Hollytorial

The Dark Knight took the world by storm on Blu-ray and DVD, breaking records for 2008. The blockbuster hit from acclaimed director Christopher Nolan became an instant must-own classic with Blu-ray sales of over 1.7 million units and total DVD and Blu-ray sales of 13.5 million worldwide, including consumer sales and rental sales, in one week. Brisk consumer sales – totaling over 10 million with one week of sales reported - are expected to continue through the holiday season. The Dark Knight is the best selling Blu-ray title in history and will become the best selling 2008 title overall this week. The response to the digital copy offering included on the Blu-ray and Special Edition DVD has been remarkable with the number of consumers activating their digital copies approaching 300,000. The Dark Knight is already the number one movie for the year on the iTunes 2008 Chart.

The Dark Knight marks the first time that a major feature film has been shot in part using IMAX cameras, marking a revolutionary integration of film formats. The Dark Knight Blu-ray disc takes advantage of the marriage of IMAX and 35mm formats by using the hybrid master to replicate the unique theatrical experience. The IMAX scenes are also included on the 2-disc Special Edition as bonus materials.

The Dark Knight comes from Academy Award nominated filmmaker Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, The Prestige, Memento), and features commanding performances from Christian Bale (Batman Begins, 3:10 to Yuma, The Prestige), Academy Award Winner Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules, Children of Men), Academy Award Nominee Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain), Gary Oldman (Hannibal, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), Aaron Eckhart (Thank You For Smoking, No Reservations), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Stranger Than Fiction, World Trade Center) and Academy Award^® Winner Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby, Wanted).

Panache, the ad-insertion platform for major media and entertainment companies, today announced that its Media Maps have resulted in nearly one billion online video ads to date. The figure reflects more than an 850 percent increase from 2007, and underscores significant usage from major media and entertainment companies looking to drive ad-driven in-stream revenue. Panache expects its ASP platform, which enables unlimited video ad avails and performance of ad insertions with its patent-pending Media Map technology, to process its billionth ad in January, 2009.

Panache is now working with more than 15 major publishers to productize their business, dynamically create ad avails, and provide in-stream ad insertion into a wide array of premium video content. Media and entertainment companies with multi-channel in-house ad sales need straightforward solutions that promote profitability from their online video operations. Panache’s open platform provides major networks the infrastructure to create unlimited ad avails, support both live and on-demand video ad insertion, report on video and advertising and drive greater efficiencies for ad operations, ad sales and technology groups.

“Networks and major publishers are struggling with how to drive efficiencies across key areas including ad products, player engineering and ad operations,” said Steve Robinson, president of Panache. “As the online video advertising industry continues to mature, publishers are increasingly looking for ways to productize operations, streamline their efforts and gain better control. Major networks need an ad insertion and reporting solution that provides a comprehensive infrastructure without affecting existing workflows. They also seek quick and sustainable profits for all their video—short form, long form, on-demand and live streams.”

Despite the economic downturn, online video advertising spend is projected to reach close to $1 billion in 2009, as more traditional media companies distribute professional-quality content online (eMarketer). According to Comscore, 77 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed an online video in October, with the projected number of online video advertising viewers expected to reach 174.8 million in 2012 (eMarketer).

In addition to publisher success, Panache has also grown its ecosystem of partners this year. More than a dozen major partnership deals were forged in 2008, including a joint venture with Adobe to insert in-video ads into the Adobe Media Player (AMP). Panache also expanded its reach into rich media by joining with interactive in-video advertising leader PointRoll. Other major relationships include Microsoft, thePlatform and Adify.

The Panache platform reduces the cost and complexity of ad insertion and awards media and entertainment companies total control of ads in any syndication or distribution. As networks move more content online, options expand to make full use of programming. Panache’s agnostic approach gives publishers highly flexible ad product choices and immediate opportunity to monetize video content.

Panache’s proprietary Media Mapping technology orchestrates ad insertion into any number or combination of avails. Dynamic and easily changeable, this technology ensures that every ad insertion, including the video’s entire ad experience, occurs exactly as planned.

Video delivery platform provider GridNetworks today announced support for GridCast TV on the Sony PlayStation 3. The GridCast TV service, which launched last month, enables content distributors and owners to stream video directly over the Internet to viewers’ TVs without requiring a set-top box or any other additional hardware. GridCast TV uses existing UPnP (universal plug and play) devices such as the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Internet-enabled TVs.

GridCast TV can now be viewed by anyone with an Internet-connected Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. With combined support for these two gaming consoles, which hold a majority of console market share, GridCast TV can reach over 36 million homes worldwide, with roughly half of those in the U.S. These numbers are also growing quickly, with Microsoft recently announcing the biggest Black Friday ever for the Xbox 360, with record sales on one of the biggest shopping days of the year for U.S. retailers.

“Microsoft and Sony know that today’s console gamers are perfectly suited for new TV offerings,” said broadband media expert Colin Dixon in a report for TDG, a market planning and research firm that is a leading voice regarding the diffusion of broadband video. “The segment is dominated by males between the ages of 18 and 35—a prized advertising demographic—with little sense of loyalty to their ‘local’ cable or telephone company. They are also heavy viewers of online video and quite comfortable spending money for online digital media.”

Dixon’s report for TDG further quantifies this dynamic, with numbers that underline the opportunity available to video content distributors who can reach gaming console audiences:

• Approximately 190 million households will use a next-generation game console by 2012;
• 80% of these households—148 million—will have this console connected to the Internet; and
• 75% of connected-console households—more than 110 million—will use console-based video services at least a couple times each week.

GridNetworks CEO Tony Naughtin said, “Support for the PlayStation 3 further broadens the Internet reach we give content owners into their viewers’ living rooms. And just as with GridCast TV over the Xbox 360 and Internet-enabled TVs, our customers don’t have to give their content to a third party, or negotiate with cable or satellite providers. They remain in control of their brand, content, and revenue.”

Bambuser, the popular free live video streaming service and community, today announces the beta-release of their website www.bambuser.com. Visitors will find a thoroughly renovated site with improved functionality, smoother interface and a much better workflow.

Bambuser is created for everyone that wants to share their experiences with friends, family, colleagues or the world - live on the web. The free service includes live video streaming from mobile phones and web-cams, web to mobile chat, geo-positioning and integration of notification services like Twitter and Jaiku. Bambuser is extensively used by both consumers and professional users as a truly innovative way of communicating with their audience.

The new design will facilitate watching, searching and sharing of content and is a move towards international expansion on the growing market of mobile live video. The significantly improved player will also now offer a much better experience for all users and viewers, especially when embedded on external sites.

“We are very excited to release this beta-version of Bambuser.com. Our aim is to keep listening to our users and visitors and constantly improve their experience when using Bambuser ” says Jonas Vig, CEO of Bambuser.

The launch of the new upgraded website is another big step for the young start-up Bambuser. Over the last year Bambuser has attracted a lot of users all over the world and have gained a good international traction. Today news companies like Svenska Dagbladet frequently use the Bambuser service and Swedish TV4 recently used Bambuser to cover parts of Idol 2008. Bambuser is also engaged in partnerships with established companies such as Qbrick and Polopoly.

In November 2008, Bambuser won a SIME award for the best mobile solution and was awarded with “Guldmobilen” for best multimedia service at Guldmobilgalan, held in Stockholm November 2007.

Here’s to a prosperous and successful 2009!

“We are encouraged by this new effort by the record companies to focus on creative, positive and collaborative approaches to promote safe and legal ways for artists and their fans to use the Internet to share music. Consumers’ enthusiastic response to the growing number of Web sites and other online sources that provide legal access to original, high-quality video and music shows that creators, technologists and consumers can all thrive in the Internet ecosystem.

Collaborative approaches, such as these, give consumers the opportunity to access music in a safe and legal way while providing fair compensation for the artists who create it. Experience has shown that most consumers will respond positively and switch to legal alternatives for future content downloads when they are informed that their downloading activities are inappropriate and that other easy-to-use, legal sources are widely available.”

The Recording Academy has named Gene Autry, the Blind Boys Of Alabama, the Four Tops, Hank Jones, Brenda Lee, Dean Martin, and Tom Paxton as recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award. George Avakian, Elliott Carter, and Allen Toussaint are honored with the Trustees Award. Clarence “Leo” Fender and Universal Audio will receive the Technical GRAMMY Award. The special invitation-only ceremony will be held during GRAMMY Week on Saturday, Feb. 7, and a formal acknowledgment will be made during the 51st Annual GRAMMY Awards telecast, which will be held at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2009, and broadcast live at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CBS Television Network.

“This year’s recipients are a prestigious group of legendary performers, creative architects and technical visionaries who have made lasting contributions to the music and global communities,” said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy. “Their outstanding accomplishments, legendary passion and artistry have positively affected our culture and will continue to influence and inspire generations to come.”

The Lifetime Achievement Award honors lifelong artistic contributions to the recording medium while the Trustees Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the industry in a non-performing capacity. Both awards are determined by vote of The Recording Academy’s National Board of Trustees. Technical GRAMMY Award recipients are determined by vote of The Academy’s Producers & Engineers Wing Advisory Council and Chapter Committees as well as The Academy’s Trustees. The award is presented to individuals and companies who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field.

GoTV Networks, Inc., the first and largest mobile media network, today announced the launch of its newest music channel, True Country. True Country is the only dedicated mobile channel for the country music market and its lifestyle. This addition expands GoTV’s leadership in music magazine programming for mobile.

True Country brings the best in country music to your mobile phone*. Amazing live performances, behind the scenes interviews, new releases and breaking news are just the beginning for the new channel. By offering exclusive interviews, backstage access, live acoustic and in-concert performances, True Country caters to the country aficionado. Viewers will be given up-to-the-minute updates on the week’s top new releases, chart toppers, noise makers and the week’s biggest country music news.

True Country joins the Company’s successful line-up that currently includes: Rock On: Altitude (the longest running, most established and influential original rock channel in the mobile space), ES Música (the first of its kind mobile channel on major U.S. carriers that serves the dynamic market for Latin pop, rock, hip-hop and reggaeton), and Hip Hop Official (the premier source for Hip-Hop features, exclusive interviews and more).

“We created True Country to serve the demand for country music which has a wide demographic and dedicated following in the U.S. market,” said Thomas Ellsworth, CEO of GoTV Networks. “Our music team worked diligently to research, program and launch True Country with the same style and quality seen in GoTV’s music channel line-up that includes ES Música, Hip Hop Official and Rock On: Altitude. The overwhelming success of these music channels was instrumental in the launch of True Country.”

True Country is currently available to iPhone users (through Apple’s iPhone Application store), T-Mobile G1 users (Google Android) and Virgin Mobile subscribers with availability expanding soon to select US wireless carriers.

VoloMedia, which provides advertising and reporting solutions for portable video and audio from the PC to devices such as iPods and iPhones, today announced Ringtales as the latest content partner to adopt the VoloMedia iTunes plug-in, extending the value of their popular podcasts by measuring ad consumption in their content wherever it is downloaded.

Ringtales is the publisher of “Dilbert,” recently selected by iTunes as one of the best video podcasts for 2008, and other popular podcasts such as “The New Yorker Animated Cartoons.” In addition to adopting the VoloMedia iTunes plug-in, Ringtales is driving consumer subscription and showcasing the “Dilbert” podcast to advertisers through a microsite located at http://www.volomedia.com/volocast/landing/dilbert/. By integrating VoloMedia’s iTunes plug-in, Ringtales enhances the audience reach, tracking, measurement, monetization, and reporting of their podcasts whether consumed on PCs or iPods and iPhones.

The United States Air Force is already on board with an advertising campaign that targets “Dilbert” and other podcasts into which VoloMedia dynamically inserts and tracks ads.

“We’re excited to be launching VoloMedia’s new iTunes plug-in for our Dilbert animated cartoon podcast,” said Michael Fry, president of RingTales, “Podcasts are our most popular distribution channel with both viewers and advertisers. The plug-in’s enhanced metrics and increased usability will ensure that the Dilbert and New Yorker animated cartoon podcasts will continue to be among the most sought after on iTunes.”

For consumers, the plug-in provides interactive social features leveraging the “power-of-pause” for iTunes podcasts, which allow users to share, bookmark, and find related content. The user experience is enhanced by three buttons—Share, Bookmark and More—that appear whenever a video podcast is paused or reaches its conclusion. The plug-in is compatible with the recently released iPhone 2.2 operating system, which allows users to download podcasts directly to their iPhones.

“Portable media such as video and audio podcasts are an increasingly vital distribution channel for publishers, especially for those with premium content that commands higher advertising value,” said Brian Steel, CEO of VoloMedia. “For publishers and advertisers, our new iTunes plug-in delivers detailed and anonymous consumption metrics even for those watching videos offline. For consumers familiar with traditional browser-based functionality like sharing favorites via e-mail and discovering similar content, this is now available for video podcasts directly from the iTunes media player.”

The VoloMedia iTunes plug-in is integrated with VoloMedia’s Campaign Management Portal, allowing publishers and advertisers to manage media, run advertising campaigns and access reports. Customers receive timely, comprehensive metrics on media consumption, including partial downloads, completed downloads and actual consumption of content from both online and offline environments.

Three leading edge digital marketing strategies are being rolled out this week as part of an innovative new business development and marketing initiative from business TV network yourBusinessChannel.

For many businesses, there’s never a right time to spend money on marketing. The rise of web-based digital marketing strategies, however, has opened up a field of possibilities when it comes to lower-cost, high ROI campaigns. This is largely because the web has become a social beast - witness the rise of Facebook, YouTube, and other social media sites. There are now great opportunities online to connect with customers and business experts, for sales and business development advice respectively.

On the Million Dollar Challenge, a new marketing project run by online business TV network yourBusinessChannel, twenty five participating companies access business development tools and cutting edge marketing strategies developed by leading experts whose combined fee would otherwise exceed US$1 million.

The first three campaigns for the Million Dollar Challenge were unveiled this week, and all of them leverage the social internet to a greater or lesser degree.

Businesses on the Million Dollar Challenge will use Attraction Blueprint to create interesting, compelling online content to captivate customers. Sales Monster will assist businesses to develop persuasive sales presentations to be customised by sales staff. Lastly, Digital Marketing Blitz gives businesses effective online social networking and marketing strategies to build themselves a massive following.

Businesses will use the tools and workshops in these campaigns to roll out their own customised marketing strategies. They can also come back to the Million Dollar Challenge team for further business development advice as necessary as they face new and unexpected challenges.

Says yourBusinessChannel’s Features Editor Mark Sinclair: “For businesses looking for truly innovative business development and marketing strategies during the downturn, digital marketing is the way to go. And no other marketing service can offer the focused, up-to-date expertise that the Million Dollar Challenge delivers. And because it’s a results based collaboration, there is zero risk.”