Social Networks in a Battle for the Second Screen

The companies were seeking more than just bragging rights.

Facebook and Twitter both see the social conversation around television as a way to increase use of their sites and win a bigger piece of advertisers’ spending, which eMarketer estimates will be $171 billion across all types of media this year in the United States. In recent months, they have engaged in an escalating battle — publicly and behind the scenes — to claim the title of the nation’s digital water cooler as they woo networks and advertisers.

Sorting out which site deserves the crown, however, is tricky. Each company uses its own standard for determining social TV conversation, and unlike other types of Internet traffic, there is no neutral arbiter.

Twitter, citing data calculated by Nielsen’s SocialGuide service under a confidential formula, said about 600,000 people had posted more than 1.2 million messages, or tweets, about the “Breaking Bad” finale over about a 10-hour period surrounding the East and West Coast broadcasts. But that included retweets, which are messages that simply pass along what others have posted.

Facebook said three million people had chimed in on its service. But that counted original posts, comments on those posts and even “likes,” the quick thumbs-up that people can give to a friend’s Facebook item. And the service looked at everything in a 24-hour period that included the broadcasts.

The public relations blitz shows how important old-fashioned television has become to the Internet-era social networks, particularly Twitter. The company, based in San Francisco, has signed TV-related deals with dozens of advertisers and content distributors over the last year, like Verizon Wireless and ESPN, to burnish its growth prospects as it prepares to sell stock to the public for the first time. That initial public offering is likely to take place next month.

Neither Facebook nor Twitter has disclosed how much revenue it makes from advertising related to TV, and some industry experts doubt they are earning much.

Still, there is little question that television is a favorite topic for users. About half of Americans visit social networks while watching TV, and one in six Americans posts comments about shows during their broadcasts, according to a coming report by eMarketer, which found that people in some countries like China and India are even more active in their chatter.

Live events like sports attract the highest engagement. “Sports events comprise somewhere between 2 and 3 percent of TV programming in any given month but generate close to 50 percent of the Twitter activity” around TV, said Sean Casey, senior vice president for product at Nielsen’s SocialGuide unit.

Nielsen has found that the average audience for Twitter messages about a TV show is 50 times the number of people posting messages about the show. If 2,000 people are posting messages about a show, for example, an average of 100,000 people are seeing those messages. The research firm also found that heavy Twitter activity around a popular broadcast can drive more people to both the show and Twitter.

That kind of potential impact intrigues networks and advertisers, and this week, Nielsen began reporting detailed Twitter activity along with conventional TV audience ratings to its clients.

For viewers, the line between what they see on TV and what they see on their smartphones and tablets is quickly blurring.

During this year’s United States Open, for example, the beer maker Heineken sponsored the tennis tournament in New York, the television broadcast and video highlights posted on Twitter, including a remarkable 54-shot rally between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Potential viewers could catch up on the matches from anywhere.

“We were trying to bring people to the event who weren’t there,” said Ron Amram, senior media director at Heineken USA. “All of us have realized how powerful Twitter can be to get the conversation going.”

Twitter, considered by many to be the leader in social conversation around live TV, has spent much of 2013 courting networks like Fox and MTV and consumer brands like Heineken. Last week, for example, it signed a deal with the National Football League to distribute football clips sponsored by Verizon Wireless and other companies.

Such partnerships have created a significant new revenue stream for Twitter.

“We’ve built a business around working collaboratively with TV,” said Adam Bain, Twitter’s president of global revenue. “We really see our role as a force multiplier.”

Although Mr. Bain declined to provide financial details about the initiative, the public may learn more when the company files information for prospective investors, which could occur as soon as this week.

Facebook, whose social platform is built more around each individual’s web of relationships than rapid-fire conversation, has a more complicated relationship with TV.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: October 3, 2013

An earlier version of this article misstated, because of erroneous information provided by Nielsen, the average audience for Twitter messages about a TV show. The number of viewers of such messages was found to be 50 times the number of people posting the messages (some posters send multiple messages); it is not the case that an average of 50 people see each tweet. 

Narrowing Second Quarter Loss, Yelp Raises Sales Forecast for Year

The quarter's loss was smaller and revenue growth was bigger than analysts had expected. Yelp shares gained more than 5 percent in after-hours trading.

Yelp is getting clicks, helping it increase its ad sales. It drew 108 million unique visitors per month in the second quarter, a 38 percent increase from a year earlier. It's also adding content, with 42.5 million total reviews, up 41 percent from a year ago.

But it's still losing money. The company reported a loss of $878,000, or a penny per share, compared with a loss of $2 million, or 3 cents per share, in the April-June period last year. Revenue soared 69 percent to $55 million.

Analysts expected a loss of 4 cents per share on $53.3 million in revenue, according to a FactSet survey.

The San Francisco company predicted revenue of $58 million to $59 million in the third quarter revenue and raised its outlook for the year to $222 million to $224 million from its previous guidance of $216 million to $218 million.

Both would slightly beat the forecasts of analysts, who were expecting $57.3 million in the September quarter and $219.8 million for all of 2013.

Yelp is trying to expand its presence on mobile devices, where Yelp users conduct about 59 percent of their searches. It's also launching features to draw advertisers to the site, and this month it acquired the SeatMe app used to reserve seats in restaurants.

The company is also spending much more as it grows. Sales and marketing costs rose 52 percent to $30.8 million, while research and development expense jumped 86 percent to $8 million and overhead costs climbed 69 percent to $10.1 million.

The stock ended regular trading up a penny at $41.80. Shares have more than doubled this year. In aftermarket trading Wednesday, they added $2.25, or 5.4 percent, to $44.05.

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Rihanna Covers Vogue For The Second Time

You are Here: Hip Hop News Daily » PEEP THIS » Rihanna Covers Vogue For The Second Time

The last time Rihanna covered Vogue her flaming red hair gave Disney’s underwater princess Ariel a run for her money, but the pop star’s second cover finds her sporting her new cropped black ‘do with a red dress. A few weeks back Rih tweeted about shooting the new feature and she revealed the cover via Instagram this weekend.

“Mama I made it! Here’s #2,” she wrote early Saturday morning (October 13), sharing the cover with her millions of followers on Twitter. The November cover is timed well with the upcoming November 19 release of her 7th album Unapologetic. Rihanna shared the album artwork earlier this week, which found her posing topless, happily showing off her new Isis chest tattoo that caused such a stir when she first revealed it.

Regarding the brazen cover art and title and of her new album, Rihanna simply had this to say: “#UNAPLOGETIC #phuckyoapologies. Her Vogue feature should certainly be an interesting one.

RapFix

Dina Lohan to Dr. Phil — I WANT A SECOND CHANCE

Dina Lohan is telling friends ... she knows she looked like a total train wreck in her recent Dr. Phil interview -- but she insists she's not an out-of-control drunk ... and she wants to prove it in a SECOND Dr. Phil interview.Sources close to D...

Yelp Revenue Up 67% for Second Quarter

It also reported a loss that was lower than Wall Street’s expectations. Yelp now projects full-year revenue of $135 million to $136 million, up from its previous forecast of $128 million to $132 million.

Active local business accounts, or the number of businesses that advertise with the company, rose to 32,000 in the second quarter from about 27,000 in the first quarter as it started operations in new markets.

“We are now active in 90 Yelp markets around the world, and we believe there are more than 1,000 cities like these, leaving ample room to continue launching in these markets,” Yelp’s chief executive, Jeremy Stoppelman, said in a conference call with analysts.

The company, which had more than 78 million monthly active users at the end of the quarter, said it expected that number to grow through partnerships with Apple and Microsoft.

Yelp’s listings are expected to be integrated into the new maps services on Apple’s latest mobile operating system, and to be included in Bing search engine results after a recent deal with Microsoft.

Yelp, which competes with Google Places, Yahoo Local, Local.com and Angie’s List, makes money by selling ads and other services to businesses like restaurants.

The company reported a net loss of $2 million, or 3 cents a share, for the second quarter, compared with $1.2 million, or 8 cents a share, for the period a year earlier.

Revenue jumped 67 percent to $32.7 million. Analysts on average had expected a loss of 6 cents per share on $30.5 million in revenue.

Yelp’s shares rose more than 14 percent in after-hours trading, to $21.50. The company went public in March at $15 a share, and it has outshone other highly promoted Internet stocks like Facebook, Groupon and Zynga. After an initial pop, the market value of all of those has eroded.

Yelp Revenue Up 67% for Second Quarter

It also reported a loss that was lower than Wall Street’s expectations. Yelp now projects full-year revenue of $135 million to $136 million, up from its previous forecast of $128 million to $132 million.

Active local business accounts, or the number of businesses that advertise with the company, rose to 32,000 in the second quarter from about 27,000 in the first quarter as it started operations in new markets.

“We are now active in 90 Yelp markets around the world, and we believe there are more than 1,000 cities like these, leaving ample room to continue launching in these markets,” Yelp’s chief executive, Jeremy Stoppelman, said in a conference call with analysts.

The company, which had more than 78 million monthly active users at the end of the quarter, said it expected that number to grow through partnerships with Apple and Microsoft.

Yelp’s listings are expected to be integrated into the new maps services on Apple’s latest mobile operating system, and to be included in Bing search engine results after a recent deal with Microsoft.

Yelp, which competes with Google Places, Yahoo Local, Local.com and Angie’s List, makes money by selling ads and other services to businesses like restaurants.

The company reported a net loss of $2 million, or 3 cents a share, for the second quarter, compared with $1.2 million, or 8 cents a share, for the period a year earlier.

Revenue jumped 67 percent to $32.7 million. Analysts on average had expected a loss of 6 cents per share on $30.5 million in revenue.

Yelp’s shares rose more than 14 percent in after-hours trading, to $21.50. The company went public in March at $15 a share, and it has outshone other highly promoted Internet stocks like Facebook, Groupon and Zynga. After an initial pop, the market value of all of those has eroded.

Zynga, Maker of FarmVille, Reports Sluggish Second Quarter

Weak second-quarter financial results and worse expectations for the rest of the year sent Zynga’s already faltering stock down in late trading Wednesday by more than a third, to $3.18 a share.

The unexpected news was seen as boding ill for Facebook, which is closely tied to Zynga and will issue its first earnings report as a public company on Thursday. Facebook shares fell 8 percent in late trading.

For Zynga, a Silicon Valley darling whose public offering last December seemed to herald a wave of tech success, just about everything went wrong at once.

A brief list: Facebook made changes to its gaming platform that hampered Zynga regulars. A critical new game, the Ville, was delayed. Another new game, Mafia Wars II, just was not very good, executives conceded. The heavily hyped Draw Something, acquired in March, proved more fad than enduring classic. Some old standbys also lost some appeal.

“Facebook made a number of changes in the quarter,” John Schappert, chief operating officer, said in a conference call with analysts. “These changes favored new games. Our users did not remain as engaged and did not come back as often.”

Revenue for the second quarter was $332 million, below analysts’ expectations of $343 million. And the company lost $22.8 million, or 3 cents a share in the quarter, although excluding one-time items it had a profit of 1 cent a share — still below expectations.

But the real problem was that Zynga slashed the forecast for its bookings — revenue less fees it pays Facebook — to as low as $1.15 billion for 2012, from $1.47 billion.

It was a somewhat contentious conference call. One analyst, Richard Greenfield of BTIG, brought up to Mark Pincus, Zynga’s chief executive, that he had sold stock at $12 a share shortly after the public offering. Mr. Pincus did not directly respond beyond saying “we believe in the opportunity for social gaming and play to be a mass-market activity, as it is already becoming.”

After the call, Mr. Greenfield downgraded Zynga’s stock to neutral from buy in a report titled, “We are sorry and embarrassed by our mistake.”

In an interview, Mr. Greenfield said: “Right now, everything is going wrong for Zynga. In a rapidly changing Internet landscape that is moving to mobile, it’s very hard to have confidence these issues are temporary.”

Most Zynga games are free. The company makes money from a small core of dedicated users who buy virtual goods like tractors in FarmVille. Over the last year, the average daily amount of money Zynga took in from these core users dropped 10 percent even as the overall number of users expanded.

“Zynga’s challenge has been to drive up efforts to keep their attention and broaden their user base — which they did — but now they need to get them to pay,” said Michael Gartenberg of Gartner. “Increasing the number of players doesn’t mean you’re making money off them.”

Mr. Gartenberg added a thought that would bring chills to any Zynga executive: “At the end of the day, though, virtual goods might not be a viable business strategy. People eventually stop spending money in virtual goods and want to spend that money on real goods.”

Zynga and Facebook are tied at the hip. Until recently, Zynga games could be played only on the Facebook platform, and for every dollar that users spent on buying virtual goods, Facebook pocketed 30 cents, its principal moneymaking channel other than advertising.

That partnership has continued. Zynga has seven of the top 10 games on Facebook. In a closely watched experiment, Facebook has started offering advertisements to its users on Zynga.com. It is the first time Facebook has spread ads outside its walls.

Zynga’s efforts to develop its own gaming platform independent of Facebook are still in the early stages. A Facebook spokesman declined to comment.

David Streitfeld reported from San Francisco and Jenna Wortham from New York. Somini Sengupta contributed reporting from San Francisco.

Google Continues Growth in Second Quarter

Advertising, Google’s main business, does not always make as much money on phones as it does on computers, and the price that advertisers pay for clicks on Google ads has decreased 16 percent since last year. And Motorola Mobility, the mobile device maker that Google now owns, is losing money.

Still, Google continues to chug along in its vast search advertising business and make headway in newer businesses like display advertising. Its core business, not including Motorola, had net revenue of $8.36 billion, less than the $8.41 billion that analysts had expected but up 21 percent over last year. Google did not break out net income for the two businesses, but for the combined company it climbed 11 percent. Google shares were up 2 percent in after-hours trading.

Google’s blossoming mobile strategy makes it even harder to differentiate among the big technology companies. Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon each have mobile devices, apps and cloud storage. And it is in those areas that the tech giants are competing.

In June, Google introduced the Nexus 7, a sleek seven-inch tablet to compete with the iPad, the Kindle and the Surface. It also showed the Nexus Q, for home entertainment; Internet-connected Google Glasses; and a new version of its Android mobile operating system, Jelly Bean.

The idea is to offer mobile devices so more people use Google services everywhere they go, instead of devices and services from competitors.

“All of the combatants in the intergalactic race for supremacy appear to be launching consumer products and hardware,” said Jordan Rohan, an Internet analyst at Stifel Nicolaus. “Google’s management team realizes that if consumers lock into the Apple ecosystem, it’s going to be hard to sell them Android devices in the future.”

But while Google is meeting people on the devices they want to use, analysts are closely watching whether it can make as much money on mobile devices as it has on desktop computers.

People have long described the price difference between print and Web ads as moving from analog dollars to digital dimes. Cellphone ads could be described as trading those dimes for mobile pennies. Clicks on mobile ads cost about 40 percent of the price of desktop ads, according to Stifel Nicolaus. That is because there is more inventory with the addition of mobile ads, and that could keep some Google users from seeing ads on computers. In addition, people are less likely to make purchases on their phones.

“The reality is when your click prices are going down, it means that advertisers are paying less for your inventory,” said Colin W. Gillis, a technology analyst at BGC Financial.

Google executives said the decline in ad prices was mostly because of foreign exchange rates, that the mobile ad business was healthy and that mobile searches were not cannibalizing desktop searches.

“We believe that mobile searches are mostly incremental,” said Susan Wojcicki, senior vice president for advertising. “For example, on weekends when users are out and about we see a rise in mobile activity and when users come back on Monday we see a rise on desktop.”

Google dominates mobile advertising with 95 percent market share for search ads and 52 percent market share for all types of mobile ads, according to eMarketer. The number of paid clicks on Google ads increased 42 percent over last year.

In a statement, Larry Page, Google’s chief executive, called it a “strong quarter” with “a bunch of exciting new products” and said that with the acquisition of Motorola, “we’re excited about the potential to build great devices for users.”

Mr. Page did not speak to analysts on the earnings conference call, however, because of an ailment that has left him unable to speak for weeks. Though analysts said his health is an ongoing risk, Google executives declined to offer details.

“Larry has lost his voice, and we said that means he cannot do any public speaking engagements at the time, including today’s earnings call,” said Nikesh Arora, Google’s chief business officer. “But he’s here and continues to run the company and is involved in any strategic decisions we’re making.”

Google reported second-quarter revenue of $12.21 billion, up 35 percent from $9.03 billion in the year-ago quarter. Net revenue, which excludes payments to ad partners, was $9.61 billion, up from $6.92 billion. Net income rose to $2.79 billion, or $8.42 a share, from $2.51 billion, or $7.68. Excluding the cost of stock options, Google’s second-quarter profit was $10.12 a share, compared with $8.74 last year.

Analysts scrambled to make sense of Google’s earnings report because for the first time it included Motorola, but not full quarterly results for the device maker because the acquisition closed May 22. Motorola lost $233 million on $1.25 billion in revenue during that period — results that analysts called “frightening.”

Patrick Pichette, Google’s chief financial officer, asked investors to give Google time to do its homework on Motorola. The addition of Motorola’s 20,293 employees nearly doubled Google’s head count.

Google Continues Growth in Second Quarter

Advertising, Google’s main business, does not always make as much money on phones as it does on computers, and the price that advertisers pay for clicks on Google ads has decreased 16 percent since last year. And Motorola Mobility, the mobile device maker that Google now owns, is losing money.

Still, Google continues to chug along in its vast search advertising business and make headway in newer businesses like display advertising. Its core business, not including Motorola, had net revenue of $8.36 billion, less than the $8.41 billion that analysts had expected but up 21 percent over last year. Google did not break out net income for the two businesses, but for the combined company it climbed 11 percent. Google shares were up 2 percent in after-hours trading.

Google’s blossoming mobile strategy makes it even harder to differentiate among the big technology companies. Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon each have mobile devices, apps and cloud storage. And it is in those areas that the tech giants are competing.

In June, Google introduced the Nexus 7, a sleek seven-inch tablet to compete with the iPad, the Kindle and the Surface. It also showed the Nexus Q, for home entertainment; Internet-connected Google Glasses; and a new version of its Android mobile operating system, Jelly Bean.

The idea is to offer mobile devices so more people use Google services everywhere they go, instead of devices and services from competitors.

“All of the combatants in the intergalactic race for supremacy appear to be launching consumer products and hardware,” said Jordan Rohan, an Internet analyst at Stifel Nicolaus. “Google’s management team realizes that if consumers lock into the Apple ecosystem, it’s going to be hard to sell them Android devices in the future.”

But while Google is meeting people on the devices they want to use, analysts are closely watching whether it can make as much money on mobile devices as it has on desktop computers.

People have long described the price difference between print and Web ads as moving from analog dollars to digital dimes. Cellphone ads could be described as trading those dimes for mobile pennies. Clicks on mobile ads cost about 40 percent of the price of desktop ads, according to Stifel Nicolaus. That is because there is more inventory with the addition of mobile ads, and that could keep some Google users from seeing ads on computers. In addition, people are less likely to make purchases on their phones.

“The reality is when your click prices are going down, it means that advertisers are paying less for your inventory,” said Colin W. Gillis, a technology analyst at BGC Financial.

Google executives said the decline in ad prices was mostly because of foreign exchange rates, that the mobile ad business was healthy and that mobile searches were not cannibalizing desktop searches.

“We believe that mobile searches are mostly incremental,” said Susan Wojcicki, senior vice president for advertising. “For example, on weekends when users are out and about we see a rise in mobile activity and when users come back on Monday we see a rise on desktop.”

Google dominates mobile advertising with 95 percent market share for search ads and 52 percent market share for all types of mobile ads, according to eMarketer. The number of paid clicks on Google ads increased 42 percent over last year.

In a statement, Larry Page, Google’s chief executive, called it a “strong quarter” with “a bunch of exciting new products” and said that with the acquisition of Motorola, “we’re excited about the potential to build great devices for users.”

Mr. Page did not speak to analysts on the earnings conference call, however, because of an ailment that has left him unable to speak for weeks. Though analysts said his health is an ongoing risk, Google executives declined to offer details.

“Larry has lost his voice, and we said that means he cannot do any public speaking engagements at the time, including today’s earnings call,” said Nikesh Arora, Google’s chief business officer. “But he’s here and continues to run the company and is involved in any strategic decisions we’re making.”

Google reported second-quarter revenue of $12.21 billion, up 35 percent from $9.03 billion in the year-ago quarter. Net revenue, which excludes payments to ad partners, was $9.61 billion, up from $6.92 billion. Net income rose to $2.79 billion, or $8.42 a share, from $2.51 billion, or $7.68. Excluding the cost of stock options, Google’s second-quarter profit was $10.12 a share, compared with $8.74 last year.

Analysts scrambled to make sense of Google’s earnings report because for the first time it included Motorola, but not full quarterly results for the device maker because the acquisition closed May 22. Motorola lost $233 million on $1.25 billion in revenue during that period — results that analysts called “frightening.”

Patrick Pichette, Google’s chief financial officer, asked investors to give Google time to do its homework on Motorola. The addition of Motorola’s 20,293 employees nearly doubled Google’s head count.