October 9, 2008 by WW.

Google Inc., aiming to expand beyond Internet search advertising, has introduced technology to insert commercial spots into online video games.Google is working with game makers including Konami Corp. and Demand Media Inc. and advertisers Sprint Nextel Corp. and Esurance Inc. to test the system, Ryan Hayward, a Google manager, said Wednesday.

The video, image and text ads can appear when a player begins or completes a game or level.The technology is one of Google’s attempts to find new sources of revenue beyond the ads it places alongside search results, which made up almost all of its $16.6 billion in sales last year. U.S. ad sales for Web games will more than double to $478 million by 2012, according to researcher EMarketer Inc.

“Online games are still a bit of a Wild West,” with few rules governing how advertisers should place their spots without irritating players, said Paul Verna, an analyst at EMarketer. Google’s system could help organize the market and help it grow, he said.

About 200 million people worldwide play games online, Google said, citing Reston, Va.-based researcher ComScore Inc. The company bought Adscape Media Inc. last year for an undisclosed sum to get the game-ad technology.

Google acquired DoubleClick Inc. this year to get a foothold in the market for image ads, and the company continues to experiment with ways to draw more revenue from video ads through its YouTube site. YouTube said Tuesday that it would offer users links to Apple Inc.’s iTunes store and Amazon.com to buy songs and video games they find on the site.

The game ads will probably be a “drop in the bucket” compared with Google’s search-ad business, Verna said. If the struggling economy holds back growth in the online-advertising market, any new revenue source will still be important for the company, he said.

Posted in Interactive, Commercials Contract, Media Business | Print | 1 Comment »

October 9, 2008 by WW.

This message went out by e-mail from the union tonight, under the heading of a “negotiations update”: 

October 9, 2008

Dear Screen Actors Guild Member,

On Wednesday, October 1, the SAG National TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee passed an advisory motion to the national board of directors that will be discussed at the board’s upcoming plenary meeting in Los Angeles on October18 and19.

The advisory motion recommends that the national board should send a strike authorization referendum to SAG members, support the passage of the strike authorization, and run a member education campaign in support of the measure. Although the national negotiating committee is empowered to authorize such a referendum, the committee felt that the national board should be the body to debate and decide this important issue at this time.

It is important to note that if passed by a majority of the national board, the resolution does not call a strike. It only provides for a membership referendum to be conducted, which will take approximately 30 to 45 days.

If 75% of the qualified SAG members who vote in the referendum support the strike authorization, only then can the national board of directors call an actual work stoppage, should the board decide that it has become necessary to do so.

Any work stoppage called affecting the TV/Theatrical contracts will only impact work under those contracts, such as feature films, free television, and pay cable television, and will not affect other Guild contracts. Under such circumstances, Screen Actors Guild members would continue to work on all other contracts including the commercials contract, TV animation, basic cable television and basic cable animation contracts, industrial contract and interactive/video game contract.

All work under these contracts would continue uninterrupted. In addition, work on the more than 750 features by independent producers under SAG Guaranteed Completion Contracts would continue, as these producers are not represented by the AMPTP.

Please read the National TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee’s motion below and email Contract2008@sag.org if you have any questions.

In unity,

Alan Rosenberg
National President

Doug Allen
National Executive Director

Posted in SAG Politics, Exhibit A - TV Theatrical | Print | 31 Comments »