Wizzard Media (Amex: WZE) $0.35. The World's Largest podcasting network announced Tuesday after market close that it recorded an unprecedented 1.4 billion podcast download requests in 2009. Wizzard Media, through its premier podcast-hosting service Libsyn, received an average of 3.77 million requests for podcast episodes per day in 2009. On average, 23 minutes per episode equates to almost 1.5 million hours of programming distributed worldwide every day.
In mid-2009, Wizzard Media introduced a new monetization product for its 12,000+ podcast publishing customers with the launch of an iPhone® Podcast App. The newly launched podcast companion App for popular podcasts on the Wizzard Media Network offers audiences access to their favorite podcast directly on their iPhone or iPod® Touch, bonus episodes and other content and new social communication features such as Twitter and Facebook, creating an unprecedented level of audience entertainment.
Analysts project the App market to be a $1.0 billion market today, headed for $4.0 billion by 2012. With the new Apple Tablet expected soon and the recent launch of the iPhone in China, Wizzard’s management believes the number of people using iPhones and iPod Touch type devices to consume podcasts and interact with Apps will continue to grow well beyond the current 50 million user-base. To date, Wizzard Media has launched 153 iPhone Apps with top podcast Apps on the Wizzard Network having now converted approximately 22% of their audience from free, to paid, in the first 150 days since launch.
In anticipation of the expected announcement this month from Apple, Wizzard today outlined its plans to fully support the new tablet device. The Company is committed to ensuring compatibility for all Wizzard Apps in order to work with and take full advantage of the device’s strengths. Wizzard believes that this device has the game changing ability to take the position of primary media and communication device formerly occupied by netbooks and laptops.
“We expect the new Tablet Device to extend the current iTunes App Store ecosystem,” says Dave Mansueto, co-founder, Wizzard Media. “The iTunes App Store represents the most mature platform for monetization of our publisher’s content and no other App store currently offers the In-App purchase model that we intend to take full advantage of in the coming weeks.”
Additionally, Wizzard released a road map to expand its App offering beyond iTunes to the Google Android and Palm WebOS platforms starting in the first quarter of 2010. “With the early success of the Droid and the impact of the newly launched Nexus One, we feel the Android platform has already proven itself to be a robust mobile media and entertainment platform and Palm's WebOS offering continues to refine with updates to its software and expansion to multiple carriers,” continues Mansueto.
“We know there is strong demand for the podcasts we distribute seeing downloads grow from 400 million to 1.4 billion in the last few years and monthly audiences grow from 4 million to 18 million,” says Laurie Sims, President of Wizzard Media. “Now, podcasting becomes a platform that converts audiences to revenue, accelerated by the micropayment billing process that Apple has created with the App store. Unlike most Apps in the App store, podcasters have a distinct advantage to successfully market their App in iTunes due to the fact that they have already built a substantial audience for their podcast show over the last several years. Now it is just a matter of continuing to convert them over and expand the model to the Tablet, Andriod and Palm.”
“A few days into 2010 and we’re announcing a new record for downloads, 18 million unique monthly audience count and the expansion of our Apps to the new Apple Tablet, Google Android and Palm WebOS,” says Chris Spencer, Wizzard CEO. “With our top Apps already reaching 22% audience conversion rate, the recent expansion of our advertising platform inventory to include Apps, a strong holiday sales season for our acquired Apps and having just completed our best quarter ever for advertising impressions (4th quarter 2009), we believe this can be a big year for Wizzard.”
What They Do: Wizzard Media provides publishing and distribution services to podcasters and monetization services for podcasters. Wizzard Media is the industry's leading podcasting network with an unprecedented 1.4 billion download requests in 2009. Podcasts are a means for independent and professional content creators to publish audio and video shows for the world to enjoy over the Internet or on mp3 players, such as the Apple iPod®, iPhone® and the Microsoft Zune®. Podcasting is a relatively new phenomenon, but Wizzard Media collectively broadcasts millions of podcast downloads per day through media aggregators like Apple's iTunes and Microsoft's Zune Marketplace.
Read more about Wizzard Media (WZE) at http://www.smallcapreview.com/wze.htm.
Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) $52.37. and Nintendo of America today announced an agreement that will allow Netflix members who are also owners of Nintendo’s Wii home console to instantly watch thousands of movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix directly to their TVs. Netflix is scheduled to go live on the Wii console this spring in the United States at no additional cost to Netflix members who have a plan starting at $8.99 a month, a Wii console and a broadband Internet connection.
What They Do: Netflix, Inc. is the world’s largest online movie rental service, with more than 11 million subscribers.
MDRNA Inc. (Nasdaq: MRMA) $0.94. Today announced that in vivo data for bladder and liver cancer demonstrating further advancement of the Company's oncology programs. The Company reported a reduction in tumor growth in both liver and bladder cancers by targeting genes key to tumor progression, via both systemic and local delivery with the Company's proprietary UsiRNAs delivered by its novel DiLA2 platform. In addition, MDRNA disclosed the establishment of an early collaborative effort with a major international pharmaceutical company, its second such effort.
In a presentation at the 2010 OneMedForum in San Francisco today, Mr. J. Michael French, President & CEO of MDRNA, stated that the Company has demonstrated potent anti-tumor activity with a UsiRNA targeting PLK1 (Polo-like Kinase 1), a protein involved in cell mitosis and tumor progression.
What They Do: MDRNA is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutic products based on RNA interference (RNAi).
Tessera Technologies (Nasdaq: TSRA) $19.80. Today announced that China-based Jiangvin Changjiang Advanced Packicg Corporation has licensed Tessera’s SHELLCASE MVP image sensor packaging technology. JCAP will use the SHELLCASE MVP technology in its production line for image sensor wafer-level packaging designed for portable products such as mobile phones, notebook and netbook computers, as well as camera products in consumer electronics.
What They Do: Tessera Technologies, Inc. invests in, licenses and delivers innovative miniaturization technologies for next-generation electronic devices.
About SmallCapReview
Copyright SmallCapReview. SmallCapReview.com is a leading site for news on small-caps, penny stocks and microcaps. SmallCapReview has built a loyal opt-in following for their investor products by providing a newsletter at no cost, sent to subscribers, highlighting select stocks in play, to register visit http://www.smallcapreview.com/. SmallCapReview has been compensated three thousand five hundred dollars by a third party HFS for its services with regards to Wizzard Software. To follow us on Twitter visit http://twitter.com/SmallCapReview.
