Digital Intelligence

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Tag management system TagMan has closed $2.25 million in Series A funding led by Greycroft Partners, allowing the firm to boost its performance tracking capabilities for websites. Other investors in this round include iNovia Capital and individuals. TagMan, the smart container, that sits on more than 100 e-commerce sites, including Subaru, Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand, previously raised $2.1 million in Angel funding, the most recent in February 2010 led by Cambridge Angels and the London Business School E100.

11/01/2011  |  Full story...

AOL has acquired Pictela, a provider of an award-winning global technology platform for serving and distributing high- definition brand content across online advertising and social media. The transaction brings further scale to AOL’s suite of premium advertising tools for advertisers, agencies and publishers, including the company’s new ‘Project Devil’ display advertising format which AOL intends to roll out further in the UK during Q1 in 2011.

20/12/2010

20/12/2010  |  Full story...

Video sharing site YouTube is in talks to buy US web video producer Next New Networks, according to US reports. The New York Times said a deal would be the Google-owned firm’s first foray into content production.

No terms have been disclosed, but the NYT quoted analysts applauding the potential acquisition. YouTube has sought to increase its share of professionally produced content as it faces competition from the likes of Hulu, a joint venture whose backers include media companies News Corp, Walt Disney Co's ABC, and NBC, controlled by General Electric.

17/12/2010

17/12/2010  |  Full story...

Total UK revenues for mobile content and services, mobile advertising and marketing, will be £407.10 million in 2010, rising to £1.10 billion in 2015, according to a new report. The 'Mobile Market Trends: UK: Usage and Revenue Forecasts to 2015' report from mobileSQUARED says revenue growth will primarily be driven by increased mobile advertising spend -- especially around 'conversational advertising'.

The mobile advertising market is forecast to grow from £50.25 million in 2010 -- 12% of total revenues, to £357.84 million in 2015 -- 33% of total revenues, as advertisers increasingly target this direct channel.

25/10/2010

25/10/2010  |  Full story...

The latest annual Consumers & Convergence global survey from KPMG has found that UK internet users are the least keen to pay for online content.

The study found that 81% of UK internet users would prefer to go elsewhere for content if a frequently used site began to charge. KPMG polled 5,627 respondents from 22 countries and discovered that 43% of people worldwide are willing to pay for access to frequently-used online content. In contrast, only 19% of those in the UK are willing to pay.

26/07/2010

26/07/2010  |  Full story...

Disney has unveiled plans for its online storage service, called 'Keychest', that will give users access to the studio's movies and TV shows online, offering an alternative to DVDs and Blu-rays. Using Keychest, consumers would purchase access rights to a film or TV show, rather than have physical ownership of material on a disc.

Disney hopes the technology will be deployed before the end of 2010. KeyChest will let consumers buy films or television shows from various distributors, store them on remote servers, and play them on multiple platforms ranging from TVs to computers and phones. Disney said it plans to roll-out KeyChest for both the U.S. and the international market, and that it will soon announce partners who will participate in the program.

07/01/2010

07/01/2010  |  Full story...

Facebook is testing a new application that allows its users to moderate content posted by others on the social network. The Facebook Community Council application is currently being tested with a very small number of users, selected on an invite-only basis.

An FCC member can check items published on Facebook for offensiveness along the lines of personal attacks, violence, drug abuse and so on. FCC members are only allowed to click on one of the following alert flags inside a special FCC members-only app if they find something objectionable: Spam, Acceptable, Not English, Nudity, Drugs, Attacking, Violence.

07/01/2010

07/01/2010  |  Full story...

Only 13% of internet users would be prepared to pay for access to online media, although Brits show a higher than average willingness to fork over cash for Internet content, a survey has found.The research, carried out by GfK on behalf of the Wall Street Journal Europe, examined internet use in 16 European countries and the US.

80 per cent of respondents said they wanted continued free access to information online, and of the 13 per cent of users willing to pay, 8 per cent would accept a charge for advertising-free content, and 5 per cent would pay for content with advertising.

17/12/2009

17/12/2009  |  Full story...

News Corp. is joining a new, independent digital publishing consortium in the US, according to a news report. The Financial Times reports that the consortium - which also involves Time Warner's Time Inc., Conde Nast, Hearst Corp. and Meredith - could be announced this week. The paper reported that the five US publishing giants are set to this week target the e-reader market 'to wrestle control of its digital future' from the market leaders Amazon, Apple and Sony.

08/12/2009

08/12/2009  |  Full story...

Five has become the second broadcaster to sign a deal with YouTube to show its programmes on the video sharing website. The three-year deal follows a similar link up between YouTube and Channel 4 last month. The move will see full versions of popular shows from Five available on YouTube for up to 30 days after they are broadcast, providing an alternative viewing method to Five's current on demand service.

07/12/2009

07/12/2009  |  Full story...

Sony’s chief executive, Howard Stringer, has unveiled the technology giant’s plans for an all-in-one online network that pipes Sony’s films, music, games and other content to its TVs, Walkmans and PlayStation game machines. In an interview with reporters this week, Stringer said the project, known as the Sony Online Service, which will combine the company’s digital content and hardware. The company, based in Tokyo, expects to book its second consecutive annual loss in the fiscal year that ends in March, after losing 98.9 billion yen, or $1.12 billion at the current exchange rate, last year.

04/12/2009

04/12/2009  |  Full story...

Yahoo will let users of its email, photo-sharing and other online products link their content and activities directly into Facebook.

Yahoo's support of the Facebook Connect service, which it said it expects to begin in the first half of 2010, represents an important move in Yahoo's efforts to tap the popularity of social networking and underscores the growing clout of Facebook, which now counts more than 350 million worldwide users.

Earlier this year, Yahoo allowed users to preview messages from their Facebook friends directly on the Yahoo homepage, as part of a broad revamping of the Yahoo front page.

The new move takes the integration between Yahoo and Facebook a step further, by automatically pushing activities performed on Yahoo sites, such as photos shared on Yahoo's Flickr, into the Facebook news feed.

03/12/2009

03/12/2009  |  Full story...

Johnston Press has become one of the first regional UK publishers to start charging for its online content. Johnston Press owns more than 300 local newspapers including the Yorkshire Post and 'The Scotsman'. The move will see the publisher put content from six of its titles behind ‘paywalls’. From yesterday, readers of three Johnston titles, the Nothumberland Gazette, the Whitby Gazette'and the Southern Reporter, will pay £5 (€5.40) for a three-month online subscription.

02/12/2009

02/12/2009  |  Full story...

The BBC Trust has said that the corporation's online operation could be scaled back in the future following recent criticism from industry stakeholders. The BBC was also ordered by its internal regulator to rein in the activities of BBC Worldwide, its commercial arm, after competitors complained that the corporation’s huge financial muscle was giving it an unfair advantage. The Trust has also published an ongoing strategic review document for the entire BBC operation.

In his chairman's commentary, Sir Michael Lyons discussed the prospect of streamlining BBC Online services to "narrow the focus on distinctive content and help to create a more open BBC". Lyons said he wanted BBC Director General Mark Thompson to ask what "licence fee payers really expect to get from their licence fee and what they might be surprised to see the BBC doing in the online world".

He indicated that some areas, such as the iPlayer and news online, are safe when he asked: "Beyond the core offer of news, sport, education, children's and the iPlayer, which parts of the online service are essential to the BBC's mission and which could be stopped?"

01/12/2009

01/12/2009  |  Full story...

Microsoft is reportedly in talks with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp to pay the media company to remove its news websites from Google. According to the Financial Times, Microsoft is talking to other publishers to get them to remove themselves from Google too.

The move would see the publisher being paid revenues by Microsoft's search engine Bing if it “de-indexes” its news content from arch-rival Google. The plan puts pressure on search juggernaut Google to start paying for content, the FT said.

23/11/2009

23/11/2009  |  Full story...

The Times has outlined plans for its online payments model, dismissing micro-payments in favour of a 24-hour access charge for the online version of the paper. Speaking at the Society of Editors conference in Stansted, Essex, James Harding, editor of the Times, said the paper would charge for 24-hour access to that day's edition of the paper alongside a subscription model. Harding pledged to "rewrite the economics of newspapers", and warned the newspaper business had to avoid the mistakes of the music industry in making ‘free’ the norm.

18/11/2009

18/11/2009  |  Full story...

Three-quarters of Brits would consider paying for digital content if it only cost 10p or per article, with Jeremy Clarkson the most likely columnist to entice punters to hand over their cash, according to a new survey. The report, by Continental Research, found The Sun's Jeremy Clarkson, the Guardian's Charlie Brooker and the Daily Mail's Richard Littlejohn are the UK national press's most "valuable" columnists online. The poll indicated that micropayment systems looked more palatable to consumers than monthly or annual subscription systems.

12/11/2009

12/11/2009  |  Full story...

Bloomberg has bought the website and print publication BusinessWeek from textbook publisher McGraw-Hill for an undisclosed sum.Bloomberg said the acquisition will strengthen the newswire’s online, television and mobile products. “We’re buying BusinessWeek to build it,” Bloomberg President Daniel Doctoroff said in an interview. “Our intention is to take a venerable brand and turn it into the best global business newsweekly.” US based McGraw Hill based in New York, said in July it was exploring strategic options for the weekly as advertising sales and circulation slumped.

15/10/2009

15/10/2009  |  Full story...

Only one in ten UK web users now pay for any form on web content, as consumers cut back on their media spending by seeking free alternatives online during the recession, according to a new survey. The poll, commissioned by KPMG and carried out by YouGov, indicated that more than a quarter of Brits (28%) have cut back spending on magazines and newspapers in the economic downturn in favour of free online content. Only 11% of consumers said they paid for any online media and of those who did not currently pay, only a further 11% said they may begin any sort of subscription in the next 12 months.

13/10/2009

13/10/2009  |  Full story...

The first England international to be available only on the internet attracted around 250,000 subscribers, with a total estimated viewing figure of almost 500,000, organisers said on Sunday. The World Cup qualifier, won 1-0 by Ukraine, was not shown live on any UK TV networks, although the BBC made a late decision to buy and screen the highlights late on Saturday. The rights for the match had originally been bought by Setanta but the company went into administration.

12/10/2009

12/10/2009  |  Full story...

The BBC is planning a radical relaunch of its website portfolio to include more social media features, according to a news report. BBC sources have told MediaGuardian that the new-look site will launch by March next year. The broadcaster also hinted that it will soon be adding social media applications to some of its most popular online shows, including Strictly Come Dancing online coverage. The plans were made by Anthony Rose, the BBC's controller of Vision and Online, at the launch of this year's MediaGuardian Innovation Awards this week.

01/10/2009

01/10/2009  |  Full story...

Almost three-quarters of digital publishers (70%) intend to charge for online content, with most preferring a flat-rate subscription model ahead of micro-payments, according to a new survey. The annual survey of members of the Association of Online Publishers, which includes those in the newspaper, magazine and television industries, found that an increasing number were now looking to charge for online content. The survey found that 70% of AOP members will charge for content with just 30% claiming they would never charge for content.

01/10/2009

01/10/2009  |  Full story...

Just one in twenty (5%) of Brits who read a free news website at least once a month would stick with the site if charges were introduced, according to a new poll. The survey of more than 1,000 British adults was commissioned by paidcontent and carried out by Harris Interactive. In addition, nearly three-quarters (74%) of those quizzed said they would look elsewhere if a paid model was put in place. Nearly one in ten (8%) said they would only read the website's free headlines.

21/09/2009  |  Full story...

So Google could have micropayments for newspaper content live within a year? That will grab the attention of newspaper owners everywhere. It will seem like this could save the newspaper and magazine industry; the most unexpected life-raft, from the most unusual lifeboat.

11/09/2009  |  Full story...

Google is developing technology to help publishers charge its readers for online content. The search giant is working on software that will allow newspapers to charge users for certain online content using a system of micro-payments. Google made the announcement as a response to the Newspaper Association of America which asked a number of technology companies for proposals on how to generate revenues from online content. Google submitted an eight-page document to the NAA in response to the association's request for content charging solutions.
http://www.naa.org

11/09/2009  |  Full story...