WAL-MART has shutdown its video download service less than one year after launching. This marks Wal-Mart’s second failure in new distribution paradigms for video. The retailing giant canceled its online DVD rental service two years ago.
WARNER MUSIC will join the march away from DRM by offering its tracks protection-free on Amazon’s MP3 download service. The company is also in talks with Apple to offer unprotected music via iTunes. Of the Big Four music labels, SONY BMG is the only one still clinging completely to DRM.
MTV NETWORKS delivered 1.2 billion video streams during 2007 on MTV.com, VH1.com and CMT.com. That’s a 30% increase over 2006 streams, while the mobile versions of the sites experienced triple-digit growth. The top video for ’07 was Britney Spears performing “Gimme More (Live).”
NIELSEN data says that Google’s dominance of the search engine market has increased from around 50% to over 57% during 2007. Those numbers align closely with recent figures released by comScore. Nielsen says that Yahoo has slipped to 18% of searches, while Microsoft’s search offering takes in 12% of the market.
THE GOLDEN GLOBES broadcast is increasingly in doubt, with writers threatening to picket outside the event and Hollywood stars promising to skip it if their glamorous red-carpet walks will include shouting throngs of writers. The broadcast is scheduled for January 13th. However, if situations deteriorate it may be webcast or simply held at a private event.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with AI strategy, implementation and governance, as well as technology, media and marketing. Named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Technology, he is a bestselling author, covers tech and business for Fox 5’s Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN, and writes the popular daily business blog Think About This. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.