Материал: 1989

“I don’t doubt that [the studios] are going to make their money back, the expenses are that low,” said Jessica Reif-Cohen, an analyst with Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Research.

As to whether going 3-D is a worthwhile investment for the average moviegoer, that’s still open to debate. At a promotional screening of “Monsters vs. Aliens” at Washington’s Regal Gallery Place theater, the response was mixed. Washington resident Brenda Jones said she usually prefers to save money by attending matinees when she takes her two godsons to the movies, and she’s not terribly interested in more expensive options. Just a few steps away, one young dad raved that 3-D films would be bringing him into the theater from now on.

PART IV

YOUTH AND THEIR LOVE OF TECHNOLOGY

From http://www.canyon-news.com/artman2/publish/TechTalk By Beth Livesay

The 21st century has ushered in a revolution, enabling kids to have a closer relationship with technology. Recently, MTV, Nickelodeon and Microsoft completed a study regarding 18,000 kids in 16 countries, investigating their interests with digital technology and that relationship with culture, gender and age. 21 technologies were surveyed including: Internet, e-mail, PC, TV, mobile, IM, cable and sat TV, DVD, MP3, stereo/hi-fi, digital cameras, social networks, on and offline video games, CDs, HD TV, VHS, webcams, MP4 players, DVR/PVRs, and hand-held games consoles.

Contradicting assumptions, only 20% of 14-24 year olds are “interested” in technology. The meaning gathered from this information is that technology is seen only as a recreational tool, comparable to television

Means of communication and friendships are now as readily available as brand name clothing and can be marketed the same way via MySpace, AOL, Facebook etc. The Internet and cell phone companies have thus found a way to corner the market on friendships, translating conversation and connectivity into cash.

Results of the study are surprising. Japan’s stereotype as technologically advanced and literate contradicts findings that Japanese teenagers use e-mail the least out of the 16 countries surveyed, and that most Japanese youth, like Indian youth, rely on the cell phone as a status symbol.

Furthermore, China was the only market in which the computer was preferred to the television. Due to the restrictions on child bearing, most Chinese youth are only children, thus causing them to seek friendship and advice via the Internet.

Danes on the other hand, prove to be dependent on other types

face-to-face as opposed to online. Chinese youth was the only group who preferred texting to in person interaction.

The greatest impact of technology is on 14-24 year olds, who utilize phones and computers for self-expression, meeting new people and keeping in touch. About half of this demographic said that it was

the least amount of time online, averaging only 21 hours a week; whereas males ages 22-24 average 31 hours a week. One hundred percent of those surveyed say they communicate every time they access the Internet.

Phones, although a more traditional means of communication, have become more about safety than interacting with others. The study found that 68% of 8-14 year olds felt safer having a cell phone. In the UK, the number peaks at 81%. 71% of those surveyed said that their parents use cellular phones as a means of finding out where they are.

The notion of safety and parental control is associated with the Internet as well. In Germany for example, only 25% of kids said that they loved the Internet and this population ranked last in Internet usage. It is speculated that the German youth’s disconnect to the Internet is because of parental supervision and control.

Despite technological advances, the study determined that teens and kids still preferred hanging out with friends and watching television rather than spending time online. One major reason for this is that the computer requires being active and is often used as a tool in conjunction with studying or homework, whereas television can be watched lying down. One positive aspect of the rise of technology is the ability for youth to multi-task, a skill that proves beneficial throughout adolescence and adulthood.

It seems that the most basic means of entertainment and human interaction are preferred in the majority of places. Although language and geographic barriers can often prevent people from interacting, technology provides a common lingo and environment to unite those who are out of reach, so that they are never out of touch.

THE DIGITAL DIVISIONS ARE DEAD AT BIG MEDIA

From http://www.TechCrunch.com By Erick Schonfeld

Big Media’s love affair with the Internet ebbs and flows with the markets. When they see money pouring into Web startups, they feel threatened and rush to do the same. They ramp up their digital divisions, which usually are no more than venture arms, and hope to strike it rich. When the markets are down, as they are now, their attention drifts elsewhere, exactly at the time when they can pick up innovation on the cheap.

“M&A is gone,” the digital media chief at one of the largest media companies tells me. Other than a few targeted acquisitions to fill out business or technology holes, “you look foolish making any purchases,” he says, “especially if prices are still going down.”

And those prices are way down. Consider, for example, that CBS’s entire market capitalization is now only $2.5 billion, which is not much more than the $2.1 billion its digital division CBS Interactive paid in cash over the past two years for Cnet ($1.8 billion) and Last.fm ($280 million). (It also made a number of other smaller acquisitions and investments). As of December 31, 2008, CBS only had $419 million in cash on its balance sheet.

When it bought Cnet last May, CBS’s market cap was $16.5 billion. If CBS had instead paid in stock for Cnet, that stock would be worth only $273 million today, less than what CBS paid for Last.fm two years ago.

But the media company that went on the biggest buying spree was News Corp. Its digital division, Fox Interactive Media, was lucky enough to pick up MySpace, which paid for the rest of its acquisitions. Now that FIM doesn’t seem to be buying much anymore, it is not clear why it exists. Most of its properties could be integrated into other News Corp divisions or sold off. It does have some ad targeting technology and a budding ad network which is seeing some success, but that could be a stand-alone business or combined with MySpace.

And that is kind of the whole point. It is not clear why media companies even need separate digital divisions anymore. Even the digital media chief I spoke with thinks that “it is silly to have a separate division.” Disney, Viacom, NBC, and News Corp. each have digital revenues that are close to or are approaching $1 billion. But that revenue is typically spread across many different businesses. And, as big as it is, the digital side of the media business is still overshadowed by the many billions of dollars more

brought in by the traditional side of the business – TV, movies, radio, even print.

The executives leading those businesses have too many other fundamental problems to deal with to worry too much about having a Facebook strategy or how to market their movies through Twitter. The last time the big media companies pulled back from the Web, it was because the Internet sector led the downturn. And every Web-related business became toxic. Now, it is more that the general economic crash is hurting overall revenues across the entire media landscape.

Media executives are going into self-preservation mode. They know that all media businesses are going digital, eventually. But right now, they are more concerned with sheltering their core business than with pushing forward a digital business that will leech attention and profits from the core business.

So the digital divisions have to transition from M&A mode to business-building mode. But without money or attention, the most talented executives in those divisions may not stick around for long. Mika Salmi, who sold Atom Entertainment to Viacom and then became the president of Global Digital Media at MTV Network, is already headed out the door. NBC lost its digital chief last November. And digital media executives with M&A backgrounds like Quincy Smith at CBS don’t have a lot of money to spend these days.

That leaves building the digital part of the media business to the oldschool executives in charge of the other businesses. How many of them get it?

UK IPHONE USERS LEAD WAY IN WEB, E-MAIL USE: SURVEY

From Reuters, March 26, 2009; 7:40 AM By Kate Holton

Over 90 percent of Apple Inc’s British iPhone users accessed mobile media in January including websites, e-mails, social networks and games, far higher than users of other mobile phones, research showed.

Market researcher comScore said on Thursday 79.7 percent of iPhone users accessed news and information in the three-month period ending January, compared with 48 percent of other smartphone users and 19.8 percent of all mobile users.

Apple’s sleek phone only makes up a tiny percentage of mobiles sold in Britain, but analysts believe its easy access to music and the Web is driving the mobile Internet capabilities of all phones and shaping the industry.