Hulu: It’s A Hit!
To be precise, in February, according to comScore’s VideoMetrix, Hulu was #4 with a bullet among US video sites. Hulu passes Viacom and Microsoft in total viewers and video streams and it’s right on the heels of #3 Yahoo! Here are the comScore numbers:
Hulu: It’s A Hit!
To be precise, in February, according to comScore’s VideoMetrix, Hulu was #4 with a bullet among US video sites. Hulu passes Viacom and Microsoft in total viewers and video streams and it’s right on the heels of #3 Yahoo! Here are the comScore numbers:
January February Change
Unique Visitors 24.5 million 34.7 million + 42%
Streams 250.5 million 332.5 million + 33%
While catching up to Yahoo! might happen soon, Hulu has a ways to go to reach the top spot. That’s occupied by YouTube with 5.3 billion streams.
Then there’s this…
March Madness Online
CBS has released some of its online user data for NCAA March Madness On Demand and during the first day of the basketball tournament the increase in On Demand usage was staggering. On Demand users increased from 1.75 million up 56% to 2.7 million unique users. Usage of the comical "Boss Button" (which replaces the basketball coverage with a fake spreadsheet, while muting the sound) generated 1.5 million clicks. CBS didn't release sales figures for the $4.99 MMOD app which allows I-Phone users to watch any of the 63 games real time as long as they have WiFi access. However the MMOD app is the most popular paid app in the store.
Cell-Phone-Only Households Growing
Once upon a time, Arbitron didn’t sample cell-phone-only households in their diary surveys. Recently, the policy has changed and both PPM (which always included these households) and dairy markets now do include cell-phone-only households in their sample. Arbitron has vowed to get their sample of cell-phone-only households in PPM markets to 15%, and up to 12.5% for diary-based markets, by the end of 2009.
Just in time, too. Data from the U.S. CDC (Centers for Disease Control) estimate that as of February 2009, 17.5% of all U.S. households are doing without a landline. The highest markets are dominated by states in the Plains, Midwest and the Rockies. The top states for cell-phone-only households were:
Utah 25.5%
Nebraska: 23.2%
Arkansas: 22.6%
Iowa: 22.2%
The lowest penetration of cell-phone-only households? Connecticut, with just 5.6%.
New Nintendo Handheld Game
Nintendo has announced the release date for the DSi handheld video game system, their 3rd generation handheld system. The system went on sale in the USS on April 5th, with a price tag of $169. The DSi will support a library of more than 850 games, including "Rhythm Heaven," a DSi and DS music-based game set to debut on the same day.
In addition to the capability to run hundreds of games, the DSi also contains a number of new features:
• Dual cameras -- one mounted on the external body, and another that aims at the users.
• A Sound application, offering an interactive voice recorder which enables users to manipulate audio files while they listen.
• A Shop where users can download games and software directly to the device.
Jango: Online Radio’s Pay-For-Play Service
Raising the specter of the payola scandals that have rocked terrestrial radio over the last half century, Jango, an online radio service with 6 million monthly listeners, has launched a new pay-for-play initiative called “Jango Airplay.” Artists or labels pay to have their song played on the service, with placement starting at $30 for 1,000 plays on the Jango service. Each song is linked to Amazon or iTunes to allow purchase by the listener.
The artists themselves decide what stations they get played on and what kinds of music they want to be played next to, similar to the way that advertisers on Google choose what keywords should generate their advertisements. Listeners are also encouraged to rate all songs on the service so any Jango Airplay song which garners 50 positive ratings gets pushed into regular rotation free of charge. On the other hand, listeners can also vote to block a song from appearing again on their station.
So is this a new form of (legal) payola, or the same as paid placement in online search results? At this point, the songs are not clearly marked as being paid for. Instead, they’re listed as being from “emerging artists.”
