Archive for March 4th, 2008

USA Network kept its ratings streak alive last week, winning its ninth straight prime-time crown of 2008 with an average delivery of 2.78 million total viewers.

According to Nielsen Media Research data for the week ended March 2, USA also took the adults 25-54 demo, averaging 1.19 million viewers, while slipping a notch to the number-two spot among adults 18-49 (1.15 million). The NBC Universal net finished third among viewers 18-34 (513,000).

With the original series Monk and Psyche on seasonal hiatus, USA relied on its WWE Raw package to drive ratings. The Monday night wrestling showcase averaged 5.03 million viewers on Feb. 25 between the hours of 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., making it the third most-watched program on ad-supported cable last week.
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CondéNet UK, the digital arm of magazine publisher Condé Nast, is taking its mobile sites off-portal to allow it to sell ads and to market the sites online and in print, reports Brand Republic. This week, GQ Mobile and Glamour Mobile will be the first to go exclusively off portal. Currently, they are available only on Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) Live and O2 Active. CondeNet also plans to roll out Vogue Mobile off portal next and plans to take all of its mobile sites off portal by the end of the year. CondeNet’s mobile editor Charlotte Duck told Brand Republic that being on the network’s portals meant that the operators controlled the advertising, and sometimes the editorial content. “Now that we own the sites we can sell pages to our own clients and cut out the middle man,” said Duck. She also reported that they’d actually been considering the move for a “long time” but the operator’s high price for off-portal browsing had put them off. Now that data prices have fallen, Duck expects many of her competitors to do the same. CondeNet has teamed up with Wapfly to format their content for the mobile web.

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Facebook has landed a top executive from Google to help establish the young company’s business model and operations during its ongoing meteoric growth phase.

Sheryl Sandberg has been named as Facebook’s new chief operation officer. Sandberg was most recently vp of global online sales and operations at Google, where she helped build the company’s extremely successful AdWords and AdSense businesses. Prior to her six-year tenure at Google, where she also focused on the company’s global growth, Sandberg served as chief of staff to the U.S. Treasury in President Clinton’s administration.
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So far, 2008 hasn’t been good to the music industry - not that the year before was, or even the year before that.

Copyright law reform and anti-piracy issues are being debated by Canadian politicians and music industry leaders. Just days into 2008, Nielsen SoundScan Canada confirmed that modest digital music sales in Canada (1.98 million out of a total 44.4 million albums sold last year) won’t likely make up for the long-term decline of the CD. Piracy aside, there are more options than ever for consumers looking to get their music for free, and eat it too.

But in the spirit of a sponsor-packed Canadian Music Week (March 5-8, www.cmw.net), MiC is staying positive on the issue. Websites are appearing that let fans act as investors for their favourite bands (slicethepie.com) or download music for free - with advertising attached (Airtist and Spiralfrog). Amid the gloomy industry headlines and talk about how music industry sellers could compete in a marketplace dominated by Apple’s iTunes, there was an interesting ad that aired during the Super Bowl. Amazon.com promo’d its relatively new MP3 service by offering a billion free downloads, courtesy of Justin Timberlake and Pepsi.

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Tatweer, a member of Dubai Holding, announced today a strategic alliance with US-based Six Flags Inc., the world’s largest theme park company, to develop thrill-driven theme parks across the Arab world and beyond.

The highlight of the strategic alliance will be the development of Six Flags DUBAILAND, a five million square feet multi-billion dirham theme park within the world’s largest tourism, leisure and entertainment destination.

The first Six Flags project to be developed outside of North America, the theme park comes as part of Tatweer’s tactical contribution to Dubai Strategic Plan 2015, which aims to develop the emirate into a leading global hub for tourism and leisure, said a statement.

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ENTERTAINMENT electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi has defied gloomy forecasts of a consumer slowdown and will step up its branded store rollout.

The retailer today upgraded its branded store rollout guidance to 150 from a previous target of 120, with as many as 15 new stores to be opened annually over the next four to five years.

JB Hi-Fi’s vote of confidence in consumers came just minutes before the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) lifted the official cash rate by another 25-basis points to 7.25 per cent.

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The central bank wants to curb inflation by reining in demand and said today there were some signs of moderation in household demand already.
The RBA’s concerns cut a contrast with the upbeat outlook from JB Hi-Fi boss Richard Uechtritz.

“We have a very strong retail model, which has been strengthened by the recent addition of games, computers and telecommunications,” Mr Uechtritz said in a statement.

“Close to half our stores are still to complete the three-year maturity ramp up.

“With so many new store opportunities, we remain very excited about the growth opportunities over the coming years.”

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Now that the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike is over, creative and technical staffs are back to work creating programming that is destined for worldwide consumption. The strike, of course, was based on the amount of money writers will receive for the rental and sales of content in digital media from, among them, online content rentals, streaming, and purchases.

Whether at the CES, IBC, or NAB shows, the common theme starting in 2007 and continuing in 2008 is to provide consumers with “whatever content on whatever device wherever and whenever they want it.” There are undeniable social trends occurring on a worldwide basis. In the U.S., the number of people who consume news online is growing.  In Europe, content consumed on mobile devices is higher than in the U.S. Online advertising at the end of 2004 was $9.3 billion, with sales projected to reach $18.9 billion by 2010.

And, as importantly, the essential concept and definition of “broadcasting” is being reworked and recrafted literally before our very eyes and ears. The major U.S. television networks are, of course, multifaceted. They are broadcasters but they are also portal destinations. Current TV (www.current.com), co-founded by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, reaches over 52 million people worldwide, and approximately 30% of Current’s programming is based on user-generated content.

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I have the Wii system and I’m pretty psyched to pick up this game although I’m low in funds and it’ll have to wait. I’m curious how the Wii controllers will work with the gameplay, and also curious how many product placements the game will have in it. Do any of you have the game? Comment below and let us know how the game play is and whether you’ve counted the placements!

- Jon Chattman

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Holy crap, there’s an image fiesta over at Just Jared today! Above, you can see part of one of the first images of Liev Schreiber’s Sabretooth, one of the main dudes in X-Men Origins: Wolverine — and the bitter adversary of Hugh Jackman’s Logan, of course. They might only be behind-the-scenes stills of craft service, conversation, and wardrobe, but they’re a great collection of shots.

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HONG KONG — Pakistani cinema is entering the international age with moves to normalize the country’s own movie industry and the reversing of a 43-year embargo against Indian films. Caretaker minister for industries, Salman Taseer on Saturday announced that the entertainment sector has been granted ‘industry status’ following a decision by the Cabinet.

Spanning studios, production companies and animation, the status is intended to allow the sector to build infrastructure, conduct research and engage in training schemes.

“Duty-free import of equipment related to this industry will also be allowed,” he said.

Industry status may also allow normal financial interaction with other parts of the economy. Neighboring India’s granting of industry status eight years ago foreshadowed bank lending and outside financial investments in the sector and a modernization boom.

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