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John was funny, but the ratings sucked

Despite some very good films, the end of the writers strike, an 80th anniversary, and a host bent on telling good political jokes in the middle of an election year, the ratings for the Academy Awards saw a 30 year low.
Citing Nielsen's "fast national" figures, which are preliminary, ABC said the Oscars broadcast trumped other recent awards ceremonies, including the Emmys, the Golden Globes and the Grammy Awards. Even so, the viewership figure fell far short of the 40.2 million viewers who tuned in last year to see Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" win for Best Picture. And the total viewer turnout for the glitzy event was the lowest since 1974.

The program was being watched as a potential barometer of the health of broadcast TV, as it was the first big event to air on a traditional broadcast network since the resolution of the months-long writers strike.
A barometer, eh? I'd say the forecast looks pretty bad.

More here from AdAge:
Oscars Viewership Lowest in 30 Years



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Tuesday, February 26, 2008   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




Links for 2008-02-25 [del.icio.us]

Tuesday, February 26, 2008   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




Links for 2008-02-15 [del.icio.us]

Saturday, February 16, 2008   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




XPERIA from Sony Ericsson



The launch and importance of Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA range of phones should not be underestimated. Some of you Engadget readers out there may have heard rumours of this, but the news was made public at the Mobile World Conference yesterday in Barcelona.

It is a potential game-changer for SE both in terms of form and function. The X1 (first in the range) is as impressive technically as it is visually. Notably, it is the first phone from SE built on the Windows Mobile 6 OS, and signals a radical change in their technology strategy. It is an elegant slider with a 9-panel configurable touchscreen and has every imaginable bell and whistle out there at the moment.

“XPERIA™ X1, a stand-out, arc slider phone from Sony Ericsson designed to address the growing need for a premium, converged mobile experience.”

The commentary has been incredibly positive out there in the blogosphere, and I encourage all of you to check out the links below and familiarize yourselves with what has been a highly anticipated launch.

XPERIA product site


XPERIA: product mini-site (don’t miss the ATL set to a Beatles cover)

SE press release

Microsoft press release

Engadget: Recap and review. Tons of positive comments.

Crunchgear has a full recap/live blogging of the entire SE announcement in Barcelona.

Sony Ericsson is an iris partner, by the way.

And yes, I want one very badly.


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Monday, February 11, 2008   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     1  comments




The Matter Box



I got my first Matter Box last week. It is the first piece of DM I have truly enjoyed receiving in years.

It really deserves a proper post, but I just don't have time to blog about it at the moment. Be sure to check it out, and in the meantime, here's what a few other people had to say ...

What’s the Matter? is Roo Reynolds post about the Matterbox. Here's another Matter Box post from the Notcot blog. There are several photos in this Flickr photo pool as well as this fine Matter Box Flickr photoset.


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Sunday, February 10, 2008   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     1  comments




What I'm reading

It was a very busy January, and February looks just as 1) interesting, 2) manic, 3) insane, 4) challenging, 5) all of the above. Regardless, I still feel the need to really keep up on what's going on. Here's some of what I've been reading lately ...

Sunday, February 10, 2008   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




My money is on the lemur

You might think I'm crazy, but for all the cash and hype, I think this lemur is inherently more interesting and appealing than the vast majority of the ads done in this year's Super Bowl.


It even made me think of a brand: George Lucas' THX.

Bragging about getting 2 million hits to their site for their ad called "Exposure", Go Daddy's crude "smash hit" stars IndyCar driver Danica Patrick and is based on looking up women's skirts, hence their play on the word "beaver."

Go Daddy spent $3 million to run this 30 second teaser spot along with the production costs and all the costs to create the "real" ad.

So far, the lemur has racked up over 1 million views without spending a cent.

My money is on the lemur.

The one spot I really like is Audi's "Godfather" done for the R8. They really do make an offer you can't refuse:


Overall, however, the spots fail to impress. AdAge's Bob Garfield seems to agree with me. See: Madison Avenue Blows Big Game. He details (and reviews) most of the spots from this year's big game. Full AdAge coverage of Super Bowl 2008 is here. A bit more on what's still buzzing is here.

Here's TiVo's list of top-rated/TiVo'd ads:

1. E-Trade: "Baby" (spitting up)
2. Pepsi: "Justin Timberlake"
3. Doritos: "Mouse Trap" (user-generated)
4. Coca-Cola: "James Carville and Bill Frist"
5. Ice Breakers: "Carmen Electra"
6. Bridgestone: "Headlights"
7. Bud Light: "Cavemen"
8. Vitaminwater: "Horse Race"
9. Cars.com: "Plan B: Witch Doctor"
10. Life Water: "Thriller"

Here are Spike's editors picks.

It is also worth mentioning that all the sites designed to let people watch the ads are shit. For all the millions of people who go online to watch these ads every year, you would think someone would have thought to make it more entertaining. The MySpace Super Bowl page (which was heavily promoted) is complicated and is poorly designed. No surprise there. AdAge is no better. Even YouTube couldn't come up with a fun way to watch the spots.

From the archive:
2007: A good year for the ads
2006: Not so super
2005: A pretty dull bunch


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Recent reading, part deux

Here's the second set:

Wednesday, February 06, 2008   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




Microsoft offers $44.6B for Yahoo

Breaking news: Transaction valued at approximately $44.6 billion in cash and stock; provides 62 percent premium to current trading price for Yahoo! shareholders; combined entity to create a more competitive company, providing superior value to shareholders …

Yahoo's response is here: Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today said that it has received an unsolicited proposal from Microsoft to acquire the Company. The Company said that its Board of Directors will evaluate this proposal carefully and promptly in the context of Yahoo!'s strategic plans and pursue the best course of action to maximize long-term value for shareholders.

Fred echoes the sentiments of many: We all knew this was coming. Yahoo! was cheap. Too cheap. And a mess. Rats were leaving the sinking ship en masse. It was not sustainable. Something had to happen.

Call now has happened, rough live blog notes from Search Engine Land are here.

Official release from Microsoft
Duncan Riley: Techcrunch
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land
Fred / A VC
Tons more links/stories are here.

A 62 percent premium, eh? What do they know that we don't?

Yahoo's stock is trading up close to 50% at the moment.

In case you're wondering, I'm kicking myself for missing this.


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Friday, February 01, 2008   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




Recent reading, Part I

I've been accumulating my del.icio.us links and have not been blogging them. Shame on me. Here are a few days worth. More to come.

Friday, February 01, 2008   permalink to archived copy   del.icio.us   DiggIt     0  comments




 
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