From Weblogsky comes this interesting discussion of social media audiences that attempts to erode the importance of the idea of "power laws."

David Brake provides an important critique of the Web 2.0 video burning up the netwaves.

This post contains many of Nielsen's top-10 ratings for the past year, including top-10 product placements. NBC dominates the top-10 time-shifted shows, which probably means it has a prestige audience desirable to but unreached by advertisers.

Via TechDirt, the FCC has approved Arbitron's portable people meter, which constantly monitors media for audio watermarks to get ratings.

James Poniewozik credits online communities and technology like DVRs and streaming episodes for the commercial success of "Lost."

Via Slashdot, this system would use internal PC microphones to monitor the media diets of users. When Nielsen and Arbitron roll out their portable "People Meters" a lot of content will be watermarked for data collection like this.

Language Log examines the TV-industry jargon word "relatable." If audiences can connect with characters in a show it's "relatable." I'm not sure if there's such a thing as passive-voice thought, but if there is, "relatable" would be an example.

Via Waxy, this song sounds like a Rentals out-take, but the lyrics pretty much nail it.

Henry Jenkins on academic publishing and reaching mainstream audiences.