Skype Video Chat Coming To TV Sets Via Comcast

According to a recently published Neilsen report, global advertising spending among traditional media rose 8.8% over the year in the first quarter of this year to $118 billion. Growth was driven by TV ad spending and emerging markets. During the first quarter, TV ad spending increased 12% over the year and now contributes a 65.3% market share in both developed and many emerging economies among traditional advertising media. Rising ad spending has helped pushed up the revenue of major cable and television service provides within the U.S.

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SecondMarket’s Rapid Growth Sign Of Greater Interest In Alternative Investments

The market is eagerly awaiting big names in the Internet world, such as Facebook and Zynga, to name two, to make their appearance on the stock market. While it waits, “accredited” investors can trade in certain assets related to such companies under Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations. The SEC defines accredited individuals as those who have a net worth of at least $1 million or $200,000 in annual income and have access to market information. Alternative trading brokers offer a marketplace for these individuals as well as corporations to trade in otherwise illiquid securities. In 2010, private-share transactions were estimated to have grown from $2.4 billion in 2009 to $4.6 billion. Researchers estimate that number to rise to $7 billion this year, and most of it is expected to be headed SecondMarket’s way.

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Google Continues To Move Aggressively Into Social Media

Google’s new management seems to be delivering on its promises. The recently reported quarter saw revenue grow fastest since Q2 of 2008. The company maintained its lead in online search with a 65.5% of U.S. queries in June. Yahoo was a distant second with a 15.9% share. Apart from the U.S., Google’s reach in Europe is also growing. Google now controls 92% of the search engine market in the United Kingdom, reporting 1.5% growth over the last month. Yahoo commanded a mere 2.98% market share in the region. On the Continent, Google consistently reported over 90% market share. In France, they reported a 91% share, in Spain and Germany 93%, in Switzerland 94%, in Portugal 95%, and in the Netherlands, Poland, and Romania 96%. It is only in Russia and the Czech Republic where Google owns less than half of the search market. And it is not just the online search market: Google is performing strongly across all its initiatives. >>>

Akamai Expanding In Central Europe

Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM), the content delivery network (CDN) market leader with annual revenue of $1.02 billion, recently announced its plans to expand in Central and Easter Europe (CEE). Akamai is also reported to be looking at licensing its CDN technology. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

LeapFrog Should Consider Expansion Into Asia

The recent report by NPD Group, Global Toy Market Estimates: 2011 Edition, reported that 2010 global toy sales grew 5% over the year to $83.3 billion. The big growth in the toy industry was driven by the Asian market, which grew 9.2% over the year. The toy industry market is growing strong in the emerging BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) markets where sales grew 13% over the year. The U.S. remained the leading toy consumer with sales of $22 billion. Japan was the second largest consumer, followed by China, which accounted for sales of $4.9 billion.

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Electronic Arts Strengthens Commitment To Mobile With New Acquisitions

According to research by NPD Group, U.S. retail video game sales fell 14% over the year in May 2011 to $743.1 million. Console game sales fell 19%, accessory sales fell 6%, and hardware sales were down 5% over the year. In the recently held Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), gaming industry players formally recognized the importance of the trend of digital and social gaming formats. During the recent quarter, leading game publisher, Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) also made several acquisitions to strengthen their digital and mobile presence.

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Hulu Charging Ahead

According to IMS Research, the over-the-top video market, which includes TV and video services over the Internet, is projected to grow at 32% annually to reach $16.4 billion by the year 2016. The researcher expects not only digital companies such as Google and Yahoo! to become more active in the digital rental and purchase of media content, but also retailers to enter the market. The acquisition of U.K.-based LOVEFiLM by Amazon, and, more recently, Tesco’s purchase of an 80% stake in video-on-demand company, Blinkbox reflects that trend. Clearly, the market is heating up. >>>

WebMD And Epocrates Lead The Way In Mobile Health Apps

Manhattan Research estimates that 72% of doctors in the country currently own smartphones. This number is projected to rise to 80% by 2012. The research also estimates that among physicians, the smartphone is primarily used to look up prescription drug information at the point of patient care. The growing demand of mobile-based services is driving mobile initiatives of medical information providing companies.

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An IPO For Glam Media?

A few years ago, I covered the women-focused distributed media network, Glam Media, and asked if Glam could do more than just create a seat for itself at the fashion table. Recently, the company has been rumored to be readying their IPO plans, suggesting that they are truly “A Vertical Ad Network Powerhouse.”

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The Sky’s The Limit For Shutterfly

The U.S. printed greeting card market is expected to be worth $12 billion, of which a mere 5% is estimated to be transacted via the Web. The country’s stationery market is estimated to be worth $7 billion to $7.5 billion with 2% of the market’s transactions being conducted over the Web. These low Internet penetration rates are big opportunities for online photo sharing and printing site, Shutterfly.

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