China's top movie-industry regulator, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, has put a lid on the notion of a film classification system. A spokesman said that the government believes such a system is "inappropriate."
At present, censorship is the pathe used to decide about the release of films. "[F]lmmakers in China believe that if the censor's scissors were replaced with a reliable ratings system, helmers and producers could take more risks with content and story. The censorship process also takes a long time, meaning there can often be a hiatus between a pic's international bow and its Chinese preem, giving pirates ample time to flood the market with good DVD copies of the movie for impatient filmgoers."
From Clifford Coonan, "China Says No to Film Ratings," Variety, August 23, 2010.
Showing posts with label international. Show all posts
Showing posts with label international. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Internet vs Mobile Device in Emerging Countries
Interesting Nielsen report on the relative use and growth of the internet and cell phone.
One of the key points: “Instead of a $20,000 threshold [GDP which is the 50% threshold for internet connectivity], in many countries mobile phone penetration exceeds 50% with a per capita GDP as low as $5,000. In middle income countries such as Russia and Saudi Arabia, mobile phone penetration rates are even higher than those of more advanced economies such as the U.S. and Canada because mobile is an affordable, accessible alternative to the Internet. Altogether, the analysis on every dimension suggests that mobile communication is a truly disruptive phenomenon, acting on a global scale.”
From Venkatsh Bala, "Going Global Means Going Mobile in Emerging Markets," NielsenWire, April 17, 2010
One of the key points: “Instead of a $20,000 threshold [GDP which is the 50% threshold for internet connectivity], in many countries mobile phone penetration exceeds 50% with a per capita GDP as low as $5,000. In middle income countries such as Russia and Saudi Arabia, mobile phone penetration rates are even higher than those of more advanced economies such as the U.S. and Canada because mobile is an affordable, accessible alternative to the Internet. Altogether, the analysis on every dimension suggests that mobile communication is a truly disruptive phenomenon, acting on a global scale.”
From Venkatsh Bala, "Going Global Means Going Mobile in Emerging Markets," NielsenWire, April 17, 2010
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Ad Spending on Internet Tops TV in UK
This is the first major market where online has overtaken television to become the biggest single medium.
- Guy Phillipson, head of the British the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB)
In Kate Holden, "UK Internet ad spend overtakes TV for first time," Reuters, September 30, 2009
The recession in the UK has caused a general advertising slump, and that has affected the growth of internet advertising there. Nevertheless, advertisers have continued to built their presence on the internet at a faster pace than in other media. "Spending on Internet advertising in Britain grew 4.6 percent in the first half of 2009, outperforming the wider ad sector, which slumped 17 percent, and making it the country's biggest ad medium ahead of TV." One consequence is that the internet has pulled ahead of television as the medium drawing the most advertising pounds.
According to the report from the UK's IAB, "ad spending on the Internet grew to 1.75 billion pounds, with the medium accounting for 23.5 percent of all spend, ahead of television for the first time." One commentator suggested that the shift to online reflects a belief that search advertising and other "clickable" ads show better than with traditional media how successful the ad spending has been. It will be important to see whether this trend continues when the recession ends.
- Guy Phillipson, head of the British the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB)
In Kate Holden, "UK Internet ad spend overtakes TV for first time," Reuters, September 30, 2009
The recession in the UK has caused a general advertising slump, and that has affected the growth of internet advertising there. Nevertheless, advertisers have continued to built their presence on the internet at a faster pace than in other media. "Spending on Internet advertising in Britain grew 4.6 percent in the first half of 2009, outperforming the wider ad sector, which slumped 17 percent, and making it the country's biggest ad medium ahead of TV." One consequence is that the internet has pulled ahead of television as the medium drawing the most advertising pounds.
According to the report from the UK's IAB, "ad spending on the Internet grew to 1.75 billion pounds, with the medium accounting for 23.5 percent of all spend, ahead of television for the first time." One commentator suggested that the shift to online reflects a belief that search advertising and other "clickable" ads show better than with traditional media how successful the ad spending has been. It will be important to see whether this trend continues when the recession ends.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Sony Buys All of Sony BMG
It’s a less risky business. The advent of the cellphone as a conveyor of music globally takes away a lot of the risk.
-Howard Stringer, chairman of Sony Corporation
In Mark Landler, "Sony and BMG End Their Partnership in Music," New York Times, August 6, 2008
Sony and Bertelsmans recently announced they will disband their four-year-old joint music venture, Sony BMG. Bertelsmann decided that the recording business would continue to tank and that the value it had in the venture would continue to decline, so it sold its stake to Sony for $900 miillion. Sony accepted the gamble of owning the recording company because its executives believe that the purchase of of music through cell phones and Sony's PlayStation Network will bring in stable revenues despite internet piracy. Also building revenues would be increased music sales in huge markets such as China and India, Stringer said.
For its part, Bertlesmann seems to be turning away from consumer media to invest in new service businesses such as education. Last month, the company sold its North American book and record clubs to a private investment firm. Bertelsmann did, however, keep one part of its music legacy: its administration of rights of European musical artists, a business that generates a small amount for such a big company--less than $20 million a year in sales. To Bertelsmann executives, though, artists rights is one area of the music industry with decent prospects, and one that fits with Bertelsmann's growing emphasis on service companies.
--> See chart in article: Share of US music album sales, 2008 -to date
-Howard Stringer, chairman of Sony Corporation
In Mark Landler, "Sony and BMG End Their Partnership in Music," New York Times, August 6, 2008
Sony and Bertelsmans recently announced they will disband their four-year-old joint music venture, Sony BMG. Bertelsmann decided that the recording business would continue to tank and that the value it had in the venture would continue to decline, so it sold its stake to Sony for $900 miillion. Sony accepted the gamble of owning the recording company because its executives believe that the purchase of of music through cell phones and Sony's PlayStation Network will bring in stable revenues despite internet piracy. Also building revenues would be increased music sales in huge markets such as China and India, Stringer said.
For its part, Bertlesmann seems to be turning away from consumer media to invest in new service businesses such as education. Last month, the company sold its North American book and record clubs to a private investment firm. Bertelsmann did, however, keep one part of its music legacy: its administration of rights of European musical artists, a business that generates a small amount for such a big company--less than $20 million a year in sales. To Bertelsmann executives, though, artists rights is one area of the music industry with decent prospects, and one that fits with Bertelsmann's growing emphasis on service companies.
--> See chart in article: Share of US music album sales, 2008 -to date
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
ICANN Will Allow Domain Names in Many Languages
The debut of domain names in languages that don’t rely on the Roman alphabet is a major international development.
-Melissa Chang, founder of Pure Incubation, an Internet incubator firm
In Melissa Chang, "Chinese, Arabic and Hindi Domain Names to Go Up for Sale – Finally!" The Internet Standard, July 8, 2008
Currently, all domain names use exclusively Roman characters. That is because the domain name system relies on ASCII, which is based on the English alphabet. The decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names (ICANN), the organization that controls the assignment of domain names, to allow non-Roman character IDNs will happen because the organization has decided that domain names can be based on Unicode, a standard that allows the majority of the world’s languages to be represented correctly by computers. "The effort to make this change is being worked on and tested currently. There are a few issues related to rendering some characters due to technical instability and unavailability, but Unicode characters should be ready to fast track come 2009." As Chang notes, "As the world’s population shifts, and the languages based on the Roman alphabet continue to decline in dominance, this decision will only continue to grow in importance."
-Melissa Chang, founder of Pure Incubation, an Internet incubator firm
In Melissa Chang, "Chinese, Arabic and Hindi Domain Names to Go Up for Sale – Finally!" The Internet Standard, July 8, 2008
Currently, all domain names use exclusively Roman characters. That is because the domain name system relies on ASCII, which is based on the English alphabet. The decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names (ICANN), the organization that controls the assignment of domain names, to allow non-Roman character IDNs will happen because the organization has decided that domain names can be based on Unicode, a standard that allows the majority of the world’s languages to be represented correctly by computers. "The effort to make this change is being worked on and tested currently. There are a few issues related to rendering some characters due to technical instability and unavailability, but Unicode characters should be ready to fast track come 2009." As Chang notes, "As the world’s population shifts, and the languages based on the Roman alphabet continue to decline in dominance, this decision will only continue to grow in importance."
Thursday, June 5, 2008
BBC's Non-Worldwide Web
Building on the success of the iPlayer, we want to develop BBC.co.uk to include a broad range of the BBC's broadcast content, as well as new and interactive forms of media that enable audiences to interact with and contribute to the website.
-Mark Thompson, BBC director-general
In Steve Clarke, "BBC Puts More Channels Online," Variety, June 5, 2008
"The BBC is preparing to put all its TV channels online — but the video streams will only be available to users in the U.K." Its youth and digital channels are already online, but the new initiative will include the U.K.'s most popular channel, BBC1. Accessed through the iPlayer, which allows accessing programs from the past week, the already streaming channels help to make the BBC website one of the UK's most popular. The BBC's site was recently criticized by the BBC Trust for overspending. Another already hot issue that is likely to get even more attention involves TV funding in the internet age: "how to force auds that only watch online to pay the TV license fee, which funds all U.K. BBC services to the tune of around $6 billion a year."
-Mark Thompson, BBC director-general
In Steve Clarke, "BBC Puts More Channels Online," Variety, June 5, 2008
"The BBC is preparing to put all its TV channels online — but the video streams will only be available to users in the U.K." Its youth and digital channels are already online, but the new initiative will include the U.K.'s most popular channel, BBC1. Accessed through the iPlayer, which allows accessing programs from the past week, the already streaming channels help to make the BBC website one of the UK's most popular. The BBC's site was recently criticized by the BBC Trust for overspending. Another already hot issue that is likely to get even more attention involves TV funding in the internet age: "how to force auds that only watch online to pay the TV license fee, which funds all U.K. BBC services to the tune of around $6 billion a year."
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