Archive for November 26th, 2007
NBC has become the first major broadcaster to ink a deal with TiVo to use the DVR company’s research data. The data is generated from TiVo subscribers who skip commercials and take advantage of interactive advertising opportunities. “Advertisers have been asking us to help them find new ways to make TV advertising more effective,” says Mike Pilot, president of NBC Universal Sales and Marketing. “This partnership gives us the data, the research and the tools to try a bunch of new advertising formats and test their performance.” (WSJ sub. req.)
November 26th, 2007
I’m reading this NYTimes.com story about Deadline Hollywood Daily, a blog authored by LA Weekly’s Nikki Finke, which has become extremely popular since the writers’ strike. Now, there are various links inside the story, like Writers Guild of America and Disney. But click those links and you’re transported to other NYTimes.com stories about the same topic. Do you think somewhere — anywhere — the article links Deadline Hollywood Daily? Nope. And this is the same at the majority of newspaper and TV news sites across the country. Oh, must… not… link… off… the… site. So what does someone do after reading the story? They go to Google and type in “Deadline Hollywood Daily.” Yes, Google, the big “enemy” of media sites. How stupid.
Oh, want the link to Deadline Hollywood Daily? Here it is.
November 26th, 2007
OK, smart Lost Remote friends - I have an idea, one that many of us can benefit from. I want to figure out how to put together a Facebook App that would put our latest headlines in a box on user home pages. I’m fairly certain it’s possible, but my coding isn’t up to snuff. Ideally it would be fed by RSS. Anyone have any ideas that we could all use?
November 26th, 2007
How’s this for a bomb from a newspaper publisher: “If you consider television news high-quality journalism, then you’ll get what you expect.” Ouch. Roger Plothow - the publisher of the Idaho Falls Post-Register lobbed that line out to Shea Andersen of the Boise Weekly, who writes about how shrinking newspaper budgets (and by extension shrinking newspaper staffs) are affecting news coverage in Idaho. Plothow laments that (of course) the only place to get good journalism is from the daily newspaper: “If you want in-depth coverage of the state and the government, and investigative journalism, the current business model won’t pay for it.”
Plothow’s paper doesn’t give out his news willy-nilly for free on the Internet, no - you either have to be a print subscriber or pay $6 per month for access. While that wouldn’t play in most parts of the world - Plothow thinks it works in a small market like Pocatello-Idaho Falls: “The smaller you are, the more unique you are to your potential reader,” Plothow said. “We can legitimately say, ‘We’re not going to put our stuff up for free. We know you can’t go anywhere else to get it.’” (For clarity, I do not compete with Plothow’s paper - it’s in a different market in my state.)
November 26th, 2007
I just clicked on a story at the Hollywood Reporter and was presented with quite possibly the largest normal-placement ad unit I’ve ever seen (outside of interstitials and other “special” ads). The ad measures 475X900. Amazingly, since the page is mostly clutter-free, the ad isn’t as obnoxious as it could be.
Update: I just read another story - and got an ad with white flashes in it - which makes it really hard to read the story because your eye is constantly being distracted. So maybe it is obnoxious.
November 26th, 2007
TV Week reports that the major network TV sites have met their online video advertising goals for the quarter already, and they’re scrambling to fill unsold inventory. Ad buyers, meanwhile, are pleased. “They have proven to us that it’s a hit and it works and recall is there,” said Tracey Scheppach, senior VP and video innovations director at Starcom. “It’s a good place for advertising.” TV Week says the average CPM is running about $30. On TV, the rough equivalent is $25 CPM. (Via PaidContent)
November 26th, 2007
Revenue reports from Gannett and McClatchy suggest that the fourth quarter is going to be a nasty one for newspapers due to the decline in the real estate market. McClatchy, for one, experienced a 29.4% drop in real estate classifieds revenue over last year.
Borrell Associates predicts that online real estate advertising will outpace newspaper advertising in the next five years. “Unlike recruitment verticals and the automotive vertical, where we’ve seen the dramatic shift to the Internet over the years, the rising tide of home sales kept all sorts of advertising afloat,” said Peter Conti, Jr., SVP of Borrell Associates. Now, he added, “There are less homes being sold, but at the same time advertisers and real estate brokers are looking for the most effective use of their dollars. And everybody agrees that the most efficient means is online.”
November 26th, 2007
Then check out these 30 cool blog designs. And speaking of redesigns, CBC News’ Jonathan Dube just relaunched Cyberjournalist.net.
November 26th, 2007
