Archive for April, 2008
In an interesting announcement, Ohio’s largest newspapers will be sharing their stories with each other’s websites. The newspapers from Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown will share their best stories every day. In explaining the partnership, the Plain Dealer admits how papers keep the best stories from the AP for as long as possible:
The way that news from The Plain Dealer and other big papers used to find its way around the state was this: We would report and write our stories, wait until late in the day, and then turn them over to the Associated Press. The AP would then either rewrite them into wire service story format for general consumption; report and write its own stories later; or decide that the news was not of statewide interest and do nothing. If we had a breaking-news story all to ourselves, we would try to keep it away from the wire until the following day. So did everyone else.
So, to bypass the game of waiting, the group of papers have this new partnership (questionably named OHNO - Ohio News Organization). In the end, it seems like the readers of the sites are the winners, getting more comprehensive news coverage from across the state from the trusted reporters breaking the news on the scene. (Via Cyberjournalist)
April 30th, 2008
- Schmidt says Google still scratching head over YouTube profits
- Nielsen moves February 2009 sweeps to March because of DTV
- New York Times newsroom gets upgraded to… Microsoft Office 2003
April 30th, 2008
Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live and Judah Friedlander of 30 Rock. The Webby Awards will be held in New York from June 8th–10th.
April 30th, 2008
I’m still digesting the latest Borrell Associates report, “Online Promotions: The Big Shift,” but I think it’s safe to say that there are some surprising — and potentially controversial — predictions for local media. At the heart of the report is the forecast that online promotions — money that local companies spend to promote their own online initiatives, including public relations — “will nearly triple over the next five years to $22.8 billion, surpassing all other online advertising categories.” The report says “the inability of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV to prove return on advertising investment has led to a swing toward promotional spending.” As a result, Borrell predicts display ads and paid search in local markets will peak in the next year or two and begin a steady decline (while video continues to grow more share). The advice for TV stations? Create “marketing partnerships” with local companies to drive awareness/traffic to their online promotions. “Television may be the best legacy medium for driving traffic to an online promotion,” the report reads, which lists some examples, including contests and coupons.
I agree that online promotion spending will grow quickly over the next few years. And I also agree that the goal for TV stations’ sales units is not to sell advertising but to increase their clients’ sales, which begs more creative, customized marketing solutions. But I question that fact that paid search especially will decline as aggressively as Borrell suggests. Paid search has become a “must” investment for any online initiative — it’s tremendously effective (it can drive more traffic than a TV campaign) — and local advertisers are still learning how to use it (in fact, local media companies are increasingly “reselling” search in their ad packages).
Finally, this report shouldn’t create artificial confidence that local TV stations can create a bunch of contests and maximize online revenue going foward. Creating “marketing partnerships” goes well beyond a contest or two, and it will require a new approach to selling. And it doesn’t diminish the urgency for local stations to create innovative new products and partnerships to diversify their online revenue outside the standard TV website fare.
April 30th, 2008
If Fortune is right, there could be a game-changing move coming this summer that will bring the iPhone into the mainstream for many more consumers. While still tied to AT&T, Fortune says the 3G iPhone will come with a $200 discount from the wireless company that will bring the price down to $199 for the 8GB and $299 for the 16GB device. Being 3G, the higher speed data service could open up video streaming to your handset. Imagine your live newscast or VOD being viewed by consumers away from the television AND computer. Plus, if Fortune is right, the phone will also have GPS built in. That will make Google maps that much better.
Beta tests look like iPhone is opening up to sync with Microsoft Outlook servers for all of us Blackberry-bound business users who can’t let go of our e-mail for even a few minutes. With that in mind, could iPhone be the new Blackberry for business? I’d love one. Hint.
April 29th, 2008
In TV newsrooms, “it seems that adopting the culture of the web is often forbidden… until it’s compulsory,” writes Steve Safran. Which, when you think of it, is really true. I’ll add a new one to the list: linking your competition.
April 29th, 2008
Reuters reports that NBC and CBS will submit a second bid for The Weather Channel and its digital properties. Owner Landmark Communications is trying to unload the network, and a second round of bids is due in early May. Reuters said the channel will likely fetch less than $5 billion.
April 29th, 2008
As David wrote below, Grand Theft Auto IV hits store shelves today. Some are even saying that GTA could be the best game title in history. Now, let’s put the violence discussion aside and focus on the mind-boggling media/technology aspects of the game. Just watch this trailer and review, which illustrates that GTA has taken video gaming to a new level. Unbelievable.
As I’ve written off and on over the years, video games are becoming interactive movies, and they’ll ultimately replace most of the traditional Hollywood movie industry. Why would you want to sit passively and watch a movie (or a TV show) when you can live a movie? Video games already generate more money than the movie industry, but games like GTA IV illustrate that the gaming business is just getting warmed up. Soon games will transition from interactive movies to virtual reality experiences. And the sky’s the limit.
April 29th, 2008
The predictions that the latest installment of the popular GTA franchise would break Halo 3’s first-week sales figures appear to be true based on the release-day rush. At a time when media and entertainment spending is way down, GTAIV is set to pull in $400 million. It is also getting rave reviews as a “brutal and satirical masterpiece” and mentioned in the company of films like “The Godfather” and “Scarface.”
We’ve tried to issue the wakeup call to big-ol-media for years now here at 1 LR Plaza. GTAIV and Halo 3 are proving us right. Current gaming technology offers the most powerful communications and storytelling platform ever seen. And the market is speaking, very loudly. Anyone remember the episode of HBO’s Entourage where Peter Jackson is working in his gaming studio. Or George Lucas saying that he wasn’t done with the Star Wars franchise by not making more movies, chosing to make games instead.
April 29th, 2008
Advertising Age’s MediaWorks section has a slew of articles that are worth your attention:
RE: The last one. Kind of topical for those readers that remember how Cory and I recently posted numbers within days of of each other from ComScore and Hitwise that offered very different views on video traffic.
April 29th, 2008
Cox Enterprises has purchased Adify for around $300 million. Adify, which is on track to hit $35M in revenues this year, is best known for powering the Washington Post’s local blog network. It also powers NBC WeatherPlus’ ad network. Cox Enterprises includes Cox Communications (cable), Cox Newspapers, Cox Television, Cox Radio and Cox Auto Trader — so clearly lots of opportunities to create interesting ad networks powered by Adify. In fact, we can only wonder if the Cox TV stations will launch local ad networks similar to the CBS O&Os earlier this year. Release below…
Read the full post April 29th, 2008
Some TV shows, when converted into user-powered web properties, make a lot of sense. Take the People’s Court, for example. The show’s new site, PeoplesCourtRaw.com, invites users to upload “public arguments” of an issue, both for and against. So for example, one issue is “boyfriends should pay for birth control.” Both the girlfriend and the boyfriend posted their video arguments, and the public can vote (right now, girlfriend is winning with 61%.) By the way, the site hasn’t officially launched yet — it was discovered by this site while still in beta. And while TMZ.com founder Harvey Levin hosts an introductory video on the site, he’s not the creator of PeoplesCourtRaw.com.
April 29th, 2008
Saw this on El País yesterday and had to grab a screenshot:
Two video embeds above the fold! It’s as if El País uses the video embed as their story art for the tease whenever possible. Brilliant!
April 29th, 2008
We keep pushing for more sites to allow their videos to be embedded. Well, another one is, but it’s not a TV station. The WashingtonPost.com now allows their video to be embedded, and offers two sizes you can choose from depending on your site’s design.
Very smart.
April 28th, 2008
- CBS says its online video offers highest engagement for ads
- Ratings and ad revenues at network TV news still in decline
- Newspaper circulation continues to slide, new numbers show
- TVGuide.com sees traffic surge, especially around younger shows
April 28th, 2008
The “War Room” of Bill Clinton, James Carville and George Stephanopoulos back in 1992 was political genius: a rapid-response approach to campaign stories bubbling up through the news media. But now, 16 years later, it seems that Bill Clinton is learning a few lessons about the next generation of media. “Nobody’s been a bigger victim of the so-called YouTube moments than Bill Clinton,” said NBC News political director Chuck Todd. “I think Bill Clinton was woefully unprepared for 21st Century media.”
April 28th, 2008
Emmis Interactive, the digital arm of Emmis Communications, is beginning to offer its interactive services to other radio broadcasters and local media. “Emmis Interactive has been a true pioneer and innovator in the interactive space,” said Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan. “I take great pride in what we’ve built, and we look forward to providing other media companies the benefits of our interactive platform, sales solutions and know-how.”
April 28th, 2008
In a press conference this afternoon, Warner Bros. is expected to announce today that it’s resurrecting the WB network — online. The site will feature archive video of many of the WB’s classic shows. Warner Bros. is pursuing the “long tail” of content, much like Hulu has done with its extensive lineup of vintage shows. As we wrote about a couple weeks ago, Hulu’s most popular show is no longer on the air: Arrested Development. Mitchell Hurwitz, the co-created of the show, said the online popularity of his former program is “enormously rewarding in every way except for financially.” Hurwitz said if video streaming had been as popular as it is now a few years ago, perhaps Arrested would’ve been saved.
April 28th, 2008
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