Disney Online pulls in viewers

Disney Online's digital makeover is paying off, 18 months after a major strategic shift away from an information-driven site to one that emphasizes video and entertainment.

The entertainment giant's flagship website set a record in July for total video streams. Disney.com logged 186.7 million streams for the month -- more than double the 75.5 million NBC touted for the Beijing Olympics.

Disney employed the powerful lure of the Disney Channel's tween acts to bring in the clicks. The site featured premieres of Miley Cyrus' "7 Things" music video and the  "Burning Up" video from musical heartthrobs the Jonas Brothers. Disney.com also offered an exclusive online glimpse of the forthcoming film, "High School Musical 3: Senior Year."

As a result, comScore Media Metrix ranked Disney Online as the sixth most popular online video site, behind Viacom Digital, but ahead of such established online video destinations as Veoh, Video Egg and Break Media.

In a sense, Disney's online destination has come full circle, returning to the entertainment focus of a decade ago, when neither Internet speeds nor computers were up to the task.

Dawn C. Chmielewski is an entertainment writer who covers Walt Disney Co.

Scandals? YouTube vids? Can't hurt Miley Cyrus' sales

No amount of photo scandals and catty videos seem to be hurting Miley Cyrus' sales potential. The teen star debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. pop charts Wednesday morning with the strongest showing of her career. Billboard has her "Breakout" selling 371,000 copies, a tally that's strong enough to give Miley the second-biggest debut by a female artist in 2008.

Only Mariah Carey fared better, selling 463,000 copies in her debut week. To put Miley's total in perspective, her "Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus" opened at No. 1 last year with 326,000 copies, but that album was directly tied into her Disney Channel series and tour, whereas "Breakout" is a standalone Miley affair. 

While the tween market is certainly one not to be taken lightly, Cyrus fared better than much-hyped 2008 releases from Madonna and Janet Jackson, respectively. Madonna's "Hard Candy" sold 280,000 copies when it debuted earlier this year, and Janet came in with 181,000 copies back in March.

"Breakout" has given Cyrus a top-20 single in the U.S. with  "7 Things." It comes only weeks after the Vanity Fair photo scandal, in which pop-culture pundits were questioning if Annie Liebowitz's pics of Cyrus' exposed back would hurt her Magic Kingdom-approved career. And just this week, Cyrus was in the tabloids again, this time for a YouTube video that poked fun at Disney newcomers Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato, for which she has apologized.

The headlines came at what is perceived to be a crucial time for the young star. Cyrus has hinted that "Hannah Montana" may be nearing the end of its run, and "Breakout" is pegged as the album that could catapult Cyrus out of the teen-pop world. First-week sales usually bring out the die-hards, but thus far, fans don't appear to be turned off by any of Cyrus' non-music or off-screen exploits. 

--Todd Martens

Photo: Associated Press