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Industry Moves: Former Vodafone Exec Geitner Joins BBC Worldwide’s Board
Telefonica Lines Up Six Bidders For Endemol Stake
Telefonica Lines Up Six Bidders For Endemol Stake
Spain’s Telefonica has selected six bids for its 75 percent stake in Dutch TV producer Endemol. Thomson Financial reports suitors include one consortium comprising former Endemol owner John de Mol, Italian broadcaster Mediaset and Goldman Sachs; another led by Apax Partners and a third involving French private equity firm PAI Partners and Endemol’s French head Stephane Courbit. FT adds that Mexican broadcaster Televisa and Thomas H. Lee Partners are also in the second-round auction mix. Endemol has pioneered interactive, participation-led TV and driven up mobile operator revenue, with shows like Big Brother and Fame Academy having become hit multimedia formats around the world, and offers channels several SMS-based games. The UK subsidiary has dedicated gaming, mobile and web design divisions. The WSJ (sub. req.) says bidders have until May to make binding offers, but Telefonica is likely to get only around EUR 3 billion ($4 billion) for the stake it acquired for EUR 5.5 billion ($7.4 billion) in the nineties.
Industry Moves: FIM European Head David Fischer Leaves
David Fischer, the managing director of Fox Interactive Europe, has left the company, according to an internal memo sent out by MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe...he is leaving after a year. Travis Katz SVP & General Manager of FIM International will act as interim MD of Europe. No indication where Fischer is going to.
BBC Cannot Expand YouTube Partnership Without Trust Approval
The BBC will need to consult its regulatory Trust if it chooses to widen its content partnership with YouTube. The BBC launched a trailers channel, an ad-supported clips channel aimed at the international market and a non-UK, ad-funded news channel on the video sharing site last month. But, according to minutes of a February meeting, director general Mark Thompson and acting chair Chitra Bharucha assured Trust members the relationship would not be expanded without their consultation. From the minutes: “Members noted that, in the current media landscape, partnerships such as this may become increasingly common and they would want to discuss similar deals.”
That could put the hurdles of a public-value test and a market-disruption test in the BBC’s way before it would be allowed to offer more video via YouTube. The Trust, the independent body which governs the broadcaster, has been active since its inception in January, having already ruled against the corporation’s iPlayer on-demand proposal and ordering the BBC Jam educational site to be shut down. (via Guardian).
Related:-
- @ OPA: Interview: BBC’s Ageh on YouTube, iPlayer, Acknowledging Market Disruption
- BBC In Clips Deal With YouTube; Ad Rev Share; UK Blackout On News Clips
Ofcom CEO: UK Needs Public Funded Online Media ‘To Protect Against Imports’
The CEO of UK media regulator Ofcom says Britain needs a strong online antidote to “American imports”. Consultation closed a fortnight ago on Ofcom’s plans for a new “public service publisher” (PSP), a planned new publicly owned national web producer in the mould of the BBC with a suggested budget of up to £100 million ($200 million). The plans have been welcomed by digital rights advocates and companies vying to be picked as the PSP. In an interview with Ofcomwatch published today, Ofcom’s Ed Richards: “We want a new media, Web 2.0, or whatever you want to call it, content capacity in Britain, which is British, in the same way that [we] have uniquely British content in the traditional broadcasting world. Otherwise, we run the risk that the only good television will be American imports and the rest of it is rubbish ... because the US market is so big, so you can risk far more, spend far more, spend more time in development. So the basic premise is the same as it was for broadcasting – it’s just that we live in a different world now.” Richards’ comparisons between broadcast TV and the web may draw suspicion from online die-hards, who may ask - if the two are so similar, don’t the existing public service remits of the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 (each of which is also a web publisher), plus the fact any online Brit can make a website, preclude any risk of US dominance?
ITV Software Firm Ensequence Raises $40 Million In Third Round
Interactive video company Ensequence has received $40 million in its third funding round. The company plans to use the funding for global expansion efforts, including opening new offices in New York and Los Angeles. Its last funding round netted $18 million in August 2004. As we reported at that time, the Portland, Ore.-based company had previously secured $19 million in private funding.
The latest investment comes from an unidentified private equity firm. Ensequence has marketed its on-Q software ITV programming tool since 2002. The new funding will also go towards developing its next generation version of on-Q. The software tool has been used mostly in the U.K., but it said it has breaking into U.S. broadband, with interactive online services for MLB. Rounding Ensequence’s ambitions are plans for a tool for mobile video. Release
Dow Jones Preparing Buy London’s eFinancialNews For $53 Million: Report
Dow Jones is set to acquire London-based investment banking newspaper Financial News for approximately $53 million, according to Telegraph UK, which said an announcement could be made within days.
In addition to its weekly print version, the Financial News has its own real-time financial news site, eFinancialNews with around 40,000 subscribers. The company was founded by a group of London business journalists in 1990s.
Last year eFinancialGroup, a sister company to Financial News, sold its jobs website eFinancialCareers.com to U.S.-based online recruiter Dice, which is owned by General Atlantic Partners and Quadrangle, for about $94 million.
Related:
-- eFinancialNews Bought By Investor Group; eFinancialGroup Brought Separately By Dice
Le Monde To Break Even Or Better Thanks To Web Revenue
France’s Le Monde Group expects to break even or make a profit this year thanks to digital revenue. Online director Bruno Patino told AP that, after recent losses, the company would this year be on an even keel “entirely thanks to online services making up for print losses”. The publisher has endured a torturous last few years, marked by 100 job cuts in 2004 following the decimation of its classified ads revenue and by a 15 percent fall in circulation since 2002.
-- Meanwhile, Peter Wuertenberger, MD for Axel Springer’s Welt/Berliner Morgenpost newspaper group, reported annual internet revenues are growing by 20 percent to 50 percent, depending on the website. (via AP)
European Newspapers ‘Optimistic’ About Print And Digital
A wide-ranging AP article surveying the European newspaper landscape finds editors “optimistic” about both the web and the survival of print. The gist: while US newspapers self-flagellate in pursuit of a purpose and a business model in this digital age, European counterparts “see the online media explosion more as an opportunity than as a threat.” A curious mix of surveyed European publishing execs expresses typical confidence in both the survival of newsprint and the expansion of online; Le Monde and Italy’s Corriere della Sera say the papers will likely become the space for longer-form investigations, with breaking news handled primarily on the web.
But, while titles like the UK’s Telegraph have fundamentally repositioned their business for multimedia publishing, some of the promises in which others express confidence (electronic paper, video) sound like the same kind of hypotheticals that have reverberated inside this business for several years. Though not as pronounced as in the US, European print circulations are falling, too, and many of the publishers now staying afloat have the online advertising boom to thank.
Related:
-- UK Telegraph’s Digital & Print Integration May Cost 70 More Jobs
Virgin Radio Broadcasts To Wii And Playstation 3 Entertainment Hubs
Virgin Radio, UK, the rock station once owned by Richard Branson, has begun streaming on to Sony Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii consoles, Guardian reports. Virgin is taking advantage of that fact it’s the only such station to offer a clean MP3 stream by plugging the stream into a Flash applet accessible via the web browsers on the machines. It is the first time a UK radio station has been made available on a games console and is clearly a nod to the Trojan Horse notion that games boxes could become home entertainment hubs. Sister stations Xtreme, Classic Rock and Groove are also available; the app also includes retail options for music and concerts but is not yet available for Xbox 360. Digital media director James Cridland: “People now treat consoles as part of their home entertainment media center. Plus the platform has great growth potential, particularly among early-adopters and the 25-44 audience popular with advertisers.”
Content Management Provider EZ Systems Receives $5 Million
Norway’s eZ Systems, a maker of open source content management software, has raised $5 million from local BTV Invest. The funding is an expansion round and eZ’s founders and employees remain majority shareholders. Aside from its native country headquarters, eZ has offices in Ukraine, France, Canada and Germany. The company has been around since 1999 and says its software has been downloaded 2 million times. (Via Alarm Clock Euro.) eZ recently added a search function for users as well as a payment platform as an add on.
Release.
EMI Releases First Album With DRM-Free Option; Artists Selling Direct from Site
The role of Steve Jobs and iTunes in EMI’s announcement Monday that it would offer DRM-free versions of its digital library may have given people the wrong impression about what the label actually is doing. This is not an Apple-centric deal as the first announcement of a DRM-free album illustrated: today’s DRM-free release of the first EMI album in the new format—The Good, The Bad & The Queen—is available now for direct download from the band’s own site in 320kbps MP3 format for 99p per single and GBP7.99 for the album. (Memo to anyone who knows the people running the site: it’s way too clunky for words; I have at least four open windows now.) Each retailer will be able to choose the format it prefers to offer DRM-free. For instance, iTunes will sell 256kbps AAC.
-- It’s also not a switch to DRM-free—it’s an added option. EMI isn’t doing with DRM; it’s offering a higher-cost alternative. That’s not to be sneezed at, mind you, but this isn’t the Berlin Wall coming down.
-- The Guardian‘s Jack Schofield has more thoughts along these lines.
Related:
-- EMI Drops DRM For New Premium Line-Up, Higher Price; Apple First
Ask.com UK Ad Campaign, Aimed At Google, Sparks Backlash
A British ad campaign has people accusing Ask.com of being a corporate wolf in radical activist’s clothing, the WSJ reports. The online, TV, radio, and outdoor campaign – no print ads, which were deemed too “corporate” by its agency, Publicis’ Fallon – is designed to appear as though a protest group is devoted to combating “establishment” control of the internet, represented by a certain large search engine. The ads, which began appearing March 12, do not mention Ask.com or its obvious target, Google. Instead, users are directed to a website, www.information-revolution.org, that asks people to “try a new search engine” by clicking either Ask.com, Google, MSN or Yahoo. Still, the site doesn’t seem to be hiding the connection with Ask.com, since the company’s logo is clearly superimposed over a fist. It also features a fairly prominent photo and quote about “searching for alternatives” from Apostolos Gerasoulis, who is identified as the “creator of Ask.com search.” And while most people probably don’t click the Terms & Conditions section, the first line does say the site is provided by “IAC Search & Media Europe Limited (Ask.com, we or us).”
Nevertheless, the WSJ reports that individuals, joining the site’s chatroom, have dominated it with complaints of being duped “by an inferior search engine.” Fallon insists it isn’t troubled by the buzz backlash, however. The reasoning: since Ask.com was used for 4.3 percent of all U.K. searches in January, according to comScore, and compared to Google’s 75 percent of U.K. searches, the IAC unit has very little to lose.
Ofcom: Half Of UK Homes Have Broadband; ISP Revenue Up 18 Percent
UK broadband services’ revenue is up 18 percent on last year. That’s because half of all adults now live in a broadband-wired home, pushing high-speed ISP takings up to £1.8 billion ($3.5 billion), according to a report from media regulator Ofcom. Anecdotally, a sea change has occurred in UK internet culture in the last year or two, with more people web browsing and social networking thanks to falling broadband costs. In the figures, Ofcom says a majority (51 percent) have used that connectivity to download video (26 percent of them do it weekly), and 15 percent have uploaded some video at least once. The cost of a 2Mbit line has fallen by two thirds in the last three years. Bad news for the mobile internet, though - while a third of Britons own a web-enabled mobile phone, only half have ever used it to go online, citing lack of interest (43 percent) and high prices (31 percent).
- The Communications Market: Digital Progress Report
EU IPTV Market To Double This Year, Most Growth In UK: Report
European IPTV subscriptions will double from 2.9 million last year to 5.6 million in 2007, according to research from Screen Digest. Largely as a result of mergers and acquisitions, many telcos now offer television services over fixed-line broadband to TV set-top boxes. Although Screen Digest acknowledges such offerings tend to be “inferior to cable and satellite,” it predicts IPTV revenue to grow from EUR470 million ($628 million) to over EUR1 billion ($1.3 billion), with the UK contributing the fastest growth - a 250 percent increase (from 80,000 subscribers to 300,000) off the back of BT’s new Vision IPTV service and similar upcoming launches from Orange and Tiscali. These predictions have not yet borne out, however - research by Morgan Stanley last week found that even mighty BT’s offering had only attracted 5,000 customers in its first four months, 40 percent of whom are staff of the telco.
EMI Drops DRM For New Premium Line-Up, Higher Price; Apple First
It’s official - EMI Music just became the first major record label to drop digital rights management on its digital downloads - but many consumers must pay more. EMI is launching a new line of “premium” downloads at twice the current audio quality that will come without usage restrictions. From May, and initially at Apple’s iTunes Store, tracks from the label’s entire catalogue will be available in 256kbps AAC format at $1.29 (EUR1.29/GBP0.99) each. Tracks at the existing lower-quality 128kbps format will, however, remain for sale with DRM and at their current $0.99 (EUR0.99/GBP0.79) price. The announcement was made during this morning’s joint press conference at EMI’s London HQ.
- EMI CEO Eric Nicoli said the move comes after January retail tests showed sales 10-to-1 in favor of the higher-quality format, “reaffirming our belief that sound fidelity is, for many, an important factor”. “All our research tells us [consumers] would be prepared to pay a higher price for a file they can play on any music player. Interoperability is the key to unlocking the music business. We have the consumer at the center of our strategy; it’s clear from our research that many consumers find it frustrating they don’t have interoperability. It’s also clear that some care about quality. By combining these two, we think it’s a very positive step.”
- Apple CEO Steve Jobs repeated that interoperability and quality were the two key issues. “While 128kbps AAC is the best audio quality offered by any mainstream music store, audio users can tell the the difference between it and the original source material. It is time to consider delivering even higher audio quality than is currently available.” Asked if removing the restriction that Apple Store purchases must be played on an iPod would hurt iPod sales, Jobs said he was confident customers would continue appreciate the device’s ease of use.
- iTunes: The new EMI line-up will sit alongside the existing line-up on Apple Store, which will automatically invite consumers to choose which version to download. iTunes Store users will also be able to upgrade all the EMI tracks currently in their library to the new versions for $0.30 per song. “We think customers will really appreciate this,” Jobs said, although this is the standard per-track price gap between old and new formats, not a special offer. Suggesting a wholehearted effort to safeguard the future of albums, whole albums will automatically be sold at the new, DRM-free bitrate for the existing price.
- Retail: EMI’s new line-up will not be limited to iTunes. Other retailers would also be given the opportunity to sell tracks in AAC, WMA, MP3 or other formats “in the coming weeks”, Nicoli stressing it is retailers and not labels which set end prices (figures mentioned here are iTunes-specific). EMI press release: “From today, EMI’s retailers will be offered downloads of tracks and albums in the DRM-free audio format of their choice in a variety of bit rates up to CD quality.” DRM is also being removed from music video downloads, Nicoli said, with no price change. DRM must remain on tracks sold via subscription and ad-supported stores, however.
- Future: Nicoli: ”We expect sales to grow as a result of this. We remain optimistic that digital growth will outstrip physical decline - it hasn’t happened yet, don’t ask me to predict when that will happen because I can’t, but we remain optimistic. Digital downloads remains in its infancy - the opportunity is massive.” In an indication that Jobs’ February memo to the industry was the real deal, the Apple CEO said: “EMI has taken the first bold step in the music industry. Starting today, Apple will reach out to all the other labels [including independents] to give them the same opportunity.” “Well over half of the five million tracks on iTunes today will also be available in high-quality offerings by the end of the calendar year” - suggesting either confidence or specific knowledge about similar future announcements. Both said they hoped to be able to carry The Beatles’ catalogue - Jobs adding “we’re working on it.”
Update: Streaming audio|MP3| Slides (pdf)
Related:-
- Steve Jobs To Music DRM: Drop Dead
ICANN Turns Down Request For Adult Site Domain
ICANN, the agency that regulates internet domains, rejected a proposal for adult entertainment sites to have their own three-x top domain. Among other reasons, supporters want to make it easier to safeguard children from accessing the sites—a not-insubstantial argument. But ICANN chairman Vint Cerfe and the majority of the board opposed the idea of acting as a content regulator, voting 9-5 with one abstention to reject the current three-year-old application at this week’s meeting in Portugal. (Meeting transcript.) The board said the request raised public policy and law enforcement issues, adding that: “there are credible scenarios that lead to circumstances in which ICANN would be forced to assume an ongoing management and oversight role regarding Internet content, which is inconsistent with its technical mandate.” It was rejected in 2006, too.
MKTW: “When asked at a press event later in the day if the board would ever revisit the issue, Cerf said ‘over my dead body.’”
Susan Crawford, dissenting board member, on her blog: “I found the resolution adopted by the Board ... both weak and unprincipled. I am troubled by the path the Board has followed on this issue since I joined the Board in December of 2005. I would like to make two points. First, ICANN only creates problems for itself when it acts in an ad hoc fashion in response to political pressures. Second, ICANN should take itself seriously as a private governance institution with a limited mandate and should resist efforts by governments to veto what it does.” This is just a small excerpt for those interested in more detail head to her entry. (via Wired News)
AP has a good FAQ on the ICANN domain process.
ICANN Turns Down Request For Adult Site Domain
ICANN, the agency that regulates internet domains, rejected a proposal for aduly entertainment sites to have their own three-x top domain. Among other reasons, supporters want to make it easier to safeguard children from accessing the sites—a not-insubstantial argument. But ICANN chairman Vint Cerfe and the majority of the board opposed the idea of acting as a content regulator, voting 9-5 with one abstention to reject the current three-year-old application at this week’s meeting in Portugal. (Meeting transcript.) The board said the request raised public policy and law enforcement issues, adding that: “there are credible scenarios that lead to circumstances in which ICANN would be forced to assume an ongoing management and oversight role regarding Internet content, which is inconsistent with its technical mandate.” It was rejected in 2006, too.
MKTW: “When asked at a press event later in the day if the board would ever revisit the issue, Cerf said ‘over my dead body.’”
Susan Crawford, dissenting board member, on her blog: “I found the resolution adopted by the Board ... both weak and unprincipled. I am troubled by the path the Board has followed on this issue since I joined the Board in December of 2005. I would like to make two points. First, ICANN only creates problems for itself when it acts in an ad hoc fashion in response to political pressures. Second, ICANN should take itself seriously as a private governance institution with a limited mandate and should resist efforts by governments to veto what it does.” This is just a small excerpt for those interested in more detail head to her entry. (via Wired News)
AP has a good FAQ on the ICANN domain process.
Russians Take Controlling Interest In Ukranian Web Portal Meta
Two Russian investment groups have acquired a 63.3 percent stake in Ukranian web portal Meta, in a deal believed to be worth around $3 million. Russian Funds Investment Group and Digital Sky Technologies, an internet fund, contributed equally in the general-purpose service, which operates search, news, email and other features and reached 1.5 million users last year, according to the Kiyv Post. They will now invest a further $1 million toward improving the search functionality sufficiently to compete with Ukranian versions of Google and Russia’s Yandex, the Post says.
ITV, Setanta Win IPTV, Mobile Carriage Amongst $833 Million Soccer Rights
In UK, ITV and Setanta have won the online, mobile and video-on-demand rights to show much of English soccer from summer 2008 - the first time the newer platforms have featured specifically in the governing Football Association’s (FA) offering. The TV broadcasters today won the rights to FA Cup, international and other matches with a 425 million GBP ($833 million) bid that snatches big chunks of the sport from BBC and BSkyB and allows them to air matches on their digital and analogue terrestrial channels as well as cable pay-per-view.
The FA said ITV1 can now show goal video clips via fixed and mobile internet, while Setanta Sports will for the first time show highlights via a new VOD service. But either ITV is not giving specifics at this stage or it does not yet know how exactly it will use these new digital rights - a spokesman told me it was 18 months away from the start of the contract so had plenty of time in which to announce the detail.
Since the FA signed its last rights away, new platforms including mobile TV have emerged; ITV1 is now simulcast over 3G UK networks. The broadcaster is still developing plans broadband internet TV.
UK’s Webjam Raises $2 Million In First Round For Online Community Tool
London-based online community tool Webjam has raised about $2 million in first-round funding from French early stage venture capital firm I-Source Gestion. Webjam plans to use the funds for product development and international expansion across Europe and the US.
The company was co-founded last year by Yann Motte, managing director, Alberto Barreiro, Webjam’s chief product officer, and Marcus Greenwood, director. Both Motte and Barreiro were previously with Yahoo Europe. Release
Two Vie To Run UK’s Second Digital Radio Network
Two companies have bid to control the UK’s second digital radio network, giving them the opportunity to operate up to a dozen new DAB (digital audio broadcasting) stations and other services. Confirmation came this morning from media regulator Ofcom, which is holding a beauty contest:-
- 4 Digital: A consortia led by commercial public service broadcaster Channel 4 along with BSkyB, Emap, UTV, Chrysalis, Carphone Warehouse and UBC. Claims CanWest, Disney, BSkyB and FT amongst content providers, with channels including Sky News Radio (News Corp’s 24-hour TV news channel already syndicates news bulletins to some radio networks). Promises better EPG on radios’ on-screen read-outs, mobile TV over a portion of the spectrum, music downloads and traffic data.
more information on radio set’s on-screen EPGs as well as mobile TV delivered over a portion of its spectrum.
- National Grid Wireless: The infrastructure builder responsible for the UK’s TV transmission network is pitching a more middle-of-the-road 12-station line-up including Premier Christian and Radio Luxembourg, but is throwing plenty of cash at the bid. A pledge of 14 million GBP over 11 years to a joint marketing effort involving the BBC and GCap, aimed at driving adoption of digital radio in general, may woo Ofcom - but Channel 4’s line-up appears closer to the regulator’s requirement for “distinctive” offerings and suggests more innovative, multi-platform packages.
Ofcom will consult on the proposals until end of April with the winning stations expected on air by 2008.
MIVA Awarded Conde Nast Interactive U.K. Account, Beating Yahoo And Google
Online ad network MIVA has won the pay-per-click content account for Conde Nast Interactive U.K., besting pitches from Yahoo Search Marketing and incumbent Google. Financial terms were not revealed. Miva launched its pay-per-click ad network, Miva Precision, in the UK and the US in early February, Brand Republic reported earlier. Precision operates alongside its existing core network, which operates across all sectors.
The agreement covers all 12 sites in the Conde Nast Interactive U.K. portfolio including titles such as Vogue.com, GQ.com, Glamourmagazine.com, CNtraveller.co.uk, Vanityfair.co.uk and the newly launched, Stylefinder.com. The total volume of page impressions of these 12 sites exceeds 54 million per month.
MIVA’s PPC ads will be displayed across every page of the 12 sites through ad units at the bottom of the page. In return, MIVA promises that ads will match both the content of the page they appear on and the demographic of the site users. In addition to ads on Conde Nast’s U.K. websites, MIVA’s ads will be embedded in 500,000 opt-in emails sent daily, weekly or every two weeks, depending on the newsletters’ publication schedule, to Conde Nast Interactive’s email subscribers. Release.
German media Firm Burda Buys Stake In Mutilmedia Sharing Site Sevenload
German media/magazine group Burda Media, though its arm Burda Digital Ventures, has taken a stake in local video and photo portal Sevenload. Burda bought one fifth of Sevenload’s shares, though other terms were not disclosed. The media company has been buying small stakes in online companies since last year.
More info in the release here.
Related:
-- Burda Media Buys 30 Percent Stake in German Nightlife Community Site
-- German Magazine Giant Burda Media Planning Major Net Acquisitions Abroad
HandHeld Entertainment Buys UnOriginal For $500k
HandHeld Entertainment continues its string of small video-sites M&A activity with the acquisition of user-generated media site UnOriginal.co.uk for $500K, half of which to be paid in cash over the next 15 months, and half in company shares. (HandHeld trades on Nasdaq OTC under the symbols ZVUE and ZVUEW and is the maker of the ZVUE digital video players).
UnOriginal.co.uk launched in September 2004 and provides user-submitted and user-generated videos, pictures and games. It claims to attract close to 900,000 unique visitors per month and has more than 82 million pageviews since its inception. Release
Related:
-- HandHeld Entertainment Acquires Putfile.com For $7.1 Million In Cash & Stock
-- HandHeld Entertainment Acquires YourDailyMedia.com For $1.06 Million
-- Corrected: HandHeld Entertainment Acquires Dorks.com For $1.5 Million
France’s Ipercast Raises $3.3 Million For Internet Video Distribution
Paris-based video and IPTV service Ipercast has raised $3.3 million from OTC Asset Management and Siparex, according to French tech blog Altaide via Alarm: Clock Euro. The five-year-old company manages a variety of IP multimedia services, from DRM to electronic programming guides, security, and content distribution network services.
UK’s C Squared Holdings Raises $500K From The Capital Group
C Squared Holdings, a UK-based publisher and event organizer for the advertising industry, has raised nearly $500K from The Capital Fund, PEHub reports.
C Square publishes the 17-year-old ad magazine Media & Marketing Europe. Two years ago, the company began publishing an offshoot, Cream, which covers media planning. As for events, next month, C Squared will organize The Venice Festival of Media, a two-day conference sponsored by Yahoo, AOL, Discovery Communications, Financial Times and others.
On the personnel front, the company recently named former ZenithOptimedia executive Simon Marquis as chairman, according to Brand Republic.
Founders Of Germany’s Pangora Back Travel Community Site Cosmotourist
German travel community site Cosmotourist has received backing from Dr. Christoph Roeck as an investor and business angel. Roeck left his post at product search site Pangora end of February. He will be joining his former co-managing director and founder of the Pangora, Constantin Wunn, now the managing director of Munich-based Cosmotourist. The amount of financing that Roeck will be bringing with him to Cosmotourist was not disclosed. Release
HandHeld Entertainment Buys UnOriginal For $500K; Fifth Acquisition In Four Years
HandHeld Entertainment continues its string of small video-sites M&A activity with the acquisition of user-generated media site UnOriginal.co.uk for $500K, half of which to be paid in cash over the next 15 months, and half in company shares. (HandHeld trades on Nasdaq OTC under the symbols ZVUE and ZVUEW and is the maker of the ZVUE digital video players).
UnOriginal.co.uk launched in September 2004 and provides user-submitted and user-generated videos, pictures and games. It claims to attract close to 900,000 unique visitors per month and has more than 82 million pageviews since its inception. Release
Related:
-- HandHeld Entertainment Acquires Putfile.com For $7.1 Million In Cash & Stock
-- HandHeld Entertainment Acquires YourDailyMedia.com For $1.06 Million
-- Corrected: HandHeld Entertainment Acquires Dorks.com For $1.5 Million
Germany’s Xing Acquires Spanish Professional Contact Net Econozco
OpenBC, which runs international business networking platform Xing, has purchased eConozco, which bills itself as the second largest Spanish professional contact network. The four-year-old eConozco network has about 150K members in the Spanish and Latin American markets. The financial terms were undisclosed. Release
As Mashable points out, Xing is trying to expand its European base to better compete against Palo Alto-based rival LinkedIn, which has been holding its own in Europe.
Related:
-- Germany Social Networking Site OpenBC/Xing Raises Euro 35.7 Million in IPO
-- Germany Social Networking Site OpenBC/Xing Sees IPO Share Listing Dec 7
DMGT Digital Revenue Up 57 Percent; UK Web Ads Overtake Print
UK News publisher DMGT more than doubled its digital revenue in 2006/07, on the back of web advertising gains. The publisher behind the Daily Mail and London’s Evening Standard newspapers posted a 57 percent online hike across the group, according to figures running to April 1 and released today. Advertising revenue from DMGT’s Associated Northcliffe Digital (AND) subsidiary is up 48 percent (or 141 percent if you factor in acquisitions). The increases will have come in part from the glut of recruitment, dating and other classifieds sites AND bought in the last year.
Most surprising, however, is an up-turn in print ad performance—despite suffering a woeful couple of years, national display ad revenue increased four percent in the last five months, although regional classified ads are down three percent on last year. GCap yesterday reported the ad market in radio, too, had begun to turn a corner.
- Wed ads surge: Online remains the fastest grower, however. According to an Internet Advertising Bureau study out today, UK internet ad spend overtook that in newspapers for the first time last year, growing 41.2 percent to break the £2 billion ($3.9 billion) barrier, while newspaper ads grew just 0.2 percent to £1.9 billion ($3.7 billion). Google made up 43 percent of that, according to The Guardian.
Save The Date: London ContentNext Mixer on May 10 @ The Savoy
After our first successful London mixer last year, we’re coming back for another one: the second London ContentNext mixer is planned for May 10, and yes, this time we have a very central location: The Savoy Hotel on The Strand. Should be a lot more fun doing it in the early summer.
If you are interested in underwriting the mixer, please e-mail us at advertising AT contentnext.com. If you have other suggestions, send me an e-mail at rali AT paidcontent.org.
Our sponsors till now: Platinum: Entriq.
Universal Backs Urban Media Company Trace
Universal Music Group will become a strategic global investor in Alliance Trace Media, owner of Trace TV, a French TV network and digital platform that is aimed at the urban youth market in countries throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
While financial terms between the two were not revealed, Universal will provide global music/video rights, a weekly slot on IMF—the International Music Feed, Universal’s 24-hour cable/satellite channel, as well as cross promotion and marketing support. Universal and Trace will also sell urban music and mobile content in China.
Universal’s backing will help Trace accelerate expansion its existing operations across the web, cable, satellite, radio, IPTV and mobile platforms internationally. It hopes to launch in the US market by the end of this year or early 2008 at the latest. Release
Earnings: Emap Digital Revenue Up 35 Percent, Otherwise Weak
UK magazine publisher Emap reported its 2006/07 annual revenue from digital media is up 35 percent at £127 million ($250 million). “The recently launched B2C websites serving the golf and motor biking communities have got off to an encouraging start and [the company] is excited by the prospects for its recent acquisition Yospace”, a statement reads. Following the negative trend of the last couple of years (the publisher closed pop music mag Smash Hits after 28 years last year), Emap said it expects “existing difficult trading conditions in consumer media markets” to continue next year, with weak forecasts for consumer magazines (its core business), recruitment advertising and radio. Overall revenue growth is expected to be three percent, with underlying growth down two percent. It says the priority is to target “faster-growth” platforms, and it aims to make savings of £20 million ($39 million) next year - most likely starting by offloading its Irish radio businesses, according to Bloomberg.
Related:-
- Emap Ramps Up Online Strategy, Digital Head for Each Consumer Arm
- UK Publisher Emap Snaps Up Mobile Social Media Firm YoSpace For $17.1 Million
EMI, Bertelsmann Settle; Put Napster Dispute To Rest
EMI and Bertelsmann have agreed to settle their four-year-old Napster dispute out of court. EMI was amongst a gaggle of record labels to sue the German group in 2003, claiming its investment in the then-controversial original incarnation was tantamount to copyright infringement. Bertelsmann bankrolled Napster to the tune of $85 million, drawing rival labels’ fire, before its outright acquisition was blocked on a technicality, finally forcing that iteration of Napster out of business. Terms of the settlement were not revealed but Bertelsmann admits no responsibility. Universal last year got $61 million from a similar settlement; anonymous sources in the LA Times put EMI’s pay-day at anywhere between $50 million and $150 million. EMI CEO Eric Nicoli: “We can now put this matter behind us and continue to pursue the development of new legitimate digital music business models.”