YouTube has updated YouTube Insight, a free tool that lets anyone with a YouTube account view detailed statistics about the videos that they upload to the site.

Included in the update:

One is a new demographics tab that displays view count information broken down by age group (such as ages 18-24), gender, or a combination of the two, to help you get a better understanding of the makeup of your YouTube audience. We show you general information about your viewers in anonymous and aggregate form, based on the birth date and gender information that users share with us when they create YouTube accounts. This means that individual users can’t be personally identified.

Insight now also displays statistics based on the combined total views of all the videos you’ve uploaded. Just as you can explore the view counts and popularity of individual videos, with this feature you can see your account’s total number of views, and your relative popularity on YouTube compared to other users, based on geographic location.

Uploaders can see how often their videos are viewed in different geographic regions, as well as how popular they are relative to all videos in that market over a given period of time. You can also delve deeper into the lifecycle of your videos, like how long it takes for a video to become popular, and what happens to video views as popularity peaks.

YouTube expects the new service to help video creators get more views:

Using these metrics, you can increase your videos’ view counts and improve your popularity on the site. For instance, you might learn that your videos are most popular on Wednesdays, that you have a huge following in Spain, or that new videos that play off previous content become more popular more quickly. With this information, you can concentrate on creating compelling new content that appeals to your target audiences, and post these videos on days you know these viewers are on the site. (Maybe even post your next video in Spanish?) And for those of you who are also partners, the more popular a video is, the more advertising revenue it can generate.

We’ll be making new features and additional information available fairly quickly — like a specific breakdown of how viewers discovered the video — so keep an eye out as we roll out new features. As for now, you can find currently available metrics by clicking under the “About this Video” button under “My account > Videos, Favorites, Playlists > Manage my Videos.”

EQAL, the studio behind faux-vlog shows LonelyGirl15 & KateModern, has signed a deal with CBS to create online content.

The two companies will work on producing multi-platform content, including online and mobile, around CBS programming. EQAL will work on a non-exclusive basis with CBS at consulting, producing and scripting.

“This partnering signals CBS’s attention to the web as a new medium across both interactive and the network,” said CBS president Quincy Smith.

via NMA

Wizzard Media announced today that Podiobooks.com, a free audiobook podcast network, is now using LibsynPRO 2.0 podcast hosting and will make their library of shows available on the Wizzard Media Network for advertising opportunities.

“Libsyn has always been a valued partner for Podiobooks.com and one that is always willing to work with us, as our needs are a bit different than the standard podcasting community,” said Evo Terra, co-founder of Podiobooks.com. “With over 200 serialized free audiobooks in our system, we needed some additional reporting and management features than the standard system provides.”

By using the LibsynPRO 2.0 system, Podiobooks.com gains more detailed statistics, dynamic ad insertion, geo-targeting tools for each show on the channel, with Nielsen//NetRatings metrics reporting available for ad campaigns brought in by Wizzard Media.

According to the Guardian’s Tim Anderson, DRM’d music is going to stage a comeback, and Apple’s going to be the one making it happen.

The music industry wants to sell new services, like music subscriptions, and DRM’s is central to making these services viable. To succeed, though, subscription music services need to work with iPods and iPhones:

Apple customers with a subscription would probably never buy from third-party services, even while the likes of Amazon could undercut iTunes and be iPod-compatible.

Says Jupiter’s Mark Mulligan: “It’s highly likely Apple will get into the next-generation service game. That could be Apple selling iPods preinstalled with unlimited access to music, or with a bundle to a subscription offering,” he says.

Mulligan sees the market evolving into multiple tiers. At the top end, a minority will be willing to pay a premium for the best quality, DRM-free downloads. The middle tier will be “subsidised offerings like Nokia’s Comes With Music, where you buy a device and the cost of the music is included subsidised”; while at the bottom will be advertising-supported services such as Qtrax, SpiralFrog and We7, where free music is paid for by embedded advertising.

That would leave Apple with the top-end iTunes downloads and a subscription business. But would Jobs back it? In January 2007, Reuters asked him if Apple would do so. “Never say never, but customers don’t seem to be interested in it,” Jobs said. “The subscription model has failed so far.” Which hardly rules it out forever. DRM might not stop pirates, but it does rivals. And in business, the latter can be a greater threat than the former.

It’s looking more and more like analysts may be worrying too much about DRM, and not enough about whether music services were actually useful to customers.

Apple’s iTunes store rose to prominence despite selling DRM’d music, and it’s grown even more dominant as competitors have started selling non-DRM’d music. If the market demonstrates that there’s an interest in subscription music services, Apple’s likely to dominate the market with its own DRM’d offering.

What do you think? Is DRM down for the count, or would you consider a DRM’d subscription music service?

Citi analyst Mark Mahaney says the Amazon Kindle could be an iPod-like hit within two years, contributing 3% (750 millsion) to Amazon’s revenue.

Here are Mahaney’s reasons:

• The Kindle doesn’t suck. Mahaney likes the Kinde’s automatic downloading feature and slightly lower-price books ($9.99 vs. $18 for the physical books).
• The current Kindle is a 1.0 product and future versions will be much sexier. See the original iPod.
• The Kindle’s sales ramp will follow that of the iPod but be only half as popular (i.e., sell half as many units).
• Kindle price will drop 15% per year.
• Amazon recognizes Kindle unit sales revenue over two years.
• Kindle owners will buy one e-book per Kindle per month.

I’m still skeptical about the Kindle’s prospects.

Much of the success of the iPod can be attributed to the fact that it adds value to your existing investment in CDs. For many people, a $200-$300 iPod takes 10 or more years of purchased CDs and makes them portable. The Kindle requires additional purchases to be useful.

iPods/iPhones are also a doorway into a vast quantity of free content ranging from podcasts to Internet videos & even the Web. Amazon wants you to subscribe to Kindle versions of publications that are freely available on the Web.

Finally, the iPhone and iPod have become platforms for content and application development. There are tens of thousands of people developing media for the iPod and over 200,000 have show interest in developing applications for the iPhone. There’s no sign of this sort of interest developing with the Kindle.

Until Amazon can address these issues, the Kindle is likely to remain a niche device.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) claims that it’s the first airline to offer passengers the ability to connect their iPods to an in-flight entertainment (IFE) system.

The first flight to allow passengers iPod integration with the Panasonic Avionics IFE system was operated out of Singapore earlier this month. The Airbus A340-500 is operating to Newark in the USA.

A spokesman says a check with Apple has confirmed that SIA is the first airline to let passengers play iPod/iPhone music and videos through an IFE system.

“Customers can now easily enjoy their personal audio and video content from their iPod or iPhone on Singapore Airlines’ KrisWorld in-flight entertainment system,” says SIA. “Each seat features a 15.4 in widescreen LCD screen, which is perfect for watching television shows and movies, as well as active noise-cancellation headphones.”

United Airlines also plans to introduce iPod support.

via FlightGlobal

It’s starting to look like members of the Screen Actors Guild may be heading for a strike like the recent Writers’ strike.

Studios have suspended talks with the Screen Actors Guild after three weeks of negotiations. One of the main reasons for the breakdown in talks is that actors balked at a studio proposal that would allow the studios to sell or license excerpts of TV shows and movies for use on the Internet, cellphones and other new-media devices without the actors’ consent.

“As an actor you want to control how your image is used and how studios get to exploit it,” SAG President Alan Rosenberg said. “We can’t erase 50 years of protections that we’ve had for our members.”

“The existing rules, and the enormous administrative burden created by those rules, prevents the entire industry from developing a lawful clips market,” said the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates for the studios. “Carrying over the existing bargaining terms . . . would not be practical or feasible.”

The disagreement fuels concerns that actors may stage a walkout when their current contract expires June 30.

The 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike lasted four months. The strike cost Los Angeles at least 380 million, with some estimates of the cost going as high as $2.1 billion. The strike is also credited with driving more viewers to Web video sites.

Democrats are allowing select bloggers access to the floor of the national convention in Denver this summer.

Fifty-five bloggers have been chosen:

• ALASKA: Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis: divasblueoasis.blogspot.com
• ALABAMA: Doc’s Political Parlor: www.politicalparlor.net
• ARKANSAS: Under The Dome.com: www.underthedome.com
• ARIZONA: Ted Prezelski – Rum, Romanism and Rebellion: www.rumromanismrebellion.net
• CALIFORNIA: Calitics: Calitics.com
• COLORADO: SquareState.net: squarestate.net
• CONNECTICUT: My Left Nutmeg: myleftnutmeg.com
• DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: DCist.com: dcist.com
• DELAWARE: TommyWonk: tommywonk.blogspot.com/
• DEMOCRATS Abroad: Democrats Abroad Argentina: www.yanquimike.com.ar
• FLORIDA: Florida Progressive Coalition: flaprogressives.org
• GEORGIA: Tondee’s Tavern: www.tondeestavern.com
• GUAM: No Rest for the Awake – Minagahet Chamorro: minagahet.blogspot.com
• HAWAII: iLind.net: Ian Lind Online: www.ilind.net
• IOWA: The Iowa Independent: iowaindependent.com
• IDAHO: 43rdStateBlues.com: www.43rdstateblues.com
• ILLINOIS: Prairie State Blue: www.PrairieStateBlue.com
• INDIANA: Blue Indiana: www.blueindiana.net
• KANSAS: EverydayCitizen.com: everydaycitizen.com
• KENTUCKY: BlueGrassRoots: www.bluegrassroots.org
• LOUISIANA: Daily Kingfish: www.dailykingfish.com
• MASSACHUSETTS: Blue Mass. Group: www.bluemassgroup.com
• MARYLAND: The Center for Emerging Media: www.centerforemergingmedia.com
• MAINE: Turn Maine Blue: www.turnmaineblue.com
• MICHIGAN: Blogging For Michigan: bloggingformichigan.com
• MINNESOTA: Minnesota Monitor: minnesotamonitor.com
• MISSISSIPPI: The Natchez Blog: natchezms.blogspot.com
• MISSOURI: Fired Up! LLC: www.firedupmissouri.com
• MONTANA: Left in the West: www.leftinthewest.com
• NORTH CAROLINA: BlueNC.com: bluenc.com
• NORTH DAKOTA: NorthDecoder.com: www.northdecoder.com
• NEBRASKA: New Nebraska Network: www.NewNebraska.net
• NEW HAMPSHIRE: Blue Hampshire: www.bluehampshire.com
• NEW JERSEY: PolitickerNJ.com: www.politickernj.com
• NEW MEXICO: Democracy for New Mexico: www.DemocracyForNewMexico.com
• NEVADA: Las Vegas Gleaner: www.lasvegasgleaner.com
• NEW YORK: Room 8: www.r8ny.com
• OHIO: Ohio Daily Blog: www.ohiodailyblog.com
• OKLAHOMA: DemoOkie: www.DemoOkie.com
• OREGON: BlueOregon (blog): www.blueoregon.com
• PENNSYLVANIA: Keystone Politics: www.keystonepolitics.com
• PUERTO RICO: Jusiper: jusiper.blogspot.com
• RHODE ISLAND: Rhode Island’s Future: www.rifuture.org
• SOUTH CAROLINA: CracktheBell.com: www.crackthebell.com
• SOUTH DAKOTA: Badlands Blue: www.badlandsblue.com
• TENNESSEE: KnoxViews/TennViews: www.knoxviews.com
• TEXAS: Burnt Orange Report: www.BurntOrangeReport.com
• UTAH: The Utah Amicus: utahamicus.com
• VIRGINIA: Raising Kaine: www.raisingkaine.com
• VIRGIN ISLANDS: Democratic Party of the US Virgin Islands: groups.yahoo.com/group/democratvi
• VERMONT: Green Mountain Daily: greenmountaindaily.com
• WASHINGTON: HorsesAss.org: www.horsesass.org
• WISCONSIN: Uppity Wisconsin: www.uppitywis.org
• WEST VIRGINIA: West Virginia Blue: www.wvablue.com
• WYOMING: Hummingbirdminds blog: hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com

More variety of coverage is good news for the democratic process. With this many bloggers on hand, there’s sure to be a rich mix of media and opinion coming out of the convention.

via BH

Magnify has introduced a new service that promises to make it easy for Movable Type and WordPress publishers to incorporate media from a variety of sites.

Magnify Publisher is a native blog application that lets you search for video, text, and images, using key words and tags, and embed the content directly into a post, without ever leaving the WordPress or Movable Type dashboard. Magnify Publisher also offers Seesmic-like tools that let you shoot and publish videoblog posts using a WebCam.

“Bloggers in our Movable Type community have consistently told us that their readers respond to posts with relevant videos and photos, so we’re always looking for ways to make rich media easier to find and share” said Six Apart’s Anil Dash. “Magnify Publisher makes that process extremely easy, providing an integrated application that lets bloggers discover, share or even create multimedia content right from within the familiar Movable Type interface.”

Magnify Publisher’s video discovery features currently provide “search embed” from YouTube, AOL, Yahoo, BlipTV, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Clipsyndicate, Google Video, Veoh, Red Lasso, and other sites. Image search is included for Flickr and Google Images.

WordPress and Movable Type are increasingly becoming rich media platforms that readers turn to for help finding interesting content. While Magnify Publisher’s toolset looks interesting, these types of multimedia features need to be integrated into publishing platforms, independent of third-party tools or social networks.

Think text-messaging plans for mobile phones are a scam?

A University of Leicester space scientist has worked out that sending texts via mobile phones costs more than sending data via the Hubble Space Telescope. He worked out the cost of obtaining a megabyte of data from Hubble – and compared that with the cost of sending text messages.

“The bottom line is texting is at least 4 times more expensive than transmitting data from Hubble, and is likely to be substantially more than that,” explains Dr Nigel Bannister.

Dr Bannister estimated the cost of the data from Hubble could vary between £8.85 and £85 per MB- much cheaper than the £374.49 per MB cost of transmitting one MB of text.

He concludes: “Hubble is by no means a cheap mission – but the mobile phone text costs were pretty astronomical!”

The high cost of texting, and mobile service plans in general, is likely to be a barrier for the near future to the adoption of mobile content publishing.

Here are the details on Dr Bannister’s calculations: