News Corp. has become the latest big media company to take action against widespread copyright infringement on Google's YouTube. However, instead of telling YouTube to remove its content altogether News Corp, in what may be a RIAA-like legal strategy, is going after individual perpetrators of copyright infringement. In a lawsuit against both YouTube and the online video site LiveDigital, News Corp. Wednesday subpoenaed the information of users from both sites that posted content illegally. Google was forced to comply, as per the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Google is keeping mum of course, but these days, everyone in …

The crossover from old to new media is opening up a huge rift, through which billions of dollars could be swallowed up from the bottom lines of the world's big media companies, warns a new IBM report. A clash is at hand, which, according to the report, "Navigating the Media Divide," is reaching fever pitch. "Industry incumbents are responding -- but perhaps not quickly or completely enough. While they are fighting an escalating competitive battle on this front, traditional media cannot ignore the impending division in its own ranks." Case in point: the music industry. EMI only yesterday …

Here's a column online agency folks should love to read: you're not getting paid enough. For starters, says Underscore Marketing's Tom Hespos, interactive marketing plans are way harder to execute than traditional ones. Perhaps it's because the roles of print, television, outdoor and other media are clearer and better understood from both sides. Media planners have to do more than figure out the role online will play in a marketing plan: Budget allocation is a far more complex question in the online world. Then there's the myriad ad platforms and sizes to choose from, not to …

Local print publishers have done a far better job of selling online video than local TV broadcasters, according to a new report. Only worth about $161 million last year, the local online video ad marketplace is expected to more than double in 2007 and hit $5 billion in the next five years. Publishers sold approximately $81 million worth of locally targeted online video in 2006, the Borrell Associates' report said, while TV broadcasters earned $32 million. The fact that TV broadcasters were trumped in online video sales last year is no doubt due to the print sector's steady decline in …

Despite the fact it has little in the way of original content and even less in the way of programming that really competes with television, Yahoo persists with Yahoo In Front, its annual gala designed to woo media buyers and planners to its broadband services. Yahoo purposely holds the event a few months before the television upfront season to steal a share of advertisers' enormous TV budgets. This year's pared down show was long on "serious-minded" lecturing about the benefit of buying ads on the Web portal. This was deliberate, as Yahoo sustained criticism last year for failing to …

The 2008 race for the White House is already being called the first YouTube or Googlection. Given that 17 politicians have already announced their candidacy, a Tech President blogger expects to see each begin buying keywords on Google and Yahoo. To his surprise, only six of the 17 had. The Republicans have done a much better job of using search to reach voters. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (who hasn't even formally announced his candidacy), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) are buying keywords. The Republicans …

Podcasting never quite took off as an ad platform. It's just been forgotten in the wake of Web 2.0 phenomena like online video and social networking. But if Clear Channel, CBS Radio and Rush Limbaugh have entered the podcast market, there must be something to it. According to research aggregator eMarketer, podcasting continues to grow in penetration and influence, meaning the talk-radio alternative is now poised to grab a bigger slice of the online ad pie. Last year, spending on podcasts was just $80 million, but eMarketer expects that number to hit $400 million by 2011, according to …

Here's some food for thought: YouTube 2.0, a way to weed out what you don't want and keep only what you do. In the chaotic online world, video clips can be five-minute cinematic masterpieces or raving paranoia from someone on too many prescription drugs. It will be noted by many in this industry that aggregation is big business on the Web. Business 2.0 says that's exactly what would make online video more accessible to users, and thus, more attractive to advertisers. That's the idea behind VodPod, a new startup funded by Mark Hall, the founder of RealNetworks. …

In stark contrast to its music industry cousins, record label EMI is moving toward the anti-digital rights management side of the fence. Now we know why: the music giant lowered expectations for its recorded music division. Instead of the expected 6% to 10% year-over decline in the year to March, the company said it's more likely to be in the neighborhood of 15$. Following the announcement, the label's shares plunged 20%. EMI's under-fire management clearly understands that it needs to do something radical. That something is dropping its insistence that its recordings be protected by DRM software. It's ironic, …

A new marketing campaign from J.C. Penney will try to create an emotional bond between the store and its customers, rather than emphasize its broad selection of merchandise. Focused around the slogan "Every Day Matters," the campaign kicks off with 60-second spots during the Academy Awards on Feb. 25 and print ads in the April issues of magazines such as Vogue and In Style. The advertising is intended to inspire people to do something that involves an item that can be purchased at Penney. One TV spot shows a man and a woman--both attractive and well-dressed--catching each other's eyes …