February 17, 2011

Rovi Expands Offerings with Click-to-Shop Deal With Delivery Agent

Filed under: In the News — syugoff @ 6:48 pm

Rovi Expands Offerings with Click-to-Shop Deal With Delivery Agent

By: Donna Howell

Couch potatoes will be able to click their remotes to buy T-shirts, DVDs and other items from TV networks’ stores as a result of a deal between TV listings guide developer Rovi (ROVI) and Delivery Agent, a venture-backed company that runs e-commerce store operations for almost three dozen TV networks.

NBC Universal and A&E Television Networks will be first to do this with ads for key shows, right on the program guide, says Delivery Agent CEO Mike Fitzsimmons.

The deal, announced Tuesday just hours before Rovi releases Q4 results, amounts to one more step for the company’s ambitions to develop broad advertising and e-commerce revenue potential around TV listings. The company makes on-screen program guides used by cable and satellite service providers and connected-device manufacturers, and owns a lot of intellectual property around program guides themselves. So those parties pay Rovi whether or not they use its guides, and have an incentive to use Rovi’s.

The click-to-buy capabilities will show up within 90 days for users of on-screen program guides made by Rovi, on Internet-enabled TVs made by partners such as Samsung. Similar options are planned for consumers who view their program guides on the Web. Viewers who see the guides via their cable or satellite provider will get ads that suggest they check out the network’s store on the Web — since they can’t get there directly from a TV. Yet.

The click-to-shop innovation “opens up a new revenue stream for us in e-commerce and helps to drive advertising,” said Jeff Siegel, senior vice president of global media sales at Rovi. When networks “want to sell products, they’ll buy advertising” that leads to their store portals. He says Delivery Agent was a great match because they’re so connected with the networks.

Delivery Agent is a private company based in San Francisco, with backing from several venture investors since 2005. Bessemer Venture Partners is the largest. Others are Worldview Technology Partners, Cardinal Venture Capital, T-Venture, Focus Ventures, Ironwood Capital and Coral Group. Delivery Agent’s client list includes 35 networks — a few among them: CBS, HBO and Showtime, Fox, Discovery, Lifetime, Univision and USA.

Fitzsimmons says the shopping platform Delivery Agent uses is very data-driven, and can map available products to Rovi’s wealth of metadata around shows and content to, for instance, “associate an episode of ‘The Office‘ to all the products relevant to that.” He says the key is the ability to contextually promote products relevant to whatever a consumer is viewing or searching for at the moment.

Siegel suggests a hypothetical moment: “At 8 p.m. you can be searching for something on ‘True Blood’ (the HBO series) and we can sync up a banner ad at the bottom so you can go buy the DVD series or a T-shirt.”

Rovi, which may be just a few days away from finishing its acquisition of program-delivery technology company Sonic Solutions (SNIC), reports Q4 financial results after Tuesday’s market close.

Rovi Deal Lets TV Viewers Buy Retail Via Remote

Filed under: In the News — syugoff @ 6:40 pm

Rovi EPGs to Add Contextual Commerce

Filed under: In the News — syugoff @ 6:30 pm

Rovi Gives Shop-at-Home an Added Meaning

Filed under: In the News — syugoff @ 10:22 am

February 16, 2011

Cynopsis Morning Digital Briefing

Filed under: In the News — syugoff @ 6:16 pm

February 15, 2011

Rovi and Delivery Agent Launch Shoppable Electronic Program Guides

Filed under: Press Releases — syugoff @ 5:30 am

New Guide Capabilities Expand Revenue Potential for Networks and Advertisers Through Contextual Commerce and One-click Advertiser Solutions

SANTA CLARA and SAN FRANCISCO – February 15, 2011 – Rovi Corporation (NASDAQ: ROVI) and Delivery Agent, the leader in multi-channel commerce for sports and entertainment, today jointly announced the first-ever contextual commerce capability within Rovi electronic program guides (EPGs) for television programming. With this capability, consumers will be able to buy products and services directly from their television program guides using their remote controls. Similar commerce capabilities are also planned to be available to consumers who access their electronic program guides through the web.

Powered by Delivery Agent’s interactive commerce engine, including its TV Wallet™, and its proprietary database of products mapped to television content, the new shoppable guides are planned to roll out next quarter with initial campaigns slated for hit NBC shows such as Biggest Loser and The Office and A&E Television Network series such as Pawn Stars, which airs on HISTORY®.

In parallel with the launch of commerce capabilities that allow consumers interacting with the guide to purchase products seen in and associated with related television programming, Delivery Agent plans to work with Rovi to offer EPG display advertisers the opportunity to add commerce elements to their advertising programs, providing a turnkey solution that includes designing, hosting and managing a fully-branded commerce and transaction experience.

“The electronic program guide is often the first point of contact a viewer has with a program on any given day and guide users visit the guide on average 9 times daily. The ability to shop-enable our guide by dynamically mapping products to listings can open up new opportunities for media companies to reach a highly engaged and active consumer audience. We believe that our valued advertisers, from entertainment to consumer packaged goods to auto manufacturers, will also benefit from the integration of Delivery Agent’s extensive suite of commerce tools,” said Jeff Siegel, senior vice president, worldwide advertising sales at Rovi Corporation.

“Delivery Agent’s commerce platform, including its proprietary database of 1M+ products seen in entertainment content, was built to close the gap between a consumer seeing a product on screen and a purchase opportunity. Today, through the collaboration with Rovi, and the deployment of shoppable program guides, we believe three audiences are better served: 1) consumers now have easier access to purchase contextually relevant product; 2) entertainment companies can monetize their branded content through the sale of products within the program guide environments; and 3) advertisers can commerce enable their campaigns within the guide, giving consumers a more complete connection to their brand. Delivery Agent is thrilled to be a part of this evolution,” said Mike Fitzsimmons, Delivery Agent CEO.

About Delivery Agent

Delivery Agent, Inc., named #1 Privately Held Media Company by Inc. Magazine and #3 on the Deloitte & Touche Silicon Valley Technology Fast 50, is the leader in shopping-enabled programming and content monetization for more than 200 entertainment properties from major media companies including CBS, NBC Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, Discovery Communications, A&E Television Networks, HBO, Showtime, The CW, Univision Communications, and The Weinstein Company, as well as for sports organizations including FIFA, the Boston Celtics and UFC. Delivery Agent created the market for shopping-enabled programming by redefining how products tied to entertainment are cataloged, merchandised and sold online. With offices in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Denver and London, Delivery Agent deploys its technology platform, including commerce applications, video and mobile products, and interactive advertising solutions to create profitable connections between entertainment content, consumers and brands. More information about Delivery Agent is available at www.deliveryagent.com.

About Rovi Corporation

Rovi Corporation is focused on revolutionizing the digital entertainment landscape by delivering solutions that enable consumers to intuitively connect to new entertainment from many sources and locations. The company also provides extensive entertainment discovery solutions for television, movies, music and photos to its customers in the consumer electronics, cable and satellite, entertainment and online distribution markets. These solutions, complemented by industry leading entertainment data, create the connections between people and technology, and enable them to discover and manage entertainment in an enjoyable form. Rovi holds over 4,700 issued or pending patents and patent applications worldwide and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with numerous offices across the United States and around the world including Japan, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom. More information about Rovi can be found at http://www.rovicorp.com/.

Forward Looking Statements

All statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact, including statements that use the words “will” or “is expected to,” or similar words that describe the Company’s or its management’s future plans, objectives, or goals, are “forward-looking statements” and are made pursuant to the Safe-Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from the historical results and/or from any future results or outcomes expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors are further addressed in the Company’s most recent report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2010 and such other documents as are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time (available at www.sec.gov). The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release, except as required by law.

Contacts

Kim Marder
Delivery Agent
T +1(415)728-9602
press@deliveryagent.com

Linda Quach
Rovi Corporation
T +1(408)562-8504
linda.quach@rovicorp.com

February 14, 2011

Delivery Agent Wins Deutsche Telekom Interactive TV Award 2011 for Best Contextual Shopping App

Filed under: Press Releases — syugoff @ 12:08 pm

Deutsche Telekom Proclaims the Winners of the Interactive TV
Award 2011

GERMANY – February 14, 2011 – The winners of the Interactive TV Award 2011 have been declared. On the 11th of February in Bonn a renowned jury comprising of technology and media experts chose the best ideas for “TV of the future” in two categories. A sports bet application won the “Developer” award and a TV community concept received the creative “Freestyle” trophy. Winners and runners-up received a total cash prize of 70,000 Euro.

“BetWorld” by IpAppMedia, a media consulting company based in Zurich, was the best concept based on Microsoft’s technical development platform “Mediaroom Presentation Framework” (MPF). The application brings sports betting to the television.

The award for the most creative award entry went to “TV together” by Oliver Caron, a web design freelancer from Ratheim in Germany. His concept allows friends to link up by webcam so that they can see each other and chat while watching TV.

The second and third-placed entries were the “Interactive Formula 1” by TeraVolt from Hamburg and the “Contextual Shopping App” by Delivery Agent from Denver.

Jury President Christian P. Illek, Director of Marketing of Deutsche Telekom Germany, showed himself satisfied about the outcome of the innovation contest: „The entries of the Interactive TV Award 2011 covered a wide range of topics. Many of them hit the bull’s eye of what we want to achieve for Entertain – an emotional interactive television. Not only the winners delivered strong answers. Altogether this is a real success for our innovation contest and an excellent point of departure for continuing our combined efforts for future TV.“

Additional jurors are Andreas Müller-Schubert, General Manager Interactive Entertainment Business – Operator & OEM Channel, Microsoft Corporation, Robert Amlung, Digital Representative at the German national Television Station “Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen” (ZDF). Representative of the specialized press were: Stefan Goedecke, Managing Director of Auerbach Publications, and the media scientist Thomas Hess, head of the Institute for Business Informatics and New Media at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich.

The jury selected the winners on Friday, almost seven months after the start of the competition. In all, there were eight concepts in the finals; these were divided into two categories from which the jury had to select one winner in each category. For the “Freestyle” category, only the creativity of the concept is judged without considering any technical requirement. The technical prize category of “Developers” on the other hand, required a demonstrator of a technically feasible interactive TV application. Contestants were expected to develop new interactive TV concepts within the technical possibility available on the so called “Mediaroom Presentation Framework” (MPF).

Today Deutsche Telekom’s Entertain offers a wide variety of interactive functions at the push of a button. This involves the interactive LIGA total! for soccer fans, an online video library “Videoload” and a very extensive TV archive. Moreover, recordings for the integrated Video recorder can be programmed on every computer as well smart phones devices which are connected to the internet. Additionally, Entertain also offers the opportunity to halt a running program at anytime, to either save or to program for subsequent recordings.

About Delivery Agent

Delivery Agent, Inc., named #1 Privately Held Media Company by Inc. Magazine and #3 on the Deloitte & Touche Silicon Valley Technology Fast 50, is the leader in shopping-enabled programming and content monetization for more than 200 entertainment properties from major media companies including CBS, NBC Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, Discovery Communications, A&E Television Networks, HBO, Showtime, The CW, Univision Communications, and The Weinstein Company, as well as for sports organizations including FIFA, the Boston Celtics and UFC. Delivery Agent created the market for shopping-enabled programming by redefining how products tied to entertainment are cataloged, merchandised and sold online. With offices in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Denver and London, Delivery Agent deploys its technology platform, including commerce applications, video and mobile products, and interactive advertising solutions to create profitable connections between entertainment content, consumers and brands. More information about Delivery Agent is available at www.deliveryagent.com.

Entertain – Deutsche Telekom’s TV service

With more than 130 TV channels, 15,000 titles in the online video store and TV archive (about 1,500 of which are available in HD), around 2,500 national and international radio stations, as well as interactive applications, Entertain is the undisputed leader of the German IPTV market. Around 20 million households have the option of subscribing to Entertain via a high-speed DSL line. Entertain is available from EUR 27.95 (including TV and a telephone line) or EUR 44.95 (including TV, telephone flat rate and high-speed DSL flat rate).

About Deutsche Telekom AG

Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with more than 129 million mobile customers, approximately 37 million fixed-network lines and 16 million broadband lines (as of September 30, 2010). The Group provides products and services for the fixed network, mobile communications, the Internet and IPTV for consumers, and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in over 50 countries and has more than 250,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenues of EUR 64.6 billion in the 2009 financial year – more than half of it outside Germany (as of December 31, 2009).

Contacts

Kim Marder
Delivery Agent
T +1(415)728-9602
press@deliveryagent.com

Deutsche Telekom AG
Corporate Communications
T +49 228 181- 4949
press@telekom.de
Further information for journalists at www.telekom.com/media

Delivery Agent’s Advanced Media Division Selected For Victory Motorcycle’s Interactive TV Campaign

Filed under: Press Releases — syugoff @ 9:33 am

Renews partnership that developed award-winning 2010 campaign

SAN FRANCISCO – February 14, 2011 – Delivery Agent, the leader in multi-channel commerce for sports and entertainment, announced today that its advanced interactive media division The Band was selected by The Integer Group, one of the world’s largest promotional, retail and shopper marketing agencies, to partner in the development and execution of the 2011 interactive television (ITV) campaign for its client, Victory Motorcycles.

The Band’s selection by The Integer Group is a renewal of the partnership that developed the award-winning 2010 Victory Motorcycles “Fuel It” interactive television campaign. The companies won national recognition from the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), which honored “Fuel It” with a top MIXX Award in the category “Campaign VOD and Interactive Television.” The 2010 Victory campaign drove more than 1.5 million ITV sessions over a national footprint of 50 million ITV-enabled households.

“We’re pleased to be partnering again with The Integer Group to bring greater scale, new advanced-engagement opportunities and improved television accountability to the 2011 ITV campaign for Victory Motorcycles. The world of interactive television continues to evolve rapidly, offering advertisers new ways to engage and connect with viewers in over 70 million households,” said Patrick Ivers, EVP, Delivery Agent, Inc/The Band, Inc.

“The Band was instrumental in the execution of the Victory Motorcycles 2010 ITV campaign. Interactive television significantly enhances the traditional media schedule, allowing viewers to engage with the Victory brand beyond the :30 commercial,” Victory’s target audience is savvy consumers who want to live and breathe the motorcycle experience as much as they can, and by engaging them in this dynamic environment, Victory gives them exactly what they want while also creating a whole new dialogue with them. We look forward to continuing our successful relationship with The Band,” said Sharon Boddie, Vice President Media, of The Integer Group.

About Delivery Agent

Delivery Agent, Inc., named #1 Privately Held Media Company by Inc. Magazine and #3 on the Deloitte & Touche Silicon Valley Technology Fast 50, is the leader in shopping-enabled programming and content monetization for more than 200 entertainment properties from major media companies including CBS, NBC Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, Discovery Communications, A&E Television Networks, HBO, Showtime, The CW, Univision Communications, and The Weinstein Company, as well as for sports organizations including FIFA, the Boston Celtics and UFC. Delivery Agent created the market for shopping-enabled programming by redefining how products tied to entertainment are cataloged, merchandised and sold online. With offices in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Denver and London, Delivery Agent deploys its technology platform, including commerce applications, video and mobile products, and interactive advertising solutions to create profitable connections between entertainment content, consumers and brands. More information about Delivery Agent is available at www.deliveryagent.com.

About CBS Consumer Products

CBS Consumer Products, a unit of CBS Entertainment, manages worldwide licensing and merchandising for a diverse slate of television brands and series from CBS, CBS Paramount Network Television and CBS Television Distribution, as well as from the company’s extensive library of titles. Additionally, the group oversees the CBS Retail Store and online sales of programming merchandise. For more information, visit www.CBS.com.

Contacts

Kim Marder
Delivery Agent
T +1(415)728-9602
press@deliveryagent.com

Darcy Provo for Delivery Agent
T +1(415)871-1731
press@deliveryagent.com

February 11, 2011

Winners of the Deutsche Telekom Interactive TV Award 2011

Filed under: In the News — syugoff @ 11:15 am