Is ABC News looking to bump up its online video presence?

Jim O'Neill — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:09:00 -0500

Perhaps taking a cue from CNN's most recent Nielsen numbers-the news channel saw a 42 percent increase in video views in February to 152 million-ABC is looking to beef up its news gathering side with journalists who can do it all-write, use a video cam, edit and post on-air and online video.

The company, which announced major staffing cuts, offered staffers buyouts and started crafting a restructuring of its news operations last month now is looking to add the digital "one-man shops" to the news gathering operation, reports Broadcasting & Cable, which says an ABC spokesperson confirmed the network had posted multiple openings and was hiring newsies, but declined to say how many positions would be created.

Videocam-equipped DJs could establish one-person bureaus around the world, and needed to be "capable of prioritizing and handling multiple projects simultaneously, under tight time constraints," according to the job posting.

For more:
- see this B&C article

Nielsen says online video surges in February from year ago

Jim O'Neill — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:07:42 -0500

Nielsen reports today that February saw a 10.5 percent year-over-year increase in unique views for online video, and said CNN Digital was the big gainer for the month with a 30.6 percent increase in unique views from January; MSN saw a 21.4 percent bump and AOL gained 17 percent.

Overall, unique viewers topped 141 million for the month, up from 127.6 million a year ago, and some 10.3 billion videos-a 15.8 percent from a year ago-were streamed. As expected, numbers were marginally lower than January and historically have rebounded in March.

The company's numbers generally are disputed by the online video industry as being under-reported. For instance, Nielsen said YouTube streamed some 5.9 billion videos in February. comScore reported the Google site as streaming some 33 billion videos in January.

Still, Nielsen's numbers show continuing growth in the online video industry, with February more than doubling January's 5.2 percent Y-o-Y growth.

Top online brands, ranked by unique viewers, were YouTube (108 million, down 3.4 percent), Yahoo (25.5 million, down 2.2 percent), Facebook (22.5 million, up 4.7 percent), MSN (19 million, up 21.4 percent) and Hulu (14.1 million, down 7.4 percent).

When ranked by video streams, the top brands were YouTube (5.9 billion, off 10.7 percent), Hulu (647.5 million, up 1.9 percent), MSN (218.7 million, up 21.7 percent), CNN (152.4 million, up 46.2 percent) and Turner Sports and Entertainment (137.5 million, up 0.1 percent).

Hulu viewers watched videos the longest, an average of 244.8 minutes, with ABC Family second at 203.3 minutes, both numbers were up from the previous month.

For more:
- see this release

YouTube teams with IPL for marathon of live cricket

Jim O'Neill — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:06:16 -0500

When the first googlie skips by a batsman Friday, cricket fans all over the world will be able to watch it live on YouTube's dedicated Indian Premier League channel. Forty-three days and 60 games later, YouTube will have the final play live as well.

Google's making every minute of every game available live (except in India where there's a five-minute delay, and in the U.S. where "live" would mean a sleeping audience-the games will generally have a two-hour delay) via webcast across the world. The IPL version of cricket is one of the world's most popular games, and Google's worldwide rights mean they'll have access to legions of the sport's fans.

NBC was roundly criticized for its online video coverage of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Despite having the rights to broadcast every Olympic event live, the network decided to stream only 400 hours of hockey and curling.

Google has managed to put together a healthy dose of advertising to support the IPL effort as well, with eight major advertisers and a number of other advertisers buying time is specific markets like Great Britain, Australia and Southeast Asia. Google says the IPL has some 2 billion fans worldwide.

Following opening ceremonies Friday, the Deccan Chargers will play their first match against the Kolkata Knight Riders.

For more:
- see this Yahoo India story
- see this MediaWeek article
- Check out YouTube's IPL Channel.

Fliqz sees burst of customer wins, solid start to 2010 as online video growth continues

Jim O'Neill — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:51:21 -0500

White-label online video platform Fliqz says it has started out the year strong with a slew of customer wins and is riding a string of 12 consecutive quarters of quarter-over-quarter growth.

Fliqz CEO Benjamin Wayne said the company has signed 75 new customers since the beginning of the year and called January the company's "best month ever."

"We've seen tremendous growth so far this year," Wayne told FierceOnlineVideo. "A lot of it has been driven by the big success of our video SEO product."

Fliqz's new client list includes Shelby American, which makes and sells performance vehicles and related products, The Leading Hotels of the World, a hospitality organization that represents more than 450 luxury hotels, resorts and spas, Bally Technologies, Inc., Zip Realty, LA Magazine, Survey Sampling International, the American Society of Baking, and the Alliance for Digital Equality.

"While online video was initially embraced by a handful of global media companies, the next stage of growth will be almost entirely fueled by marketing spend," Wayne said. "As a result, video adoption is cutting a wide swath, with the greatest cumulative spend occurring in the mid-market."

Wayne said the Fliqz is well positioned for the market, specifically with it SEO experience.

"Companies have woken up to the marketing and SEO potential of video," said Wayne. "Wherever a marketing budget exists, we're going to see video adoption."

Wayne said customer growth was pushing the company's bottom line.

"Are we cash flow positive? If you measure that by the ways in which a lot of other companies measure cash flow, yes," he said chuckling. "In real world terms? Not yet. But it's coming. We're seeing more demand for what Fliqz can deliver to the market and we are on a steady path toward growth."

Spring fling: A new Flip video camera is on the way

Jim O'Neill — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:09:59 -0500

If it's spring, there must be a new Flip video camera around the corner. At least that's what I heard--with a wink and a nod--from a Cisco insider yesterday afternoon. No real details--as in none, zero, nada--about what the new camera will bring to the table, just confirmation that it will be available to play with around the time of the NAB convention in Las Vegas in mid-April.

Before Christmas, the rumor was that a new Flip was due just after the holidays with a sliding screen to make it easier to watch and record video, a different menu configuration and a WiFi connection in addition to its USB ear. Santa's been and gone, so maybe this is the gift he meant to leave.

Cisco--which acquired Flip via its $590 million purchase of Pure Digital a year ago-has embraced the little-camera-that-can, featuring it in a TV and online video ad campaign that showed how solid its video was by using videos Flip owners sent in to the company.

Focusing so much energy on a consumer device might seem to be somewhat antithetical for a company like Cisco that is so, well, big picture oriented, vis-à-vis its latest new product news, a router that handles 322 terabits a second. But Cisco CEO John Chambers is a believer in online video as a growth engine, as he told shareholders last August. And it all starts with capturing that little picture... maybe Cisco continuing to push for improvments in its Flip video camera isn't such a stretch after all.