Blog Archives
Netflix inches toward ubiquity
By Kenneth Corbin | October 30, 2008Netflix, the pioneering online movie-rental service, has inked a deal with TiVo to deliver its streaming content to its latest partner's broadband-enabled set-top boxes.
The move continues Netflix's (NASDAQ: NFLX) steady expansion of its Watch Instantly feature, bringing premium video content directly into users' PCs.
For TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO), the partnership extends its own broadband offerings, as the company made famous for allowing viewers to skip past commercials is beefing up its advertising and e-commerce platforms through partnerships with Amazon, Walt Disney, Comcast and others.
Netflix and TiVo are chasing the same dream that has captivated the imaginations of many folks in the Valley: the Internet-enabled living room. When you hear Steve Jobs talking about Apple TV as the company's "hobby," you get a sense of just how young this market is.
Still, Netflix took an important step in that direction by linking up with TiVo -- it's not live TV, but it's a healthy body of premium content (more than 12,000 titles), commercial-free, streamed directly to your set.
Netflix streaming is currently compatible with Internet-enabled set-top boxes from Roku, LG, Samsung and, shortly, any Xbox 360.
Today's news follows Netflix's announcement Monday that it is testing an upgraded video player that, based on Microsoft's Silverlight technology, will be compatible with Intel-based Macs. Netflix is putting the new version through its paces with a portion of new members, and plans a full rollout that will be compatible with all Macs by the end of the year.
Is it enough to keep Netflix sustainable? JP Morgan's Barton Crockett has some doubts:
"We are concerned that Netflix subscriber growth may slow in [the first half of 2009], as it faces tough comparisons plus the headwind of a slumping economy. Longer term, we have questions about the size of the market opportunity, and Netflix's ability over the very long term to generate profits in a world where online streaming displaces DVD usage."
That may be, but as more media companies realize how important it is to make your content available on as many devices and platforms as possible, Netflix seems to be moving in the right direction.
Bleeding purple: layoffs hit Yahoo
By Kenneth Corbin | October 22, 2008You've got to feel for this company -- Yahoo's had a really tough year. Yesterday the company reported its third-quarter earnings. Analysts didn't expect much, and Yahoo didn't give them much.
As far as the Street was concerned, the brightest spot of the whole ordeal was the way that the executives stressed the disciplined approach they would take for reining in costs as they "batten down the hatches" to weather the economic storm, as President Sue Decker put it.
Where will those economies be found? By trimming the company's chief expense: headcount. At least 10 percent of the workforce, or 1,500 employees, gone by the end of the year.
The cuts were widely expected, but CEO Jerry Yang officially let the troops know yesterday afternoon, after the earnings call, via a very characteristically Yahoo memo -- beginning with the salutation, "dear yahoos," and written almost entirely in lower-case.
The first upper-case letters are reserved for Bain & Co., the consulting company that Yahoo hired earlier this year to advise it on improving efficiencies.
Here's the guts of the thing:
"affected employees will be notified of layoffs in the next several weeks. we understand that hearing this news now creates uncertainty, but we are moving ahead in a way that balances speed with a clear focus on accomplishing what is necessary to set the organization up for long term success. going forward it will continue to be important for us to make the right decisions to keep our business efficient and strong.
"having layoffs is very difficult, particularly in light of all we've experienced this year. but we don't take these decisions lightly, and are committed to treating affected employees fairly, offering severance and outplacement services.
"the steps we are taking are not easy for us as a company, but as we become more fit as an organization, decision-making will be faster and it will be easier for us all to get more done and stay focused on our strategy. these changes will also prepare us to better deal with the macroeconomic downturn. as with previous downturns, yahoo! continues to be a place where consumers turn for information and communications, and is an integral part of their internet day. as the global economy improves in the future, i certainly believe that we will be stronger and benefit from the actions we are taking now."
I've heard Yahoo described variously as an idea, a dream, a vision -- always something more than a company. But, at the end of the day, that's what it is. And while Yahoo's taken heat for the last few years for its slumping stock price, the tailspin began in earnest when the talks with Microsoft broke down. Yahoo managed to preserve its independence, but at what price? At present, much of its hopes rest on the streamlining efforts and the consummation of the ad deal with Google, itself an uncertain prospect. But then again, Yahoo's plea for support throughout this choppy year hasn't had much to do with certainty. It's really more been a matter of faith.
FCC sponsoring NASCAR driver for DTV awareness
By Kenneth Corbin | October 17, 2008As the digital television transition approaches, the Federal Communications Commission is going to great lengths to ensure that you would have to be living in a cave somewhere on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border not to get the message that you might lose your signal if you're still working off a rabbit ears.
The five commissioners and their staffers have been crisscrossing the nation on an ambitious education tour, alighting on towns deemed at risk of seeing a significant number of people lose their ability to watch shows like "Hole in the Wall" and "Punk'd."
At the FCC's prompting, broadcasters have been devoting a significant portion of their ad inventory to public-service announcements about the switch.
The commission has been coordinating one-day tests in numerous markets, and recently flipped the switch in Wilmington, N.C., the only city in the country that was willing to play the role of guinea pig.
Now they're getting really creative. The FCC is going to sponsor the NASCAR No. 38 entry car for three races in the current Sprint Cup Series in the hopes that the DTV-branded car will boost awareness among fans of what apparently is "the leading spectator sport in the country," according to the press release.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin:
"NASCAR fans are known for their avid interest in this sport. Their awareness and responsiveness to NASCAR sponsors is also exceptionally high. I believe this sponsorship is an extremely effective way for the FCC to raise DTV awareness among people of all ages and income levels across the United States who loyally follow one of the most popular sports in America."
Driver David Gilliland:
"This is a very big undertaking to convert the entire country to digital services, but the end result will be improved picture and sound quality and those are definitely important factors to NASCAR fans. Yates Racing has had a tremendous 2008 season which allowed us to have a variety of important partnerships, and our No. 38 Digital TV Transition Ford will be another great example of partners who believe in the reach that we have. I am honored to help promote the Digital TV Transition messaging."
This seems a shrewd move on the FCC's part. They've already been under pressure from lawmakers nervous about how many people in their districts will go dark. Call it due diligence. The headlines are gloomy these days. The mood is grim. Probably not the time when people will take well to the perception that their government sandbagged them by stealing their television signals.
Presidential debates come to Hulu
By Kenneth Corbin | October 07, 2008The long list of media outlets offering live coverage of tonight's presidential debate just got a little longer, with Hulu jumping into the mix.
Hulu, a joint venture of Fox parent News Corp. and NBC, will offer live streaming of tonight's debate, the second of three contests between the principals, on its new election page.
Hulu has also posted archived full-length videos of the first presidential debate and the one between the vice presidential candidates.
The good folks at Hulu also did their viewers the great courtesy of chopping the debates up into clips, indexed by topic, so you don't have to wade through the whole drab ordeal to get to the guts of the thing.
For each debate, viewers can select the video from Fox News or MSNBC. I'd love to see those numbers -- it occurs to me that comparing how many viewers opted for one versus the other ought to give a pretty good sense of the political leanings of Hulu's audience.
Holiday shopping with Mr. Cheap
By Kenneth Corbin | October 06, 2008I remember writing stories last holiday season about how e-commerce was hitting record numbers, that Black Friday was a killer, Cyber Monday was even better, and there were a couple other days leading up to Christmas that were just off the charts. And how amazing it was that all of this was happening amid a "worsening economic outlook."
Seems almost quaint, given all that's happened this year.
Of course, when you look at aggregate sales, e-commerce is pretty well positioned to continue to post impressive year-over-year gains, given that that mode of shopping is still just knocking on the door of mainstream.
So more people are going to buy things online this year than last, and that's likely to continue for the foreseeable future. The more interesting question might be how their shopping habits will change, given the ongoing economic unpleasantness.
This year has seen a handful of progressively worsening assessments about how the e-commerce market is holding up. The consensus seems that it's better than brick-and-mortar retail, but it ain't great. (Unless you're Amazon.)
But isn't there opportunity in hardship? Certainly the folks pedaling online coupons seem to think so.
One coupon company, RetailMeNot, just commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct a study to learn about people's shopping plans this holiday season.
Just over half of consumers polled said they to modify their online shopping habits this holiday season. Of those, 90 percent will spend less money. So one could surmise that discounts and coupons could be even more important this year as e-tailers court a cash-strapped consumer base.
That a survey commissioned by an online coupon company predicts an uptick in online coupon use is not surprising. However, leaving RetailMeNot's interests of self-promotion aside, it's an intuitive conclusion: at a time when people have less disposable income, they're going to be looking to save money any way they can while doing their holiday shopping -- online or off.
And RetailMeNot is worth a mention in its own right. The site is set up as a coupon forum where people can search by Web site (e.g. Amazon.com) for electronic discounts the merchant is offering. Included in the search results are the coupon codes, along with the percentage of users who were actually able to redeem them. (Given that all coupon codes are not redeemable in perpetuity, the site asks users to note whether the coupon worked by clicking on a check or an 'x.')
So you can imagine yourself getting ready to order a pizza, and you scan RetailMeNot to see if Dominos or Papa John's has a better deal.
RetailMeNot collects coupons through user submissions and from companies looking to expand their customer base. The site says it has coupons from more than 20,000 stores.
