In a big first for HBO, the pay network will offer all 14 parts of the upcoming series, The Addiction Project, on HBO.com for free. We blogged some time ago about how HBO is proud of its lack of a digital strategy. But perhaps the importance of the project — an in-depth look at addiction and how to get help — has led HBO to offer it online. In addition to the video, HBO.com has set up a terrific companion site where you can learn more about addiction, treatment, aftercare and discrimination. Screen grab…
Unlike newspaper or TV, the web is not limited by space or time. Therefore, its potential for depth is limitless. But the “State of the Media 2007″ study gives low marks to media sites for depth of coverage, scoring lower in this category than any other. 18 of the 36 sites in the study got their lowest grades in the “depth” category. This is a terrible shame, especially when you consider the volumes of material reporters and the assignment desk gather on a given story in the course of a day. Stations may think they don’t have time to cover stories deeply. It’s not true - stations already gather a great deal of information, they just don’t post or archive it. Linking to other resources - always a tough sell inside a newsroom, admittedly - is another good way to give depth to a story. The PEJ cited CBSNews.com and Global Voices as examples of giving better depth to news coverage.
I’ve been going through the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s State of the Media 2007 report. It takes some time and it’s well worth the commitment. Of interest is how they break down the 38 media outlets whose websites they studied. The PEJ came up with five groupings, and it’s worth asking yourself into which category your own site may fall. (Also, listen to PEJ director Tom Rosenstiel discuss the study on NPR’s Talk of the Nation.) More about the five groupings, after the break…
Some guy compiled 50 local TV commercials on YouTube and ranked them in order from worst to best. Or wait, is it best to worst? (Check out this one, for example.) After watching a couple, it just gets sad. Personally, I prefer the Trunk Monkey spots which are now so popular, you can buy Trunk Monkey merchandise…
Every year, there are predictions about the coming demise of the upfront, that special time of year when the networks sell much of their ad time for the fall season. But alas, the upfront is back — with internet players, too — and here’s a scattering of stories:
This reminder: Ball State University graduate student Nick Geidner has set up a survey researching whether people develop virtual bonds with bloggers similar to the way viewers develop bonds with TV anchors. Lost Remote is the testing grounds for the survey. (I don’t want to say we have money riding on this at One LR, as that would be unethical, but the Vegas Trip is coming up and someone has to buy the drinks.) If you have a moment, take the survey. You’ll be helping Nick, furthering the cause of education, and ensuring someone gets a free round and furthering understanding and education. You can email Nick at nwgeidner (at) bsu.edu if you have any questions, or if you want leading answers.
One of my favorite videobloggers/podcasters is Ze Frank, whose unique (some may say strange) daily shows have drawn a huge fan base. As Ze promised, he’s keeping the show to a one-year run, which expires on the 17th. To finish it out, Ze has done a deal with video site Blip.TV and advertiser Dewars to monetize his archive. Smart. But don’t fear, Ze is working on new video projects which he expects to launch later this year. Press release…
You get the idea. Here’s how I see it: As more niche online video makes its way on the web, it will draw large Long Tail audiences who are excited to find video programming that fits their unique interests. In two or three years, a good chunk of this online video will be watched on TV sets, and traditional TV ratings will experience even more downward pressure. The sheer volume of online video (inventory) will push down ad rates, ultimately leading to consolidation and the creation of vast video ad networks. Long-form advertorial and advertainment video will become the norm, but many online video projects will be abandoned because of low return. And to complicate matters, more and more talented people will produce video for other reasons than money, and this will throw a wrench into the economics. The best advice for media companies? Move aggressively into valuable niches. Keep costs low. Network niches together for maximum return. Distribute and share widely. And get ready for a wild ride.
MTV, Yahoo and Mark Burnett have teamed up to offer a MTV Movie Awards trophy for the best amateur video short. Beginning April 23rd, budding filmmakers will be able to upload their entry on Yahoo. The winner will be awarded a trophy during the MTV Movie Awards, and the rest of the submissions will be piped through a “World Wide Web Wall” that will be integrated into the live broadcast. Press release…
The Project for Excellence in Journalism has released its annual report on the state of the news media, and as always, it’s required reading. It highlights these trends:
-News organizations need to do more to think through the implications of this new era of shrinking ambitions.
-The evidence is mounting that the news industry must become more aggressive about developing a new economic model.
-The key question is whether the investment community sees the news business as a declining industry or an emerging one in transition.
-There are growing questions about whether the dominant ownership model of the last generation, the public corporation, is suited to the transition newsrooms must now make.
-The Argument Culture is giving way to something new, the Answer Culture.
-Blogging is on the brink of a new phase that will probably include scandal, profitability for some, and a splintering into elites and non-elites over standards and ethics.
-While journalists are becoming more serious about the Web, no clear models of how to do journalism online really exist yet, and some qualities are still only marginally explored.
I’ll be perusing the report today — all 160,000 words — and I’ll post more as I see it.
Michael Eisner, who turned around Disney only to see things get a little ugly, is now focusing on a new venture that would be the web equivalent of a Hollywood studio. Eisner’s investment firm is announcing the formation of Vuguru, a studio that will produce web video. The studio will have lots of sites for the videos, but here’s the sentence from the USA Today article you need to pay sharp attention to. It’s about the new show Prom Queen, which will be on PromQueen.tv and “the series also will be on Ellegirl.com, which is a Prom Queen sponsor.” Get that? The show is going to be on the advertiser’s site. It’s another disruption move: advertiser sends entertainment directly to consumer.
Here we go. The WSJ reports that Google is working with cable provider Astound Broadband to test delivering TV ads to cable subscribers in Concord, CA. Similar to Google Adwords, the advertisers involved in the test are buying the ads through an auction system. The ads aren’t targeted — yet — as Google still has federal privacy hurdles to overcome. One theory is that Google may be able to convince households to disclose information about themselves in return for seeing more relevant ads. The test is still very early phase, yet Google has also had some discussions with cable heavyweight Comcast. “We all believe as advertising moves from one-way to two-way, the winners are the Googles of the world and others that can provide truly two-way addressable advertising,” said Steve Burke, Comcast’s chief operating officer. Keep an eye on this one. (WSJ sub. req.)
Broadcasting & Cable has put together web exclusives with Q&A pieces it calls “Take 5.” B&C talks with Rick Kaplan (who has just taken the helm of CBS Evening News) and Alex Wallace, (ditto, NBC Nightly News) both of whom have taken over among ratings concerns at the networks. Tidbits:
Kaplan, on the changing audience:
Today (the people in the audience) come to the TV set having seen the news all day long, heard the headlines, seen the video that’s extraordinary, whatever. They’ve been reading about the news on their homepage, their pager, their cell phone. They’ve seen cable so they come and they’re informed and we have a responsibility if we’re going to meet their needs to carry the news ahead and we have a responsibility not just to repeat things to them but to report things to them
Wallace on the relevance of evening news:
A shocking number of people still watch these shows: 25 million with all three combined. I’m online all day; I get that you can get your news elsewhere. I do think there’s something very nice at the end of the day being able to sit down and be told [the news]. It’s why I love to read the paper in the morning or watch the Today show. I like someone to summarize it for me. I like someone to put it all in one place. There’s a certain editing we’ve done that I think helps the audience.
With both NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News replacing their executive producers due in part to declining ratings, the networks are taking a harder look at improving the local news lead-ins at their owned-and-operated stations. For example in NY, WNBC is extending its popular 11 p.m. anchors — Chuck Scarborough and Sue Simmons — to the 6 p.m. newscast as well.
One of my favorite videobloggers/podcasters is 
MTV, Yahoo and Mark Burnett have teamed up to offer a MTV Movie Awards trophy for the best amateur video short. Beginning April 23rd, budding filmmakers will be able to upload their entry on Yahoo. The winner will be awarded a trophy during the MTV Movie Awards, and the rest of the submissions will be piped through a “World Wide Web Wall” that will be integrated into the live broadcast. Press release…
Here we go. The 
