MaxxoMedia Digital Media and Entertainment Trends

FROM KENRADIO.COM

People who use wireless internet “show deeper engagement with cyberspace,” according to an American study. While 54% of internet users check e-mail “on the typical day,” 72% of wireless users check daily. Just under half of wireless users get news online every day, compared to 31% of internet users at large. The Pew Internet and American Life Project survey asked 798 US internet users about their wireless habits and sampled almost 2,300 people overall. The report characterised wireless as connecting to the internet using a wi-fi or mobile network. The survey found that the number of internet users with wireless at home nearly doubled, from one out of 10 in January 2005 to one in 5 by December 2006. About 80% of those with wireless access at home also had broadband internet. According to the survey, about 80% of laptops had wireless capabilities and 88% of laptop users said they had used a wireless network at home. About six in 10 had connected somewhere outside their home or office. Just over a third of laptop users used a wireless network at work. People under 30 were also the most likely group to access the internet wirelessly. Of those surveyed, 37% of the category had connected wirelessly from any location, 40% have laptops, 26% have wireless networks at home, and four in 10 have internet-enabled mobile phones. The Pew survey sampled 2,373 US adults, 18 and older between 30 November 2006 and 30 December 2006. Of these, 1,623 were internet users and 798 of those were given wireless internet access questionnaires.

KPMG has released a 36-page report on how digital media are affecting work, play and relationships across Europe, and in particular how Generation Y is interacting with that media.

The paper contains interviews with industry experts and a summary of consumer research, based on interviews with 3,000 people in Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the U.S.A in December 2006.

New technology can often be disruptive. But the pace of change in information technology over the past few years, and the speed with which technology has has been adopted by Generation Y, poses particular challenges for business in general, and for media companies in particular. What has become known as Web 2.0—a somewhat overused term that refers to a second generation of internet-based services (such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies) that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users—has upset the hierarchy among media companies in a few short years.

Broadly, there have been four big developments in the online world in the past few years.

1. Decline in the cost of media distribution—thanks to digitisation and broadband—which has helped to make even relatively unloved content commercially viable.

2.  The rise of user-generated content perhaps better described as “participatory media”.

3.  The rise of sharing.

4.  The way in which information is organised.  Instead of a traditional hierarchy of information by experts, i.e., a taxonomy, web users are increasingly categorising online content—web pages, photographs and links—for themselves. given rise to new businesses.

Download report (pdf, 1 mb, 36 pages)

Here is a great article from Podmetrics on growth projections for Satelite Radio, HD Radio, MP3 Players and Terrestrial Radio

As part of Bridge Ratings’ on-going study of audience attrition of traditional radio and subscriber and user growth of alternative digital media, we now publish quarterly insight comparing projected use and growth. Included here is an update to our findings published since March of 2005

While initial estimates showed solid growth for satellite radio for 2006, the reality proved less impressive than prognosticators originally thought with total actual subscribers reaching 13.6 million through 2006 compared to original satcaster estimates of near 15 million. XM finished 2006 with 7.6 million subscribers – up 27% over the company’s 2005 year-end number.

Meanwhile, Sirius satellite radio made tremendous strides during 2006 due to significant leverage from the addition of Howard Stern, Martha Stewart and sports franchises along with strong marketing and word-of-mouth. At the start of 2005 Sirius registered 1 million subscribers and finished 2006 up 83% with 6.0 million. Bridge Ratings projects a sector increase of 3.9 million subscribers during 2007 with XM at 9.12 million and Sirius at 8.34 total subscribers.

Focus on: Satellite radio projected growth

Satellite radio growth projections in millions of subscribers.

Read the rest of the article.

American teens now live in a world in which the Internet, cell phones, text messaging and other technology dominate their communication and are an integral part of life as they understand it.

Despite the hype about very public breakups using modern technology, young people still seem to grasp the rules for these communication tools and know when it is appropriate to use these items to gather information and when to avoid them altogether.

According to Suzanne Martin, Ph.D., Youth and Education Researcher at Harris Interactive, “Teens utilize different modes of communication in different social contexts”.

When the tone of a communication is serious, such as arguing and breaking up with someone, teens realize that communication tools may not be the best avenue of discussion. Two in three teens (67%) would not break up with someone and two in five (42%) would not argue with a friend over phones, email, instant messaging, text messaging, or social networking sites.

When choosing a communication tool, teens will most likely choose to use cell phones and landline phones to talk to a friend about something serious or important (cell phone 34%, landline phone 23%); apologize to a friend (cell phone 22%, landline phone 20%); or break up with someone (cell phone 14%, landline phone 9%).

KENRADIO.COM

A neighborhood watch for the digital age, utilising the power of social networking, has been proposed. Two lecturers in the US have suggested creating a network of Community Response Grids (CRG) in conjunction with the emergency services. Citizens could leave text, video and photos on the site of emergencies, natural disasters and terror attacks. A pilot could start later this year based on an idea of a nationwide network of 911.gov websites. The 911 telephone system functions effectively when there are traffic accidents, health emergencies or small fires, but when large numbers of people are involved it does not handle the capacity. The proposal is for community-driven websites to be run by trained volunteers working in conjunction with the 6,100 local 911 services around the US. Citizen reporters would report to a centralized authority who will take care of emergency response coordination and allocate scarce resources of police fire and medical services.

By JON WATERHOUSE
For the Journal-Constitution
Portable digital music players are everywhere. At the gym, the office and even after-school play dates.

Yes, play dates.

Kids between the ages of 2 and 14 spend an average of 44 minutes at a time listening to portable digital music players, according to a January report by the NPD Group, which monitors retail trends.

But kids aren’t just bobbing their heads and singing along. They’re actually playing with interactive musical toys that connect directly into a child-friendly mp3 players.

“Without a doubt, kids are digital content natives,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier in a recent statement. They’re capable of easily navigating between mp3 players and other digital toys without missing a step. “The real challenge for marketers is to be one step ahead of their competition, providing the content and technology kids crave.”

That’s why so many toy companies are offering mp3 player-compatible toys — from dancing animals to mock rock instruments. Prices start around $30 and can reach $100 for more advanced toys.

“They’re essentially iPod accessories for kids,” says Jim Silver, editor-in-chief of “Toy Wishes” magazine. “Today, you see children playing on computers at 18 months. So, many toy companies are enveloping into family entertainment companies.”

This multi-faceted entertainment adds another dimension to the child’s listening experience as well.

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I have to say that I love my Blackberry. Being self employed and always on the run, the Blackberry is the perfect digital assistant. I’ve been using one since 2000 and it’s been indispensible. I spent the last month experimenting with an HTC 620 with Windows Mobile running on it (which I will review in another post) and I was very happy to return to my Blackberry at the end of the month.

FROM KENRADIO.COM - New research claims that many users of always-on wireless devices such as BlackBerry, Palm Treo and other smartphones are revolting against the blurring of boundaries between life and work. A report from Solutions Research Group suggests that the jury is split on whether such devices liberate or chain people to their work. A third of respondents to a US poll conducted by the analyst firm agreed with the statement: ‘Devices like BlackBerry chain you to work more than they liberate you’. Some 34% were neutral and 34% disagreed. Surprisingly, among those who own a BlackBerry or similar device, the results were not all that different: 34% agreed with the statement, 37% disagreed and 29% were neutral. While smartphones give users the ability to get work done outside the office, the survey showed that owners are somewhat more likely to work longer hours as a result. Among those who own a BlackBerry or similar device, 19% worked for more than 50 hours a week, compared to an average of 11%. Some 53% of smartphone owners agreed with the statement ‘I don’t have enough ‘me’ time’, compared to an average of 40%. When asked to choose between ‘time’ and ‘money’, 5% those who own a BlackBerry or similar device chose ‘time’ and 44% chose ‘money’.

Ever since the first ringtone sites began appearing on NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode menu back in 1999, most mobile music content providers in Japan have pushed to have their services appear on the ‘main menu’ of the wireless carriers. This approach has become known as the ‘official service’ model, and works something like this:

1. Content providers (CPs) first submit an ‘official service’ proposal to a wireless carrier.
2. If accepted, the CP’s service is listed on the carrier’s ‘official’ portal menu.
3. The CP charges customers a monthly subscription fee (typically around US$2.50) to use the service – for example $2.50/month to download 3 mastertones.
4. The carrier takes 9% of the total sales, with the rest going to the CP.

This ‘closed garden’ model has been widely criticized for putting too much power in the hands of the wireless carrier.

However, it has still been attractive to CPs because of the enormous traffic that comes from the carrier’s menu, as well as the convenience of having customer billing handled by the carrier.

For the past seven years, CPs have flooded Japan’s three major wireless carriers with thick, 150-page proposals, in the hopes of getting their ringtone, mastertone, or other content listed on the menu. Despite the high barrier of entry and heavy restrictions, this method has until recently been the preferred way to operate a mobile music service in Japan.

An article from the Washington Post explores the latest trends in relationship communications. Do you think it’s appropriate to end a relationship using a text message?

By January W. Payne

Washington Post Staff Writer

Jason Sherman, 25, admits he sometimes finds it hard to say what he means: He once broke up with a girlfriend by text messaging her on his cellphone, and he says he has used e-mail to deliver similar news to other women.

“I’m one of those people that it’s hard to speak [my] mind in person,” said Sherman, of Independence, Mo. “It’s a lot easier to say how I feel [electronically]. You can get more out, and you don’t have to worry about somebody yelling in your face.”

Read the rest of the article.

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Global Mobile Phone Shipments

Global mobile phone shipments grew a healthy 25% year-over-year, to reach an all-time record total of 1 billion units in 2006. It has taken the industry 23 years to reach this milestone according to Strategy Analytics. Mobile phone sales have exploded from less than 100,000 units in 1983 to 100 million units in 1997 and have now passed the 1-billion level in 2006. During that time, mobile phones have become a critical driver of innovation and profit for the world’s semiconductor, memory, battery and display industries. 300 million cellular handsets were shipped worldwide in Q4 2006, up a healthy 22% year-on-year. Nokia and Motorola continued to dominate volumes, but it was Sony Ericsson who shone brightest. Growth, volumes, revenues and total profits are all at their highest ever levels for the Japanese-Swedish firm.

* In Dollar revenue terms, Sony Ericsson (US$4.9 billion) became the world’s third largest handset vendor, overtaking Samsung (US$4.6 billion) for the first time.

* Forecast show a 12% shipment growth during 2007, for 1.14 billion units. Emerging markets, notably India and Africa, will continue to be the main engines for volume, but not profit, growth.

Technology changing schools’ approach to education

By Emily Schmall Correspondent

Malik Coburn, an eighth-grade student with an athletic build, was literate at age 3, at least digitally. He navigated a Mac computer before he learned to read.

Not since the invention of the printing press in 1440 has the paradigm for learning shifted in such a fundamental way, experts say.

The number of U.S. teens with access to computers spiked 45 percent in the past four years. Half of that number has created media content, and 83 percent of all 12-to-17-year-olds regularly play video games, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Coburn and his peers at North Kenwood/Oakland Charter School on Chicago’s South Side grew up with new media technology, and now through a $1.6 million after-school program administered by the University of Chicago’s Center for Urban School Improvement, they are using it to create documentaries and music videos, produce talk shows, write lyrics and host Web logs.

In October, the Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation announced a five-year, $50 million initiative to study how digital media is changing the way young people learn. Coburn’s school and Woodlawn High School — the University of Chicago’s two charter schools — are experimenting with a full integration of digital media in the classroom. Four days a week from 3:30 to 5 p.m., about 260 students attend clubs where they can practice filmmaking, publishing, music production and digital radio.

For a school-wide history fair, one digital media student chose the Ida B. Wells projects — and made a documentary film about their downfall. To learn how to balance ecology with development, students play the game Urban Science, developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in which players take on the roles of city planners.

Each student receives a laptop to be able to keep pace with students of more affluent backgrounds.

By Sara Grimes

The American International Toy Fair starts next week (Feb. 11-14) and this year everyone is all “a buzz” about ” high tech”…again! Part of this is a result of the ongoing celebratory discourse around tech-savvy “cyberkids” (which promotes the idea that if kids are encouraged to develop their innate technological skills they will be better prepared for a future as IT workers), but mostly the industry seems to be responding to consumer trends. The US toy industry grew for the first time in ages last year (to $22.3 billion), primarily due to a 22% increase in the “youth electronics” category–which grew from $871.5 million (2005) to $1.1 billion (2006). (Note: That’s not including video games, which have their own category and represented an additional $12.5 billion last year in the US alone). The Toy Fair (as it’s called) is a big deal for toy manufacturers and retailers, who are now dealing with a $60 billion global industry which remains dominated by US toy companies (Mattel and Hasbro are the biggest in the world, with Japanese companies Bandai and Sanrio, and Denmark’s Lego rounding out the top five), and by US retailers (Wal-Mart and Toys’R'US are the top two toy sellers in the world (in that order)).

As toy trend specialist Reyne Rice describes, “About four to five years ago we saw that kids were starting to leave the toy industry for four main areas: music, fashion, electronics and entertainment. So by bringing those play patterns into products that are suitable and accessible for kids — and priced for families’ wallets — the youth electronics aisle has exploded with those types of products.”

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An Open Letter to Steve Jobs and Mitch Bainwol prompted by their recent statements regarding the role of DRM.

Posted by Bennett Lincoff

Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple Inc.) says that Digital Rights Management (DRM) cannot effectively protect recorded music when it is transmitted digitally. He is right. The music industry’s many experiments with DRM have all met with effective technological countermeasures.   Moreover, news of each successful hack quickly found its way to everyone who cared. There is no reason to believe that the results will be different next time, or ever. For his part, Mitch Bainwol (Chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America – RIAA) insists that DRM is essential to the music industry’s survival in the digital age. The problem is that the Internet is fundamentally incompatible with the music industry’s traditional sales-based revenue model. Through the Internet, the market for sale of individual recordings can be saturated in a moment’s time and without payment of any royalties to songwriters, music publishers, recording artists or record labels. Neither law, nor technology, nor moral suasion will change this fact.

Mr. Jobs suggests, and I agree, that DRM should be abandoned as a tool for the protection of recorded music. However, before Mr. Jobs can implement his DRM-free utopia, the music industry must have a viable alternative business model by which it can continue to thrive. Mr. Jobs has not suggested one. Mr. Bainwol denies that one is needed; intending, instead, to continue efforts to preserve the industry’s sales-based revenue model. In any event, in the absence of an alternative business model suited for digital transmissions of recorded music, Mr. Bainwol cannot even begin to discuss the possible elimination of DRM.

Mine is a comprehensive approach to rights licensing and rights management that does not depend on the efficacy of exclusionary DRM technology for its success. A solution that simultaneously protects the integrity of copyright, promotes technological innovation, facilitates the growth of all manner of licensed digital audio services (including P2P), and meets consumer demand. In the aggregate, music industry rights holders would do no less well financially under my proposal than they do now under the system that my proposal would replace.

With this alternative business model in hand (which includes a plan for its implementation), there can be no further justification for the music industry’s failure to respond constructively to the changed circumstances imposed on it by emergence of the global digital communications network.

Mr. Lincoff is an intellectual property law attorney, consultant and writer with more than twenty years experience in music licensing. The purpose of his work and of his writing is to assist creators, rights owners, intermediaries and end users to maximize the benefit they derive from protected content. Mr. Lincoff can be reached at BennettLincoff@aol.com or through his web site at BennettLincoff.com.

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Almost one in three of frequent YouTube users say they are watching less TV as a result of the time they spend there. However, 73% of frequent YouTube users say they would visit the site less if it started including short video ads before every clip. 42% of online U.S. adults say they have watched a video at YouTube, and 14% say they visit the site frequently, according to Harris Interactive.

Of all frequent YouTube users:

* 66% claim they are sacrificing other activities when on YouTube
* 36% say their visits to the site are most likely to have been at the expense of visiting other websites
* 32% say their time spent watching TV is next most likely to have taken a hit
* 20% think that YouTube also pre-empts email and other online social networking
* 19% defer work/homework
* 15% aren’t playing video games
* 12% are not watching DVD(s) and not spending time with friends and family in person

For all of the excitement over online video, the jubilation over the promise of mobile entertainment looms larger, but perhaps that is because few analysts or companies have managed to wrap their arms around the market. Like the Web before it, there are numerous challenges facing the marketplace, both in terms of consumer adoption and monetization.

Wireless Entertainment: Definition of Market

The market for wireless entertainment consists of content, services and applications. Wireless content may be anything from a ringtone, graphics or streaming video. Mobile content comes with many challenges, including billing and digital rights management. Wireless services tend to be educational or news oriented, but may also be entertaining. Social networking tools allow for more interactive services on handheld devices: be it sharing or blogging. Finally, wireless entertainment applications include dynamic games and search tools.

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