April 2005

Advertising in Games Forum predicts $1Bn in revenue 2010
Last week, 250 executives from advertising agencies, game developers and publishers swarmed into the first annual Advertising in Games Forum on 14 April 2005 in New York City.
The audience, primarily made up of sharp-suited, silver tongued advertising agency executives, were there to discover more about market opportunities and expectations within the game industry.
According to the organisers, The Game Initiative, attendees were treated to a feast of ‘key facts, figures and estimates’ spun out by leading industry experts at the forum.
In a bullet point-laden onslaught of PowerPoint presentations, these key facts emerged:
According to the Yankee Group, advertising in games is expected to rise to US$800 million in 2009 from nearly US$120 million in 2004.
Around US$266 million – that’s more than one-third of advertising in games in 2009 – will come from (wait for it) “advergaming.”
For the benefit of buzzword-deficient execs, Yankee Group senior analyst Mike Goodman explained that this hideous word describes what you get when advertisers create a game around a product rather than place their brands within a well-known title.
Mitch Davis, chief executive of video game ad network Massive Inc., whipped the watching execs into a frenzy of monetary expectation when he revealed that the audience video game advertising would top US$1 billion in the United States by 2010, and approach US$2.5 billion worldwide.
Anita Frazier, Entertainment Industry Analyst, NPD Group opened up her big book marked ‘Facts’ and informed the Advertising In Games Forum audience that there are 100 million game capable cell phones currently in the Marketplace – with 65% of the population owning a cell phone.
The sound of keenly rubbing palms grew to a crescendo as Frazier announced that within 16 months all cell phones in the marketplace should be game capable and thus brimming with cash-raking, game-downloading potential.
Fact-bloated attendees also learned that the top selling 2004 game titles (according to the NPD Group) were:
1. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas – 5.5 million sold since launch
2. Halo 2 on X box – 4.5 million units sold since launch
3. Madden NFL 2004 on PS 2 – 3.5 million units sold since launch
4. ESPN NFL 2K5 -1.6 million units sold since launch
5. Need for Speed Underground 2 -1.7 million units since launch
The top selling PC title of 2004 was Sims 2 with 750,000 units sold.
The ‘best selling game title of all time’ title goes to Grand Theft Auto Vice City with a massive 6.5 million units shifted, with Super Mario 64 on the N64 coming in second with an impressive 6.0 million units.
Game Initiative
18 April, 2005
NAB2005
Rapid changes in media technology, the evolution of cross-digital platforms, the need for increased creative inspiration and cost-efficient execution, HD, IPTV, 24P… Where can you turn to keep up? How can you hone your skills to remain competitive into the future? Where can you go to see what’s ahead, talk to the experts, and get hands on access to the technology that will shape the future of media and entertainment? With more than 95,000 media professionals and 1,400 exhibiting companies from 130 countries gathering to network, collaborate and learn, NAB2005 is the only place where you can find all of tomorrow’s solutions…today.
Las Vegas Convention Center http://www.nabshow.com/
16 April, 2005
Freedom2Surf Predicts 35% Increase In UK WiFi Hotspot Use In 2005
Despite being judged the fourth most digitally-savvy nation in Europe, it seems that 40% of the UK adult population don’t know their wi-fi from their waffles.
Research carried out by Freedom2Surf revealed that half of all women and one quarter of all men didn’t have the slightest clue what WiFi was, exposing a very strong gender, knowledge and awareness gap in the UK.
Not surprisingly, the kids were waaay down with that WiFi thang, with Freedom2Surf’s WiFi Report revealing that the 16-24yr old age group were well hip to the technology, with almost 30% connecting to the Internet via a WiFi hotspot more than once a week.
Looking at the amount of time people spent connected via WiFi, the report found that 40% of regular users spend 10 minutes a day on average connected to a hotspot, while a further 40% spend at least an hour in a single session.
Around 10 per cent of users surveyed connect three to four times a day for at least 20 minutes at a time.
The research discovered that WiFi usage is set to increase, with over a third (35%) saying that they expected to spend more time wirelessly connected in the coming year.
A smaller group (15%) expected their usage to increase dramatically in 2005, with the 16-24yr age group expected to increase its usage the most (52%) compared to 34 per cent of the 35-44 age group.
The biggest barrier preventing UK consumers connecting to hotspots was found to be the lack of regular access to a Wi-Fi enabled laptop (40%).
Cost was also perceived as a major factor, with 30% citing price as the biggest barrier.
Greater uptake has also been hampered by consumers expressing bafflement as to where hotspots are actually located along with the perceived complexity of set-up and payment for WiFi hotspot services.
Silver surfers (UK consumers aged 55+) were revealed as being the weakest Wi-Fi user group, with just 11 per cent of the old ‘uns having used a hotspot.
Geographically, London takes the honours as the King WiFi hotspot of the UK with a higher awareness and usage of WiFi (hardly surprising since there are more hotspots in London than anywhere else in the UK) whilst residents oop North in Yorkshire are the least Wi-Fi savvy.
Naturally, ISPs like Freedom2Surf don’t do surveys out of the goodness of their hearts, and predictably rounded off their report with a ten-ton size plug for their new low-cost Wi-Fi service, Freedom2Surf Hotspots.
The company will be partnering with BT Openzone to offer customers access to a network of 1,300 hotspots in the UK, with rates claimed to be “up to 50% lower than those offered by BT.”
These prices work out at 10p (€0.14/US$0.18) per minute (occasional use), £4.50 (€6.60/US$8.5)for a daily voucher (60 Minutes), £15 (€22/US$28) for a weekly voucher (5 hours) and £30 (€44/US$56) for a monthly voucher (20 hours). Payment can be bought on a Pay as You Go basis by purchasing vouchers with a credit card.
Compared to our American counterparts, these prices still seem outrageously steep to us, but Chris Panayis, managing director of Freedom2Surf, clearly doesn’t agree: “The use of WiFi hotspots is becoming increasingly mainstream particularly among the younger age group, and it is encouraging that many of the consumers we surveyed are planning to significantly increase their use of WiFi this year.
“With service providers like Freedom2Surf already acting to reduce the cost and complexity of connecting to WiFi hotspots, the next challenge for the industry is to boost awareness of where hotspots are located and continue to educate consumers on the flexibility that WiFi hotspots provide people who need to connect to the Internet on the move.”
Freedom2Surf
15 April, 2005
BSkyB Announces HDTV Partners
British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) has announced that it has signed a number of further contracts with technology and equipment suppliers ahead of the forthcoming launch of its High-Definition Television (HDTV) service.
Following last month’s announcement that Thomson would be the initial manufacturer of Sky’s HDTV set-top box, the latest agreements put BSkyB on track to launch HDTV in the UK and Ireland in 2006 – notably four years ahead of the BBC’s slothful launch date in 2010.
The agreement will see Sony constructing and equipping a new HDTV studio at BSkyB’s Isleworth headquarters and kitting out additional equipment for edit suites and dubbing facilities at the same site.
Lovers of spec sheets will be thrilled to learn that the Sony studio equipment will include the latest HDC-1500 studio cameras and over 60 HDCAM and HDCAM SR format VTRs, complemented by MVS-8000A series multiformat production switchers and DVS-8000 digital effects plus Sony HD LCD monitors.
Additionally, Sony will smooth BSkyB’s transition to HDTV production with a “this button does that” staff training package.
BSkyB will also be deploying Tandberg Television’s MPEG-4 part 10 (H.264/AVC) video encoding and distribution system for the launch of its HDTV service.
The studio will be fitted out with Tandberg Television HD video head-end with statistical multiplexing with Tandberg EN5990 HD MPEG-4 AVC enabling efficient bandwidth utilisation and high picture quality.
If that roll out of spoddy specifications hasn’t got you excited enough, you’ll be pleased to learn that even more equipment lists will dispatched from BSkyB headquarters in due course. Whoopee!
Alun Webber, BSkyB’s Group Director of Engineering and Platform Technology, said “The launch of HDTV is the most significant development for BSkyB’s broadcast infrastructure since the launch of Sky digital in 1998. These supplier contracts keep us on track to launch HDTV in 2006 and ensure that Sky customers continue to receive the highest-quality viewing experience available.”
Sky is promising a full set of HDTV programming channel line-up when the service goes live, including sports, movies, entertainment and documentary programming.
The system will support both 720p and 1080i picture formats, with broadcasters being able to choose the format which is most appropriate to their individual requirements.
Initially, Sky’s HD receivers will have both a digital HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) and an analogue component connector for viewing HD content.
HDMI delivers the best possible picture quality to a HD display by maintaining an all-digital connection to DVI equipped displays possible using a suitable adapter cable.
Notably, when Sky’s HD content is viewed on a display using the receiver’s HDMI connector it will be protected by HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection).
HDTV is already taking off in the States and with the BBC dragging its heels with their own implementation of HDTV, this move by Sky may prove to be a significant one.
Sky Drops Microsoft Windows Media For MPEG-4 On HDTV
Sky
15 April, 2005
GNER Promises Wi-Fi On All Trains By 2007
A UK train operator has claimed that its passengers will be able to wirelessly access the Internet on all its trains by May 2007 after widespread passenger take-up of the service.
As we reported in April 2004, the East coast rail firm GNER had already committed to rolling out Wi-Fi access to all 302 carriages of its Mark 4 fleet, but after successful trials has pledged to wire up the entire fleet.
The company reports that take-up of Wi-Fi in first class rose by almost fifty per cent within five months of its tenth train entering service, while in standard class usage figures increased by 54 per cent in the same period.
The company plans to have every train fitted by May 2007, offering first class passengers the service for free, while serfs in standard class will have to pay to shell out a minimum of £2.95 (€4.33, US$5.55) for 30 minutes.
The on-train Wi-Fi network connects to the Internet via a satellite link up, with the network dropping back to a GPRS connection when the train thunders through a tunnel.
GNER’s chief operating officer Jonathan Metcalfe enthused about onboard Wi-Fi, claiming that it would make the travelling experience “more enjoyable” for consumers and that it would “encourage more people to choose rail instead of driving or flying.”
Wi-Fi access on trains looks to become ubiquitous in the UK, with several train companies already offering – or in the process of offering – access to laptop-flipping passengers craving connectivity.
Travellers on the London to Brighton route (run by Southern Trains) can already enjoy Wi-Fi access, courtesy of a WiMax network running alongside the tracks, and the National Express Group has announced plans to install wireless access on trains run by at least three of its operating companies.
GNER Mobile Office
15 April, 2005
Napster Faces DRM Crack As WMA Files Compromised
Napster may have a new headache on its hands, with a DRM hack recently surfacing.
A team of programmers led by Cody Brocious are rumoured to be very near an implementation of a utility that will allow people to turn songs acquired through Napster Light and Premium into unencrypted files.
Users will still have to pay for the initial download of the file (to acquire the key from Napster) with the tool then stripping the WMA files of their underlying DRM protections.
Previously, users keen to distribute encrypted DRM-protect files have had to resort to unwieldy workarounds such as recording from the sound card.
Once stripped of its DRM, songs downloaded from Napster can be re-encoded and played back across a number of different systems – undermining the entire business model of the Napster service.
The tool is reported to be unable to circumvent Napster To Go songs using Janus DRM (WMA DRM v10) which is different from the DRM applied to Light and Premium songs.
The latest hack seems to be driven by a desire to make the Napster service functional on both Linux and Mac platforms, instead of just Windows, with Cody seeing his actions as “ethical,” irrespective of legality, and he is willing to “fight the DMCA.”
He wants to be able to play his lawfully acquired Napster music on Linux.
The Cracking of Napster WMA DRM
Cody Brocious
15 April, 2005
FireFox Browser Gains Popularity
The open source Web browser FireFox, has experienced a humongous surge in popularity over the last year according to a report by Nielsen//NetRatings.
In March last year, the Internet research firm reported that Mozilla.org had a unique audience of 1.1 million home and work Internet users in the US – and that number has now soared 284% to 4.1 million unique users last month.
Similarly, the Firefox home page has been given a right royal battering, with figures from Nielsen/NetRatings recording a unique audience of 2.7 million, up 237% from the 795,000 it drew in June 2004.
(It seems that someone must be telling porky pies here, because the SpreadFirefox community marketing site has claimed that Firefox has been downloaded approximately 44.7 million times thus far.)
“The search for an alternative browser has grown in recent years, as the Internet’s early adopters have begun to think of the browser as something other than a commodity,” says Ken Cassar, director of strategic analytics for Nielsen/NetRatings.
“FireFox gives Web surfers a simple tool that blocks unsolicited windows, is less susceptible to virus attacks and offers a unique means of navigating multiple sites within a single browser”, Cassar added.
For reasons best known to themselves, Nielsen/NetRatings also broke down the Mozilla.org audience by sex and – not surprisingly – discovered that gadget-tastic, tech-loving blokes accounted for 71% – or nearly 1.9 million site visitors – compared to the lay-deees who comprised just 29% of traffic.
FireFox was created by a group of former Netscape programmers under the banner of the Mozilla Foundation, and its extra security features – such as the ability to block all pop-up ads and protect against spyware – has led to a steady exodus from Microsoft’s all-conquering Internet Explorer browser.
The browser is also supported by an enthusiastic coding community who offer a raft of free add ons, browser themes and extensions.
Although Microsoft is expected to adopt many of FireFox’s features in its new Internet Explorer version 7.0 (expected this summer), the browser’s exponential growth may force lazy coders to ensure that their sites are also compatible with the upstart browser.
Moreover, FireFox’s growth may have a significant impact on online marketing, with its cookie blocking measures wreaking havoc with companies tracking the results of third party ad campaigns.
What a shame!
Firefox (mozilla.org)
14 April, 2005
BBC Launches Creative Archive Licence
The BBC has moved a step closer to establishing a ‘public domain of audio-visual material’ with the launch of its ‘Creative Archive’.
The BBC, Channel 4, the British Film Institute and the Open University have teamed up to create the Creative Archive Licence, which aims to pave the way for the legal downloading of film, TV, radio archives and digital content via the Internet by the public.
The four partners in the Creative Archive Licence Group have issued a call to other organisations to join them, with Teachers’ TV and the Arts Council England already committing themselves to join the gang.
The Creative Archive Licence will give a new generation of media users legal access to material which they can use to express their creativity and share their knowledge – all completely free of charge.
The Licence follows on from pledges in the BBC’s Building Public Value document which committed the broadcaster to ‘help establish a common resource which will extend the public’s access while protecting the commercial rights of intellectual property owners.’
Mark Thompson, Director-General of the BBC liked the look of it: “The Creative Archive Licence provides a unique solution to one of the key challenges of rights in the digital age, allowing us to increase the public value of our archives by giving people the chance to use video and audio material for their own non-commercial purposes.”
The Creative Archive Licence offers an innovative approach to the rights issues that often affect the use of archive material, allowing people to download and use footage and audio for non-commercial purposes.
Each user will agree to abide by the licence conditions before gaining access to any of the available material.
The hope is that soon-to-be launched pilot download schemes will help fuel creativity activity across Britain, with clapperboard-toting types using the footage in personal projects, classroom presentations and their own arty-farty creations.
The long term aim is for work created under the licence to be uploaded back to the originating Website and then shared with others across the Internet.
Amanda Nevill, director of the British Film Institute, liked the cut of the project’s jib: “The Creative Archive Licence gives UK citizens increased opportunities to access and engage with moving image material from the bfi National Film and Television Archive. The project is an important step forward in enabling people to create their own works and explore the potential of digital film-making.’
The Creative Archive Licence hopes to emulate the success of the US based Creative Commons system, where less rigid copyright arrangements have stimulated artistic activity.
The BBC will initially be making footage from natural history and factual programmes available under the licence later this summer, and the BFI will be releasing a package of silent comedy, early literary adaptations, newsreel footage and archive footage of British cities in the early 20th century.
Interestingly, because the BBC is license fee funded they are releasing the content to UK-only Internet users, relying on a GeoIP solution to allow downloads from only UK hosts (not that we think it would be particularly hard for determined folks to circumvent those restrictions).
Creative Archive
14 April, 2005
IPod And iBook Sales Send Apple Profits Skywards
Stratospheric iPod sales send Apple executives into raptures of hugging joy, with profits almost quadrupling in a year.
The company reported a net profit of US$290m on $3.24bn in revenues for the fiscal quarter ending 31 March, comparing with profit figures of US$46m on sales of US$1.909bn in the same period last year.
“Apple is firing on all cylinders, and we have some incredible new products in the pipeline for the coming year,” frothed CEO Steve Jobs in a statement.
Shipments of Apple computers were up 43 per cent over last year to 1.07 million units, with the Powerbook line of high end notebook computers showing a 34 per cent increase in units shipped relative to last year.
The Power Mac desktop computers were among the worst performers, with year-over-year shipments declining by 19 per cent.
The company said it sold 5.3 million iPods (up 558 per cent on the same period last year) and 1.07 million Macintosh PCs last year.
These figures reveal that Mac sales are up by nearly 40 per cent with iPod sales are up five-fold.
Apple also revealed that its iTunes Music Store has now sold more than 350 million songs worldwide since April 2003, with the combined sales of song downloads, iPod-related accessories and services accounting for US$216m in revenues.
Although sales of iPods increased by 16 per cent, revenue from the product dropped by 16 per cent after Apple added the lower-cost iPod Shuffle to its range.
Apple’s bulging coffers can expect a further boost from sales of the new Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger upgrade, which will go on sale on 29 April.
Apple
14 April, 2005
Advertising In Games Forum
Advertising in Games Forum is the first event of its kind focused solely on understanding the factors surrounding the important and rapidly emerging market for placing advertising in video games. The huge growth in game playing audiences among key demographics offers a new and an unprecedented opportunity for agencies to connect brands with content savvy consumers. The conference program features pioneers and practitioners from both the agency/client and game developer perspectives and will provide critical information on how advertising can add realism and revenue for new games and offers insights on the range of options and ROI available when considering games as a new medium.Metropolitan Pavilion, New York City http://www.AdvertisingInGames.com
14 April, 2005