Survey Shows Growth of Brand-Sponsored Media

Ignoring for the moment the somewhat odd way of displaying trend data, for which the convention normally is to display chronological data left to right, the amount of money brands are spending to create original content of various types keeps growing.

If you hadn't thought about it much, this shift is part of the broader shift in "media." Where once it was publishers, film makers, record labels, newspapers and other traditional entities that created media, these days it is that, plus millions of consumers creating videos, blog posts, Facebook entries and Twitter posts that also are a new form of media.

Among the other changes, brands themselves are becoming more active content creators, blurring the line between traditional and new forms of media.

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Google Buys PushLife

Google has purchased PushLife, a Canadian company that provides Apple iTunes functionality. Presumably the assets will be used to create a more robust music store capability.

Verizon Launches New Mobile Streaming Platform

Verizon is unveiling new "content-to-consumer" delivery capabilities, allowing content owners to distribute live and on-demand, personalized video content to users of smart phones and tablets. Verizon Digital Media Services automates manual workflow processes associated with formatting, managing and delivering digital media to virtually any device or platform on a large scale.

Verizon Digital Media Services will ultimately enable high-quality and reliable "unicast" (individualized video streams), though initially it is multicast content that the service will support.



http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/verizon-unveils-advanced-digital-media-management-and-distribution-platform-for-entertainment-industry-to-capitalize-on-new-content-to-consumer-experiences-119578669.html

Coupon Factory Launches Small Business Coupon Platform

Rockfish has launched CouponFactory, a coupon platform for businesses that combines the coupon creation with distribution and analytics. 

CouponFactory is a platform that gives brands and small businesses a simple way to create coupons. The service includes an easy-to-use web interface , customer data collection, no set-up fees, detailed digital coupon analytics, coupon fraud control, as well as mobile, web and social embed options. The service also lets companies place their coupon widget wherever they choose.

CouponFactory from Rockfish on Vimeo.


CouponFactory launches coupon platform

Netflix Is 2nd-Largest Pay Video Provider, by Subscriber Metrics

If one were to add Netflix to this chart, it would rank about second, with some 20 million subscribers. Granted, there is a significant revenue magnitude difference. Netflix gets something on the order of $12 a month per subscriber, while Comcast gets about $118 a month. On the other hand, Netflix offers a product that competes most directly with premium channels such as HBO, Showtime and Starz.

Those channels cost between $10 to $16 a month, typically. We are some ways from the possibility that Netflix or YouTube could actually become a competitor in the "basic cable (ad-supported channels)" segment of the business. But 20 million paying customers is a huge advantage.

Facebook's "Open Compute Project" Will "Commoditize" Data Center Facilities

Open source projects almost always represents an effort to take something that is essential for a business and reduce its cost of acquisition. In other words, a firm benefits if it can bring much more competition to the businesses that supply its inputs. Firms try not to do this with respect to the core values companies believe they bring to the market. Open source tends to level the playing field while marginalizing competitive advantages others might have had.

Microsoft commoditized PC hardware because its software needed a home. Companies that contribute heavily to open-source, such as modern-day IBM, commoditize software because they sell consulting and support services.

Google commoditizes applications, platforms, and web technologies because it needs places to put its ads and people to see them. (Google also tries to commoditize anything required to get online: web browsers, DNS, and in some cases, even internet connectivity.)

Apple commoditizes apps to make iPhones and iPads more attractive. That's why telecom and other capacity and access executives hate the notion of "dumb pipe" so much. It is essentially an effort by other players in the ecosystem to reduce network services to a commodity.

Marco.org - Facebook's Open Compute Project

RIM Gets "No Respect"

Research In Motion co-CEO Mike Lazaridis is frustrated about investor concern. “Why is it that people don’t appreciate our profits? Why is it that people don’t appreciate our growth?"

"I don’t fully understand why there’s this negative sentiment, and I just don’t have the time to battle it," he said. The quick answer is probably jitters over recent market share losses.

RIM's CEO Is Annoyed That "People Don’t Appreciate Our Profits