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To Fellow IWA Members and Industry Professionals,
Since launching the Webcasters Wire monthly newsletter as a new service of the IWA back in April, we’ve been overwhelmed with the positive response and some interesting feedback. We value your input and continue to solicit your ideas and comments to make the Webcasters Wire as useful as possible as you navigate this rapidly growing sector. Thanks for your support!
We hope you’ll participate as actively in the IWA’s new series of webcasts we’re launching, beginning with two live streaming events I think you’ll find relevant as we support our industry’s rapid growth. First, “Webcasting for Rookies 2006” on Friday, August 25th, a follow up to one of the most successful events the IWA has produced, the 2004 original “Webcasting for Rookies” an archived webcast which continues to get strong traffic as the webcasting sector has caught fire. We decided it was time for an update, especially with recent advancements in technology, broadband and processes that have improved webcasting performance and functionality.
The second IWA webcast is something we’ve been talking about for a long time, based on the inquiries we get from both market analysts and investors. Often there are misconceptions about our sector that don’t always serve our industry well when investors and analysts draw sometimes dubious conclusions about trends and even specific company valuations, etc. The IWA webcast "Understanding the Investment Potential of the Webcasting Sector" is slated for September 29th and will included VC’s, analysts and webcasting companies in a mutual exchange of information that we hope will enlighten all participants. (Some webcasting companies could also probably learn a few pointers about what performance parameters, etc. investors look for in our sector.)
Agendas for each of these events will be forthcoming with updates always available at Webcasters.org. On behalf of our Executive Director, Kevin Shively and our Executive Committee, thanks for your interest in the IWA and please stay tuned for new editions of the Webcasters Wire.
The IWA Welcomes New Members Makeni, NewTek, PowerStream, StreamGuys and WorldNow
Makeni
Makeni is one of the most experienced streaming providers in the UK. From the early days of webcasting in the 90s, Makeni’s Directors headed up one of the first streaming companies in the UK. They specialize in Windows Media Digital Rights Management, webTV and application development and consultancy, working for clients such as the BBC and the European Parliament.
NewTek
Much of the desktop video revolution can be traced in the history of NewTek. Since founding NewTek in 1985, visionary Tim Jenison has led in the design of a series of ground-breaking products and continues to guide the company in pioneering innovative and affordable tools for computer-generated animation, video and film special effects.
PowerStream
Troy, MI based PowerStream is a proven leader in the Streaming Media industry. PowerStream offerings range from webcasting, corporate communications, live streaming and on-demand audio & video, media hosting and integrated solutions designed to client parameters. PowerStream currently maintains three major DataCenters in North America to deploy its technologies. Founded in 1998 and privately held, PowerStream is a value added enterprise solely focused on the customer.
StreamGuys
StreamGuys is a streaming media provider specializing in affordable, reliable and scalable services to stream audio and video online. Founded in 2000, StreamGuys is a leading provider to many popular Internet radio stations and Internet TV channels and employs some of the most experienced streaming media professionals in the industry.
WorldNow
New York-based WorldNow is the leading provider of Internet technology, revenue and content solutions for more than 250 local media sites, including broadcast TV, newspapers and cable. WorldNow's products include a website platform and publishing toolset, a streaming video solution, an automotive classifieds solution, local sales programs, and a national ad network.
IWA Welcomes Philip Haggar of Makeni to the IWA Board of Directors
The IWA welcomes Philip Haggar, managing director of Makeni, Ltd. in the United Kingdom to the association's board of directors. Phil has a long history with the streaming media industry and the IWA in developing a presence for the association in Europe. Phil is currently working with other industry leaders in Europe to take advantage of the incredible growth in the industry in Europe to expand the association's presence and ensure that the IWA is serving the needs of the industry in Europe.
Special Meeting of IWA Europe Members in September
The IWA Europe is pleased to announce the next meeting in Central London on September 7, 2006. The meeting is made possible due to support from European members. Interest in the IWA is building fast in Europe, and there are a number of factors driving significant growth in the Industry. It is now common for end users to have an 8Mbps internet connection in their home and the new ADSL 2+ technology is rapidly providing a service of up to 24Mbps download with 1.3Mbps upload speeds. This of course is great news for IPTV / Net TV providers who can now deliver a multi channel video offering using high bit rate streams. The Windows Media 9 format is getting used to deliver such services to set top boxes designed to play back these streams automatically and can be installed by end users who do not own PCs and wish to watch webcasts on their TV's in their living rooms. Such boxes start at 200 euros with discounts for volume orders. The IWA Europe will be demonstrating such an end to end system at the next meeting.
The growth in mobile phone video is also outstanding with 2.5G services using GPRS to deliver 40Kbps streams and now the widespread 3G services (UTMS) providing up to 300Kbps streaming. It is now possible to easily deliver stable streams without interruption to a mass consumer marketplace of millions of people who don't even have a PC. Such devices can now be obtained for free from the network providers as long as users sign a new 12 month airtime contract. Some providers offer a full mobile TV service already which allows many terrestrial channels to be viewed on the move. They have decided that video and other content delivery to handsets will be their main revenue stream in the future above voice minutes and text messages. The IWA Europe will be demonstrating this technology by doing a live webcast of the next meeting in Windows Media to the Internet and 3G handsets.
Digital Rights Management will also a big talking point at the meeting with a number of members now offering these services to their customers. Quite simply it allows the monetisation of video content and live webcasts via credit / debit card and SMS txt messages. With content providers earning money from their audiences, a virtuous circle is formed which is good for the service provider as well as the content owners. Now hosting costs can be easily covered with a small micro payment charge to the viewer. More details will be available by talking to certain members at the next meeting, be sure to join us to find out more.
Visit the link on the IWA home page for more information!
IWA Announces Partnership with the e-Financial WorldExpo in Toronto, October 25 & 26
The IWA is pleased to announce a partnership with the e-Financial WorldExpo in Toronto, Canada this October 25 & 26 at the Direct Energy Center. All IWA members will be offered a discount of 35% off conference registration. In addition, the IWA will have material at the event to promote the industry and association.
Event Info
For more information on registration discounts, please contact info@webcasters.org.
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Podcasts Lure Big AdvertisersOnline Media News Brief, July 24, 2006
According to Nielsen Analytics, high end advertisers -- such as Sony Pictures, Shell Oil, Earth Link, HP and Warner Brothers – are making use of podcasts, the most successful of which get as many as 2 million downloads per month. |
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YouTube Traffic Quadruples In First Half Of '06
by Wendy Davis, July 24, 2006 Online Media Daily
According to Nielsen/ Net Ratings, YouTube’s traffic multiplied by four in the first half of 2006 with 19.9 million individual visitors in June. The video sharing site also experienced a 75% surge when it posted World Cup video footage of French soccer captain Zinédine Zidane head butting Marco Materazzi of the Italian team. |
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Gotuit Unveils Ad-Supported Video Site
by Shankar Gupta, July 24, 2006 Online Media Daily
Gotuit, a digital media firm, is launching a broadband video on demand portal supported by advertising. The site incorporates tagging and personalized playlists and features news, entertainment, sports and music clips. Initial content providers include well known broadcast networks and media giants. |
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Fox Atomic Unveils Broadband Site
by Mark Walsh, July 21, 2006 Media Daily News
Fox Atomic, a division of Fox Filmed Entertainment targeted to youth, launched a new broadband web site aimed at the 17 to 24 year old crowd. The site offers such youth-oriented features as interactivity, humorous video clips and movie trailers. |
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Stop Pushing Me Back, I Want To Lean Forward
by Christian Spinillo, July 17, 2006
Online Video Insider – The inside line on internet content & advertising
Many advertisers and producers emulate the lean back and relax broadcast TV experience and recycle television content and pre-roll ads. But video should be used as part of well planned online ad campaign, not just because of the novelty. What really engages users with online video is interactivity that gets them involved and leaning forward. |
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Atlas Creates VOD Ad Network
by Erik Sass, July 13, 2006, Online Media Daily
Atlas, a digital marketing technology company, has joined forces with Concurrent Technology, a digital video tech firm, and Everstream, a digital data ratings firm in a joint venture. The three companies will create a network for buying, executing and tracking the results of digital video ads. |
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Podcast Users Outnumber Bloggers
by Wendy Davis, July 13, 2006, Online Media Daily
According to Nielsen / NetRatings, more than 9.2 million people, 6.6 percent of adult internet users, downloaded audio podcasts in the last month while 4.8 percent published blogs. The report added that the most frequent podcast users tended to be young. |
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Optimizing video so it can be searched and found
by Todd Friesen, July 2006, OMMA The Magazine of Online Media, Marketing & Advertising
Multimedia and video search on the internet is a key feature offered by search companies. And as content expands on the internet, companies can leverage their large video archives and multimedia content by careful tagging, description and keyword choice. |
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ARF Readies Online Advertising Guide
by Wendy Davis, July 5, 2006, Online Media Daily
The Advertising Research Foundation plans to publish "The Online Advertising Playbook," a guide for getting the most benefit from the internet. The guide will include interviews, case studies and internet advertising strategies. |
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Blinkx Strikes Deal With History Channel
by Wendy Davis, July 5, 2006 Online Media Daily
Blinkx, a video search engine, has made a deal to carry audio and video clips from The History Channel UK including speeches from such notables as Albert Einstein, astronaut Neil Armstrong and presidents John Fl Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt. Blinkx also works with Business Week Online, Fox News, the New York Times and recently added National Archives in London with clips back to 1945. |
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Big Players, Make Your Move
by Christine Peterson, July3, 2006, Online Video Insider
Metrics are important to proving the value of online video and as a sales tool. This article outlines what can be expected from tracking companies as they compete to provide metrics solutions for their customers. |
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EarthLink Rolls Out Wi-Fi Network
by Wendy Davis, July 3, 2006, Online Media Daily
Earth Link, launched a major Wi-Fi network in Anaheim, California and is building similar networks in New Orleans, Philadephia and Mitpitas, California. Partnering with Google, Earth Link won over five other bidders to provide free Wi-Fi in San Francisco. The internet providing company also plans to offer broadband-over-power lines. |
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Murdoch counts on web
Terry McCrann, Perth Now, July 03, 2006
Rupert Murdock predicts an exciting challenge due to the explosive growth of the internet, particularly wireless and cable broadband that allows children in underdeveloped countries to access the world’s knowledge but also threatens established media. |
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FCC will revisit sticky issue of ownership, but Big Media may not pay much attention
By Frank Ahrens The Washington Post reprinted in Seattle Times, July 2, 2006
The government is revisiting an issue that was defeated in court two years ago – and is considering relaxing ownership rules to allow media giants to expand their internet presence. |
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Wise Words About Branding From The Usability Sage
by Gord Hotchkiss, June 29, 2006 Search Insider
Jakob Nielsen spoke at the Usability Week Summit during a session on eyetracking. The internet expert told the audience that users often avoid large graphic blocks and focus attention on text and navigation, saying “brand value is built though experience, not exposure. He advocates using only elements on a web page that have a purpose. |
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An Internet for the few or the many?
Michael Copps has a message for the technology industry when it comes to Net neutrality: Get involved.
By Stefanie Olsen and Anne Broache, June 27, 2006, CNET News.com
Michael Copps, a commissioner in the Federal Communications Commission, and a Democrat in the Republican controlled commission, urges technology execs to get involved in the net neutrality debate. |
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The New Next: Are You Ready To Play?
by Saul Parker, June 2006 issue Media
The rules for effective communications have evolved to the next level. Viewers are inundated with media messages and to get their attention we must do more than just broadcast information, we need to actively involve the audience. And with devices and services that allow consumer-created content, we must learn how to interact with consumers and make them part of the communication process. |
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Coen Predicts 25% Surge In Internet Ad Spending
by Wendy Davis, June 29, 2006 , Online Media Daily
Robert Coen, senior vice president and director of forecasting for Universal McCann, has revised his earlier predictions for online ad spending upward. He said that online ad spending grew more than 19 percent from last year, just in the first quarter of this year.
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Google Says Bill Could Spark Antitrust Complaints
Reuters Information Week, July 5, 2006
Speaking about the rejection of net neutrality, “If Congress continues to turn a deaf ear to requests for equal Internet access”, Google's Vint Cerf said on Tuesday, "We will simply have to wait until something bad happens, and then we will make known our case to the Department of Justice's antitrust division." |
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Surprise--Nielsen to Track Cross-Platform TV Programming!
by Cory Treffiletti, June 28, 2006, Online Spin
Nielsen announced it plans to expand their rating service to include the Web, call phones, iPods and other digital devices. It’s part of the company’s Anytime Anywhere Measurement Model. The information this gives advertisers about digital media viewers could be invaluable.
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Study Finds Mobile Video More Hype Than Reality - For Now
by Joe Mandese, July 11, 2006, Media Daily News
A major new study by Knowledge Networks, “How People Use Mobile Video, concludes that to date consumer market penetration is low for mobile video devices like iPods, PSPs and Slingboxes. |
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Past Issues of the
IWA Webcasters Wire
News from Across the Pond
IWA-Europe/UK-Webcasting
IWA Europe Come Back
After two years, IWA Europe is back! Alex Wolfe reports “There is a lot of good response from the industry” and will be organizing the first meeting after the summer holidays.
Thursday Sept 7th 2006 from 6pm at the Cube and Star, Hoxton Square, London, N1
Entry is free to members and invited guests.
Free wireless Internet @ 20Mbps.
James Cridland, Director of Digital Media at Virgin Radio in the United Kingdom, reports that 28% of all his station’s listening is through a digital platform while the average for all radio is 13%. Virgin Radio has won many recent awards including:
Official Honoree, Webby Awards 2006
Double winner, Radio, Webby Awards 2005; Best Media Owner, The Imperatives Digital Awards 2005
Check out his station at: http://www.virginradio.co.uk/
Interested in helping our IWA organization as part of our leadership structure?
WE’D LOVE TO HAVE YOU! We have chairman and member vacancies in all of the committees, below. Please contact us via e-mail.
- Membership Committee
- Technology and Standards Committe
- Industry Policy and Best Practices Committee
- Legislative Committee
- A whole bunch of other committees we haven’t figured out yet…got any suggestions?
August 2006 Industry Events
August 25, 2006 - Special IWA Webcast Event: "Webcasting For Rookies"
The
IWA is producing an updated edition of one of the most popular webcast series from past years. The "Webcasting for Rookies" webcast will feature guest speakers and presentations from throughout the industry on a wide range of topics important to anyone streaming audio or video online. The webcast will be open to all and IWA Members are invited to be a part of the event content. Keep an eye on the IWA website for more information and an event agenda coming soon. For more information, contact the IWA at info@webcasters.org.
September 29, 2006 - Special IWA Webcast Event: "Understanding the Investment Potential of the Webcasting Sector"
Check out www.webcasters.org for the most recent upcoming industry events!
COOL SITES
Brawny Man now Appearing on the Small Screen
Brawny paper towels...How Georgia Pacific is using Streaming video...this is hilarious!
Digital Planet
Welcome to Digital Planet, the weekly BBC World Service programme presented by Gareth Mitchell which reports on technology stories from around the globe.
STATISTICAL REPORTS
by Wendy Davis, July 17, 2006, Online Media Daily
Spending for online ads increased by 13.8% over the preceding period in the second quarter of this year, according to a study conducted by Beutsche Bank and MediaPost. Read this article to find out what media executives had to say about internet advertising. |
First Quarter of 2006 Continues Record Setting Broadband Additions
July 14, 2006, Center for Media Research, Research Brief
According to an updated study on US broadband use by the Leichtman Research Group, cable and DSL providers added a record 3.6 million net new subscribers in the first quarter of the year. This article gives some breakdowns in the statistics as well as naming the top five and bottom five states in residential broadband usage. |
Center for Media Research, July 10, 2006
Leichtman Research Group (LRG), reports that 69% of all US households now subscribe to an online service at home, and of 60% of subscribers use high-speed Internet services. This article also gives information about cable broadband vs DSL subscribers and statistics about household income relative to internet usage and the number of subscribers to various providers of broadband and DSL. |
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News Continued...
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Business, IT Execs Embrace Podcasts
July 11, 2006, Online Media Daily
A joint study by Universal McCann and KnowledgeStorm reports that 41 percent of 3,900 surveyed business and IT executives have used podcasts more than once and 13 percent download them frequently. The execs would like to see white papers or analysts reports as podcasts. The biggest challenge for podcasting is the need for more interesting content. |
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Broadband Bonanza
Web video is here to stay, though it's difficult to buy and to measure
by Jonathan Blum, July 2006 issue, OMMA The Magazine of Online Media, Marketing & Advertising
There could be a lot of money in advertising via broadband television but there are many obstacles to overcome before the new technology can challenge the market hold of broadcast television. |
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The ultimate marketing machine
Thanks to the power of the internet, advertising is becoming less wasteful and its value more measurable
Economist.com July 10, 2006 reprinted from The Economist Print Edition
This article describes the ways in which the internet are being used to deliver advertising messages to a targeted audience unlike traditional advertising methods that uses a shotgun approach to reach a broad, and possibly inappropriate, audience. |
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Internet Access Fees Discourage Marketers From Migrating Online
by Wendy Davis, Jul 10, 2006, Online Media Daily
Magna Global USA reports that in order for the internet to become a mass medium like broadcast television, internet access will need to be more affordable to middle and low income households. In the meantime marketers will continue to use the internet to reach niche audiences rather than the masses. Many cities, including San Francisco are planning to provide free Wi-Fi Networks. |
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'Net Neutrality' Amendment Rejected
By Kim Hart and Sara Kehaulani Goo Washington Post, , June 29, 2006
The Senate passed the larger telecommunications bill but rejected the amendment that would have prohibited telecommunications companies from controlling the flow of online content directly or through tiered pricing. The House also passed its telecom bill which includes language that weakens net neutrality. |
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