COMPUTERWORLD -- Aug 3 -- Despite generating a hefty media buzz, social networking sites like MySpace and YouTube have not yet figured out how to use that publicity to generate significant advertising revenue, mainly because big brand advertisers are reluctant to place ads on sites that feature illicit content. FULL ARTICLE @ PC WORLD
PC WORLD -- Aug 31 -- Paris-based video sharing site Dailymotion raised an additional $34 million in funding on Friday. The site still reaches more viewers in France than YouTube, but has a lead that's narrowing since YouTube launched local versions in Europe in June. For the European market, YouTube had 54.7 million unique visitors in February and 72.2 million in July. Dailymotion had 11.8 million in February, 16.3 million in May, and then 14.7 million in July. FULL ARTICLE @ PC WORLD
E FLUX MEDIA -- Aug 30 -- YouTube, which has been attacked for copyright issues on its site, has signed a license agreement with the MCPS-PRS Alliance, the UK group that collects royalties for more than 50,000 composers, songwriters and publishers. YouTube users now will be able to incorporate any of the 10 million copyrighted British songs in their amateur or professional videos. YouTube will pay a flat fee, and the MCPS-PRS will be responsible for splitting the money between its members. FULL ARTICLE @ E FLUX MEDIA
SEARCH ENGINE LAND -- Aug 21 -- Instead of pre-rolls (which have a high rate of abandonment), YouTube will monetize video streams with almost transparent animated flash "overlays". 15 seconds into a video, an overlay will appear on the bottom 20% of a video and animate for up to 10 seconds. Google will be reporting the click-throughs of these more-user-friendly ads to advertisers. FULL ARTICLE @ SEARCH ENGINE LAND
ONLINE MEDIA DAILY -- Aug 15 -- According to M:Metrics, the top 3 mobile social networking sites in the U.S. for July were MySpace (3.7 million monthly users), Facebook (2 million), and YouTube (900,000). At 3.5% of all mobile subscribers (7.5 million), Americans last month accessed more mobile social networks than their Western European counterparts: Italy had 2.8% (1.3 million), U.K. 2.5% (1.1 million), Spain 2.3% (751,000), Germany 1.9%, and France 1.7%. MySpace was most accessed in the U.K., but MSN prevailed in all other countries. FULL ARTICLE @ ONLINE MEDIA DAILY
ADOTAS -- Aug 10 -- Providence Equity Partners just bought a 10% stake in a site that doesn’t yet have a URL or name. The $100 million investment is for a new ad content site that News Corp. and NBCU are creating to compete with YouTube. The site, which will predominantly showcase their own inventory but also accept user-generated content, has a scheduled fall launch. FULL ARTICLE @ ADOTAS
MARKETING WEB -- Aug 7 -- The number of unique South African users are impressive at MySpace (205,000), Facebook (140,000), and YouTube (432,000). Friendster, LiveJournal, LinkedIn, and Flickr also all command significant audiences there. With the right brand and approach (creating a space for your brand on MySpace, setting a video clip loose on YouTube, embedding a video ad, or sponsoring an entire content category), marketing to South African consumers through social networking sites can provide a great return on your investment. FULL ARTICLE @ MARKETING WEB
ADOTAS -- Aug 3 -- Yahoo! is determined to steal the lucrative U.S. online video market (130 million people) from YouTube. The company has announced plans to overhaul their video site by focusing on media deals with various content providers and providing more television shows, spot highlights, and music videos. Even Sony is joining the video battle with Crackle, its own rebranded version of Grouper. FULL ARTICLE @ ADOTAS
PROFY -- July 28 -- Since Google purchased YouTube last November, the struggle has been how to will do to reduce and control piracy. In March, Google was sued by Viacom, alleging copyright infringement on YouTube. Viacom is seeking $1 billion in damages. During a Friday hearing, a Google attorney said Google is working on a video recognition technology that "as sophisticated as fingerprint technology used by the FBI." Google has plans to release the tool by December. FULL ARTICLE @ PROFY
MAD.CO.UK -- July 25 -- Social networking site Facebook has poached former YouTube chief Gideon Yu as its new chief financial officer ahead of a potential buy-out. The appointment comes after Chamath Palihapitiya, a former AOL marketing executive, joined the company as its head of product marketing and operations. An initial public offering (IPO) was unlikely in the next 18 months but it would consider a buy-out offer in excess of $10 billion. FULL ARTICLE @ MAD.CO.UK
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