Home › DMW Daily

DMW Daily, January 25, 2008

Top Stories
o eBay's Meg Whitman Makes it Official; Stepping Down March 31
o Murdoch: WSJ.com to Retain Subscription Model, Raise Prices
o U.K. High Court Keeps Ban on Sale of Rockstar's "Manhunt 2"
o Survey: Super Bowl Will Drive Sales of Over 2 Million HDTVs
o Ad Effectiveness Monitoring Firm IMMI Raises $25 Million
o Entertainment Start-up En2go Raises $1.35 Million
o Video Delivery Technology Firm Ooyala Lands $8.5 Million
o Out-of-Home Entertainment, Ad Firm Channel M Gets $6 Million
Opinion & Analysis
o Crunching the Music Biz Numbers at the Dawn of 2008
Briefly Noted
o Vuguru to Craft Webisodes for Robin Cook's "Foreign Body"
o Nielsen, Comcast Debut New VOD Measurement Service
o SpiralFrog Hits 400K Users, 1 Million Visitors for Music Service
o Sony Ships MTV Content on UMD Format for PSP
 Top Stories
o eBay's Meg Whitman Makes it Official; Stepping Down March 31 
San Jose, Calif. - Days after reports surfaced that she would retire, Meg Whitman, the president and CEO of eBay, made it official, saying that she plans to step down on March 31. [more..]
o Murdoch: WSJ.com to Retain Subscription Model, Raise Prices 
Davos, Switzerland - News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch said on Friday that he plans to keep a large portion of the content on the website of his newly acquired Wall Street Journal behind a subscription firewall, and indicated that subscription prices are likely to rise, The Journal reported. [more..]
o U.K. High Court Keeps Ban on Sale of Rockstar's "Manhunt 2" 
London - "Manhunt 2," a violent game from Take-Two Interactive's Rockstar Games, is once again banned from sale in Britain, after the High Court there ordered a government agency to reconsider its ruling that overturned an earlier ban on the game, GamesIndustry.biz reported. [more..]
o Survey: Super Bowl Will Drive Sales of Over 2 Million HDTVs 
Arlington, Va. - Super Bowl XLII is expected to drive sales of approximately 2.4 million high-definition televisions, according to a survey conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the Sports Video Group. [more..]
o Ad Effectiveness Monitoring Firm IMMI Raises $25 Million 
San Mateo, Calif. - Integrated Media Measurement Inc. (IMMI), the provider of an ad and media monitoring service that tracks impressions on consumers' cell phones, has raised $25 million in its third round of venture capital financing, led by advertising giant WPP's Kantar Media Research division. [more..]
o Entertainment Start-up En2go Raises $1.35 Million 
Los Angeles - En2go, a company developing digital entertainment and applications for computers, TV and mobile devices, announced on Friday that it has raised $1.35 million in a private placement of its shares. [more..]
o Video Delivery Technology Firm Ooyala Lands $8.5 Million 
Mountain View, Calif. - Ooyala, a developer of online video and advertising delivery technology that was founded by a group of former Google employees, said this week that it has raised $8.5 million in its second round of venture capital, from Sierra Ventures and private investors. [more..]
o Out-of-Home Entertainment, Ad Firm Channel M Gets $6 Million 
Los Angeles - Channel M, a provider of out-of-home entertainment and advertising content for video screens, has raised $6 million in its third round of funding, led by Ascend Venture Group. [more..]
 Opinion & Analysis
o Crunching the Music Biz Numbers at the Dawn of 2008 
n/a
 Briefly Noted
o Vuguru to Craft Webisodes for Robin Cook's "Foreign Body" 
New York - Vuguru, the entertainment studio founded by former Disney head Michael Eisner, has teamed with Cyber Group Animation and Big Fantastic to create 50 two-minute webisodes based on author Robin Cook's forthcoming novel, "Foreign Body," the New York Post reports. [more..]
o Nielsen, Comcast Debut New VOD Measurement Service 
New York - The Nielsen Company this announced the launch of a new video-on-demand audience measurement service, with Comcast, the nation's largest cable TV provider, signing on as the first data provider and customer of the service. [more..]
o SpiralFrog Hits 400K Users, 1 Million Visitors for Music Service 
New York - SpiralFrog, a free, ad-supported Web-based music service that launched in mid-September, said this week that it now counts more than 400,000 registered users, and has received over 1 million unique monthly visitors this month, according to Google Analytics. [more..]
o Sony Ships MTV Content on UMD Format for PSP 
Foster City, Calif. - Sony Computer Entertainment America this week began offering MTV programming on the UMD format for its PSP handheld game device. [more..]