With our recent launch of the preview of the new MSN homepage, we discussed several trends that influenced the design of our new MSN homepage. The growth of online video and local information were two key trends that influenced our design and both video and local information are extensively integrated into our new homepage. We also unveiled our new MSN Local Edition, a new site focused on providing comprehensive local information at http://local.msn.com.

Local information is booming – with 72% of people regularly consuming local news, 76% of people checking weather, and 86% of people searching for a map or driving directions. Video usage online is also skyrocketing in popularity, with 62% of online adults watching a video online and 35% have viewed a television show or movie online.* Both local and video also present a tremendous growth opportunity for advertisers, with local online advertising projected to grow to $10 billion by 2013.**

Today, we’re happy to announce two partnerships that will allow us to combine the power of both video and local information, and increase the amount of local information we can offer our customers. Through partnerships with NBC Local Media and Hearst Television, we will receive around 3,000 news video clips a week across 36 local media markets. While anyone in the US can receive comprehensive local information from MSN Local Edition, we’re pleased to partner with these industry leaders to offer more compelling and relevant local video clips to customers in 35 markets. The new video content will be available in January 2010.

Today, we’re excited to announce a new partnership that will enable us to deliver a unique, creative and aspirational experience, focused on the lifestyle category, to our MSN audience in the first half of next year.

The lifestyle category is growing rapidly online – reaching nearly 100 million people every month in the US, which is more than half of the online audience. Our current offering, MSN Lifestyle, which features great content from a wide range of partners, reaches about 8 million people every month. We’ll continue to offer this rich experience, which offers practical guidance for topics ranging from your home, your look, your life and more.

Lifestyle is an area we see a great opportunity to introduce a new way for consuming lifestyle information – similar to how we broke the mold with our innovative Wonderwall site in the celebrity news category, which is complementary to our broader MSN Entertainment offering. With BermanBraun Interactive, we launched Wonderwall earlier this year and it has already become one of the top celebrity online news destinations, reaching an average of 9.5 million unique users monthly in the U.S. since launch. Wonderwall has also proven to be very popular with advertisers, who appreciate the visual design and custom packages we can deliver.

Today, we’re announcing an extension of the partnership with BermanBraun Interactive and a new partnership with Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. (HFM U.S.), publisher of ELLE, Woman’s Day and ELLE DECOR brands, to launch a new online lifestyle experience focused on style, beauty, relationships and home décor. The new lifestyle site will be distributed through MSN and promoted on the HFM U.S. Web sites and magazine properties.

Ellen is going Bing for the holidays

Our friends at Bing have an exciting announcement today. They’re partnering with the “Ellen” show to offer great deals on Ellen Degeneres’ favorite holiday gifts. Every year Ellen hosts her annual 12 Days of Giveaways – where she highlights the hottest holiday items and delights her audience by giving them each item. This year, Bing is making it easy for you to join in the fun.

Today, Bing launched a new online site that highlights Ellen’s picks for each day of her 12 Days of Giveaways and places where you can get great deals on the items online. Ellen will choose new items every day until December 18th – check out http://www.bing.com/ellen every day to see the latest.  

It’s almost hard to believe that it has been a full decade since Y2K bug became a common phrase and we stayed up all night just to see if the power would stay on. How can that be? While the last decade has brought its share of tragedy and turmoil, it has also have delivered some galvanizing moments in less monumental areas like entertainment and sports. For example, who was the hottest celebrity couple? What was the most inspiring sports moment? The hottest video games? The weirdest trend in food? We’re taking a look at those and more in XBOX presents Flashback 2000-2009: A Fun Retrospective.

As we approach 2010, think back 25 years to the year 1985.  Microsoft was preparing to release its long-awaited program, Windows, which promised to allow many popular programs to run simultaneously on one screen; The Walkman was the device that allowed you to take your music with you; Nintendo released NES, their revolutionary 8-bit video game console; The sound of a typewriter could be heard coming from offices and teenagers eagerly lined up outside local record stores to…well, buy records.  Take a moment to think about how far we’ve come. Today, we're launching a new experience to provide a unique and innovative perspective on the future of technology, from the hottest technologists, futurists, politicians, musicians, and more. 

52% of MSN customers are on Facebook, and 14% are on Twitter. Customers have asked for social media on the homepage and now they have it. Hear Lisa Tiedt, MSN’s Social Media Director, discuss the new social networking modules on the homepage.

How important is technology to a homepage? GM of Software Development, Stephen Lawler, answers this question and shares how we create a different experience for people through implicit personalization and segmentation. He also shares insight into building powerful tools for our editors to use in programming the page in real time.

MSN’s Architect, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, describes how and why MSN has been thinking of relevance. Also, Blaise shares three areas where we are pushing in innovation.

When the new MSN homepage & butterfly made its debut, Scott Moore discussed five areas where we’re increasing our investments due to consumer demand: news, entertainment, lifestyle, finance, and sports. These areas are hot with customers and advertisers – whether they’re at home, work, or on-the-go.

Our MSN Mobile customer base has grown from 3 million to 16 million in the last year alone and all signs point to even more rapid growth to come. We’re investing in a range of mobile offerings to help people stay connected with their passions from any location. Sports fans want to know how their teams are doing at all times and this is where MSN Mobile and Fox Sports have teamed up to offer an engaging experience that keeps fans across the U.S. up-to-date, with innovative technology they can’t find anywhere else.