the revenue representing almost 60 percent of the business (a domain registrar business makes up for the rest).

And, most importantly, it is still unprofitable.

The Santa Monica, Calif.-based start-up said that, for the six months ended June 30, the company posted a loss of $22.3 million on revenue of $114 million. It was an improvement over a loss of $28.9 million on revenue of $91.3 million in the same period of 2009.

Using less strict accounting, on an operating basis, the picture is better, with the company’s loss cut to $4.7 million from $12.3 million in the same six months.

And using even less stringent non-GAAP financial rules, called, “Adjusted OIBDA,” Demand said in its regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday that it made $25.6 million in profits.

As MediaMemo’s Peter Kafka wrote over the weekend:

Some investors may balk at these non-GAAP numbers, but Demand, Goldman Sachs (GS) and its other underwriters clearly think there’s a market for them. And there’s certainly a hunger in the tech world for a big, brand-name IPO to break the dry spell. You can feel people willing this thing to work.

If Demand did, say, $55 million in OIBDA this year, it would need a multiple of 18 times trailing 12 months earnings to get to a $1 billion valuation. It would need 27x to get the $1.5 billion number that people are whispering to reporters.

Another way to get to $1.5 billion: Project OIBDA of $100 million for 2011, and ask for 15x on that number.

That’s a good thing since Demand, which has raised $355 million in funding since its founding in 2006, has only $33.6 million in cash left in its kitty–probably plenty to keep going–but it’s likely to need more investment to crossover to where it would not need any more money. (There is a $100 million untouched line of credit, but Demand is unlikely to want to dip into that right now.)

Hence, the IPO, which will give it both cash and stock to use to grow itself, either organically or via acquisition, all while keeping the costs of content creation lower and lower via innovative technology.

For Demand CEO Richard Rosenblatt–who has a series of notable financial wins so far, selling such Internet properties such as iMall and MySpace for big windfalls–it will be interesting to see if he can build the business for the long term, which he has said is his intent.

He might want to pay attention to the travails of AOL (AOL) CEO Tim Armstrong, who has plotted a very similar course in the content arena in order to turn around the long-suffering Internet icon.

The former Google (GOOG) exec is facing strong headwinds in doing so, with his legacy subscription access business dying faster than expected, while his advertising revenue remains frustratingly flat.

Armstrong has his hands full building up that content business while also fixing all the various maladies of AOL’s past.

Last week, in AOL’s most recent quarterly report, that was eminently clear, with revenue and earnings below already low Wall Street expectations.

“Nobody likes to show up to these calls and report down numbers in an up market,” said Armstrong in the investor call after the results were released, noting that AOL was in the midst of a long turnaround and “eventually” investors would be able to see results.

Eventually is a good way to put it.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100809/the-lesson-of-demand-media-and-aol-the-online-content-business-is-a-looooong-march-to-the-big-time/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20100414/viral-video-south-park-reaches-200-episodes/ http://allthingsd.com/20100414/viral-video-south-park-reaches-200-episodes/#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:30:29 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=26720 Here’s the teaser for the 200th episode of the animated comedy goldmine that has been “South Park.”

One of the most popular shows online, too, after 14 seasons, the Comedy Central television series will air the 200th episode tonight, in which all the celebrities ever mocked on it join in a class-action lawsuit.

Tom Cruise, beware!

Here’s the short video:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100414/viral-video-south-park-reaches-200-episodes/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20100322/viral-video-stewart-does-beck-really-he-does/ http://allthingsd.com/20100322/viral-video-stewart-does-beck-really-he-does/#comments Mon, 22 Mar 2010 07:15:15 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=25832

Last week, Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart spoofs Fox News’s Glenn Beck in a blackboard parody almost as good as Tina Fey’s spot-on impression of Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live.”

The conservative pundits seem to be the online comedy gift that keeps on giving.

Here it is in two videos:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Intro – Progressivism Is Cancer
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Conservative Libertarian
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100322/viral-video-stewart-does-beck-really-he-does/feed/ 4 http://allthingsd.com/20091019/yahoo-hires-goodby-as-top-creative-agency-for-its-ongoing-brand-revitalization/ http://allthingsd.com/20091019/yahoo-hires-goodby-as-top-creative-agency-for-its-ongoing-brand-revitalization/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:55:05 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=19543

In a shift that is sure to be much commented on by the advertising industry, Yahoo has tapped Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to take the lead for creative, advertising, digital marketing and strategic planning efforts.

The San Francisco-based Goodby, which is owned by the Omnicom Group (OMC), is known for its innovative ideas and has done such memorable campaigns as the Slowsky turtles for Comcast (CMCSA), the weird folk of Emerald Nuts, owned by Diamond Foods (DMND)–as well as campaigns for tech companies such as Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Adobe Systems (ADBE) and Netflix (NFLX).

Also, of course, the terrifically memorable “Got Milk?” campaign.

Perhaps a “Got Yahoo?” campaign is in the future?

Until now, the top job of goosing Yahoo’s tarnished brand, as part of a recently launched $100 million marketing push, has been helmed by Ogilvy & Mather, a unit of the WPP Group (WPPGY).

While Goodby will lead on creative initiatives worldwide, Ogilvy will remain in the mix, Integrated Marketing and Brand Management SVP Penny Baldwin told BoomTown in an interview this afternoon, focusing on international marketing efforts, including all upcoming brand launches in France, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Brazil and Indonesia.

And, via it Neo and Mindshare units, Yahoo said, Ogilvy will also run all media buying for the Internet giant globally.

Yahoo (YHOO) is also keeping strategic branding firm Landor & Associates.

Goodby, Ogilvy and Landor will apparently form a Brand Advisory Board at Yahoo, run by Baldwin.

Baldwin stressed that the move was a broadening of its outside marketing advisers and was not a replacement of Ogilvy, or any indication that the current new marketing campaign needed to change.

She said internal reports on the effectiveness of the overall big theme, “It’s Y!ou,” launched last month, have been strong.

Nonetheless, Baldwin added that the new agency is sure to bring more ideas to the mix in the massive effort, which has included television, print, outdoor and online ads.

And, she noted, the location of Goodby’s HQ in San Francisco, not far from Yahoo’s Sunnyvale digs, was also a plus.

“Goodby has the caliber to serve worldwide needs,” said Baldwin. “And with the way the Web moves so fast, we thought it was also important to have deep resources locally.”

Up next, she added: to “root our brand strategy with more hard-hitting” messages about Yahoo.

“This is far more than just an advertising effort,” said Baldwin of Yahoo’s efforts to revitalize itself in the eyes of consumers–and, while she did not say so, to the digerati of Silicon Valley. “This is a business transformation.”

Here is Baldwin’s boss, Yahoo CMO Elisa Steele talking about the company’s marketing efforts of late in a video interview with Nicki Dugan on the company’s Yodel Anecdotal blog in a new feature called Yodelcast (sorry, Nicki, but it is simply too professional and unjiggly for BoomTown’s seal of approval):

And here are two examples of Goodby’s creatives–Comcast’s Slowskys and Robert Goulet for Emerald Nuts:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20091019/yahoo-hires-goodby-as-top-creative-agency-for-its-ongoing-brand-revitalization/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20090928/yahoos-100-million-tv-ad/ http://allthingsd.com/20090928/yahoos-100-million-tv-ad/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:58:31 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=11447 Don’t say they didn’t warn you: Last week, Yahoo formally rolled out its new $100 million-plus marketing campaign. Today, the TV ads begin. Here’s what you’ll be getting if you watch AMC, ESPN, USA, Comedy Central, Bravo or any of the broadcast networks in the U.S. (Live in the U.K. or India? You’ll have to wait until Oct. 5.):

My armchair ad criticism: Why is Yahoo (YHOO), which already has enormous reach (as the company never fails to point out, it has a half-billion people hitting its homepage every day), marketing the fact that it has enormous reach? Why not, say, advertise some awesome new products?

That way, if I’m not a Yahoo user, I might have a reason to become one. And if I am a Yahoo user (which I am–I’m at Yahoo finance a dozen times a day or more), I’ll have more reason to stick around and explore.

I ran that one by Chief Marketing Officer Elisa Steele last week when she unveiled the campaign, and to her credit, she didn’t roll her eyes in disgust at my caveman ignorance. In fact, she said, Yahoo has every intention of rolling out awesome new products, and ads that highlight them–down the road.

So stay tuned. Then again, given the money Carol Bartz and crew are committing to this, it will be very difficult not to see this stuff.

(Disclosure: In case you didn’t notice, there is a giant honking Yahoo ad at the top of this site. As best I can tell, it appears to be part of a Yahoo buy made across The Wall Street Journal Digital Network. Just to spell it out: I’ve got nothing to do with ad sales at All Things Digital, though I am happy when people buy ads from my employer.)

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090928/yahoos-100-million-tv-ad/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090923/vevo-universal-musics-hulu-for-video-gets-a-sales-boss/ http://allthingsd.com/20090923/vevo-universal-musics-hulu-for-video-gets-a-sales-boss/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:30:22 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=11292 Vevo, the music industry’s attempt to create a Hulu-like hub for its videos, is going to attract a lot of eyeballs when it launches later this year. Here’s the guy who’s supposed to attract advertisers: David Kohl, a former Nokia (NOK) executive, who starts work today as the site’s sales boss.

Kohl’s job is a key one at the venture, whose premise is that the music industry can do a better job of selling its video inventory than sites like Google’s (GOOG) YouTube. Vevo is a joint venture owned (for now) by Sony (SNE) and Vivendi’s Universal Music Group; YouTube will help power the site and share in some of its revenue.

In theory, there could be a lot of dollars to go around. When Vevo opens its doors later this year, it is expected to generate some 450 million video streams a month. In theory, the fact that a single company controls the way the videos are displayed and distributed will make those streams more attractive to advertisers.

But there are plenty of skeptics who think the site will flounder, in large part because the music industry has never figured out how to run a successful consumer business and because media companies have a terrible track record when it comes to joint ventures. In Vevo’s favor: They said the same thing about Hulu, and that venture has been a success, at least operationally.

Kohl will run a six-person sales team he intends to expand, people familiar with Vevo’s strategy tell me. Until now, Vevo head Rio Caraeff has been overseeing sales himself–and learning on the job, since he didn’t have any sales experience of his own. Vevo now employs about 45 people.

At Nokia, Kohl ran the company’s interactive ad group; he has also put in time at Viacom’s (VIA) MTV Networks, Vivendi Universal and Comedy Central.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090923/vevo-universal-musics-hulu-for-video-gets-a-sales-boss/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090915/former-cbs-dj-adam-carolla-gets-a-new-gig-cbs-podcast-host/ http://allthingsd.com/20090915/former-cbs-dj-adam-carolla-gets-a-new-gig-cbs-podcast-host/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:45:31 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=10994 Earlier this year, I wrote about Adam Carolla, who used to be a popular DJ for CBS Radio and now hosts his own popular podcast. My take: Carolla is even better on the Web than he is on the air, but I worried that he’d have a hard time turning his talent and Internet audience into money.

Turns out he’s figured out how to do it: By going back to work for CBS.

The broadcaster, which canned Carolla from his radio job earlier in the year, is now going to sponsor his podcast. It will promote the show, handle ad sales and let Carolla program his own Web radio station.

The press release announcing the deal describes it as a “partnership.” I’m trying to figure out if that means Carolla will become an employee again or if it’s a real partnership, whereby, say, he retains ownership of his show and shares revenue with CBS (CBS).

I’m guessing it’s the former, since selling ads for podcasts still requires a lot of work and not that much return. It’s much easier for CBS to sell ads against a local radio station with an audience of a million or more than for Carolla’s show, which reaches an average of 130,000 people at a time.

Still, Carolla’s show is frequently in Apple (AAPL) iTunes’s Top 10 podcast list, and someday, someone will figure out how to take advantage of its (relatively) small but dedicated audience. And the show already has one sponsor–Carolla has started doing a “live read” for Adam & Eve Stores, the “the nation’s number one source for all things erotic.”

Here’s an interview I conducted with Carolla in March, where he explains his not-entirely voluntary move to the Web and his attempts to turn it into a money-making venture.

And here’s the release:

CBS RADIO FORGES ONLINE PARTNERSHIP WITH ADAM CAROLLA

Popular Entertainer’s Podcast To Be Featured Across CBS RADIO Properties;
Carolla To Also Program His Own Streaming Radio Station, K-ACE

CBS RADIO today announced it has partnered with Adam Carolla, comedian, TV star, radio host, actor and entertainer to present his successful podcast to legions of listeners and fans nationwide.  “THE ADAM CAROLLA PODCAST” can be heard for free on-demand at www.adamcarolla.com and is additionally available for download on iTunes.

Promotion for Adam Carolla will appear across CBS RADIO’s portfolio of station properties with direct links to the entertainer’s dedicated website.  Once there, fans can listen to the latest audio rant from Adam, as well as sample archived podcasts.  Ad sales for the podcast will be handled by CBS RADIO.  Pre-roll, in-stream audio and live reads are available for local and national clients looking to reach Adam’s target audience of Men 18-49, among others.

In addition, an Adam Carolla focused radio station, called K-ACE, debuts on Monday, September 28, and will offer fans segments from Carolla’s popular podcasts interspersed with rock music and programming selected by Carolla, “The Aceman,” himself.  K-ACE can be heard via CBS RADIO’s streaming platform, Yahoo! Music Radio, AOL Radio, and on select mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch and the Blackberry.

“THE ADAM CAROLLA PODCAST” began in February 2009 and currently reaches over 130,000 listeners per show.  The podcast remains a constant in the Top 10 of iTunes’ Top Podcasts chart.  Carolla, famous for his rants on various outrageous topics, uses his podcast to broadcast his opinions, while hosting an assortment of influential and popular celebrities and friends, as he charms guests and listeners alike with his witty sense of humor and biting sarcasm.

“I’m thrilled to be back in business with my friends at CBS RADIO and feel like I’m at the vanguard of an exciting new technology,” says Carolla.  ”Now, if somebody could just tell me what the hell a POD is!”

“We are excited to once again be working with Adam Carolla providing our listeners with the same Adam that so many fans have come to know and love over the years,” says Chris Oliviero, Vice President of Programming, CBS RADIO.  “Adam has an uncanny ability to relate to everyday people in a funny and engaging manner, and the popularity of his podcast is a testament to that.

“This distinctive partnership showcases CBS RADIO’s commitment to growth in the digital space and highlights the accessibility, portability and cutting edge programming available on radio.”

Adam Carolla, who is best known for his work in television and radio, has previously hosted CBS RADIO’s “The Adam Carolla Show,” was co-host of the nationally syndicated radio call-in show “Loveline,” co-created, and executive produced and co-hosted Comedy Central’s ”The Man Show,” co-created, executive produced and was a character on “Crank Yankers,” as well as was a contestant on ABC’s popular series “Dancing With The Stars.” Carolla also starred, wrote and produced the award-winning indie film “The Hammer.”  He is currently writing his first book to be published by Crown in Fall 2010.  In addition to “THE ADAM CAROLLA PODCAST,” Carolla is host of “Carcast,” a podcast devoted to those who share Carolla’s passion and pastime of all things automobiles.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090915/former-cbs-dj-adam-carolla-gets-a-new-gig-cbs-podcast-host/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090825/will-an-ad-recovery-pass-viacom-by/ http://allthingsd.com/20090825/will-an-ad-recovery-pass-viacom-by/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:24:16 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=10261 Hard to tell how much of the modest ad recovery we’re hearing about is real versus hoped for. But analyst Richard Greenfield says that either way, Viacom (VIA) won’t be getting a boost.

The Pali Capital researcher has rethought his prediction for Viacom’s 2010 U.S. ad sales and now says they’ll drop by three percent. He previously estimated an increase of two percent.

His logic is straightforward: The cable network conglomerate (MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, etc.) has had a hard time hanging onto viewers, and advertisers are following suit. Greenfield:

The risk to our estimates has increased substantially… particularly with Viacom’s ratings remaining mostly down year-over-year during Q3 qtr-to-date… If Viacom is able to turn its ratings positive over the next couple of quarters and the economic rebound begins to meaningfully impact cable network industry ad spending, Viacom could conceivably grow ad revs in calendar 2010 (as we had been forecasting), however, that feels aggressive.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090825/will-an-ad-recovery-pass-viacom-by/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090611/viral-video-twitter-tracker-on-cocos-tonight-show/ http://allthingsd.com/20090611/viral-video-twitter-tracker-on-cocos-tonight-show/#comments Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:37:50 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=14361

Even if it never makes any money, Twitter certainly does provide fabulous material for television spoofs.

So far, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have done several funny bits on Comedy Central, deftly mocking the microblogging service.

And now, Conan O’Brien is doubling down with two skits so far dubbed “Twitter TRACKER” on GE (GE) unit NBC’s “The Tonight Show.”

In them, a loudmouthed voice delivers pointless celebrity tweets as a flock of blue cartoon Twitter birdies is murdered in various ingenious ways.

What’s not to like?

O’Brien, who is nicknamed CoCo by the Twitter TRACKER bully, hardly needs to work hard to make fun of real tweets like Ashton Kutcher’s mundanities, such as “Going to the grocery store need some fixins for a salad.”

There is also, of course, a snark-laced Web site and a Twitter page, so it looks like this Tweet-beatdown might just go on and on.

It should, if only for terms like: “Schprechen sie Tweetenshlize!”

Here are the online spoof videos so far (and click here to see the full interview with the Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams onstage at the D7 conference):

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090611/viral-video-twitter-tracker-on-cocos-tonight-show/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20090403/twitters-no-biz-model-stone-on-the-colbert-report/ http://allthingsd.com/20090403/twitters-no-biz-model-stone-on-the-colbert-report/#comments Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:12:16 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=11695

Here’s the video of Twitter co-founder Biz Stone with Stephen Colbert last night on the Comedy Central cable television show.

Stone–the spokesmodel for the hot microblogging service–does very well and is even charming, even though Colbert nails the problems of the San Francisco-based Twitter cold in the lively interview.

“How would you make money?” asked Colbert, after some preliminary joking with Stone about Twitter’s 140-character limit.

When Stone went on about how Twitter planned to be a “strong, profitable, independent company,” Colbert was ready with a zinger.

“You and Pets.com.”

Still, it was semi-cute when Stone told Colbert that “if i have a son, I should name him Flint.”

Yabadaba–don’t, Biz.

(Stone’s actual first name, by the way, is Isaac.)

Here’s the video:

The Colbert Report	Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Biz Stone
comedycentral.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090403/twitters-no-biz-model-stone-on-the-colbert-report/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20090402/christmas-in-april-twitter-co-founder-on-the-colbert-report-tonight/ http://allthingsd.com/20090402/christmas-in-april-twitter-co-founder-on-the-colbert-report-tonight/#comments Thu, 02 Apr 2009 07:01:02 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=11632 The national PR tour of Twitter co-founder How-To-Succeed-in-Biz-Without-Really-Trying Stone continues tonight with a television appearance that is sure to be tasty.

Stone (pictured here)–who has clearly become the chatty spokesmodel for the hot microblogging service at public events all over the place of late–is set to be a guest on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.”

Stone, of course, just updated everyone about the show on Twitter and also on his blog site.

“It’s past 2am here in NYC and I’m battling email until I pass out—tomorrow, I’m on the Colbert Report! I’ll keep you posted. 9 minutes ago

Just landed at JFK with my wife, @livia (who grew up in Manhattan) — looking forward to a couple days in NYC! about 4 hours ago

Normally I’d fly @jetblue but since I’m headed to NYC to be on Colbert tomorrow night I’m flying American (flight is delayed) about 11 hours ago”

I have no doubt it will be snarktastic, especially given the bulls-eye piece Stephen Colbert’s comic twin, Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show,” did on Twitter recently, nailing the unholy media obsession with tweeting.

Until the show, which we will post later, here is a very funny video Colbert did for our 2007 D: All Things Digital conference about the Internet, when Viacom (VIA) head Philippe Dauman was interviewed onstage, so Biz can better prepare for his comic grilling, um, interview.

And Stewart’s Twitter-bashing video is also below.

Stephen Colbert:

[ See post to watch video ]

Jon Stewart:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM – Th 11p / 10c

Twitter Frenzy

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090402/christmas-in-april-twitter-co-founder-on-the-colbert-report-tonight/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20081231/why-the-web-matters-in-the-viacomtime-warner-fight/ http://allthingsd.com/20081231/why-the-web-matters-in-the-viacomtime-warner-fight/#comments Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:49:24 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=2646 The Viacom/Time Warner Cable faceoff–Viacom is threatening to yank its channels (Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV, etc.) off the screens of the cable company’s 13.3 million subscribers at midnight tonight–is nothing new. A cable network wants more money, a cable operator doesn’t want to pay up. Happens periodically.

The new twist here is what broadband video adds to the equation: It’s both a plus for Viacom (VIA), and a source of irritation for Time Warner Cable (TWC).

• The upside for Viacom: Additional leverage as it negotiates with Time Warner. If you can’t get “The Daily Show” on your TV in January, you can watch it all over the Web: At its own site, at Fox and NBC’s Hulu, and on Comcast’s (CMCSA) Fancast.
• But that same promiscuity with content is one of the things that’s now stuck in the craw of Time Warner: It figures it is paying Viacom a per subscriber fee because those subscribers can only get Viacom’s stuff on cable. If they can get it anywhere, the argument goes, it’s less valuable.

I don’t want to overstate the importance of the Web here: Cable subscription revenues are going to be much, much bigger than Web dollars for Viacom and other content providers for a very long time. And there’s no reason to think this won’t get resolved in the way that all these fights get settled: Time Warner pays more than it wants, Viacom accepts less than it was looking for.

But do look for the cable guys to wring some additional online concessions out of the networks in the years to come: Either the ability to distribute the shows online themselves (hence, Fancast), or a piece of online revenues, in some form or another.

Meanwhile, here’s Viacom’s 30-second ad, which you can now find on YouTube, of course:

And here’s a highlight from the last broadcast of “The Daily Show”: Hall and Oates playing tribute to former News Corp. employee Alan Colmes:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20081231/why-the-web-matters-in-the-viacomtime-warner-fight/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20081118/a-search-engine-with-a-real-eye-for-videos/ http://allthingsd.com/20081118/a-search-engine-with-a-real-eye-for-videos/#comments Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:52:03 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://solution.allthingsd.com/20081118/a-search-engine-with-a-real-eye-for-videos/ Web video has transformed the way the Internet is used, but finding the exact clip you want can be incredibly hard. And it’s no wonder, considering that sites like YouTube conduct their hunts by looking at a clip’s “contextual metadata” — tags, video title and description — and thus can often be misled by false information. For example, a homemade video about cooking might be inaccurately tagged with a popular search word like “Obama” so as to get more traction.

At the top of a VideoSurf results page for ‘Mad Men,’ users can search for clips featuring specific characters.

This week I tested VideoSurf.com, a site that claims to be the first to search videos by “seeing” images that appear in these videos. The company says its technology can analyze a clip’s visual content, as well as its metadata — especially when searching for people. VideoSurf has analyzed and categorized more than 12 billion visual moments on the Web to understand who the most important characters and scenes are in a video, and it uses this knowledge to sort clips according to relevancy.

Search results on VideoSurf spread out videos in a filmstrip-like format, distinguishing one scene from the next. Users can choose an option to show only faces, which helps if you’re looking for a specific person in a long video or movie. And when looking at videos from certain sources, you can select a scene from the filmstrip and jump ahead to that scene rather than sit through the entire clip.

When it works, VideoSurf is one of those technologies that make you wonder why someone didn’t think of it sooner. The site aggregates content from about 60 sources, including YouTube, CNN Video, Hulu, ESPN and Comedy Central, and a sorting tool weeds out unwanted results like the irksome slideshows that are labeled as videos. VideoSurf can find videos on all kinds of subjects, but it really shines when it finds well-known people.

But VideoSurf has some rough edges and doesn’t always work as it should. In its defense, the site is still in its public beta, or trial, stage, and plans to be full-blown by early next year. Right now, one of its best features, the ability to jump ahead to specific scenes, works with video from only a handful of sources including YouTube, MetaCafe, DailyMotion and Google (GOOG) Video. Videos from Hulu.com confusingly allow jumping ahead only from certain screens.

Additionally, I came across a couple of videos that were no longer available, though they were listed in search results. And a customizable VideoSurf home page for users with accounts on the site saves searches but not specific clips; VideoSurf plans to fix this next week by adding a favorites page where users can store and share favorite videos with others.

Still, I really grew to like VideoSurf’s clear way of displaying content that would be otherwise buried within videos. Rather than trying to guess a video’s contents by looking at a single representative image, VideoSurf’s filmstrip views showed me exactly what I’d be watching. In many cases, I viewed a video I might not have otherwise watched because its filmstrip showed shots of scenes that looked interesting.

On the left-hand side of the search-results page, VideoSurf users can narrow results according to Content Type, Categories and Video Sources to see just what they’re looking for — or, often more important, what they’re not looking for. Content Type, for example, includes slideshows, Web series, full television episodes and full movies; a search can include only videos in a particular category (say, slideshows) or exclude that category altogether by unmarking the box beside it.

Most search-results pages include tiled still images at the top representing the characters in the videos. By selecting one of these characters, users can refine search results to show only videos with that character. For example, I typed the title of a favorite television show, “Brothers and Sisters,” into the search box and saw the names and images of seven actors on the show at the top of the screen. I selected Sally Field and was redirected to results of videos featuring only the mother she plays on the show.

I used VideoSurf to search for Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” music video, and then changed the date parameters to find only videos posted this week. This retrieved a Saturday Night Live skit in which the pop singer spoofs her own video with help from three men in tights — including Justin Timberlake. While the SNL skit ran, a list of related videos appeared in a column on the right, including clips of J.T.’s past SNL skits.

Occasionally, annotations appear on videos, but these come from the source — not VideoSurf. If overlaid text appears on YouTube videos, it can be turned off using an icon in the bottom right of the YouTube screen. Video-sharing sites that use introductory pages such as pre-rolls before each video will still show those pages.

VideoSurf makes it easy to send specific clips of videos to friends. I did so by selecting a Share option and adjusting slide bars to trim the clip to start and end at scenes I preferred. Clips shared with friends via email are sent with the VideoSurf filmstrip, giving others the ability to also know what the video will include so that they, too, can discern whether or not they want to watch it.

Clips can be shared on social-networking sites like del.icio.us, MySpace and Facebook, though VideoSurf’s helpful filmstrip didn’t show up on these sites like it did in emails.

I also tested an add-on for the Mozilla Firefox browser called Greasemonkey that works with VideoSurf. When installed, this displays VideoSurf’s helpful filmstrip beneath search results from Google Video, YouTube, Yahoo (YHOO) or CBS.com (CBS). Once installed, filmstrips illustrating important scenes appear along with the normal text results for videos, and some of the filmstrips enable jumping ahead to specific scenes. This somewhat techie Greasemonkey extension can save people the extra step of making a separate visit to VideoSurf.com to watch a specific clip.

VideoSurf uses smart technology that can save people the aggravation of watching videos that aren’t what they appear to be. Since so much Web content now includes videos, a visual search tool that can better assess videos like VideoSurf is a good idea. When this site improves its now-flaky ability to jump ahead to specific scenes in videos, it will be even more valuable.

Edited by Walter S. Mossberg

• Email us at mossbergsolution@wsj.com. Find this and other columns and videos online free at the All Things Digital Web site: http://walt.allthingsd.com

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20081118/a-search-engine-with-a-real-eye-for-videos/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20080610/hulu-comedy-central/ http://allthingsd.com/20080610/hulu-comedy-central/#comments Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:03:39 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080610/hulu-comedy-central/ Hulu claims its mission is “to help you find and enjoy the world’s premier content when, where and how you want it.” And now, three months after it first launched, it’s finally getting around to delivering on that promise.

This morning the video site, which is jointly owned by NBC Universal (GE) and News Corp. (NWS) (which also owns Dow Jones and this site), said it will offer full episodes of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and the “Colbert Report” beginning today. The deal, which brings the popular late-night satirists to the site just in time for the presidential election, is something of a surprise, since Comedy Central parent company Viacom (VIA) has so far refused to sign on to Hulu.

But that may change if this first tentative experiment bears fruit. “I think with success breeds success. It could open some other doors,” said Erik Flannigan, executive vice president of digital media at MTV Networks, the Viacom division that runs Comedy Central. “Hulu in many ways may put the shows in front of some people who might be more casual viewers but who might be interested in what’s going on with the elections.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20080610/hulu-comedy-central/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20080118/sundance-bound/ http://allthingsd.com/20080118/sundance-bound/#comments Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:02:55 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/20080118/sundance-bound/

I just got to Park City, Utah, for my annual visit (well, this will be my third year here) to the famous film festival that takes place in this lovely mountain resort.

While I like a good movie as much as the next person, I am no film aficionado, nor do I have a screenplay stuffed in a drawer, nor do I hope someday to direct. I do like celebrity sightings, of course.

I am here because the Sundance Film Festival has understood early and often that technology is becoming increasingly important to the future of the film industry.

Because of that, they’ve been expanding additional offerings in the digital arena with panels throughout the festival.

The panel I will moderate is a great one about online video, called “Webolution!–Hollywood Adapts to the Web.” It will take place tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. at the New Frontier on Main here.

Here’s the description:

“The writing is on the wall–the industry must adapt to new media or face extinction. Today’s studios and independents are finally embracing the challenge of porting content and revenue to new distribution strategies. Join Hollywood power brokers and new media superstars to discuss their strategies for the Web.”

The panelists include Ted Sarandos (Netflix), Dmitry Shapiro (founder and CEO of Veoh.com), Dan Glickman (MPAA), Jason Kilar (CEO of Hulu.com), Mike Volpi (CEO of Joost.com), Erik Flanagan (EVP Digital Media MTV Networks/Comedy Central/South Park Studios) and tech strategy adviser Phil Lelyveld.

Videos, of course, to come, along with visits with various tech players here, who are increasing in number annually. And, maybe, a Hollywood celeb or two.

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