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IBM Holiday Benchmark Report: Consumers Go Mobile on Black Friday

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November 27, 2012
  • IBM has released a new analytics report containing the latest online retail performance data related to Black Friday.
  • According to the report, mobile traffic grew by more than 67 percent and consumers responded to retailers’ early Black Friday promotions. Interesting findings include:
  • “Online sales on Thanksgiving grew by 17.4 percent followed by Black Friday where sales increased 20.7 percent over last year.”
  • “Mobile purchases soared with 24 percent of consumers using a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site, up from 14.3 percent in 2011. Mobile sales exceeded 16 percent, up from 9.8 percent in 2011.”
  • “The iPad generated more traffic than any other tablet or smartphone, reaching nearly 10 percent of online shopping. This was followed by iPhone at 8.7 percent and Android 5.5 percent.”
  • “The iPad dominated tablet traffic at 88.3 percent followed by the Barnes and Noble Nook at 3.1 percent, Amazon Kindle at 2.4 percent and the Samsung Galaxy at 1.8 percent.”
  • “Consumers shopped in store, online and on mobile devices simultaneously to get the best bargains. Overall, 58 percent of consumers used smartphones compared to 41 percent who used tablets to surf for bargains on Black Friday.”
  • “Shoppers referred from Social Networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube generated .34 percent of all online sales on Black Friday, a decrease of more than 35 percent from 2011.”

Louis C.K. at it Again: Pledges to Offer HBO Special Without DRM for $5

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November 26, 2012
  • Emmy Award-winning comedian Louis C.K. has an upcoming special that will debut on HBO. He recently announced via Twitter that he will later be selling the standup globally for $5 without DRM restrictions.
  • According to the tweet, the special will be available on louisck.com a few months after the HBO premiere.
  • “It’s not unusual for HBO to sell such comedy specials via traditional physical media, but it’s very much unprecedented to see the company relinquish control of that content and allow it to be offered digitally with few viewing restrictions,” reports The Verge.
  • Louis C.K. has been cutting out DRM for more than a year now, first selling his standup recording “Live at the Beacon Theater” directly to fans and then doing the same with ticket sales. Both experiments have proven successful.
  • “Yet arranging such a consumer-friendly deal with HBO could be seen as Louis C.K.’s biggest triumph yet,” the post suggests. “One man has convinced a huge corporation to play ball, guaranteeing that his fans come out the winners.”

Clear Channel Announces iHeartRadio App Hits 135 Million Downloads

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November 26, 2012
  • Clear Channel Media announced that its iHeartRadio app has reached a new milestone by surpassing 135 million downloads.
  • The app now has 20 million registered users, and claims to be outpacing the growth of rival entertainment offerings from Pandora, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
  • The iHeartRadio network has more than 48 million unique digital visitors per month, while Clear Channel boasts 239 million monthly listeners.
  • “Since its launch 13 months ago at the inaugural iHeartRadio Music Festival, iHeartRadio has exceeded more than 20 million registered users,” notes Radio Online. “Registered users are only a percentage of iHeartRadio’s overall listeners, since registration is only required for the Custom Station feature which launched in September 2011.”
  • “iHeartRadio has experienced unprecedented growth as it continues to resonate with our listeners and super-serve our partners,” said Brian Lakamp, president of digital for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment.
  • “The reach of our broadcast radio properties, combined with our digital platforms truly creates unmatched promotional power that is unique to Clear Channel and allows us to be wherever our listeners are with the products and services they expect.”
  • In a related story, Affinity Labs of Texas has filed a lawsuit that claims the iHeartRadio platform “violates Affinity patents for receiving streamed FM audio signals over a wireless device as well as how the station information is displayed on such a device,” reports Radio World.

Magazine Covers Offer Groundbreaking Approach to Windows 8 Promos

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November 26, 2012
  • Microsoft’s print campaign for the Windows 8 operating system includes 14 Conde Nast magazine covers styled as the Windows 8 “Start” screens of the magazines’ top editors.
  • According to a Conde Nast rep, the covers are not paid ads, but are designed to coordinate with inside ads and the magazines’ own Windows 8 content.
  • The American Society of Magazine Editors guidelines stipulate that paid advertisements fixed to magazine covers are required to be identified as ads; however, the Start screen promotions are not.
  • Media agency Starcom MediaVest Group has called the approach a “groundbreaking multifaceted paid program with nonpaid elements.”
  • “The promotions, full pages attached to the covers of 14 titles from Allure to Wired, show the new Windows 8 Start screen tailored for most of the magazines’ top editors,” reports Advertising Age.
  • “Glamour, for example, depicts a Start screen for Editor-in-Chief Cindi Leive with items such as highlights from a magazine event, a tweet that Windows 8 pulled in from @glamourmag, a December Issue Sampler for Windows 8, the Windows camera app, a special edition of the magazine and a holiday-party reminder from the new Windows 8 Calendar app.”
  • The concept of a paid program with nonpaid elements may raise some questions, but it is legitimate today for publishers to use covers to market digital content, notes Sid Holt, CEO of the American Society of Magazine Editors.
  • “Magazines frequently run stories about companies that advertise in the same issue — magazines put actors on the cover for movies advertised inside, for example — and we rely on editors not to let that influence them,” he said.

Esquire Offers Interactive Print Edition Enabled by Netpage Mobile App

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November 26, 2012
  • Hearst is going mobile to make the December issue of Esquire completely interactive, without the need for QR codes or digital watermarks. The Netpage application allows mobile users to access additional content or save and share content with friends on social media sites.
  • A Lexus ad, for example, can be activated with animation that turns into a 30-second video — and some products found in the issue can be purchased using the app. Scanning the cover leads to an exclusive video with actor Bradley Cooper. Readers can also interact with recipes and digital storefronts.
  • “Print publishers are embracing mobile to help drive deeper engagements with their publications as readers increasingly look to consume media via smartphones and tablets,” reports Mobile Marketer.
  • “Esquire’s readers and advertisers have come to expect leading-edge content experiences — this partnership with Netpage represents both a ‘first’ and a new standard for the industry,” says Jack Essig, senior VP, publishing director and chief revenue officer at Esquire.
  • “As partners in breaking boundaries, Esquire and Lexus will not only deliver a new means for engaging with our content but will also fuel the conversation around both our brands,” he adds.
  • “Going forward, all Esquire issues will be mobile-enabled via the Netpage app,” notes the post. “Hearst is also currently testing Netpage for other magazines with plans to launch more mobile-enabled titles next year.”

Second Screen: Hulu Plus Launches New App for Nintendo Wii U Console

By
November 26, 2012
  • While Nintendo Wii U users interested in television may have to wait for the company’s TVii services, they’ll still be able to access a second-screen viewing experience if they are Hulu Plus subscribers.
  • Hulu launched its Wii U app earlier than expected, offering bonus material and the ability to queue up TV episodes or view episodes previously watched on TV on the GamePad.
  • “While watching a show on the big screen, the Wii U’s GamePad displays information on a host of topics, including the current show or episode,” reports CNET.
  • “Although the console had promised a host of entertainment features, including a television programming handling through a service, called TVii, most of the features were missing at launch,” notes the post. “Nintendo plans to deliver those features in the coming weeks. And save for Netflix, the Wii U’s streaming offering was a little light. Hulu, though, should help bolster that.”
  • Hulu Plus, which currently costs $8 per month, is offering a one-week free trial to get Wii U users interested in the service.
  • The CNET post includes a 5-minute first-look video review of the Nintendo Wii U.

Nintendo Wii U Expands Entertainment Options with YouTube App

By
November 26, 2012
  • Game consoles are increasingly offering non-gaming entertainment options including access to online services.
  • “Movies streamed from Netflix, music courtesy Last.fm, and, of course, the ubiquitous crowd-sourced video content of YouTube have all become nearly as common uses for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii as those consoles’ respective games,” reports Digital Trends.
  • “It should come as little surprise that Nintendo’s newly-launched Wii U console should play host to a dedicated YouTube application a mere five days after its retail debut,” suggests the post.
  • “The Wii U’s official YouTube application appears to be little more than a relatively standard aesthetics and functionality update for the original Wii YouTube app, only with special accoutrements added which take advantage of the console’s exclusive features.”
  • The Wii U app — like all official YouTube apps — is free of charge. Once downloaded, users imply enter their YouTube credentials to gain access to the site’s extensive video content.
  • Currently, the app does not include functionality that might allow users to upload video content to YouTube via the Wii U. No consoles are able to upload footage via their YouTube apps, “but given the number of recent, big-name releases that boast YouTube uploading capabilities as an important feature, it only stands to reason that YouTube and the various console manufacturers would want to expand the scope of their respective YouTube applications.”

Apple to Rule Tablet Downloads for Five Years, Paid App Market to Decline

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November 26, 2012
  • Despite its tablet market lead experiencing a dent in Q3, Apple’s iPad will continue to dominate the market for the next five years, according to Strategy Analytics.
  • “In its Mobile Apps Download Forecast: 2008–2017 report, Strategy Analytics forecasts a total of more than 350 billion smartphone and tablet app downloads between 2008 and 2017,” reports TechCrunch.
  • “The analyst predicts the Google Play store will account for more than 45 percent of phone-related downloads in 2017, while Apple’s iTunes Store will account for 56 percent of tablet downloads in five years’ time.”
  • By 2017, free apps will account for 91 percent of downloads, although paid apps will continue to be “an essential component of the app ecosystem,” according to Josh Martin of Strategy Analytics.
  • “Paid downloads will remain an important way for smaller developers to monetize their efforts,” he says. “For developers committed to paid downloads transitioning to tablets may be the smartest way to preserve the business model over the long term.”
  • “App Stores will also see a revenue crunch as more revenue is earned from advertising — revenue generated outside the bounds of the app store — and will need to prepare,” adds Martin. “Newer platforms such as Windows 8, BlackBerry 10, Tizen and Firefox are building their operating systems and storefronts with this knowledge which should go a long way to making them attractive to developers and end-users.”

Dyle Delivers Live TV to the Apple iPad: Ready for Prime Time?

By
November 26, 2012

Watching live television on an iPad currently has limited options. With a cable subscription, for example, users can stream Disney and ESPN shows. Alternatively, New York City viewers can opt for Aereo (but the networks are suing to shut it down). Enter Dyle, which just launched for Apple’s iOS devices. Dyle, with support from NBC, Fox and other top broadcast groups, has released a free TV app for iOS devices that uses broadcast signals to beam licensed programming to viewers. Continue reading Dyle Delivers Live TV to the Apple iPad: Ready for Prime Time?

Opinion: TV Everywhere Requires Less Complications, More Consistency

By
November 26, 2012
  • “The TV Everywhere pitch is straightforward: If you pay for cable TV, you can watch cable TV wherever you want — on your iPad, in your bedroom, on your phone, in the airport,” writes Peter Kafka for AllThingsD.
  • “The reality is a lot more complicated, for a lot of reasons, but the upshot is that right now you can only watch a bit of what’s on cable on devices that aren’t your TV,” he notes. “And if the cable guys are going to convince people not to cut the cord, or to sign up for the cord in the first place, that’s going to have to get better.”
  • Kafka cites ESPN’s “great WatchESPN app” as an example of this model that really enables consumers to watch content everywhere on demand. However, the app let Kafka down when he tried to watch Monday Night Football on his phone.
  • “The problem, says ESPN PR, is that Verizon has an exclusive on NFL mobile rights, so ESPN can’t deliver the game to me on my iPhone, even when I’m at home, on a Wi-Fi connection (which is the way that lots of mobile video gets consumed),” he writes.
  • While this may make sense from a business development perspective, what is the reaction of average sports fans who expect to watch what they want, when they want?
  • Even more confusing: while the game was not available on the iPhone, it was available on the iPad.
  • “Again, trying to argue that some rights apply to a 9.5-inch screen but not a 3.5-inch screen is the sort of thing that makes sense to lawyers and deal-makers, and no sense at all to normal people,” concludes Kafka. “You know, the people you want to keep paying for cable.”

Michael Powell: Cable Companies At the Mercy of Content Companies

By
November 26, 2012
  • Michael Powell, president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association and former FCC chairman, suggests that content creators are still in control in the emerging multiplatform age.
  • “Technologists are excited about software or hardware and we forget that people are really buying and holding on to stories,” notes Powell.
  • “The challenge in the living room — when you talk about new devices and platforms what often gets left out is access to the highly-produced, licensed content that viewers most crave. You’re asking to substitute a fresh experience.”
  • “The holy grail for the living room to me isn’t technology,” he says. “It’s figuring out how to integrate the phenomenal power and interactivity and information of the Internet into the highly produced premium content that we crave.”
  • When asked whether manufacturers should be able to tap into cable streams and offer alternative experiences, Powell suggests that “cable companies are at the mercy of content companies on the issue of content rights and use.” Mirroring the cable experience on other devices is not a technological issue, but an issue of licensing rights.
  • “At the end of the day Apple and Boxee and Vudu and Roku are going to find out that the content market is tough and expensive, and it’s hard to do the most creative things,” he says.
  • Powell suggests that all companies are heading toward IP-distributed content and a shift from a hardware-centric environment to a software-centric environment. “When the guide and content are in the cloud, you can change look and feel overnight,” he adds. “You won’t have to come in and get a whole new box — that’s a horrible model.”

Cisco Strategy for Taking on Patent Trolls: Turn the Tables with Litigation

By
November 21, 2012
  • Patent trolls conducted by non-practicing entities, who buy up patents to make money from licensing and lawsuits, have become increasingly common.
  • “The proportion of patent lawsuits filed by NPEs has grown to 40 percent in 2011 from 22 percent in 2007, according to Lex Machina, an intellectual-property litigation, data and analytics company,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
  • Now, networking-equipment maker Cisco is fighting back with its own litigation.
  • “Cisco’s suit against Chicago-based Innovatio IP Ventures LLC targets a tactic that some NPEs have employed in recent years,” explains the article. “Rather than allege that a big technology company has infringed one or more of their patents, Innovatio and other NPEs have gone after the tech company’s customers,” like coffee chains or hotels which don’t have the resources to fight costly lawsuits.
  • “Innovatio’s tactics, Cisco argues in its lawsuit, are ‘misleading, fraudulent and unlawful.’ It says they effectively amount to an extortion scheme, and therefore violate federal antiracketeering laws,” WSJ reports.
  • “A win by Cisco isn’t necessarily going to stop the NPE industry in its tracks,” says defense lawyer Ann Fort. “But it could halt some of the tactics used by NPEs, like going after companies’ customers.”
  • In a related case, Cisco is claiming Mosaid Technologies paid witnesses for testimony in infringement claims it filed against Cisco last year.
  • “Sometimes, lawsuits are about how much damage you can threaten in order to change behavior,” says Robin Feldman, a law professor. “At the very least, Cisco might get that. Or it could get a sympathetic judge or jury that takes Cisco’s case and runs with it.”

Betable API Raises the Stakes on the Global Future of Online Gambling

By
November 21, 2012
  • A San Francisco-based startup aims to add an element of gambling to both traditional and non-traditional games of chance, taking anything from poker to “Farmville” and raising the stakes.
  • Betable manages gambling transactions, allowing developers to focus on their game and simply configure rules on Betable’s API. Doing so enables these companies to bypass gambling licenses because all the gambling aspects are controlled by Betable.
  • Developers anywhere can build off the platform, but because online gambling is illegal in the U.S., the consumer opportunity is limited to other countries. Betable’s CEO Chris Griffin says there’s still an enormous opportunity for the technology in Europe, Asia, Canada, Australia and elsewhere.
  • “In terms of number of players, I think it’s an order of magnitude bigger than the existing online gambling market,” he says. “We’re going after an audience that’s already playing social games and mobile games,” which is much larger than the existing gambling market.
  • Betable is funded by Silicon Valley venture capitalists and currently has 18 employees.
  • “The company has survived a grueling licensing process for the UK and other markets, and has begun to sign up online video game companies interested in adding a gambling component to their games,” Forbes writes.

Spotify Founder Says the Future of Music Industry is in Low-Margin Model

By
November 21, 2012
  • Spotify founder Daniel Ek compares the music streaming service, now valued at $3 billion, to Amazon, saying he’s willing to bet on low-margins to build the business in the long term.
  • The music industry has been resistant to such services, but Ek suggests the business model makes more sense as consumers’ habits have changed.
  • “Songs in the [Spotify’s] catalog are played again and again, with no diminution in popularity,” in contrast to the quick decline of sales after CD releases, Quartz writes. “The reason is simple: people are building playlists. It’s as if an artist were paid every time one of their fans dropped a needle on their record.”
  • “They’re saying, oh, they’re just paying a fraction of a cent every time someone plays a song,” says Ek. “And then you compare it versus the download revenue. Well, I can tell you it will take you 200 song listens before you make the same amount of money [as a download]. But because the consumption behavior is entirely different, and the revenue then increases in perpetuity, it’s not even a question of if this model is better, it’s just when in the life cycle it’s better.”
  • Ek wants to rebuild the industry that has been torn down by piracy and consumers’ shifts in behavior.
  • “As the world moves from owning content to getting access to it on demand, Ek’s experience is likely to generalize across all kinds of content,” including movies, notes the article. “It’s a fundamental transformation of how artists and their industries will make money.”
  • As a point of differentiation from other services, Spotify is focused on music discovery. But it relies on third-parties to build such apps on top of Spotify’s library.
  • “We distinctly don’t think we’ll figure out every single use case around music,” says Ek. “But we do want to be the platform for music… If there’s music somewhere, we should power that.”

Myspace Looking for $50 Million to Relaunch as Spotify and Pandora Killer

By
November 21, 2012
  • After spending the last year redesigning the once thought to be dead Myspace, Interactive Media Holdings plans to relaunch the site in 2013 as a direct competitor to Spotify and Pandora, according to documents obtained by Business Insider.
  • Specific Media bought Myspace during the summer of 2011 for $35 million, and then changed the company name to Interactive Media Holdings. The company then rebranded Myspace as a destination for unsigned artists to showcase their music.
  • Myspace traffic has risen 36 percent since the acquisition, but still stands to lose $40 million this year and a projected $25 million next year.
  • Interactive Media Holdings is looking for another $50 million in funding, of which “$10 million will go to marketing, $15–$25 million will go to licensing deals with the music labels, and another $15 to $25 million will be reserved for ‘general working capital,'” writes Business Insider.
  • “Interactive says the big competitive advantages for MySpace versus Spotify and Pandora is that it pays labels a lower rate for song plays than Spotify and Pandora. MySpace relies on 27 million songs from unsigned artists, who account for 50 percent of the music played on its site.”
  • The post includes Interactive Media Holdings’ pitch deck, an interesting inside look at how tech companies sell themselves for a significant funding push.

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