Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: Mark Hyland, VP of Sales and Marketing, QuickPlay Media (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Where did you go first when you were trying to penetrate the market? Mark Hyland: It was the carriers first. That was partly because of the DNA of our CEO. He had worked in the carrier space, in the billing space. He had this idea that the wireless carriers would need with help

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Outsourcing: LN Balaji, President of ITC Infotech (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: Because of the analytics talent? LN Balaji: Yes, it’s a little bit high end. You don’t have to be high end all the time. When it was developed, we did it that way, and we did it out of Calcutta. This is maybe a five- or seven-year-old engagement. We still maintain it out

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Can Social Gaming Save The Media Industry?

Media companies are in for an expected bad run. Advertising spending is down as much as 11% in the US alone, and is not expected to recover to pre-recession levels when the economy improves. Additionally, the market for content services and DVDs continues to be depressed, with consumer spending falling 4% during the quarter. I

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Future of Old Media Conglomerates

Lately, we’ve been having this conversation often: Have you noticed how CNN sticks in an ad every 3 minutes? Boy, television is getting unwatchable, but for a reason: old media is imploding at a fantastic pace right now. The cost of producing quality content is still high, especially the kind of content that CNN and

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Deal radar 2008: Veoh

San Diego-based Veoh is an internet television service where users can find and watch major studio content, independent productions and other user generated videos. Founded in 2003 by Dmitry Shapiro, who is also the company’s Chief Innovation officer, Veoh began its full beta service in early 2006.

Deal Radar 2008: Joost

Joost is a peer-to-peer internet TV client software, launched by the Skype and Kazaa founders, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom. The company?operated from Netherlands, UK and North America? was featured in Mitch Berman’s post on IPTV.

Deal Radar 2008: PlayFirst Plays Casual Games Well

PlayFirst is a leading publisher of casual computer games. Based out of San Francisco, it is focused on creating shared casual game experiences around “lasting original brands” with emphasis on “rich story and character”. Few of the more popular PlayFirst titles include the Diner Dash series, Wedding Dash, Chocolatier and Dream Chronicles. My interview with

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Deal Radar 2008: Tagged In Exit Freeze Danger Zone?

Tagged, launched in 2004, is a rapidly growing social network for teens aged 13 – 19. It is quickly becoming the number one teen site. The site’s early innovations include the use of slides and YouTube as a part of its graphical interface. In February 2006, Tagged raised $7 million in its first venture capital

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