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New Media News Every Morning

Haynes and Boone tapped for acquisition of eBaum’s World by ZVUE Network

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ebaums.pngHaynes and Boone, LLP announced the completion of a series of transactions, including the acquisition of eBaum’s World, with a combined value up to $80 million for San Francisco-based ZVUE Corporation. As part of the transaction, the firm also successfully completed a $28 million private placement transaction for ZVUE.

The recently completed offering and acquisition adds eBaum’s World to the growing roster of user generated content offered through the ZVUE Network of web sites.

With the acquisition of eBaum’s World, the ZVUE Network of web sites now entertains more than 24 million visitors per month, providing advertisers with innovative solutions for reaching the highly prized 18- to 34-year-old male demographic. The company has licensing and content relationships with AOL Video, Facebook, FOX Mobile and others.

Originally posted on December 13, 2007 @ 4:02 pm

Nielsen and Digimarc launch service to manage Internet media content distribution

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nielsen.pngNielsen Co. and Digimarc Corp. have jointly partnered in launching Nielsen Digital Media Manager, a new service that would enable media companies, social networks, peer-to-peer services and user-generated content sites to monitor and manage the distribution of media content across the Internet.

The new service will use digital watermarking and fingerprinting to establish an industry-wide rules-based product to assure copyright compliance. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Originally posted on December 10, 2007 @ 8:32 am

Aggregate Knowledge inks deal with LA Times on user-driven content

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pique.pngAggregate Knowledge announced a deal with the Los Angeles Times Media Group to deliver user-driven content suggestions on The Times web site. Pique Onsite Discovery from Aggregate Knowledge will be deployed on the new Travel section of latimes.com, as well as forthcoming sections, to help users discover new and exciting content. That rollout will occur in coming months.

Pique Onsite Discovery provides user-driven content suggestions in the form of “People Who Viewed This Also Viewed That,” across media web sites. The Pique Onsite offering drives suggestions for many types of content including breaking news, articles, videos, photos, and blogs. With each click, Pique Onsite delivers content suggestions based on what visitors are actually viewing on the site.

Pique Onsite is part of the Pique Discovery Network by Aggregate Knowledge, which is a set of offerings that enable media companies to drive content and product suggestions on their own sites, through email, and to and from partner, retail and advertiser sites in the network. The Pique Discovery Network helps companies improve engagement, create new revenue opportunities, drive more traffic, and maximize the value of all their content assets.

Originally posted on November 30, 2007 @ 10:06 am

HandHeld Entertainment to acquire eBaum’s World for $17.5 million

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ebaumsworld.jpgHandHeld Entertainment, Inc., a global digital entertainment company, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire eBaum’s World, Inc., one of the Internet’s premier online entertainment sites, offering user-generated videos, games, jokes, photos and other content.

Founded in 1998, eBaum’s World is one of the oldest and most successful user-generated content sites in the world, generating approximately $5.2 million in revenue and $1.6 million in net income before income taxes in 2006. During the last 12 months, eBaum’s World served more than 2.5 billion unique page views and video streams, with an average time on site per user visit of more than 10 minutes. The company has relationships with such leading media companies as AOL Video, Facebook, FOX Mobile and others.

Under the terms of the acquisition, which is expected to close later this year, HandHeld will pay $17.5 million for eBaum’s World at closing, including $15.0 million in cash, $5.0 million in common stock, which is subject to a $2.5 million one-year hold-back based on achievement of certain financial targets. In addition, HandHeld may pay earn-outs of up to $32.5 million ($17.5 million in stock and $15.0 million in cash) over three years to the owners of eBaum’s World, dependent on the achievement of certain financial and operational milestones of the purchased business.

Originally posted on August 2, 2007 @ 7:21 pm

Eyespot launches Media Campaign Platform to empower advertisers and brands

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eyespot.jpgEyespot announced the launch of its Media Campaign Platform, a powerful new addition to the Eyespot application suite, which enables brand managers and advertising firms to directly harness the energy of social networks and user-generated content. The system allows for the creation of interactive video campaigns that will associate brands with both Hollywood and other professionally produced content.

In the rapidly evolving Internet economy, Eyespot’s Media Campaign Manager is a market first that empowers the creative industry and communities to initiate their own interactive video sharing campaigns directly with consumers. The unmitigated appeal of UGC is available alongside a significant array of premium content supplied by producers, networks, studios, and record labels to engage with new customers, increase brand recognition, and further exploit existing brand loyalty.

The Media Campaign Manager’s robust campaign creation system is specially suited to the needs of advertising and marketing firms. This online suite requires no technical expertise and is an easy-to-use administrative content management system that only requires the oversight, leadership, and decision making of a brand manager or marketing director.

Originally posted on July 31, 2007 @ 12:35 pm