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IAB Reports Internet Advertising Grew 10 Percent Last Year; Outpacing TV

Posted: 30 Mar 2009 08:33 AM PDT

In an upbeat report this morning, the Interactive Advertising Bureau reported that internet advertising in the U.S. grew 10.6 percent to $23.4 billion. And the $6.1 billion fourth quarter (up 2.6 percent) was the first time Internet advertising surpassed the $6 billion mark. That said, the rate of growth declined both on an annual and quarterly basis. Even the 4.6 percent sequential growth over the third quarter was the lowest since 2002 (as was the annual growth rate).

The IAB also trotted out some numbers showing that Internet advertising revenues are outpacing TV advertising by some measures. The $23.4 billion in annual internet advertising spending exceeded advertising on cable TV for the first time (which was $21.4 billion), and took the No. 3 spot behind national and local TV ads ($29.8 billion) and newspaper ads ($34.4 billion).

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CrunchDeal: 24-inch Dell Monitor for $209

Posted: 30 Mar 2009 08:00 AM PDT

Now THAT is a low price on a 24-inch monitor. Dell Small Business is selling the S2409W for $209 after $90-worth of instant savings, ~~plus you can use coupon code 1Z829VM32T983V to knock another 10% off, bringing the final price to $188.10 after the dust settles~~. The monitor has a 1920×1080 resolution (16:9), DVI/HDMI/VGA connections, 1000:1 contrast ratio, 300 cd/m2 brightness, and 5ms response time. No built-in speakers but, hey, it's $188 — free shipping, too. UPDATE - Coupon code is dead.

Online Journalists More Optimistic About The Future Of Journalism than Print Peers

Posted: 30 Mar 2009 06:47 AM PDT

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism released a study today that claims bloggers and journalists have an “uneasy” optimism about the future of news media on the web. But, the study says, their optimism definitely trumps that of broadcast and print employees in traditional media industries.

According to the study, most journalists who work in the online news industry believe that the internet is having a negative impact on fundamental journalistic values, including a loosening of standards (45% of respondents felt this way), increased emphasis on speed (25%), and the addition of voices from outside the traditional media institutions (31%). While there’s no doubt that the internet is changing the way journalism is conducted and delivered, I’m hesitant to think that speed and increased diversity of viewpoints from outside the industry is detrimental to journalistic integrity.

Online journalists are cautiously optimistic that their publications have viable business models compared to traditional forms of media. Over 60 percent of respondents reported that their online news units were making a profit. But only four out of every ten online journalists are “very confident” that online news can find a profitable business model for journalism, and are worried about the money-making prospects of internet advertising. Roughly two-thirds of journalists surveyed predicted advertising would be the most important form of revenue for news websites in three years. That in itself might be an overly optimistic projection for online advertising revenues, which today only accounts for less than 10 percent of overall newspaper advertising dollars in the U.S., and actually showed a slight decline last year. Print advertising, however, is diving faster than anyone expected.

Photo attributed to Ken-ichi.

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Charles River Ventures Raises $320 Million For Its Fourteenth Fund

Posted: 30 Mar 2009 06:03 AM PDT

At a time when limited partners are being stingy with their venture dollars, Charles River Ventures just announced it raised $320 million for its fourteenth fund, Charles River Partnership XIV. (The last fund it raised was $285 million in April, 2007). With the new fund, the firm now manages $2.1 billion.

Raising any capital in this environment is an achievement in itself. But CRV has been able to return $600 million to its limited partners over the past two years. Some of the bigger liquidity events during that time included the IPOs of BigBand Networks, Netezza, and Virtusa, as well as the acquisitions of EqualLogic to Dell (for $1.4 billion), Acopia Networks to F5 Networks (for $210 million), and Compete to TNS (for $75 million).

Current investments include Geni, Nantero, Scribd, Social Media, Twitter, Vlingo and Yammer,

Earlier this month August Capital was also able to raise a new fund. Keep an eye on the VCs who are able to raise money post-financial collapse. They are the ones with recent positive returns.

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Kickapps Embraces Facebook Connect And OpenID

Posted: 30 Mar 2009 05:57 AM PDT

Even white label social networks like Kickapps realize there is no use competing with the viral social networking power of Facebook and MySpace. Instead, Kickapps now wants to ride on their coattails to engage clients in using their platform as a social network. Kickapps, a white label social networking startup, will now support Facebook Connect and OpenID on KickApps-powered websites.

Clients will have the option to activate the OpenID and 3rd party registrations from their desktop console and then integrate their log-ins and profiles from social networks including Facebook and MySpace. Kickapps will automatically import data from from a client’s Facebook or MySpace profile for free. With Facebook Connect, a client can let members post a note on their Facebook news feed about what they are doing on a KickApps powered site with a link back to the site.

The KickApps platform allows web publishers and marketers to create sites filled with social media applications to better engage audiences through social networking, user-generated content, and widgets. Kickapps’ has shown some success in creating branded social networks, but leveraging the power of the much more popular major social networks is a smart move because it will lower the barriers to joining a Kickapps-powered site.

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Google China Signs Big Music For Free MP3 Search Engine

Posted: 30 Mar 2009 03:57 AM PDT

Google China has taken the beta label off its dedicated, free MP3 search engine now that the local Google branch announced deals with all four major music labels (Warner, Universal, EMI and Sony) at a press conference earlier today. The website, which had been in beta for over a year, can be found here, or you can try the translated version (note that you won’t be able to download or listen to songs outside of the country).

The site offers over a million music tracks thanks to a partnership with Top100.cn (a company co-founded by basketball start Yao Ming which Google has invested in), most of them Chinese but also foreign tunes approved by the government. For example, users can download the latest Metallica album free of charge, of which you can see a screenshot below. Apart from the four labels mentioned above, several major publishers and 140+ indie labels are said to be on board.

Google will share ad revenue sold on the music site, generating sales for record companies in a market where 99% of all downloads are illegal, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

Google is making this move to gain more ground on Baidu, the leading search engine in China, which has been offering free MP3s for years, part of the reason why it became the leader in the first place (it has roughly double the market share in search than Google). A Baidu representative has already responded to the launch of the new MP3 search engine, saying Google is entering the game too late and that this particular ship has long sailed.

The niftiest part of the music search engine is the Songscreener, an innovative way to discover new tunes based on your current mood and more specific details like the tone, timbre, age, language and genre of music you would like to explore. Google is also said to be experimenting with a voice search feature for the music search engine.

The company has no plans to expand the service outside of China, a representative told Reuters.

(Hat tip to Web2Asia - via Twitter - and Outdustry)

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Skype for iPhone Officially Official

Posted: 30 Mar 2009 02:43 AM PDT

Are you prepared to have your mind blown? As expected, Skype for iPhone will appear "sometime Tuesday" and allow you to make VoIP calls to friends and family all over the world, a move that at once blows a great waft of flatulence in the face of the carriers and, in one smooth motion, high fives the international community of Skype users. It should be available from the App Store for free.

Streamzy Done Streaming, Up For Sale On eBay

Posted: 30 Mar 2009 02:29 AM PDT

Now that popular music streaming service SeeqPod has decided to sell its source code to developers to spawn more clones, one of the media search startups that built upon its API is apparently calling it quits: Streamzy, which we profiled in July 2008, is selling itself on eBay at a starting bid of $1,000, provided it’s not a lame April Fools joke (the bidding ends April 1).

Update: Streamzy co-founder Brian Kantz says it’s definitely not a joke, and claims:

“The music industry is the worst industry to be in. I don’t want to deal with any annoyance from them. Its not worth it when i could spend my time on other areas of business.”

The service amassed merely 2,400 registered users since its launch in early 2008, and has a monthly visitor rate of only 7,000. The back-end runs for free on Google App Engine and the Flex front-end code will be included should someone decide to pick up the site.

For context: the music labels aren’t only targeting SeeqPod anymore but also developers who use its API, so we’re not sure anyone will be inclined to bid, unless of course if it’s just for the name, logo and domain name.

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Twitter Hiring A Concierge To Pamper Celebrities. Requires Schmoozing.

Posted: 30 Mar 2009 01:35 AM PDT

I don’t care much for the celebrity culture, but clearly I’m in the minority judging by the amount of people who read gossip magazines and websites in order to get updates on every move their idols make. Twitter has already proven to be a great way for a number of celebrities to bypass the media and let their audience know what they’re having for lunch straight away, unfiltered, unless of course there’s a PR machine doing the 140-character typing for them.

Either way, Twitter has gotten a ton of (occasionally unfavorable) press thanks to celebrities who join the service and provide their fans with some glimpse into their activities and whereabouts, and even sometimes engage in conversations with them online or by SMS.

Now Twitter is hiring a VIP Concierge to pamper said celebrities, according to their latest job opening on JobScore. His or her job? Make sure the celebrities on Twitter are ‘happy’ and use the service effectively, whatever that means. You can read the rest of the job description on JobScore, but basically Twitter is hiring someone who will have to sway new celebrities into joining the micro-sharing service and make sure the ones who are already on there keep tweeting their hearts out, so the startup can get even more press.

(Via Adam Jackson, image credit to Forbes)

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The Wounded U.S. Newspaper Industry Lost $7.5 Billion in Advertising Revenues Last Year

Posted: 29 Mar 2009 01:38 PM PDT

Last year was the worst on record for the U.S. newspaper industry. Total advertising revenues (both print and online) declined 16.6 percent to $37.85 billion, according to the latest figures from the Newspaper Association of America. That is $7.5 billion less than in 2007. Print advertising alone declined 17.7. Classifieds were down 29.7 percent. And even online advertising was down 1.8 percent to $3.1 billion.

Newspapers are shuttering their print editions, laying off staff, or closing entirely as a result of this severe contraction in revenues brought on by the double whammy of economic recession and competition from the Web. Drilling down into the fourth quarter numbers, total advertising dollars shrank 19.74 percent, making it the tenth straight quarter in which revenues have declined, and the sixth straight quarter in which the rate of decline has been accelerating:

3Q07: -7.4%
4Q07: -10.3%
1Q08: -12.85%
2Q08: -15.11% 3
3Q08: -18.11%
4Q08: -19.74%

The rate of decline in online revenues also seems to be accelerating. .Online revenues were $778 million, which was 8 percent lower than the year before. The year-over-year decline was also greater than the 3 percent decline in the third quarter and the 2.4 percent decline in the second quarter (which was the first quarter when online ad revenues for the newspaper industry went down).

(Photo by Scott Glovsky).

The table below shows both online and total (print and online) advertising revenues for the newspaper industry for each quarter of last year. The “total” column below includes both online and print revenues

Year

Quarter

Online

% Change

Total

% Change

2008

$804.05

7.20%

$9,229.53

-12.85%

$776.58

-2.40%

$9,601.64

-15.11%

$749.84

-3.00%

$8,942.43

-18.11%

$778.27

-8.10%

$10,074.65

-19.74%

And here are figures for annual newspaper advertising revenues for the past five years. The newspaper industry is still huge, but the print portion is just getting decimated. Meanwhile online revenues still account for less than 10 percent of the total (8.3 percent, to be exact), and even those are facing challenges.

Year	Online	% change	Total	% change
2004	$1,541	26.7%	$48,244	4.5%
2005	$2,027	31.5%	$49,435	2.5%
2006	$2,664	31.5%	$49,275	-0.3%
2007	$3,166	18.8%	$45,375	-7.9%
2008	$3,109	-1.8%	$37,848	-16.6%

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Follow the Mobile User

Posted: 29 Mar 2009 01:35 PM PDT

This guest post is written by Vic Gundotra, Vice President of Engineering for Google's mobile and developer products. (Prior to Google, he spent 15 years at Microsoft, most recently as their GM of Platform Evangelism.) Vic credits his now-7-year-old with forecasting the importance of mobile data access, and now carries at least 4 phones at all times. Fortunately, he had two kids before adopting the possibly-prophylactic habit.

Focus on the mobile user, and all else will follow Simpler data, better browsers, and a smoother experience Today the mobile industry finds itself in a unique position to do right by its users: Worldwide phone penetration continues to climb at a break-neck pace, with over 4 billion mobile subscribers at last count.¹ (In comparison, the PC industry is forecasted to see its sharpest unit decline in history.²) Prevailing economic conditions will accelerate this trend, as users consolidate pricey communication services into cost-effective, all-in-one mobile devices.³ And for the first time ever, half of all new connections to the internet will come from a phone in 2009.⁴ Google's mobile traffic reflects these milestones -- having quintupled since 2007⁵ -- and it underscores users' appetite for mobile data services. But as a community of operators, device manufacturers and software providers, we continue to get in their way. In short, and as a general rule, we make it too costly, too unfamiliar, and too difficult to do anything beyond voice calls. In reply I offer up three suggestions: simpler data plans, better web browsers, and a smoother on-device experience. And in each case I'll use Google traffic numbers as a proxy for total internet usage and user happiness.

Spiceworks Adds Social Media Widgets To IT Networking Software

Posted: 29 Mar 2009 01:00 PM PDT

IT software maker Spiceworks has developed a set of customized plugins and widgets in a variety of categories for the Spiceworks desktop. Spiceworks’ ad-supported, free IT management software allows IT managers at small to mid-size businesses keep track of their network assets, run a helpdesk, monitor activity, receive reports and troubleshoot network problems.

The plugins let you keep track of alerts, tickets, new software, and new hardware, as well as a inventory summaries. Widgets include a help desk widget and reports and inventory widgets and allows users access this information easily. Spiceworks also lets users add themes and skins to the desktop, create customized user portals, and lets users drop in news widgets from RSS feeds and social networking widgets for Twitter, Digg, Facebook, and MySpace.

Spiceworks has also created an IT news community destination for the users of its software. In the community, you can see information that other Spiceworks IT professionals have submitted and also features content that is directed towards the small to medium sized business IT professional community.

Spiceworks says that there have been over 16,000 downloads of its 53 widgets in the past week. The company says that the most popular widgets are the help desk widgets and there have already been 16 language plugins created by the software’s users. Whats Up, another IT network management software, has created mobile access for clients but doesn’t seem to have incorporated the social networking features into the platform.

Spicework’s software has been built around creating a community among IT managers, so its no surprise that the company is now rolling out social media features to its platform. The software lets users connect with other IT managers. When problems come up users can post questions, submit answers and use group-edited wiki articles, etc. The software, which now includes a dashboard, RSS feeds, social networking widgets and a IT news sharing community, seems to almost be turning into a pseudo-social network itself.