RealNetworks (NSDQ: RNWK) conducted a deep reorganization in the second quarter that led to the elimination of 85 jobs, including 25 percent of the company’s execs. Today, it announced that the changes are largely complete and is busy trying to increase revenues of current products, and trying to beef up a largely non-existent future product pipeline. RealNetworks President and CEO Bob Kimball, said during the company’s quarter call: “The product pipeline is not where it should be. Because some of our past products failed, we have work to do to rebuild our pipeline.”

As expected, Forbes is shuttering the True/Slant site this weekend, according to the posts of several contributors. As Fishbowl NY noted, all of the reader farewells penned by T/S contributors say that they hope to working on a new “undisclosed” project. The not-too-well-veiled hint is that it will be on Forbes’ site. Lewis D’Vorkin, who founded T/S and sold it to Forbes in May, didn’t return messages. Neither did Forbes reps. Several T/S contributors paidContent spoke to said they have been largely kept in the dark about plans for continuing the site’s model.

MTV has reorganized the heads of its Integrated Marketing Group with the return of MySpace (NSDQ: NWS) sales executive Angela Courtin to the Viacom (NYSE: VIA) company. Courtin will serve as SVP, MTV Integrated Marketing. In conjunction with the new hire, MTV also promoted Jeannie Scalzo to SVP, MTV Integrated Marketing, alongside Courtin. As co-leads of the group, Courtin and Scalzo will oversee all marketing integrations across MTV’s suite of brands, including the flagship channels and related websites, as well as MTVu and MTV Mobile.

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer is taking the stage at Microsoft’s analyst day to talk about the company’s consumer businesses, saying that “a lot of the issues we see in our consumer businesses are very much on the minds of the shareholders.” That’s an understatement, considering that the lackluster state of Microsoft’s phone business and its position in tablets compared to Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) have weighed on perceptions of the company’s innovativeness and have even led to questions about how much long Ballmer will stay in his job.

Interpublic Group’s Mediabrands is building up its hyperlocal unit Geomentum by adding former Forrester analyst Lisa Bradner has its first president. She’ll head up account management and consulting, as the company expects to expand into client categories such as restaurant, retail, and banking. In addition, she’ll be working with Mediabrands and the various IPG agencies on making hyperlocal a part of clients’ campaigns.

Vertical marketing firm QuinStreet, which paid what was reportedly the highest price ever for a domain when it spent $16 million buying Insure.com and its related assets last fall, has followed up that deal by buying Insurance.com. No word on the price, but it’s likely that the noun is as valuable—if not more valuable—than the verb.

If you’ve ever tried to upload a video to YouTube and found it rejected for being more than 10 minutes long, you may be pleased to learn YouTube is giving you five more minutes of video time. Why, after years of complaints, is YouTube extending the length of uploaded videos to 15 minutes now? In a blog post, Joshua Siegel, YouTube’s product manager for Upload and Video Management, explains that the success it’s had with music labels and movie studios is what has enabled them to go a little longer.

Revenue at McClatchy (NYSE: MNI), the major newspaper publisher, keeps shrinking—but at a slower rate—as the ad market gets stronger. The company said revenue dropped 6.4 percent to $365.3 million during the quarter, an improvement from the 8.2 percent drop it had reported three months ago. Net income, however, was down 83 percent.

While the magazine industry finally experienced a boost in Q2 in terms of largely positive ad pages, the comeback remains fairly weak, forcing publishers to try to figure out ways of using their brands to expand their marketing muscle. Meredith (NYSE: MDP) has been preparing for these changes for several years and it seems to be paying off. The women’s mag publisher of Better Homes and Gardens and Family Circle swung to a profit in Q2 (it refers to the period as its fiscal year Q4) and revenues appeared healthy in general. But the real growth this past quarter has…

UK cable operator Virgin Media’s new web and mobile VOD service will offer premium archive material, rather than the latest catch-up shows, because broadcasters already offer own-brand catch-up services, Virgin Media’s TV and online executive director Alex Green tells paidContent:UK.

Challenges remained in Thomson Reuters’ markets division in Q2, as the unit’s revenue was down 4 percent while its profits dropped 25 percent (though the company pointed out that excluding currency changes, the decline was more like 15 percent). That served as a drag on Thomson Reuters’ earnings generally this past quarter. The declines stemmed from residual weakness in the financial industry, which Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) primarily caters to. Despite the negative numbers, in a statement, CEO Tom Glocer cited improving trends for the company overall in Q3 and said he expected a return to revenue growth in Q3.…

»  The new Kindle is lighter, cheaper, faster than ever—but will it kill the iPad? [paidContent] »  Time Inc. (NYSE: TWX) execs are increasingly driven to distraction by Apple’s refusal to give publishers more control over selling subscriptions to readers through the iTunes Store. [Mediamemo] »  Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is extending its iAd system directly to developers. [Mediaweek] »  The FT.com and WSJ.com are thriving with paywalls—why can’t the NYTimes.com? [The Big Money] »  The current partnership between Dow Jones (NSDQ: NWS) and CNBC “doesn’t benefit either of them much at all,” says WSJ’s Alan Murray, so don’t expect to…

UK satcaster BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) CEO Jeremy Darroch channeled much the same belief in paid content as its its largest shareholder News Corp (NSDQ: NWS). while discussing healthy growth from the last financial year with investment analysts Thursday morning…

UK national and regional news publisher Trinity Mirror’s digital income for the first half of this year is down by £300,000 to £18.6 million ($28.9 million) compared with last year, even though the news publisher is hailing traffic growth.

Zynga is confirming this evening that it has indeed raised $150 million in funding from Japanese internet and telecom firm Softbank. Reports that the social gaming giant had raised the cash first surfaced several months ago, although Zynga would not comment then.

Facing steep competition from Apple’s iPad, which can do just about everything a computer can in addition to displaying books, Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) has decided to evolve the latest Kindle into an even better single-purpose device for less than the cost of an iPod. The new Kindle is an improvement in just about every single way: It is sleeker, lighter, faster while also offering better contrast, more storage and up to one month of battery life on a single charge. The device comes equipped with Wi-Fi and free 3G service for $189 and will be available August 27. The Kindle…

Health Grades, the publicly-traded owner of popular doctor ratings site HealthGrades.com, is being taken private by PE firm Vestar Capital Partners in a $294 million deal. Vestar, which includes former WebMD (NSDQ: WBMD) CEO Roger Holstein among its partners, is paying $8.20 per share for Health Grades, a 29 percent premium over Health Grade’s closing price yesterday.

Will Facebook backer Digital Sky Technologies go public before Facebook? The Russian internet investment group, which has accumulated a five percent stake in the social network, has hired Goldman Sachs, along with two other investment firms, to explore an IPO next year, according to a report in the WSJ. If the company does file for an IPO, it could give the public the opportunity to own part of Facebook, and several other high-profile internet companies, albeit indirectly. Facebook itself has said repeatedly, including most recently last week, that it is in no rush to go public.

A month after he announced his departure from his post at Publicis’ digital hub VivaKi, David Kenny, one of the key architects of the ad holding company’s interactive strategy, has decided to join content delivery manager Akamai (NSDQ: AKAM) as president. Kenny will run Akamai’s general business operations, including global sales, marketing, engineering and networks.

Facebook, which has been testing a new feature that lets users pose questions to the entire Facebook community and answer others, is finally launching the product, which it is calling Facebook Questions. The company says it will be including “ask question” as an option in the status box at the top of all users’ home pages, as well as in the search box. Questions are visible to all of the social network’s members—and can be answered by anybody. The move thrusts Facebook in the midst of the online question and answer market, which has been very lucrative for established players…

IGN, the News Corp.-owned video game site, is launching a gamer-focused social network called My IGN. On the social network, which launched in beta today, users can “follow” games in order to see the latest news about them in a Facebook-like news feed. They can also communicate with other My IGN members, rate games they own and earn points.

Digital investor and former Reuters (NYSE: TRI) innovation head Azeem Azhar has shuttered his recently-launched Viewsflow site for identifying the most insightful news commentary, but fed the learnings in to PeerIndex, a service which attempts to rank people according to their authority on subjects.

Business Insider, which has established itself as an aggressive online source of a wide range of business news and commentary, has raised $3 million in its latest funding round. In a blog post, CEO Henry Blodget says the amount is a “vast sum relative to the couch change we’ve been running on since we launched three years ago” and therefore will allow the company to expand its newsroom and launch new verticals, as well as international editions.

Despite the big push that Ask.com’s latest relaunch got this week, parent company IAC (NSDQ: IACI) doesn’t expect it to set the world on fire. During the company’s Q2 conference call, analysts had a lot of questions about the IAC search vehicle, which is now emphasizing direct questions and answers from within the Ask users. That feature already faces existing challenges from expanding search and community Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and Facebook, something tacitly acknowledged by chairman and CEO Barry Diller.

It was exactly two years ago today that David Moore stepped aside as CEO of WPP Group interactive shop 24/7 RealMedia to take on the more general advisory role within the unit. Now, his successor, Jonathan Hsu is leaving 24/7 RealMedia after 10 years to become the head of RecycleBank, a green tech company rewards consumers for taking positive environmental actions.

Online revenues for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO) benefited from the ad recovery in Q2, a period in which the company ramped up its focus on mobile. Overall, however, revenues declined slightly though the company was able to narrow its net loss considerably, to $803,000 from $6.1 million in Q209. The online segment’s revenues were $4.7 million in Q2, up 12 percent. Adjusted EBITDA for the online business was essentially breakeven, down slightly from $0.1 million in the prior year’s quarter. Internet ad revenues were up 13 percent, as the company expanded its digital efforts in a variety of…

The World Cup was shot in 3D, BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) is investing heavily in to 3D. But, despite all the hype, it’s connectivity, and not whizz-bang visuals, that will shift more TVs in the next few years, according to iSuppli. Worldwide, iSuppli reckons 27.7 million internet-enabled TVs will ship this year, against just 4.2 million 3D TVs.

Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) execs said the company posted double-digit growth in auto, health care and retail advertising in Q2. As the fall elections approach, political is also expected to be a big revenue driver for its ad business this year. But for the moment, advertising is a small part of Comcast’s business, said COO Steve Burke during the start of the earnings call. Advertising is only a $2 billion business for the cable operator annually—just a fraction of the $35 billion in total revenue that Comcast brings in. While the costs of completing the purchase of a stake in NBC…

Comcast’s acquisition of NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) is still pending before regulators, but the deal has already cost the cable operator $22 million in transaction fees in Q2. That sent profits down, though it didn’t completely account for the decline to $884 million from $967 million in Q209. Meanwhile, the improving ad market sent revenues up higher than expected as the programming segment, which includes the E! channel, G4 and Versus, was up 18 percent to $454 million.

Maybe IAC (NSDQ: IACI) isn’t so crazy to think that its Ask.com search business can compete in a Google (NSDQ: GOOG) world. Higher search ad dollars as well as help from dating site Match.com helped send revenues higher in Q2 for the company. Profits were impacted negatively by the sale of Match.com’s European assets in March. The search unit, which includes Ask.com and Dictionary.com, saw revenues gain 18 percent to $197.2 million during the quarter.

»  Steve McPherson has resigned as president of ABC (NYSE: DIS) Entertainment Group to concentrate on his wine business and a “new media venture”; he’s being replaced by Paul Lee, who is promoted from ABC Family. [Deadline Hollywood] »  Just as the ink dries on Disney’s Playdom acquisition, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is looking to buy some social games as it sets its sites on challenging Facebook. [WSJ] »  Newsweek and TheStreet.com have struck a content partnership. [Folio] »  The number of people who rely on newspapers as their main news source has hit a new low. [USC Annenberg School] » …

So, why did Disney (NYSE: DIS) decide to buy Playdom? Disney Interactive Media Group President Steve Wadsworth told paidContent in a joint interview with Playdom CEO (and now Disney EVP) John Pleasants that Disney is on a “fairly aggressive mission to build a high-growth interactive media business.” He said the company had identified social games as an “incredibly high growth” category in which it had no “meaningful presence.” “This category is growing at a rate that is in a lot of ways unprecedented,” he said, adding that Disney believes that will continue for “a long time.” Wadsworth said that Playdom…

The Audit Bureau of Circulations has modified its guidelines for counting sales of bundled and “hybrid” print and digital newspaper sales in the U.S. and Canada. In some ways, the changes reflect the the increasing adoption of e-paper editions on PCs and on mobile phones. But some observers feel that the numbers may skew results to make it look like a publication has multiple readers were it only has a single individual.

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) is making a big move into social games, with the purchase of fast-growing social game developer Playdom for up to $763.2 million. The deal includes a “total consideration” of $563.2 million, in addition to a performance-linked earn-out of up to $200 million. In a release, which is included in full after the jump, Disney says that by buying Playdom it “will strengthen its already-robust digital gaming portfolio, acquire a first-rate management team and provide consumers new ways to interact with the company on popular social networks like Facebook and MySpace.” The company hints that it will…

Newsday, the local Long Island daily owned by Cablevision (NYSE: CVC), has made some changes on the publishing side. The newspaper is promoting publisher Terry Jimenez to the role of president of Newsday Media Group and tapped sales head Fred Groser to succeed him in his current post.

Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) acknowledges that its pageviews are dropping—but not as much as comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) has said they are. In a press release, the company says that comScore mistakenly underreported its U.S. pageviews by more than one billion and its duration metrics by more than 850 million minutes, meaning that its pageviews were down only 4.7 percent last month instead of the 7.4 percent drop comScore had reported, while its minutes were down 4.3 percent instead of 6.4 percent.

In a hit to both Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and major shareholder Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), Yahoo Japan says it will use Google (NSDQ: GOOG) to power search on its site. In passing over Microsoft, Yahoo Japan CEO Masahiro Inoue said the company’s search technology was not “sufficiently strong enough for its needs,” according to a Reuters sum-up. Those words have to hurt Yahoo, which owns a 35 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, and is itself outsourcing its search engine to Microsoft’s Bing, under the 10-year search partnership Yahoo and Microsoft announced last summer.

Retail chain GameStop is acquiring Kongregate, the San Francisco, CA-based game community, as the company looks for ways to expand its online presence. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close next week, were not disclosed.

Lloyd’s List and Datamonitor academic, scientific and business publisher Informa is the latest publisher to post a big profit increase despite slow revenue. January-to-June revenue dipped two percent to £624 million, but profit more than doubled to £66.4 million ($103 million).

Marketers still don’t get Twitter, a report from interactive shop 360i shows. Not only are advertisers hardly being mentioned by Twitter users, but the categories of those brands who do prompt discussions on the microblogging service are fairly limited to social nets, entertainment and technology companies.

Discovery Communications (NSDQ: DISCA) is giving corporate development exec Bruce Campbell some additional responsibilities as chief development officer and general counsel. At the same time, Campbell will be handing over his duties as president of Digital Media to Peter Liguori, Discovery’s COO, who will take on management of the Digital Media and Commerce division immediately. Kelly Day, who was tapped as EVP and GM of the digital division in April, will now report to Liguori.