Archive for July, 2007

Following The Joker’s Footsteps

Published
by
Blogger Reps
on July 27, 2007
in Viral Marketing
. 2 Comments

The Dark Knight takes viral marketing to a whole new level

Heath Ledger’s Joker is on the loose! Right now, people all around Comic-Con in San Diego are chasing the elusive clues of planes, bystanders, and whysoserious.com, a site set up to promote the upcoming Batman movie. What started as an Uncle Sam poster with the Joker at its center has turned into a huge-scale riddle and treasure hunt, requiring cooperation and effort from both those on the Web and those on-site in San Diego.

Whysoserious.com is now showcasing a series of pages with riddles, cryptic messages, and a spot for the answers, each of which takes you to another puzzle. If you’d like to play along, you don’t need an assistant on the ground in San Diego - plenty of Web sites are providing answers to the riddles so that everyone can follow along with the dynamic marketing game.

Want the answers to the Joker’s riddles? Find them here.

Click here to see .jpgs of each Web page.

The original Digg site that showcased whysoserious.com.

HD Streaming Hits ABC.com

Published
by
Marjorie Kase
on July 26, 2007
in Video
. 0 Comments

ABC has started streaming full-length episodes of its shows on the network homepage - in high-def. Ratings toppers such as Lost, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, and more are now available for viewing on ABC.com at the same quality that you’d get with an HD TV, provided your computer screen is formatted to display HD video (minimum requirements 1024 x 768 resolution).

In order to view the episodes, you need a broadband connection, as well as a media player from Move Networks. This player prevents you from skipping advertisements during the episode, which is probably why it’s a requirement to watch the shows.

So far, user feedback indicates that the system has a few bugs to work out - one user commented that the video skipped as they watched it, while another couldn’t see anything but the ads. Full-length episodes are also, for now, available only in the U.S. Still, the idea of HD streaming right to your computer is definitely worth pursuing, and it remains to be seen how ABC will improve on the beta.

(Source: The Next Net)

Give ABC’s HD streaming a try here - just don’t forget Move Network’s media player.

Fox, MySpace launch “Storyteller Challenge”

Published
by
Blogger Reps
on July 26, 2007
in User Generate Content
. 0 Comments

User-generated content already dominates many video and streaming sites on the Web, but Fox Network and MySpace are teaming up with the Producers Guild of America to take it one step farther.

Beginning in September, MySpace will host The Storyteller Challenge, which invites civilian moviemakers across the Net to submit 5-7 minute television pilots of their own creation. These pilots will be judged by visitors to the site, as well as a panel of professionals and film students organized by the Producers Guild. The top two pilots will earn $25,000 each (winners to be decided in January), and their creators will also get a shot at a development deal with Fox.

The Storyteller Challenge didn’t come out of thin air. This summer, Fox ran a show called “On The Lot,” a reality TV-style contest about theatrical directors competing on the air, but the show lost out in the ratings. MySpace has also done something similar before: “Prom Queen,” a webisode-based show that got 15 million streams and is preparing for another season. The Storyteller Challenge is a mix between the two.

Producers Guild of America chief Marshall Herskovitz had this to say about the upcoming challenge:

“Producing will always be a difficult and competitive job, but I’m proud that our Storyteller Challenge will give unique new voices the chance to find their audience. You never know where the next great storyteller will come from.”

There’s no denying that user-generated content is on its way to the top of the Web entertainment sphere, especially with all the new streaming sites rising in prominence. All that remains to be seen is whether Fox and MySpace can tap into that interest to generate not only a contest, but possibly a dynamite TV show as well.

(Source: Variety, Tech Crunch)

ABC Day 1: Executive Session

Published
by
Marjorie Kase
on July 26, 2007
in TV and TCA Conference
. 0 Comments

Lost, Comic-Con dominate critics’ concerns

Wednesday marked the first of the last two days of the Television Critics Association press tour - two days that will be filled with sessions and programming dedicated to ABC network’s upcoming shows. The last stretch of the conference began with the executive session, and ABC entertainment president Stephen McPherson quickly found that critics had only one thing on their minds: Lost, and why its producers were addressing the fans at Comic-Con instead of TCA’s 150+ press representatives.

All the hype about Lost’s absent producers and the insult they were dealing TCA’s journalists did culminate in one tidbit of worthwhile, placating news: Harold Perrineau’s character Michael Dawson will be returning to the show next season. McPherson also stated that Don Imus will be joining the Lost cast this coming fall, but that seems to have been little more than a joke to soothe the irritated critics.

ABC presented a few other slices of information during their executive session. The much-anticipated pilot adaptations for Footballers Wives and Mr. and Mrs. Smith have hit a snag at the network and are basically dead in the water. Men in Trees, on the other hand, will start up again this season, with the episodes that didn’t air after its spring hiatus added to the fall roster instead.

ABC also put a lot of emphasis on its high-profile Pushing Daisies, which has so far received mixed expectations. Daisies features a man who can bring back the dead and kill them again with his touch alone, and is being advertised as a mix between a love story and crime drama. Many critics aren’t sure about the likelihood of the show’s success, citing its oddball storyline and lack of a clear category as possible pitfalls in attracting steady viewers. One thing’s for sure, though: Daisies will be a definite break from the basic similarity between many of ABC’s drama shows.

(Source: TV Guide.com, TV Squad)

Check out a first-hand, minute-by-minute account of ABC’s first day of programming here.

Hearst Acquires UGO Networks

Published
by
Marjorie Kase
on July 24, 2007
in Web 2.0
. 0 Comments

Online media co. part of new demographic draw

Hearst Interactive Media is currently in the process of acquiring ad-supported UGO Networks, an online media company geared mostly toward a young male demographic that recognizes 28 million users worldwide per month. The video games, movies, and attractive women that make up the core of UGO’s content will be a first step for Hearst toward interesting a new demographic: young males, who may not have been interested in Hearst’s traditional media.

Hearst, originally known for its large collection of newspapers and magazines, has been shifting focus to the digital even before their bid on UGO. Hearst previously acquired the media companies Brightcove (video-based) and Pandora (music-based), and also owns stakes in ESPN, Lifetime, and A & E.

Within the Hearst conglomerate, UGO will operate essentially independently, rather than being meshed with the rest of Hearst’s media. About this independence, UGO CEO J. Moses said the following:

“Having our brand be the lead brand here is worth a lot to us. This business is now in a very serious period of maturation and consolidation. We need to invest and Hearst wants us to.”

Hearst will continue to look for other male-oriented media companies to build the strength of their young men-demographic appeal.

(Source: Variety)

Is Xu Jinglei really the top world blogger?

Published
by
Blogger Reps
on July 23, 2007
in Blogging
. 1 Comment

Last Thursday, Chinese actress and director Xu Jinglei was announced as the world’s most widely read blogger by the Beijing News. Based on figures recorded by Sina (www.sina.com.cn), a Chinese web portal dedicated to blog services and utilized by many Chinese entertainers, Xu achieved her 100 millionth hit within 600 days on July 12, making her blog the most widely read in the world.

Some of Sina’s figures are in doubt, however. On Friday, just one day after the initial announcement, Valleywag ran a post explaining why Xu’s title as most widely read blogger was full of holes. All Sina can really claim is that Xu’s blog is the most widely read of the blogs that it hosts personally. And according to Valleywag, since 100 million hits in 600 days is equal to roughly 166,000 page hits a day, a site such as Perez Hilton’s gossip blog (over 1 million hits a day) easily outstrips Xu’s traffic figures.

After closer examination, Xu Jinglei’s may not be the most widely read blog in the world. But 100 million hits in 600 days is still nothing to scoff at - nor is the increased traffic that the actress’s blog has seen since the Beijing News’s announcement, which has brought Xu’s daily page count up to about 250,000. Perhaps it won’t be too long until Xu Jinglei really is challenging the world’s top bloggers.

(Source: CNN.com, Valleywag)

Emmy Nominees Announced

Published
by
Marjorie Kase
on July 20, 2007
in TV
. 0 Comments

HBO, ABC earn highest number of nominations

The results are in! The nominations for the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards, with a ceremony set for September 16th in Los Angeles, were released yesterday. Overall, HBO and ABC came away with the most nominations (86 and 70, respectively), with NBC not far behind them at 69 nominations.

This year, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, members of which determine the Emmy nominees, gave a nod to a bunch of newcomers: 60% of nominees in comedy and drama categories weren’t nominated last year, with new series such as Ugly Betty, 30 Rock, and Heroes earning a lot of attention.

Of course, old favorites like The Sopranos and Boston Legal weren’t left out in the cold, either. And in a single-show nomination record, HBO’s original movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee earned 17 nominations alone.

Want to see the whole list of nominees? Check it out on the official Emmys page.

(Source: Emmy Media Release)

The Changing Influence of Bloggers

Published
by
Marjorie Kase
on July 19, 2007
in Blogging, Web 2.0 and Social Networking
. 0 Comments

How social networking is giving bloggers even more clout

What’s the fastest way to spread your opinion across the Web, and catch as many ears as possible while doing it? If you answered blogging, you’re only half right.

That bloggers have an influence on the tide of opinion surrounding companies or products is nothing new. A blog with a lot of regular readers can reach as many people as a TV or magazine spot, and the blogger’s opinions can spread much quicker than broadcasts in traditional media. Still, the nature of bloggers’ influence is shifting, becoming what Thomas Hawk calls “bifurcated”: split between the blog itself and other parts of the Web.

Largely, this second kind of influence is based around social networking, which can be used to get even more attention for your blog or a particular post. By using social networks like Facebook, Flickr, Pownce and others to advocate your blog - or to advocate streams on other social networks themselves - you can get your posts more attention, higher ratings, and greater influence overall.

In the ever-changing Web 2.0 landscape, one form of communication can be dropped as soon as a faster, better way comes along. By taking Thomas Hawk’s observations under consideration, on the other hand, bloggers don’t have to abandon their media: they can use the newer, faster, better ways of communicating to strengthen the blogs they’ve worked on, and extend their overall influence at the same time. Who doesn’t want that?
(Source: Thomas Hawk’s Digital Connection)

ICanHasCheezburger: A Blogger’s Success Story

Published
by
Marjorie Kase
on July 18, 2007
in Blogging and Web 2.0
. 0 Comments

When the wired world turns little laughs into big business

In the short time since its inception, blogging has become an incredibly widespread fixture of the Internet, infiltrating both the personal and the professional realms of the Web. But what happens when a blog that started personal turns into a full-time occupation? For a select few, the result may follow Eric Nakagawa’s ICanHasCheesburger.com.

ICanHasCheezburger.com started, in January of this year, when Nakagawa, a software developer working in Hawaii, posted a picture of a smiling cat captioned “I Can Has Cheezburger?” on his Web site. As his posts continued along a similar trend, he turned the site into a blog, giving viewers the chance to rate and comment on his images. Against Nakagawa’s expectations, the site’s traffic doubled each month, and in May Nakagawa quit his job as a programmer so that he could focus solely on the business venture he’d never anticipated.

Now ICanHazCheezburger.com gets approximately 500,000 hits a day, and has expanded its offerings so that users can submit images, caption them, and post these modified images on the site for all users to see, share, and rate. The ad money the site brings in is nothing to scoff at, either: $500 for a week-long ad is as cheap as it gets on ICanHasCheezburger.com.

Who would have guessed that a site founded on a simple joke would become such a successful, user-based community? Certainly not Nakagawa, who remarked of the site’s unexpected popularity:

“We just thought, okay, [the posts are] funny. Suddenly we started getting hits. It was like, where are these coming from?”

ICanHasCheezburger’s ascent from private pastime to a full-on business says something about the power of bloggers and the blogging community in the Web 2.0 era, when a site with largely user-generated content can skyrocket to the top of the popularity sphere. Perhaps it’s this community that will determine the success of blogs and the businesses they spawn in the years to come.

(Source: Business Week)

NBC Day 1: Reeling in the Laughs

Published
by
Blogger Reps
on July 17, 2007
in TV and TCA Conference
. 0 Comments

Now that the cable networks have finished their run, the TCA Press Tour is moving into its network-specific days and panels, which will extend until the end of the event. Yesterday marked the first day of NBC-centered programming, which featured an executive session with NBC’s new co-chairmen, Marc Graboff and Ben Silverman; a panel on the new drama Life; and a session focused on NBC’s Thursday-night comedies: My Name Is Earl, Scrubs, The Office, and 30 Rock.

The biggest hit by far was the half-hour comedy panel, which hosted a creator and star for each of the above series - Greg Garcia and Jason Lee for My Name is Earl, Bill Lawrence and Zach Braff representing Scrubs, Greg Daniels and John Krasinski for The Office, and Lorne Michaels and Tina Fey from 30 Rock. All of these guests got a chance to talk about the upcoming seasons of their shows - and found time for quite a few jokes in between.

Scrubs: Will the upcoming season of Scrubs truly be its last, and will J.D. and Elliot finally end up together for good? Bill Lawrence addressed the first question by saying that unless “we finally become a huge mainstream hit,” Scrubs will end its run with this season. As for the tangled love story of J.D. and Elliot, Lawrence admitted that he has looked into the online fan base for his show, and will try to satisfy the fans with his series finale.

My Name is Earl: Everybody’s asking whether Earl ending up in jail at the end of last season was a fluke, but creator Greg Garcia took advantage of the comedy panel to put those rumors down. According to Garcia, Earl will have to stay in jail much longer than the end of the season premiere. The show’s surprising new direction is one more way Garcia hopes to shake up the TV formula and keep My Name is Earl out of a rut.

The Office: Most of the issues broached with the panel revolved around the whos, whens, and relationships of the now hour-long episodes. Greg Daniels announced that Rashida Jones, who plays Karen Filipelli on the show, will be back this fall, and that while David Denman’s Roy has been fired and isn’t with Pam any longer, he’s still liable to pop up at any time. B.J. Novak’s character, Ryan Howard, is also going to spend a little more time in the spotlight, according to Daniels.

30 Rock: Despite rumors to the contrary, Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels announced that Alec Baldwin will be playing Jack for another season of 30 Rock, and Tracy Morgan will stay on the show as well. Fey also confirmed that Jerry Seinfeld will be playing himself in the season premiere, which she hopes will drum up a lot of interest: “Maybe people in America will actually watch it, even if it’s just for that one time,” Fey said.

(Sources: E!Online, NJ.com)

Want one blogger’s live diary of Monday’s NBC events? Check it out here.