DailyMotion, a Paris-based video hub second only to Google's prize purchase in online traffic among sites specializing in video sharing, has locked a deal to license programming from production company RDF USA. It is one of the first such pacts DailyMotion has made as it seeks to supplement its massive stash of user-generated content.
The site had 37.5 million unique users worldwide and 3.2 million in the U.S. in May and topped YouTube in its home base of France. YouTube dwarfs DailyMotion in the U.S., but its 4.7 million streamers (which translates to people who actually watch videos as opposed to just visiting) in April led other indie dot-com comers, including MetaCafe and Break.com, according to comScore Media Metrix.
Sony BMG Improves Earnings
Sony Corp released its Q1 earnings yesterday (read PDF). Sony BMG improved revenues to $875 million, a 0.3% increase over last year. The music segments income improved, to $31 million from last year's loss of $73 million. The company attributed its improvements to lower marketing costs, overhead and restructuring expenses, and to a gain on the sale of a joint venture.
Sony's overall revenues were up 13.3% and net income was up nearly 106%.
Live365 Study Underscores Importance of Net Radio To Indie Music
A new Live365 study of music played on the massive net broadcasting network showed that 56% came from indie artists and labels. When compared with the 10-15% that indie music that makes up on traditional broadcaster playlists; it underscores just how important net broadcasting is to independent music.
Dollar Valuations Surface on Madonna, Live Nation Discussion
More information surfaced this week on a possible mega-deal involving Madonna and Live Nation. The discussions, first disclosed on July 11th by Digital Music News, reportedly traverse touring, recording, merchandising, and other revenue generators. Earlier, one executive close to the negotiations estimated the deal at "well past $100 million," and sources this week complemented those assertions. Specifically, one executive pointed to a valuation of $160 million, while another at a prying rival quoted a figure "closer to $180 million."
The broad arrangement would place Madonna outside of a major label relationship. During a discussion this week, one source opened the possibility of a counteroffer by Warner Music Group, though that information could not be verified. Either way, a hefty sum of cash will be required to retain Madonna for the next chapter of her career. Elsewhere, other big-name artists - mostly notably Prince, Paul McCartney, and Joni Mitchell - are constructing creative deals of their own, and diminishing the importance of majors in the process.
The ugly truth about online video
According to this [report], online video advertising revenue is expected to grow pretty dramatically over the next few years. However, companies are only expected to spend $1.35 billion on online video ads next year and just $4.3 billion in 2011.
To put that in perspective, television advertising, which admittedly is a business that’s losing ad dollars to the Web, was a $65.4 billion market last year, according to figures from research firm TNS Media Intelligence. But eyeballs may not equal ad dollars. And TV isn’t going the way of the dinosaur. Even people in the Internet business admit as such.
Microsoft FAM: Robbie Bach On Xbox And More
- Xbox Live now past 7 million members, more than 200 million content downloads. Should be 10 million next year.
- In case of Xbox Live Video Marketplace, now 28 content providers; just added Disney studios. Will grow over time; we are leading provider of on-demand high def content in the U.S. They download, they pay, it is a good business, and nicely integrated experience for our customers. Will expand this year to Europe and Canada.
- From Q&A: Doesn't see Netflix, Blockbuster as competitors for Xbox Live video download.
Sci-fi or another compression breakthrough for digital music?
UK company Zgroup claims to have perfected technology which allows digital audio files to be shrunk to one quarter of their original size. Company CEO Jamie True said in a press release today, "'ShrinkMyTunes addresses important and specific needs for anyone with a music collection and will be particularly popular with owners of iPod minis and shuffles, as well as new iPhone customers. There are currently over 11 million people in the UK alone that own an MP3 player and this sector is continuing to experience high growth."
Free TV spotlighted on iTunes store
Reader Matthew kindly sent us a tip (thanks!) that the TV Shows section of iTunes is currently featuring a five page listing of free television episodes available for download. Our commenters also point out that there's lots of good free TV hidden in iTunes' podcast section as well-- two episodes of Flight of the Conchords is much better than anything you'll see highlighted in the free section.
Next-gen Zune "Scorpio" rumored to be delayed
Last we heard, Microsoft so-called "Scorpio" and "Draco" Zunes were headed for production in July, with something set to be released before the end of the year. Now, if this latest rumor is to be believed, Microsoft seems to have hit a snag. According to Zune Scene, while the flash-based Draco is reportedly still on track, the hard drive-based Scorpio has been delayed, supposedly due to "continuity problems between the flex cable and pcb." As a result, Zune Scene says the production run will now not be complete until "well into September." As with all of these rumors, however, we wouldn't pin too much hope/disappointment on them pending some further confirmation.
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