Learning from Allbritton’s success with Politico
One of the great success stories in local media has to be Politico, the political web-print startup by Allbritton, the small television ownership group in DC. Politico, according to SEC filings dug up by PaidContent, has hit $20 million a year in revenue. Wow. Politico is one of very few success stories of local broadcasters [...]
Newspapers losing their audience online, too
It is conventional wisdom that newspapers need to grow (and monetize) their online audience to sustain themselves in the digital age. Losing that online audience has to be newspapers’ greatest fear. But that’s exactly what a new report by IBM has found. “Online newspapers are the only digital media category that dropped in popularity last [...]
Are the yellow pages’ days really numbered?
When’s the last time you cracked open the yellow pages? Really? Turns out, yellow page directories are not going away as fast as you might think. In fact, they’re arriving on your doorstep more frequently than ever. So some states are actually considering legislation to make the white pages portion of the directory an opt-in [...]
NY Times traffic from social media grows
Traffic to NYTimes.com via social media and blogs continues to grow at an impressive rate. VentureBeat reports that traffic to the site from Twitter grew nearly four-fold from Dec 08 – Dec 09. Visits from Facebook links more than doubled, while visits from blogs grew by about 20 – 25%. Contrast this to WSJ’s site, [...]
AdAge: Mobile will be important local ad platform in 2010
We’ve been writing about how location-based apps on mobile phones are going to change the way local advertisers do business. AdAge has a nice wrapup of how: Foursquare, for one, allows small business to target offers based on a user’s actual proximity to their location. These offers can deliver heightened relevance by appealing to a [...]
Notes: Air America, Apple Tablet, Ads on “Print” Pages
Noted, while deciding which teams to root against in the NFL playoffs this weekend… Opinion: Why Air America failed (NY Daily News) All Things D: Will Apple tablet be a mobile bandwidth mega-hog? Yours truly writes a post at the RTDNA site on social media’s role in the Leno – O’Brien kerfuffle. (Me) Probably not [...]
Yelp.com now shows check-ins on reviews
A few days ago, Yelp rolled out a new version of its iPhone app that includes the ability to check-in at local businesses, much like Foursquare. And now Yelp has connected some of that functionality online. Next to a user’s review of a particular business on Yelp.com, you can see how many times that user [...]
Bay Area News Project teams with NYT, posts jobs
It’s been a busy week over at the Bay Area News Project, the yet-to-launch journalism startup in San Francisco backed by businessman Warren Hellman. The Project lost KQED as a partner, gained the New York Times (.pdf), hired a CEO and editor-in-chief (.pdf), and is getting ready to hire “about 15” journalists. PaidContent interviewed incoming [...]
eBay founder’s new local news operation has editor
Peer News, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar’s now-forming local news start-up, has named former Rocky Mountain News editor John Temple to lead the new operation. It’s a “dream job” according to Temple’s blog, where he writes: … as I wrote in a column for The Wall Street Journal last summer, “I genuinely miss being part of [...]
FCC invites comment on “Future of Media”
The FCC today released a public notice (PDF) seeking comments on its “Future of Media” project. The goal of the project is to look at all whether there is fair access to new media. The FCC will then make recommendations based upon its findings. Not the sexiest topic, I understand, but a very important one [...]
Notes: Newspaper layoffs, Firefox, NBC ratings
Noted, while hoping my walk will somehow shovel itself… Layoffs at Memphis Commercial Appeal (E&P) Firefox 3.6 is out, claims to be 20% faster than 3.5 (Mashable) NBC finally getting late night ratings boost (CNN) Digital music sales up 20,900% (not a misprint) since 2003. Industry still complaining about piracy. (paidContent) J-school grads having tough [...]
Hulu considers charging for some content
We’ve heard all along that Hulu would likely implement some sort of pay model. Today’s Los Angeles Times reports Hulu is considering a couple of pay-per-view models. One would charge per view – but only for certain popular programs, such as “30 Rock,” “Modern Family” and “House.” Another would let you watch the five most [...]
Studies on local contextual ads show mixed feelings
We’re fine with contextual ads, but only when they’re placed next to softer news stories. That, essentially, is the conclusion of a study done by the Seattle Times, with a grant from the Ethics & Excellence in Journalism Foundation. The Seattle Times recruited 1,239 participants for the study, showing them 17 ads. According to Editor [...]
Little Rock gets a new local news site
The Rock in Review is a community news site for Little Rock, Arkansas that started up at the beginning of the year. Its prominent feature is a daily video update with Doug Krile, a former news anchor. (Via Argenta News)
Notes: Tribune money, YouTube rentals, Haiti doctors
Noted, while taking abuse from my out-of-Massachusetts friends… Bankrupt Tribune Co. Cash Flow Rebounds to Nearly $500 Million (E&P) YouTube to test video rentals. (AllThingsD) Are “helicopter journalists” getting in the way of the Haiti relief effort? And can Drs. Sanjay Gupta and Nancy Snyderman participate in health care there and still be objective? Editors [...]
Bing adds local events to maps
You can now see what events are happening in your area right on Bing Maps, which is fresh out of beta. Microsoft has added a Local Events app to the map, and it’s powered by Zvents. Looking on a map pulls up a list of events on the left of the page and puts the [...]
WBIR-TV stands up to school – and other journalists
This is a wild one and well worth debating. At the press conference where the University of Tennessee Volunteers Coach Lane Kiffin stepped down, the school wanted to do a “pre-presser” that would be off-camera. Then, once the pre-presser was done, TV photographers could turn the cameras on. WBIR-TV (Knoxville) News Director Bill Shory would [...]
NYTimes.com confirms plan to charge readers
In what will be a much-watched experiment throughout the industry, the New York Times announced today it’s working on a plan to charge frequent readers to access NYTimes.com. Users will get a certain number of free pages before they’re asked to pay a fixed fee for the month. The Times is light on details — [...]
