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“I really don’t know whether we’ll be printing the Times in five years, and you know what? I don’t care either,” said New York Times Chairman and Publisher Arthur Sulzberger. “The internet is a wonderful place to be, and we’re leading there.” How’s that for a quote?
16 comments February 7th, 2007
A TVB-Borrell Associates survey found that local TV stations’ online revenue rose an average of 41 percent to $399 million last year. The report found that TV stations were able to increase their share of online dollars by a full point over the last year to 7 percent, “no small feat in the high-growth environment of local online advertising.” Newspaper sites, meanwhile, dropped an average of 16 percent in local revenue. The highest growth areas are real estate, health, automotive and high-tech. The report’s recommendations, which jive with recommendations Lost Remote has recently published:
1. Rethink the mass-media mentality. Think of the internet as a mass of niches.
2. Hire a dedicated online sales force.
3. Give strong consideration to launching a real estate section.
4. Consider spin-off sites that may not be branded to the station.
There’s lots more good info in the report, summarized below and available for free here.
Read the full post 1 comment February 7th, 2007
The SEC filing is in, and PaidContent has the lowdown on how the millions were divided up from the Google-YouTube deal. Get ready to be depressed…
1 comment February 7th, 2007
Ooops. That Snickers commercial (video) during the Super Bowl that featured two mechanics kissing unintentionally then trying to shake it off like it was the kiss of death, has drawn some fire from gay and lesbian groups (and I imagine many conservatives didn’t like it either.) So now Snickers has pulled down most of the content on the site, AftertheKiss.com, that featured alternative endings to the ad, one of which is the mechanics beating each other with wrenches. OK, does anyone test this stuff with real people first? The backlash was entirely predictable, and Snickers and its ad agency deserves it for being so detached from today’s reality.
17 comments February 7th, 2007
First Viacom pulled its clips, then NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker had some harsh words, and now InterActiveCorp. CEO Barry Diller is dissing YouTube. “It’s smart for Viacom,” Diller said. “What’s happened is that media companies have said, ‘We’re not gonna let you get so strong in distribution.’” He emphasized that YouTube’s dominance won’t last for long. “Those tools are going to be everywhere,” he said. “It’s not going to be one place to go.” Maybe it’s just me, but media companies should think twice before jumping on the anti-YouTube bandwagon. I suspect that once YouTube gets its filtering technology up and running as promised, many of these media companies will come around and do a deal.
5 comments February 7th, 2007
News Corp’s new TV network dubbed MyNetworkTV, which is comprised of English-language versions of telenovelas (like that would work?), is attracting about as many viewers as some of the lowest-rated cable channels. As a result, the network is losing an estimated $2 million a week. “The biggest current challenge we face is turning around MyNetworkTV,” News Corp. President Peter Chernin said in yesterday’s earnings conference call. News Corp. is moving to revamp the network’s programming, so stay tuned. (WSJ sub. req.)
Plus: Fox business channel may now launch in late fall
8 comments February 7th, 2007
Cerberus Capital Management is buying CBS-owned stations in Austin, TX, Salt Lake City, UT, Providence, RI and West Palm Beach, FL. More details…
Read the full post 3 comments February 7th, 2007
CNN has just announced it will have a debate among the Democrat candidates for president on November 4 in Las Vegas. Nevada is an emerging political force, yes, but the choice of Las Vegas is sure to raise some eyebrows. With recent presidential elections decided by the “family values” crowd, do the Dems really want Sin City as a backdrop? (Yes, I realize I’m asking for trouble when I wander into political territory here.) Most importantly, will there be betting on who wins? Sidebets on who says “Bush” first? How many times Obama calls himself “skinny?” ALSO: CNN poll out today shows McCain and Guiliani neck-and-neck for the Republican vote, and Hillary leading Obama by about 10 points. Let the horserace begin!
5 comments February 7th, 2007
Conde Nast has rolled out flip, its social networking-centric site aimed at teenage girls. At the center are “flipbooks,” personalized pages for photos, music and video. The flipbooks are an original idea and are pretty good. They’re Flash-based, and the site gives users lots of tools to customize their flipbooks. Still, social network sites for teens and young adults are all over the place, so flip will have to fly fast.
(Via TechCrunch)
3 comments February 7th, 2007
More trouble for the “MeToo-bes.” YouTube competitors continue to see execs playing musical chairs, and today’s shakeup is at Metacafe. CNET reports the company will replace CEO Arik Czerniak with Erick Hachenburg, a former Electronic Arts exec. In the past three months, there have been similar shakeups at video sites Guba and Revver.
Add comment February 7th, 2007
Amp’d Mobile is getting into the original content business, by producing video shorts. Amp’d is bringing in some promising names - Jack Black, for one, along with people from Comedy Central, which is an Amp’d partner. Mobile is its own platform: creating content specifically for it is good business. The shows will roll out this year.
Add comment February 7th, 2007
A New York state senator wants to ban listening to iPods and talking on cell phones while crossing the street in New York. A 23-year-old man was struck and killed last month.
13 comments February 7th, 2007
Later this year, Yahoo Video will migrate away from a user-created video destination to more of a showcase for professional or semi-professional content that’s “programmed” through the entire site, as in Yahoo Food, Yahoo Tech and Yahoo TV. “As a strategy, we want to provide premium content,” said Vince Broady, head of entertainment, games and youth at Yahoo. Analysts say Yahoo is making the changes in the wake of the Google-YouTube deal. “YouTube has won as the video destination and that doesn’t preclude Yahoo from being successful with video. But I think it needs to finds a different approach for the time being,” said Greg Sterling, principal with Sterling Market Intelligence.
Add comment February 7th, 2007
Cory’s post a couple of days ago about why “search beats promotion” reminded me of an unintended behavior promos may be encouraging, particularly weather promos. I know weather promos are suppose to get me to watch the news, but for me at least, they simply remind me to check the weather online. Why wait for the 11 o’clock news, when I can grab my laptop off my coffee table? I can’t imagine I’m alone on this. If a growing portion of our audience starts doing this (maybe that’s why late news broadcasts are down 10%), shouldn’t we promote our online coverage, as well as our on-air coverage in every promo? If our promos are reminding people to go online, shouldn’t we at least remind them to go to our websites? Thoughts?
7 comments February 7th, 2007
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