look back on 2005 tech news

"I believe that I will never shoot

another film... on film."
George Lucas

 

Family Movies - 235x100

Have no doubt that we are seeing a great Paradigm Shift...in fact the past few years the pace

of the evolution of the new technologies and how they are going to change the entertainment
business as we know it make the invent of the wireless (radio), the flickers (movies), TV and

black and white TV to color and MTV look like snail pace evolution...to see some of the present

and future of the Internet...visit our 2006 coverage of CES...the Consumer Electronic Show

 

CLICK TO THE FUTURE NOW AT CES

Hope you enjoy our briefs and clips of news from across the net and printed advertising...

 

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Visitors to Newspaper Websites Hit High

According to a new report from the Newspaper Association of America, over 47.3 million people visited newspaper Web sites in September, the most in any month since NAA began tracking online usage in January 2004, taking into account home and work Internet usage. That represents 31.9 percent of all Internet users, and is up 15.8 percent from 40.9 million for the same period last year.

The 2005 Christmas season is a cheerful place for online shopping sites such as Amazon, eBay Inc., Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy. There is relatively less glee in the shopping centers.

For the week ending December 4, the most recent date for which Nielsen Net Ratings released figures, the research company's Holiday eShopping Index, a barometer of online shopping activity tracking visits to online shopping sites, rose 33 percent over last year.

The index comprises more than 100 online retailers across 10 categories.

Meanwhile, for the week of December 13, traffic at brick-and-mortar stores was off 3.8 percent compared with a year ago, and estimated sales were down 8.6 percent, according to research firm ShopperTrak. The firm tracks mall, shopping center and free-standing store traffic.   yahoo.com  Dec 2005

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Citysearch Bars & Nightlife
Critical Mass Podcasting Expected by 2010

According to a recent release by Bridge Ratings for user growth in the podcast universe, based on interviews with radio listeners in ten national markets, 4.8 million persons (up from 820,000 podcast users in 2004) have at some time during 2005 downloaded a podcast from either a radio station or other source. The study estimates that iTunes was referenced as the most often accessed portal for podcast downloads.

The study notes that two different metrics define the podcast user universe: Weekly users and those that have ever downloaded and listened to a podcast. By 2010 podcast audience growth is expected to reach a conservative 45 million users who will have ever listened to a podcast. Aggressive estimates place this number closer to 75 million by this date.

 

Internet Ad Spending Sees Double-Digit Growth
Dec 8, 2005
REVENUES FROM ONLINE ADVERTISING, EXCLUDING search, grew to $6.1 billion for the first three quarters of the year--up by 11.5 percent from the first nine months of 2004, according to a report released Wednesday by TNS Media Intelligence. Overall, ad spending during the first three quarters increased by just 3 percent, to $104.1 billion.

Online growth was driven by two major factors, stated the report: large, blue-chip marketers reallocated budgets online, and pure-plays increased their Web spending. "For the first time since the dot com bust, online brands accounted for a majority of Internet ad spending," stated the report.

 

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Search juggernaut's newest beta: Google Swiss Bank Account: Here's one more thing for Google's rank and file to be thankful for come

 Thanksgiving: a $400 share price.  On Thursday, Google shares closed at $403.45, more than quadruple their IPO price. The stock's

 meteoric rise pushed the company's value north of $119 billion, an astonishing achievement for a business that has been public for little

more than a year. Today, Google is the nation's 26th-most-valuable publicly traded company -- worth nearly as much as Yahoo and

 eBay combined. And analysts are saying it still has room to grow. "The stock had that $200 psychological barrier, the $300

psychological barrier and now the $400 psychological barrier," Bruce Bartlett, portfolio manager of the $143.9 million Lord Abbett Large

 Cap Growth Fund, told the Wall Street Journal. "The biggest mistake is to look at a company and say that because it's up threefold, its

 prospects may be exhausted." But can Google really keep this up? Investors on Internet stock trading boards claim $500 is inevitable. 

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Jukeboxes, DJs Being Pushed Out by IPods

 

CHICAGO - The jukebox at the bar Brian Toro manages isn't gathering dust just yet — but it may only be a matter of time.

The popular nightspot is among a growing number of places across the country where people can bring their iPods and other

 portable music players and, for as long as the bartender allows, share their personal favorites with the crowd.

 

"Everybody wants to be a DJ," says Toro, a 29-year-old Californian who recently moved to Chicago and now manages Bar

Louie in the city's Gold Coast neighborhood. "People enjoy having a little control in their lives."

 

Even Toro now brings in his music player so he can crank up rock and punk tunes for customers. He'll also let others play

 just about anything — "even if it's country" — as long as the music is upbeat.

 

The trend, which is catching on from Washington, D.C., to San Pedro, Calif., is a reflection of just how portable music

has become — and how sharing it with others is becoming easier than ever, partly due to new products aimed at amateur DJs.

 

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NBC Universal on Monday announced plans to move Trio, its arts and pop culture channel, from cable TV to the Web

by January 2006. Trio online will offer visitors much of the same content currently available on cable

 

Ad Revenues Surge To $3.1 Billion

Online ad revenues for the third quarter climbed to a record-setting $3.1 billion, marking a 33.9 percent increase over last year's

$2.3 billion, according to a report released Monday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

 

 

One In 12 Kids Visits Web Daily
by Shankar Gupta
Nearly 60 percent of children between the ages of 6 and 11 go online at least once a month, and 8.1 percent of that age

group visits the Web daily, according to a new study by Mediamark Research, Inc.

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CBS Seeks Online Distribution Deals
Nov 23, 2005 6:00

THE CBS TELEVISION NETWORK IS in discussions with several large portals--including Google and Yahoo!--

regarding video search and news and entertainment distribution, a person close to the deals confirmed to OnlineMediaDaily

Tuesday. CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves told Reuters on Tuesday that CBS and Google in particular are presently

discussing "a whole slew of things, including video-on-demand, including video search."

 

"You've got TV" from Warner Bros. on AOL.

Yes, that's right. AOL today announced that In2TV, its broadband TV push, will launch in January 2006 with six channels and episodes from more than 100 popular shows from the '70s, '80s, and '90s. We can hear Jose Feliciano singing "Chico and the Man" now: "Chico, don't be discouraged, The Man he ain't so hard to understand. Chico, if you try now, I know that you can lend a helping hand."

In2TV is a mind-boggling and ambitious effort to offer consumers complete episodes of classic TV shows that have been buried in the Warner catalog.

This gargantuan effort, which will result in hundreds more shows being available next year, is the culmination of more than two years of yeoman's labor, and the result of a close working relationship between Kevin Conroy, executive vice president, AOL Media Networks, and Eric Frankel, president, Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution, along with other Warner execs.

In2TV will offer the largest cache of on-demand TV programming (albeit not first-run programming) ever. Viewers can watch in a full-screen view. At launch, more than 80 episodes will offer fully interactive features--trivia quizzes, polls, links to instant messaging, games, and other stuff. Viewers can interact with the episodes and one can easily imagine trivia quizzes with prizes, free downloads, and promotions from sponsors.   MEDIAPOST.COM  11/05

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Amazon.com Awarded Three Potentially Troublesome Patents for Publishers
Internet News
Amazon.com has recently been awarded three interesting patents, one of which could put the brakes on personalization features introduced by companies like Yahoo! and Google. Internet News reports that the online retailing giant last Thursday was awarded patents covering purchase circles, search, and consumer reviews. The first patent covers methods of forming purchasing circles and marketing to them, for example by displaying which member of a certain circle has bought a product that another member is looking at online. The second patent covers targeted search methods of delivering results for related products from multiple categories. A search for Madonna, for example, would return music CDs, DVDs of movies she's appeared in, and books she's written.

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Time Warner to Yahoo!: We Don't Want Your Stock
WSJ (paid subscription required)
Yahoo! last week ducked out of the race for America Online because AOL parent Time Warner would not relinquish majority control of the Web portal, and Yahoo! would only offer Internet stock as payment for the stake, the Wall Street Journal reports. Apparently, a Time Warner source said Yahoo! had proposed swapping 20 percent of Yahoo! for 80 percent of AOL's content business, which roughly translates into a $13 billion valuation for the AOL business. Yahoo! said the talks never amounted to any kind of structure for the deal. Time Warner, a little shy about Internet stocks following its merger-disaster with AOL in 2001, said it wasn't interested in accepting stock as payment. A Yahoo!-AOL deal was always less likely than a deal involving Microsoft or Google, as Yahoo! is AOL's chief competitor. This leaves Microsoft and Google to fight for a stake in the Web portal; Time Warner is expected to make a decision as early as next week

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Audible's Podcast Tool Tallies Listeners

By SARAH MCBRIDE
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
November 11, 2005; Page B4

 

Audible Inc. is introducing a tool to help advertisers measure how many people are listening to podcasts, the Internet-based audio

shows that are downloaded to listeners' computers.

That means advertisers will be able to get a handle on how many people are really listening to shows. By providing a way to

track not just how many times the show is downloaded, but whether it is played back and for how long, Audible hopes to

give podcasters some audience information.

\

 

It's tempting to see the U.S. Supreme Court's Grokster decision as technology's loss and copyright's gain, but that analysis misses the mark.

In fact, despite having just been handed a powerful new tool to prop up a tottering business model, the entertainment industry could well

wind up the biggest loser. The high court on Monday threw out a summary judgment ruling in favor of Grokster and StreamCast Networks,

ordering the companies back to trial on charges of so-called secondary copyright infringement. -   mediapost.com   june 05

 

A MONTH AFTER ANNOUNCING PLANS for a three-dimensional mapping utility, Google Tuesday released the product into beta, allowing users to download the satellite mapping program for free from the Google home page.

The feature, "Google Earth," which accesses a vast database compiled by Keyhole--the mapping company Google purchased in October--provides high-resolution satellite maps of addresses throughout the world. Users also can obtain driving directions overlayed onto the images; in addition, the program allows users to collect locations into a personalized search folder, and access them again in the future with one click.   MediaDailyNews.com   June 05

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Have you heard AOL's news recently? It seems the semi-sleeping giant has been awakened by reality. After years and years of AOL's exclusive "walled garden," the walls are coming down.

According to Webopedia, a walled garden refers to a browsing environment that controls the information and Web sites the user is able to access. This is a popular method used by ISPs in order to keep the user navigating only specific areas of the Web, whether for the purpose of shielding users from information or directing users to paid content that the ISP supports.

What are the implications of AOL doing this? Many of the sites/content within AOL's umbrella including Time Warner, Moviefone, Netscape, Digital City Guides, and AOL channels will offer content to non-AOL members.

Perhaps this move by AOL is due to the fact that the competition has offered "free-walled" content for free for some time now. Or, maybe it is due to losing market share? Maybe it is all of the above.   onlinemedia.com  June 05

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc.on Tuesday released its newest version of the popular iTunes digital music management software, which now includes the ability to download alternative audio shows called podcasts.

According to Apple's Web site, version 4.9 of iTunes, the companion service to the popular iPod music player, will allow users to "select subscription options and download you favorite podcasts automatically."

Podcasts, or sound files and audio content such as radio shows, have surged in popularity since late in 2004, and will work on any digital MP3 player. The phenomenon allows users to create and upload their own audio programs on the Web which can be downloaded to multimedia players at a later date.

Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder and chief executive, last month said the company would soon support podcasts.  6/05

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Can eBay Be Saved?
By Shelly Palmer   ONLINEMEDIA.COM...GREAT NEWS SOURCE

 There was a time, not too long ago, when you could post an auction on eBay and have a reasonable expectation that the person buying from you was a vetted member of the eBay community. Much more importantly, there was a time when you had a reasonable expectation that sending money to someone with a bunch of positive feedback was a good idea. You could reasonably expect to receive the merchandise within a reasonable period of time. And, for the most part, the goods would be more or less what you were expecting.

That was then.

Now, there seem to be three categories of vendors on eBay: full-time eBay merchants, normal people, and scum-sucking pigs. Feedback (wonderful, utopian concept that it is) is all but worthless. Hijacking someone's eBay account is child's play. PayPal offers no version of customer service and, truth be told, neither does eBay.

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The emergence of paid search, estimated to account for somewhere around half of all online ad dollars, has changed the Internet advertising landscape. Not only did sponsored search listings pull new media out of the dot-com bust, but pay-per-click listings have continued to surge even as marketers are again paying for online branding campaigns.

In fact, a search-bullish Merrill Lynch report released Thursday predicted that sponsored search would continue to grow this year, accounting for 47 percent of the online ad spend in 2005.   onlinereport.com  June 05

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FILE SWAPPING NETWORKS ALONE NOT TO BLAME FOR MUSIC INDUSTRY WOES

PARIS -- File-swapping networks alone are not to blame for the recording industry's woes and might plausibly be

converted into legitimate channels for distributing music, one of Europe's most influential economic bodies has concluded.

In a report issued Monday, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development -- a Paris-based alliance

of developed nations -- also suggested that it's difficult to establish a link between piracy and the music industry's shrinking revenues.

The report said a "re-evaluation" of music distribution needs to happen to achieve a balance between consumers'

desire to access digital music and the industry's copyright protection concerns.   "Online technologies could evolve in a manner in

which unauthorized use of copyright works are finally transformed into legitimate businesses," said Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, an

OECD economist and one of the report's authors.

 

The report said it is difficult to establish a causal connection between the rise of file sharing and a drop in music sales. While the

music industry's revenues fell 20 percent from 1999 to 2003, other factors, such as illegal CD copying, might have played a role

in the decline, the OECD said.

 

The report recognized the value of fledgling online stores like Apple's iTunes. Last year represented a "turning point" for legal music

 downloads, the study said.   However, online music distribution only accounted for 1 to 2 percent of music revenues in 2004. The

OECD expects to see that climb to 5 to 10 percent of revenues. But growing online sales will depend on expanding catalogs to appease

demand and sway illegal downloads, the OECD said.  The report also suggested exploring new distribution methods, beyond what the

OECD called traditional "fee per economic unit" transactions.

 

Instead of paying a set fee to download an individual song, music downloads might become part of a subscription package from a

cable television company, internet service provider or mobile-phone carrier, the OECD said.

The OECD report said P2P networks have legitimate uses beyond trading copyright music and movies. P2P networking is a "new

 and innovative technology which finds increasingly useful applications in new communication and other services," the report said.

"We are looking at different value chains and business models," said Wunsch-Vincent. "We also recognize that this is not only about

 the music industry, it is also about the ISPs, telecom operators, the computer industry and many other players. The interests of the

different players are now starting to converge."

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BURST!: Internet Continues Snagging Eyeballs From TV
by Gavin O'Malley, May, 2005
CONSUMERS' INTERNET USE CONTINUES TO grow at the expense of "traditional" media like TV, radio, magazines, and
newspapers, according to a recent BURST! survey of more than 2,600 Web users. When asked about changes in their media
consumption over the past year, 61 percent of respondents said they spend more time on the Internet today than a year ago, with
32 percent of respondents saying they spend "much more time" online, and 29 percent claiming to spend "somewhat more time"
online. At the same time, 36 percent said they are spending less time today than a year ago watching television, 34 percent spend
less time reading magazines, 30 percent devote fewer hours to reading the newspaper, and 27 percent aren't listening to the radio
as much.

Of note, even among teens and 18- to-24-year-olds, three out of five--62.6 percent and 60.9 percent, respectively--said they were
spending more time today on the Internet than a year ago. These are groups that most think already spend a significant portion of
their overall "media time" online. Eighteen- to-24-year-olds are more likely than other segments to say they are spending less time
today than a year ago listening to radio--33.7 percent--or watching television--40.5 percent. Other demographic segments who
said they spend less time watching television include males ages 25-34 (39.6 percent) and males ages 35-44 (41.2 percent).

Women ages 25-34 and 35-44 are the demographic segments most likely to say they spend less time today than a year ago reading
newspapers: 34.6 percent and 39.5 percent, respectively.



Ameriquest Promotes Stones With Microsite, Downloadable Music
by Wendy Davis, Thursday, May 12,
HOPING TO TAP INTO THE Baby Boomer market, Ameriquest Mortgage Company this week announced it was sponsoring a new
tour by the Rolling Stones. For the initiative, Ameriquest has built the aging rockers a microsite--accessible through the mortgage company's
home page--with the tagline "Not Your Average Garage Band." The site, which touts the 2005 tour set to kick off Aug. 21 in Boston, also
will host an online sweepstakes, with monthly prizes including show tickets and merchandise.

Ameriquest also plans to award all entrants a free downloadable track. The mortgage company and the Stones are still working out which
song will be offered, but Christine Bunch, Ameriquest marketing manager for events and sponsorships, said the title will not be available
download elsewhere on the Internet.  To promote the site, the company is considering buying search terms related to the tour, but hasn't yet
decided whether to purchase other online advertising, Bunch said. Ameriquest, which ran ads during the Super Bowl, plans a TV campaign
to promote the sponsorship of the tour.
 



Today's fun fact... there are currently more than 30 million Wi-Fi users in North America. There are approximately 118 million users
worldwide, generated via more than 125 million Wi-Fi hotspots around the world (stats courtesy of Pyramid Research via Business
Week Online).  If you didn't think Wi-Fi was going to have an impact, think again.

It becomes rather obvious how important Wi-Fi is in today's world. Between my office, my home, Starbucks, and the airport, at least
75 percent of my life is Wi-Fi enabled. If my gym throws up a network and my two favorite Thai restaurants follow suit, this number
will probably shoot up to 95 percent.



Podcasting will soon break out of the "pod" and onto the public airwaves.

The world's first all-podcast radio station will be launched on May 16 by Infinity Broadcasting, the radio division of Viacom.
Infinity plans to convert San Francisco's 1550 KYCY, an AM station, to listener-submitted content. The station, previously
devoted to a talk-radio format, will be renamed KYOURadio.

Infinity, one of the country's largest radio operators with more than 183 stations around the country, will invite do-it-yourselfers
to upload digital audio files for broadcast consideration by way of the KYOURadio.com website.

"I'm excited," said Infinity Broadcasting CEO Joel Hollander. "We're creating a new way to let a lot of people participate
personally in radio -- sharing their feelings on music, news, politics, whatever matters to them.
"I also think this is going to be a really interesting way to develop new talent," he added.

The station's producers will screen submitted content to ensure it meets quality standards and does not violate FCC broadcast
guidelines. Approved podcasts will be simultaneously broadcast over the AM airwaves and streamed online at KYOURadio.com.

In addition to the newfound reach promised by radio broadcast, podcasters may be free to include in their podcasts some music
from major record labels, Infinity said.



Internet Ad Spending Soars To $9.6 Billion
by Wendy Davis Yahoo.com
Online advertising revenues for the year climbed to a new record of $9.6 billion--up 33 percent from 2003, and 19 from the

previous record of $8.1 billion in 2000-- according to a report released Thursday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and

PricewaterhouseCoopers. Web ad revenues for the last three months of the year contributed $2.69 to the annual total,

representing a 24 percent increase from the $2.18 online ad spend in the fourth quarter of 2003.


AMERICA ONLINE INC. LAUNCHED INTERNET PHONE SERVICE
(AP) - America Online Inc. on Thursday launched its Internet telephone service, jumping into a market that's already crowded

with startups, cable operators and even traditional phone companies.

The AOL Internet Phone Service, which is being offered to AOL members and others in 40 markets at first, includes the regular

features of traditional telephony and combines them with advanced services that are accessed on a PC over the Internet.

The offering "will uniquely combine advanced tools, competitive pricing plans and AOL's hallmark ease of use to allow mass-

market consumers to take full advantage of the revolution underway in Internet voice technology," said Jon Miller, AOL's chief executive.

 

Instead of traveling over the traditional phone system that's been around for more than a century, calls are converted to packets of

data and streamed over the Internet. All providers generally charge less and offer more advanced features than traditional phone companies.

The technology, known as Voice over Internet Protocol, VoIP, is being touted as the next big revolution in communications.



LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O: Quote, Profile, Research) has approached online DVD rental service companies,

including Blockbuster Inc (BBI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Netflix Inc. (NFLX.O: Quote, Profile, Research), to explore a partnership

rather than launching its own U.S. DVD rental service, an industry source said on Thursday.

 

The negotiations, which began in recent months, come as Blockbuster and Netflix are battling for dominance in the young industry, depressing

profit margins and pushing up marketing expenses.   Amazon, Netflix, Blockbuster and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research)

Walmart.com, which also runs an online DVD rental service, declined to comment.  Despite its online might, shopping giant Amazon faces a potentially

expensive battle to crack the competitive U.S. online rental market. The company started its own DVD rental service in Britain in December.

Rumors that Amazon would enter the U.S. online DVD rental market sparked a price war late last year between Blockbuster and Netflix, which

 pioneered online DVD rental and now controls about 75 percent of the market.



AOL Strikes Deal For Music Videos
by Gavin O'Malley
As part of America Online's broad effort to attract Web traffic and advertisers, AOL Tuesday said it reached a licensing agreement with Universal

Music Group and Warner Music Group to harness their music video libraries. The deal comes over two months after Universal Music publicly

demanded that companies like Time Warner's AOL contract new financial agreements for the use of its content.   medianews.com  May 05



Universal to launch video net

Universal Music Group is free to rock - on its own cable TV network.
Following a court victory, the record giant is set to launch IMF: The International Music Feed, the first
24-hour cable channel launched by a music company.  The MTV-like network is set to go on the air as
early as today on satellite giant EchoStar's Dish Network, which is carried in 10 million homes.

IMF will start out by featuring videos from Universal's roster, which includes superstars like Eminem,
Shania Twain, 50 Cent and U2. But execs said they expect to eventually feature music from other companies.

"The intention is to play the world's most popular music," the network's boss, Andy Schuon, told the
Daily News.  EchoStar had earlier refused to carry IMF, which had been set to launch three months ago.
Universal sued EchoStar, claiming it breached an agreement with Universal.



Some Sirius competition?
Cell phone carriers are eyeing the growing satellite radio market; Sprint launches new service.
 

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Cell phone carriers are looking to give satellite radio operators a run for their money.

Sprint PCS Group, the nation's third-largest mobile phone operator and a unit of Sprint Corporation (Research), has

just launched a  new Internet radio service that lets them listen not just to music but also to news and talk radio.

The service takes direct aim at the burgeoning satellite radio industry, which is generating a ton of investor enthusiasm.
 

The satellite radio market has grown from 380,000 subscribers three years ago to more than five million today as the two players, XM

Satellite Radio (Research) and Sirius Satellite Radio (Research), have cut deals to install their devices in new cars and lured popular

personalities like shock jock Howard Stern away from terrestrial radio.   Subscribers pay $12.95 a month for basic radio services and,

in return, get between 120 and 150 channels of mostly commercial-free music.   Now cell phone carriers want a piece of the action.

Last week Sprint PCS began selling a service of 13 channels at a monthly price of $5.95 to its Sprint PCS Vision Multimedia Services

subscribers, according to MSpot, a privately-held Palo Alto startup that developed the service and announced the Sprint offering Monday.

The MSpot channels include not just hip hop and 7 other music channels, but also news and talk from Associated Press and National

Public Radio, among other content providers.
 


HOT SPOTS GROW
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The city of Philadelphia will become the largest U.S. Internet "hot spot" next year under a plan to offer

wireless access at about half the cost charged by commercial operators, city officials said on Thursday.  Last year, officials unveiled a pilot s

cheme offering users of Wi-Fi-enabled computers access to the Internet within a radius of about a mile of downtown's Love Park. Thursday's

 announcement expands the network to the city's entire 135-square-mile area, marking a U.S. first.

The "Wireless Philadelphia" network is expected to be up by late summer 2006 and available to computer users paying up to $20 a month.

Commercial Wi-Fi services run about $40 monthly.



Females now constitute 51.6 percent of the U.S. online population--up from 35 percent in 1997, according to an eMarketer report released

Thursday. The report, "Women Online in the U.S.: A Growing Majority," predicts that women's online presence will continue to grow through-

out the decade--and that as a result, women will account for 52.2 percent of all U.S. online users by 2008.



NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Video Killed the Radio Star," or so goes The Buggles song that launched MTV in 1981 and a new era
in music history.  On Monday, radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications Inc.(CCU.N: Quote, Profile, Research) plans to
transform video into the next radio star.

The San Antonio, Texas owner of over 1,200 radio stations in the U.S. plans to add original video programing to some 200 local
radio stations' Web sites to tap into the burgeoning market for online advertising, an executive said.

The debut of online videos is part of a larger overhaul of its Internet strategy led by Evan Harrison, executive vice president of Clear
Channel Radio's new online music and radio division, whose goal is nothing less than putting an end to chatter about the medium's
imminent demise.

As early as July, Clear Channel plans to take on some of its toughest critics with an aggressive new digital strategy. It may begin
offering subscription online radio services, the ability to buy songs digitally or in CD format, or even ringtones directly from their
Web sites.  Perhaps most surprising of all, Clear Channel also plans to make some of its live morning shows available for down-
loading, commonly known as "Podcasting."



SCOTT MOORE WILL LEAVE MSN to join Yahoo!, where he will serve as vice president of content operations, effective May 2,
Yahoo! confirmed on Friday. Moore, who will oversee a number of  Yahoo!'s media Web sites, will report directly to former ABC
Television chair Lloyd Braun, head of the Yahoo! Media Group in Santa Monica, California. Moore's appointment renewed speculation
among industry watchers about Yahoo!'s intentions as a media content provider. Yahoo!, headed by former Warner Bros. co-chair
Terry Semel, has made other recent moves signaling an interest in original content, including hiring Braun and announcing plans to set
up shop in Santa Monica.

 

"Semel's background, Lloyd Braun's appointment, and now this support the idea that Yahoo! sees a big opportunity in online entertainment/

programming/content," said Greg Sterling, an analyst with The Kelsey Group. "I think it justifies increased speculation about the company's

 intentions and plans."   Moore said in a statement: "I believe Yahoo! is in the best position to meet the growing demand for compelling

content on the Internet, and I'm looking forward to partnering with the most creative minds in the business to help make it happen."

 

Moore most recently served as general manager of the MSN programming group, where he managed editorial, design, and product develop-

ment for four publishing teams, including MSN Channels, MSNBC.com, MSN Video, and MSN Autos. While he was general manager of

 MSN, Moore also served as president of MSNBC.com, and before then was publisher of the online magazine Slate.



Starting Monday afternoon and going well into Tuesday morning, the wires were hot with the news of Barry Diller's
acquisition of AskJeeves for the price of nearly $2 billion. You all remember AskJeeves, don't you?

It's the search engine that in the late '90s made much of its natural language search tool. It was going to revolutionize
search as we knew it then, which, admittedly, wasn't all that well. At the time AskJeeves came online in 1997, the
online media industry was still very much in its infancy. And search marketing? Search marketing at the time largely
consisted of buying keyword-triggered banners. Bill Gross' GoTo.com was still over a year away from launching the
novel concept of cost-per-click keyword buys.



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Internet bloggers should enjoy traditional press freedoms and not face regulation
as political groups, lawmakers and online journalists said on Friday.

In separate letters, Democratic lawmakers and Internet commentators urged the Federal Election Commission
to make sure that political Web sites that serve as focal points for political discussion, like Wonkette.com and
Freerepublic.com, don't have to comply with campaign-finance rules.

"Curtailing blogs and other online publications will dampen the impact of new voices in the political process and
will do a disservice to the millions of voters who rely on the Web for original, insightful political commentary," said
the Online Coalition, a group of bloggers and online activists.  Fourteen members of the U.S. House of Represent-
atives said blogs foster a welcome diversity of viewpoints.

"This 'democratization' of the media is a welcome development in this era of media consolidation and a correspond-
ing lack of diversity of views in traditional media outlets," said the group, which consists of thirteen Democrats and
one Republican.   yahoo.com news 03/05


Over the years, though, the head of GoDaddy.com has updated his uniform. The fatigues have been replaced by black 
Armani slacks and a black Nike mock turtleneck. He has a dozen of each and wears the outfit every day. "It's my work 
uniform; it's simple," he said. 
Six years after becoming an Internet domain-name registrar, GoDaddy is the second-largest domain registry in the world. 
And GoDaddy has achieved something that most of the doomed-to-go-bust dot-coms of the '90s never did: revenue. 
Parsons said the privately held company had revenue of about $100 million in 2004, and he projects the figure will double in 2005. 
"We're on our way to becoming a billion-dollar company," he told about 600 employees at a recent quarterly party to update 
 the company's progress. "Who knows? We may be there now." 
The agenda was reminiscent of the heady days of the dot-com boom of the late 1990s: the company's success (it has almost 
800 employees, up from 327 a year ago), options, free mortgages, a stock split and the possibility of going public. 
Parsons founded the Scottsdale-based company in 1997 with proceeds from the $64 million sale in 1996 of another company, 
 Parsons Technology, to Intuit. The company has garnered a lot of attention since it aired a racy ad during last month's Super 

Bowl telecast and then had the ad, slated to run again later in the game, yanked by the Fox network.  Onlinemedia.com  03/05

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Infinity Broadcasting, owner of many of the preeminent News brands in the country, advanced its Internet radio strategy
Wednesday with the announcement that it will begin streaming online 11 of its news and News/Talk stations.

Beginning March 14 some of the most legendary and listened-to AM brands in the industry, reaching an estimated 12 million
listeners per week, will be available to listeners over the Internet including WINS-AM in NY, KFWB-AM and KNX-AM
in Los Angeles, WBBM-AM in Chicago, KCBS-AM in San Francisco, KYW-AM in Philadelphia, WBZ-AM in Boston,
WWJ-AM in Detroit, KMOX-AM in St. Louis, KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh, and KRLD-AM in Dallas. WCBS-AM in New
York launched online last December.

Like other Viacom divisions, Infinity is extending its brands to new technologies as consumers begin to adopt them. “As more
and more listening is being done away from home and the car, we must extend our stations beyond their dial positions to
meet the needs of the consumer,” said Joel Hollander, chairman and CEO of Infinity.   MediaNews  03/05



NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Internet advertising grew to a new high of $2.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2004, according to
the latest independent research conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Internet Advertising Bureau.
That marks the fifth record-breaking quarter of online ad revenue, according to the IAB.
"There are a few breakaway marketers who are really capitalizing on the medium," said Greg Stuart, president-CEO of the IAB,
explaining the surge. "They have seized on the medium to enhance their competitiveness." He mentioned marketers such as Vonage,
which spends more than 50% of its advertising budget online. Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln Mercury brand reported it spends 25% of
its budget on the Internet, and McDonald's Corp. has increased online spending tenfold.   adage.com  02/05


Broadband Via Electric Lines Could Challenge DSL, Cable
by Gavin O'Malley, Friday, Feb 25, 2005 7:06 AM EST
PROVIDING BROADBAND SERVICE THROUGH ELECTRIC power lines is a potentially competitive alternative to high-speed Internet connections
via cable and DSL, but infrastructure and regulatory issues loom, said participants in a conference call yesterday held by the New Millennium Research
Council, a Washington, D.C.-based lobby and policy group.

If broadband-over-power-line service were offered for $30 per month, estimated Barry Goodstadt, vice president and senior consultant for Harris
Interactive, it would reach 13 million households and present a $4.5 million revenue opportunity over the next three to five years.



WEB USERS WITH an interest in current events increasingly turn to the Internet for news, at the expense of watching television and
reading newspapers and magazines, according to a recent Washingtonpost.com study.  For the study, Washingtonpost.com, in conjunction
with Nielsen//NetRatings, surveyed about 2,000 respondents who had gone online for news or information at least once in the last 90 days.
Sixty percent of that group reported daily visits to online news sources, compared to 47 percent who watch television news daily, 41 percent
who listen to the radio, and 30 percent who read a local newspaper.

Almost half of the respondents--47 percent--said they spent more time on the Internet now than one year ago, while one out of five--20%
--reported spending less time watching TV.  Respondents reported spending an average of 21.2 hours a week on the Internet--excluding
time spent with e-mail--compared to 15.8 hours watching television, 9 hours listening to the radio, 2.9 hours reading newspapers, and 2.2
hours reading news magazines.

The results appear to be consistent with a broader study of Web users released last September by the Online Publishers Association, which found
that Internet users prefer the Web to more traditional media, including television. When participants in that study were asked which media they'd
choose to use if they could pick only two, the majority chose the Internet (45.6 percent) and television (34.6 percent) as their first choices.



 

Radio days fade; Net turns up volume
Earnings take hit; new formats pose threat
 

NEW YORK -- Not long ago, the radio industry was enjoying something of a renaissance.   Station valuations were high, buyers were

 everywhere and every radio operator, it seemed, wanted an edgy personality, whether it be Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh.

Even advertisers liked the medium.   Now, Stern is bolting for satellite, the Federal Communications Commission is cracking down on

radio content, and everything from the Internet to iPods is threatening to steal its audience.
 
 

Nowhere was that more painfully outlined last week than at the nation's second-biggest owner of radio stations, Viacom Inc. The company,

whose stations include WBBM-AM 780 and WXRT-FM 93.1 among others in Chicago, took a whopping $18.44 billion charge to write

down the value of its radio and outdoor advertising holdings.  Viacom is hardly alone.
 
 

"Radio is maturing, just like newspapers," said Kit Spring, a media analyst at Denver-based Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. "It still has many advantages

--it's free and it's everywhere. But for the past 30 years, it grew at an average of 7 percent [annually]." Radio advertising sales rose by just 2

percent during the first 11 months of last year, said the Radio Advertising Bureau, an industry group. This came as total advertising spending in

all media in 2004 jumped 7.4 percent, according to media buyer Universal McCann. In contrast, Universal McCann said advertising sales for

cable television and the Internet increased last year by 12 percent and 25 percent respectively, reinforcing their image as advertising's hottest

venues.
 
 

A reputation for too many commercial interruptions and stale programming are among radio's chief problems. Advertisers are steadily moving

money historically spent on radio into cable TV.

But the Internet and new technologies like digital music players are potentially more dangerous.



In their latest analysis, our friends at eMarketer project that there will be nearly 70 million broadband households in the United States in 2008. In fact,
eMarketer estimates that broadband households will grow at a compound annual rate of 19.4 percent between 2004 and 2008. Broadband penetration
of all households is expected to grow from 23.1 percent in 2003 to 56.3 percent in 2008. In its report, "North America Broadband," the aggregator
of online data projects that there will be 76.9 million broadband households throughout North America in 2008.

"The broadband market is no longer about only high-speed Internet access," comments Ben Macklin, eMarketer senior analyst and
author of the report. "A new market is being created, including voice and video ...a market worth nearly 10 times the value of the
Internet access business alone," Macklin says in a statement on the report.  eMarketer Feb 05




A jazz composer won a Grammy award last night for an album that didn't sell at retail. Maria Schneider's album, "Concert in the Garden,"
was distributed online through ArtistShare, a company that finances album production via the support of music fans. The Web-based music
delivery service produced 10,000 copies of Schneider's CD - 9,000 available for pre-order to ArtistShare participants and 1,000 copies
that will be auctioned through ArtistShare.

Schneider told Reuters that the record cost $87,000 to produce and that she's already made her money back. There are no profits to share
with a distributor, record store, or record label.

ArtistShare takes as its premise that an artist's audience is the most valuable asset. The company enables the audience to participate in an
artist's project by selling what it calls "participant offers." The ArtistShare Web site showcases the artist's life and work, and audience loyalty
is built up over time. The site also serves as a software collective and a resource for artists to share technology expertise. -Tobi Elkin



As we mull the implications of the Times' acquisition and consider the opportunities, we see the move as only the latest in a surge of market
enthusiasm for the online sector. Consider America Online's pickup of Advertising.com for $435 million in cash, and aQuantive's $160
million acquisition of SBI.Razorfish, both of which occurred last June. Or, how about the $520 million Dow Jones & Co. surrendered to buy
MarketWatch.com last November? That deal was finalized in recent weeks.

The interest is back, the money is back. Bets are being hedged and old media sees that new media and the Web, in particular, is the linchpin
and often, the key driver of revenue growth. They see the Web as the hub for any manner of advertising services whether via straight advertising,
search, directory, and Yellow Pages listings, or sponsorships. The opportunities that sponsorship of original content can bring are also figuring
into these deals in a big way. If there was any doubt that the Times' digital unit is driving the company's growth, analyze this: The Times Co.
posted a 30% increase in revenues from online advertising in the fourth quarter of 2004. Newspaper ad growth is around 2 or 3%.  adnews 05



Google reported profits increased nearly eightfold, and revenue nearly doubled
in the fourth quarter to $1.03 billion from $512 million.  Advertising on Google's own Web sites accounted for 51
percent of revenue in the fourth quarter.   onlinemedia.com jan 05


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Newspaper publishers, often seen as stodgy and slow-growing, will pay whatever it takes to grab a bigger piece
of the fast-growing online advertising market -- if two recent deals are any indication.

The New York Times Co.'s (NYT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) $410 million buyout of About.com, announced on Thursday, and Dow
Jones & Co. Inc.'s (DJ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) $463 million purchase of financial Web site MarketWatch Inc. have raised eyebrows
because the deals are much more richly valued than traditional newspaper acquisitions.  But analysts say the prices may be what newspaper
companies must pay if they want to bulk up their Internet operations. Because few Internet content companies are for sale, they say,
publishers are jumping on what they can find.

"Internet valuations are back in a big way," said Morgan Stanley analyst Douglas Arthur. "There are not that many properties out there that
have survived through the bubble still intact, with a reasonable business model and good share of traffic on the Web, and apparently, they
are going to go for a big price."



SOME 22 MILLION ADULTS IN the United States--11 percent of the population--own iPods or other MP3 players, according to
a new report of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

While one in five people under the age of 30 have an iPod or other MP3 player, the number dropped to one in seven in the 30- to-48 age range.
About a quarter of people with household incomes of $75,000 or more owned MP3 players. That figure dropped to 10 percent for those in the
$30,000 to $75,000 range, and to 6 percent among those earning less than $30,000. The study indicated that those who use the Internet are four
times as likely as non-Internet users to have MP3 players. The study also showed that men have a 50 percent greater chance than women of
owning a digital media player.   yahoo.news.com  2/05



I wonder if the Web can become the best option for reaching a mass audience with a unique, engaging advertising or marketing opportunity that
cannot be time shifted or controlled? Is it possible the Yahoo! home page or the MSN home page can become the closest thing to a managed
mass market opportunity in today's world of targeting and addressability?

If all television viewing can be shifted, the Web offers a broadcast opportunity that is still dependent on time for the initial exposure, but continues
to be offered for repeat viewing to the same, or an expanded, audience. If you run an ad on the home page of Yahoo! or MSN and it performs
well, you can still utilize it in other places or even give it a home as an archived placement on your own site.   mediapost.com   feb 05



AOL reports that the top 12 most viewed spots from Super Bowl XXXIX, which includes views on both AOL and the
AOL.com services where non-members can access the ads, are:

1. Diet Pepsi - Cindy Crawford -- 899,773 views
2. GoDaddy.com - Hearing -- 894,983
3. Bud Light - Skydiving -- 803,999
4. Bud Light - Cedric -- 648,430
5. Ford Mustang - Winter -- 605,585
6. Ameriquest - Store Trip -- 600,599
7. Diet Pepsi - P. Diddy -- 596,986
8. Bud Light - Sharing -- 573,280
9. FedEx - Ten Things -- 553,023
10. Ciba Vision - Bubbles -- 526,338
11. Bubblicious - Lebron -- 472,534
12. Visa - Super Heroes -- 459,337



Now podcasting has arrived with the potential to rewrite the rules of the game

Like the blogging phenomenon, podcasts have come out of nowhere to attract an enthusiastic grassroots following. They're being
generated by a wide cast of characters - from professional broadcasters to rank amateurs. Listeners can download shows to their
computers, or, with a bit of know-how, automatically export shows to an Apple iPod - hence the term "podcast" - or any MP3 player.
Rundle's inaugural podcast drew more than 300 downloads, and song submissions poured in. Copycats soon launched at the universities
of York and Liverpool, prompting Rundle to organize a music podcasting network linking college campuses throughout the United Kingdom.

If only Microsoft, Apple and Hollywood could muster Rundle's panache. Big tech suppliers and media companies have fumbled for years
trying to tap deeper into the potentially vast market for delivering digital content across the Internet. The best they've been able to do is
legitimize by-the-song music downloads and squabble over who has the best technology for enforcing broader copyright restrictions moving ahead.
Having sold 10 million iPods, Apple commands 90% of the market for MP3 players with hard drives. Last month, it introduced the $500 Mac
mini, its first economically priced computer, which comes with entry-level music-recording and mixing software, called GarageBand, which many
podcasters are using to produce shows. Podcasters would like nothing better than for Apple to supply recording and mixing software specifically
designed for podcasting on Mac computers. They would also like to see the iPod tweaked to make it easier to do such things as subscribe to a
podcast and fast-forward through programs.   onlinemedia.com  2/05



RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Some national retailers, including Circuit City and Borders, are phasing out
sales of VHS movies in a nod to the growing popularity of DVDs.


"Lloyd Braun left ABC television, where he greenlighted some of the most popular programs in television such as "Desperate Housewives,"
for a spot as the newly created content czar at Yahoo!. And OMD Worldwide President and CEO Joe Uva was president of Turner
Entertainment Group Sales and Marketing for Turner Broadcasting Sales Inc. (TBS) prior to joining OMD, where his media spending
leviathan has become the 800-pound gorilla in spending online and made Sean Finnegan a wildly popular guy among publishers. Or was
it Sean that made... oh never mind.

Uva delivered a keynote directed toward what he called the media concierge, which is how he sees today's TiVo technology and similar
media-distilling appliances evolving. Mr. Uva's remarks worked toward this concierge becoming so invaluable to consumers because of
how it would conserve time for them, and so invaluable to marketers that the concierges themselves would become the targets. In this view,
the taxonomy of the concierge would have a cookie-like relationship with the taxonomy of media servers.

During the conference this week, I heard many executives from branded Web sites vent their frustration about how their print parent
companies remained stubbornly confident that the Web was cannibalizing their subscribers and robbing them of revenue. Some of these
traditional publishing companies have even been withholding resources from their online counterparts due to this perception, which truly
fascinates me.  I hate to say it, but I kept thinking about that scene in the movie "Boogie Nights" during which the big pornographer kept
trying to convince his acolytes that the video cassette was going to kill the porn industry."   Mark Naples onlinemedianews.com  Feb 05



Movie-based Video On Demand services have grown significantly in the past year, the panelists noted, and 50 million American homes
now have access to the content offered by such devices. Concurrently, as the content has broadened, the on-demand service types have
diversified as well, with new services such as subscription video on-demand (SVOD), which provides access to serial-type content on a
flat-billing with unlimited usage; free on-demand (FOD), which provides access to long-form advertising and content such as sports highlights
aimed at stimulating sampling of on-demand services; and Enhanced Program Guides (EPG), an interactive service that works with VOD.

Hybrid time-shifting services, such as DVRs, have also taken hold of the market. Set-top boxes enhanced with hard drives and slick user
interfaces have freed viewers from the traditional constraints of scheduled broadcast programming--all for a monthly service fee combined
with a one-time device purchase or monthly device rental fee. yahoo.com  feb 05



DALLAS - Blockbuster Inc. has raised the ante for rival movie-rental chain Hollywood Entertainment Corp., launching
a hostile takeover bid that it hopes will derail Hollywood's pending sale to Movie Gallery Inc.  Blockbuster, the nation's largest
movie-rental chain, said Wednesday it offered $14.50 per share in cash and stock for No. 2 Hollywood, or about $985 million
based on Hollywood's outstanding shares and options.

Movie Gallery, the nation's third-largest movie-rental company, had agreed last month to pay $13.25 cash per share, or about
$900 million. Both suitors promise to assume $350 million in Hollywood debt.   Yahoo.com news Jan 05



THE WEB SITE FOR THE New York Times Web, NYT.com, will begin pre-rolling video ads for Absolut Vodka in front of
streaming video content from its technology section, Heather Keltz, director of ad operations at The NYT.com, said Monday.
Keltz said NYT.com started offering in-stream online video advertising last month with Viewpoint's Unicast In-Page online video
technology. Unicast was acquired by technology firm Viewpoint, Inc. on Jan. 3; the merged company now goes under the better-
known rich media brand Unicast.

Previously, the Times site only offered advertisers the ability to show video ads within banner ad units. Fox Searchlight is the Web
site's first online video advertiser, signing a six-month deal to be the exclusive sponsor of the "Movie Minutes" section, where users
can watch film reviews and reports from Times critics.  nyt.com  feb 05



TIME WARNER AND AMERICAN ONLINE MERGE WITH BROADBAND
Time Warner's America Online and Time Warner Cable today announced an agreement that will, at long last, provide the online service
with the ability to offer broadband connections directly to its users.  Time Warner Cable provides AOL with a major missing component.
AOL's earlier persistence in remaining a dial-up-based operation while competitors moved rapidly to high-speed connections has been
viewed by many industry observers as a major strategic mistake.

The company finally cobbled together a program that offered broadband content but required paying subscribers find their own broadband
connections with some other provider before they could access the video, music and other fast-cable-enabled content that has become
such crucial components of major Internet portals.   ADAGE.COM  JAN 05



Online music stores broke into the mainstream in 2004, with more than 200 million tracks sold in the United States and Europe,
a tenfold increase from the previous year, according to data released on Wednesday.

Among well-known brands like iTunes and Napster, the number of online music stores quadrupled to more than 230 in 2004,
according to the report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) trade group. The number of songs
available online has doubled to about 1 million songs.  The IFPI said research firm Jupiter expects the $330 million online music
market to double in 2005.

The increasing popularity of online music stores is welcome news to a music industry that blames digital piracy for more than two
years of precipitous sales declines.  "The biggest challenge for the digital music business has always been to make music easier to
buy than to steal. At the start of 2005, as the legitimate digital music business moves into the mainstream of consumer life, that
ambition is turning into reality," IFPI Chairman and Chief Executive John Kennedy said.



An appearance on the opening episode of the third season of "The Apprentice" Jan. 20 generated tremendous traffic to Burger King
Corp.'s Web site.  The site at www.bk.com Jan. 20-25 received 418,000 visits and 280,000 unique visitors who averaged 9 minutes,
55 seconds online. The response resulted from the NBC television show, but also from an "Apprentice"-themed interactive burger-
building experience.


Two Million Virtual Tourists A Day on the Internet

A new survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that 45% of online American adults have taken advantage of virtual
tours of another location online. That represents 54 million adults who have used the internet to venture somewhere else. On a typical
day, more than two million people are using the internet to take a virtual tour, says the report.  Some of the most popular virtual tour
destinations include museums, tourist and vacation locales, colleges and prep schools, real estate, historical exhibits, parks and nature
preserves, public places such as the White House and the Taj Mahal, and hotels and motels.

The report opins that the spread of broadband connections has made virtual tours easier and encouraged those who create tours to
create richer tour experiences through streamed tours. Some 60% of those who have broadband connections at home and 62% of
those who have broadband connections at work have taken virtual tours.

Unlike many other internet activities, virtual tours are not the province of young internet users. 52% of younger Baby Boomers have
taken virtual tours, compared to just 37% of those in Generation Y. Those who take virtual tours are also highly educated: 58% of
the internet users with college or graduate degrees have taken virtual tours. In addition, tour takers are slightly more likely to be
urban than rural.Wednesday, January 19, 2005



YAHOO IN THE ADVERTISING BUSINESS
Yahoo! is also very clever. In addition to getting its dancing feet on Broadway (see today's MediaDailyNews news story), the
Internet giant has been hired to produce, host, and sell advertising on the official Web sites for Mark Burnett Productions' upcoming
series "The Contender" and the third season of "The Apprentice." Although Yahoo! has had other deals with Burnett, this is a vote
of confidence for the company and a major coup for its ongoing march into entertainment and forays into original content and
programming for the Web.    MediaDailyNews 1/05


ABOUT.COM, A PUBLISHER OF AN amalgam of special interest Web sites that was acquired by Primedia in 2000 for $690
million, has been put on the block, reports The New York Times. The paper said bids are due today and the asking price is between
$350 million and $500 million. Suitors include The New York Times Co., Google, Yahoo!, Time Warner and AskJeeves.


JupiterResearch Report: New Online Shoppers Powered Spending
CONFIRMING ECOMMERCE'S SUCCESS THIS PAST holiday season, JupiterResearch reported yesterday that online holiday
retail spending exceeded $22 billion--up 22 percent year-over-year. The report attributes the increase largely to the 17.7 million new
online shoppers who materialized during November and December. The report, "Holiday 2004 Postmortem: Retain New Customers
Through Retail Basics," projects continued strong growth for online retail, forecasting that 2005 online retail sales will surpass $79
billion--up from $66 billion in 2004.    onlinemedia.com  Feb 05



Google added to its arsenal of search services yesterday with a map service that's designed to help consumers get driving directions
and search for a variety of businesses.   The map service, released in test, uses data from digital mapping providers TeleAtlas and
Navteq. Yahoo! and Microsoft already offer map-based directions.

Google Maps lets users search by keyword, address, city name, or ZIP code. A request for driving directions asks for a user's
beginning and end points, similar to the MapQuest service. Users can get detailed views by zooming in on a route. Google Maps also
lets users click and drag a mouse across a map to view nearby areas.  Google recently rolled out a video search service that enables
users to look for video content. That service now has 1.1 billion searchable images, according to the company.  NYtimes Feb



iMEDIA SUMMIT BUZZES OVER BROADBAND, RICH MEDIA
Mainstream Marketers Sharply Increase Online Ad Spending This Year
February 09, 2005

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. (AdAge.com) -- Much of the buzz at the iMedia brand summit has been about the rapid growth of
broadband and rich media and what this means for marketers.  Many participants at this Gulf Coast conclave shared off-the-record
remarks that their online ad spenditures are increasing substantially this year. Most said they expected to invest more of that spending
on rich media formats and branding campaigns. That's because 51% of the online population now has broadband, according to
Nielsen/NetRatings, and marketers are acutely aware of that fact.

25% annual growth rate.  The result is that rich media -- a method of communication that incorporates animation, sound, video and/or
interactivity -- is going to  overtake search marketing as the dominant form of Web advertising by the end of the decade, according to
online market research firm eMarketer. Rich media accounts for $1 billion in ad spending and is growing at a rate of 25% a year.
"Rich media is becoming the standard ad vehicle on the Internet," said consultant Neil Perry of Neil Perry Associates Inc., who gave
conference attendees a sneak peak into a broadband study commissioned by iMedia. Rich media gets five times more clicks than
static banner ads.



Two Thirds of Online Retail Purchases Made Using Broadband

Nielsen//NetRatings recently reported that 69 percent of retail purchases transacted online were conducted via a broadband
connection, compared to 31 percent transacted via narrowband or dial-up access during November 2004. The finding was
derived from the new Nielsen//NetRatings MegaView Online Retail service, which tracks online consumer retail activity and
purchasing behavior and offers marketers competitive benchmarking, dollar spending insights and buyers' conversion rates.

This custom research from MegaView Online Retail found that broadband consumers spend on average $158.21 per person,
34 percent higher than the $117.89 average spent by narrowband users. In addition, the conversion rate for broadband users
reached 26 percent, compared to the conversion rate of narrowband users at 21 percent.

Heather Dougherty, senior retail analyst, said "With 55 percent of online surfers utilizing broadband and broadband users
spending more money online than narrowband surfers, there should be less concern about alienating the narrowband shopper.
Retailers (should) rethink their online business strategies to integrate rich media into Website design and advertising campaigns."

The latest findings showed that broadband users connected to the Internet 34 percent more times (59) than narrowband users
during November. In addition, broadband users visited online retail Websites more frequently, and spent more time online. d

 

 
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