AMAZON announced a new digital music store. The store will sell unprotected MP3 tracks that can play on almost any device or computer. EMI is the only major label to sign on for the service, which will open "later this year."

GOOGLE will transition to "universal search." Results will soon integrate video, text, news, and images on the main page.

THE NEW YORK TIMES is planning to allow bloggers to embed NYT videos on their sites. The company believes that distributing its content outside of NYTimes.com is necessary to "reach a broader audience."

CBS announced five "edgy" new shows for the fall, in an attempt to counteract its conservative image. Les Moonves said the shows will make people "feel differently" about CBS.

APPLE stock plunged 3% yesterday morning, after a false rumor about the iPhone was posted on a popular technology blog. The stock recovered after Apple disputed the report.

Comments

[Barlow Keener]

Martin Nisenhotz, Sr. VP, NYT Digital, gave an excellent presentation yesterday at the Streaming Media East tradeshow in NYC. His presentation was as enjoyable to listen to as reading the typical NYT article - concise, full of good facts (the numbers), with color (the videos), and analytic. As Robert Scoble said in his blog, Scoblizer.com, yesterday, Martin “Get’s It.”

If you do a back of the envelope on the numbers Martin presented you can see how close the NYT video group is to profitability. Martin reported that the NYT is doing now 5 million video impressions per month. He explained that 20% of the videos do not have video ads, like the war related videos. He noted that there are 20 video editors at NYT dedicated to working on regular reporters’ videos. He also said that the NYT is receiving $70CPM per video ad. That is a total estimated monthly revenue from video ads of $280,000 or, annualized, .5% of the total $750m annual internet video ad spend last year. (not bad!) Subtract salaries for the 20 editors with benefits (est $80,000/mth total) and the content delivery network (CDN) - like Akami or Limelight - for each 3 minute video at $.50/Gb or streaming at 256k - which is estimated at $230,000 for all 5 million impressions and it appears that the NYT internet video business is near breaking even or profitable (as long as you ignore the reporters' salary and G&A).

If the NYT showed two ads in each 3 minute video instead of one pre-roll – like an additional mid-roll or media rich mid-roll, the NYT video department would be profitable to the tune of an estimated $3m annually. Again, not bad for a group of reporters doing their regular jobs.