Next New’s Thing: Boosting Ad Revs
Web TV Network Adds Sponsors, Sells Out YouTube Inventory
Digital
ESPNU to Start HD Broadcasts This Month
Walt Disney’s ESPN sports network next week will start high-definition broadcasts on its college sports channel in time for the beginning of the college football season. ESPNU was launched in 2005 and is available to about one-fifth of the 96…
Column: Who’s Watching Pre-Roll Ads?
Does anyone really believe that consumers like pre-rolls ads online? Because I think pre-roll ads—the ones that walk and talk like 15- or 30-second TV commercials and run in front of Internet programming—simply suck. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that…
Regional Sports Networks Join the HD Party
NBC Universal was thinking globally when it said last month that all 3,600 hours of the Beijing Olympics to be aired by its networks would be in high definition. Now, many U.S. regional networks are acting locally by taking a…
Selling Sponsorship
Sony, Microsoft Explore Potential With Web Series ‘Coma’
MTV Gets Brewer for ‘$5’
Film director Craig Brewer, whose credits include “Black Snake Moan” and the Oscar-nominated “Hustle & Flow,” has signed on to direct MTV’s unscripted, Web-only series “$5 Cover,” , says the Hollywood Reporter. “Cover,” to be released early next year, will…
Fox.com Rolls Out Show-Driven Redesign
Fox has been quietly rolling out a wholesale makeover of its Web site, refashioning the site to make it more show-driven. All of the network’s major prime-time series are being given individual homepages designed to mirror the distinct tones of…
C-SPAN Sites Do Everything
C-SPAN is launching two sites, one for Democrats and the other for Republicans, as part of its coverage of the national conventions, Lost Remote reports. Both sites feature Twitter and Qik functions, a YouTube page and sharing abilities of the…
Bebo Names Original Productions Head
Kelly Brett has been named head of original productions of AOL’s social networking site, the U.K.-based Bebo, MediaPost reports. Brett worked on Bebo’s Web series “KateModern.” Bebo is hoping to become synonymous with original productions, having already premiered “Sophia’s Diary”…
NBCOlympics.com Scores Sliver of Ad Revenue
NBCOlympics.com earned only $5.75 million in online video advertising revenue, according to estimates released today by eMarketer. The new-media research firm issued the projection based on video streams delivered on the site during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. eMarketer said the…