October 2007: Hispanic Trends

websites to watch
StumbleUpon
Community-based searching, that allows users to discover content they might not find with traditional search engines. More Info

Shred or Die
A collaboration with the Funny or Die folks and skateboarding icon Tony Hawk, Shred or Die is portal for users to post their action sports videos.

UB Funkeys
UB Funkeys is latest in the real-to-virtual world product, this is Mattel's answer to the webkinz phenomenon.

 
websites to watch - hispanic
Si TV
Si TV has created 2 new websites, entertainment.sitv.com & trends.sitv.com, targeting the Latino 18-34 demographic. A one stop shot for Latino culture in English. More Info

Mujer de Hoy
The newest online destination for Hispanic women. The website features translated iVillage content and original web content from Telemundo.

 
blog trends
BuzzDash
A website that enables real-time voting on a variety of topics to promote interactive discussions.

Wayfaring
Create your own personalized map or explore maps created by others.

 
hispanic promotions
Jaunes Drives Ford Sync to Latinos
Ford will be partnering with Juanes, the top-selling Spanish-language musician to hype the voice-activated system, Sync, which responds to commands in English, French and, of course, Spanish. Sync gives consumers the power to control their phone & mp3 players in their car.

Suzuki Solicits Entries for Animation Contest
Suzuki Auto is teaming with the New York International Latino Film Festival and Cinedulce.com to call for entries in its first national animation contest.

 
interesting articles - hispanic marketing

P&G's Big Broadband Buy: Telenovelas
Exclusive Sponsorship Deal Places Spots in Telemundo Digital Video
Procter & Gamble is the exclusive sponsor of the full-length telenovelas Spanish-language network Telemundo will start streaming this week on its Yahoo Telemundo site.

Taste of Home for the Holidays
Latino-targeted goods that celebrate everything from honoring the dead to the three wise men are hitting store shelves as retailers deliver products to feed a market hungry for tradition.

In This Telenovela, Even Smooches Have Sponsors
'Pecados Ajenos' Is Loaded With Marketing Partners; Toyota Backs Best Kiss Replays
Marketers are using a coming telenovela to try several advertiser-friendly formats new to Spanish-language TV, from a sole-sponsored first episode to sponsored replays of the novela's best kisses.

Hispanic TV Summit: MTV Tr3s, Comcast Tout Mobile, On-Demand
'Attracting Audiences to Programs on New Media Platforms' Panel: Older Hispanics Use Cell Phones, Too
Although new-media platforms are still the wild west of content distribution, panelists at the Fifth Annual Hispanic Television Summit here expressed growing interest in mobile platforms to engage consumers.

 
interesting articles - trends

Skype Grabs New Foothold With MySpace's Messaging
News Corp.'s MySpace and eBay Inc.'s Skype have agreed to put Internet calls into MySpace's instant-messaging feature to gain more users and broaden the distribution of their two services.

MySpace Partners With Oberon Media to Unveil Gaming Channel
MySpace Games To Allow Free Multi-Player Casual Gaming and Empower Users to Add Gaming Functionality To Their Personal Profiles
MySpace Games will enable users to choose from hundreds of award winning online casual games to play with friends in the community as well as empower users to add and virally share games through their personal profiles pages. MySpace Games will launch in early 2008.

StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites. As you click Stumble!, we deliver high-quality pages matched to your personal preferences. These pages have been explicitly recommended by your friends or one of 3,709,059 other websurfers with interests similar to you. Rating these sites you like () automatically shares them with like-minded people – and helps you discover great sites your friends recommend.

Searching vs. Stumbling:
Using search engines to locate relevant content typically means hunting through pages of results. Rather than searching for quality web sites, StumbleUpon members are taken directly to web sites matching their personal interests and preferences.

People-Driven Technology:
Using a combination of human opinions and machine learning to immediately deliver relevant content, StumbleUpon presents only web sites which have been suggested by other like-minded Stumblers. Each time the 'Stumble' button is clicked, the user is presented with a high quality web site based on the collective opinions of other like-minded web surfers.

Easy to Use, Community-based surfing:
The StumbleUpon Toolbar is integrated with the user's browser to allow for one-click access to quality web sites. A simple 2-level rating system gives users the opportunity to pass on or give their opinion on any webpage with a single click. These ratings also connect people sharing unique combinations of interests. Stumblers share their favorite web sites and interact with other users to further improve their web surfing experience.

A Personalized Browsing Tool:
StumbleUpon offers nearly 500 topics which users may choose to indicate their interests and preferences so each Stumble produces only the most relevant content. StumbleUpon delivers increasingly relevant content as the Toolbar learns what the user has liked in the past and continues to present quality web sites in the future.

Combats Information Overload:
Information on the Internet changes rapidly. StumbleUpon is a dynamic approach to keep on top of this ever-evolving pool of knowledge. StumbleUpon filters through the vast amount of information on the web to direct Stumblers to high quality web sites which are relevant to their personal interests. An obscure but interesting site can be immediately shared with other like-minded users. Old or low-quality sites can be removed if their ratings become too low. The participation of community members helps maintain a database of the most up-to-date and highest quality sites possible.

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Si TV
Si TV, America's first and only media company to target the millions of 18-34-year old Latinos who prefer their entertainment in English, announced today the launch of a major new initiative that springs from the creation of two all-new community-based websites, http://entertainment.sitv.com and http://trends.sitv.com. These sites provide the first content-based digital platform that delivers indie content tailored to young Latinos, while offering unprecedented opportunities for Latino artists and giving the advertising community a link to this high-growth demographic. Verizon Wireless, AOL Latino and Payless ShoeSource are among the strategic and advertising partners who are already demonstrating their commitment to the acculturated Latino population through integrated, multi-level partnerships with Si TV's new digital initiative.

These websites are the first to deliver content created exclusively by and for the most dynamic demographic in America today, the Latino 18-34 segment, which is growing five times faster than total adults 18-34*. With 78% of English-dominant Latinos online** and 63% of young Latinos online four or more hours per day*** (81% of whom are acculturated and surf in English****), Si TV has identified an opportunity to bring the fresh content this demo craves to a mainstream audience.

"The launch of our new websites and related digital partnerships represents our company's evolution from a cable/satellite network to a laser-focused media company with multiple distribution platforms and revenue streams. Reaching far beyond marketing the Si TV television network, our highly differentiated, content-based web strategy will offer young Latino adults unprecedented opportunities to be part of an online content-based community which creatively reflects the bicultural reality of their daily lives. For our business partners, Si TV's entertaining, culturally-relevant content represents a bridge to build an important relationship with our coveted core audience by reaching them wherever they are, watching TV, online, or on the go," says Michael Schwimmer, CEO of Si TV.

On the new Si TV sites, these engaged consumers will find a compelling alternative to the usual hit-driven culture, with cutting-edge, indie content about music, film, gaming, cars and more, as well as extensive video offerings from Si TV shows and talent. These robust social networking sites focus on content-creation and content-sharing, and allow users to create their own profiles, upload photos and blog. In addition, http://entertainment.sitv.com and http://trends.sitv.com offer consumers the rare opportunity to interact directly with emerging Latino artists across multiple platforms, including on on-air, online and mobile technology.

These new websites effectively create the world's first digital talent incubator uniquely designed to give voice to and open doors for Latino artists and content creators across a wide spectrum of talents: musicians, songwriters, actors, comedians, deejays, athletes, writers, poets, models, performance artists and others. Artists can post profiles, videos and web links in a culturally relevant environment with a targeted, enthusiastic audience for their work.

"No longer do young Latino artists have to wait to be discovered -- we encourage creative individuals to use our customized platform to build and grow their own community," says Lisa Black, Senior Vice President of Digital Media for Si TV. "We created these sites with the unique characteristics of our audience in mind -- their passion, their engagement, their connection to the culture and each other. That's why these sites are all about connecting and sharing, with a definite voice and creative aesthetic that benefit both the talent and the enthusiastic website user."

Featured artists whose work generates extensive community response can be discovered and promoted by Si TV and the company's network of sponsorship and strategic partners in on-air, online, and mobile campaigns and promotions. In this way, the advertising community enjoys access to an extraordinary new pool of truly authentic, relevant talent and voices. Si TV has already signed contracts with 150 emerging artists, and has launched significant, integrated campaigns using this talent base on behalf of advertising and strategic partners including Verizon Wireless, AOL Latino and Payless ShoeSource.

Si TV has already created spots and promotions for its advertising and strategic partners, pairing them with talented emerging Latino artists who are part of Si TV's signed talent roster, generating an array of unique, organic branded entertainment opportunities, such as:

Si TV and Verizon Wireless teamed up in August in a talent search for a new Latino co-host of Verizon Wireless' V CAST Video mobile entertainment service. Aspiring performers were invited to post their video auditions and profiles online at http://www.beonvcast.com, where website visitors could then vote for their favorite candidates. The new V CAST host -- Angie Jerez of Queens, NY -- was just selected from among the top 10 vote-getters. Jerez makes her V CAST debut on November 8 when she interviews the hottest Latin artists on the green carpet at the 8th Annual Latin GRAMMY(R) Awards in Las Vegas.

Si TV joined forces with AOL Latino to launch a hub (http://entretenimiento.aol.com/television/sitv) where users can enjoy highlights from the hottest Si TV shows. In addition, AOL Latino helped promote Si TV's "Jammin'," a talent showcase for up-and-coming Latino bands. The bands were first discovered on Si TV's unique user-generated community website, and voted on by passionate and opinionated http://sitv.com users. The winner, L.A.-based band Glory for the People, appears on Si TV's flagship series, The Drop, during its new fall season.

For sponsor Payless ShoeSource, Si TV developed a customized, integrated beauty makeover sweepstakes featuring Carmen Palumbo, whose Si TV-owned website, http://luvcarmen.com, dispenses dating advice and tips. The resulting 90-second spot gives a Si TV viewer a makeover with the help of Payless shoes and accessories. Using Payless product as the starting point, Carmen builds the ultimate "first date look" with a new hairstyle, makeup and wardrobe.

In addition, the network has completely revamped and relaunched its original website, http://sitv.com, which will now focus exclusively on information about Si TV programming on the company's linear TV channel, including schedules, talent bios and blogs, video clips, behind-the-scenes footage and other community tools. Also, http://trends.sitv.com will launch on October 29th.

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Juanes Drives Ford Sync to Latinos
Market Y Medios
October 29, 2007

Colombian rocker Juanes has paired up with Ford Motor Co. to launch its new Sync technology to Generation Y Hispanics, the first group of online savvy Latino car buyers.

Aimed at Generation Y Hispanics, who are among the 57 million people born between 1981 and 1995, the campaign features 12-time Grammy winner Juanes as the voice and face of Ford's Sync.

The multiplatform campaign includes billboards, broadcast, print and online advertising with the slogan A tus órdenes (At your command). For instance, 'talking' billboards will be strategically positioned in high traffic areas and will be activated by motion sensors, triggering Juanes' voice talking about Sync technology.

"It's all about being synchronized with your culture, your people, your music and your car," Juanes said in a statement.

Sync, a Ford-exclusive technology, boasts multilingual intelligence and is designed to bring an individual's digital lifestyle to the automobile. The system is based on Microsoft Auto software that allows users to access a Bluetooth-activated mobile phone and digital music player inside the car by voice command in English, Spanish and French, the company said.

With the push of a button located on the vehicle's steering wheel, and a voice command, users can do everything from call a favorite person to play their favorite song-- including genre, album, artist, title and song title. The Sync system will be factory installed in Ford cars.

"Staying connected to friends and music while on the go is no longer a trend, it's part of everyday life for our Hispanic target," Dave Rodriguez, Ford Motor Co.'s multicultural marketing communications manager said in a statement. "Sync brings this power exclusively to Ford drivers."

Ad spending for all Ford car and truck divisions has reached $1.07 billion through August of this year, compared with $1.8 billion for all of 2006, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Sync technology will also keep users connected to Juanes and other artists when they leave their vehicles via the Sync online community. Hosted by Cyloop.com, Sync webisodes created by artists allow users to interact via chats/blogs with various artists and will feature exclusive content such as mp3 downloads.

The technology will be available in 12 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models for 2008 and in nearly every make and model within two years, the company said.

Juanes also will help introduce SYNC to the Hispanic market at private events in Los Angeles and Houston through 2008.

Ford is also the exclusive automotive sponsor of Juanes' 2008 tour promoting the Oct. 23 album release of La Vida ... Es Un Ratico.

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Suzuki Solicits Entries for Animation Contest
PromoXtra
October 16, 2007

The contest, dubbed "La Vida Suzuki," is tied to the auto maker’s sponsorship of the New York Latino film festival. The submissions must be no more than three minutes long and feature Suzuki Auto branding and a specific Suzuki model.

Aspiring animators can get more information and make submissions at www.cinedulce.com through Feb. 29. The grand prize winner, to be revealed in March, will receive an expenses-paid trip to next summer’s NYILFF. The winning animation will be featured at the festival, and the winner also gets a $5,000 grant to produce two webisodes for Cinedulce.com for June and July.

Suzuki became the official automotive sponsor for the NYILFF last summer and is committed as a sponsor of the film festival through 2008.

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P&G's Big Broadband Buy: Telenovelas
Exclusive Sponsorship Deal Places Spots in Telemundo Digital Video
AdAge.com
October 22, 2007

Procter & Gamble is the exclusive sponsor of the full-length telenovelas Spanish-language network Telemundo will start streaming this week on its Yahoo Telemundo site.

In an informal first Hispanic broadband upfront, P&G's Hispanic media agency, Tapestry, sought proposals from the major Hispanic sites with video content.

"We approached the marketplace and said, 'We've got a bunch of dollars and want to focus only on broadband,'" said Marla Skiko, VP-director of digital innovation at Publicis Groupe-owned Tapestry, Chicago.

After sifting through half a dozen proposals, Tapestry and P&G picked Yahoo Telemundo and its plan to start streaming novelas and other Telemundo programming on its website the day after they are broadcast.

Broadband-advertising leader
Peter Blacker, Telemundo's senior VP-digital media, said he has been after P&G, a broadband-advertising leader in the general market, to spend money on Hispanic digital.

"More than 80% of Hispanics have access to broadband," he said. "Novelas were an immediate fit, but on the tech side, we weren't capable of putting up full-length novelas. Now our product-development cycle has coincided with their marketing needs."

P&G will be the exclusive sponsor for the first six months, using a range of brands from Crest to Gillette. Novelas are the lead part of the buy, but it will also include other programming such as music, movies, news and sports, Ms. Skiko said. P&G will use pre-roll video before each hourlong novela episode and brief commercials between segments.

Repurposing TV spots
"We would love to create original content for the web," Ms. Skiko said. "[For now] we'll probably use shorter format, 15-second TV spots. I hope this is just the first time and we can continue to grow this as we do in the general market." She said the buy is priced "on a [cost-per-thousand] basis, very similar to the way we evaluate TV."

Mr. Blacker said the streaming novelas will be promoted on the front page of the Yahoo Telemundo site and on Telemundo TV programs. He said there also will be text and e-mail messaging. The Club de Novelas, which has several thousand members, would be a likely group to target, he said.

Although Telemundo parent NBC streams all its programs except game shows, most are once-a-week shows. Telenovelas, which fill most of prime time five evenings a week on Telemundo, are new territory for streaming video. Mr. Blacker said additional content also is being created, since Telemundo films most of its own novelas rather than importing them from Mexico.

"We built up our digital-video team, and they go where the novelas are filmed to get extra content," Mr. Blacker said. "They get the cast to do everything from karaoke to sharing things about their lives. I think as we develop different digital programs, we'll get talent to do made-for-web shows."

Second only to NBC
He said Yahoo Telemundo streams more than 8 million videos a month, the second-highest total in the NBC Universal family of channels and second only to NBC. "That was a motivating factor for P&G."

Rival Univision Communications launched a Spanish-language-video portal in October and reported in its third-quarter financial results that even before that launch, video streaming on the site was up 279% in the second quarter compared with the same period a year earlier.

Although its four nightly novelas garner higher ratings that those on Telemundo, Univision doesn't have the same flexibility to stream episodes and add new content. Univision imports its ratings-topping novelas from Mexico's Grupo Televisa, and the two Spanish-language-media giants are locked in a legal battle over who gets the U.S. digital rights to programming created by Televisa and aired in the U.S. by Univision. Digital rights were an unknown concept when the two groups years ago forged a long-term programming agreement that stretches to 2017.

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Taste of Home for the Holidays
Marketing Y Medios
October 22, 2007

Latino-targeted goods that celebrate everything from honoring the dead to the three wise men are hitting store shelves as retailers deliver products to feed a market hungry for tradition.

Bimbo Bakeries USA rolled out its pan de muerto, or Day of the Dead bread, for Latinos who observe the Mexican tradition on All Saints' Day (Nov. 1) and All Souls' Day (Nov. 2).

At San Diego-based MexGrocer.com, CEO Ignacio Hernández said the online store is fully stocked with gourmet and hard-to-find foods, gifts and jewelry in advance of the end-of-the-year sales rush, which, he said, yields a big share of yearly revenues.

The outlook for a strong selling season is bright with ad spending on Hispanic TV for the beverage, food and retail categories totaling $129 million for November and December 2006, up nearly 3 percent, from $125 million for the same period in 2005, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Industry watchers said retailers are counting on Latinos' own appetite for traditional treats to ring up sales, so marketing will take its course naturally.

Still, "nostalgia has limits," said Simon El Hage Lisha, director of strategic marketing and business development at Houston-based Lopez Negrete ad agency. Clients include Wal-Mart and tortilla giant Grupo Maseca. "The question for consumers will be: How does this authentic product connect with my family's life here?"

In Hispanic-dominated markets, in-store displays, taste-testing and recipe card giveaways are ways retailers will market holiday-themed Hispanic goodies, said Ursula Mejía-Melgar, General Mill's multicultural manager.

Bimbo will market its pan de muerto, a sweet bread shaped in round loaves with strips of dough rolled out and attached to resemble bones or skulls, via in-store displays. Radio spots in major U.S. Hispanic markets will tout Bimbo's panatone Christmas cake and rosca de reyes bread (king's cake for the Epiphany on Jan. 6), said Bimbo USA spokesman Ross Blackstone.

"When retailers develop and offer products, not just bilingual signage and staff, that's when you get the sense they are investing in the customer," said Edward T. Rincón, president of Rincón & Associates, a Dallas-based market research firm.

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In This Telenovela, Even Smooches Have Sponsors
'Pecados Ajenos' Is Loaded With Marketing Partners; Toyota Backs Best Kiss Replays
AdAge
September 3, 2007

Marketers are using a coming telenovela to try several advertiser-friendly formats new to Spanish-language TV, from a sole-sponsored first episode to sponsored replays of the novela's best kisses.

NBC Universal-owned Telemundo's "Pecados Ajenos" ("The Sins of Others") will roll out next month with a commercial-free episode sponsored by Kraft Foods' DiGiorno pizza, with opening and closing billboard ads for DiGiorno. The marketer will also be involved in segments the day of the premiere promoting the novela on two other Telemundo shows.

In an even more interesting integration of marketer and novela, Toyota Motor Corp. and its Hispanic agency Conill, Los Angeles, spotted a good fit with the company's "Good Life Connoisseur" campaign for the fall relaunch of the Highlander.

Backing the best scene
"The insight is that we Hispanics think our food is better, our coffee is better and our women are better-looking," said Carlos Martinez, Conill's general manager. "We brag about what we have, and think we enjoy life to the fullest. The big idea is to look for things people would like to enjoy more of. When watching a novela, you'd probably like to see the best scene -- the kiss or the wedding or the guy gets the girl -- one more time."

In that spirit, Toyota will extend the novela's best scene with a 30-second replay at the end of the episode, courtesy of Highlander, followed by a 30-second spot for the car. The extensions, scheduled for seven episodes this fall, may also run on Yahoo Telemundo.com.

The Highlander campaign includes other elements, like an ad in People en Español magazine surrounded by four pages of editorial about people in creative professions; a chef and a designer are featured, among others.

"It's always about Highlander surrounding people who know how to enjoy life," said Pablo Buffagni, Conill's VP-creative director.

Easier to incorporate brands
Telemundo shoots its own telenovelas in Miami, rather than importing them from Latin America, so it's easy to incorporate branded content and other product placement. The early episodes generally have less marketer presence, as characters are introduced and plot lines developed.

"Pecados Ajenos" is an urban melodrama about Natalia and Adrian, who recognize with a single glimpse that they are soul mates but are encumbered by his crazy, jealous wife and Natalia's drunken husband and evil mother-in-law. At least they have cool cellphones, jewelry and cars, thanks to various product-placement deals. And Adrian's son Alfredo works at Best Buy, so there will be scenes shot on location, with visible signage, at a Best Buy store.

Other characters will be seen cleaning tables and windows with SC Johnson brands Pledge and Windex.

Another marketer, Walgreens, is still deciding whether to feature its photo department.

Music reality show
Coming up, Ms. Bella said Telemundo is looking for marketers and developing concepts for a summer 2008 music reality show called "Idolos de Juventud" ("Youth Idols") that was touted at the Hispanic upfront earlier this year as featuring product placement but no TV commercials at all.

"Your products can be placed into the hands of characters, just like real life," Steve Mandala, senior VP-sales and marketing and distribution, Telemundo and NBC Universal, said at Telemundo's upfront presentation. "A 40-episode novela with a music-reality show, watched by the whole family and with no commercial breaks. That's a dream come true."

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Hispanic TV Summit: MTV Tr3s, Comcast Tout Mobile, On-Demand
'Attracting Audiences to Programs on New Media Platforms' Panel: Older Hispanics Use Cell Phones, Too
Broadcasting & Cable
October 4, 2007

Although new-media platforms are still the wild west of content distribution, panelists at the Fifth Annual Hispanic Television Summit here expressed growing interest in mobile platforms to engage consumers.

In a panel discussion entitled "Attracting Audiences to Programs on New Media Platforms," executives from MTV Tr3s, Comcast, POP Solutions, Turner Broadcasting System and AOL spoke about the power of video and text messaging to encourage viewer engagement on mobile platforms and other new technologies.

But while young consumers are the primary target of most new-media marketing campaigns, the panelists also noted that new technologies have been adopted by older generations of Hispanics.

"We don't look at [mobile] as a 'tune-in' mechanism," said Lucia Ballas-Traynor, senior vice president and general manager of MTV Tr3s, MTV Networks' Latino-focused music channel. Ballas-Traynor explained that interactivity between the viewer and the network was a key to success and engagement.

At MTV Tr3s, viewers are encouraged to send SMS text messages to the network. The channel then presents the comments in real-time on a feed across the screen, allowing for viewers to comment on music videos or just give "shout-outs" to their friends.

More important, the network can use the comments to gauge viewer interests and understand their language. "The language we use is their voice," Ballas-Traynor added.

She further noted that mobile devices are more than simply a platform for distributing content -- they're also a means of interacting with the people that cable companies and content providers need to know the most about: their viewers.

"This is a personal device, 24 hours a day," said Michael Steinwender, VP and chief technology officer of mobile-marketing firm POP Solutions. "As you use this device, you are capturing their wants and needs, likes and dislikes."

But young consumers are not the only ones who use the new platforms. Mauro Panzera, senior director of multicultural marketing for Comcast, noted that in many Latin and South American countries, there was an unexpected jump in technological innovation over the past 10 years. Due to the geography of the countries and the difficulty in laying wire and cable, satellite-TV service and mobile-phone services overtook existing mechanisms for communication. "We went from the donkey to the jet," Panzera said.

The result: In multigenerational immigrant households in the United States, many of the older members of the household used satellite TV and cell phones as a primary means of information and communication before coming to the country. They knew the technology, and there was a demand there that was not being met by current operators and content providers.

According to Panzera, Comcast's On-Demand en Español service adjusted accordingly. With about 100 hours of content, the on-demand service was delivering 500,000-750,000 views per month. By adding more movies and music and appealing to a broader range of viewers than the young-adult demos so often targeted by such technology, the operator boosted viewership to 1.5 million views per month.

"Entertainment, mobility and voice," Panzera said, are the keys to engaging the Hispanic consumer and consumers in general. But in an echo of Telemundo president Don Browne's remarks at the summit the day before, the panel agreed that the quality and appeal of the content still reigns supreme.

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Skype Grabs New Foothold With MySpace's Messaging
Wall Street Journal
October 17, 2007

News Corp.'s MySpace and eBay Inc.'s Skype have agreed to put Internet calls into MySpace's instant-messaging feature to gain more users and broaden the distribution of their two services.

The companies will share revenue from the partnership. Other terms weren't disclosed.

MySpace, which is the largest social-networking Web site with 110 million members, and Skype, which lets consumers call other users via computer free, have been trying to broaden their networks. Skype has 220 million registered users. The companies benefit from having more people join their communities and connect to people they know.

Voice communication is "a competitive advantage to us for gaining users and keeping users," said Kyle Brinkman, vice president of product development at MySpace.

Starting in November, MySpace users will be able to call people through instant message. MySpace users will also be able to link to Skype's network and integrate features of their profile into Skype. The Luxemborg company has been trying to increase its adoption among users by embedding its services into devices such as phones as well as Web sites, says Michael van Swaaij, interim chief executive of Skype.

Separately, in what may signal a broader shift in MySpace's occasionally tense relations with the music industry, the social-networking Web site announced it had reached a deal to license music and video content from Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the world's second-largest recorded music company.

Under the terms of the deal, Sony BMG -- a joint venture of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG -- will receive an undisclosed share of advertising and licensing revenue associated with the use of songs and music videos from its catalog.

The deal appears sharply different from MySpace's relations with Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group, the world's largest player in both recorded music and music publishing. Universal nearly a year ago sued MySpace and News Corp., alleging the site infringes on Universal's copyrights when it allows users to post songs and videos on their personal pages without explicit permission.

Another major site that traffics in so-called user-generated content, Google Inc.'s YouTube, has similar advertising-revenue sharing deals in place with the four major music companies: Sony BMG, Universal, Warner Music Group Corp. and EMI Group Limited.

Most musical acts, whether independent or affiliated with major record labels, maintain MySpace pages to promote themselves and interact with fans.

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MySpace Partners With Oberon Media to Unveil Gaming Channel
MySpace Games To Allow Free Multi-Player Casual Gaming and Empower Users to Add Gaming Functionality To Their Personal Profiles
Business Wire
October 23, 2007

MySpace, the world's most popular social network, today announced a partnership with Oberon Media, the world's leading multi-platform casual-games company, to create a new gaming channel on MySpace. MySpace Games will enable users to choose from hundreds of award winning online casual games to play with friends in the community as well as empower users to add and virally share games through their personal profiles pages. MySpace Games will launch in early 2008.

Through the partnership, MySpace users will be able to add games to their profile pages from Oberon's extensive portfolio of stellar casual titles, allowing them to play and socialize with friends through their favorite casual games. All games will be available to play online free of charge to MySpace users. Players will be able to challenge friends to multi-player games, invite them to play the same single player game, or socialize via chat services within the game.

"Bringing entertainment in the form of fun, social, casual games will enhance our user experience," said Amit Kapur, VP of Business Development for MySpace. "Our goal is to provide our members with an easy way to play with their friends and give them with additional ways to interact."

Tal Kerret, Co-Founder and Chairman of Oberon Media commented: "We're very excited to be partnering with MySpace to provide the best social networking casual games experience to its growing audience. Our white label casual gaming solution is allowing us to create a customized games platform that delivers a great experience to MySpace users. We're looking forward to responding to users' needs and to involving the best game developers to create the greatest online entertainment experience. The opportunity to give MySpace users the chance to share the fun and socialize within this rapidly growing media segment is thrilling."

MySpace and Oberon encourages the developer community is to submit their ideas for new forms of social gaming to myspace@oberon-media.com. The product is supported with a Software Developer Kit designed specifically for multi-player and social gaming.

Oberon Media is one of the world's fastest growing casual-games companies; its intellectual-property portfolio comprises more than a thousand titles, delivered by its global distribution partners including 350 wireless carriers and online providers including: Microsoft, Comcast, BskyB, Sprint, AT&T, Yahoo Games, Verizon, Electronic Arts, AOL Games, France Telecom and NHN.

Further community initiatives resulting from the partnership will be announced in early 2008.

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