Yahoo CEO Terry Semel made some interesting comments this week about the networks’ efforts to draw more digital dollars into the upfront. From MediaWeek:
“I found out a long time ago that you can only fool the people a few times by bundling [inventory].” He added that most networks lack the quality inventory or scale to match what portals like MSN and Yahoo can deliver, and in most cases, cross-platform deals don’t create any new revenue. “Wisdom will prevail,” he said, calling the concept “an early phenomenon that will go away.”
Not all convergence packages are the same, of course, but Semel raises a critical point: many TV execs are using the web to leverage more TV dollars instead of growing sustainable web revenue. It’s a dangerous approach that leaves some advertisers underperforming on the web; before long, savvy buyers will run the numbers and determine the web component isn’t cutting it compared to sales products offered by the pure plays. The lesson here is to deliver results for your clients online. Period. This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t take advantage of the synergy between both mediums, but when TV is driving the boat on these deals, it will ultimately spell disaster online.
May 11th, 2007
The editor of California’s PasadenaNow site has hired two journalists in India to cover Pasadena’s city government. How would that work? The city council meetings are streamed over the internet, and the journalists can pick up the phone to interview people. “I think it could be a significant way to increase the quality of journalism on the local level without the expense that is a major problem for local publications,” said James Macpherson. He’s spending $20,800 for both of the reporters for the year — with a target of 15 articles each a week. “This is a truly sad picture of what American journalism could become,” says a USC journalism professor. (Thanks Judith!)
Adds Brad in comments: “This isn’t a choice between hiring local reporters and hiring outsourced reporters. It’s between hiring low wage journalists overseas or no one at all. Currently the website is populated primarily with press releases and event listings. While I would hate to see news organizations layoff reporters to hire workers overseas who will have a hard time getting the pulse of the local community, isn’t it better to have two distant journalists writing for the site than no reporters at all?”
May 11th, 2007
The upfront is here, and if you happen to be attending in New York, Ad Age has put together a nifty Google Maps mashup that shows the location of each of the broadcast networks’ presentations along with their after-parties.
Not very good timing for the upfront given this story, eh?
May 11th, 2007
