User Generated Video Expects 34 Billion Views in 2008

From Research Brief:

According to a recently published market report from AccuStream iMedia Research, user Generated Video (UGV) scored 22.4 billion views in 2007, up 70% over 2006. Semi professional content grabbed a 47.5% total share on MySpace TV, and the Screen Bites category on Crackle.com generated a 17.5% cumulative share of total views.

A more refined analysis, says the report, reveals average views per video of 10,695 in 2007. Crackle.com led the UGV group, averaging 216,596 per video, accelerated by its re-organization emphasizing category expansion and more professional content.

User Generated Video Market Size (total "views")
Year	Views
2005	3,250,000,000
2006	13,156,655,241
2007	22,368,960,636
2008	34,000,681,857
Source: AccuStream iMedia Research, January 2009

The report says that in the entire market segment, there were a total of 1.68 million non exclusive videos added to UGV libraries in 2007 (net of removed, retired videos) that generated views and became part of library rotation and were accessible to users, averaging 9,538 views. Almost 20% of total views generated in 2007 were delivered by videos published in 2006 or before. Yahoo Video was one of the exceptions, opting to focus almost exclusively on videos published in 2007.

Top line report findings and analysis:

(All data presented, analyzed, summarized and forecast in this research report is based on video views that are non duplicated, and double counting minimized)

• There were a total of 22.4 billion views of User Generated Content (UGV) in 2007, including professional, semi-professional and partner channel video views on UGV sites
• The market grew by an estimated 70% in 2007, up from a total 13.2 billion views generated in 2006
• The market is forecast to grow at 52% in 2008, and reach 34 billion views, as indicated by straight line linear regression analysis of current market data
• The UGV video segment is made up of several top tier brands which capture large chunks of viewing share, particularly YouTube and MySpace, as well as many second and third tier sites that contribute significantly to overall market
• It's estimated YouTube added 831,147 videos to its library in 2007 (net of all video retired or removals)
• An analysis of selected group of UGV sites reveals average views per video of 10,695
• Crackle.com was the market leader in generating views per video at 216,596, accomplished by emphasizing professional content
• Metacafe, a highly editorialized site with a mix of adult content was next at 85,505 videos per video

The report concludes that YouTube partner channels accounted for 10.6% of cumulative site views generated over the past year.

Current TV Files For IPO With SEC

MediaPost reports:

IN A MOVE SURE TO cause some heads to shake, Current TV--the network
widely identified with founder Al Gore--filed for an IPO with the SEC
on Monday. The move comes despite an overall downturn in media stocks,
an uncertain future for independent cable networks and some $32
million in losses since 2005.

The company, which operates the Current TV network and associated Web
site, said it would be known as Current Media, and plans to continue
building a global media company targeting 18- to-34-year-olds with
news and lifestyle content. The network is in some 51 million homes,
including distribution in the UK and Ireland. It has a deal to launch
in Italy this spring.

Revenue in 2007 was $63.8 million, up from $37.9 million in 2006. Net
losses increased from $7.6 million to $9.9 million. (Expenses,
including an additional $9 million-plus for programming, also went up
considerably.)

The company has lost some $31.8 million since 2005 when the Current
network went live. The IPO filing comes as share prices in media
companies have been dropping precipitously, as fears of a recession
and its ripple effect on the ad market rise. Also, the fate of
independent cable networks appears to be up in the air, with
conglomerates that control a portfolio of networks benefiting from
that heft in negotiations with both affiliates and advertisers. NBC
Universal recently acquired the Oxygen network, while the Hallmark
Channel has sought a buyer for some time.

Last year, some 84% of Current TV's revenues came from affiliate fees,
although the company said in its SEC filing that "over the longer term
the majority of our revenue growth will be derived from advertising."

Ad revenues were some $10 million in 2007, up about 25% over the year
before. The company, which has former Turner and Weather Channel
executive Liz Janneman heading sales, indicated that it will look to
build its sales staff.

Gore and co-founder, former Ohio Democratic Senatorial candidate Joel
Hyatt, will control all the Class B shares of Current Media--which
come with enhanced voting power --once the company goes public on the
NASDAQ, as planned.

In order to build its ad base until now, the company has made what
appears to be a series of category-exclusive deals with certain
marketers--"agreements with some advertisers that effectively prevent
us from selling advertising to their competitors"--according to the
filing. Toyota, Johnson & Johnson and General Electric are prominent
advertisers. The network does not yet subscribe to Nielsen ratings,
though says it plans to.

Since 2006 when Sony launched a campaign, Current has offered
marketers the opportunity to run user-generated ads--what it calls
"VCAMS," for "viewer created ad messages." About a third of Current's
programming comes from viewers, and the network seeks shorter-form
content that runs in two- to 10-minute blocks.

"Leveraging this programming platform, we have pioneered innovative
ways for blue-chip advertisers to reach and engage with our young
adult audience--an audience that is highly sought after and, we
believe, increasingly elusive in traditional media outlets," the
company wrote in the filing.

In retrospect, when it launched in 2005, Current was on the cutting
edge of the user-generated-content wave. But it arguably was soon
overtaken by the likes of YouTube.

Current, which had been in the planning stages since 2002, got its
toehold when it purchased cable network Newsworld International in
2004. That switched over to the Current network the next year in some
19 million homes.

Current's affiliate agreements, which give it distribution in some 51
million homes, are with a range of U.S. distributors, including
Comcast, DirecTV and AT&T. The company said those deals don't begin to
expire until three years down the road.

US Internet Users Are Glued to Video

Young men are the most frequent online video viewers, but US Internet
users of all ages are getting into the act. That is the main finding
of BurstMedia's "Online Insights" report, conducted in December 2007.
BurstMedia found that more than seven out of 10 adult US Internet
users surveyed had viewed online video content. A majority of all age
segments had watched online videos, including more than half of
respondents age 65 and older. Young men were viewing most often. More
than a third of the 18- to-24-year-old male online video viewers in
the survey reported that they watched once a day or more. The good
news for advertisers is that more than half of online video viewers
recalled seeing in-stream advertisements in content they had watched.

But more than three-quarters of respondents said in-stream
advertisements in online video were intrusive, and about one-half said
advertisements in video content disrupted their Web surfing
experience. Women were more likely than men to say advertisements in
video content disrupted their surfing. One-half of respondents stopped
watching an online video once they encountered an in-stream
advertisement. More than two-thirds of respondents said they paid
about the same or less attention to in-stream video advertisements
than to standard creative units on the same page.

"Marketers need to tread carefully with online video advertising,"
said Jarvis Coffin, CEO of BurstMedia. "It's pretty clear from our
research that most online video consumers are not yet willing to sit
through advertising to get the content they seek." The online video
viewer demographic characteristics reported by BurstMedia differed
somewhat from Internet users who visited video and movie Web sites.
Nielsen Online's "NetView" report, cited by the Center for Media
Research, found a nearly even split by gender among the site visitors
surveyed.

These are apples-to-oranges comparisons, since Burst was asking about
frequency of viewings among online video viewers and Nielsen profiled
unique Internet users visiting video sites.
Yet the Nielsen study indicated that 18- to-24-year-olds comprised a
small portion of visitors to such sites. What can be said is that, as
a result of their frequent online video viewing, 18-to-24-year-olds
represent an outsized percentage of all video views compared with
their numbers in the population as a whole.

YouTube Announces New and Expanded Mobile Offerings

From Streaming Media

Creating the best possible mobile video experience for users involves
allowing the community to engage with YouTube whenever they want,
wherever they are. The latest enhancements to YouTube for Mobile will
give users access to the largest repository of mobile video content
available, on over 100 million devices worldwide, and will give them
more tools to personalize their experience.

YouTube for Mobile (http://m.youtube.com) users will be able to access
tens of millions of videos. YouTube for Mobile requires a streaming
capable (RTSP) phone as well as a 3G operator. This includes a
majority of 3G phones from leading mobile phone manufacturers. YouTube
works closely with many mobile partners to improve the user experience
on YouTube for Mobile, including Motorola, LG, Helio, Nokia, and more.

Not only will users and partners have access to the largest mobile
video catalog, they also will be able to personalize their experience.
Users will now have access to features regularly used on YouTube,
including their YouTube accounts, Favorites, Videos, Channels as well
as the ability to directly upload from mobile devices and share videos
instantly. Users also will now have the ability to rate and comment on
videos directly from their mobile phones.

YouTube for Mobile seeks to provide users the ease of mobility with
all of the features found on YouTube.com. YouTube's latest mobile
offerings will be made available to users all over the world and seeks
to provide users the ease of mobility with many of the features found
on YouTube.com.

YouTube is also offering YouTube for Mobile via a free downloadable
Java application for a limited number of mobile phones, giving users a
more interactive experience. Currently in beta and available in US and
UK English, the application offers another way to access YouTube for
Mobile. At this time, the YouTube for Mobile application is supported
only on J2ME (Java) MIDP2 devices with streaming video capabilities.
This includes the Sony Ericsson k800, w880, Nokia e65, n95, n73, 6110
navigator and 6120 classic.

The expansion of YouTube's mobile offering will improve the user
experience, giving YouTube users the ability to engage the world of
video anytime and anywhere. With more mobile functionality and
features, YouTube for Mobile will also allow users to develop more
innovative original content directly from their mobile devices and
encourage new users to share and engage the community.

*YouTube for Mobile (m.youtube.com) is available in the following
countries and in the below languages: Countries: United States, Japan,
United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Brazil,
Canada, Mexico, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, New Zealand, Germany and
Russia Languages: English, Japanese, Italian, French, Spanish, Dutch,
Polish, Portuguese, Chinese (Traditional), German, Russian

Online Advertising To Face Growing Obstacles

from adotas:

Deloitte's Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) industry
predicts that, in 2008, at least one technology innovation developed
in an emerging market will become a disruptive force in Western
economies.

"Western companies understand the importance of innovating in emerging
markets," said John Hegel, co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for Edge
Innovation. "They should not miss the much larger opportunity for
innovation blowback to use emerging markets as seedbeds for innovation
that can be used to attack more entrenched positions in more developed
countries."

Meanwhile, the transformation of mobile networks from primarily
outdoor to increasingly indoor usage will create new opportunities for
network operators, who will need to move rapidly as the process of
fixed displacement takes hold. In advertising, the growing online
advertising market will contend with increasing consumer antipathy to
online ads and concerns about the tracking of online behavior.

Predictions 2008 is a series of three reports examining emerging
developments and how they will shape the TMT market. They were written
by the Deloitte TMT industry group with input from leading industry
analysts and executives. Each report includes recommendations on how
to best take advantage of these trends.

Accompanying the Global TMT Predictions this year is a closer look at
the U.S. market in a separate report called the Deloitte 2008 Industry
Outlook. This report for Technology, Media and Telecommunications
looks directly at trends impacting the U.S. market in 2008.

Key trends identified in these reports include:

Technology

– Innovation Blowback: Technology industries are demonstrating
Increased interest and investment in developing products to reach
Large, low-income populations in emerging economies such as India,
China and Latin America. In a phenomenon called innovation blowback,
expect to see at least one of these innovative products, services, or
management practices be introduced back into Western economies in
2008 and act as a disruptive force, targeting the entrenched
positions of incumbents in these more developed economies.

— Green Technology Issues: LED lights, nanotechnology and water
conservation technology predictions are all examples of how
technology will play an important roll in green issues in 2008.
Additionally, the growing importance of green technology to U.S.
corporations will lead to the creation of a new certification body
for energy-conservation claims.

– Privacy & Protection of Personally Identifiable Information: The
rising value of digital protection, the flight to privacy and a move
to online authentication will become increasingly important as
increasingly sophisticated consumer targeting plans emerge, along
with continued data security breaches involving personally
identifiable information security.

Telecom

— Getting Mobile Indoors: With an increasing portion of network traffic
moving indoors, how will mobile operators adapt to this changing
landscape? Network sharing will be a strategic decision made by many
operators in 2008.

– Accessibility as a Business Driver: Demographics are creating new
market opportunities for communications services and products. Market
segmentation will play a key role in creating new product target
markets.

— From Credit Crunch to Communications Crisis: A vital question for the
telecommunications sector is the extent to which the current credit
crunch may provoke a crisis in the telecommunications sector in 2008.

Media & Entertainment

– Online Advertising: Despite increased spending on online advertising
($10 billion invested in specialist online advertising companies
alone), there is growing antipathy by consumers to the online
advertisement and the tracking of online behavior.

– Long Live Traditional Television, Thanks to Internet Television:
Internet television will increasingly broaden the user experience of
traditional 'TV' as opposed to providing a viewing experience that
competes with it.

– The Living Room Moves Closer to Being Public Enemy Number One: More
elaborate TV/entertainment set-up in living rooms means higher energy
consumption nationwide. The media and electronics industries will
need to consider how the carbon footprint of the living room can be
reduced without returning to antiquated technology.

In-Stream Advertising: Killing or Saving Online Video?

By Ian Schafer, The ClickZ Network, Jan 25, 2008

No one can deny the strong revenue potential for online video.
However, there are many schools of thought on how that revenue
potential can be realized. Publishers and advertisers alike hope that
realization happens soon.

Most consumers probably feel differently.

A new study from Burst Media says that consumers are turned off by
in-stream ads, such as pre-roll. While advertisers and publishers
don't want to hear this, the study raises many issues that might make
you question the study's validity, second-guess its naysayers, and
even determine whether or not you should take action to address its
findings.

Ad vs. Brand Recall

The study of 2,600 respondents found that more than half (53.6
percent) of all respondents actually remembered that they'd seen ads.
But do they remember what the ads were for? Ads, especially those in
the form of a traditional TV spot, are hard to avoid, but easy to
ignore.

You'll remember it when an ad interrupts an online experience, such as
watching an online video. The number of people who remembered seeing
ads doesn't surprise me.

Of those people who remembered seeing ads, how many recall what the
ads were for? That would be a key piece of learning to take away from
this study, but alas, that statistic is nowhere to be found.

Video, Interrupted

A total of 78 percent of respondents said in-stream ads were intrusive
and 50 percent said those ads disrupted their viewing experience.

Well, yes. Ads interrupt. That's their job. No news here.

Ads and the Effect on the Viewing Experience

One in two respondents said they stopped watching a video once they
encountered an in-stream ad. And, 43 percent stuck around to watch the
content.

But here's something interesting. Those ages 18 to 24 were actually
the most tolerant of in-stream ads: 57 percent watched content past an
ad. This demographic represents the generation of on-demand, P2P,
I-want-it-now, media consumption.

To me, this actually holds promise for the online video business, and
gives me a glass half-full feeling about online video's ad-supported
future. While many bloggers and pundits zeroed in on the 15 percent of
the people who abandoned Web sites after seeing an in-stream ad, we
should instead focus on those who stuck around.

If the 18- to 24-year-old age group stats haven't surprised you,
here's another one: 38.5 percent pay more attention to in-stream video
ads than they do to standard ads.

So, while the study has provided plenty of fodder for critics of the
online video industry, it gives us quite a bit to be optimistic about.
If 18- to 24-year-olds are our future, then online video advertising's
future actually looks pretty bright.

Til then, it'd just be nice to have more studies that are more
thorough to learn more from.

BBC Signs Deal With MySpace

MySpace is teaming up with the BBC to promote some of the content from
the site to a broader audience. This signifies the site's first major
deal with a news network.

This will improve MySpace's standings in the online video world. The
site has become increasingly focused on entertainment technology such
as music and video where as its rival Facebook, has been focused on
messaging, and various other social technologies, according to Globe
and Mail.

The BBC has an existing deal with YouTube.

Simon Danker, director of digital media for BBC Worldwide stated "With
the global nature of the deal, this is a great opportunity to put the
best shows form the BBC in front of new audiences."

Under this deal, the two companies will be sharing the ad revenue.

MySpace's executive VP of marketing and content Jeff Berman was quoted
by the Associated Press to say that the deal "reflects a
fast-approaching Internet future defined by co-operation between
corporations."

YouTube Expands Mobile Reach

YouTube is opening its services to run on millions more handset phones
which the company announced today.

The company is expanding its service availability from a few phones to
a wide range used by 100 million users globally that stream videos to
mobile screens, reports Reuters.

Dwipal Desia, YouTube's mobile product manager was quoted to say "It's
basically the full YouTube experience you can get on the desktop – on
the phone. We expect it to get fairly popular from our past
experiences."

Only now has the company made full mobile video service available to
iPhone users and select Helio devices, the report continued.

A limited version of the site will become available to Verizon
Wireless phone users as the technology is not quite capable yet of
supporting fuller streaming services.

Desia told Reuters in an interview of the company that "Right now we
are focused on building a user base on alternative screens and we'll
look at monetization in the future."

YouTube for Mobile will be made available in 17 countries and 11
languages, the report concluded.

EyeWonder Launches Campaigns For OMD & Tequila

EyeWonder Inc., a rich media and digital video advertising company
announced this week the launch of a round of major campaigns from
agencies OMD and Tequila that leverage EyeWonder's In-Stream 2.0
Research Initiative.

This anticipated to advance current levels of pre-roll video
advertising effectiveness and measurements by testing, tracking and
analyzing user behavior tied to new video-based rich media ad
platforms and formats.

John Vincent, CEO of EyeWonder stated "These campaigns represent
significant progress in our In-Stream 2.0 Research Initiative, a
project that will result in new standards and expectations for
in-stream advertising. Through our collaboration with leading agencies
like OMD, Tequila and their clients, we are generating the empirical
data we need to drive quantifiable and meaningful innovation that
optimizes the in-stream advertising experience for users, advertisers
and publishers. This initiative is just another example of what we do
best: leveraging our experience and technology to drive further
innovation and richer results for the interactive advertising
industry."

EyeWonder has partnered with third-party research provider
InsightExpress for the In-Stream 2.0 Research Initiative.

David Goodrich, West Coast director of OMD Digital said "As a primary
partner in this initiative, we greatly appreciate the impact it will
have on the effectiveness and measurement of the in-stream advertising
and the overall online advertising experience. We look forward to
putting the findings to use on more and more upcoming EyeWonder
In-Stream 2.0 campaigns."

Audience for video sharing sites nearly doubles

From bizReports:

Over the last year the audience for video sharing websites has doubled
according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Researchers
found that 48% of adults said they had visited a video sharing site in
December 2007.

In December 2006 only 33% of users said they had visited a video
sharing site; that is an increase of 45% year over year. About 15% of
the respondents in 2007 said they had visited a video sharing site the
day prior to the survey; in 2006 only 8% said the same thing.

This is a very large growth span for the year and an indication that
online video is continuing to increase in popularity. While growth
such as the 45% increase cannot continue indefinitely, it is clear
that users are becoming accustomed to visiting these sites on a
regular basis. This means that advertisers will soon have even more
reach into the audience segment.

As online video continues to grow, though, advertisers will need to
grow their own video capabilities and increase their targeting
methods. Sponsoring video content or segments will likely become a
large part of the video ad spends. Advertisers will also need to have
unique ideas for their online ads.

While consumers have indicated that watching video ads rather than
paying for content is preferred, if the ads offered aren't engaging,
users will tune them out.

Former DoubleClick Execs Launch Video Ad Rights Management Firm

from clickZ;

Aiming to solve a "vexing and challenging problem" facing online
video, three former DoubleClick officials today launched FreeWheel, a
company with patent-pending technology designed to automate, for
publishers and portals, many decisions about video ad revenue.

The New York-based company said three major clients -- Joost,
NextNewNetworks and Jumpstart Automotive Media -- have already signed
up to use its "Monetization Rights Management" (MRM) technology,
described as a platform that can determine on the fly who is permitted
to sell ads against syndicated or networked content, who shares the
money and how much is distributed to each recipient.

"The focus of what we are doing is to solve a vexing and challenging
problem in the industry," said FreeWheel co-founder and co-CEO Douglas
Knopper, former CEO of Bitpass and SVP and GM for ad management at
DoubleClick. "The real question is, who gets to sell the ads, under
what conditions and who gets paid how much?" Knopper said the music
industry "somewhat solved" a similar problem through the use of
digital rights management (DRM). But unlike MRM, DRM is "a
constraining solution," he said.

"It doesn't allow the content to be distributed beyond a very limited
set of users," said Knopper. "The way we see the world… consumers want
the videos to be distributed far and wide. They are OK with it being
ad-supported."

Knopper asserted FreeWheel's MRM works with content owners and
distributors to allow them to make decisions on when an ad is first
supposed to appear, who gets to sell the ads, which ads get served and
how the revenue is "divied up."

Joining Knopper at FreeWheel are the company's other co-founders,
Jonathan Heller and Diane Yu. Heller, who is co-CEO, spent six years
as the operating officer of the DoubleClick Media Network, followed by
positions as COO/CFO of Visible World and VP/General Manager at Yahoo.
Yu, FreeWheel's CTO, was VP of Engineering at DoubleClick, where she
was involved in the development of the DART ad serving platform.

In its launch announcement, FreeWheel suggested its MRM approach might
resolve one of the disagreements underlyling the current Writers'
Guild strike. It explained that, since revenue sharing from digital
marketing is at the center of the dispute, "MRM's ability to account
for complicated dispersals automatically" would avoid the unclear
"Hollywood Accounting" practices that provoked the strike.

Knopper said one challenge facing FreeWheel is winning over content
owners, distributors and publishers that already have payment systems
in place. "They don't want to rip out their existing systems," he
said. "What's happened is the problem has kind of stalled the
industry. They are just not syndicating their content and the ones
that are are doing it manually or with a hodgepodge of systems that
aren't meeting their need."

YuMe Powers NBC Dire

YuMe, the first ad network dedicated to broadband video, and NBC
announced that YuMe's ad platform has been chosen to provide ad
management, campaign management, trafficking and reporting for the new
NBC Direct service.

NBC Direct is an online destination that offers free access to NBC
primetime programs. CEP and co-founder of YuMe stated "We're excited
to be a part of this historic effort to deliver, for the first time
ever, free on-demand access to primetime programming for consumers.
Over the coming months, we will provide NBC with new and unprecedented
abilities to service their advertising clients in connection with the
online viewing of premium content via NBC Direct."

Vivi Zigler, Executive VP of NBC Digital Entertainment said "We
believe we have found an excellent partner in YuMe to help us bring to
viewers their first free, on-demand access to the best programming our
network has to offer. Our network has a proud tradition of innovation
and leadership when it comes to bringing content to viewers in new
ways and NBC Direct will be another milestone in this proud history at
the network."

Programs that are currently available include "30 Rock", "The Office",
"Heroes", "My Name Is Earl", "Medium", "American Gladiators",
"Celebrity Apprentice", "Friday Night Lights", "Late Night with Conan
O'Brien" and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."

Video Drives Apple's Innovation

from streaming media:
SAN FRANCISCO—As happened last year, Apple succeeded in turning heads
just after the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). At last year's event,
Apple CEO Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone, which he reported at this
year's keynote on Tuesday is only second behind the Blackberry in
terms of smartphone sales in the U.S. After being on the market for
exactly 200 days, Apple has sold 4 million to date or 20,000 iPhones
every day. From a national perspective, Apple's iPhone in its first
quarter of shipping stood at 19.5% of the total market, behind
Research In Motion's Blackberry at 39.0% but better than Palm,
Motorola, and Nokia combined.

"We equaled these three in first 90 days of shipment," said an
exuberant Jobs. "The numbers for the December quarter, when they are
announced, look like they'll be even better."

About an hour prior to this year's keynote at Macworld San Francisco
(MWSF), though, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) fought back
with a well-timed press release titled "2008 International CES Reigns
as Global Stage for New Technology Innovation." But, as happened last
year, Apple pushed aside the critics and released several key products
that will drive the CES companies back to the drawing board.

The one that will get the most attention as a hardware gadget is a new
ultra-thin Macbook laptop called Macbook Air. The product has
impressive specifications (incredible thinness of .76" to .016" – 60%
thinner than the next closest competitor, the Sony TZ series which is
1.2" to .8" thick – a 13.3" widescreen and a 45 nanometer Core 2 duo
at 1.6Ghz standard or 1.8Ghz option). Apple asked Intel to shrink the
Core 2 Duo by 60%, which Jobs said was the single most important
innovation to allow Apple the ability to build Macbook Air. Of course,
with H.264 as the primary codec in Apple's arsenal and a move to HD
content playback, Apple's desire to put a Core 2 Duo in the Macbook
Air was a strict requirement, as no single core processor would be
able to consistently handle H.264 decoding of HD movies. The battery
decision—Apple claims 5 hours of battery life on the new Macbook
Air—is as much about being able to complete the viewing of a movie as
it is about application productivity.

Broadband Enterprises Receives $10 Million Strategic Equity Investment from Velocity Interactive Group

New York (January 17, 2008) - Broadband Enterprises, the premiere
online video network, today announced it has received a $10 million
strategic equity investment. The Company's inaugural equity investment
was raised with Velocity Interactive Group, a leading global digital
media and communications investment firm.

"This strategic investment highlights the exceptional operating
performance we achieved in 2007 and underscores the value proposition
of our company," said Matt Wasserlauf, CEO, Broadband Enterprises. "By
working closely with Velocity Interactive Group and putting our
world-class agency, brand advertiser, content publisher and video
producer clients at the forefront of everything we do, Broadband
Enterprises will continue to deliver an unmatched online video
experience."

"Over the past four years Broadband Enterprises has built a highly
successful online video monetization engine, which has grown rapidly
throughout 2007," said Jonathan Miller, Partner, Velocity Interactive
Group. "We expect the growth to be bigger and faster as the company
executes its 2008 strategic plan."

The money raised will complement re-invested free cash flow and be
used to accelerate the Company's strategic growth initiatives,
including expanding the breadth and depth of content – through
partnerships with established media companies and from emerging video
producers – and launching new client-centric, scalable technology
solutions.

With Velocity Interactive Group's investment, Jonathan Miller will
join the Broadband Enterprises board of directors and advise the
Company on strategic matters.

Jefferies & Company acted as financial advisor to Broadband
Enterprises in this transaction.

WPP May Absorb Spot Runner, VideoEgg, Visible, JumpTap

Online TV spot buying platform Spot Runner could be the next
acquisition for WPP Group, reports The New York Post.

Spot Runner allows advertisers to create TV spots targeted by
demographic or geographic locations, with customized information
inserted automatically wherever the spot runs.

Video and ad network VideoEgg, mobile marketing shop JumpTap, and
social media monitoring firm Visible may also be WPP Group acquisition
targets.
The speculation was born after WPP chief Sir Martin Sorrell said one
purchase or more may be in the near future.

WPP Group already owns online ad company 24/7 Real Media, which it
acquired last May. Refinery, an interactive agency, was also purchased
last year.

Zenith Restructures Video Buying.

From MediaPost:

ZENITH MEDIA USA, THE FLAGSHIP unit of Publicis Groupe's
ZenithOptimedia Group, this morning announced what it called a "major
restructuring" of its media buying operations, naming long-term
broadcast buying diva Peggy Green Vice Chairman, and putting in charge
of a new "video investments and marketplace approach."

Green, who reports to ZenithOptimedia North America CEO Tim Jones,
will oversee the integration of all video-based media buying
operations, consolidating traditional broadcast and cable buying
departments, with video buying duties for emerging platforms such as
online video. The move is similar to the restructuring and integration
of video buying, or "activation" departments popping up across Madison
Avenue, especially at Zenith's sister shops, Starcom and MediaVest,
both of which adopted those strategies a couple of years ago.

The move also comes as video advertising and content is jumping off
the personal screens of TV, PCs and hand-helds, into a variety of
public venues within a burgeoning out-of-home digital video
advertising marketplace, which is seeing many traditional TV players -
companies like CBS and NBC - jumping into the space - literally (see
today's MediaDailyNews).

Video download business snowballing

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Video downloads will grow from 215 million in 2008 to more than 2.4
billion in 2012, with rentals accounting for about half of these,
according to new research published Thursday.

Research group ABI said rental, download-to-own and subscription
models will all see significant traction as new solutions for bringing
online video to the TV flourish. However, most downloads -- about half
-- will be through rental, in particular for online movie rentals, it
said.

"The opening up of rental for video on iTunes is not surprising, given
that is how most consumers looking for legal paid movie downloads will
choose to acquire them," ABI research director Michael Wolf said.

"Distribution offerings for movies that are in attractive release
windows and that offer easy viewing on a TV or portable screen will
see the greatest success."

However, challenges still remain for this market, ABI said,
particularly competition from legacy VOD services as well as
unattractive ownership and rental terms offered by the studios.

The group added that rival service providers such as cable and IPTV
are offering impressive VOD libraries to consumers through their
traditional pay video services, and increasingly video service
providers such as Comcast are expanding into over-the-top streaming.

Additionally, ABI said over-the-top rental terms are becoming
unattractive as the studios dictate the same rental terms to all
distributors, even iTunes. "Studios are locked into the same 24-hour
'once-started' viewing window and similar pricing for all online
rental partners," Wolf said. "We believe that over time they will
begin to offer greater flexibility, in particular as DVD and other
physical media continue to mature and new consumer Internet-to-TV
hardware expands their audience of consumers."

Google Sees Surge in iPhone Traffic

Form the NY Times:

Of all the iPhone's features, none had reviewers gushing more than
its Internet browser. It was the first cellphone browser that promised
something resembling the experience of surfing the Internet on a PC.
Santa helped deliver on that promise.

On Christmas, traffic to Google from iPhones surged, surpassing
incoming traffic from any other type of mobile device, according to
internal Google data made available to The New York Times. A few days
later, iPhone traffic to Google fell below that of devices powered by
the Nokia-backed Symbian operating system but remained higher than
traffic from any other type of cellphone.

The data is striking because the iPhone, an Apple product, accounts
for just 2 percent of smartphones worldwide, according to IDC, a
market research firm. Phones powered by Symbian make up 63 percent of
the worldwide smartphone market, while those powered by Microsoft's
Windows Mobile have 11 percent and those running the BlackBerry system
have 10 percent.

The iPhone has taken the frustration out of browsing on a mobile
phone, said Charles Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Company.

Other companies confirmed the trends, if not the specific data,
observed by Google. Yahoo, for instance, said iPhones accounted for a
disproportionate amount of its mobile traffic. And AdMob, a firm that
shows billions of ads on mobile Web sites every month, said it saw
traffic from iPhones surge drastically around Christmas.

"Consumers are going to demand Internet browsers" as good as Apple's,
said Vic Gundotra, a Google vice president who oversees mobile
products.

Mr. Gundotra said Web browsers as capable as the iPhone's could also
prove a boon for developers of mobile software, who have long
struggled to adapt their programs to different types of phones. As it
does on the PC, he said, the browser could provide a more homogeneous
"layer" for programmers.

"The reason no one considered this seriously is that the Web layer on
mobile devices was terrible," he said. Google has taken advantage of
the capabilities of the iPhone browser to create a product, internally
called Grand Prix, that it says provides easy access to many of the
company's services, including search, Gmail, Reader and Picasa.

Google, which developed the first version of Grand Prix in six weeks,
is introducing a new version on Monday, just six weeks after the first
one. That is a speed of development not previously possible on mobile
phones, he said.

green Sites

We're observing many emerging sites like BeVerty.com which is owned by The Gaia Store in the green space. Should video also arise on those sites?

Anyway, I really like beverty.com and I hope it'll get the traffic this beta site deserves!

Check it out here or here.

Traffic To Video-Sharing Sites Double Year-Ago

ON A TYPICAL DAY NEAR the end of 2007, the share of Web users going to video-sharing sites like YouTube was nearly twice as large as it was in 2006, according to new data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. What's more, in December, nearly half (48%) of Internet users reported visiting a video-sharing site, up from 33% at the end of 2006.

About 15% of respondents said they had used a video-sharing site "yesterday"--the day before they were contacted for the survey. A year ago, 8% had visited such a site "yesterday." Thus, on an average day, the number of users of video sites nearly doubled from the end of 2006 to the end of 2007.

These results come from a survey of 2,054 American adults conducted between Oct. 24 and Dec. 2, 2007.

"The dramatic growth in the population using video-sharing sites is tied at least in part to the popularity of such sites among men, younger adults (those under age 30), and college graduates," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project. "Nearly a third of wired young adults (30%) watch a video on a site like YouTube on a typical day, and fully a fifth of online men (20%) do the same."

At the same time, growth in daily traffic surged among some other demographic groups. Among women, for example, use on an average day jumped from 5% to 11%--or an increase of 120%. And among those ages 30 to 49, use on a typical day increased from 7% to 14%--an increase of 100%.

Growth in traffic is also linked to the spread of broadband connections. In Pew's December 2006 survey, 45% of all American adults said they had broadband at home, and in this most recent survey, 54% of all adults said they had high-speed connections at home.

Online Video Attracts Six Out of Ten Internet Users Weekly

According to the latest Horowitz Associates report, Broadband Content and Services 2007, six out of ten high speed Internet users watch/download online video content at least once a week and 86% do so on a monthly basis, compared to 45% and 71%, respectively, in the 2006 study. News and user-generated, non-professional content are the most often viewed genres, followed by movie previews/trailers, music videos, and previews/segments of TV shows.

Weekly viewing of full episodes of television shows doubled from last year, with 16% of high speed Internet users watching TV online on a weekly basis.

NBC and ABC are the networks Internet users mention the most frequently for online TV content, with Grey's Anatomy being the most often mentioned TV program viewed online.

While consumption of broadband video has grown, the study shows that television is still the preferred platform for traditional TV content:

70% of Internet users who watch TV online say do so because they missed the episode on TV
18% of these respondents say they watch TV shows online to watch them again after having watched them on TV
20%watch TV shows online just when they happen to find them or when someone else tells them about them
13% of Internet users who watch TV shows online say they watch them directly online, and not on regular TV.

Breakthrough TiVo Innovation Allows Customers to Easily Download Internet Video Automatically to Their Television Sets

TiVo Applies Highly Valued Season Pass Functionality to Web Video Further Demonstrates TiVo’s Commitment to Providing a One-Box, One-Stop Destination for all Entertainment and Content Needs

Widevine and Move Networks

Widevine Technologies, the only provider of multiformat, multiplatform DRM and the recognized “Switzerland of DRM”, today announced it has integrated with Move Networks, a leading provider of digital media publishing and delivery services. The integration delivers a complete and secure end-to-end solution for monetizing online video delivery and enables major media companies to secure Internet TV, copyrights, ad-based revenue and geo-political boundaries.