Archive for November, 2007
In a landmark announcement, Verizon says it will allow third-party developers to make mobile devices that are compatible with its wireless network. Currently, you have to buy phone through Verizon to use Verizon’s wireless service, for example. So why the sudden change of heart? Two reasons: 1) Google’s Android program, the first open and free mobile platform, which has signed on 30 technology and mobile partners and 2) the FCC’s big spectrum auction next month, which will require an open network. And you guessed it, Google is rumored to be the frontrunner.
Unfortunately, there’s a catch for iPhone users — Verizon runs on a CDMA network and the iPhone only runs on a GSM network, provided by AT&T.
November 27th, 2007
MediaNews’ 61 newspapers have inked a deal with news aggregator Topix.com to provide story commenting and forums. “The goal at Topix is to power local voice and conversation in every single city and town across America,” said Chris Tolles, Topix CEO. “By partnering with newspaper companies like MediaNews Group, we accelerate fulfillment of that mission through a federated, networked commenting system which provides synergies between every partner in the network. We plan to actively expand partnerships in 2008.” You can see an example of how the commenting works on this KOB.com story. When you read or post a comment, your enter a Topix-hosted forum inside the media partner’s navigation and branding. Press release…
Update: Howard Owens makes an interesting point. “Newspapers should not outsource its community relationship,” he writes. “Letting another company own that relationship is a strategic mistake of monumental proportions.”
Read the full post November 27th, 2007
This landed in my inbox this morning:
Dear Brightcove.TV member,
Beginning December 18, 2007, we plan to end support of direct consumer uploads to Brightcove.TV. As a result, you will not be able to upload new videos to Brightcove.TV after December 17, 2007. But videos you have already uploaded to Brightcove.TV will remain available on the site and through your Brightcove.TV channel. Videos you have embedded in other sites and blogs will also continue to play.
If you have a Brightcove Platform or Network account, which means you use the Brightcove Console, then you will still have the option to promote videos on Brightcove.TV.
Brightcove.TV will continue to be a guide to great video from Brightcove media and business partners. The site will have new videos added to it daily from these partners and these videos can be saved as favorite videos in your channel.
If you work for a media company, marketer, non-profit, or business and are looking to purchase the Brightcove platform to publish and distribute video on your own site, please visit the Brightcove Products Overview section of our website.
We appreciate your interest in Brightcove and apologize for any disruption this change may cause you.
Sincerely,
The Brightcove Team
Brightcove is changing positions and refocusing to the professional market. Their rich media production toolset and platform are excellent for creating high-level experiences that blend into your own site. As a pro publisher, I like this move. It makes the things produced in brightcove more special — polished, professional and finished — than the grainy and gritty UCG tools and platforms that slap their branding all over the content.
November 27th, 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
In Facebook’s first formal partnership with a news organization, ABC News is helping power Facebook’s politics section, complete with surveys, discussions, polling and video. ABC News’ political reporters are also on Facebook. “There are debates going on at all times within Facebook,” David Westin, the president of ABC News and a new Facebook member, said in an interview. “This allows us to participate in those debates, both by providing information and by learning from the users.”
Note that ABC News’ section is different than Facebook’s new product pages, which many media companies are setting up. (If you work at one, it’s probably a good idea to set up a product page with your brand. It’s free. And if you haven’t already, become a fan of Lost Remote on Facebook.)
Update: CNET blogger Caroline McCarthy says she’s skeptical that ABC News will get any traction on Facebook: “ABC News doesn’t seem to have caught onto the fact that Facebook’s user base sees the site as a platform for social recreation, not information consumption.”
November 25th, 2007
About 21% of the U.S. population has a HDTV set, but Nielsen estimates that only 11% of the viewing universe is actually watching at least one channel in high definition. ESPN puts the numbers at 23% and 15% respectively. If you work in the business, you can only shake your head — how can someone think a stretched standard-definition screen is actually in high definition? But in reality, HD is one of the most complex of all consumer buying decisions, not to mention the confusing installation that follows.
Also: With lower prices, HDTV holiday sales expected to soar
November 25th, 2007
Not cascading style sheets, silly, but CSS the band (which stands for Cansei de Ser Sexy, or “tired of being sexy.”) Their “Music is My Hot, Hot Sex” song is playing over and over again in the iPod Touch ad, and now the Brazilian band is famous. And they can thank 18-year-old Nick Haley, who picked CSS as the song for an iPod ad he created on YouTube. Apple liked it so much, they turned it into a full-fledged TV campaign. “This has been a remarkable experience,” Haley said. “As a fan of CSS, it’s great to think that in some small way I have helped to launch them.”
November 25th, 2007
Check out Arcade Fire’s music video for a song from Neon Bible, the band’s new album. By mousing-over and clicking, you can control the action of his hands and other objects on the screen. Rudimentary, sure, but some say this is the beginning of a new genre of music videos.
November 25th, 2007
The New York Times notes Dateline NBC is back on the schedule - if only for one night, to sub in for an episode of Life. Life isn’t dead according to NBC - but analysts think its future looks bleak. Peacock Productions staffers have been told to get ready to crank out three new episodes of Dateline each week after the new year to help fill the NBC schedule of the WGA strike drags on.
Unrelated related note: Why is Stone Phillips still on the Inside Dateline blog page header?
November 24th, 2007
After July’s interesting CNN YouTube debate for the Democrats, it’s time for the Republicans to answer questions from the online population. NY Times has a preview story about this Wednesday’s debate. They have already received over 3,000 videos, which will likely have them with as many as 5,000 before the debate. That’s an impressive number, but it’s interesting that CNN notes that “the video pool also is perhaps a little less diverse with regard to sex and race.” You can submit questions here. Will you be watching the debate?
November 24th, 2007
They say word-of-mouth is the holy grail for public relations and advertising, so one would think that social network sites that offer seamless access to countless hoards of connected individuals would be a marketing Eldorado (City of gold, not the car). A report by the Royal Mail and the Future Foundation said companies and brands should use this opportunity to encourage users to review products as it builds a sense of community and awareness. But the report also notes the platforms’ shortcomings for traditional mindsets: “They don’t, however, offer a formal way for brands to stimulate the conversation and activate lines of social communication about their brands.” Things can also backfire in a big way. One example is the building backlash against a marketing app in Facebook that is revealing purchases to friends.
November 23rd, 2007
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