Colorado (Denver Metro area) is having a big snow storm today, somewhere between 6″ and 2′ (probably a foot).  And while most people would know this from looking out the window or watching the weather radar map, it is showing up in an interesting place: Google Trends.

20 of the top 100 Google Trend keywords are related to the Colorado snow storm.  Interestingly, only 6 entities are associated with these key words: DIA (airport), CDOT (government transportation dept.), 9News (local TV) and three schools.  Wonder what their web traffic was like today?  It is interesting that only one media property showed up, and multiple times; they clearly own the weather brand in the market.

The trends below (and screenshot) were captured at 12:30 pm MST, when about 4-8″ of snow had fallen on the Denver Metro area.  At 9am, there was only 1-2″.

It looks like Colorado’s only other real competition was President Obama (had speech today) and weather in Texas and Mississippi.

Here is a screenshot (link to view full size):

Here are the 20 keywords, in bold:

1.     angela lansbury
2.     rue la la
3.     denver international airport
4.     thea vidale
5.     dan seals
6.     whitehouse.gov
7.     kyocera ecopro c170n
8.     sonya hamm
9.     kyocera ecopro c170n 17ppm color laser printer
10.     online town hall
11.     jennifer hepner
12.     one second after
13.     cdot
14.     ryan moats
15.     ruelala.com
16.     white house easter egg roll 2009
17.     poudre school district
18.     obama town hall meeting
19.     magee ms
20.     magee mississippi
21.     kim kardashian cellulite pictures
22.     colorado department of transportation
23.     mile high music festival 2009
24.     tammy leitner
25.     cdot colorado
26.     obama online
27.     colorado road conditions
28.     9 news
29.     ksat 12 weather
30.     denver weather
31.     lisa persdotter
32.     robert o ryan
33.     kim kardashian complex magazine
34.     valerie bertinelli in a bikini
35.     www.whitehouse.gov
36.     woai weather
37.     9news
38.     ibm layoffs
39.     sarah l. tolzien
40.     whitehouse.gov government
41.     shawn johnson stalker
42.     miss montana jennifer hepner
43.     mk89 strikemaster
44.     willie aames
45.     www.whitehouse.gov/eastereggroll
46.     dancing with the stars stalker
47.     three stooges movie
48.     cheryl hines
49.     cdot camera
50.     cherry creek school district
51.     whitehouse.gov/eastereggroll
52.     colorado weather
53.     amalia tabata
54.     billy gillispie
55.     dia airport
56.     9news.com
57.     the brighter side column
58.     joy behar age
59.     mississippi tornado
60.     tommy bahama
61.     kelly clarkson on oprah
62.     denver news
63.     st vrain valley school district
64.     leon czolgosz
65.     mysa.com
66.     baby bangs
67.     julius shulman
68.     jose tabata
69.     bby
70.     zbt industries incorporated
71.     9news weather
72.     kens 5
73.     ctic
74.     san antonio weather
75.     flesh eating fish
76.     kim kardashian untouched photo
77.     magee miss
78.     storks footprint
79.     wlbt
80.     denver traffic cameras
81.     charles simonyi
82.     colorado school closures
83.     white house town hall
84.     09wheggroll.frontgatetickets.com
85.     american idol motown
86.     wild dunes resort charleston sc
87.     california safari
88.     cotrip.org
89.     arnold palmer invitational
90.     pat oliphant
91.     jocelyn wildenstein
92.     oliphant gaza cartoon
93.     forecastle festival
94.     bay hill invitational 2009
95.     university of missouri
96.     faraday cage
97.     magee tornado
98.     elliot in the morning
99.     prince on jay leno
100.     map of mississippi

The E.W. Scripps Co. shut down the Rocky Mountain News on Feb 27th 2009 after nearly 150 years as a Denver newspaper. It may live on in an independent online-only form as InDenverTimes.com if it can attract 50,000 subscribers.  Read more here: “Ex-Rocky Mountain News staffers plan news Web site” …and on YouTube here and here.

Hearst Corp shut down the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s print operations today, March 17th 2009.  It will continue on as an online-only edition at www.seattlepi.com.  Read more here: “Seattle P-I to publish last edition Tuesday“

Disney.com has a new website design today.  If you want to see where the web is heading…check it out.  It is very multimedia and interactive.  In a nut, it’s an experience.  If you are soley into news websites you may not like it, but if you are looking for an experience — like the one you get when you go to a movie or watch TV — you’ll probably dig it.  If you are keeping an eye on innovation in online media…keep visiting Disney.com; it says a lot that a large organization has redesigned its high profile site twice in 18 months.  nytimes.com has a good article.

Forbes and Silicon Alley Insider have insight into YouTube’s revenue.

A quick overview:

• Google may be making $200 million from YouTube this year and $350 million next year.
• A front page ad on YouTube goes for about $175,000 per day plus a commitment to spend at least $50,000 more on YouTube or Google.
• A branded YouTube channel goes for about $200,000.
• YouTube is the undiputed leader in online video.
• Google’s position gives them great insight into user habits and is allowing them to fine tune the ad experience and model (that will likely become the industry standard).

Today’s big news… CBS is buying CNet… becoming the 10th largest internet company (chart).

Here is the press release:

CBS CORPORATION TO ACQUIRE CNET NETWORKS, INC.

CBS to Become a Top Ten U.S. Internet Company with Unparalleled Content and Reach, Boasting Approximately 200 Million Monthly Unique Users Worldwide

CNET Networks’ CNET, ZDNet, GameSpot.com, TV.com, CNET News, UrbanBaby, BNET, CHOW and Search.com, Among Others, To Be Combined with
CBS Corporation’s National and Local Interactive Businesses

NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO, May 15 — CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A and CBS) has entered into an agreement to acquire CNET Networks, Inc., it was announced today by Leslie Moonves, President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS Corporation. Under the terms of the agreement, CBS will make a cash tender offer for all issued and outstanding shares of CNET Networks for $11.50 per share, representing an equity value of approximately $1.8 billion. The acquisition will make CBS one of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the United States, with a combined 54 million unique users per month, and approximately 200 million users worldwide.

“There are very few opportunities to acquire a profitable, growing, well-managed Internet company like CNET Networks,” said Moonves. “CBS stands for premium content and unparalleled reach, and CNET Networks will add a tremendous platform to extend our complementary entertainment, news, sports, music and information content to a whole new global audience. Together, CBS and CNET Networks will have significant additional exposure to the fastest-growing advertising sector and can accelerate our growth through a number of new content, promotion and advertising initiatives. We could not be more pleased with the prospect of adding CNET Networks and its tremendous team of people to the CBS family. I look forward to working with Quincy Smith, Neil Ashe and the considerable combined talent at both companies, as we build upon our success.”

Based in San Francisco, CNET Networks owns many of the Internet’s leading entertainment, news and information sites including CNET, ZDNet, GameSpot.com, TV.com, mp3.com, CNET news.com, UrbanBaby, CHOW, Search.com, BNET, MySimon and TechRepublic. The company, which reported significant profits in 2007 on revenues of $406 million, has a large international footprint, particularly in China.

Upon closing, CNET Networks’ sites will be combined with CBS’s stable of dynamic and growing interactive businesses. These include CBS.com, CBSSports.com, CBSCollegeSports.com, MaxPreps.com, CBSNews.com, last.fm, Wallstrip, MobLogic, CBS Radio and CBS Television Stations digital media platforms, and the distribution network of the CBS Audience Network, which is made up of more than 300 partner Web sites and reaches 82% of all online users in the United States.

“The core businesses of CNET Networks and CBS Interactive represent near perfect category symmetry in premium online content,” said Quincy Smith, President, CBS Interactive. “Together we will have a terrific opportunity to not only grow our established businesses, but to build new attractive verticals of content as well. This is the beginning of an era for both CBS and CNET Networks; plus, it’s going to be great to work with Neil and his team, many of whom I have known for many years.”

“We’re thrilled to join CBS and combine our interactive media experience with CBS’s world-class content,” said Neil Ashe, Chief Executive Officer, CNET Networks, Inc. “CNET Networks operates some of the most important premium online brands, serving the most sought after online audiences. Today’s announcement brings together two organizations that complement each other and working with Leslie, Quincy and the talented people at CBS, we look forward to taking our business and our brands to the next level.”

“We look forward to completing the acquisition of CNET Networks and the terrific benefits it brings to CBS as Quincy, Neil and their combined teams build upon our success,” Moonves concluded. “At the same time our strong cash flow allows us to pay among the highest dividends in the industry, and we are committed to continue to pay our attractive dividend to return value to shareholders.”

The Board of Directors of CNET Networks has unanimously approved the merger agreement and unanimously recommends that CNET Networks stockholders accept the tender offer and tender their shares.

The transaction is subject to customary conditions and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.

CBS Interactive is doing it right by setting up an office in Silicon Vally (Menlo Park). This world has changed and Tech plays a big role. Today, people don’t need to start their morning with a newspaper, listen to the radio to/at/from work or watch the evening television newscast; although, most still do out of habit. Today and tomorrow, tech will enable media/audiences/advertising in so many ways. Compare how these technologies affected our world: printing press, transistor, AM/FM, UHF/VHF, microphone, video camera. And then consider how many new technologies have rolled out in the past 2, 5, 20 years. Many of those technologies affect information flow, and therefore cut into the role traditional media has played. And, I suppose if Tech companies can become media companies (a la Google), then the opposite can be true (if a book seller like Amazon can sell tech services to small businesses, why can’t media companies enable audiences to ____ , or at the very least, to enable media to continue to evolve). Although, I doubt CBS wants to be a Tech company; rather just enough to grow audiences, audience engagement, and revenue from subscriptions and advertising.

The CBS Interactive M&A and dealmaking team will have their eye (sorry for the pun) on these areas:

• Personalization: I want my news topics, my shows, my music, my friends, my lifestyle… my way… and advertisers’ ROI will improve as their targeted ads increasingly reach the right people (throw away that notion of “50% of my ad budget is working; I just don’t know which half”…it is aging fast, and it will create winners and losers).

• Distribution: web, email, IM, mobile, gaming, television (here comes the internet connection), in-car, digital signage, digital readers, etc.

• Engagement/participation: rating stuff, giving feedback, recommending, forwarding, remixing, watching, linking, embedding, interacting, learning, analyzing, creating, editing, deleting, etc.

Evolving on these fronts will complement CBS’s current content/product portfolio, and, its relationships with audiences and advertisers. Keep an eye (sorry, again) on the parallels between product and advertising; each of the above points has many potential plays on both sides.

Read more on the CBS Interactive move here

Newspaper continues upward, online that is, with 12% growth in web traffic.  Another cool number is that 40% of all U.S. web users visited a newspaper website in Q1.  Here is more info…

I was invited to try out Google’s beta for TV advertising yesterday. The term AdWords does not really fit here/anymore, but we’ll look past that for the moment. It looks like you cannot target to local TV at this point. It does seems like this would work okay for cable TV advertising. Let me know what your experience is if you try it…

Here is the invite email:

Dear AdWords Advertiser,

You’re one of a select group of advertisers invited to try Google TV Ads beta. The perfect complement to your online campaigns, Google TV Ads makes it easy to reach new customers, drive more traffic and increase your sales volume – turning TV viewers into your customers.

To learn more, join us for an online webinar led by AdWords specialists. Sign up at google.com/adwords/tvads/webinar.html

Are you ready to give Google TV Ads a try? Log in to your AdWords account and click on ‘Create your first television campaign’ in the ‘Other Campaign Types’ section at the bottom of this page.

Now, with Google TV Ads, you can tap into the power of television with the accountability and flexibility of your online advertising campaigns. We look forward to helping you grow your business.

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords Team

Email Preferences: We sent you this email because you inquired about Google TV Ads through our online form and asked to be notified if you became eligible to participate in the Google TV Ads Beta Test.

Copyright 2007. Google is a trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy.
Mountain View, CA 94043

…And here is the confirmation/thank you email after I signed up:

Thank you for submitting your contact information.

We will contact you by email with details to participate in Google TV Ads. Please note: if you indicated interest in local targeting only, we will contact you when local inventory becomes available in the future.

We look forward to enabling you to advertise on TV more efficiently and effectively through better measurement, more accountability and greater optimization.

Sincerely,
The Google TV Ads Team

Update:

Here is a YouTube video about an advertiser’s experience with Google TV Ads:

Here is some more info from MarketingVox: Google Brings TV Advertising to Adwords

Here is some BACKGROUND info from TechCrunch: Google Testing TV Ads in California

Will Internet TV and online media get a catylst?  It has to some degree, but it may come faster than we thought if this strike keeps going.  There is a lot being said about this topic, here is just one good article from FT.com…

Hollywood warned ‘writers will move online’

The head of the union representing striking film and television writers has issued a stark warning to US media companies that writers and audiences will migrate to the internet in the event of a prolonged strike.

Pay talks between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents companies including Walt Disney, News Corporation and Viacom, ended acrimoniously last week.

But with the strike in its second month, Patric Verrone, president of the WGA West, said the dispute was creating “entrepreneurial possibilities for the talent community to go directly into production and distribution”. He added: “With every day that goes by, our members are exploring internet TV. The ability to explore this business without media conglomerates is becoming a real possibility.”

CNBC is a great TV brand, and one that has been arming for battle with Fox Business.  With that said, it is not nearly as powerful online as it could be.  I wish it was, I like it.  I think my peak useage of the site was back in 2000 when stocks were flying high and the internet and TV were at different places in the world — the TV brand meant a lot more.

Check out Yahoo Finance for CNBC content.

I still remember when I first saw Yahoo Finance.  That was one of those OMG-the-internet-rocks moments for me.  All that data, and so accessible.  It was one of my early favs that still lives today in a similar form.

As a User, thanks for doing this deal…I look forward to gobbling up content and looking at your ads.

Here is the NYTimes story…

Will this lead to more deals between cable networks and Internet players?