Monthly Archive for: ‘July, 2007’

Online offers smart media owners potential for growth. Fact.

Head of digital for the Guardian Media Group Simon Waldman hits back with both barrels today at John Duncan and his assertion in a previous issue of Press Gazette that online teams have ‘conned’ unsuspecting newspaper boards into making investments in online publishing.

Here are some key quotes from his piece in today’s Press Gazette:

“The current forecasts for growth in the UK market indicate that, on average, digital spending in the UK will grow from a £2bn market to approximately £4bn over the next two years. In other words, there is likely to be some £2bn of new money coming online. But isn’t much of this going to search engines (particularly, Google)? Well, even if 50 per cent of it is, that still leaves £1bn of new money left for us to fight for….”

“…Last month PricewaterhouseCoopers forecast that we will move from 50 per cent of households having broadband this year to 80 per cent by 2011. All the evidence shows that the longer people have a connection, the more time they spend doing things online. So internet use in the UK is set to grow for many years yet…”

Waldman’s conclusion is that while “print has many healthy decades ahead.. those will be about gentle, and sometimes not so gentle, decline.” Waldman has also been blogging recently about whether the Dialy Express will simply close as a result of the change in the media landscape.

The online world, meanwhile, “offers smart media owners potential for growth – in reach, reputation and revenue. That’s not a con. It’s a fact. And it’s time to learn to deal with it.”

Online offers smart media owners potential for growth. Fact.

Head of digital for the Guardian Media Group Simon Waldman hits back with both barrels today at John Duncan and his assertion in a previous issue of Press Gazette that online teams have ???conned??? unsuspecting newspaper boards into making investments in online publishing.

Here are some key quotes from his piece in today’s Press Gazette:

“The current forecasts for growth in the UK market indicate that, on average, digital spending in the UK will grow from a ??2bn market to approximately ??4bn over the next two years. In other words, there is likely to be some ??2bn of new money coming online. But isn???t much of this going to search engines (particularly, Google)? Well, even if 50 per cent of it is, that still leaves ??1bn of new money left for us to fight for….”

“…Last month PricewaterhouseCoopers forecast that we will move from 50 per cent of households having broadband this year to 80 per cent by 2011. All the evidence shows that the longer people have a connection, the more time they spend doing things online. So internet use in the UK is set to grow for many years yet…”

Waldman’s conclusion is that while “print has many healthy decades ahead.. those will be about gentle, and sometimes not so gentle, decline.” Waldman has also been blogging recently about whether the Dialy Express will simply close as a result of the change in the media landscape.

The online world, meanwhile, “offers smart media owners potential for growth ??? in reach, reputation and revenue. That???s not a con. It???s a fact. And it???s time to learn to deal with it.”

The End of Big Media?

Raph Koster is the author of the book ‘A Theory of Fun’ and presents some groundbreaking ideas in a GDC Podcast titled ‘Where Game Meets the Web’. Raph’s blog can be found here.
The linear media industries have been hearing about all the implications of Web 2.0 for the past two years and it’s taking hold. […]

Interview: Jaman prepares European assault

Faisal Galaira Jaman.com.jpg

Jaman, California-based company that offers full length movies for either downloads or rental via a P2P client is planning to launch a European arm. The move is prior to an expansion of its programme of buying up rights to “mid-tail” independent and niche films.

Unlike Joost, which is really aimed at TV viewers, Jaman is going for audiences who want successful independent film (the kind of thing “Trainspotting” was once before it hit the big time) which they can’t get in their local cinema. (You might think that would mean that there would be a lot of Bollywood movies and Asian or Latin American cinema on it as a result. There is indeed much of this content, but so far 60% of Jaman’s content is actually English language based).

Babelgum is closest to Jaman’s model, with it’s emphasis on independent professionally produced video content, but unlike both of the aforementioned, Jaman is about downloading high quality HD film to rent or keep, rather than P2P streaming.

Jaman’s player works on Windows XP, Vista and Mac. Jaman has also developed an unofficial plug-in for the AppleTV device which syncs content downloaded via the Jaman player (they have their own proprietary DRM player which, like Apple’s Fairplay DRM, allows the sharing of the content across 5 devices) to Apple’s box. They’re lead engineer on the project actually came from Apple, in fact.

Founder and CEO Gaurav Dhillon previously co-founded Informatica in 1992, which IPO’d in 1999. Jaman is not short of friends in high places. Backers include Hearst Corporation.

Although Jaman’s video downloads to a PC, evidently they expect people to hook up the PC to a proper HD-capable TV and watch it in all its glory there. Any user creating an account – the sites is on an open Beta right now – will get three free film downloads before they have to shell out any money.

So far Jaman has aggregated over 1,500 international movies, and plans to acquire more content after its series A funding round, which should be completed this Autumn.

I met with British-born Faisal Galaria, recently appointed General manager EMEA, who was at one point a European director of Skype…

[continued]

Interview: Jaman prepares European assault

Faisal Galaira Jaman.com.jpg

Jaman, California-based company that offers full length movies for either downloads or rental via a P2P client is planning to launch a European arm. The move is prior to an expansion of its programme of buying up rights to “mid-tail” independent and niche films.

Unlike Joost, which is really aimed at TV viewers, Jaman is going for audiences who want successful independent film (the kind of thing “Trainspotting” was once before it hit the big time) which they can’t get in their local cinema. (You might think that would mean that there would be a lot of Bollywood movies and Asian or Latin American cinema on it as a result. There is indeed much of this content, but so far 60% of Jaman’s content is actually English language based).

Babelgum is closest to Jaman’s model, with it’s emphasis on independent professionally produced video content, but unlike both of the aforementioned, Jaman is about downloading high quality HD film to rent or keep, rather than P2P streaming.

Jaman’s player works on Windows XP, Vista and Mac. Jaman has also developed an unofficial plug-in for the AppleTV device which syncs content downloaded via the Jaman player (they have their own proprietary DRM player which, like Apple’s Fairplay DRM, allows the sharing of the content across 5 devices) to Apple???s box. They’re lead engineer on the project actually came from Apple, in fact.

Founder and CEO Gaurav Dhillon previously co-founded Informatica in 1992, which IPO’d in 1999. Jaman is not short of friends in high places. Backers include Hearst Corporation.

Although Jaman’s video downloads to a PC, evidently they expect people to hook up the PC to a proper HD-capable TV and watch it in all its glory there. Any user creating an account – the sites is on an open Beta right now – will get three free film downloads before they have to shell out any money.

So far Jaman has aggregated over 1,500 international movies, and plans to acquire more content after its series A funding round, which should be completed this Autumn.

I met with British-born Faisal Galaria, recently appointed General manager EMEA, who was at one point a European director of Skype…

[continued]

Thinking Outside the Web

Next Thursday I’ll be presenting at the Web Standards Group in Sydney with a talk called ‘Thinking Outside the Web: How the Entertainment Industry is Integrating All Media and Why’.
Thursday 2nd August @ 7pm
Australian Museum
6 College Street Sydney
(opposite Hyde Park)
Museum Theatre
Here is a listing of the previous speakers. Hope to see some of you there!

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