“Better reporting and writing. Simple as that,” writes Harry Jessell in TVNewsday, who points out the obvious that nearly all local TV sites lack the depth and breadth of newspaper sites. But what about video? “That’s fine. But unless the news clips contain some really compelling video, I just as soon read about it on the newspaper website. A still photo of a fire or accident is sometimes just as good as video—sometimes better,” he writes.
He’s right. A vast majority of a local TV site’s visitors are still reading text and looking at slide shows, not watching video — 80% or more, in my own experience. Strategically, video is still critically important, but TV sites will never compete with newspapers (on average) unless the quality and quantity of text coverage and photos improve… (click below)
You have Topix. Outside.in. And now Examiner.com in 59 cities…
But instead of just aggregation and AP, some Examiner.com sites have hired their own local reporters. “We are not another online newspaper,” explains an Examiner.com job posting. “(We’re) re-creating online news venues from the ground up — in terms of both technology and content delivery — to establish a national brand that is the destination of choice for local information.” StateofLocal has more on the new local news network. (Thanks, Z!)
Wow, this is big. One of the fears of online advertising is that it’s becoming commoditized. In other words, an impression is an impression, a click is a click, regardless of where the user sees the ad. But ESPN.com believes that its premium branded content offers an audience and advertising experience that’s worth more than what the market will bear. So ESPN.com is cutting ties with its ad networks and reportedly trying to get other big publishers to do the same, reports MediaWeek. This quote sums up the argument well: “We haven’t even established the value of our medium, and all of a sudden it’s about price,” said Living Omnimedia media president Wenda Harris Millard. “That is very bothersome to people who are brand stewards.” Online ad networks have been an efficient way for publishers to generate some cash on unsold inventory, but the fear is as these networks grow, they’re devaluing the best content by offering advertisers an inexpensive way in. So will ESPN’s revolt make a difference? Most experts believe, probably not.
Google says it has a plan for Americans everywhere to be able to surf the web on handheld devices at WiFi 2.0 speeds by the 2009 holiday season. How? By tapping unused “white spaces” in TV signals, but the FCC still has to sign off on it. And that’s not a slam dunk, because some are worried that Google’s plan would result in signal interference.
But if Google can pull this off, imagine the ramifications. Anyone with Google Android software on their smart phones will be able to navigate the web just about anywhere in the country at gigabits-per-second speeds. Suddenly, the mobile web will EXPLODE. In many respects, it’s already beginning to explode. Just look at these new iPhone stats: 85% of iPhone users accessed news and information websites in January, compared to 58.2% of smart phone users and 13.1% of the overall market. And that’s at a slower speed that Google promises with its “WiFi on steriods.”
Arianna Huffington’s politics and news blog The Huffington Post has topped Matt Drudge’s DrudgeReport according to the February comScore and Nielsen NetRatings, points out AllThingsDigital. The Huffington Post is a relative newcomer to the online media landscape, launching in May 2005. The site is made up of various news sources and columnists. According to an article by the New Yorker, Huffington Post generates $11 million each year and has 46 full-time employees.
Surrounding the news articles are the highly opinionated posts of an apparently endless army of both celebrity (Nora Ephron, Larry David) and non-celebrity bloggers - more than eighteen hundred so far. The bloggers are not paid.
Forbes is rolling out a financial ad network for up to 400 blogs, the latest in a string of media companies to launch online ad networks. Also, Viacom plans to launch targeted networks this spring around music and men’s lifestyles.
A couple weeks ago, we blogged about Google’s new inline search feature. For example, search for SeattleTimes.com, and you’ll see this:
Now search for “jobs” in the box (SeattleTimes.com is hosted on NWSource.com), and you’ll see the SeattleTimes.com’s job results surrounded by Google ads for competing Seattle jobs sites. In other words, a user’s intent is to find SeattleTimes.com’s jobs, but Google is luring the user to Times’ competitors. Not to mention, this is allowing users to skip around the Times’ home page and search feature. Says one analyst, “(Users) will really like this because it’s probably a better way to search a site than going to the sites themselves.” And that’s especially true when many sites’ search funtionality is inferior to just searching it on Google in the first place.
As you can imagine, some publishers and online retailers aren’t so happy about this, and apparently Amazon.com has successfully asked for the feature to be removed. Google says it’s done this in “a couple” cases when asked.
Scripps’ WXYZ.com in Detroit is live streaming today’s coverage of their city’s mayoral text-message scandal. The web stream started at 8 a.m. and had more than 10,000 views as of 10:15 a.m., IM’d website manager Seth Myers.
Update: As of noon, WXYZ.com has served 85,000 live video streams!
