In This Update: 

• Top 25 Ad Networks in April: Platform-A, Yahoo Lead Pack
• Pope on Facebook In Attempt To Woo Young Believers
• Bijan Sabet on Boston tech: ‘We can do better’
• Local Gets Hyper! NBC and Huffington Post to Launch New York Sites This Summer
• Digital Ad Agency Razorfish Closes Two Offices
• Nokia offers unused patents to Finnish tech companies
• Yahoo Newspaper Consortium Has Generated Estimated $50 Million In Revenues
• Survey: Angel Group Investments Fell 9% in 2008
• Report: WiMax To Generate $15 Billion By 2014
• Denton: Yes, I’m Bored
• Controversial Online Ad Firm NebuAd Shuts Down
• Content Delivery Firm Limelight Networks Acquires Kiptronic
• Microsoft’s Gates, Ballmer Say Tech Can Lead US Out Of The Recession
• Source: Google Values MySpace Deal At $75 Million/Year Or Less
• Playboy In Market
• Warner Bros. Bids $33 Million for Midway Games Assets
• Business Insider, SAI’s Parent, Closes Third Round; Funding Estimated At $5 Million
• OpenTable the Best IPO Debut in 18 Mo.

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Top 25 Ad Networks in April: Platform-A, Yahoo Lead Pack
MARKETING CHARTS
AOL’s Platform-A remains the top ad network in the US, reaching nearly 176.5 million US internet users, or 91.5% of the total audience, based on the April ad-network rankings released by comScore, Inc. Platform-A is followed by the Yahoo Network, which reaches 167.1 million Americans online. Google Ad Network, which reaches 164.5 million US internet users, ranks at #3. comScore also noted that new ad network FOX Audience Network ranked #6, reaching 149.2 million people, while several ad networks in the top 25 achieved double-digit growth during the past year. These were led by by Turn Inc. (up 121%), CPX Interactive (up 88%) and 24/7 Real Media (up 48%).
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Pope on Facebook In Attempt To Woo Young Believers
REUTERS
You won’t get an email saying Pope Benedict added you as a friend and you can’t “poke” him or write on his wall, but the Vatican is still keen to use the networking site Facebook to woo young people back to church. A new Vatican website, www.pope2you.net, has gone live, offering an application called “The pope meets you on Facebook,” and another allowing the faithful to see the Pope’s speeches and messages on their iPhones or iPods.
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Bijan Sabet on Boston tech: ‘We can do better’
THE DEAL
“We have a lot of opportunity here and plenty of raw materials,” blogsSpark Capital partner Bijan Sabet on Wednesday, referring to the Boston area. “But we need to improve and compete at a higher level. And when I say ‘we’ I mean all of us. VCs, angel investors, successful entrepreneurs, new entrepreneurs, failed entrepreneurs, big companies, small companies, universities and government.” Sabet’s comments come in response to the news that Greylock Partners is moving its headquarters from the Boston area to Silicon Valley.
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Local Gets Hyper! NBC and Huffington Post to Launch New York Sites This Summer
BEET.TV
NBC’s local media division plans to launch its local broadcast Web sites this summer, including one in New York. Separately, we have learned that the Huffington Post is expanding its local strategy. Having established its first local site in Chicago, its New York site will launch in June. NBC rolled out new sites for its 10-owned stations starting last fall and now will give all those sites an additional face lift in the coming months to add social media features, improve Web distribution and make them more community-focused.
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Digital Ad Agency Razorfish Closes Two Offices
PAIDCONTENT
Microsoft-owned online ad agency Razorfish is closing its two smallest offices in Fort Lauderdale and Boston, and will make a push into Latin America. The company said that its roughly 60 employees in Boston and Fort Lauderdale will now either work remotely or from clients’ offices. Some will also be transferred to other Razorfish offices in the United States. (Chief Strategy Officer Jeff Lanctot tells paidContent that contrary to some reports Razorfish is not closing its offices in Los Angeles and Portland and is instead looking for new office space in those two cities.)
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Nokia offers unused patents to Finnish tech companies
INTOMOBILE
Nokia has just made itself one of the most socially responsible corporations in the mobile space, maybe even in the tech industry as a whole. In a move aimed at boosting the local Finnish economy, Nokia has announced that they’ll be making available their hoard of unused patents to select technology companies in Finland. As a joint venture between Nokia, Technopolis and Tekes, the Nokia Technopolis Innovation Mill will hand over unused patents to tech companies over the next three years. The Nokia Technopolis Innovation Mill will also provide a total of 8 million Euros in public and private funding to the companies selected to pursue Nokia’s dusty ideas.
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Yahoo Newspaper Consortium Has Generated Estimated $50 Million In Revenues
PAIDCONTENT
Yahoo execs have always been more than a little circumspect when it comes to discussing how well the 800-member Yahoo Newspaper Consortium is doing. But AdAge’s Nat Ives has done some math and estimates that the alliance has sold $50 million in Yahoo ad inventory, with about “several million” dollars in sales being added each week. And although Yahoo doesn’t like to provide figures, since last fall, a number of consortium members have been singing its praises, especially since Yahoo began rolling out its APT ad distribution and targeting system for its newspaper partners earlier this year. EW Scripps has praised the program, saying its contributed a 30 percent gain in online ad revenues in Q1, or roughly $800,000.
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Survey: Angel Group Investments Fell 9% in 2008
DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE
Angel investment groups on average invested 9% less last year than in 2007, according to a new survey by the Angel Capital Association (ACA). Despite a 4% increase in the average investment per deal ($276,918), the average number of investments per group fell 16%. Angel investors cited a decrease in individual member wealth, the overall decline of the economy and a lack of exit opportunities as the most prominent reasons for the decrease. “Heightened selectivity by angels and venture capitalists has clearly amplified the financing challenge young ventures are facing today, even at collapsed valuations,” said John Huston, chairman of the ACA.
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Report: WiMax To Generate $15 Billion By 2014
MOCONEWS
Revenues from WiMAX 802.16e broadband subscribers will exceed $15 billion globally by 2014, according to a release by Juniper Research. The analyst said that WiMax will provide an improved experience for broadband customers who are receiving low speed DSL or cable modem services, but is facing a lot of challenges including: Spectrum auction postponements in several countries; funding problems from the credit crunch; and slow network implementations. This has caused Juniper to lower its expected revenue forecast-a year ago it as predicting $20 billion in service revenues by 2013. The report author went so far as to say it is “the cusp of make or break time for WiMAX”.
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Denton: Yes, I’m Bored
SILICON ALLEY INSIDER
We were curious about this little tidbit that appeared in one of our stories yesterday: Gawker Media owner Nick Denton is bored and he’s finally looking for an exit, somebody who likes to gossip with him told us the other day. The urge to unload Gawker confused us, based on a recent conversation we had with the selfsame blog mogul, so we inquired. Here’s what we got back: True I’m a bit bored…..but haven’t thought for a second about exit. So there you have it, Gawkerites. You won’t soon be working for Rupert.
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Controversial Online Ad Firm NebuAd Shuts Down
DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE
NebuAd, a provider of online advertising targeted based on a consumer’s Web surfing habits, said in court filings this week that it has been winding down its business and has “essentially ceased to exist,” the Associated Press reported. The company had partnered with ISPs including Charter, Bresnan, Embarq and Cable One to test the service, which would see ad revenue shared with the ISPs. Congress held hearings last year on the matter, essentially siding with privacy advocates who said the company’s technology was too intrusive.
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Content Delivery Firm Limelight Networks Acquires Kiptronic
DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE
Limelight Networks, a provider of content delivery network services for digital media, announced on Thursday that it has acquired Kiptronic, a provider of device-optimized content delivery and monetization services. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. San Francisco-based Kiptronic provides video content delivery with the ability to insert ads, for publishers including NPR, Fox, The Guardian and NBC.com.
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Microsoft’s Gates, Ballmer Say Tech Can Lead US Out Of The Recession
SILICON ALLEY INSIDER
Microsoft founder Bill Gates says that technology will pull us out of the current recession. Yesterday, Clusterstock’s Joe Weisenthal argued almost the exact opposite, suggesting “Internet startups will bankrupt the US government.” Joe argued that Web 2.0 created “new markets where reputation and attention serve as substitutes for money,” and that as these new Web 2.0 markets replace old ones, the government will lose out on tax revenues.
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Source: Google Values MySpace Deal At $75 Million/Year Or Less
TECHCRUNCH
The last $75 million payment on the $900 million Google/News Corp. search advertising deal will be paid to News Corp. a year from now. That deal has accounted for about a third of News Corp.’s online revenue from MySpace and some of its smaller Internet sites, and the looming end of that particular gravy train is causing more than a little consternation for new Digital Media chief Jonathan Miller and his new MySpace exec team. Google revenue is the difference between profitability and the opposite of profitability at MySpace and its sister sites. And unless a new deal is negotiated that can bring in similar revenue after next year, MySpace is facing massive layoffs and a general downsizing of its business, we’ve heard from multiple sources close to MySpace.
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Playboy In Market
NEW YORK POST
Playboy Enterprises, the far-flung empire founded by Hugh Hefner in 1953, is quietly being shopped around for $300 million, sources tell Media Ink. But so far, well-heeled suitors that have been approached, like Apollo Capital Partners and Providence Equity Partners, haven’t stepped up. The battered company’s market capitalization is now around $100 million and nobody has been willing to pay the substantial premium that it would take to persuade Hef to sell. Sources said the sellers are looking for far more than the company’s market capitalization because that would ensure Hef has enough on hand to maintain his lavish lifestyle.
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Warner Bros. Bids $33 Million for Midway Games Assets
DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE
Bankrupt video game publisher Midway Games said on Thursday that Time Warner’s Warner Bros. Entertainment has bid $33 million for the majority of its assets, including the “Mortal Kombat” franchise. Chicago-based Midway declared bankruptcy in February, after chairman Sumner Redstone sold off his majority stake in the company. The “stalking horse” asset purchase agreement with Warner Bros. is essentially the first bid in an auction process for Midway’s assets.
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Business Insider, SAI’s Parent, Closes Third Round; Funding Estimated At $5 Million
PAIDCONTENT
Business Insider, the prodigiously productive business blog network, has closed a third round funding, co-founder, editor and CEO Henry Blodget announced today. The amount was not disclosed, but several sources told paidContent it was in the $5 million range. The blog network was started about a year and a half ago by Blodget, Kevin Ryan and Dwight Merriman as Silicon Alley Insider, which remains a channel, along with market news site Clusterstock and the eco-energy focused GreenSheet. The company recently abandoned the media and entertainment channel The Biz, which has had a more difficult time gaining traction against blogs like Nikke Finke’s Deadline Hollywood and TheWrap. In response to an e-mail about The Biz’s fate, Blodget told me that the entertainment section is currently being retooled. The company claims that the Business Insider network has 2.2 million monthly uniques and 8 million pageviews and counting.
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OpenTable the Best IPO Debut in 18 Mo.
PEHUB
Shares of OpenTable Inc closed their first trading session up 59 percent on Thursday following the restaurant reservation company’s initial public offering, in the best first day performance for a U.S. company in over 18 months. The stock ended up $11.89 at $31.85 on Nasdaq, a day after the company raised a more-than-expected $60 million in its IPO. The gains were in contrast to the 1.89 percent decline of the wider Nasdaq Composite Index. The stock started trading at a 22.5 percent premium over the $20 IPO price, which was above the expected range, reaching an intraday high of $35.50.
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