• Electus Adds Eight New Series Ahead Of LOUD Launch Next Week by Ross Fadner

  Multimedia studio Electus on Wednesday announced eight new online video series -- including one from Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman -- to add to the one it announced previously for its new pop-culture-focused YouTube channel, LOUD. ...Read the whole story

• Kaltura Adds Groupon, Plans European Expansion by Ross Fadner

  Online video platform provider Kaltura has added Groupon as the latest client to use its software and additional paid features to create its own video portal, according to an industry report. ...Read the whole story

• automotive Ford Launches 'Random Acts of Fusion' by Karl Greenberg

  The automaker, which by now could probably publish a textbook on social-media launch strategies for cars and crossovers, is starting up a new social-focused campaign for the new 2013 Fusion, the third-generation of the vehicle. ...Read the whole story

• Second-Screen Viewing Soars, Measurement Key by Wayne Friedman

  The rapid adoption of second digital video screens continues apace. In just the last 12 months, Nielsen says smartphone penetration has risen 34%, with tablets increasing 400%, and Internet-connected TV 25% higher. Gaming console growth has climbed 1% in the last 12 months. ...Read the whole story

• Hearst Magazines Debuts Private Ad Exchange by Gavin O'Malley

  As the online ad market looks more like the Nasdaq, publishers must decide whether to build their own ad exchanges. Just the latest to take the plunge, Hearst Magazines this week debuted a private exchange, which it put together with the help of Pubmatic. ...Read the whole story

Video games are hot right now. You might have heard of Machinima.com, the YouTube video gamer channel which, as first reported by AllThingsD, recently closed a $35 million funding round led by Google. As Paul Rossi of The Economist Group said to me as he studied my business card: "What is machinima exactly?" And he looked at me in full knowledge that I wasn't a 15-year-old boy. ...More

• DairyGood.org Takes Straightforward Approach to Successfully Promote Its Agenda by Larry Dobrow

  Were y'all aware that an organization called The Innovation Center For U.S. Dairy exists... and that it is AWESOME? Its minders are out there innovatin' and inventin' and proselytizin' and whatnot, fighting Big Nutrition wherever it would seek to deprive schoolkids of their constitutional right to pizza. In fact, they've got this one initiative where they're just slapping cheese on everything - fish, coffee cake, nectarines, you name it - and being all like, "Yo, who's getting his RDA of calcium now, beee-yatch?" They don't merely tolerate lactose; they celebrate every stealth-sugary kernel of its being. ...More

• Not That Special: The Hollywood Version by Karen Herman

  A few weeks ago, Wellesley High teacher David McCullough gave a much-discussed commencement speech that went viral. McCullough didn't say anything earth-shattering, but did remind the newly minted, Mass.-based Class of 2012 that in our culture, kids begin to believe in their coddling-manufactured greatness, that they can't lose at anything, and are meant to be stars. All of them. So, in that vein, here's a little missive for the incoming class of video content providers: ...More