Also: GooglePhone | Scoopt | Vuguru | Men's mags | Podzinger | Web via TV | Microsoft's financial MySpace | Switchover subsidy | South Bank podcasts | Rocketboom | Country Life
Yet more rampant Google speculation, this time over the company's plans for online video ads. Google is reported to be partnering with some TV companies to serve targeted video ads.
Wall Street Journal reported that Google had been working with Astound Broadband cable subscribers to sell some spots to advertisers. The prize, if Google can focus its very clever targeting processes on TV audiences, is a share of the $54bn US TV ad market.
By coincidence, last night I discovered Spotrunner which sells pre-made video ads that can be customised. Like clip art, but for video ads. Superb idea, and they sell for $499 a shot. The Spotrunner guys don't have to worry just yet, says Om Malik, because Google is only experimenting at this stage and the equivalent print and radio experiments have had a mixed response. Still, the $10bn revenue off web ads isn't bad.
Rumour alert: the GooglePhone?
Now that Apple iPhone madness has died down, the tech-sphere needs a new mystery phone project to obsess over. This time it's a Google mobile phone, supposedly complete with Qwerty keyboard, wireless and 3G connectivity and a 2 "megabucket" camera. This is al about GoogleMaps on the go, surely? (Engadget, which incidentally also links to a stealth photo of Steve Jobs using his iPhone in public. Maybe.)
Getty buys Scoopt
It was only a matter of time. The giant, copyright-sucking behemoth that is Getty has bought Scoopt, our home-grown citizen journalism photo agency.
Congratulations to Kyle and the others at Scoopt. The sum is undisclosed but I'm sure the guys will be suitably compensated for their work over the last two-or-so years - not least Kyle's sterling contributions to those very long and often frustrating inter-union discussions about citizen journalism.
It's the first acquisition Getty has made in this area, but certainly not the last.
I seem to remember that I owe Kyle a pint, but I might have to let that one go. (Release)
Former Disney chief's new web project
Former Disney chief executive Michael Eisner has launched a new digital studio through Torante, his private investment firm. Vuguru will develop web-specific content and its first project "Prom Queen" is a scripted series of 80 90-second episodes. Prom Queen will be distributed through ELLEgirl.com, YouTube and Veoh: Torante was one of a group of investors that put $12.5m into Veoh in April 2006. There's far too little creative investment in web-pure formats, and even if Prom Queen sounds like something that would make me want to eat my own flesh, I wish it all the best. (USA Today)
Men's magazines online
Research put out by Nielsen//NetRatings this morning puts Maxim some way ahead of the market at 479,000 unique users during January 2007. FHM is 27% behind that on 378,000 users and Monkey is third with 347,000. Digging a little deeper, the top three titles vie for the number one spot but the Dennis brands (Maxim, Monkey and Bizarre) were the fastest growing between October 2006 and January this year. Loaded had the biggest proportion of male readers at 88% but GQ only had 45% male readers - rather astonishing for a mens' title. (Release)
Sinister YouTube crawling
More brilliance from Beet.TV. The site has an exclusive on Podzinger speec-to-text technology which is being used to trawl YouTube, transcribe video clips and scan for "security concerns". Podzinger has trawled 1.5m clips since December last year with around 80% accuracy. (Beet.TV)
Microsoft and Google push for web access via TV airwaves
A coalition of six US tech companies is meeting the Federal Communications Commission today to convince them that spare TV frequencies should be used for internet connectivity. Microsoft, Google, Dell HP, Intel and Philips are presenting a prototype device to the FCC and if that is approved, it could be on sale in early 2009. (Washington Post)
Microsoft's MySpace for the finance community
We'll see a gazillion more of these as companies try to focus the MySpace model on more targeted communities. Microsoft is focusing on financial professionals with the "Dynamics Live Beta Community" which launches this week. All the usual features - blogs, forums, tagging and so on - but as Mary Jo Foley points out here, how much time and information will this kind of audience be willing to share? Still, I guess it's easy to sell the idea to advertisers. (ZDNet)
US analogue households to get $40 for switchover
US households using analogue TV will get a $40 subsidy to buy digital converter boxes as part of government initiative. The scheme would roll out from 1 January 2008, anticipating the US analogue switch-off on 17 February 2009. The cost of a digital converter box will be around $50-60, though 20m households still rely on analogue services. (Reuters)
South Bank Show podcasts
ITV1's first podcast The South Bank Show is being downloaded up to 150,000 times a month, say the producers. The first launched in September 2006 with the South Ban's exclusive JG Ballard interview, and some additional material that was unique to the podcast. Forthcoming podcasts and vodcasts will include Tim Burton, Morrissey and Humphrey Lyttelton.
Revamp/redesign/relaunch
- Rocketboom, which became synonymous with the rise of web video, is introducing a news recommendation tool somewhere along the lines of Digg. (Vecosys)
- Country Life has overhauled its website, but that's just not the same in the doctor's waiting room.
- Centaur has launched HeadlineAuto.co.uk, a resource for motoring journalists.
- Time Media has launched beerology.co.uk. No prizes.
