Hulu, one of the most popular online video streaming sites in the United States, had some bad news to note today, reporting that Viacom has pulled two of its most popular shows, “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report.”
“The Daily Show” is the third most-watched show on the site, and Colbert’s show usually ranks in the top 7.
Viacom does say that they will not be completely getting out of the streaming business, however.
Reads the press release:
Comedy Central has made “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” available to consumers through Hulu since June 2008. Although that agreement has concluded, full-length episodes of each show will remain available at TheDailyShow.com and ColbertNation.com, respectively.
Hulu was one of the many digital distribution partners we’ve worked with over the past few years to add new outlets for our valuable and powerful content and to help drive the businesses of our partners. We had a great experience with Hulu, and we hope to work with its team again in the future.
Hulu has around 44 million monthly visitors.
Result for: distribution partners
Vevo CEO Rio Caraeff has stated that the company is currently developing an app that will bring music videos to your HDTV via the upcoming Boxee Box set-top box.
The company has distribution partners in YouTube and AOL, and is looking to continually expand.
Boxee, which is currently in beta, has said they have almost 1 million users that have downloaded the software, and that number is expected to continue growing.
Vevo is a joint venture between Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, using YouTube as a backend, and with financial support from AT&T and Abu Dhabi Media Co..
Result for: distribution partners
Sony has announced that it will be introducing dynamic in-game advertising on the PlayStation 3 in both the UK and the US.
Marketers and companies interesting in having the ads in games are now able to engage “through advertisement distribution partners” and Sony announced that IGA Worldwide was selected as the PS3’s first partner.
“The PS3 platform is primed to leverage the high growth potential of the in-game advertising market”, said Phil Rosenberg, senior vice president, SCEA.
“Ads that are organic to the environment not only benefit developers and advertisers, but also create a richer experience for gamers.”
Analysts have said the dynamic advert market will reach $800 million USD by 2012 and it is clear Sony wants a piece.
