More and more TV viewers are turning to the web for their audio-visual pleasures, streaming shows and movies from such places as Hulu, Netflix, and AppleTV, among a growing list of others. 

YouTube, of course, is the grandpa of the online video-entertainment biz and is refusing to take a backseat to all the Johnny-come-latelys that are making their moves now. In the past year, YouTube owner Google has invested more than $100 million in 100 original channels to invite brands and professional producers create original high-quality content for the site. Even though viewership numbers weren’t particularly high, the site is shelling out some big bucks again, but this time to only 30 or 40 of those content creators, according to AllThingsD.com.

The metric of most interest to YouTube (and parent Google) execs is “the total ‘watch time’ a channel has generated” as well as cost, AllThingsD reports. The site’s top 25 channels averaged more than a million views a week, Ad Age reports, and “the top 33 have more than 100,000 subscribers, a key indicator of repeat viewing.”Continue reading...

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Daimler mulls building compact Mercedes cars with Renault-Nissan, report says. Continue reading...

Following a week of speculation, News International CEO Rebekah Brooks stepped down today (joined later in the day by Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton) as the beleaguered Murdoch family battles to defend its media interests.

News Corp. didn't include her resignation statement in the press release announcing that Sky Italia CEO Tom Mockridge would move over within News Corp. to take over her role, although the Guardian posted her memo to employees.

“As chief executive of the company, I feel a deep sense of responsibility for the people we have hurt and I want to reiterate how sorry I am for what we now know to have taken place," Brooks told staffers.Continue reading...