New Amsterdam Media | Seth Shapiro

“The Influence of Audience”

Seth Shapiro — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:29:22 +0000

On 7/19 I’ll moderate a discussion on “The Influence of Audience” for BLT LA, at the Luxe Hotel in LA (Sunset @ 405). Social media has obviously increased discussion of the effect of audiences on the creation of media. But in truth (whether through market testing in TV, multiple mix releases in music, or test screenings of multiple endings for features) the community has always had a role in the birth, growth, and evolution of popular media.

It’s worth taking a look at cases where fans and haters have influenced the direction of major projects, and valuable to discuss how communities can be engaged to improve projects.

Mobile IPO stats

Seth Shapiro — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:42:09 +0000

By request: there has been one mobile IPO so far in 08 (OnMobile). There were 16 in 07, 10 of which were in the first half of the year.

… and PE is still up

Seth Shapiro — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:02:07 +0000

Unlike the dismal IPO/venture stats we mentioned yesterday, private equity is only slightly (3%) off its stellar, record-setting 2007 total ($313B) - press release is here.

ATT Dumps Dish, at least for now

Seth Shapiro — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:51:14 +0000

As expected, AT&T has ended its current five-year agreement with Dish, effective in this December. It did the same with DIRECTV a few months ago. Not clear what the long-term dance will be (or not be) between ATT and satellite - the acquisition speculation is not far behind us. if ATT does want a sat partner, this certainly clears the way for a year-end DTV/Dish bidding war.

Madonna

Seth Shapiro — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 03:29:00 +0000

Nobody cares

No venture-backed IPOs in Q2…

Seth Shapiro — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:33:32 +0000

According to the NVCA, there was not as single VC-led IPO in the last quarter. Not one. This follows a slow Q1, in which there were only five.

In the first half of 2007, there were 43.

SITE UPDATE

Seth Shapiro — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:59:54 +0000

We are updating the site with new features today. All bugs should be resolved by end of day. Thanks.

Canoe and the future of cable

Seth Shapiro — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:29:15 +0000

You may have read about Canoe Ventures, a long-in-development but recently-unveiled consortium of the US cable MSOs to create a national ad sales platform for cable. The venture points underlines the need for cable to modernize its ad sales businesses and compete more effectively. It gets ridiculed for obvious reasons (cable isn’t known for its lightning business response), but the effort could really matter. Will be posting some links re Canoe soon.

On-screen caller ID = The Clapper

Seth Shapiro — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 04:54:28 +0000

Every 18 months, someone trumpets Caller ID displayed on TV (an easy task for a cable modem or DSL obviously) as the long-awaited killer app of interactive TV

If this were true, then (to paraphrase James Carville) the digital TV industry would be the most expensive act of masturabation since Ross Perot’s candidacy.

We have cordless phones now. And, really, you can look at your phone while you watch TV.

Other than your boss, Caller on TV is not interesting to anyone on Earth.

ARC: The A&R Channel Site

Seth Shapiro — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 04:01:35 +0000

Just back from the road after some weeks in Philadelphia, San Francisco and elsewhere, all great.

btw the ARC website has been up for some time here. Please let us know what you think and, especially, if you have any shows or artists we should be looking at. Thanks.