Sky News To Launch Arabic Service In 2012

The owner of Sky News announced a joint venture with investment firm Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corp (ADMIC) to bring a new, free-to-air Arabic-language news channel to viewers across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region from 2012.
ADMIC is owned by Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed al Nahyan, who also owns Manchester City football club.

BSkyB says the new company, based in Abu Dhabi, will operate under the Sky News brand and also offer consumers a "video-rich website and mobile applications".
John Ryley, head of Sky News, said: "This venture is a significant step in the development of Sky News.

"We intend to bring viewers a distinctive approach to Arabic news, building on Sky News' strong reputation for independent, impartial and innovative coverage."

The Man City owner also owns ADMIC, which signed the deal with Sky News
Chief executive Jeremy Darroch added: "Sky News is already one of the world's leading news services and now we're looking forward to bringing a new voice to Arabic audiences.

"The Middle East and North Africa is undergoing rapid development and our partnership with ADMIC means we are able to enter this dynamic marketplace with the support and expertise of a strong local partner."

Dr Sultan al Jaber, chairman of ADMIC and the new venture, said the channel would "set a new standard for broadcasting in the Middle East and North Africa".
He added: "The new channel will be an important, independent voice for the Arab world, providing accurate and in-depth reporting of all the interesting developments in the region."

Adrian Wells, previously head of international news at Sky News, has been appointed to work with the ADMIC team to launch the new channel.
A director of news will be appointed in due course to lead the venture on a permanent basis.

News content will be created and delivered by more than 180 multimedia journalists from new studios to be developed at Abu Dhabi's twofour54 media zone.

The channel will have a network of newsgathering bureaux across the region, in London and Washington DC - as well as access to Sky News' wider network of international bureaux.

Digital Advertising is Driving Growth of Traditional Media

Traditional advertising investments in television, print, radio and out-of-home are projected to grow only 1.8% but digital advertising investments in these media will grow by an estimated 28%, spurring total 3.6% growth in traditional media categories, according to Jack Myers Media Business Report's Media Vision 2020: Media, Advertising and Marketing Economic Health Report 2010-2020. The Report projects total 2010 U.S. marketing communications and advertising investments will grow 3.2% to $601.5 billion. The full report is available to Jack Myers subscribers. The newly recalibrated data includes 57 media and marketing categories and, for the first time in any advertising analysis, breaks down digital and traditional investments for 14 traditional media and marketing categories.

Consumer print magazine advertising is projected to increase 1.0%, but magazine publishers' digital advertising is estimated to increase 8.5% to nearly one billion dollars, driving magazine publishers' combined growth to 1.4%.

The new Myers Report includes detailed data on advertiser investments in Online Originated Display Advertising, Online Originated Video Content & Advertising, Mobile & Apps Advertising, Satellite/Internet Radio Advertising, Interactive/VOD/Addressable TV Advertising, Point-of-Influence/GPS Advertising, Videogame Advertising, Social Media/Word-of-Mouth/Conversational Marketing, Offline Public Relations, Branded Entertainment/Product Placement, Search Marketing (Online/Mobile), Experiential/Event Marketing, Cinema Advertising and Out-of-Home/Place-Based Advertising.

The report eliminates the traditional barriers between above and below-the-line marketing budgets. Marketers are integrating their budget allocations to reflect the increasing cross-over between their marketing and sales functions, which have historically been separated. This trend is especially apparent in social media, which is growing 50% to $1.2 billion in 2010. (Most Facebook advertising is accounted for within the new Online Originated Display Advertising category, is which increasing 9.2%.)

In early December, Jack Myers Media Business Report will release forecasts for 2011 and 2012, with long-term forecasts for both traditional and digital investments through 2020. While the data has been aggregated from multiple sources, the digital spending estimates for traditional media are based on primary research and input from industry experts. Since this is the first effort to develop such detailed insights, readers are encouraged to share insights and comments on the accuracy of this data.

Viacom Blocks Google TV

NEW YORK: Viacom joins ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX on the roster of broadcast groups that have blocked access to users of Google TV.

Full-length episodes of shows from such Viacom-owned channels as MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET are no longer available on the search engine's new Internet TV platform. Internet users can still access Viacom shows on its websites through desktop computers. Users of Google TV, however, are unable to find those Internet shows through the new service.

"We’re blocking access to our full episode content from Google TV’s web browser," the company said in a statement. "We continue to evaluate Google TV to identify opportunities where it may make sense to optimize our web content for the platform."

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes: Era of Media Moguls Is Over

NEW YORK - The era of media moguls is over, Time Warner chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes said here Wednesday.

Nowadays, big companies are the stars, and firms from the traditional and new media worlds act on the same stage, he said on the opening day of the 2010 International Council Meeting at The Paley Center for Media in a session that was webcast.
In the old media business world, people spoke of moguls who were often self-promoting guys and undisciplined when it came to deals and the like. "We're not moguls anymore," Bewkes said later. "We're reasonable people" who try to make the right decisions.

Asked about Netflix, which has given industry players headaches as they try to figure out whether it is friend or foe, Bewkes lauded the convenience and "great interface" of its online streaming service.

“We don’t worry about antagonizing Netflix,” he said. “But what you don’t want to do is undervalue the content”

Bewkes also showed no concern about other big tech players, such as Steve Jobs' Apple. If they tried to interfere with content companies' subscriptions, "it wouldn’t be good,” Bewkes warned. “But it’s not going to happen." After all, a tech company that doesn't support the company's popular content only "will degrade the value of their product.”

Asked about his personal media consumption, Bewkes said he reads the major newspapers - whether in paper or tablet form. And he likes to watch all news channels to see how they each cover key news items. Plus, "I watch a little Family Guy" because of his 13 year-old son, and the show is "pretty funny," although he wonders whether a 13-year old should watch that kind of show, Bewkes shared.

The TW CEO also once again signalled that the first half of 2011 will bring the launch of premium VOD films at price points of$20-plus. Asked whether a $50 price could make sense, he said that "seems high."

Discussing CNN, Bewkes said the main challenges is that "we have to do a better job at programming the news" and making it more accessible, understandable and interesting. He reiterated a point his team has often made that CNN attracts more viewers, but ratings overall are lower that those of Fox News, because busy people get news and leave quickly. "Or we bore the hell out of them," he quipped. "We are trying to fix that."

Mecom investor sells 14% stake

Mecom investor Invesco, which joined a shareholder rebellion to oust chief executive David Montgomery, has sold its 14% stake in the pan-European newspaper group.

Invesco's exit will fuel speculation that Montgomery may look to engineer a way to stay on at the company he founded a decade ago in a different role.

In September Invesco, the investment fund manager and Mecom's second-largest shareholder, supported a move by Aviva and Legal & General to try and replace Montgomery with Patrick Tillieux, a former senior executive at broadcasters SBS and ProSiebenSat.1, and introduce a new strategy to focus on its flagship Netherlands operation.

The rebel shareholders, which at the time jointly controlled more than 50% of Mecom, succeeded in forcing Montgomery into what was called a "planned retirement" after the company's pre-close trading statement in January. Plans to install Tillieux and change strategy were dropped as a result.

Invesco's sale of its stake in trading yesterday, which one source said was to a number of "blue chip institutions", leaves the rebels with less than 30% and in a weakened position to force any further changes in Mecom strategy.

Aviva, thought to be the most dissatisfied of the investors and leader of the rebellion, is the largest shareholder with 17.5%. L&G is third largest with 10%.

Invesco has been decreasing its stake since around early July, when it controlled more than 18%. The sale of its remaining stake is thought to be the single biggest trade in Mecom shares in at least three years.

At the time of his planned departure Montgomery said he still had the "complete confidence" of the board, which subsequently said it would start a process to "find the person best qualified to succeed" him.

Montgomery is currently battling unrest at Dutch subsidiary Wegener, which accounts for more than 40% of Mecom's total revenues and 88% of operating profit, over the sudden departure of chief executive Joop Munsterman.

Senior executives at the company have claimed that at several meetings Montgomery has said he will remain at the company. Mecom declined to comment.

In Mecom's most recent results, for the first six months of the year, the company showed signs of an improved financial performance, beating analyst expectations with pre-tax profits of £24.6m.

It is thought that Mecom's performance has shown continued improvement, which Montgomery is likely to use as evidence that the strategy is working and he should stay at the company.

A group called Governance for Owners, which controls a stake of about 14% in Wegener, requested an extraordinary general meeting, which is due to take place on 22 December.

BBC to Sell Discovery Its Stake in Joint Venture

PARIS — Discovery Communications, the U.S. operator of science and entertainment television channels, stepped up its expansion plans Monday, saying it had agreed to buy out the BBC’s 50 percent stake in their international joint venture.

Discovery said it would pay $156 million to BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the publicly financed BBC, for its half ownership in the venture, which operates the Animal Planet channel in Europe, Asia and Latin America and the Liv network in Latin America.

At home in Britain, the BBC has come under pressure from commercial rivals and some politicians over the breadth of its ambitions in areas ranging from magazine publishing to the Internet. The BBC Trust, which oversees the broadcaster, last year urged the BBC to focus on developing channels that bear the broadcaster’s own brand name, like BBC America.

John Smith, chief executive of BBC Worldwide, said the talks with Discovery on the sale of the stake predated the BBC Trust report, but said the proceeds would be spent on marketing and distribution of its own branded channels, as well as programming for them.

The BBC and Discovery extended one part of their partnership, under which Discovery invests in BBC science and nature programs like “Life” and “Planet Earth,” and acquires the U.S. rights to them. The BBC previously sold its 20 percent stake in the U.S. Animal Planet channel to Discovery.

For Discovery, full ownership of Animal Planet and Liv will provide greater latitude to revamp their programming, said Mark Hollinger, chief executive of Discovery Networks International. Discovery has been trying to broaden the audience for channels like Liv, previously known as People+Arts, by adding more entertainment shows.

“The BBC has been a great partner, but when you own something 100 percent you can do things that you can’t if you are in a partnership,” he said.

Discovery has struggled to develop “flagship” networks that could help generate more lucrative advertising and distribution deals internationally, Mr. Hollinger said. In an effort to build audiences, Discovery introduced its TLC channel, which is popular with women in the United States, in dozens of other countries this year.

Following the review by the BBC Trust, BBC Worldwide is also moving to sell a stake in its magazine business, as well as its 50 percent share in UKTV, a group of British channels that are available on cable, satellite and other digital TV systems. BBC Worldwide’s commercial activities contributed £73.6 million, or $118.6 million, to the BBC’s budget in its latest financial year.

Mr. Hollinger is one of several candidates to buy the stake in UKTV, which the BBC jointly owns with Virgin Media, the biggest British cable company.

“We are looking at that portfolio; it’s a great portfolio,” he said. “It’s hard to know how it will turn out.”

Forbes Goes Outside the Family for President, CEO

In a major break with tradition, Forbes Media named publishing vet Mike Perlis as its new president/CEO—marking the first time a non-Forbes family member is running the 93-year-old company.

Steve Forbes, the chairman and editor in chief of Forbes Media, will give up the CEO title. His brother, Tim Forbes, will relinquish the COO title while remaining chairman of Forbes Digital, a member of the Forbes Media Board and what Steve Forbes called “one of the company’s chief strategists.”

Perlis most recently was a general partner at SoftBank Capital, a venture cap firm focused on digital businesses after a traditional print media publishing career that included stints as president, CEO of Ziff-Davis Publishing and president of the Playboy Publishing Group. His appointment begins Dec. 1.

The brothers reportedly started looking for new leadership early this year.

“This is an unprecedented time in the media business that demands bold moves,” Steve Forbes said in an announcement.

It’s been a year of major changes for Forbes during turbulent times for its print business. Earlier this year, the company bought True/Slant and hired its founder Lewis D’Vorkin to overhaul the namesake magazine and Web site by giving advertisers and unpaid contributors a bigger voice.

What to Expect as News Corp. Dives Into Business of Education

Hearst Magazines Chairman Cathie Black got most of the attention last week when she was named the next New York City schools chancellor, succeeding Joel Klein as the head of a $23 billion public-education system with 1.1 million students. But Mr. Klein's new job at News Corp., advising Chairman-CEO Rupert Murdoch on getting into the education industry, may eventually prove more captivating, both for education and the media business.

Ms. Black, after all, is going to build on eight years of work by Mr. Klein and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who will still make the big calls on public education. But Mr. Klein is going to seek opportunities in education, an occasionally polarizing area where some people don't like to see private companies tread, for News. Corp., an occasionally polarizing media behemoth whose assets include Fox Broadcasting, Fox News, 20th Century Fox and The Wall Street Journal.

Hearst's Cathie Black Named New York City Schools Chancellor

Succeeds Joel Klein, Who Jumps to News Corp. as Special Adviser to Murdoch
Although the Washington Post Co. set a precedent for a big media outfit getting involved with education, News Corp. is likely to do it very differently. The Washington Post Co. makes most of its revenue, 62%, from its Kaplan education division, and most of its education revenue from higher education programs offering bachelor's, master's and other degrees and certificates.

But the higher-education business is poised to contract as a result of government regulations focusing on excessive student debt loads, said Ariel Sokol, an analyst covering the Washington Post Co. for UBS. "I sincerely doubt that you're going to see new entrants in this space any time soon," he said.

And, of course, Mr. Klein has spent his tenure as schools chancellor working on education from kindergarten through 12th grade. So it's most likely that Mr. Murdoch and News Corp. are eying the same turf, where the business opportunities include charter schools, virtual schools and technology-based teaching and learning aids.

The immediate best bet is that News Corp. will seek possible investments in technology platforms that schools, public or private, can adopt to help students learn -- a kind of paid-content business, which is one of Mr. Murdoch's big media priorities.

Mr. Klein referred to those kinds of products last week during the press conference introducing Ms. Black as his successor. "As recently as yesterday I was in Brooklyn, looking at a really great learning platform that our kids are engaged with and that our teachers love," he said. He was visiting a kindergarten in Brooklyn that uses Time to Know, a digital curriculum system offered by a private company of the same name.

"To me that's the future and I want to be at the center of it," Mr. Klein said. "That's why I've accepted an offer from News Corp. to become an executive vice president in the chairman's office and a member of their board of directors."

Whether outsiders will welcome News Corp. into the education business is another question. "There is a reasonable debate to have on education, about what we need to do, about the federal government's role in the process," said Ari Rabin-Havt, VP-research and communications at Media Matters, so relentless a critic of Fox News that George Soros gave it $1 million last month explicitly for that reason. "Fox News as an entity gets in the way of those debates."

Fox News host Glenn Beck has certainly criticized the school system. "Sell a car if you have to," he told viewers earlier this year. "Get your kids out of this indoctrination or our republic will be lost."

European Broadcasters Channeling Fear

PARIS — If there is one thing that European commercial television broadcasters like less than a recession, it is that other “R” word — regulation.

The industry has rebounded from the economic downturn, with advertising revenue recovering to prerecession levels, according to the Association of Commercial Television in Europe, an industry group based in Brussels.

As other media reel from technological changes, television keeps going strong. Yes, the traditional broadcasters — commercial and publicly financed networks — now have to share audiences with hundreds of new digital channels, but overall viewership keeps climbing. It has crept up to an average of more than three and a half hours a day across Europe, according to the television association. More and more viewers pay, too: British Sky Broadcasting, the satellite broadcaster, recently reported that it had reached its long-term goal of 10 million subscribers.

“For more than 10 years, people have been saying television will lose, and that is just not the case,” said Philippe Delusinne, president of the broadcasters’ association.

Yet few high-fives were exchanged last week as members of the association gathered in Brussels for an annual conference. That is because of their fear, justified or not, of regulators and lawmakers at the European Commission in Brussels and in national capitals across the 27-country bloc.

Perhaps their biggest worry is a pending overhaul of European copyright rules. Lawmakers want to make it easier to license television shows and other media for use by online video services, which remain meager across Europe. Some commercial broadcasters fear that a greater availability of online services would weaken one of their biggest selling points — exclusive rights to sports, movies and other popular programming.

The doyenne of Brussels regulators, Neelie Kroes, who is now in charge of the E.U.’s digital agenda, visited the broadcasters’ conference last week, where she made it clear that she took a dim view of complacency.

“The truth is that technological revolutions always pose challenges for gatekeepers,” she said in a speech. “The pattern is the same for the digital revolution as it was with the industrial revolution and the printing press. It is only the scale and pace that is different today.”

Despite their fear of regulators, commercial television companies have not fared all that badly in Brussels of late. Among other things, they have secured a requirement that their archrivals, public broadcasters like the BBC, must demonstrate the “public value” of investments in digital services that could compete with private-sector offerings.

At the national level, commercial broadcasters have had a harder time. Lawmakers in Spain and France, for example, have imposed new taxes on commercial broadcasters to help finance public broadcasting. At the same time, France appears to be backtracking on a pledge to remove ads from public TV, which was expected to direct more ad revenue to the commercial channels.

“When the economy gets difficult it is easy politically to make decisions like this,” Mr. Delusinne said.

But public broadcasters can no longer take their political protection for granted. With austerity the order of the day in European capitals, their financing suddenly looks a lot more precarious than it did two years ago when commercial rivals, reeling from the ad slump, envied their steady revenue.

In Britain, for example, the BBC has agreed to absorb hundreds of millions of pounds in costs previously covered by the government, including the budget for the World Service. The license fee that finances the BBC is set to be frozen at the current level for six years. The broadcaster’s management and journalists have been caught up in a nasty dispute over pensions.

In some other countries, particularly in Eastern Europe, public broadcasters are facing bigger cuts.

Against that backdrop, European commercial channels have a fair amount to celebrate — as long as they keep the volume turned down.

Twitter links users to Apple music social network

Apple announced the Ping social network in September. It works within Apple's iTunes music program and lets users follow artists and recommend songs to their chosen circle of friends.

Twitter said its more than 175 million registered users can now connect their accounts to Ping, allowing them to put song previews and links to buy music from the iTunes store directly in their messages, which are known as "tweets."

Twitter's deal comes after Apple failed to strike a Ping partnership with social networking leader Facebook, which has more than 500 million users.

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs told the All Things Digital blog in September that Apple had held talks with Facebook about a deal related to Ping, but the discussions did not produce an agreement.

Facebook declined to comment on Thursday.

Newsweek Site to Shut Down

There apparently isn’t room for two sites at the Newsweek Daily Beast Company. The new joint venture will kill off Newsweek.com, even though its audience is larger than the Beast’s.

Newsweek.com, the offshoot of a 77-year-old brand, has 3.8 million monthly unique visitors to the two-year-old Beast’s 1.5 million, according to Compete.com.

The Beast is the survivor, said Stephen Colvin, the company’s new CEO, “Because the Daily Beast is a very credible and successful news and opinion Web site. And with great vitality and distinct voice.”

The site will publish Newsweek.com-branded content, and Newsweek.com traffic will be directed there.

As expected, Newsweek CEO Tom Ascheim (who, ironically, was brought on to pump up Newsweek digitally) is leaving the company.

The Newsweek, Newsweek.com and Daily Beast staffs will be combined under Tina Brown, the Beast founder who was named the company’s new chief editor. The combined staff will work out of the financial district, where Newsweek was already planning to relocate after its sale to Sidney Harman three months ago. The move is scheduled to take place in a few weeks.

Skepticism about Newsweek and The Daily Beast merger is running high, but Colvin said the two could make more money as a combined entity.

“We’re providing a much bigger platform and access to a very sought-after audience for marketers in the various platforms they want,” he said in a phone call a few hours after the merger was announced. “And that will definitely lead to all kinds of incremental revenue opportunities. And Tina Brown is a very talented editor. There’s no doubt that will lead to circulation growth.”

Jitters about layoffs are running high at Newsweek, whose staff has already been diminished by layoffs and defections since its sale to Harman. Colvin was noncommittal about further cuts. He said while many Newsweek staffers would fit the kinds of hires the Beast was looking to make, adding, “Obviously there will be efficiencies.”

News Corp.'s James Murdoch Bets on Paid Model

James Murdoch has no use for the Internet-is-free crowd. The CEO of News Corp. Europe and Asia said finding a business model for news in the digital era isn't all that complicated.

"If you're going to monetize something, you should probably not give it away for free," he said during a Q&A at the Monaco Media Forum. "I think digital newspapers' economics will look a lot more like cable channels."

It's a long road to get there. The Wall Street Journal has been able to charge for access because most of its subscribers are using corporate credit cards. But the jury is out on subscriptions elsewhere in the empire. The Times and Sunday Times were put behind a pay wall in July. News Corp. last week crowed it has sold 105,000 digital products, a roll-up that doesn't break out monthly subscriptions. Some estimates put that figure at just 10,000 per month at the expense of most of its Web traffic.

Murdoch said publishers need to be willing to sacrifice wide reach in the process. The upside is those that pay tend to spend much more time with the publication, he added.

"We're happy to invest more and price it fairly and accept the fact that not everyone will pay," he said.

The belief in free is an article of faith for the tech world. Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired, even wrote an entire book on the economics of business models based around technology enabling free services. Those views aren't in tune with reality when it comes to media, Murdoch said. They rarely, for example, take into account the chain of professionals that need to get paid along the way for the production of quality content.

"There's no new technology that makes athletes less greedy," he said.

The invitation-only Monaco Media Forum, which continues through Nov. 12, gathers approximately 300 global leaders in traditional and new media for discussions about the future of online, broadcast and print.

Yuri Milner: New-Style Oligarch?

He sees himself as a 'servant' of the digital marketplace


Digital Sky Technologies CEO Yuri Milner is a big investor in the hottest Internet companies of the day, but the Russian businessman isn't keen on the idea he's an "oligarch."

Instead, Milner prefers to think of himself in the services business, bringing his knowledge of East and West to his investments in Facebook, Zynga and Groupon.

"I'm a servant," he said in a wide-ranging interview with AdweekMedia editorial director Michael Wolff at the Monaco Media Forum today. "I'm trying to align our interests with them."

DST became the talk of Silicon Valley when it invested $200 million in Facebook in May.

Since then, it has led a $180 million round for Zynga and $135 million financing for Groupon.

It is reportedly interested in a big new round of funding for Twitter.

DST's Russian business, Mail.ru, went public on the London Stock Exchange this week.

The positive reception for the collection of e-mailing, social networking and gaming properties can be seen as a barometer to the reception Facebook would get if it decides to go public.

"There is a significant momentum behind the social Internet, a wide range of public investors were very enthusiastic about that," he said.

Milner, a theoretical physicist by training, believes large-scale connectivity is giving rise to the "era of mathematicians," in which algorithms can tap into huge pools of social data to inform people of everything from new friends to new products. Every 12-18 months, people double the amount of information they share, further improving the ability of a social platform like Facebook to deploy artificial intelligence, he said.

"There's a huge demand for that sort of intelligence just because of this unprecedented sharing," Milner said.

Milner was mum on a possible Facebook IPO, saying the company's executives will decide when and if that's a right move. He anticipates Facebook will further diversify its business model to complement its advertising business with more direct payments from users, which is more popular with Chinese social networks.

"I'm trying to learn from various corners of the world," Milner said. He noted a Chinese entrepreneur recently jokingly told him, "We can talk as communist to communist."

The invitation-only Monaco Media Forum, which continues through Nov. 12, gathers approximately 300 global leaders in traditional and new media for discussions about the future of online, broadcast and print.

Fox Joins Broadcasters in Blocking Google TV

NBC, CBS and ABC have already said no to Google TV, and now Fox is making it unanimous.
Fox is the last of the broadcast networks to block episodes of its shows from appearing
on Google's video platform. Google's "footprint was too small."

Newsweek & Daily Beast said to resume merger talks after 3-week cooling off period

Big-name principals behind Newsweek and the Daily Beast have resumed merger talks, insiders said late today.

Talks between the online news firm, owned by media mogul Barry Diller and led by Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown, and Newsweek’s new owner, Sidney Harman, broke down Oct. 18 amid reports Harman didn’t want to cede power as an opinion leader.

Sources at the time said Brown had insisted upon full editorial control of the combined newsroom.

Now sources say that after a three-week cooling off period, talks are back on.
Neither Brown nor Harman could be reached for comment at presstime.
Harman, a 92-year-old stereo tycoon, bought the struggling magazine from the Washington Post Co. in August for $1 and the assumption of up to $40 million in liabilities.

Hulu Brings in the Dough: $240M of Revenue in 2010

Hulu is going to make more than $240 million in revenue in 2010, the company’s CEO Jason Kilar revealed at GigaOM’s NewTeeVee Live conference today. Kilar added that Hulu generated $108 million in revenue in 2009. Hulu had 30 million users in October 2010, who watched some 260 million content streams as well as 800 million ad streams during that month. Kilar said that Hulu now has 235 content partners. The company had 352 advertising clients in Q3.

“The leading source of revenue is through advertising,” said Kilar, adding that more than 40 percent of money generated with content in this industry is generated through advertising. This has led Hulu to optimize its ad experience, and Kilar showed a few new features that the company will roll out in the future.

Hulu will introduce personalized advertising, addressing users by name. Kilar said that this type of personalized advertising is getting a 10 percent response rate. The company is also comparing users’ viewing history to develop more exact profiles. For example, it can with a 99 percent certainty tell whether a viewer is male or female just by looking at his video viewing history.

Another feature the company will roll out is the ability to swap out commercials, so that users who don’t want to watch a car commercial can switch to a commercial for dog food instead, for instance. Kilar said that the advertisier of the ad that gets swapped out doesn’t get charged a cent. Kilar said that ads on Hulu are 55 percent more effective than ads displayed on traditional channels.

Kilar didn’t want to comment on plans for an IPO when quizzed by Om Malik during the fireside chat following his keynote speech. Asked why Hulu Plus is showing its users commercials, he reiterated that advertising will always be a core component on Hulu. Om questioned whether more accountability in advertising will lead to a much smaller cake for everyone. Kilar responded that accountability is essential to move ad dollars online. “That’s the way the world should be,” he said.

So what’s Kilar’s take on cord cutting? “To call it today, it’s premature,” he said, adding that this doesn’t mean cord cutting won’t happen in the future. However, he doesn’t believe that Hulu is an enabler of cord cutting, simply because sports and other forms of content are missing. That’s not an accident, Kilar explained: “Hulu, Hulu Plus and Netflix have all been consciously designed… not to be a substitute for pay TV services in the living room.”

CBS, ABC Aim to Stop Online TV Site FilmOn

Reuters reports that CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox are asking a federal court to stop the   Internet video service FilmOn from offering TV channels over the web and on   Apple's iPad for free. "I'm not a  thief," says founder Alki David. "We're a bona   fide business. We're not pirates." ABC's 'Dancing' Attracts Tea Party Viewers.

Quadrangle's Media Pow-Wow Gets Underway

Media moguls and financiers are gathering at New York's Plaza Hotel for Foursquare, the annual invitation-only media conference held by private-equity firm Quadrangle. At Wednesday's "pitch panel," startups will be grilled by old-time media execs