Verizon to Add Wireless Elements to Disney Parks December 5, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentVerizon will demonstrate aspects of its wireless service in Walt Disney Parks as part of a multi-year deal to create interactive experiences for visitors and direct them to various attractions.
The first blush of the Verizon touch will be Disney’s Kim Possible World Showcase in Epcot at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. The interactive experience will guide visitors through the park with clues from a Verizon “Kimmunicator” on a virtual quest to save the world from a gang of comic villains. It’s slated to debut during the first quarter of next year.
Read The Rest—>Verizon to Add Wireless Elements to Disney Parks
Disney.com to Launch Family-Oriented Platform June 9, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentJune 9, 2008
This summer, Disney Family.com plans to roll out a new parent-oriented social networking platform that will provide users with the ability to create profiles for their entire family using customizable avatars.
The new community will be different from typical social networks, which emphasize individual profiles. “This is about when your family becomes your identity over your self,” explained Maureen Bergmeuller, director of marketing. Disney Family.com. Thus, the new, yet-to-be named network will be designed to help parents meet other families in similar lifestages (such as parents of moms recovering from c-sections or families with autistic children).
Plus, unlike sites such as Facebook, Disney Family.com’s editorial content will be woven through the social network, encouraging discussion among members.
Marketers will have several ways to integrate their brands into the new platform, including product-placement images that users can incorporate into their avatars. The site will feature a collection of “stickers” or images that users can employ to complement their personal signatures within the site’s message boards. Those stickers can also feature brand messaging.
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Disney Merges Video Game, Digital Units June 6, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentCombined entity will be called Disney Interactive Media Group
June 6, 2008 MEDIAWEEK ARTICLE HERE
Disney is merging its video game division with its digital media unit.
The newly combined unit will be called Disney Interactive Media Group and be headed by Steve Wadsworth, current president of the digital media unit, Walt Disney Internet Group.
In an internal memo, Disney CEO Bob Iger explained that combining the groups allowed for making connections between Disney’s efforts online and on mobile with console and handheld games.
“The uniqueness of the Disney brand provides us an opportunity and an imperative to create a unified Disney-branded experience and community across all connected devices,” Iger wrote.
Company sources said the merger would not result in layoffs and in fact might open up new employment opportunities. The combined unit brings together WDIG’s 1,700 employees with an additional 1,000 from video game division Disney Interactive Studios.
Wadsworth will work closely with Graham Hopper, evp and gm at Disney Interactive Studios, on new opportunities.
Disney has been aggressively pursing entertainment opportunities online in recent years, especially in the connected community and virtual world space. Last month, Disney Interactive Studios launched DGamer, a free, avatar-based community for U.S. buyers of games the company develops for the Nintendo DS.
In an interview for that launch, Paul Yanover, executive vp and managing director of Disney Online, said the eventual goal will be a connected environment where players of Disney DS games could communicate with players on Pirates of the Caribbean Online and other Disney virtual worlds.
Said Michael Goodman, head of the Yankee Group’s digital media division: “For Disney this moves makes a lot of sense because they’ve slowly been integrating a lot of content into WDIG. A lot of their casual games on Disney Online already are running under WDIG, and this will put all their games and online communities under one banner.”
Disney buys Club Penguin for $350 Mil. August 6, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a comment
British Columbia’s ClubPenguin.com, which Disney this week announced it had acquired for a minimum of $350 million (and up to $700 million) had growth of 329% in 2006 alone .
Canada’s Financial Post has more on the story here
Disney to Debut Interactive VOD Channels… May 16, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentDisney to Debut Interactive VOD Channels…
Disney to Debut Interactive VOD Channels
Later this month Disney will debut an interactive video-on-demand channel that highlights their theme parks and travel businesses, reports The Associated Press.
The new channel will broadcast VOD content on Disney theme parts and such. Viewers using Time Warner cable service will be able to request more information on the destinations being shown using their remote control. Cablevision subscribers will be able to use their remote to request a call from a Disney travel representative.
The channel, which Disney will pay the cable providers to run, is meant to deepen the engagement of viewers with the Disney brand. The cable companies and Disney will be able to measure who’s watching what, how they’re interacting with it and how long they’re watching it.
Can CBS Put the Net Into Network? May 14, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentCan CBS Put the Net Into Network?
Syndicating Shows on Web,
Admits Old Strategy Failed
May 14, 2007; Page B1
A year ago, CBS Corp. announced the creation of Innertube, an entertainment channel on CBS.com designed to make the company a player in online video. It streams video of sporting events, news reports and reruns of shows such as the hit comedy “How I Met Your Mother.”
CBS’s new chief Internet strategist now jokes that the Web address for Innertube should be “CBS.com/nobodycomeshere.”
![[Photo]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/MK-AJ904_CBS_20070513154131.jpg) |
| A version of what the hit CBS show ‘CSI’ would look like on a variety of Internet video players. Clockwise from top: Joost, AOL, TV.com and Bebo. |
CBS, after a year of experimenting with various Web initiatives, says that forcing consumers to come to one site — its own — to view video hasn’t worked. Instead, the company plans to pursue a drastically revised strategy that involves syndicating its entertainment, news and sports video to as much of the Web as possible. It represents a stark departure for the TV industry. Most of CBS’s major competitors, including Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal and News Corp.’s Fox, are to some degree all betting that they can build their own Internet video portals.
Starting this week, an expanded menu of CBS’s video content will be available for free to consumers on as many as 10 different Web sites ranging from Time Warner Inc.’s AOL to Joost Inc., a buzzy online video service that is just rolling out. The company calls its new venture the CBS Interactive Audience Network.
Because CBS plans to sell the advertising that will appear on the digital network, the launch is timed to coincide with the industry’s high-stakes “upfront” ad-selling season, which kicks off today. It is the time of the year when the big networks unveil their fall schedules to advertisers and start negotiations to place some $9 billion in ads for the 2007-2008 television season, which starts in September.
CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves plans in coming days to announce a flurry of other deals aimed at giving consumers new ways to use CBS content online. For instance, CBS is working on agreements with social-networking sites such as Facebook Inc. and Last.fm Ltd. to allow users to post CBS video clips to their profiles, according to people familiar with the matter. A deal is also imminent with Slide Inc., which allows users of social networks such as MySpace to personalize photos and video for their pages.
![[Net Nets]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/MK-AJ922_CBSjp_20070513160501.gif)
All the big networks will aggressively shop advertising space on their sites to media buyers this week, but most of the networks are pursuing a homegrown approach to Internet video. ABC, for instance, has focused on streaming all of its prime-time programming through its own ABC.com player. NBC Universal and Fox in March said they are creating a new Internet video portal to compete with Google Inc.’s popular video-sharing site YouTube. In addition to launching the new portal — which the two companies plan to support with a $100 million marketing campaign — the venture will syndicate the content to big Web sites. Those sites include AOL, Microsoft Corp.’s MSN, TV.com, News Corp.’s MySpace and Yahoo Inc.
In contrast, CBS has abandoned attempts to build its own blockbuster portal and is instead signing pacts with a raft of smaller — and often-untested — Web companies, from Joost to Veoh Networks Inc., a video-sharing service. Unlike other big media companies, CBS’s holdings in cable networks are limited, which gives it more freedom to distribute its content widely over the Internet without hurting a cable revenue stream. CBS is essentially placing bets on which video sites will matter in the coming months and years, both in the U.S. and around the world. With any luck, the smaller sites will grow in popularity, boosting the exposure of CBS shows — and lifting the network’s haul of online ad dollars. CBS will give advertisers the freedom to tweak their ads to fit the different sites. The internal code name for CBS’s new strategy: “Rolling Thunder.”
“We can’t expect consumers to come to us,” says Quincy Smith, the president of CBS Interactive. “It’s arrogant for any media company to assume that.”
CBS faces a particularly difficult challenge luring its viewers to the Web. The network, home to franchises such as “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “60 Minutes,” attracts an older average viewer than ABC, NBC or Fox. As a result, media buyers and analysts say, CBS’s audience is less Web-savvy and the company has a harder time funneling viewers to its Web site with on-air promos.
The likes of Yahoo and MSN see the networks as trying to leverage their relationships with TV ad buyers to siphon off online ad dollars. So while the Web companies want to offer their users access to portions of studio movies and TV hits — which explains why they are signing deals with all the networks — they argue that they should be selling the advertising that accompanies it. The company that sells the ads gets to keep the lion’s share of the revenue; in CBS’s case, it gets 90%, while the Web partners get a 10% cut.
Joanne Bradford, chief media officer of MSN, says advertisers would be served better by buying online ads directly from Web sites rather than buying Internet packages offered alongside their upfront TV deals with the networks. “I’m a little irritated that the networks have put together a digital package that lets a marketer check a box and isn’t as robust or deep,” she said at a conference last week for advertisers in Seattle.
Advertisers will ultimately decide if CBS’s new strategy is the right one. So far, media buyers are positive about the move, although they note that CBS has had troubles implementing some heavily promoted digital efforts in the past. CBS has already signed up major advertisers for
its digital network such as Procter & Gamble Co., General Motors Co. and AT&T Corp.’s Cingular Wireless.
“I’m really impressed, especially regarding the ability for us to make one buy but tailor the ad message differently to each of the sites,” says Tracey Scheppach, corporate vice president and video-innovations director at Publicis Groupe’s Starcom USA.
– Kevin J. Delaney contributed to this article
Iger: Disney wants Web to ad up March 6, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentIger: Disney wants Web to ad up
March 6, 2007
Because moviegoers are demanding it, distribution windows will do some further shrinking, so movie studios should work closely with the exhibition industry to ensure that consumers get what they want without inflicting pain on theater owners, the Walt Disney Co. CEO Robert Iger said Monday.
In a wide-ranging presentation at the Bear Stearns Media Conference in Palm Beach, Fla., Iger also said that next-generation DVDs “will take over,” Internet downloads do not cannibalize other distribution formats and the newly designed Disney.com is an enormous opportunity for advertisers.
Iger said that in the month since its relaunch, Disney.com has been streaming about 100 million videos per week, and Disney intends to better monetize all that action via online ads.
“The advertising industry is behind where it should be,” he said, and Disney intends on educating them as to the opportunities that its new-media initiatives hold.
The CEO reminisced about the debut of TV’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos” 18 years ago and noted that the show is still a top ratings-getter, and it will be made fresh online. He also said user-generated content will be important for ESPN.com, as well.
Addressing a Wall Street analyst who said Disney was “underpenetrated” in video games, Iger reiterated the company will be spending $130 million in fiscal 2007 on that business.
The company’s new video game titles will be 80% Disney branded, and 80% of those will be generated from Disney product that was created for other media.
At the same conference Monday, CBS Corp. chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves argued that new-media firms don’t fully respect the importance of content yet.
He also was bullish on the outlook for higher advertising rates for this year’s broadcast upfront market and his firm’s ability to get retransmission payments but admitted that the strength of private-equity firms has made it tougher for media companies to make acquisitions.
“Because of you damn private-equity guys out there,” every potential deal has become so competitive and expensive, he said, drawing laughs from the crowd.
On retransmission money, Moonves again expressed optimism that CBS will get payments from cable operators big and small. He repeated his recent argument that other big media firms also get such payments, even though they are not broken out or clearly visible.
“You can ask Mr. Iger,” he said, saying that when Disney receives $3.25 per subscriber for ESPN, in reality it likely gets $2.75 for the sports cable juggernaut and 50 cents for the ABC broadcast network.
Asked about digital media, Moonves expressed optimism that “it will all be additive.” However, he said that the Googles and technology firms of this world “don’t quite respect the content enough. … They are beginning to.” CBS recently failed to agree on a deal with Google’s YouTube, arguing that the proposed financial terms weren’t right.
He argued that new ratings data tracked by Nielsen Media Research, which like The Hollywood Reporter is a unit of the Nielsen Co., will help broadcasters make their case for increased rates. He said current scatter market prices are up as much as 10% compared with last year’s upfront.
Moonves also joked about how Fox’s “American Idol” remains the biggest broadcast obstacle to overcome even though CBS is doing well in the ratings. “We call it the Death Star,” he said. “As soon as you beat (Fox), they add two hours of it.”
Moonves also declined comment on the proposed merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, saying he would leave that to the National Association of Broadcasters.
He also argued that terrestrial radio stations have one advantage over satellite radio — being local. Besides being able to offer local news, weather and sports, terrestrial radio also can tailor its playlists to the tastes of different markets, Moonves said.
Meanwhile, at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in San Francisco, Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt, a board member at Apple Inc., said the companies are working on new projects, though he didn’t supply specifics.
“We have similar goals, similar competitors,” he told attendees. He also praised Apple’s yet-to-be released iPhone as the first mobile phone to be designed around Internet browsing.
The CEO also lamented that there’s no “good places” to put the company’s more than $11 billion in cash, saying that he doesn’t plan any large acquisitions.
Schmidt, again without specifics, talked of Google’s opportunity in television advertising, where the scatter-shot approach needs refining so that the appropriate consumers are targeted with relevant advertising.
Georg Szalai reported from New York; Paul Bond reported from Los Angeles.
