Mediaboss Marketing

LoveFilm, the Amazon-owned movie rentals firm, has today announced that demand for its digital streaming service has surpassed physical DVD rentals for the first time.

The company said that its subscribers streamed more content to connected devices in February than requested rentals of DVDs, Blu-rays and video games.

Demand for digital streaming over physical copies has led LoveFilm to state that it is now a "predominantly streaming business", raising question marks over the future of the DVD operation.

LoveFilm, which launched a streaming-only service called LoveFilm Instant last year, said that the number of films and TV episodes streamed online through internet-connected devices is now exceeding demand for physical copies by 20%.

Digital streaming demand in February was up a staggering 400% year-on-year, although the rental of physical products also increased by 25% year-on-year.

Jim Buckle, the new managing director of LoveFilm following the resignation of chief executive Simon Calver, said that the growth in demand for digital is expected to continue.

"The first quarter of 2012 has shown us two things: that LoveFilm members are watching more films and TV series both on the internet and on DVD than ever before and; in less than three years, streaming through LoveFilm Instant has become more popular than renting DVDs," he said.

"Our members crave instant on-demand access. With more world-class digital content being added to LoveFilm Instant and a growing number of internet-connected devices delivering it to members' living rooms we expect this trend to continue.

"At the same time, many of our members continue to enjoy the combination of LoveFilm Instant and LoveFilm By Post in one, great value for money, subscription, with both services growing rapidly."

LoveFilm now has more than 2m subscribers across Europe, accessing a range of movies such as The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Source Code and soon the acclaimed Tinker Tailor Solider Spy.

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LoveFilm digital streaming surpasses DVD rentals

'I believe the apetite for importing experienced digital marketing talent will continue for at least the next 12 months as key talent proves hard to find in Australia' says Mike Page, managing director of MitchelLake. Photo: Rob Homer

AUSTRALIAN companies with the largest budgets are headhunting senior marketing people from overseas in growing numbers.

Digital marketing and digital commerce marketing roles are evolving far faster in Europe and the US, prompting Australian companies to pay big money to import talent.

According to Mike Page, managing director of MitchelLake, salaries of $400,000 and more are being paid to overseas marketing executives with skills lacking in the local market.

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He said while marketing had become an increasingly popular discipline in Australia, thanks to shows like ABC's The Gruen Transfer, there was a lag in senior talent coming through.

The executive search and specialist recruitment firm placed 76 senior marketers from various parts of the globe into key Australian roles over the past year, with salaries as high as $300,000 to $400,000.

A further 61 junior and mid-level specialists also arrived on Australian shores to fill roles paying up to $140,000. These figures include Australians returning after being in key marketing roles overseas, Mr Page said.

MitchelLake is searching for 20 senior marketers across the globe. It counts the country's largest banking, finance and telecommunications companies among its clients.

''I believe the appetite for importing experienced digital marketing talent will continue for at least the next 12 months as key talent proves difficult to find in Australia,'' Mr Page said.

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Global hunt for digital ad talent

Written by Chris Daniels Thursday, 22 March 2012 14:07

The St. James City Council will go paperless. In an effort to save money and be more environmentally friendly, the council has opted to change the way that members access information.

The council voted paperless for monthly packets. (City Clerk) Sarah Wheeler surveyed and discovered that with labor, cost of paper, copier costs, folders, and postage, we spend around $3,870 a year putting those packets together. After doing a quick look at the costs of going paperless, she found that we could do so around $4,000, Mayor Dennis Wilson explained. The city will request bids for ipads and laptop computers to see which would be the best option moving forward. Other advantages of going paperless are many. Weve had previous meetings when a topic arises from a past meeting. The council usually doesnt have last months packet on hand. By going with computers, they would have access to all of that data, Wilson said. Eventually, city codes would also be available to the council in the event a code needs to be reviewed. Benefits from cost alone made the decision easy, as the council unanimously agreed to pursue going to a paperless system. Time savings, easy access to record keeping, and better communication with citizens were also important aspects to the decision. Each council person will be assigned a city email address. If a citizen has a problem or concern they can call or email their ward. Apart from that we also want to go green. This building already has wireless, so there wouldnt be any additional cost to install a new wireless system, Wilson said.

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Aldermen going digital to save time and money

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Fenwick & West LLP, one of the nation's preeminent law firms providing comprehensive legal services to high technology and life science clients, today released its 2011 Seed Financing Survey.

The survey covers 56 internet/digital media and software companies that raised seed financing primarily in the Silicon Valley or Seattle markets in 2011. For purposes of the survey, a "seed financing" is the first round of financing of a company in which it raised between $250,000 and $2.5 million and is led by a professional investor.

"This is our second annual Seed Financing Survey. We began publishing the survey last year in response to the increased amount and importance of seed investment in the entrepreneurial community. This second survey finds that valuations of seed equity financings in the internet/digital media and software industries have continued to increase, from an average of $3.2 million in 2010 to $3.8 million in 2011, and discusses the continued growth and diversity of funding sources for seed investments," said Barry Kramer, co-author of the survey and a partner in the Fenwick & West Startup Group.

Some of the results of the survey are as follows:

"These results show a strong, generally entrepreneur-friendly environment for seed stage investments in the internet/digital media and software industries," said Steve Levine, also a co-author of the survey and a partner in the Fenwick & West Startup Group. "The relatively small amount of money required to bring these companies to market makes this area an appealing investment area."

Complete results of the survey are available at http://www.fenwick.com/seedsurvey.

About Fenwick & WestEstablished in 1972, Fenwick & West LLP is one of the nation's preeminent law firms with extensive expertise in venture capital, public offerings and other corporate finance, joint ventures, M&A and strategic relationships, intellectual property, litigation and dispute resolution, taxation, antitrust and employment and labor law.

Contacts:

Barry J. Kramer Fenwick & West LLP Phone: 650.335.7278 Email: bkramer@fenwick.com

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Fenwick & West Releases 2011 Internet/Digital Media and Software Industries Seed Financing Survey

New digital payment technologies seem to be popping up every week and giving us alternative ways to pay - without using cash or even a credit or debit card.

From the recently launched Barclays Pingit phone app to Google Wallet and Near Field Communication-enabled smartphones, it remains to be seen which technologies will become mainstream.

But in the perpetually web-connected world of 2012 it certainly does look like coins and notes could be going the way of the dodo.

Here's a look at the ever-growing world of digital payment, which technologies you can already use and which ones are likely to be replacing your wallet in the not too distant future.

Send cash to a phone number

Last month, Barclays launched Pingit, a unique way of sending money to a mobile phone number. Just as Paypal allows you to send money safely and securely to an email address, Pingit does the same for mobile phone numbers.

Pingit comes as a free-to-use application for your iPhone, Android or Blackberry smartphone and allows you to send up to 300 a day to anyone with a phone number and a UK bank account.

You input the amount you want to transfer and the phone number of the recipient. They then receive a text message telling them about the payment and asking you to register with the service to receive payment. If they don't register

within 24 hours, the transaction is cancelled.

Only Barclays current account holders are able to send payments at the moment, as the app is registered against their currents account with the bank, but anyone can receive payments from Pingit.

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MoneySmarket published Digital money: Time to kiss goodbye to cash?