Valleywag
olympics
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NBC's online video ads a $5.75 million piddle in the pool
According to an eMarketer estimate, NBC's Olympics videos online would have generated only $5.75 million if paid for on a CPM basis. That number is likely low; the network may have signed flat-rate contracts for brand exposure tied into larger sponsorship deals, rather than bother with cost-per-impression deals. Still, low views on the Olympics will make it harder for NBC to charge more for video ads down the road. And why pay for online ads when sponsors get buzz for free through social networks? [TV Week] (Original photo by AP/Greg Baker)
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great moments in journalism
A videoblogger shows how well the media is playing Beijing's game
The whining by journalists about China's Internet restrictions at the Olympics in Beijing rings hollow: It belies how interested they are in actually reporting anything that might run afoul of the China's Communist censors. How convenient to blame packet sniffers and blocked network ports, instead of actually wearing out shoe leather tracking down protesters. Oh, but how much easier to refresh Amnesty International's website from the air-conditioned comfort of the Olympic Village. Actually showing up at a protest will get you detained without a trial, as muckraking videoblogger Brian Conley and friends have discovered. It's hard to meet deadlines from jail, so best to stick to hard-hitting reports about cheerleaders. A bonus: People actually enjoy watching that stuff. More » -
olympics
Underage Chinese gymnasts -- an obsessive Internet investigation
A security consultant with New York-based firm Intrepidus has documented his hunt for online verification of the age of Chinese gymnast He Kexin. Honestly, I can't bring myself to care about her age, but it's fun to watch someone go crazy with the screengrabs of Google-cached Excel spreadsheets. (Photo by AP/Amy Sancetta) -
olympics
Google pulling for Facebook's rower foes?
On Sunday, Google featured rowers in a custom Olympics logo on its homepage. Were the mullahs of Mountain View pulling for Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the Olympics hopefuls in rowing who charged Harvard classmate Mark Zuckerberg with nicking the idea for Facebook from ConnectU, their college social network? The Winklevosses lost in the pair rowing finals, after handing their company to Zuckerberg in a court-ordered settlement. Then again, Google is known for backing losers in social networking. -
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olympics
ConnectU twins sink in rowing finals, rise in our hearts
ConnectU cofounders and identical twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss finished sixth out of six in Saturday's Olympic rowing finals. As you can tell from NBC's clip above, it wasn't close. It was an anticlimactic end to a rousing — for some, arousing — Olympic run for the beefy Harvard-grad dreamboats. The pair only made the finals after a stirring upset last week. Australians Drew Ginn and Duncan Free finished first. Sure, they have a gold medal, but did they create a college social network good enough for Mark Zuckerberg to copy? (Photo by Getty Images) More » -
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online video
NBC mocks Web 2.0 with 17.6 Nielsen rating, $1 billion in ads
The network's online lockdown of Olympics video coverage, ridiculed as old-Web thinking, has paid off: A captive audience drove television ratings for NBC's Beijing coverage higher than the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens games. Advertisers who bought a billion bucks' worth of spots from NBC are probably happy. Oh well, maybe next time. [Wired] -
olympics
Know your Olympic finalists, ConnectU founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss
ConnectU may be the college social network that isn't Facebook, but then Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is also the social network founder who isn't an Olympic finalist. Row2K interviewed the pair who are, ConnectU founders and dreamboats Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. From the interviews, giddy fangirls and boys will be excited to learn that Cameron is the one who likes to play guitar, read books and watch movies. He's also very excited to seeing Beijing because he's never been to China before. Tyler doesn't say as much, but we do learn from the interview, excerpted above, that he was very tall in his youth. In an early 1960s rock band, we think he'd be the one who wore sunglasses on stage. The pair — who, along with third cofounder Divya Narendra, handed over all ConnectU shares to Facebook this week after months of legal wrangling — compete for gold this Saturday. More » -
copyfight
YouTube pulls video of protest at request of IOC
The International Olympic Committee has issued a takedown notice to YouTube over a video that features protestors projecting free Tibet propaganda on the walls of the Chinese consulate in New York City. It's a clear abuse of copyright law. According to the takedown notice from YouTube, the IOC found the video through the "Claim Your Content" system that makes it easy to issue infringement claims. More » -
connectu
In rousing upset, ConnectU founders advance to Olympic finals
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twin cofounders of a college social network which is not Facebook, finished second in today's Olympic rowing semifinals, just behind the Aussies, and will compete in the finals on Saturday. It was quite the upset. Previewing today's race, Row2k.com wrote that "the Aussie pair is a lock," that "Serbia, Germany, Italy are the like contenders for the final two qualifying spots," and that the ConnectU cofounders "have their work cut out for them if they want to win a spot in the A final." While they were winning in Beijing, they lost a battle in court. More »
