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Category: Technology

  • Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer is the highest paid chief in new media: SNL Kagan

    Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer is the highest paid chief in new media: SNL Kagan

    MUMBAI: Internet major Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer is the highest  paid CEO among new media companies according to SNL Kagan. She made $36.6 million last year out of which $35 million was stock and option awards.

    At the bottom of the rankings, meanwhile, were Mayer‘s former boss Google CEO Larry Page and LiveDeal CEO Jon Isaac, who both received total compensation of $1.

    According to SNL Kagan, Mayer easily surpassed all rival executives in the new media space in terms of total compensation.

    Mayer‘s year was characterised by a hands-on push to lead Yahoo‘s turnaround strategy. Long before the company was doing things such as angling for a far younger user base with its $1.1 billion Tumblr acquisition it was already in the midst of a major turnaround strategy overseen by Mayer. That strategy included a shakeup of Yahoo‘s top executive team.

    Meanwhile, Yahoo also culled certain low-performing noncore assets such as Yahoo! Korea and a Chinese music service, all while stepping up an M&A strategy that saw Yahoo acquire such companies as video chat startup OnTheAir and mobile startup Stamped, while it eyed Summly, the news summarisation startup it ultimately bought in March 2013. In those dizzying 5.5 months, Yahoo additionally signed cross-promotional content deals with ‘Us Weekly‘ and ‘Rolling Stone‘ publisher Wenner Media and with NBC Sports Group, of Comcast Corp.‘s NBCUniversal Media LLC, and it overhauled both its Yahoo! Mail service, optimising it for Apple Inc iOS, Microsoft Windows 8 and Google Android mobile devices, doing much the same with a social-first revamp of its Flickr app.

    Now-former CFO Timothy Morse presaged the Mayer era just as the executive took the reins, telling analysts on a July 17, 2012, earnings call that under Mayer, Yahoo would focus on bettering its technology, content offerings, mobile presence and ties with social players such as Facebook Inc. The company subsequently disclosed in August 2012 that Mayer was at work re-evaluating Yahoo‘s growth and acquisition strategy with an eye potentially toward investment rather than unquestioningly returning cash to shareholders. By April 2013, Mayer was calling that focus shift a "build, buy and partner," as she reiterated the company‘s previously stated commitment to M&A activity and to a robust mobile strategy.

    Mayer‘s approach seemed to pay off for Yahoo in 2012, as the company ended the year with fourth-quarter earnings results reflecting Yahoo‘s first revenue growth in four years. All the ambitious strategising and execution, furthermore, was undertaken as Mayer gave birth to her first child right in the middle of her 2012 tenure as CEO.

    Coming in behind Mayer in terms of CEO pay was eBay CEO John Donahoe, who likewise saw the bulk of his salary come in the form of equity-based compensation. Donahoe‘s base salary was $970,353, while he recorded roughly $25.7 million in stock and option awards, $2.8 million in non-equity incentive compensation and $160,420 in other salary, for a total of roughly $29.7 million.

    Although Donahoe‘s 2012 was not quite as headline-friendly as Mayer‘s, he also led his company at a time of significant growth. EBay shares opened 2012 by ending the first day of trading 3 January with a value of $31.34 and climbed to close 31 December, 2012, at $51.00, a massive 57.3 per cent rise for the year.

    EBay ended the year with meaningful revenue growth, capping off a year that saw the company transform its PayPal unit from an e-commerce transaction option to a bona fide real-world rival to traditional payment systems.
     
    Donahoe was followed in the rankings by Vistaprint NV CEO Robert Keane and Expedia Inc. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who also had the distinction of recording the largest bonus out of the top 10 CEOs by compensation, with a $3 million payout on top of his $1 million base salary, $895,000 in other salary and roughly $10.4 million in stock and option awards. In fact, just one CEO in the entire new media sector, according to SNL Kagan, got a bigger bonus than Khosrowshahi: IAC/InterActiveCorp chief Gregory Blatt, who received a $3.5 million bonus, contributing to $4.6 million in total compensation, which did not qualify him for the top 10.

    Overall, the average total compensation for the top 25 new media CEOs in 2012 was roughly $9.3 million. Not making the top 25 were such high-profile executives as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Apple CEO Tim Cook made the top 25 but not the top 10, with his roughly $4.2 million in total compensation.

  • MSOs to crack the whip on LCOs on customer forms issue

    MSOs to crack the whip on LCOs on customer forms issue

    MUMBAI: India‘s multisystem operators (MSOs) got a dressing down yesterday from TRAI boss Rahul Khullar about the lack of KYC or CRF forms giving details about their subscribers. Khullar ordered them to get their acts together, giving a deadline of 30 June 2013 for the forms to come in, failing which they would be prosecuted.

    With the proverbial Damoclean sword hanging over their heads, they have decided to fall in line.

    Says DEN Networks CEO S.N. Sharma: “We are all working together, to follow the directions given by TRAI. We are already in the process of collecting customer data and are positive that we will be able to meet the 30 June deadline.”

    According to sources, the four MSOs got together post the TRAI meeting and have agreed to act in coordination with each other. The idea is to switch off all the set top boxes for which the MSOs don‘t have the customer details. The switch-off will be done area wise and hopefully this will force local cable operators to share the forms with MSOs. The latter have also agreed to not allow cable TV operators to switch MSOs or play one MSO against the other.

    “Subscribers are bound to suffer during this exercise as they may have given the details to their operator but would have not been forwarded to the MSO. They should contact the MSOs directly to ensure that their details are registered or they can face a switch off,” emphasises InCablenet MD Ravi Mansukhani.

  • TRAI gets tough on MSOs on DAS customer forms

    TRAI gets tough on MSOs on DAS customer forms

    MUMBAI: That TRAI boss Rahul Khullar means business; that he does not mince any words; that he can make you squirm when he wants to is something all – who have been at the receiving end at one time or the other – know. But the heads of India‘s leading MSOs got another taste of that just yesterday, if sources are to be believed.

    Khullar had summoned the heads of Siti Cable, Incable, Hathway, DEN and Digicable to the TRAI headquarter in Delhi. Four of them landed up; Digicable‘s Jagjit Singh Kohli requested to be excused. Hathway‘s Jagdeesh Kumar; Incable‘s Ravi Mansukhani; Siticable‘s Wadhwa and Anil Malhotra, and DEN‘s SN Sharma Sameer and Manchanda landed up in his chamber. They had earlier been pulled up similarly in end-March and had been warned that strict action against them would be taken under the TRAI act.

    But this time it seemed as if Khullar had apparently reached the end of his patience. He did not let them get a word in – even edgewise.

    “I have only 10-15 minutes to talk to you,” he thundered. “Where is the cable TV customer data that I have been demanding from you? It‘s been months since I should have got it; your deadline has long past. Now let me make it very clear to you: I will prosecute each one of you if I don‘t get it.”

    Khullar went on to blast the MSOs further and set the deadline for collection of the DAS Phase I customer forms for Mumbai and Delhi. “You have till 30 June to submit those forms; failing which you can be sure you will be prosecuted under the required laws. DAS and SMS billing have to move ahead,” he urged.

    Khullar apparently has also permitted the MSOs to disconnect local cable TV operators and subscribers who are continuing to play truant in the submission of the KYC (know your customer) forms.

    The government mandated phase I of cable TV digitisation – with the switch-off of analogue TV signals and installation of set top boxes – which covered the cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata was to be completed by 31 October. As part of that process MSOs and cable TV operators were instructed to collect information from their customers and submit the forms to the authorities.

    However, sources indicate that MSOs have been rather tardy in the submission of these forms as local cable TV operators have not been complying with their continuous and repeated requests.

  • DC Entertainment unveils digital products

    DC Entertainment unveils digital products

    MUMBAI: Digital comic book publisher DC Entertainment which is a part of US media conglomerate Time Warner has unveiled two new digital innovations that will take its comics to the next level of interactivity. DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson and co-publisher Jim Lee unveiled DC2 and DC2 Multiverse at the opening of Time Warner‘s ‘The Future of Storytelling‘ exhibition at the Time Warner Medialab in New York.

    DC2 is a new initiative that layers dynamic artwork onto digital comic panels and the aim is to add a new level of dimension to digital storytelling. DC2 Multiverse technology allows readers to determine a specific story outcome by selecting individual characters, storylines and plot developments while reading the comic, meaning one chapter of a digital comic has dozens of possible story outcomes
     
    Nelson said, “Since we made the game changing decision to go Same-Day-Digital with the launch of DC Comics – The New 52, we very strategically built our digital business to have the broadest distribution and most extensive Digital-First content line-up, and now we‘re at the forefront of innovation.”

    “DC2 and DC2 Multiverse leverages technology to make iconic characters like Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Green Lantern even more relevant through highly interactive storytelling,” he added.

    DC2 will first appear in the new Digital-First title Batman ‘66, based on the 1960s television show, and the artwork features will bring the show‘s action and retro attitude to life for comic readers. Readers will experience an expanded storytelling canvas as each comic panel tells a multi-dimensional story through layered artwork and sequences.

    Digital-First title Batman: Arkham Origins, based on the upcoming video game from Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, will be the first to showcase DC2 Multiverse. DC2 Multiverse features dynamic artwork, along with action sounds and the ability to integrate a soundtrack – all while allowing readers to determine the fate of each storyline and character, including Super Heroes and Super Villains, with multiple options and end results available in each comic chapter. Only with DC Comics‘ rogues gallery will fans be just as excited to see what happens to Black Mask as they are to follow Batman‘s adventures.

    Lee said, “Digital comics have proven to be a driving force in attracting new readers; in fact, since the onset of Same-Day-Digital, our print and digital sales have both risen by double and triple digits, respectively. With Digital-First titles we‘ve created a successful formula of pairing comics with other media forms like TV shows and video games. Today‘s announcements demonstrate how we can tie innovations that organically fit and enhance comics – for example with Batman: Arkham Origins you can choose the destiny of your character by playing the game and reading the comic.

  • Bangladesh lifts ban on YouTube, imposed in wake of anti-Islamic video

    Bangladesh lifts ban on YouTube, imposed in wake of anti-Islamic video

    NEW DELHI: The video sharing site YouTube has been opened to public access in Bangladesh.

    The head of the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Authority (BTRA) said the ban had been lifted due to fact that a great number of people were facing problem who use the site for educational and research purposes.

    YouTube had been banned in Bangladesh following the trailer of an anti-Islamic movie, made in California with private funding, released on the site.

    The anti-Islamic video ‘Innocence of Muslims‘ had caused a great deal of unrest in not only Bangladesh but other Islamic countries as well.
     
    YouTube is also banned in Pakistan due to the very same reason.

  • Zynga to lay off 18 per cent of employees

    Zynga to lay off 18 per cent of employees

    MUMBAI: Video game company Zynga which became famous when it created Farmville in 2009 will lay off 520 employees, or 18 per cent of its workforce, as part of an effort to stabilise finances.

    The layoffs should save Zynga about $70 to $80 million a year. Zynga had managed revenue of $1.28 billion last year, which was an increase of 12 per cent. But a net income loss of $209 million was also recorded.

    These cuts mean that the company will have around 2,300 employees. The company has been battling a falling share price and has also been losing users.

    Its offices in Los Angeles, New York and Dallas will be closed. In his blog Zynga CEO Mark Pincus wrote,” Today is a hard day for Zynga and an emotional one for every employee of our company. We are saying painful goodbyes to about 18 per cent of our Zynga brothers and sisters. The impact of these layoffs will be felt across every group in the company.”

    “None of us ever expected to face a day like today, especially when so much of our culture has been about growth. But I think we all know this is necessary to move forward. The scale that served us so well in building and delivering the leading social gaming service on the Web is now making it hard to successfully lead across mobile and multiplatform, which is where social games are going to be played,” he added.

    “These moves, while hard to face today, represent a proactive commitment to our mission of connecting the world through games. Mobile and touch screens are revolutionising gaming. Our opportunity is to make mobile gaming truly social by offering people new, fun ways to meet, play and connect. By reducing our cost structure today we will offer our teams the runway they need to take risks and develop these breakthrough new social experiences,” Pincus said.
     
    “Because we‘re making these moves proactively and from a position of financial strength, we can take care of laid off employees. We‘re offering generous severance packages that reflect our appreciation for all of their work and we hope this will provide a foundation as they pursue their next professional steps,” he further wrote.

    “Our Farmville franchise teams continue to innovate and deliver ground breaking new social experiences like County Fair which, despite only being available on the web, is engaging 39 million monthly players. I want to thank every one of you for the spirit, creativity and energy that you‘ve invested in Zynga. You‘ve reintroduced a generation of people to gaming and through these games offered them new ways to connect with their families, make new friends and even sometimes find love,” Pincus concluded.

  • 1Q US Internet ad revenues set new high at $9.6 billion

    1Q US Internet ad revenues set new high at $9.6 billion

    MUMBAI: At $9.6 billion, the first quarter 2013 digital ad revenues in the US hit landmark numbers, according to a survey conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC US as part of the ongoing IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report. The figure is a 15.6 per cent increase over the $8.3 billion figure reported in the first quarter of last year.

    IAB president and CEO Randall Rothenberg said, “Consumers are turning to interactive media in droves to look for the latest information, to connect with their social networks, and simply to be entertained. This first quarter milestone clearly illustrates that marketers recognise that digital has become the go-to medium for all sorts of activities on all sorts of screens, at home, at the office and on-the-run.”
     
    IAB senior VP, research, analytics and measurement Sherrill Mane said, “Internet advertising revenue continues to exhibit double-digit growth, even as the business matures. This is an accomplishment that can be attributed to growing recognition by marketers that digital advertising is a critical part of all marketing in today‘s world.”
     
    PwC US partner David Silverman said, “These record-setting Q1 numbers are consistent with the continuing shift to digital and reflect the type of growth that the internet advertising arena has been seeing year-over-year”.

  • Indian pay TV operators making their mark globally: researcher SNL Kagan

    Indian pay TV operators making their mark globally: researcher SNL Kagan

    MUMBAI:India‘s pay TV operators are coming of age. And they are bursting on to the global pay TV scene, if one goes by data released by researcher SN L Kagan for 2012. Almost four of them feature in the top 10 list for Asia Pacific. Amongst these figure: Dish TV, DEN Networks, Siti Cable and Tata Sky.

    According to the SNL Kagan report, DishTV with 14.7 milllion subscribers is the largest pay TV operator (fourth placed in the Asia-Pac rankings), Den Networks wih 11.2 million subs, Siti Cable with 10.5 million subs and Tata Sky with 10.2 million subs are at the No 8, 9, and 10 positions. Chinese operator Jiangsu Broadcasting with 20.9 million subs leads the Asia Pac table, while China Telecom with 19.9 million subs is at No 2.

    The numbers can only go up for Indian pay TV ops, says an industry observer, as the government mandated digitisation spreads further into smaller and smaller towns forcing consolidation on the industry. Some MSOs are likely to expand even as DTH will attempt to garner new subscribers.

    The researcher says that Videocon d2H leads the Indian pay TV operator pecking order if one looks at net subscriber additions with its number of 2.3 million. Dish TV is also doing well with 2.2 million net new subscriber adds. While Tata Sky follows with 1.98 million new additions.

    India‘s BSNL with 9.9 million broadband subsribers and Bharati Airtel with 1.38 million are the only Indian firms featuring in the broadband table.

    On the whole, SNL Kagan has crowned US cable TV service provider Comcast, as the world‘s largest pay-TV provider last year with nearly 22 million subscribers. However the next two are not far behind. China‘s Jiangsu Broadcasting has 20.9 million and DirecTV has 20.1 million.

    China Telecom was the top fixed broadband provider, reaching 90.1 million high-speed Internet customers. India, China and the US accounted for 50 or nearly half of the 106 top pay-TV operators, with 27 companies based in China and 12 in India. The US is third with 11 operators, followed by France, Germany, South Korea, Brazil and Mexico, each with five.
     
    In Asia, of the top 10 platforms by subscriber number, six were in China and the rest are in India led by Dish TV.

    Comcast is still the number one broadband provider in the US, with about 19.4 million subscribers ahead of AT&T with 16.4 million and Time Warner Cable with 11.4 million subscribers.

    For a list of the Global Top Multichannel Operators by Year-End 2012 Video Subscribers. Click Here

    For a list of the Global Top Multichannel Operators by Year-End 2012 Video Net Adds. Click Here

    For a list of the Global Top Broadband providers by Year-End 2012 Subscribers. Click Here

    For a list of the Global Top Broadband providers by Year-End 2012 Net Adds. Click Here

    Also Read:

    SNL Kagan‘s global media & entertainment heavyweights

    US multi-channel video subscriber universe sees small growth in 2012: SNL Kagan

  • DataWind emerges as the number one tablet maker in India

    DataWind emerges as the number one tablet maker in India

    NEW DELHI: DataWind, which claims to be the cheapest tablet in the world, has a total market share of 15.3 per cent and it is the number one tablet maker in India.

    DataWind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli, who has so far been selling the tablets through certain universities and the Communications and Information Technology Ministry, now plans to go online to sell the tablet.

    At present, DataWind tablets are primarily currently sold through its call-centre. Its website UbiSlate.com and other ecommerce partners intend to start establishing a retail presence this summer.

    According to Cyber Media Research‘s India Quarterly Tablet Market report for Q1 2013, DataWind with a share of 15.3 percent in Indian tablet market is well ahead of Micromax (12.3 percent) and Apple (11.7 percent) in the first quarter of 2013.

    Interestingly, DataWind‘s supply of 100,000 Aakash2 devices to IIT-Bombay are not included in CMR‘s Tablet Market Report. CMR considers the volume of commercially sold product for the calculation.

    “The enormous demand for our products helps validate ourfocus on affordability and connectivity. Unlike many in this industry that are focused on providing media tablets to the elite, our focus is toenable Indians with their first computer at an affordable price,” said Tuli.

    The company‘s UbiSlate 7C+ is the lowest priced tablet in the world at Rs 4,999 inclusive of all duties and taxes in the Indian market.
     
    Exactly a year earlier, UbiSlate introduced multi-lingual tablet in English, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Punjabi and various other languages of India and the world.

    Datawind entered a strategic alliance with Reverie Language Technologies Pvt. Ltd. of Bangalore to ensure that the Ubislate series of tablets will offer an end user experience in all major local languages of India and the world.

    In April last year, Aakash One and Aakash Two tablets – technically named by its manufacturer DataWind as Ubislate 7+ and Ubislate 7C Models – were launched formally launched despite the controversy that surrounded the brand with Indian Institute of Technology – Rajasthan rejecting the models and the government shifting the work to IIT- Mumbai.

    The tablet provides smartphone communication, internet access, tablet computing and multimedia entertainment, the devices also pack a powerful combination of content and applications.

  • Amazon, Viacom announce multi-year video licensing agreement

    Amazon, Viacom announce multi-year video licensing agreement

    MUMBAI: Online retail major Amazon.com and US media conglomerate Viacom have announced an expanded multi-year, multi-national digital video licensing agreement to bring hundreds of TV shows and thousands of TV episodes from Viacom to Prime Instant Video.

    This deal includes a collection of TV shows that customers won‘t find on any other digital video subscription service. Prime members will now have unlimited instant streaming access to popular kids programming such as ‘Bubble Guppies‘, ‘The Backyardigans‘, ‘Team Umizoomi‘, ‘Blue‘s Clues‘ and ‘Victorious‘, along with shows from MTV and Comedy Central like ‘Awkward‘, ‘Tosh.0‘ and ‘Workaholics‘. Prime members will also have access to future episodes of ‘Dora the Explorer‘, ‘SpongeBob SquarePants‘, ‘Fairly Odd Parents‘ and ‘Fresh Beat Band‘. Lovefilm customers in the UK and Germany will get some of the same shows later this summer.

    Select shows from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. will be available in Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, a service built just for kids that gives them the freedom to explore books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows, while providing parents with the tools they need to manage their kids‘ screen time.

    Amazon VP of digital video and music Bill Carr said, “Kids‘ shows are one of the most watched TV genres on Prime Instant Video. And this expanded deal will now bring customers the largest subscription selection of Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. TV shows online, anywhere. With programs like ‘Dora the Explorer‘, ‘SpongeBob SquarePants‘, ‘Bubble Guppies‘ and ‘The Backyardigans‘ there are hundreds of great shows for kids and parents to choose from. In addition, we are bringing customers popular shows from MTV and Comedy Central like ‘Key and Peele‘, ‘Workaholics‘, ‘Awkward‘ and ‘Teen Mom 2‘, with the promise of more shows from these networks in the future.”

    Viacom president and CEO Philippe Dauman said, “We are thrilled to be extending and deepening our relationship with Amazon. This innovative agreement will provide Prime members with access to even more of our best programming from our major television brands, including many digital video subscription streaming exclusives. Amazon has created a unique, brand-friendly environment for streaming entertainment and consumer products and we are excited to work with Amazon to bring customers shows they love.”

    Prime Instant Video offers more than 41,000 movies and TV episodes for Prime members to stream on Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Roku, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and Wii U, among other connected TVs and devices-all at no additional cost. Also as previously announced, later this month Prime Instant Video will become the exclusive home to PBS series ‘Downton Abbey‘ as well as the CBS summer series ‘Under the Dome‘, with each episode of the latter added just four days after initial broadcast.