Adweek : Technology

JCPenney One of 10 Brands Predicted to Die in Next Year

Melissa Hoffmann — Fri, 24 May 2013 16:04:21 GMT

As new brands are brought to life in the evolution of various verticals, others will inevitably give up the ghost. While obsolesence related to industrial shifts is the No. 1 killer of outdated concepts or companies, other factors may guide the executioner's hand, including failure to innovate, cash flow issues and heavy competition.

Each year, 24/7 Wall St. identifies 10 important brands sold in America that it predicts will disappear within a year's time. This year’s list reflects the brutally competitive nature of certain industries.

Among those potentially headed into obscurity are two magazines—Martha Stewart Living and Road & Track. While some magazines weathered the multi-year decline, these two suffered sharp drops in advertising revenue over the past five years. Magazines also carry the heavy legacy costs of printing, paper and distribution—a problem not shared by their online-only competitors.

In the realm of consumer electronics, the Barnes & Noble Nook may be done for, as the e-reader business is shrinking and the Nook competes with better-selling products made by Apple and Amazon. Also in line for final goodbyes is the Olympus digital camera, as camera sales continue to be eroded by smartphones with cutting-edge built-in cameras.

Another industry with two brands on the list is automobiles: Mitsubishi and Volvo are reportedly set to follow Suzuki to the big junkyard in the sky.

The full list of brands predicted to fail this year: JCPenney, Nook, Olympus, Martha Stewart Living magazine, LivingSocial, Volvo, the WNBA, Leap Wireless, Mitsubishi Motors and Road & Track magazine.

Last year, 24/7 Wall Street correctly predicted Suzuki, MetroPCS and Current TV would be out. American Airlines, another predicted failure, is part of a new company through its combination with U.S. Airways, though the American Airlines name lives on. Talbots, which also made that list, was acquired by a private equity firm, and also as expected, Research In Motion is no longer a brand. Predictions regarding Avon, the Oakland Raiders and Salon, however, were incorrect.

Microsoft Humiliates Siri in Biting Parody of Apple's iPad Ads

David Gianatasio — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:59:15 GMT

Microsoft says a mouthful in this ad from Crispin Porter + Bogusky. And—surprise!—those words are spoken by Siri, Apple's voice assistant, from an iPad sitting next to a Windows 8 tablet. As the latter wordlessly flips through various features, Siri apologies for being unable to run those programs and perform the same functions. "I'm sorry, I don't update like that," she says. "I'm sorry, I can only do one thing at a time." I half expected a tax app to pop up on the tablet's screen and be greeted by an awkward silence from Siri. Maybe in the sequel. This is Microsoft's second spot in a week to deftly parody a rival's ad style (in this case, Apple's stylish minimalism), following its skewering of Google's Chrome browser. The tablet ad, which references the iPad mini's "Piano" spot from last October, is approaching 2 million views on YouTube in just a couple of days. There are some chatty personal assistants, like Indigo, available for Windows devices. But for my taste, the ultimate Microsoft PA voice would speak in measured, calm-yet-crazy cadences, providing sadly poignant commentary as the OS crashes into a sea of blue when its mind begins to go.

What If Arrested Development Were Coming Back on YouTube?

Mike Shields — Fri, 24 May 2013 04:01:02 GMT

A few weeks after the NewFronts—where something like 75 shows were introduced—and what’s the most anticipated Web video series out there? Why, of course, it's Arrested Development.

Of course, that’s entirely unfair.

As we (and everybody) have already chronicled, Arrested Development is a canceled network show that developed a massive cult following and that has teased fans with the possibility of a comeback time and time again.

This weekend, the show will return on Netflix with 17 binge-worthy episodes. Fan anticipation is at a fever pitch. So it’s fair to ask: What would have happened if one of the big players in Web video—say Yahoo or Hulu or AOL—had decided to resurrect it instead? Sure, it’s expensive, way expensive compared to most Web series. But didn’t Yahoo just fork over $1.1 billion for Tumblr? Couldn’t it have put $10 million aside for the Bluths? And YouTube put $100 million into funded channels over the last year. Wouldn't it have made more sense for YouTube to have concentrated on one or two series with a built-in audience?

It’s fun to speculate what a show like Arrested Development would have done for the online video market. Might we have seen high prices? A true upfront buying market? A chance for some player to bet big—and maybe fail hard? One can only guess. Still, Adweek asked a handful of top buyers and media execs what they thought about all this, and here's what they said:

Meridee Alter, svp, director of digital media at RPA:

"This video moment feels more about the cult of Arrested Development than the fact that Netflix is distributing it. Netflix and all of the major portals have developed original content with significant talent, garnering various degrees of attention but ultimately delivering relatively small audiences. The big difference here is that Netflix is tapping into a show that maintained a rabid fan base long after its cancelation, and those fans and the press would have rallied around the show's revival no matter where it turned up. And where there's audience and media momentum, advertisers are sure to follow."

Shelby Saville, evp, digital at Spark:

"I think it would have generated a lot of interest and would have gotten notice from clients and buyers. It is a known entity with a following and it is an interesting strategy to deploy. That said, I am not sure if ad demand would be through the roof, as Arrested Development is still a niche show and they would have to demonstrate how they are going to build (or re-build) the audience online. Until they are able to show the ability to scale the audience quickly, there would be interest and some demand, but unlikely 'through the roof.' At the NewFront, Hulu announced that it was taking All My Children and One Life to Live and moving them to their platform. ... We are watching to see if a show can move from TV to digital and maintain (or build) an audience."

John McCarus, svp, group director, content at Digitas:

"Big bets on anchor programming is not a new idea. But as binge viewing behavior escalates across all screens, we will see a business case develop for more big projects like this on the Web. One of the big Web creator/distributors could and will do this. We're probably only two to three years away."

Ritu Trivedi, svp, digital strategy & partnerships at MediaVest:

"I think Arrested Development could live in any of those homes. Yahoo. YouTube would make sense with their scale. Or even Microsoft with Xbox, which is the perfect audience for it. My main concern continues to be tune-in. How would any of these partners push that? And that, to me, is the most critical thing. I think we have decent star power in online content, good scale, but discoverability is dismal."

And now, the Motherboy theme song:

FTC May Not Be Done With Google Yet

Katy Bachman — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:13:02 GMT

The Federal Trade Commission may not be done with Google yet, as it opens a new investigation into whether the search giant abuses its market-leading position to curb competition in display advertising, according to a Bloomberg News report. However, the preliminary probe may not go anywhere, given it is in its early stages.

Google reported $2.26 billion in display ad revenue in the U.S. last year, a figure that is projected to hit $3.11 billion this year, according to eMarketer. Google's 15 percent share of the market bests Facebook (14.5 percent), Yahoo (9 percent), Microsoft (4.5 percent) and AOL (3.5 percent).

According to Bloomberg, the FTC is examining whether Google's DoubleClick ad network and its planning and buying tools force ad buyers to purchase ads in other Google services and avoid competing nets like Yahoo and Microsoft.

If the FTC finds anything, it will contradict what it found in 2007 when it cleared Google's $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick. "Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick is unlikely to substantially lessen competition," the commission wrote, noting that the evidence failed to find DoubleClick had market power in third-party ad-serving markets and that it was unlikely Google could "manipulate" DoubleClick's third-party ad-serving products in a way that would competitively disadvantage Google's competitors.

The probe would come five months after the FTC concluded a two-year investigation into whether Google unfairly manipulated its search results. To the disappointment of Google's rivals, it escaped virtually unscathed after the FTC wrapped its investigation by refusing to take any action to regulate Google's search algorithm. In a settlement with the FTC, Google did agree to stop certain practices related to search.

Neither FTC spokesman Peter Kaplan nor a Google rep had any comment on the report.

Nikola Tesla Takes Down Silicon Valley VCs, but Will It Get Him a Statue?

David Griner — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:00:29 GMT

Some days it seems almost anybody can make an enjoyable video promoting a Kickstarter project, but these guys get bonus points for simultaneously giving the venture-capital system a big poke in the eye. "Nikola Tesla Pitching Silicon Valley VCs" is a biting look at what might have happened if one of history's greatest inventors had to rely on today's venture capitalists. It also happens to promote a Kickstarter effort to build a WiFi hot spot statue of Tesla in Silicon Valley. What's interesting is that the video isn't some sort of populist celebration of Kickstarter. Instead, it depicts crowdfunding as a stopgap solution to the lack of large-scale vision among venture capitalists, whose tech-industry kingmaking is increasingly being called into question. The team behind the video, a creative project firm called Northern Imagination, admits the clip was pulled together quickly, which probably explains the strange audio levels and Tesla's questionable "Serbian" accent. But it has clearly struck a chord, inspiring GigaOm to write a 1,000-word essay on what the video "says about the state of Silicon Valley." In the meantime, the Tesla statue-raisers could still use your help. As of Thursday morning, they were still nearly $100,000 short of their goal, with only 10 days left. Via Boing Boing.

BBC's Experimental 'Perceptive Radio' Will Personalize Content

Maura McGowan — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:58:03 GMT

BBC has developed an experimental piece of hardware called Perceptive Radio that intelligently changes broadcasts based on the listener's location, weather, the level of background noise and other factors. The radio, unveiled at the Thinking Digital Conference today, is the first of its kind, according to BBC News.

The device was created by BBC's Future Media North Lab division. The group also produced a computer-generated radio drama that altered its script based on factors such as weather.

Perceptive Radio streams audio over a WiFi connection, with a light sensor, a proximity sensor and a microphone to monitor background noise. The radio will soon be tested in homes to see how it can be applied to real-world scenarios.

Perceptive Radio could have implications for future personalized advertising. The Next Web reported that the technology will soon be open source, so it can be commercialized despite BBC's noncommercial status. The device's intelligent control over content provides the possibility of making ads relevant to users' interests or location, similar to how Facebook, Google, and most other websites tailor ads based on user data.

Netflix Wants to Double Original Content by 2014

Maura McGowan — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:06:22 GMT

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos discussed “phase two” of the streaming service's foray into original content.

Sarandos said he wants to double the slate of originals in 2014, with eight new shows, telling THR, “People’s tastes are wildly diverse, and I want to be able to appeal to all of those tastes and across demos.”

This year, Netflix introduced four series that appeal to a range of palates: the $100 million David Fincher Beltway drama House of Cards; Hemlock Grove, a horror thriller that skews young; the women-driven dramedy Orange Is the New Black; and the highly anticipated Arrested Development revamp, premiering May 26. (There’s always money in the banana stand.)

Netflix already has one original planned for 2014: Series8, a sci-fi series from the creators of The Matrix.

Cindy Holland, Netflix’s vp of original content, said Netflix is interested in playing a larger role in creating material, as opposed to just licensing it.

As Netflix amps up its original offerings—with plans to gain more control over production—it may turn to commercial content to fund them. House of Cards was awash with ubiquitous product placements. In the future, Netflix may strike deals similar to its synergistic relationship with Sony—the PS3 and PS Vita are featured in House of Cards, while Netflix content is available for streaming on both consoles.

Netflix in Q1 gained 2.03 million new subscribers, outperforming Barclays Equity Research’s earlier projection of 1.8 million adds.

Paid streaming subscribers to Netflix totaled 27.9 million at the end of March, putting the service within shooting distance of HBO (28.7 million).

Twitter's TV Ad Targeting Uses 'Video Fingerprinting'

Christopher Heine — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:02:02 GMT

Twitter today announced a new program designed to help brands sync up television ads and Promoted Tweets through the use of a cutting-edge "video fingerprinting" technology.

Via a data dashboard, digital marketers can see in real time when their spots air and what resulting tweet activity occurs about either the brand or TV show. Then, at least in theory, they can more intelligently target Twitter users with Promoted Tweets based on who tweeted about the commercial or show. Per the San Francisco-based firm, marketers can use the data to inform not only the timeliness of their Promoted Tweets but also the creative (e.g., copy, GIFs, Vine, etc.).

The tech giant said the system is available to a small number of partners currently running TV commercials in the United States. A video posted by Twitter (watch below) suggests Trident gum is one of the testing brands.

In a blog post this morning, Twitter credited the February acquisition of Bluefin Labs for enabling the program as well as its "TV Ads" dashboard. Twitter said its video fingerprinting technology detects when and where a brand's commercials are running on TV.

According to the post by Michael Fleischman, Twitter product manager for revenue, the program doesn't require advertisers "to do any manual tracking or upload media plan details. Whenever a commercial airs during a TV show, Twitter not only determines where and when it ran, but can identify users on Twitter who tweeted about the program where the ad aired during that program. We believe a user engaged enough with a TV show to tweet about it very likely saw the commercials as well."

Meanwhile, Twitter today also unveiled new broadcast partnerships with BBC America, Fox, Fuse and The Weather Channel, enabling the media firms to promote television clips on the social platform. Twitter has been testing the program, now formally dubbed Twitter Amplify, in recent weeks with ESPN and Turner.

The pair of moves—both the video fingerprinting for brands and the Amplify product for TV networks, mark the latest in Twitter's aggressive push to become the default social companion to TV. It seems clear that Twitter sees an opportunity to put distance between itself and Facebook on this front.

To see the full list of Twitter Amplify partners, click here.

Are You Young and Male? Discovery Says This TestTube's for You

Maura McGowan — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:34:27 GMT

Discovery Communications has launched TestTube, a free, ad-supported video network targeted at young males, The Wall Street Journal reported.

TestTube is the product of Internet television studio Revision3, acquired by Discovery last year in an estimated $30-40 million deal. The network will launch with 10 million streams and is expected to grow to 20 million streams by the end of 2013.

TestTube will reportedly showcase original content aimed at a young, male audience, with 15 new series such as techno-philosophy talk show Shots of Awe; Blow it Up, hosted by MythBusters personality Tory Belleci; and Nature Hates You, a series of flip exposés of the sinister side of natural-world things like vines and dust.

“If you had to think about what Discovery would look like if you invented it today for the millennial generation, TestTube is that image,” J.B. Perrette, chief digital officer of Discovery Communications, told the Journal.

While the 25-54 set is the meat and potatoes of Discovery’s diet—the flagship channel saw its Q1 deliveries increase 10 percent to 846,000 members of the demo per night—it’s never a bad idea to try to make inroads with the younger crowd.

Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback said Discovery’s goal is to capture the 18-34 demo, even if “[it] turns out, down the road, that everything goes à la carte.”

(Louderback’s assertion is a bit of a reach; Discovery on Thursday told Adweek that TestTube is not being developed as a hedge against cord-cutting.)

In addition to TestTube, Discovery will distribute shows via YouTube, with plans to dole out original programming to Xbox, Apple TV, Roku, iOS and TiVo.

“This is another step in our mission to be the No. 1 nonfiction video and media company on all screens,” Perrette told Deadline.

Group of Web Video Companies Band Together to Ensure Ads Are Viewable

Mike Shields — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:17:15 GMT

As the Web video ad industry grows, so do the number of questions about the legitimacy of some of the available ad inventory out there. Such questions as: Where are my ads running? And how do I know if anyone can actually see them?

To head off such queries before doubt solidifies, a group of companies in the video ad sector formed a consortium aimed at establishing a common standard for measuring Web video viewability, dubbed OpenVV (Open Video View). The idea is get all the players on the same page when it comes to criteria for defining whether a video ad can actually be seen. And hopefully, the result is that brands get more comfortable—and dollars flow to the medium.

The group includes such frenemies as TubeMogul (which built the tech), BrightRoll, Innovid, SpotXchange and LiveRail (and notably doesn’t include YouTube, Hulu, AOL, Yahoo or the rest of the NewFront crew). That’s because DSPs like TubeMogul, SSPs like LiveRail or ad networks/exchanges like BrightRoll run ads all over the Internet, and thus face the most questions about ad viewability.

"It’s definitely coming up a lot," said TubeMogul CEO Brett Wilson. “It’s not as bad as display, but I think when it comes to video that lives in the wild, more clients are wondering.”

The hope is to assuage clients with a common definition of video viewability. But that’s not quite what OpenVV is just yet. Rather, it’s just pieces of open source code, and any publisher is welcome to test and improve upon it. “I think this is the first open source tool in ad tech," said TubeMogul's chief strategy officer, Jason Lopatecki.

Per Lopatecki, the code will let publishers identify the portion of a video ad that is in view and measure the amount of time it's viewed. The code requires no changes to a publisher’s site and doesn't screw up any other ad serving tools or viewability tracking employed by the publisher, he said.

The thinking behind an open source code is that a standard developed and set by the industry as a whole has a much better shot at general acceptance than one dictated by an individual company. "We don't think there’s a sustaining competitive advantage in maintaining viewability," said Lopatecki.

"If we solve it for ourselves it was meaningless," added Wilson. "It needs to be an industry approach."

To that end, the consortium developed—in conjunction with ANA, the 4A's and the IAB—Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) principles, which are being submitted to the 3MS leadership and the Media Rating Council (MRC). The system has been successfully tested across hundreds of millions of video ad impressions and thousands of publisher sites, and all parties plan to share each others’ data as things move forward.

Next up: getting more video purveyors on board. Google’s been invited, as have others. "We've just spent the last few months of putting all the pieces together," said Wilson.

The IAB and Mozilla Clash—in Person

Mike Shields — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:54:51 GMT

The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s CEO Randall Rothenberg has had a very public disagreement with Mozilla over the browser’s decision to automatically block ad cookies in recent months. On Tuesday, Rothenberg was sitting for a keynote interview with Terry Kawaja, founder and CEO of Luma Partners, when Kawaja announced he had invited a surprise guest: Harvey Anderson, svp of business and legal affairs at Mozilla.

Rothenberg looked genuinely surprised as Kawaja looked on and laughed. The investment banker and ad tech advise had branded the showdown "Terry Springer." And while Rothenberg and Anderson were civil, at times even complementary, it definitely got awkward.

“There are some people at Mozilla who are actively against the ad business,” said Rothenberg.

“We’re not opposed to advertising in any way, shape or form,” retorted Anderson.

Rothenberg brought up the activist Jonathan Mayer, who has rallied for a default do not track browser solution. Mayer has helped work on some of Mozilla’s technology. “He doesn’t work for us,” said Anderson. “He’s not a contractor. I’ve never met him.”

The Terry Springer session ended amicably, with the two men joking they’d hug it out (though they never actually did).

Liberal Groups Pressure Mayer to Withdraw From FWD.us

Katy Bachman — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:19:22 GMT

Yahoo's Marissa Mayer is under pressure from liberal groups to withdraw her support for FWD.us, Mark Zuckerberg's political advocacy group.

Launched in April with a focus on advocating immigration reform and a long list of Silicon Valley heavyweights, FWD.us has come under fire recently for currying favor with the causes of conservative politicians in order to win votes. Spending as much as seven figures, the PAC began fronting ads for conservative causes like the Keystone Pipeline and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Trouble is, the ads never mention immigration reform.

Alarmed at the strategy, a coalition of nine liberal grassroots organizations, including Progressive United and Credo, launched a boycott of Facebook, raised a lot of fuss and got a lot of press. As a result, Zuckerberg's PAC took a hit, losing two of its big-name supporters, Tesla Motors co-founder Elon Musk and David Sacks, the CEO and founder of Yammer (acquired last year by Microsoft).

To persuade Mayer to dump the PAC, Progressive United and Credo have ramped up their campaign targeting FWD.us supporters. They emailed 120,000 of their members who hold Yahoo email accounts, to encourage them to call Mayer to resign as co-founder of Zuckerberg's group. The group also launched a blog on Tumblr (purchased this week by Yahoo), "Drop It, Marissa." A Facebook page is also targeting Mayer.

"Even as other tech stars are resigning from FWD.us over climate, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is out there publicly defending the organization and its pro-Keystone XL propaganda," said Becky Bond, Credo's political director.

Yahoo was not immediately available for comment.

Sen. John Cornyn Joins the Fight Against Patent Trolls With New Bill

Katy Bachman — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:28:33 GMT

Legislation targeting patent trolls is picking up steam in Congress. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) became the latest lawmaker to offer a solution, introducing a bill aimed at making it easier for the victims of frivolous patent suits to fight back.

Cornyn’s bill, the Patent Abuse Reduction Act, would give the victims of patent troll litigation more information to defend themselves by requiring plaintiffs to disclose the substance of their claim and reveal their identifies when they file lawsuits. Like the House's Shield Act, sponsored by Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Cornyn's bill would also shift responsibility for the cost of the litigation to the losing party.

Not only have tech and Internet businesses found themselves the victims of frivolous patent troll lawsuits, but advertising agencies that handle interactive strategies for clients have also found themselves on the defense, vulnerable to suits that often add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"Abusive patent litigation, led by a growing number of 'patent trolls' in search of a quick payday, threatens the innovation patents were created to protect," Cornyn said in a statement. "These reforms will deter patent litigation abusers without prejudicing the rights of responsible intellectual property holders," he added.

Earlier this month, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced the Patent Quality improvement Act, which attempts to stop the suits from even getting to court, by allowing claims to be reviewed administratively by experts at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

As members of the Judiciary Committee, both Schumer and Cornyn have a good chance of getting their bills considered by the committee, since chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has said that taking up patent reform is a priority.
"I want to extend my appreciation to chairman Leahy for his coordination with me on this matter. I look forward to his continued support for patent reform," Cornyn said.

Arrested Development Outbuzzing House of Cards

Mike Shields — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:04:30 GMT

The specter of House of Cards, the breakout Netflix series, hung over the NewFronts a few weeks ago. In fact, its arguable as to whether the show did more harm than good for the industry, since it radically elevated the expectation of what a "Web series" can be (since it’s really just a $100 million TV show that HBO didn’t produce; its delivery is digital). It’s hardly fair to compare HOC to anything AOL and Crackle are cranking out, at least currently.

But while the buzz for HOC was intense (as was the chatter among the members of the digital ad industry and digital press regarding the show), it’s nothing compared to Arrested Development, the other Web show Netflix is rolling out—this weekend, in fact.

According to the social analytics firm NetBase, a month before the Arrested Development premiere the show had generated 170,431 social media mentions, 77 percent of which were positive. That’s compared to 51,045 mentions of Cards a month before it debuted (68 percent positive).

Here's proof:

OMFG cannot wait for Arrested development on netflix. this clip is so so wrong which is why the series is so right. youtube.com/watch?feature=…
— Josh Felser (@Joshmedia) May 19, 2013

Or course, Arrested fans have had seven years to get hopeful, excited and then ecstatic about the show’s long-awaited return. But it also appears that Netflix is gradually becoming a buzz hub for original series.

It’s come a long way. Remember Lilyhammer, the fish out of water show starring former Sopranos star Steven Van Zandt. The show received a mere 1,857 mentions a month before its February 2012 premiere. At least 70 percent were positive. More recently, the niche horror show Hemlock Grove generated nearly 9,000 mentions a month before its debut, 63 percent of which were positive.

Again, it’s hardly apples and oranges to compare Arrested Development, a resurrected former Fox show, to anything churned out by a YouTube native. But the comparison will surely be made.

Compare the trailers for Arrested Development and Lilyhammer:

Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women Includes Tech, Media Titans

Emma Bazilian — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:35:37 GMT

Forbes’ most estrogen-heavy annual list, The World's 100 Most Powerful Women, is a who’s who of politicians, celebrities, and CEOs. While this year’s Top 5 was heavy on politics (German chancellor Angela Merkel was No. 1) and philanthropy (Melinda Gates at No. 3), plenty of media and tech figures showed up elsewhere in the rankings.

This year’s list contains 13 media names (down from last year’s 14), with Oprah Winfrey ranking as the most powerful media figure (No. 13). Others include New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson (who dropped from No. 5 to No. 19), Condé Nast artistic director and Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour (she jumped from No. 51 to No. 41), Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington and Sun Media Group co-owner Lan Yang.

The tech world placed 16 members on the list, including Facebook COO (and Lean In author) Sheryl Sandberg at No. 6, Google SVP Susan Wojcicki, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Microsoft CFO Amy Hood.

Several of last year’s most powerful women dropped off the list, including NewsBeast’s Tina Brown, (soon-to-be former) Time Inc. CEO Laura Lang, Wikimedia’s Sue Gardner, CNN and ABC anchor Christiane Amanpour and retired Pearson CEO Marjorie Scardino.

Forbes considers three factors in its methodology: money (such as company revenue, income, or GDP, depending on the category), media presence (news hits, TV and radio appearances and social media) and impact (or “the extent of their reach across industries, cultures and countries, numbers of spheres of influence and people they affect, and how actively they wield their power,” according to Forbes).

Microsoft's Xbox One Is Its Own Second Screen

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:24:59 GMT

Microsoft hopes the new Xbox One—its first console in eight years—will become a hub for entertainment. In addition to live TV, the device will offer exclusive media content, including a live-action Halo video series produced by Steven Spielberg, according to Reuters.

Don Mattick, Microsoft's svp, interactive entertainment, told the BBC that he sees the Xbox One as an "unrivaled device," and "the ultimate all-in-one entertainment system."

The Verge reported that the Xbox One's live TV functionality will work in conjunction with the user's existing cable box.

The Xbox One's “Snap Mode” feature looks like Windows 8 and allows users to run two activities simultaneously, according to TechCrunch, providing a second-screen experience alongside things like live TV. TechCrunch said it might be the Xbox One’s biggest appeal for content providers who are looking for additional ways to engage audiences losing interest in traditional ads.

Microsoft already competes with Nintendo's Wii U Sony Playstation—the new generation of which will be out in the coming months—for its position in the $65 billion world gaming market. In the realm of smart TVs, Microsoft is part of a crowded market that includes Apple, Google and many others.

However, live TV on the Xbox One is fraught with the same bugaboos as Google TV, according to The Verge. AllThingsD pointed out that the Xbox essentially serves as a remote, allowing users to change the channel and providing a programming guide. The box is inextricably tied to cable.

Though it may not be the future of television, the Xbox One was designed as a home entertainment hub, with features including Internet connectivity, group video calling on Skype, and original content including NFL programming and 15 exclusive gaming titles. It will be the first console to release the next installment of Activision's Call of Duty franchise.

Microsoft also announced it will have an updated 8-gigabyte SmartGlass app that connects the Xbox One to smartphones and tablets. The app will bundle in Kinect, a $100 sensor for voice and gesture commands.

The company did not specify when the console will be publicly available and is still figuring out the cost.

Tablets Overtake Smartphones as the Big Shopping Device

Lucia Moses — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:38:30 GMT

Mobile devices account for just 15 percent of e-commerce today, but eMarketer estimates that by 2017, one-fourth of online sales will be mobile-based as people conduct more of their lives on smartphones and tablets. The spread of tablets in particular will drive mobile commerce; by 2017, nearly three-fourths of mobile retail sales will be done on tablets, with 125 million people using them to make purchases.

Infographic: Carlos Monteiro

Pinterest Plays Coy on Ads, but Expect Commerce to Lead

Mike Shields — Tue, 21 May 2013 23:25:23 GMT

A coy Ben Silbermann wasn’t saying much today about how he plans to incorporate advertising into Pinterest, the site he founded back in 2009. But it’s a good bet Pinterest advertising will be native-looking and centered on commerce.

Silbermann sat for a rare keynote interview at the Conversational Marketing Summit in New York, one of the many events unfolding during Internet Week. He was asked very pointedly by Federated CEO John Battelle, “Do you have a business model?”

And in classic tech startup fashion, Silbermann emphasized that Pinterest’s ad approach would be about making things better for its users.

“Well, we haven’t announced anything specific. Everything comes back to our mission as a company,” he said. “Our mission is that we want to help people discover these things they are really passionate about. And inspire them to go to do those things. And there’s often a direct link between the things that people are passionate about and things they are planning in the future and the things they spend money on.”

In fact, sometimes that takes the form of pin boards that read something like, “Shoes I want to buy.” But other times, its more about Pinterest identifying life stages, Silbermann explained. The company can often tell when people are about to get married, buy a house or start a family based on what they are pinning.

It’s the place we go to put a project like that together and get inspiration from other people. And I think that speaks to how we’ll eventually monetize the site. We’ll try and fulfill people’s desires to make inspiration into reality.”

Pinterest has provided some clues to date. Just this week, it introduced a set of tools that allows brands to include current data in pins, such as recipes or current prices. The company has also rolled out analytics that help brands gain insight into what pins are resonating on the giant Web social bulletin board.

Said Silbermann: “The companies that I really admire the most at the ones that have a deep visceral understanding of why people use their service and they figure out ways of making money that are completely consistent with how people are feeling and what they are doing at the time.”

Prior to talking with Silbermann, Battelle sat for an entertaining keynote interview with Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia. The confident entrepreneur noted that the TV industry often starts by fighting with new technology, whether it be the remote control, VCR or DVR, and only to get on board and investing in such new businesses.

"I really don't understand the [industry's] reaction," he said. In Kanojia's eyes, TV execs believe, "If it ain't me, I'll try to control it."

In fact, Kanojia sees TV networks profiting from services like Aereo, which he believes would lead to more targeted, data-driven, hyper local ads.

And despite ongoing legal battles, Kanojia expressed total confidence that Aereo would succeed. "I think it's a forgone conclusion," he said. "The bigger the challenge, the bigger the reward."

Rick Astley Rules YouTube Comedy?

Mike Shields — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:36:28 GMT

Who's winning YouTube Comedy Week? The professionals or the natives? It's hard to tell so far. But a mix of traditional comedy chops and Rick Astley magic seem to be a winning combination.

YouTube is trying to create its version of Must Stream TV by rolling out its inaugural Comedy Week this week, which should serve as both an audience driver and marketing-to-skittish-brands type event for YouTube. Though it's only Tuesday afternoon, comedian Reggie Watts, a regular on Conan and Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, has scored over 700,000 views for Reg Rolled, a clip during which he spoofs the Astley classic Never Gonna Give You Up, complete with similar dance moves. It's up to you who grooves better (see both clips below).

In the meantime, it will be interesting to assess how well this week plays out. So far, there haven't been any obvious runaway hits (several live events are scheduled). So far, other top performing clips are Lonely Island's Diaper Money (750,000), Key of Awesome's Start a Mumford Band (84,000 views), Jake and Amir's Rick Fox 4 (19,000 views) and The History of YouTube (557,000 views and counting) by The Gregory Bros.

(By the way, Astley's Never Gonna Give has over 63 million views to date. Good luck, Reggie).

Spotify Launches Music Charts

Maura McGowan — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:05:48 GMT

A year after Spotify data began appearing in Billboard's Hot 100, the Sweden-based music streaming service has launched charts of its own.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Spotify will rank the most popular of the 20 million tracks in its database, showcasing them in embeddable playlists. The Spotify 50 and the Social 50 will display Spotify's most streamed and top-shared tracks in widgets meant to be posted on media sites. The charts can be configured by region, showing data for Spotify's 28 different territories in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

The move is an effort to expand Spotify's user base, which totals 24 million active members and 6 million paid subscribers. By contrast, ad-supported internet radio Pandora has netted more than 200 million registered users. The service also faces mounting competition from Google Play: All Access and Apple's upcoming iRadio.

Spotify has also begun displaying play counts for individual tracks, which reflect global plays since October 2008.

"We want to be the best artist promotional platform in the world and showing play counts is a clear step in that direction," Spotify head of content Steve Savoca told the Journal. "Now artists can get immediate feedback from their fans on how their music is performing on Spotify."

Spotify wants to track users' listening and social media habits in an effort to "break" new talent, according to The Verge. This might give the company more leverage in renegotiating its contracts with the record labels, which currently take the lion's share of Spotify's revenue.

"Data is our secret sauce," Spotify's head of U.S. operations Ken Parks told the Journal.

Billboard is owned by Adweek parent Guggenheim Digital Media.

Digital Dignitaries Debate Display's Death

Mike Shields — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:51:04 GMT

Display advertising is largely ineffective. Brands aren’t interested, and they’re not likely to get on board anytime soon. No, the brands are coming online soon—just wait.

Those were two competing visions presented at Federated Media’s Conversation Marketing Summit in New York by several top Web luminaries. On the "display ain’t cutting it" side were Fred Wilson, managing partner at Union Square Ventures, and Terry Kawaja, founder and CEO of Luma Partners, the man behind the infamous slides that serve as the encyclopedia of ad tech.

On the brand side was a perhaps a surprising advocate, Neal Mohan, vp of display advertising of Google, a direct response ad factory if there ever was one.

During a particularly lively keynote, Kawaja urged the industry to get used to fragmentation, to embrace data and to acknowledge that the consumer isn’t in control. He playfully knocked the IAB’s attempt to produce a brand centric alternative to his slide, pointing out that it actually left out a key constituency: consumers.

But for the most part, Kawaja urged the industry to give up on brand dollars and interruptive ads and embrace its commerce-facilitating identity.

“When we talk about brand advertising on the Web, we’re not taking into account consumer modalities,” he said. “An interruptive media is not native to the Web. Bigger ads are not the solution.”

Instead, advertisers need to facilitate “what people are trying to do in the first place,” Kawaja urged—particularly in mobile, where he said full-screen takeover ads are “intolerable.”

“The big publishers need to migrate,” he said.

Not necessarily, according to Mohan, who used his keynote interview with Federated CEO John Battelle to showcase Google’s new oversized display unit The Lightbox, which can stream live content. He actually demonstrated an ad that streamed their interview, nearly in real time.

But when Battelle asked Mohan about Wilson and Kawaja’s contentions that display ads had become “unworkable and on the decline,” Mohan pushed back.

“We as consumers are living in a 24/7 digital world. And our message to brands is that if you’re not focused on that, you’re missing out,” Mohan said. “You’re going to be left behind.”

Getting more brand dollars to the Web “is our top priority of the year,” he added. How’s that going to happen? Mohan identified three key trends: richer ad canvases on the Web, targeting that goes past just basic demographics and better ad effectiveness numbers for upper-funnel measures like awareness and purchase intent.

In other highlights from the Internet Week event:

-Kawaja revealed that from 2010 to 2012 Luma Partners recorded 53 out of 204 companies getting acquired. “That’s 25 percent consolidation,” he said. Yet 74 new companies were added. “That's Lumascape whack-a-mole.”

-Mohan said, “if you are building specifically for mobile, you are building for the past."

-Kawaja called Facebook Home a “Trojan horse for data.”

-Wilson lamented Twitter’s position in the identity space as a distant third: "I don't know how many identity providers we need on the Internet."

-Wilson was more bullish on the growth of native ads, like on Tumblr and other platforms: "It’s inevitable that people are going to build APIs into these native ad systems."

IMDB Wants to Challenge Twitter on Social TV Front

Mike Shields — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:22:32 GMT

Amazon's been making a much bigger push into advertising and original entertainment. But the company has long had a major integral presence in the space, albeit a quiet one. That is, if you consider 160 million uniques quiet.

That's how big and integral IMDB.com is to the Web experience. And Amazon sees an even bigger opening, as more and more Americans can't watch TV or movies unless their smartphones or tablets are in hand, ready to assist in figuring out what else that Law and Order judge has been in.

IMDB founder Col Needham talked to Adweek about X-Ray, the company's second-screen app, and MDB's rich data supply and ad potential.

IMDB has been around forever. Has the explosion of mobile traffic been good for the brand?
We only started selling ads 17 years ago with our first banner in 1996. Now we have 160 million unique users per month, including very high rankings in any country. And mobile is growing at an amazing rate. Our app is only three years old and we have 50 million downloads. More than than 50 percent of our page views are mobile, though we’re still seeing growth on the website. It's still really early days in mobile.

There have been a ton of attempts to create stand-alone apps or services that "own" social TV. But Twitter seems dominant. Where do you guys fit?
We are very, very excited about X-ray for Movies, which is pre-installed on all new Kindle Fires. The way it works is, you see an actor, tap the screen [on your Kindle] and you get a headshot of everybody in that current scene, and up pops their IMDB bio and their list of films to watch. We’re fortunate that we already are [in the social TV conversation]. It's one of those frequent things ... we answer the "who’s in it?" question. They were already on the website or app for that and X-ray makes it one step easier.

Kindle Fire is great, but you must want to get on the iPad.
We are already on Wii U. As times evolve, we’ll look at other devices. The overall mission is to be wherever people want us to be and give them more.

IMDB is still primarily seen as a reference tool. What’s your position on original content?
We're about gathering and organizing entertainment information. A few years ago, we started a product called IMDB NewsDesk. And we partner with other providers and deliver a feed of the latest [entertainment] articles. The twist is, we have some sophisticated software that helps tell our partners, "this article is about Jennifer Lawrence," and then we can link them into IMDB experience. And yes, absolutely, we're trying to get past reference tools. And that shows in our usage patterns. One particular popular feature is our IMDB Watchlist. And now, with our second-screen experience, we want to become connected to the viewing experience of movie or show.

Is there an ad opportunity for TV-synched app usage? Can you guys tell what ad people are watching?
Well, we don’t need to be listening for commercials. But I think I could see some opportunities.

What’s the overall story with advertising on IMDB.com?
Our ad base has definitely expanded over the years. It started with endemic advertisers. Distributors, TV networks, etc. Now, it's consumer electronics, autos, packaged goods. We just had the Tribeca Film Festival sponsored by Chanel.

You must have a ton of data that can be used for targeting.
We have a popularity ranking tool which pulls from our 150 million users and ranks all the actors, actresses by visits and page views. That is a huge amount of data. We can plot their popularity over time. It's become a really useful tool for casting. The story we've heard is that the producers of the Twilight movies were trying to cast Edward and saw the amount of search traffic for Robert Pattinson. And then we have MovieMeter, our equivalent tool for movies, which has 130 million data points.

What about video?
Video is all over the IMDB experience. Trailers, cast interviews clips. But I see IMDB as a guide ... not the creator. We’ve dabbled with that kind of thing. We shoot our own interviews with stars.

What about cataloging the world of Web video? Do you want to become the IMDB of Web video as all these new shows and YouTube stars emerge?
We already do. We want to cover whatever our users want to be into, whether that's Web series or one-off popular videos. We do have a team of expert editors. But our stuff is contributed largely by our users. ... We have people who love Web series. And more often these days, the actually content producers send their data in. We have more than 2 million titles, and in 2012 we added more than 300,000. We get nearly a thousand a day. That gives you some idea of the scale we’re talking about.

67% of Smartphone Owners Would Rather See Ads Than Pay for Premium Content

Christopher Heine — Tue, 21 May 2013 10:00:02 GMT

Fully 67 percent of smartphone users are willing to view ads to gain in-app premium content rather than pay for it, according to a Yankee Group study that was commissioned by Tapjoy. The study further finds that the number jumps to 73 percent when it comes to tablet users.

The research company also reports that 70 percent of smartphone users and 53 percent of tablet owners said they were willing to exchange personal information for a premium app download.

"Mobile device owners have demonstrated that they're willing to interact with a brand by exchanging their time—ad views—and personal data for free digital content," said Jordan McKee, Yankee Group analyst. "Since users chose to take part in this exchange, the engagement can be far more meaningful and powerful than a pop-up, banner or television advertisement."

Yankee Group and mobile advertising firm Tapjoy surveyed 2,076 smartphone and tablet users online for the report. A few other key takeaways:

- 54 percent said they had paid for in-app content at least once;

- 77 percent were willing to engage with ads to get a free app download;

- Paperback books (75 percent), interestingly, are the most popular items in exchange for viewing digital ads, followed by tablet in-app premium content and music (both at 73 percent) and then smartphone in-app premium content (67 percent).

Mayer Talks Tumblr Plans, Unveils New Flickr

Mike Shields — Tue, 21 May 2013 02:01:18 GMT

Yahoo plans to lean on its search technology to help users discover more great content on Tumblr, the company’s new $1.1 billion acquisition. And Tumblr will help Yahoo reach a younger, more visual driven crowd. But other than that, Yahoo plans to stay out of the way, pledged CEO Marissa Mayer at an event in New York’s Times Square on Monday.

During the show, Mayer said that she only got to know Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp late last year. But the pair hit it off quickly as they started to realize the synergies between the two companies.

“I didn’t foresee doing an acquisition of this type that was this strategic at this time,” Mayer said. “But as we started talking together about different partnerships and things we might do together, one of the big challenges on Tumblr is discovery and serendipity. We have great personalization and search capabilities. and on our network, we really want great and compelling and engaging content. The more we talked, the more we realized there were lots of ways and places the two companies could operate independently to complement each other. So much so that it made sense to merge the two companies.”

Mayer was joined at the event by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who touted the city’s tech startup community. The pair announced that Yahoo would be moving its 500-plus New York workforce into a single office, the former New York Times offices on 43rd street. “20 years ago we used to have a different kind of Yahoo in Times Square,” the mayor quipped.

Tumblr founder CEO David Karp didn’t speak at the event. He sat in a the front row in a Tumblr sweatshirt as Mayer shifted the conversation to Flickr, a Yahoo acquisition from another era. “It didn’t fare so well,” she said. “It languished. We can make Flickr awesome again.”

To that end, Mayer and her team unveiled a visually striking, photo-centric redesign of Flickr, as well as news that users would now have access to a tera byte of storage space—negating any need for the average human to pay to store any photos on the Web. “Flickr had become about words and blue links,” she said. “This product is heart-stoppingly beautiful.”

The presentation was classic Mayer (at least based on the newish CEOs first several months on the job). It was heavy on product and user experience, while emphasizing speed; Mayer said her team only came up with the idea for the redesign and tera byte storage goal in March. Meanwhile, monetization and advertising took a back seat. That may be music to the ears of young marketers worried about Tumblr's ad plans going forward.

But Mayer did shed some light on her overall advertising philosophy, one that would seem to be in synch with Karp, Tumblr and it’s massive 300 million unique user audience. “Ads work best when they’re really seamless with the experience They match the content that’s being presented.They’re clearly marked as ads but they’re every bit as good as the content that’s being presented along side of them and they follow the same form and function.”

Smosh Video for Sun Drop Soda Racks Up 2 Million Views

David Taintor — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:54 GMT

Sun Drop believes its soda tastes "surprisingly good." And to drive its marketing campaign home, the brand has tapped the hugely popular YouTube duo Smosh to make a video that highlights other things that are, well, surprisingly good.

The video, titled "Good VS Surprisingly Good," went live on Friday and has already attracted more than 2.3 million views on YouTube. Here's a sample of what the four-minute clip has to offer. Rollerblading? Good. Rollerblading with training wheels? Surprisingly good. Waking up in bed is good. But waking up next to your clone is surprisingly good.

The branding is subtle enough that a casual viewer could miss the Sun Drop product placements altogether. The soda appears in two scenes in the video, first during a date with a robot and again ahead of a picnic with a vampire.

Alloy Digital, owner of the Smosh brand, said the video is part of additional marketing efforts, including a Twitter giveaway connected to the #SmoshSunDrop hashtag.

"Sun Drop is moving beyond the banner ad by activating the social and marketing strength of Smosh to share the brand message in a way that resonates with Millennial [stet] consumers," the company said in a release. "With this custom video campaign, the brand leverages Smosh's massive audience with additional media running across the Alloy Digital Network to further propel the brand message and custom content."

Smosh has nearly 10 million YouTube subscribers, and the duo's videos have been viewed more than 2 billion times.

Watch the Smosh video below: