Stories related to: online videos

Disney has launched a new internet service streaming full-length movies for free, CNET reports. The company will be offering one movie a week on its website, making it available for a few days after it's shown on ABC's Wonderful World of Disney. This week's offering is Finding Nemo . More »

Republicans can't get no satisfaction—at least according to several anti-McCain videos set to air on YouTube by pro-Dem marketing group Truth Through Action. The premier video features a steamy bedroom romp that turns suddenly icy when a hot bar date discovers an autographed McCain photo in a nightstand. As if. More »

Amazon plans to open the sluices for pay-per-view video streaming within weeks, Reuters reports. The Internet retail giant already rents videos for download via the Web but is enhancing its digital media service to better compete with rivals like Apple and Netflix. Amazon boss Jeff Bezos told a conference yesterday the service will be "a new version of video on demand." More »

Three of the big networks are trying to get a handle on video syndication website RedLasso, cNet reports. The site records and indexes clips from TV and radio shows, making it easy for bloggers to share and embed them. NBC, CBS and Fox News have issued a cease-and-desist letter ordering the site to stop using their material without permission. More »

Sen. Joseph Lieberman yesterday urged Google to crack down on YouTube videos aimed at spreading terrorist messages, AP reports. The Connecticut senator cited al-Qaeda-produced clips that “show attacks on US forces in which American soldiers are injured and, in some cases, killed.” Google relies heavily on users to police the site, to which hundreds of thousands of videos are submitted daily. More »

As bloggers multiply and media outlets aim to put more audio, video and photo content on their websites, tensions mount with professional sports leagues. Leagues argue that outlets making such content widely available steps on the toes of the broadcasters who have paid to present games—but, the New York Times reports, limiting the media's scope might impinge on free speech. More »

Wasting people’s time is an odd job—but it’s also a big business, writes CollegeHumor.com editor Streeter Seidell in the New York Times . Seidell spends his days wading through an “ocean” of submitted videos and other items, choosing which funny or bizarre selections deserve publication. Yet there’s no method to the madness: every day is a guessing game as to what will draw in time-wasters. More »

US Internet users watched 10 billion online videos in February, cNet reports, with statistics released by ComScore showing a 66% gain from February 2006. Unsurprisingly, Google’s video sites (chiefly YouTube) accounted for 35.4% of the 10 billion views, the largest portion for any one site. More »

TV networks, major news organizations, and independent producers are all scrambling to create Web videos that will let them snag a portion of the ad dollars flowing online. Ad spending on Internet videos will grow to $4.3 billion by 2011, say researchers—a 455% increase over today. "It's growing faster than any other advertising category," an NBC Universal exec tells USA Today . More »

In what could be a boon to advertisers, a new YouTube feature will allow video makers to see when and where their clips are being watched, reports the New York Times . YouTube Insight will show a map and graph representing the video’s popularity by state and over time--interesting information for casual users, but a boon to marketers hoping to better direct their ads. More »

Actor Craig Bierko, in an interview with Newsweek , says his strange, and strangely riveting, web video—in which he gives John Malkovich a sponge bath while engaging in "silly chatter"—is about exposing the weird artificiality of the talk-show format. "It sort of turns up the fake intimacy to a ridiculous degree," says the Tony nominee, currently starring in the Fox sitcom Unhitched . More »

China shuttered 25 video-sharing websites today and warned numerous others, as authorities moved to enforce stricter controls on online content announced late last year, Reuters reports. Chinese video heavyweight Tudou.com was among those that received a warning to eliminate pornographic and political material. "We're working hard to upgrade our systems to catch everything that needs to be caught," said Tudou’s VP. More »

The lock on Scientology's media vault must be missing. Gawker has obtained "secret video" of a lavish birthday bash thrown for church booster Tom Cruise on board a cruise ship, in which the couch-jumper enters to theme music from Top Gun , and sings and dances through Old Time Rock and Roll from Risky Business . More »

Activists have posted a video online to protest the Saudi ban on women drivers, the BBC reports. Made to honor International Women’s Day, the 3-minute clip on YouTube follows protester Wajeha Huwaider as she turns onto a forbidden highway and discusses the legality of the ban. “Many women in this society are able to drive cars,” Huwaider says as she drives. More »

After lots of hype, a long wait, and a dollop of skepticism, NBC Universal and Fox’s Hulu is going live tomorrow with more than 200 free TV shows, feature films, and sports highlights and games, the New York Times reports. “We won’t stop until we have everything in terms of premium content,” said the CEO. “That is our mission.” More »

Women like watching network TV on the web, while men would rather click around and watch short, funny clips, a Nielsen Online study has found. The survey, Nielsen's first major one of its kind, found women are twice as likely to go to network web sites, and men in the 18-34 age bracket were more than twice as likely as women the same age to watch user-generated media like YouTube clips. More »

Daily traffic for online video sites such as YouTube has doubled over the past year, paidContent.org reports. A study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 15% of their sample of adults said they had visited an online video sharing site “yesterday” or the day before; last year, 8% of responders answered "yes" to that question. More »

Wal-Mart shuttered its 10-month-old video download service without fanfare last week, ending a disappointing experiment for the bargain retailer, Reuters reports. The site was scrapped after Hewlett Packard canceled the software that supported it, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman said. HP said it made the move after the market failed to perform "as expected." More »

With small-screen stars ranging from ditzy beauty queens to potty-mouthed pint-sized landlords, Americans increasingly gathered around the YouTube watercooler in 2007. They racked up 100 billion views on various video sites, ABC News reports. Cultural commentators liken the phenomenon to cavemen swapping tall tales around campfires, but 78% of us do it at work. More »

TV writers could walk out any day now, leaving late night TV and topical shows like The Daily Show in the lurch, and one of the sticking points in their talks with entertainment producers is their demand for a larger slice of DVD and online video revenue. But as Saul Hansell of the NY Times points out, the Internet isn't done upending everything we know about showbiz moneymaking. More »