According to Piper Jaffray’s 26th semi-annual teen market research report, Twitter is now a more important social network than Facebook for many teens. The report suggests that 26 percent of teenagers call Twitter their most significant social media site, while 23 percent claim their most important site to be Facebook, down from a high of 42 percent. However, Twitter is not without competition; the photo-sharing site Instagram, for example, is also doing well amongst teens. Continue reading Twitter Now More Popular Than Facebook Amongst Teenagers

Social TV ads are coming to Facebook in an effort to compete with Twitter’s television advertising model. Now, advertisers will be able to reach Facebook users online at the same time an ad is running on TV. For example, an advertiser that airs a commercial on a local station in Los Angeles will be able to simultaneously target users in Los Angeles who are logged in to Facebook at the same time. And that’s some prime real estate. Continue reading Advertisers to Reach Users on TV and Facebook at Same Time

BBC Global News announced a partnership with Twitter in which original video reports will be embedded in Twitter streams through the social media platform’s Amplify program. These videos, called BBCTrending, are being hosted by Anne-Marie Tomchak and will provide viewers with the news and memes circulating on social media, following a brief preview from a sponsor. “#BBCTrending” will be distributed to @BBCWorld’s 4.8 million Twitter followers. Continue reading BBC News Partners with Twitter for In-Tweet Video Reports

YouTube’s most popular programmer, Maker Studios, is restructuring its network of genre-ranging channels in an effort to better reach consumers and advertisers. Its more than 55,000 channels will be organized into four units: men, women, family, and entertainment programming. At the Variety Entertainment & Tech Summit on Monday, Maker Studios chairman Ynon Kreiz also unveiled Maker Max, which allows content creators to more easily manage their videos. Continue reading Popular YouTube Programmer to More Closely Resemble Cable

Netflix posted its third quarter earnings yesterday, announcing that it has added 1.3 million U.S. customers. The video service ended the quarter with 29.93 million paid domestic users. While Netflix’s latest figures suggest the service has surpassed HBO and Showtime in number of U.S. customers, the company’s profit margin remains low in comparison to leading premium cable networks. Regardless, stock was up nearly 10 percent following the earnings results. Continue reading Netflix Sees Spike in Subscriber Base, Profits Remain Slim

Facebook yesterday announced an upgrade that enables mobile app developers to run video ads in the News Feed on iOS and Android devices. Advertisers can use video creative in their mobile app ads, which lets developers pay to promote apps through the social network’s mobile News Feed. According to Facebook, customers will have the option to click play in order to watch videos featuring mobile apps before installing them. Continue reading Facebook Update Adds Video Content to Mobile Advertising

San Francisco-based TV guide startup Digit Media — the company behind the NextGuide personal TV watchlist service — has launched new partnerships with Fox, BBC America and truTV. As part of the deals, the networks will add a Reminder Button to their program websites. By clicking on the button, consumers can register for NextGuide and receive reminder alerts via email or the NextGuide iOS app, letting them know when new episodes are about to air on TV. Continue reading NextGuide Has New Network Partners for TV Show Reminders

Facebook announced this week that it would allow teenage users between 13 and 17 to make their posts public so that they can be seen by anyone on the social network, underscoring the competition between today’s social platforms to reach the teen audience and attract advertisers. Previously, the posts of teenage users could only be viewed by friends and friends of friends. While drawing criticism from privacy advocate groups, the move will enable Facebook to operate more like its rival Twitter. Continue reading Facebook Under Fire for Decision to Make Teens’ Posts Public

Facebook and Pinterest are the clear standouts when it comes to referral traffic from social networks. While Facebook leads the pack, accounting for more than 10 percent of traffic to publishers in September, Pinterest holds second place, driving more traffic than Twitter, LinkedIn and Reddit combined. According to data from social plugin service Shareaholic, collected from 200,000 publishers, Pinterest drove 3.68 percent of traffic to publishers in September, about three times as much as third-ranked Twitter. Continue reading Social: Facebook, Pinterest Drive Most Traffic to Publishers

Sony Pictures Television has inked a deal to produce a psychological thriller for Netflix. From the creators of the FX legal drama “Damages,” the series is slated to begin production early next year. It marks the first time a major Hollywood studio will produce a program for the streaming video service. Following in the footsteps of cable networks such as HBO and AMC, Netflix is aggressively pursuing original content. The success of its Emmy-winning “House of Cards” could help pave the way. Continue reading Sony is First Big Studio to Ink Production Deal with Netflix

Verizon is planning to roll out a public beta of its Verizon Cloud “Infrastructure as a Service” platform and cloud-based object storage in the fourth quarter of this year. Verizon Cloud, which includes two primary components — Verizon Cloud Compute (the IaaS platform) and Verizon Cloud Storage (an object-based service) — will target enterprises, mid-size companies and development shops. The launch will initially involve a few hundred new users per month. Continue reading Verizon to Launch Public Beta of Cloud Platform This Year

“Shepard Smith Reporting” will debut on Monday afternoon featuring a new state-of-the-art “Fox News Deck” studio that Smith will also use to deliver breaking news updates during different programs. The concept is to deliver news updates during the day as they happen. Fox released a video of the studio, which includes giant touch screens and innovative software that will allow Smith and his team to efficiently track news stories on social media. Continue reading Fox Creates Innovative Studio to Deliver News as it Happens

Kumu Networks hopes to provide a solution to the increase of smartphone users and data demands on wireless networks. Kumu claims that its technology can double the capacity of cellular and Wi-Fi communications by challenging the idea that mobile devices cannot transmit and receive data on one frequency at the same time. The Stanford University startup first emerged in 2011 when the team wrote a paper claiming two-way traffic could be carried simultaneously through a specific chunk of radio spectrum.

Continue reading Wireless: Startup Envisions Doubling Use of Radio Spectrum

According to figures released yesterday by the International Telecommunications Union, mobile broadband accessed by tablets and smartphones is the fastest growing segment of the global information and communication technologies market. ITU’s “Measuring the Information Society” report found declining prices for mobile and fixed broadband services in addition to “unprecedented adoption of 3G,” with the number of worldwide mobile broadband subscriptions approaching two billion. Continue reading Mobile Broadband Subs Approaching Two Billion Worldwide

CBS viewers now have the option for watching new shows on their smartphones and tablets. The network announced that it will make all new episodes of its fall primetime line-up available via its mobile app just eight days after the programs air on TV. In response to app users who expressed concerns regarding limited content, CBS will be offering new and returning primetime titles, in addition to some classic shows. The app will also be available for Android and Windows 8. Continue reading CBS Mobile App Now Offers New Shows Eight Days After Airing