BBC reports that 45% of broadband users are now watching TV. TechCrunch’s Duncan Riley wrote a story with the headline 45% of Europeans watch TV on their computers, and naturally that drew a lot of cynicism.
All to say, 45% of Europeans watch TV online? Never perhaps.
But 45% of Europe’s broadband users have seen some TV content online? Yeah, that is plausible.
This does make a company like Joost, that is drawing more and more TV content online one to look at; of course, WatchMojo.com’s content is now on Joost’s roster, making us one of the few online-only producers of content to have that distinction… Read more about our announcement with the Joost deal here.
Digg this Blog
Share on Facebook
WatchMojo on Twitter
WatchMojo on YouTube
Add to Favorites
WatchMojo NewsletterSometimes being a blogger and a web entrepreneur is a challenge because the former wants to write something that the latter is eager to boast about but can’t for business purposes.
Regardless of that, a few months after the founders of KaZaA and Skype, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, rechristened The Venice Project as Joost, the project launched on Tuesday. Today, WatchMojo.com joined the list of media and entertainment companies such as Viacom, CNN, Turner, Sony Pictures Television, CBS, Warner Music Group and the NHL as content partners for the new video platform that aims to become the destination for a high-quality television experience online.
Yes, on the one hand, I want to pinch myself and ask “what are we doing amongst such a great crowd,” but then I look at a few of our recent clips and understand what Joost saw in our programming.
Having been privy to a lot of information early on, and not in a mood to check back on the NDA, I’ll let others around the Web pontificate on what’s under the hood, industry landscape repercussions and the company’s potential and challenges.
But what I know as an online-only video content producer for broadband platforms is that joining the roster of an ambitious company like Joost is one helluva validation of our content and company.
I personally want to thank Joost and WatchMojo.com employees for seeing this relationship go from concept to reality, and look forward to making this a great partnership. Seeing Joost sign up over thirty marquee, premiums advertiser (including Coca-Cola, HP, Intel and Nike), we don’t doubt that it will be just that.
The service is initially targeting English audiences in the US and UK, but does have plans for other languages, which is great since we have Spanish, French and other programming within our library of 4,000 video clips which amount to over 200 hours of broadband content.
Expect many more announcements such as this one to come from WatchMojo.com and learn more about Joost here.
My biggest fear, all right, that’s an outright lie.
Let’s try again: something that worries me is seeing another bubble creep up. Frankly, I was one of the rare types that benefitted from the bubble. Not quite like Google did… obviously, but as our competitors faltered it created an opening for my old company. Translation, my old company exited for $13.5M in 2005 after launching in 2000 while our largest competitor rose $17M in financing in 1999 and shut down in 2000. That being said, as a web entrepreneur now, no one wants to see things pop.
That’s why I am happy - even as a shareholder in public securities - when the stock market shows caution.
Valueclick announced its quarterly figures: earnings rose 90% off a 34% spike in revenues. It’s a stock I bought ages ago in the high single digits and sold in the high teens (not sweet). But I own many in its peer group (aQuantive, for one) so I like to see it do it. 90% spike in profits? 34% spike in revenues? That’s pretty sweet.
What happens? Stock falls $2 the next day.
Sure, the stock has risen quite a bit and it only narrowed guidance and not up it:
The company narrowed the range of its 2007 sales guidance to a range of $655 million to $665 million, from $645 million to $665 million.
I’m telling you, public investors are extremely rational and so-not-exuberant… it’s the private market that is crazy.
… the oldest dilemma in media is when publishers prostitute themselves for advertisers.
Why am I saying this?
Award-winning Editor-in-Chief Harry McCracken of PC World resigned Tuesday over disagreements with the magazine’s publisher regarding stories critical of advertisers, according to sources.
McCracken, reached Wednesday evening, confirmed that he resigned after 12 years at the magazine and 16 years at publisher International Data Group, over disagreements with management. He declined to comment on the nature of those disagreements.
But three sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told CNET News.com that McCracken informed staffers in an afternoon meeting Wednesday that he decided to resign because Colin Crawford, senior vice president, online, at IDG Communications, was pressuring him to avoid stories that were critical of major advertisers.
I think because print is facing such an exodus of ad revenue, things like this are exasperated. Also, because these involve people with a lot of experience, then the disagreements tend to blow up, as this one did.
And guess what, given the trendline in print, this kind of thing will only become more prevalent.
In my old gig, my colleagues and I were all cast into the role of publishers without any experience in publishing. Of course, that was easily one reason why we crushed Maxim, Play boy, GQ, Esquire, Details, TheMan et al. online, because we did not carry any baggage about what a magazine should look like online.
[This might also explain why in my new venture WatchMojo.com, an online TV station, we’re succeeding because we have no TV experience.]
Incidentally, I was VP of Ad Sales for the website, but I was also a writer who penned 1,000 features, profiles, articles and interviews, the company spokesperson… so I had one foot in sales and another in content. I knew where to draw the line, but having a hand in both jars also allowed me/us to craft some pretty intuitive ad campaigns for our clients.
But on the Web, where advertisers are flocking to, we knew we could draw the line at not “whoring editorial,” but in print, they will have to push the envelope further and further, and this will lead to an exodus of folks like Harry McCracken.
Apparently Crawford also told editors that product reviews in the magazine were too critical of vendors, especially ones who advertise in the magazine, and that they had to start being nicer to advertisers.
Read more here. Even I know, you tell that to a writer and he will walk. I can’t say I blame either men, not that I know them or anything…
One of the few things I like about LinkedIn is that it allows search engines to index its database, that’s smart, since a lot of searches are for people. What I don’t like - but can’t blame them for doing - is that I have to sign up and pay to email that someone. I’ll burn money (personally, not as a manager, of course) faster than a California wildfire takes down trees, but for some reason, anytime I have to take out my credit card online, I freeze and panic.
I suspect I’m not alone.
Facebook is different in that it does not allow search engines to index its site, which is odd, but once I am on Facebook, and signed in, then I can email anyone, by way of message. Frankly, I can’t be bothered to go through all of that, but many have and do, obviously.
[Facebook by the way is one of the leaders in our Web Company of 2007 poll. See previous winners here, and vote here.]
My question is: why don’t we have a public email address database?
I personally have no problem adding my name and email address(es) to a database. The email need not be “clickable” to avoid massive spam problems… but we could have one email listed for work purposes, and another for personal, so that whether someone wants to reach me for work or otherwise they can. I can also log back in and remove it or update it. Heck, I can even add a phone number if I want to. As you add more info, then it becomes like all social networks and hence why I am asking why Linked In or Facebook do not do this. MySpace might as well do it but I’d be darned if I could find it on their pages.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: who on earth wants to make their emails public? Well, you’d be surprised… and many people do. Say we have 1.1BM Internet users and 10% want their email addresses made public, that’s a market of 110M. I’d bet that the number is higher… at least to try such a service.
Does this service exist as is? Not that I know of.
Why am I telling you about it?
Because I can get one of our programmers to build this in a weekend and then promote it to the millions of folks who come across WatchMojo.com and the Mojo Supreme network and then the next day Linked In and Facebook will do this… and, I have enough projects on my plate.
Also, I’m not sure how valuable the audience would be, after all, you are looking FOR someone, there’s no real guarantee that this indicates who YOU are. That has little value to advertisers all factors being equal. Also, the problem is that it could become quite stale in terms of accuracy, someone might add an email address and forget to change it… hence why it makes more sense for a Facebook, MySpace, Bebo or LinkedIn to do such a thing.
Point is, a lot of people would want to sign up.
Any thoughts? Would you add your email if the spam issue was addressed?
PLAY
