CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox – In Context With Internet Growth

Ed: Impressive numbers from CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox; however, in context, growth counts. Facebook adds 250,000 members per day. This is the total circulation for a medium sized metropolitan newspaper or TV station.

How Facebook stays afloat adding 250,000 users per day

Posted by Dan Farber

A few weeks ago I talked with Jonathan Heiliger, vice president of technical operations at Facebook, about the challenge of innovating quickly and building stable infrastructure while 250,000 new members are added to the social network every day. Check out the video on ZDNet…

What are the challenges that you see–let’s say you’re at 80 million unique users per month, 250,000 being added per day and 50,000 transactions per second. What happens when you get to 500 million or a billion if you ever get there?
Heiliger: Hopefully, tremendous things. I think we can only look forward to those days…

Quincy Smith Named CEO Of CBS Interactive, CNET

from Silicon Alley Insider by Michael Learmonth

CBS completed its acquisition of CNET and chief executive Les Moonves named Quincy Smith, the dealmaker who pushed the acquisition, as CEO of the expanded digital unit.

Former CNET CEO Neil Ashe becomes president of CBS Interactive, reporting to Smith (SAI 100 #8). After the acquisition, CBS says it’s now the 8th-largest Web network in terms of unduplicated unique visitors, according to ComScore.

The digital group will be organized into five vertical categories. How is CBS integrating its $1.8 billion acquisition? Per CBS’s release:

Technology: CNET.com is the number one Web site in the computer and consumer electronics category, reaching more than 18 million people every month with daily premium content offerings. From the latest product reviews to breaking news from the digital world, as well as video and program downloads, CNET.com has become the leading destination for people looking to navigate today’s digital world…

FIM Moving To New LA HQ In Playa Del Rey; Consolidating All LA Offices

from paidContent.org by Staci D. Kramer

Fox Interactive Media (NYSE: NWS) is celebrating its third birthday* by finally announcing a new headquarters that should be big enough to house all of its LA staff in one place: 300,000-plus square feet in the Horizon at Playa Vista in Playa Del Rey. In an internal memo to his staff, FIM president Peter Levinsohn described the deal “the single biggest real-estate transaction in Los Angeles in the last 25 years. When we move to our new facility between June of 2009 and January of 2010, not only will we enjoy the distinction of having one of the largest corporate headquarters in the LA area, but we will be housed in a state-of-the-art facility that reflects our corporate identity and culture.” The space includes “an exclusive gym, internal and external eating facilities, volleyball courts, and lots of green space …” It will house about 2000 FIM employees, which is all its LA staff…

ABC Considers Major Online Newscast Overhaul; CBS Looks To CNET, Celebs For Boost

from paidContent.org by David Kaplan

When it comes to all the tropes the broadcast networks continue to cling to, the national evening news shows are arguably the most in need of drastic change. As the shows’ millions viewers are getting older and older, ad support is dwindling. While the networks’ online versions of the nightly news were meant to invigorate the stale productions and attract younger viewers, it turns out that the webcasts are struggling as well. David Westin, ABC’s news-division president, tells WSJ that the Disney-owned network isn’t ready to pull the plug on the two-year-old World News webcasts, but ABC is clearly groping for ways to make its online news relevant. Westin: “I want to look at it and say, ‘What have we learned from it?’ ‘How can we reconfigure it?’ ‘What can we do better?’”

– ABC’s numbers: Last Monday, internal traffic showed ABCNews.com logged 7.8 million pageviews, though the company claims it averages about 8.4 million. Within that, the 15-minuteWorld News webcast got 145,000 hits, while three million clicks went to the news site’s photo gallery featuring shots of celebrities and “the pregnant man.” Though general hard news has been met with indifference, sections devoted to health and politics have been relative bright spots, suggesting that ABC might try to focus on niche verticals.

– CBS’ (NYSE: CBS) solution: celebs and tech: CBS plans to overhaul its online news with some assistance from CNET (NSDQ: CNET) once the merger closes. And noticing the same insatiable appetite for celebrity news, CBS Interactive promises to deliver more of that kind of coverage with a new destination due “in coming weeks.”…

Sports Shorts: ESPN360-Cricket; NBCU-Beijing; YES-NYT

from paidContent.org by Staci D. Kramer

– ESPN360.com Will Carry Exclusive Live Cricket Coverage: ESPN360.com has the exclusive U.S. broadband rights to live and replay coverage of the 2008 Asian Cup Cricket Tournament from Pakistan June 24-July 6. The six-team, 13-match biennial tournament includes national teams from Pakistan, India, UAE, Bangladesh, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. ESPN’s (NYSE: DIS) Cricinfo.comwill carry extensive highlights and provide 3D animation of each match.

– Vista Media Center Users Can Download NBC Olympic Video Highlights: Yesterday I wrote about NBC Sports demanding that audio and video from Olympics trials come down from other sites before Beijing. Here’s an example of how NBC is trying to expand access to its own video, albeit in a very limited way: NBC Olympics on the Go, powered by Wavexpress, will allow viewers with Windows Vista Media Center to set up automatic syncing of NBC-provided channels to laptops for commuter viewing “up-to-HD quality on the go”. No word on whether this will work with portable devices that usually can sync with Media Center but it doesn’t sound like it. Release…

Yahoo Strikes Deals with CBS, Wal-Mart; Unveils Yahoo Circular

Yahoo Goes Announcement Crazy

By Jason Lee Miller - Wed, 06/04/2008 – 12:47pm.

Strikes deals with CBS, Wal-Mart; Unveils Yahoo Circular 

Yahoo unleashed a blitz of announcements today, coinciding with president Sue Decker’s keynote address at the Advertising 2.0 conference in New York. In short, Yahoo has inked advertising deals with CBS, Wal-Mart, and Havas Digital, all while launching Yahoo! Circular, an online retail marketing program inspired by newspaper circulars.

Speaking of newspapers, Yahoo also announced its Newspaper Consortium, a vast partnership with local newspapers, has quadrupled in size in just a year and a half, bringing the total membership to 779 newspapers. 

Decker claimed the display advertising world is on the verge of a “renaissance.” Yahoo’s renewed focus in this area mirrors recent acquisitions of DoubleClick and aQuantive by Google and Microsoft. 

Speaking of Microsoft, the announcements come just as the date for Yahoo’s annual shareholder meeting was set for August 1. Corporate raider Carl Icahn and a slate of new board members are expected to attempt their coup at the meeting, targeting CEO Jerry Yang’s job and trying to force a Microsoft acquisition agreement. 

Back to the sweep of announcements. “Yahoo! is helping to accelerate the transformation of how display advertising is both bought and sold,” Decker said during her keynote. “First, we are developing the technology, products and platforms that are designed to help advertisers find the right audiences and publishers find the right advertisers. 

“Second, we are partnering with publishers to secure and monetize inventory that advertisers and agencies find desirable. And third, we are partnering with advertisers and agencies to channel demand to the right consumer.”   

As part of this plan, Yahoo has pulled Walmart.com on board in a multi-year relationship allowing Yahoo to provide display and video advertising for the retail giant. Wal-Mart also announced this week its foray into the classified advertising space. According to the Yahoo deal, Wal-Mart will use Yahoo’s AMP! Advertising management platform to reach Yahoo audiences, and Yahoo will be the exclusive reseller of Wal-Mart’s display inventory. 

It is yet unknown if deals such as this will convince board members Yahoo was right to remain independent, or if the company will become that much more attractive to Microsoft. Yesterday, at the SMX Advanced Conference in Seattle, Microsoft’s Kevin Johnson revealed the company’s renewed focus on the “commercial intent” – or looking to buy – segment of the search populace. 

Along with this announcement, Yahoo boasts of adding CBS programming to Yahoo TV, which, in addition to NBC, Fox, and 15 cable networks, gives Yahoo a 92% reach of the US Web-based TV audience.

“It’s all part of our strategy to become the starting point for the most consumers on the Web,” said Karin Gilford, Yahoo’s Vice President of Entertainment and Lifestyles. 

Also part of that strategy is Havas Digital. Havas has agreed to adopt the Right Media Exchange platform and AMP in a global partnership with Yahoo. “The combined capabilities will allow Havas Digital clients to execute highly segmented media buys on a mass scale,” said Don Epperson, chief executive officer of Havas Digital.

AMP, which is due to roll out in the third quarter of 2008, will incorporate members of the Newspaper Consortium. Reaching 779 member newspapers, the partnership includes publishing groups Cox Newspapers, Day Publishing, E.W. Scripps, GateHouse Media, Hearst Newspapers, McClatchy Company, New York Daily News, New York Times Regional Group, Shaw Newspapers, The Times Publishing Company and the Tribune Review Publishing Company, among others—pretty much all of them except for Knight-Ridder and Gannett, it would seem. 

And finally (seems all these announcements at once dilutes the scale of the each announcement), in line with Yahoo’s newspaper partnerships, the company unveiled its Circular Program, which allows retailers to distribute newspaper-like circulars across Yahoo’s network. The circulars will be powered by Yahoo’s ShopLocal program. 

“The largest driver of in-store traffic for retailers has traditionally been the print circular, and the Yahoo! Circular program is designed to enhance that,” said Steven Feuling, category development officer for Yahoo!  “Harnessing our deep insight into user interests, Yahoo! can help retailers speak to consumers on a level that is more personal and engaging by putting just the right products and marketing messages in front of an interested shopper at just the right time.”

That last part especially sounds like what Kevin Johnson spoke about regarding Microsoft’s next moves. Good luck, Jerry. 

NEWS: CBS Interactive Gets $2 Million Ad Buy From GM (CBS)

CBS Interactive Gets $2 Million Ad Buy From GM (CBS)

from Silicon Alley Insider by Michael Learmonth

A source tells us CBS Interactive just got an ad buy from GM in the $2.2 to $2.3 million range. The deal, with Starcom MediaVest unit GM Planworks, was reached earlier this week. Given the timing, the buy could be connected to a broader upfront deal. CBS declined to comment and hasn’t yet announced whether any upfront talks, which are going on now, have resulted in a deal.

Assuming the deal goes through, it would mean CBS just got a little more than 1% of the $197 million GM spent on the Web last year. As Adage reported earlier this spring, GM plans to move half of its ad spending online by 2011. Last year the company spent a total of $3 billion on ads.

In March, CEO Les Moonves said the company sold $200 million in online advertising in 2007 and would book between $260 million and $280 million in 2008. That, however, was before theacquisition of CNET, which will help boost CBS’s digital revenues to $1 billion by 2010 or 2011.

Related: GM Shifting 50% Of Ad Spending Online

NEW: CBS Launching New College Sports Ad Net; Pulls Remnants

CBS Launching New College Sports Ad Net; Pulls Remnants

from paidContent.org by Staci D. Kramer

Wednesday morning the CBS College Sports Network plans to announce the newest rider on the ad network bandwagon and the latest drain on remnant networks like Platform-A’s (NYSE: TWX) Advertising.com: CBS College Sports Media comprised of CBSSports.com, NCAA.com (produced by CBSSports.com), and the roughly 215 official college athletic sites operated by what used to be known as CSTV. At the same time, all CBS Interactive (NYSE: CBS) sports properties will stop selling through remnant networks—no hard number but think millions of dollars.

The vertical ad network, which CBS says would have served 10-plus million uniques in March, will sell display and video advertising on multiple platforms. The prime demo is males 18-49. March, of course, includes March Madness, which produces high traffic; one key question is how the new ad net can produce across the year and what kind of growth it can deliver. CBSSports.com GM Jason Kint tells me that CBS is launching now to take advantage of the boost from March Madness and the main site’s rebranding from CBSSportsline.

Shedding remnants: “Our remnant networks have included the major players – Advertising.com, TACODA, Specific Media, etc.  The dollars are significant – it’s a strategic decision within sports right now.” Why cut out the remnant nets? Kint explains: “Remnant networks undervalue our audience, our brand and the relationship between the two.” Creating the new ad net “preserves a network buy and also ensures a premium and trusted environment for our advertising partners. I expect more moves in this direction across major publishers.” 

Copyright fight brewing between TV networks and RedLasso

…and CBS sent a letter on Monday, accusing the company of “building a business based on the unauthorized syndication of” …

CBS President Leslie Moonves Drops By CNET HQ

…CBS President & CEO Leslie Moonves paid a visit to CNET headquarters in San Francisco today, we’re hearing. He came alone. No Quincy Smith, No Michael Marquez (the guys who did the deal). No entourage of any kind. The goal? Address the troops (all of CNET, in person and via a webcast) and let everyone know how this $1.8 billion merger is go… TechCrunch 

CBS Gets Backdoor Into Hulu, Sort Of; Hulu Expands Distribution

…owned by CBS (NYSE: CBS) once the deal goes through). The announcement comes a few days after the CBS Audience Network updated its own site for advertisers and added some classic TV programs under its umbrella as well. — Hulu’s new partners: In addition to putting its videos on TV.com, which is also a member of the CBS Audience Network, Hulu…

CBS Adds Free Shows on Web

…CBS substantially increased the number of archived television shows streamed free on the Web, the latest salvo in the battle among traditional broadcasters to capture viewers online. WSJ.com: Media & Marketing

NEWS: CBS Centralizes Its Superdistribution of Videos on the Web

CBS Centralizes Its Superdistribution of Videos on the Web

from TechCrunch by Erick Schonfeld

When it comes to Web video, CBS has been one of the most promiscuous media companies out there. And no, I am not talking about its $1.8 billion acquisition of CNET (which does have some video assets). Rather, CBS has taken a strategy of superdistribution when it comes to spreading its videos across the Web. It wants its videos everywhere. Thus CBS has struck distribution deals with more than 300 sites—including YouTube, AOL, MSN, Joost, Veoh, Bebo,and TVGuide.com. These are collectively lumped together into the CBS Audience Network, against which CBS sells its own ads.

Now the CBS Audience Network also has its own site, where it highlights its top partners and the most popular CBS videos on each of them. You can see how many times each video has been watched and the number of comments for each one. (An iPhone demo and a Borat interview on Letterman are the two most popular, with 8.9 million and 5.7 million views, respectively). Right now, though, only the top videos from YouTube are visible. But it looks like AOL, Bebo, MSN, TV.com, and Joost will be coming soon…

Ed: Content, circulation, ad sales. CBS is building it’s circulation and auditing mechanism for the Web 3.0 world.

AOL Launches Specialty Sites to Boost Growth

from Wired Top Stories by Associated Press

Though known best for bringing the Internet to the masses, AOL is beginning to shift its focus toward serving niche audiences with the launch of dozens of specialty websites.

Ed: To strategically compete with Google, Microsoft — look for legacy broadcasters and publishers to become destination channels. 

Why old media is running scared of Google

Posted by Charles Cooper

Talk about missing the forest for the trees. With everyone and their mother-in-law predicting a coming wave of acquisitions of so-called new media companies by old media outfits, that future’s already snuck up on us.

In the last year:

•  Cox bought Adify 
•  Hi-Media Group bought Fotolog 
•  Time Warner’s AOL bought Bebo, Quigo, Third Screen Media 
•  Comcast bought Plaxo 
•  Disney bought Club Penguin 
•  CBS bought Last.fm, CNET Networks, Wallstrip, Dotspotter 
•  Microsoft bought 1.6 percent of Facebook 
•  Hearst bought Kaboodle and Answerology 
•  Jupiter Media bought MediaBistro 
•  News Corp. bought Photobucket, Beliefnet 
•  The New Times bought Freakonomics blog 
•  Forbes bought Clipmarks 
•  Discovery bought Treehugger 

If you use News Corp.’s 2005 acquisition of MySpace.com as the starting point, the list gets longer. Going back that far, there’s been more than $19 billion worth of significant mergers between the biggest old and new media players in the online media industry.