Each day we collect the five top stories from around the Web.
Hulu on the Block?: The Wall Street Journal has an intriguing, vague story that Hulu has a suitor wanting to buy the popular premium video hub. The Journal confirms this story with multiple sources, yet it doesn’t produce a name. That of course leads to a parlor game of guessing not just who would want to buy Hulu but who would possibly be acceptable to its media company owners. That would seem to rule out Google. Apple? It does have plenty of cash, although media companies are leery of it as a gatekeeper. Maybe Yahoo is making a stab at regaining its momentum? WSJ
Harsh Words for Digital: Despite what Inamoto writes, the days are long past when ad agency types turn their noses up at digital. Nowadays everyone is falling all over themselves to pay homage to the Web’s awesome powers. ClickZ’s Zach Rodgers notes an interesting counter movement at the Cannes ad festival — it’s calling itself a “creativity” festival now — to put digital in its place. Ali Ali, creative director at indie agency Elephant Cairo, thinks its time to move on from obsessing about social media and all things interactive. ClickZ
The End of Anonymity: The Web for a long time was defined by a New Yorker cartoon that showed a dog at a computer. “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog,” the caption read. Not so anymore. The NYT checks in with a story by Brian Stelter on how the Web nowadays means pretty much the end of anonymity, whether people want it or not. He cites the recent example of a young woman who berated a train conductor, only to have her cringe-worthy spiel — “Do you know how educated I am?” — posted online and her identity revealed. Overall, however, the end of Internet anonymity should lead to much more civility online. NYT
Turntable.fm Gains Fans: The latest “it” startup seems to be Turntable.fm, a spinout from the founders of Stickybits. The site lets people enter into listening rooms, where they compete to be DJs. There are also avatars and it’s not as weird and Second Life as it sounds. Peter Kafka at All Things D pronounces the service “awesome,” only to rain on the parade by wondering about its legality. But Kafka writes that while his instincts are to skip out on startup up hype, “this one feels pretty special.” All Things D
-
Member ExclusiveMedia Briefing: A timeline of media unions’ actions this quarter
Media unions are working to get contracts signed by the end of the year, and are using strikes, pickets and rallies to try and accomplish those goals.
-
BuzzFeed, Hearst, other publishers, replace lavish holiday parties with more subdued celebrations
BDG, BuzzFeed, Hearst and The Washington Post will host in-person holiday parties this year, though they will not be the stereotypical soirées.
-
Member ExclusiveMedia Buying Briefing: The latest media agency estimates for 2023 revenue are out and they remain, well, upbeat
Two holding company media agency analysts continue to hold a more positive, if slightly tempered outlook on 2023 given strong results for 2022.
-
SponsoredHow premium programmatic video is evolving
Leo O’Connor, senior vice president, advertising, Paramount Change in the advertising and media industry often feels slow and chaotic — but when viewed with perspective, change happens relatively fast and follows a logical path. This is certainly the case with programmatic advertising and the rise of streaming. Audiences want the freedom to watch content however […]
-
The case for and against publishers continuing holiday-specific commerce coverage post-Black Friday weekend
Black Friday is over but publishers are up in the air about whether or not to continue covering holiday sales in the lead up to the holidays.
-
Why PMG’s Nike win doesn’t seem all that unusual for the indie media agency
The Texas-based independent agency continues to grow its roster of clients after landing Nike's media AOR business for North America.
