LOVEFiLM and Netflix save BSkyB from regulator sanctions
The Competition Commission has changed a ruling on BSkyB’s dominance of the pay-TV film market thanks to the growth of digital services such as LOVEFiLM and Netflix.
In an abrupt u-turn, the CC said that Sky Movies no longer provides Sky with an advantage over its pay-TV rivals.
It reversed a ruling from last year which found that the satellite broadcaster’s deals with major Hollywood studios effectively gave it a monopoly on the market and caused higher prices for consumers.
App review: eBay's revamped iPad app
Earlier this month eBay overhauled its iPad app to offer users a range of new functions and hi-res images.
The app now has a customisable homepage, back button and new ways to view search results. eBay appears to have taken the liberty of giving itself five stars in the product description, but are the upgrades actually an improvement?
User reviews in the App Store show that opinion is fairly polarised: 362 people give it five stars but 265 give it one star.
STUDY: Noise, promotion and spam will reduce your Twitter followers
Following somebody on Twitter is always a small leap of faith. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out, for whatever reason.
A couple of days ago I created an online poll to try to identify the common reasons for unfollowing people on Twitter.
More than 500 votes have since been cast and as such we can now start to analyse the results.
Guest blogging in a post-Penguin world
The aftermath of Google’s Penguin update has seen a lot of speculation as to which factors might have caused sites to be hit.
The overwhelming message is that Google is becoming more proactive and stricter when dealing with link spam.
There are plenty of great blog posts out there looking at what type of unnatural links might have influenced drops, so instead I decided to look at how the Penguin update might change guest blogging.
The Mirror's response to EU cookie law compliance
With just a few days left before the ICO begins to enforce the EU e-Privacy Directive, we are starting to see a few sites unveiling their approaches to compliance.
Two such sites are FT.com and Mirror Online, which are both using pop-ups to alert visitors to the sites' use of cookies.
As well as taking a look at the two news sites' responses to the EU directive, I've been asking Malcolm Coles, Product Director, digital at Trinity Mirror Group, about the Mirror's approach.
Building a multi-billion pound business online
The recent valuation of Facebook at $104bn, the purchase of Instagram (by Facebook) for a billion dollars, and even Rakuten’s investment in social network Pinterest shows that there is serious money to be made in online business.
We ask all our merchants to join the Rakuten University to help them maximise their online sales, but some of the principles taught here can be applied to any online business, however they sell.
Here are some invaluable tips for online business and retailers that we’ve learnt over the years...
Just 17% of UK consumers 'completely aware' of mobile NFC payments
Only 17% of UK consumers are ‘completely aware’ of what contactless mobile payments are, according to a survey by eDigitalResearch.
However, 67% of respondents have heard of the technology before, suggesting that more needs to be done to educate consumers about how NFC works.
This tallies with research published recently by VoucherCodes.co.uk which found that 55% of British consumers were unable to name a single mobile payment brand.
Always adapting, Gilt prepares for big mobile push
A steady spring rain served as little deterrence for the hardy attendants of the New York American Marketing Association’s Monday night event featuring Gilt Groupe cofounder Alexis Maybank.
Currently serving as chief strategy officer, Maybank discussed Gilt's four year maturation into the big-data-weilding, five-million-member established player that it is today.
Gilt has thrived, Maybank emphasized, by prioritizing flexibility. When the company hosted it's first invitation-only sale for Zac Posen in 2007, only ten days had passed since the initial customer contact, and the returns section of the website had yet to be built. During the rapid growth that followed, more people were hired in some quarters than had been working at the company.
The first big change of direction occured when the company realized that their partnering brands weren't just looking at them for inventory liquidation, but instead saw Gilt as a marketing channel. The latest pivot, occuring now, is towards mobile.
JUMP Magazine, US Edition...big ideas on big data
In this first US issue, the magazine tackles 20 important multi-channel topics, from big data and the challenges of the silo-less organization, to bringing innovation to the enterprise.
We're just getting warmed up for the JUMP event, happening November 1st in New York.
American Express teams up with Zynga for prepaid cards
In the market for farming supplies?
If you're looking for a new tractor or some seeds, American Express is hoping that you'll use one of its new prepaid cards to complete the purchase. On Farmville, of course.
