Rising stars take on the megastars
Live entertainment has enjoyed many years of sustained revenue growth. But it has been the major acts, the biggest teams, and the blockbuster shows that appear to have enjoyed the bulk of the growth.
The public has lavished its attention and its spending on the biggest brands in live entertainment55. In the United States, the top 1 percent of artists' share of live revenues rose from 26 percent to 56 percent between 1982 and 200356.
Match-day revenues for the top 20 European soccer clubs were up to €51 per attendee in 2006/2007; average attendance was 74,000 for Borussia Dortmund, the best attended club in that season57. Overall revenues for the top 20 European soccer teams rose threefold between the 1996/1997 and 2006/2007 seasons58.
But the combination of falling real income, inflation, rising unemployment and falling consumer confidence may change this dynamic. The public is still likely to want live entertainment, but in many developed countries, may not be able to afford the prices paid in recent years59. As consumers focus on value, the 'premium' paid for the biggest stars, seen in the best locations, may well erode60.
Sponsorship revenues may also dip, with a resultant impact on live entertainment61. In sports, lower revenues for everything from naming rights at stadiums to logos on shirts, may slow the building of new, large venues, and the growth in match-day and commercial revenues.
Lower sponsorship revenue could also affect concerts. With less sponsorship around to bankroll major concert tours, there may be less appetite for larger, riskier, more extravagantly staged tours62.
Falling merchandising revenue may affect the ability of smaller venues to host major acts in 2009. Smaller arenas normally provide a large share of the box office to major artists and aim to make profit from merchandising sales. But if consumers become reluctant to purchase souvenirs as well as tickets, megastars may become less attractive to small venues63.
The best brands in the business may prefer to reduce capacity rather than cut prices64. Multiple dates at a stadium may be reduced to a single night, or else an arena might replace a stadium.
Those not able or willing to pay premium prices may divert their interest in lesser known talent, from theater currently on the fringes, to upcoming bands.
Bottom line
Managers of live stars should be ready to vary their offerings to meet changing demand. Megastars may have to play arenas, not stadiums, to retain their reputations as premium products. The highest paid stars may have to be part of a longer bill, playing longer sets, or offering additional acts, to provide better value for money.
Managers of the best talent should also be willing to try and defy expectations: good product, allied to strong marketing, could convince some consumers to drop everything else but premier live entertainment65.
Record companies should use this opportunity to familiarize audiences with scores of new acts. Labels have tended to focus on big stars in recent years, but in a downturn, creating a deep pool of indie bands may be the new road to riches. However, this strategy may require a different artists and repertoire (A&R) set of skills.
Consumers may now be more willing to attend relayed versions of concerts, transmitted to smaller, cheaper, local venues. The trend towards greater emphasis on 'armchair' sports fans may also continue. And they may also seek out other less expensive live entertainment experiences that provide the same 'bang for the buck'. Live theater, emerging bands and folk music festivals may all benefit.
"Good morning, good afternoon and good evening listeners": the dawn of WiFi radio
Analog radio makes a tough competitor. Most media is steadily going digital. But radio has remained resolutely analog.
There are 2.5 billion analog radio sets in circulation worldwide66. The majority of radios produced are still analog. The majority of the world's 44,000 radio stations broadcast predominantly in analog67. Most new cars built in 2009 are likely to incorporate analog radios.
Radio has tried going digital. Digital terrestrial and satellite radio services exist in various countries around the world, although they remain the poor relation to analog in terms of listeners68.
Radio has also gone digital online. Indeed, radio broadcasts have been available online since the early days of the Internet. Audio and the Web are a good fit, as audio requires little bandwidth. However, while there are more than 10,000 online radio stations69, demand is niche compared to traditional radio.
But in 2009, Internet radio, particularly in the form of WiFi-based, portable sets, could take off, in terms of audience and revenues.
Internet radio's addressable market could increase 20 percent in 2009, drawing from a base of almost 1.5 billion Internet users worldwide, of which twothirds have broadband access70 71. Furthermore, people listening at work represent a growing audience for Internet radio72.
The dedicated Internet radio set should also fall further in price, with portable WiFi radios already available for under $100 at year-end 200873. More significant could be the growing installed base of smart phones, equipped with WiFi, that are able to act as radio Internet radio sets74.
Retailers may push WiFi radios in 2009 as service is mostly subscription free, making it easier to sell than a device requiring a subscription75.
But the largest factor driving the adoption of Internet radio may be the integration of the three axes of audio offered by the format. It spans geographies, through enabling access to stations around the world; it spans time, by providing access to archived audio around the world; it affords continuity, through allowing listeners to remain tuned into local radio stations.
The biggest impetus for Internet radio in 2009 may be the combination of all three dimensions in a portable, easy-to-use unit that resembles a typical household radio set, but which offers far more choice.
In 2009, Internet radio may not just reinvigorate the medium of radio. It may reinvent it.
Bottom line
Broadcasters should determine whether Internet radio is a strategic imperative for them and if so, which content, schedules and functionality can exploit its power. A station's online version should not be a carbon copy of the existing channel.
Broadcasters should ensure that channels are widely available via aggregators, and are appropriately formatted for the various devices that may relay content, for example PCs, standalone Internet radio sets or even smart phones.
They may also want to consider offering spoken word content via Internet radio. Talk shows are already a popular Internet radio format76 and they do not expose broadcasters to possible variation in the royalty fee77.
The industry needs to make the growing volume of stations easy to search and select. A combination of an electronic program guide and a recommendation engine could be required to make sense of the vast choice of stations.
Internet radio manufacturers could consider how user information, in aggregate or individually, could be useful for advertisers. Internet radios have the potential to allow accurate monitoring of what, when and how often consumers listen to different forms of content. The listener's location, suggested by the IP address, would be required to serve local advertising.
Advertisers may benefit from monitoring the growth of Internet radio closely. Radio's advertising spend has fallen in recent years, but online spending has risen. As radio becomes a more established medium online, it could become a powerful platform78.
Mobile advertising finds its meaning
Mobile advertising has so far been a disappointment – to advertisers, advertising agencies, cellular carriers and especially industry pundits who have been touting it as 'the next big thing' for the last five years.
But in a global advertising environment characterized by double-digit decreases, mobile advertising may be one of the few growth areas in 2009. Its market share may more than double, albeit from a small base, and there are likely to be thousands of large advertising campaigns, costing over $2 billion79.
Its lack of impact, compared with traditional and online advertising, has been deeply frustrating for the industry, and with reason. The mobile phone is one of the most ubiquitous devices in the world. Only radio and television could claim to have equivalent reach.
But unlike radio or television, mobile phones boast several key attributes. They are personal devices. They offer two-way communications. The mobile network typically knows where its subscribers are.
Yet, despite its initial promise, at the end of 2008, the potential of mobile advertising remained unfulfilled, with global spending at only $1 billion80, or 0.4 percent of global advertising revenues81.
Mobile advertising campaigns so far have fallen mostly within the experimentation category. And unproven and possibly unprofitable 'experiments' seem unlikely to attract significant investment in 2009, in an advertising industry that is expecting to be hard hit by the downturn.
But in 2009, the need and therefore the potential for mobile as an advertising medium is likely to be stronger than ever, and some of the most powerful advertising campaigns are likely to be via mobile media. There may be only a few, but in the long term, they could have significant impact.
Several developments enable mobile advertising. First, the technology is now more able than ever before to carry advertising. Second, mobile phones are ubiquitous. And third, and most important, the understanding of what mobile can and cannot do to deliver advertising will be at its most mature.
The essence of advertising is to get a message across. The message can be rich, as with film and television, and as online aspires to be. But a message does not necessarily have to be based on HD video to be effective. A few words may have the required impact.
In 2009 a growing number of campaigns will use the minimalism of mobile – compared with other media – to powerful effect. These initiatives will take direction from the use of the text message82, mobile's simplest form of information, as a rudimentary but potentially highly effective tool in one of 2008's largest campaigns – the US Presidential Election83.
Minimalism is likely to be a prerequisite in mobile advertisements. But the smart phone's growing market share, as well as the improving specification of standard phones, and the rising ability of mobile browsers should allow advertisers to run mobile campaigns that boast better graphics, use of presence information and, for the smartest of the smart phones, video.
Bottom line
The mobile phone, given its status as the most ubiquitous two-way personal communications device, has tremendous potential. But its real capability has been compromised by a tendency to try to jam 'round peg' PC online campaigns into 'square hole' mobile phone screens, processors, operating systems and lower connection speeds.
The potential of mobile as an advertising medium can only be realized once the industry becomes aware of its strengths and accepts its limitations. Mobile advertising cannot succeed, for example, if it requires users to download large video files that may cost a couple of dollars in data usage charges. Nor can it work if there is little to offer the consumer, such as money off vouchers that require users to know how to switch on Bluetooth functionality.
Advertisers should work harder to create campaigns that are targeted for mobile and work within its limitations, typically as part of an integrated campaign that also uses broadcast and online.
Carriers should help out – successful advertisement campaigns will drive traffic, enhance the mobile experience and potentially even allow carriers to participate in revenue sharing. Carriers should be also aware of the need for standardized platforms and operating system support – one of the current barriers to rich mobile campaigns is the need to customize the content for each carrier.
And if carriers may need to help more, handset manufacturers need to double their efforts. The current profusion of screen resolutions, CPUs, operating systems, and so on requires advertisers to spend more time translating for the cellular 'tower of Babel' than they do in producing the advertisement in the first place. Mobile advertising will really take off when advertisements can be published to the entire mobile community with a single click.
But campaigns based on mobile's lowest common denominator, text messaging, can be highly effective even now. Campaigns do not require an implicit marketing message: the provision of timely information can be as effective an advertisement for a company as a good experience with a call center, or a memorable meal at a restaurant.
The markets get anti-social with social networks
Social networks have for several years been the toast of new media. Their principal strength has been an ability to gather tens of millions of unique users84. Their main shortcoming, however, has been the inability of several social networks to monetize their volumes of signed-up users.
Average revenue per user for some of the largest new media sites is measured in just cents per month, not dollars85. This compares with a typical average revenue per user of tens of dollars for a cable subscriber, a regular newspaper reader or a movie-goer. Social networks may need more than 100 users to generate the equivalent revenue of every traditional media customer.
Social networks have so far been afforded the benefit of the doubt, with monetization being regarded as a long-term objective86. The focus has very much been on growing the subscriber base, which is where investors perceive the value to be87.
This ethos has been accepted, even encouraged, through 2008. However, a fundamentally harsher financial outlook in 2009 and beyond, combined with an expected contraction in online advertising, is likely to make the managers of social networks and their investors pause for thought. The likely response is that social networks will focus more on monetizing their subscriber bases, than maximizing their size88.
Social networks are therefore likely to be under increased financial scrutiny in 2009, particularly for sites offering video hosting and streaming, which may require significant operational expenditure89.
Social networks whose future looks uncertain may suffer a debilitating outflow of senior management. The book value of some social networks may be written down. Some companies may fail altogether, if funding dries up.
The challenges of social networks may also be exacerbated by litigation. Owners of some of the content hosted by social networks may pursue payment for use of their material more rigorously as media creators look for additional sources of revenue90.
Some attempts at differentiation, for example by formerly consumer-oriented social networks seeking business customers, may prove to be too little, too late91.
Bottom line
Social networks need to consider how to transform themselves in 2009. They should articulate and deliver on a clear, credible route to revenues. Management at social networks must be able to demonstrate a desire and an ability to monetize subscribers. It should also effect a change of culture within the workforce so that it focuses on revenues, not just subscribers. Management should also be able to motivate staff in an environment in which workers are being laid off, perks cancelled, and where share options are heading underwater92.
Social networks that are profitable should ensure that they differentiate themselves from their less well-placed equivalents. As with the dot com bust earlier this decade, investors may swing from exuberance to pessimism within a few quarters93.
Investors should take a hard line, but be radical in their thinking on the monetization issue. Monetizing social interaction, particularly when it used to be free, is hard. But if members are hard to monetize, the focus may need to shift to generating revenues from the aggregated value of their actions and behavior94.
Further, social networks should consider how elements of their technology could be applied in an enterprise context95. Social networks have developed information-sharing functionality across PC and mobile platforms that could be deployed to help teams within companies work together better, or encourage knowledge management. Social networks should hire individuals with strong experience of the business sector, who could identify which functionality would assist in each core business process.
Social networks should move carefully. Those currently reliant solely on advertising for funding may find that advertisers sharply reduce the amount they spend with them in 200996 97. Some advertising may have been boosted by guaranteed deals and experimentation by advertisers98. Usage and users may also fall as the economic outlook encourages workers to reduce time spent – and often time tracked – on social network sites99.
Reinventing mobile television
Mobile television seems to have been perennially 'about to take off'. For several years, analysts and commentators have forecast huge imminent growth. So far, their projections have proved to be overly optimistic. Consumers have failed to tune in, but the medium has been given the benefit of the doubt.
However the economic outlook for 2009 may require media companies to take a firm decision on mobile television. Many mobile television initiatives may therefore be shelved.
Mobile television's momentum in 2009 is likely to be dragged down by disappointing performance in 2008. Major sporting events, which can be a catalyst for adoption of new media formats, largely failed to affect mobile television. While two-thirds of the world's population watched the Beijing Olympics on television100, there was scant demand for the event via mobile television101 102.
The creation of mobile-specific content also failed to make an impression, aside from a hit to the bottom line103. Customized content in some cases attracted audiences measured in their hundreds104 in markets where conventional television attracts millions.
Even services in Asia Pacific, which are often cited as mobile television success stories, struggled. In Japan, a mobile television service provider closed down after attracting only 100,000 subscribers since its launch in 2004105; in neighboring South Korea mobile television services suffered mounting losses106, and in Germany, a new mobile television broadcaster closed down before service was initiated107.
During 2009, lower liquidity and a focus on cash generation may make investment in broadcast systems such as DVB-H, and even systems based on existing 3G intrastructure, less likely108. The desire – or in some cases need – of operators to lower handset subsidies may mean a slowdown in adoption of high-end phones capable of supporting mobile television109. Depressed consumer confidence is likely to make the public less likely to buy add-on services to their mobile subscriptions110.
Media companies may want to focus on traditional platforms that offer known returns. Advertisers, who have tended to regard mobile largely as an experimental format, may also rein in advertising for non-core formats111.
In 2009, it is five times more likely that mobile television services will be closed than launched112. Subscriber numbers may fail to reach even the bottom range of analysts' forecasts: mobile television's total global audience may fall short of 30 million113.
Bottom line
Content companies should adopt a wider view of the mobile phone.
While television pictures may one day become ubiquitous on phones, it is unlikely to occur in 2009 or 2010.
In the nearer term however, there are many valuable roles that mobile devices and services could play in the wider television market. Mobile telephony can be used to help consumers control television, as well as enhancing their loyalty to and enjoyment of the medium.
The mobile phone could be used more extensively to enable consumers to program DVRs remotely114. Suggested programs could be sent in the form of messages to phones – and then a single click could be used to record the program.
The mobile phone could also be used as a back channel. It could be used to order and pay for on-demand programming. The phone could also be used to provide customer relationship management (CRM). Broadcasters and content providers could use basic text messaging – available to most people with a mobile phone – to distribute reminders and trailers for upcoming programs, or to alert customers to the imminent arrival of a new series of a favorite show. Mini-trailers could be sent to owners of smart phones.
Mobile could also enable a new approach to the measurement of television viewing. Integrating or adding mobile capability into set-top boxes and televisions would allow information on television viewing to be relayed automatically to measurement bureaus.
The mobile phone may yet still end up as the broadcasters' best friend.
The rise of malvertising and its threat to brands
Most Internet users now know better than to open emails from unknown senders or to download software from untrusted sites. Many count on software filters to catch the really harmful stuff, whether email or browser borne.
But a new breed of carrier for malicious software dubbed 'malvertising' is spreading. Malvertising uses online advertisements, typically placed in reputable online publications, to distribute malicious software. In 2008 one piece of malvertising reached 2 percent of all US Internet users115.
During 2009, malvertising may infect hundreds of reputable sites and be seen by millions of users, many of whose computers are likely to end up infected. Users who have suffered damage from malicious advertisements may even sue the owners of websites where the malware appeared.
These false advertisements are typically placed on trusted, reputable, well-trafficked sites. When clicked on, they immediately take the user to a harmful site. In some cases, without any further action, users' data can be stolen from their clipboards or browsers116.
Other examples falsely inform users that they have a malware infection to encourage them to install fraudulent software117. Others use flash software to infect the PC with spyware or viruses.
Malvertisements are likely to be found not just in the bad neighborhoods of the Internet, but also among prime Web real-estate. In 2008 some of the Web's most popular sites were inadvertently bearers of malvertising118. It has usually been discovered quickly and removed, but can be a significant risk to companies, whose brands may be compromised through unwittingly serving untrustworthy or dangerous advertisements.
Advertising is integral to the Internet. Automation helps keeps costs low. And advertising networks are a growing part of that system. For well-organized, well-funded criminals, this process has become an easy target.
By taking advantage of poor quality control mechanisms for some advertising networks and placing advertisements on trusted sites, the incidence of malvertising is likely to increase in 2009.
Bottom line
Anything that makes large numbers of Internet users decide that clicking on online advertisements could be a bad or dangerous thing threatens the current business model of almost every company that does business online.
Website publishers should ensure that all relevant employees are aware of the malvertising threat. Better detection and remedies are imperative. Otherwise publishers may not know about the malign nature of advertisements until the first complaints come in, by which time their reputations may already have been damaged.
Website administrators should have better control of their third-party suppliers – especially those who supply advertising inventory. They should have legal agreements with their advertising networks that cover and prohibit malvertising, and define appropriate coding practices and disclosure of destinations for click-through advertisements. It may even become necessary to have a full code review of all advertisements, especially as malvertising becomes more common and more dangerous.
Another possible solution may be to stop using some advertising networks entirely, as certain large websites have already done119.
Software suppliers should develop tools to automate the process of screening third-party advertisements so that trusted sites do not need to do it manually120. Software that rapidly identifies malvertising when it does make it onto the Web should also be developed.
The Internet advertising community should work together and create a system or a standard that would prevent malvertising – it is in their interests to keep the current advertising-funded Internet model viable121.
Footnotes cont/..
55 A minority of acts have been able to generate tens, and in some cases, hundreds of millions of dollars on tours. For example, the Van Halen tour which concluded in 2008 generated $112 million and reached one million fans. Source: AEG Live tops music industry trade publications midyear touring charts, AEG, 30 July 2008. The Spice Girls' 2008 tour grossed $71 million. Source: AEG Live tops music industry trade publications midyear touring charts, AEG, 30 July 2008.
56 Rockonomics, the economics of popular music, Alan Krueger, Princeton University and NBER, March 2005. See: http://www.irs.princeton.edu/pubs/pdfs/499.pdf ; StubHub's annual report on the concert economy, CNBC, 12 December 2008.
57 Football money league: Gate receipts, Deloitte, February 2008: http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/UK_SBG_FML08.pdf
58 Ibid.
59 Several analysts have downgraded stocks focused on live entertainment in light of the impact of low consumer confidence on entertainment: Ticket industry stock prices continue to decline as recession fears grip Wall St., Ticket News, 13 November 2008.
60 At the end of 2008, several Broadway shows (Spamalot, Spring Awakening, Hairspray) announced they would close in January 2009, due to softer demand. See: Recession to finally kill Broadway theater, Business Week, 24 October 2008.
61 As the economy worsens, is there money for play? The New York Times, 15 November 2008. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/sports/16sponsor.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin
62 Madonna's "Sticky and Sweet" tour required 27 tractor trailers to carry equipment, when visiting Michigan. Welcome home Madge, what took you so long?, Detroit Free Press, 16 November 2008.
63 Concert souvenir sales vulnerable in recession, Reuters, 11 November 2008.
64 For example see: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aSxWDHy0B5h0&refer=us
65 At year-end 2008, some shows in London's West End were enjoying better box office revenues than in 2007. See: Crisis? What crisis?' ask defiant West End theatre producers, The Stage, 30 October 2008.
66 Radio is going digital, MSNBC, 12 March 2008.
67 Number of radio stations available from CIA Factbook, 20 November 2008: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2013.html
68 For more background on adoption of digital audio broadcasting services in the United Kingdom, see: Communications Market Report, Ofcom, 14 August 2008.
69 10,000 stations at your fingertips, Kold, 28 October 2008.
70 See: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
71 Strategy Analytics: worldwide broadband subscriptions top 400 million, Lightwave, 29 May 2008.
72 A desirable audience, Targetspot, 23 July 2008.
73 Based on data from Amazon.com, 17 November 2008.
74 iRadio makes Internet radio possible on the iPhone, WiFi radio review, 27 November 2007; Music royalty fees like static for Internet radio, The Florida Times Union, 15 November 2008.
75 Sanyo launches subscription free Internet radio, Sync, 17 November 2008.
76 Arbitron's October PPM Survey Offers Insight on Internet Radio Audience, Targetspot, 12 November 2008.
77 The Internet radio death watch, PC Magazine, 21 August 2008.
78 For example, see: Deal creates largest ad network for Internet radio, The New York Times, 15 October 2008.
79 Is your brand ready for mobile advertising? Corporate Eye, 1 September 2008.
80 Ibid.
81 Total global advertising expenditure during 2008 is estimated at $462 billion dollars. See: 2008 magazine ad spending growth forecast, Magazine Publishers of Australia, 17 January 2008.
82 Is your brand ready for mobile advertising? Corporate Eye, 1 September 2008.
83 Obama chooses Biden as running mate, The New York Times, 24 August 2008; Barack Obama to text supporters on choice of running mate, The Guardian, 12 August 2008.
84 One of every 50 people on earth now belong to Facebook, Dallas News, 3 November 2008. See: http://techblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/11/1-of-every-50-people-on-earth.html
85 Revenues for some of the largest social networks are available at: Facebook now worth about $4 billion, revenue light, Silicon Alley Insider, 11 November 2008; Facebook tries to woo marketers, Wall Street Journal, 10 November 2008; A coming of age for YouTube, CNET news, 17 November 2008;
Murdoch's Internet wing to miss ambitious revenue goal, CNET News, 7 May 2008.
86 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg: Our focus is growth, not revenue, Frankfurter Allgemeine, 8 October 2008. See: http://faz-community.faz.net/blogs/netzkonom/archive/2008/10/08/mark-zuckerberg.aspx
87 For example see: The Battle for Facebook, The Independent, 26 September 2007; MySpace Joins Google alliance to counter Facebook, The New York Times, 2 November 2007; Social networking's gold rush, Business Week, 19 April 2006; Finding profit in social networking websites, International Herald Tribune, 13 May 2005.
88 Facebook's roar becomes a meow, Newsweek, 10 October 2008.
89 YouTube looks for the money clip, Fortune, 25 March 2008. See: http://techland.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/03/25/youtube-looks-for-the-money-clip /; Yahoo
kills live streaming service, Silicon Alley Insider, 3 November 2008. See: http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/11/yahoo-kills-live-streaming-service-yhoo ; http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/31/facebooks-growing-problem /.
90 Is MySpace Music an antitrust lawsuit waiting to happen? Tech Crunch, 20 September 2008; Mediaset sues Google, YouTube: seeks $780 million, Reuters, 30 July 2008.
91 Second life needs a bailout, Tech Central, The Times, 31 October 2008.
92 Everybody's underwater in Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley Insider, 10 November 2008.
93 Pessimism from Venture Capitalists, The New York Times, 24 July 2008.
94 Here's a billion dollar business for Facebook, Silicon Valley Insider, 13 November 2008.
95 Also see: Social networks in the enterprise, Technology Predictions – Trends 2009, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, 2009.
96 Advertisers' preferred social media spend: none, Silicon Alley Insider, 10 November 2008.
97 For background on the outlook for advertising, see: More bad news in advertising outlook, Reuters, 28 October 2008.
98 For example, Google and Microsoft promised a number of social networking sites a guaranteed minimum amount of advertising revenue in exchange for the exclusive right to place ads. For further information, see: Generation MySpace is getting fed up, Business Week, 7 February 2008.
99 Ibid.
100 Beijing Olympics draws 4.7 billion television viewers, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 5 September 2008.
101 In the United States, NBC's coverage of the Olympics peaked at 113 million viewers per day in the period 8–14 August 2008. Mobile coverage peaked at 507,000, or less than 1 percent of the total audience: Measuring total exposure to Olympics experience, http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/08/15/nbc-tamibeijing-olympics-numbers-through-august-14-2008/4698
102 The great white hope of mobile TV, Schwartz Communications, 23 September 2008.
103 Mobile TV still one to watch, Telecom.com, 25 November 2008.
104 BBC's mobile TV trial peaks at 580 viewers a day, New Media Age, 28 July 2008.
105 Toshiba to shut down mobile broadcast TV service, BetaNews, 30 July 2008.
106 The great white hope of mobile TV, Schwartz Communications, 23 September 2008.
107 German Mobile 3.0 service to close down, Broadband TV News, 31 July 2008.
108 Mobile TV is not easy, EE Times India, 11 September 2008.
109 Orange keen to follow O2's subsidy cuts, Mobile Today, 7 August 2008.
110 Recession threatens to stall mobile TV, Broadcasting Cable, 17 November 2008.
111 Pre-roll solutions, New Media Age, 23 October 2008.
112 Also see: Ongoing fall in viewer retention overshadows 36% mobile TV growth, Tellabs, 12 February 2008.
113 Based on: An EU Strategy for Mobile TV, Europa, 18 July 2008.
114 For example, see: http://anytime.sky.com7mobile.aspx
115 See: http://www.quantcast.com/xponlinescanner.com
116 Online advertising's dirty secret: Malvertising, Lies, Damned Lies..., 6 July 2008.
117 Ibid.
118 In 2008, Foxnews.com, newsweek.com, washingtonpost.com, facebook.com, digg.com and MSNBC.com have all been afflicted by some form of malicious advertising. See: http://timhowgego.com/infecting-the-ad-pool.html; http://msmvps.com/blogs/spywaresucks /; http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/2008/07/onlineadvertshtml
119 ESPN turns off ad nets, Media Week, 24 March 2008.
120 For example, see: http://www.adopstools.com/index.asp?page=richmedia§ion=clickchecker
121 Online advertising's dirty secret: Malvertising, Lies, Damned Lies..., 6 July 2008.
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