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by Frank Barnako, CBS MarketWatch
RoadRunner subscribers top 100,000 mark
RoadRunner reported Monday it has more than 100,000 customers in
the United States, a total it says makes it the nation's largest
high-speed online service. Its chief rival, At Home Corp. (ATHM),
says it has 147,000 subscribers in the United States and Canada,
but its most recently quarterly report didn't break out U.S.
figures. Road Runner is jointly owned by MediaOne Group (UMG),
Time Warner (TWX), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Compaq Corp. (CPQ), and
privately held Advance/Newhouse. Its service is available in 14
states served by Time Warner Cable and MediaOne, including about
30 cities and counties. "In at least 11 markets our affiliates
have reached 6 percent penetration levels and three of these are
over 9 percent, exceeding both our expectations and our business
plan," said interim CEO Carl Rosette.
Cable firms poised to dominate Net TV
The cable TV industry will dominate the Internet-on-TV service
market within the next 10 years, a market research firm predicted.
SRI Consulting found fewer then 500,000 consumers worldwide
subscribe to an Internet-on-TV service. Most of them subscribe to
Microsoft's WebTV service in the United States. SRI projects the
total number of subscribers worldwide will grow to 12 million by
2002, with about 60 percent of those subscribers still using a
dial-up service. Beyond five years, however, cable-TV-based
services may catch up and surpass dial-up services, the report
says. "It has quite a few competitive advantages over other
network service providers that will give it a boost in the long
run," said David Rader, senior researcher on the study. The edges
include greater bandwidth and strong ties to TV programmers, who
can help develop Internet-on-TV entertainment content.
Snap! animal-sex pages draw attention
The Snap! online service, partially owned by General Electric's
(GE) NBC, offers reviews of adult-oriented Web sites. In one,
visitors are advised "the animal sex pages boast more than 2,500
photos, and more than 100 movies and stories, of women having sex
with dogs, ponies, eels, monkeys, pigs, and goats, as well as a
man having sex with a chicken." Snap! Executive Producer Katharine
English said the addition of sex site reviews was purely
editorial. "Our statistics showed that 40 percent of our users are
looking for this kind of material," she told Wired news. Snap
insiders said that the need to drive traffic was leading to the
new emphasis on sex, Wired reported.
Rolling Stone, Salon develop e-mail products
Rolling Stone Network and Salon magazine plan to a total of eight
different e-mail products to assist in the marketing their Web
sites. Denver-based e-mail publisher InfoBeat Inc. said it will
handle the distribution of the free publications. Rolling Stone
Network will be creating two newsletters, one with music news and
the other with updates on the its Web site. Salon Magazine, a
content and community site, will produce six different
e-newsletters. InfoBeat said it will also provide e-mail services
to e-mail content offered by trade magazine The Industry Standard
and online marketing advisor ClickZ.
Deals of the day
Excite Inc. made two announcements. The portal site it would
deliver 20 co-branded industrial business-to-business vertical Web
sites in partnership with Web community developer VericalNet Inc.
(www.VerticalNet.com) Excite will offer co-branded areas targeting
trade service areas such as food, electronics, chemical, and
insurance. Excite also said CDW Computer Centers Inc. (CDWC) will
be its dominant and preferred computer hardware reseller.
K-Tel International Inc. said it will use technology from
secure online music delivery system company Liquid Audio on its
Web online music service, "K-Tel Express" (www.ktel.com). Liquid
Audio's Music Server 3.0 Windows NT version will enable the
retailer to offer 5,000 songs in Liquid Track format, including
selections from K-Tel's extensive owned music master catalog for
preview, purchase and download. K-Tel (KTEL) also said that by the
end of this month, visitors to its site will be able to select
songs from K-Tel's owned master catalog to produce a personalized
compilation album.
Auto-by-Tel's new name, new site
Auto-By-Tel Corp. said it has changed its name to "autobytel.com
inc." and also unveiled a redesign of its "everything automotive"
Web site at autobytel.com. The site make over includes the
addition of what the company said is a library of tools including
searchable research information, car reviews, factory brochures,
specification lists and articles from the Weekly AutoMarket
report. "Until now, consumers have thought of Autobytel.com
primarily as a purchasing program that enables them to get a great
deal on a new or used car," said Chief Executive Mark Lorimer.
Autobytel.com, in cooperation with Classifieds2000, also now gives
consumers the ability to list and sell used vehicles on the site.
And in an effort to develop a sense of community on the site, the
Consumer Test Drive area has been added so consumers can share
their reactions to vehicles they've recently driven.
Netscape to add Digital Cities
Netscape Communications Corp. and America Online announced Monday
a two-year agreement for AOL's Digital Cities network to be
featured as the exclusive local content provider to the local
channel of Netscape's Netcenter. AOL's (AOL) Digital Cities
network includes 50 market areas. Under the agreement, Netscape
(NSCP) will be responsible for national advertising within the
service and Digital City will sell local advertising. The new
service is expected to be available in the next 60 days. Netscape
hopes the local angle will help it sell ads, while AOL hopes the
links from Netscape will boost traffic to the sites. "We think
this is a win-win, something we can both make money on," Mike
Homer, Netscape's executive vice president in charge of Netcenter,
told the Washington Post's sources. Digital Cities president Paul
DeBenedictis agreed, saying, "This market is big enough for us to
have our brand in a number of places."
NetGrocer sets IPO
NetGrocer Inc. said it filed a registration statement relating to
a proposed Initial Public Offering of shares of its common stock
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. CIBC Oppenheimer will
lead-manage the offering of the e-commerce company which offers
online ordering and home delivery of non-perishable items commonly
sold in supermarkets. NetGrocer also offers a direct-marketing
channel for packaged goods manufacturers, with access to research
services, marketing tools and customer loyalty services. The
company (www.netgrocer.com) said net proceeds from the offering
will be used primarily for strategic marketing alliances, capital
expenditures and general corporate purposes.
Instinet considers Net presence, report says
After-hours trading service Instinet is reportedly targeting
individual stock traders for expansion. Executive officer Douglas
Atkin said "Investors are paying too much for trading," the New
York Post reported. "We're analyzing opportunities to provide our
services directly to investors and to potentially partner with an
Internet provider." Atkin said his company's appeal would be
strong for day traders. Instinet trading is terminal-based,
offering prices directly to buyers and sellers, with no broker
involved. Owned by Reuters Group Inc. (RTRSY), Instinet is
currently available only to professional money managers.
NBC to back video on-demand
NBC will invest in and supply programming to a startup online
service to provide movies, television programs and music on demand
to personal computers, The New York Times reported. Stations
affiliated with NBC are expected to be anxious about the
arrangement with Intertainer Inc., and NBC Interactive Media
president Martin Yudkovitz agreed they "have a very legitimate
interest in a certain level of exclusivity." He said NBC will
supply Intertainer only NBC-owned entertainment shows from last
season. Under the agreement, NBC and GE Capital, both owned by
General Electric Co. (GE), will together invest about $3 million
for a six percent stake in privately held Intertainer, the Times
added. Other investors in Intertainer include cable TV operator
Comcast, Intel (INTC), Sony (SNE) and US West. The service will
be offered next month in Willow Grove, Pa., to Comcast cable
subscribers.
Internet advertising study shows trends
Research into advertising spending on the Internet shows that
although a big part of it is still computers and software, growth
has occurred in industries such as travel (up 181 percent), retail
(up 290 percent), and colleges and universities (up 821 percent).
Some of the biggest gains were registered by prescription
medications at 3,260 percent and skin care, creams, lotions and
oils at 4,915 percent. Both categories showed very little activity
in 1996. The Trends in Internet Advertising study was derived from
monthly ad expenditure reports from InterMedia Advertising
Solutions.
"Everyone knows that Microsoft, IBM and other technology brands
'lead the pack,'" said IAS president Joe Philport. "But the
question on everybody's mind has been who are the rest?" Among
those in the top 25, IAS said were AT&T Corp. (T), General Motors
(GM), Ford (F), Toyota and Visa International.
Site aggregates shopping agents
The 'portal' concept has been adopted by ComparisonShopping.net,
offering Web shoppers a one-stop guide for bargain hunting. Eight
Internet-based comparison shopping services said they have created
a site where the prices of various products and services can be
compared (www.comparisonshopping.net). Categories include books,
digital cameras, investing online and long-distance rates.
Participants in the project include Asces, whose Internet software
robot visits all online book shops simultaneously and retrieves
current prices for books, and TeleWorth, which matches a
business's or individual's long-distance calling patterns to the
calling plans of dozens of long-distance companies.
Vince Gill CDs sell rapidly on Net
Online music store Music Boulevard and CBS Cable's country music
Web site, country.com, sad they sold at least 2,000 copies of
Vince Gill's new album in less than two weeks, prior to its
release. "We are creating a mix of traditional and online media
that enables us to provide the Internet's most effective music
marketing campaigns," said J. J. Rosen, president of Music
Boulevard Network, a subsidiary of NTK Inc. (NTKI).
The Internet Daily (TM) is originally published and edited by CBS
MarketWatch
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