October 2014

Amazon and Its Missing Books

Plunging sales by Hachette writers on Amazon indicate that the retailer’s tactics have discouraged potential customers.

A delay in shipping may not be censorship. But what if the book is hard or even impossible to find on Amazon, which sells nearly half the books in America? Publishers other than Hachette also have issues with how Amazon sells their books. When a reader goes looking for one title, sometimes it is simply straightforward marketing to try to offer him or her another book. “People who liked this, also liked that” is a standard gimmick, on Amazon and everywhere else in the bookselling world. But what if the reader, looking for one author, is then offered novels by other writers in the same genre that are free? Does that qualify as an unfair thumb on the scale?

What’s All That Data Worth?

What groceries you buy, what Facebook posts you “like” and how you use GPS in your car: Companies are building their entire businesses around the collection and sale of such data. The problem is that no one really knows what all that information is worth.

21st Century Fox, Apollo Finalize Pact for TV Venture

21st Century Fox and private-equity firm Apollo Global Management have formed a programming partnership that will combine three television production companies into one with the hopes of creating a global entertainment giant.

Under the terms of the joint venture, 21st Century Fox’s Shine Group and Apollo’s Endemol and Core Media will be merged. All three companies are primarily known for unscripted content. Core is a producer of Fox’s “American Idol.” Shine makes “The Biggest Loser” for NBC. Endemol’s shows include “Big Brother,” which airs on CBS. The terms of transaction weren’t disclosed but the entity has been valued at more than $2 billion, people familiar with the companies said. The deal, which had been in the works since spring, continues a trend of consolidation among unscripted production companies.

YouTube’s ads on unauthorised content pay off

YouTube has hit $1 billion in payments to companies that participate in a programme that sells advertising on user-generated clips that could infringe copyright, in a sign that media groups increasingly see the video site as a friend rather than foe.

Content ID was set up in 2007 by the Google-owned video site to help producers manage their rights and generate revenues from copyright-infringing content. The clips range from excerpts of television programmes and films to fan-generated videos that include copyright-protected songs. More than 5,000 companies are using the programme, including all of the big US TV networks and movie studios. When copyright violations are found, the owner can “monetise” the content by allowing ads to be sold against it, and analyse and track viewing and audience data provided by YouTube -- or have the video blocked and taken down.

RIP to Saturday Morning Cartoons

[Commentary] As of Sept. 27, Vortexx (The CW), the last remaining Saturday cartoon block, aired for the final time. The cartoon block was replaced with a series of live-action educational shows called One Magnificent Morning. The move away from networks broadcasting cartoons began in the 90′s that were dealing with Federal Communications Commission regulations, decreasing viewership, and competition from cable programming.

NRSC hikes TV ad buys in 6 states

The National Republican Senatorial Committee’s independent expenditure arm is in the process of increasing its television reservations by at least $7.4 million for the final three weeks before Election Day.

Partly as a result of the NRSC’s much-better-than-expected $15.5 million fundraising haul in September, the officials who direct the television advertising were authorized to put a little over $9 million into six targeted states. In addition to a $1 million buy in South Dakota, the NRSC is increasing its buys by $1 million in Alaska, $1.5 million in Colorado, $1.45 million in Georgia, $1.25 million in Iowa and $1.2 million in New Hampshire. The total size of the NRSC’s TV expenditures is not immediately known.

Silicon Valley fights to lift 'gag orders'

Tech companies and privacy advocates are ratcheting up the fight against federal "gag orders” that prevent companies from talking about secret spy programs. Silicon Valley’s biggest names are demanding that they be allowed to tell their customers more about the requests they receive from the government for information, arguing the step is needed to restore trust in their products.

Campaigns Find Ad Space Finite, Even on the Web

It turns out that the Internet does not have infinite capacity. At least not for political ads.

As an increasing number of campaigns and outside groups are finding out, premium space on the web has long been booked. Digital advertising is maturing much in the way television did, as targeting becomes more sophisticated and the definition of a viewer expands drastically. The more savvy players in the coming midterm elections made pre-emptive strikes to ensure ad placement when it matters most.

Cloud Computing Is Forcing a Reconsideration of Intellectual Property

Clouds, wirelessly connected to more software in just about everything, make it possible to shift, remix and borrow from once separate industrial categories.

Everything, be it software and networking or power, is different when so many computers are spread across the globe. The pace of innovation is so quick, and the number of players so small, that in some cases, the players elect not to patent inventions, wary of what they’d disclose about themselves in the application. A number of other big players are still trying to come at the proprietary hold of these giants, and to do it, they’re using open-source software, a license-free method of creating a product, fast, by distributing the work as widely as possible.

Is E-Reading to Your Toddler Story Time, or Simply Screen Time?

Do stories on iPads count as story time? Or is it just screen time for babies? It is a question that parents, pediatricians and researchers are struggling to answer as children’s books, just like all the other ones, migrate to digital media. At a time when reading increasingly means swiping pages on a device, and app stores are bursting with reading programs and learning games aimed at infants and preschoolers, which bit of guidance should parents heed? The answer, researchers say, is not yet entirely clear.

Benton

Search