Posted on 05 November 2009 by Robert Seidman
I don’t know if I will stick with these posts, it’s not exactly the traffic driver that O’Reilly vs. Olbermann is, but I figure since I’m looking at this stuff anyway, it’s not any extra work either.
This week I added in Mediaite. So far as I know Nikki Finke is not feuding with Mediate as she is with The Wrap, and the sites aren’t exactly in competition, but Mediaite has their PR person send out e-mails every month about how great they are doing and so they are on my radar.
I think as things go, Mediaite is actually doing very well. The Wrap had at least a few months head-start in terms of its major launch (its been around a bit longer, but their major push was last spring while Mediaite launched in July).
All three sites are directly measured on Quantcast, here are the results for the past month:
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Posted on 04 November 2009 by Robert Seidman
Final Update: fun while it lasted, but no longer free on Amazon or iTunes. It should be available for free on both Hulu and ABC.com on Saturday.
Looks like it’s an “All V, All The Time” day, but I know some folks missed it and there were comments about how to watch it. Though last night’s premiere of V is not yet available on Hulu or ABC.com (where only the first 9.5 minutes are so are avaialble) and looks like it won’t be until Saturday, the premiere is already streaming on Amazon.com, and for free.
Just click the link below.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TNS012/ref=dv_twitter_freeV
Via Amazon Video On Demand Twitter Feed.
Update (from comments – thanks Jason): it is indeed free on iTunes too.
Update 2: Posted around 3:20p PT on November 4:
AmazonVideo Sorry!! We have to take down our free V offer. Want it? Better grab it quick. bit.ly/1UYhDz #fb
Posted on 04 November 2009 by Robert Seidman
via press release:
ABC.COM ENHANCES FULL EPISODE PLAYER WITH
NEW ABC SOCIAL: EPISODE COMMENTARY FEATURE
Unique Feature Allows Online Viewers to Experience “Expert” Insights
from Series Producers, Writers & Stars, as Well as Create Their Own Commentary Tracks
to Share with Their Friends on Facebook®
Launches Saturday, Nov. 7, with the First Episode of “V”
Dedicated to expanding its network and channel brands across multiple platforms and connecting viewers with their favorite shows anytime and anywhere, Disney/ABC Television Group will unveil ABC Social: Episode Commentary, a new feature of ABC.com’s Full Episode Player integrated with Facebook Connect, which allows online viewers to create their own commentary tracks to ABC episodes and share the experience with friends. The new Episode Commentary will be available beginning this Saturday, November 7, for the first episode of ABC’s new series “V,” and will feature expert commentary from “V” executive producers Scott Peters and Steve Pearlman. This new feature will roll out across other series on ABC.com over the coming weeks.
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Posted on 02 November 2009 by Robert Seidman
via AllThingsD’s Peter Kafka:
Would you pay $30 a month to watch TV via iTunes?
That’s the pitch Apple has been making to TV networks in recent weeks. The company is trying to round up support for a monthly subscription service that would deliver TV programs via its multimedia software, multiple sources tell me.
Apple (AAPL) isn’t tying the proposed service to a specific piece of hardware, like its underwhelming Apple TV box, or its long-rumored tablet/slate device. Instead, it is presenting the offer as an extension of its iTunes software, which already has a huge installed base: A year ago, Apple said it had 65 million iTunes customer accounts.
read the full story
The big snag here (besides not so little things like, “hey, there aren’t any new episodes of The Big Bang Theory!”) is, as Kafka notes, the potential threat to cable networks carriage fees from cable and satellite companies. For now, carriage fees are, if not the proverbial golden goose, at least a few golden eggs. Either way, I can’t see cable or broadcast networks (who are now trying to get their fare share of carriage fees) doing anything to compromise carriage fees any time soon.
Posted on 30 October 2009 by Robert Seidman
One million people will get the chance to watch the second-season premiere of Disney-ABC Domestic Television’s Legend of the Seeker before its November 7 air date:
Starting Friday, moviegoers will be presented with one of three collectible 3D “Seeker” cards when they purchase a ticket at one of 1,300 participating movie theaters nationwide through Nov. 6.
The 1 million people who receive the card will be given the opportunity to watch “Seeker’s” second-season premiere episode on the iTunes Store before its Nov. 7 debut. Each card contains a code to be redeemed on iTunes, giving fans an exclusive free download of the episode.
more on THR
Posted on 28 October 2009 by Robert Seidman
The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman
Deadline.com’s Nikki Finke and The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman have not been all that shy about feuding in public. Finke must’ve been miffed that Waxman more or less got the Comcast/NBC Uni story correct since Finke initially called out Waxman for having it wrong. The burning question now is if and when the deal gets done whether Waxman will bust out a big fat TOLDJA! headline.
Finke rapped the well-funded Wrap’s relatively small web traffic. Indeed, trying to cash in on web traffic is a dicey proposition these days. The Wrap would likely have a hard time paying its bills even if it increased its normal traffic by more than an order of magnitude.
But I wouldn’t write Waxman or The Wrap off yet either. Web publishing might be pretty iffy, but if The Wrap can figure out a way to make money off of conferences, who knows? Conferences are where the money is! Unfortunately I am not a big fan of even attending conferences, and though Bill doesn’t loathe attending them, I don’t think he has any interest in trying to run one.
Anyway, we regularly look at the Quantcast data for sites that directly measure like The Wrap, and Deadline.com.
I was looking at the numbers for The Wrap, and they had a big spike on Tuesday! Perhaps not quite a TOLDJA! moment for The Wrap, but it had to bring them some joy nonetheless:
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Posted on 27 October 2009 by Robert Seidman
Hurray! The trade publications are finally getting around to writing about “TV Everywhere” and now at least mentioning that the plan is to include the same ad load as on TV.
Advertising Age has a good primer on it, including juicy nuggets like this:
What’s the ad model
A TV-length commercial ad load disables fast-forwarding, due to increased frustration among programmers who are selling top-tier TV shows with a third of their on-air ads online. Jack Wakshlag, chief research officer at Turner Broadcasting, said a typical on-air episode of “The Closer” runs 18 ads*, which is why it makes little to no revenue sense for the network to run the same episode online with a third of the same commercials against it. “If I can get 4.5 times my TV CPM online [the cost to advertisers to reach 1,000 viewers], I’d be happy and wouldn’t need to do anything,” he said. “But nobody’s getting four times TV CPMs online. Nobody at Hulu’s getting twice the TV CPMs. If people who already watch the show see it with a full commercial load, it’s still a chance to catch up on shows they miss.”
Read the full story
Posted on 27 October 2009 by Robert Seidman
