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Analysis for 'Newspapers'
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Wall Street Journal Editor: "We're all video journalists now"
The Wall Street Journal is further deepening its commitment to online video, and in the process, helping render moot the idea of a "print-only" journalist. A memo this week from deputy managing editor and executive editor, online Alan Murray, to all news staff, unveiled the WSJ's next video initiative, "WSJ WorldStream" (full text here). The memo carries the subject line "We're all video journalists now…" and ends with Murray urging colleagues to "embrace this new opportunity."
The memo is a clear signal that journalists solely hammering out text on a keyboard no longer cuts it. More important, it indicates how the WSJ is further redefining itself from its traditional roots. It wasn't that long ago that the WSJ was a newspaper. Then, with the advent of the Internet, it became a newspaper with digital distribution. Now, with a huge push into video, it doesn't quite feel accurate to even use the term "newspaper" any longer. Rather, something along the lines of "multimedia news organization" (ok, that's too clunky) seems like a better fit.Categories: Newspapers
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WSJ Live Now Producing 100 Hours/Month of Original Programming [VIDEO]
One of the highlights of the recent VideoNuze 2012 Online Video Advertising Summit was the session with Alisa Bowen, Head of Product for Dow Jones (and formerly GM of the Wall Street Digital Network). Alisa is now responsible for all of the company's digital consumer products and had previously overseen WSJ Live, the company's burgeoning video initiative. WSJ is defying the conventional wisdom that newspapers are in inevitable decline by showing how video can help re-invent the brand and leverage existing assets.
WSJ Live has gained huge momentum since its launch last fall, and now includes 14 different original programs, totaling 100 hours per month, which generate 10.4 million streams per month and are distributed across 20 different platforms (Roku, Apple TV, Smart TVs, etc.). As Alisa explains, all of this has allowed WSJ to reach its audience in different environments, with an experience that is more aligned with users' expectations when they're using a particular device. I continue to think of WSJ Live as an outstanding template for other print publishers to follow.Categories: Newspapers
Topics: WSJ Live
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NY Times Innovates With "Make Your Pitch" Video Contest
I've been fascinated for years with how newspapers have embraced online video to expand the scope of their businesses, redefine their identities and engage with their audiences. Yesterday I stumbled upon the latest example of how far from their print-only roots some newspapers are now moving: the NY Times has unveiled "Make Your Pitch," a contest for entrepreneurs to submit video "pitches" about their businesses to gain exposure on the paper's small-business Facebook page and to win a contributing role for its You're the Boss small business blog.
Categories: Newspapers
Topics: NY Times
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Wall Street Journal's YouTube Channel Launches With "Off Duty" Video Series
The Wall Street Journal has launched its WSJ Live YouTube channel this morning, debuting "Off Duty" a companion video series to the popular lifestyle section in the newspaper's Weekend Journal. The WSJ Live channel is the latest addition to YouTube's 100 original channels strategy. In addition to Off Duty, the WSJ Live channel features NewsHub, Digits and Mean Street, three other on-demand/live video series that are found on the main WSJ.com site and more recently the WSJ Live iPad app.
Categories: Aggregators, Indie Video, Newspapers
Topics: YouTube
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WSJ Live App Makes An Impressive Debut
The Wall Street Journal has unveiled "WSJ Live," a free app for the iPad and various connected devices. I downloaded it and spent some time with it on my iPad, and can report that it's quite impressive and a welcome addition to the small group of high-quality video-centric iPad apps (e.g. HBO GO, Netflix, ABC, TV.com, etc.).
One thing in particular that's very clever about the app is how it mixes live streams with on-demand choices. In its press release, the WSJ said that WSJ Live provides up to four hours of live programming each business day, which includes seven half-hour shows. These shows are augmented with tons of on-demand videos, each of which has a thumbnail image along with a time and date-stamp and its run time. The result is that it feels like there's a lot of choice at WSJ Live, which is easy to navigate by scrolling the thumbnails, using a text strip at the bottom with category headings or popping up a daily program guide. Users can also easily jump to most popular and most recently viewed categories.
Categories: Devices, Newspapers
Topics: Wall Street Journal, WSJ Live
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WSJ.com Capitalizing on Market Woes With Live Streaming "News Hub" Show
It's no secret that the line between print media and electronic media has been blurring for years as newspapers and magazines have created in-depth web sites and begun offering on-demand audio and video. Over at WSJ.com things are becoming even blurrier, as lately the site has been persistently live streaming its "News Hub" show prominently above the fold on its home page, creating a bona fide alternative to financial news networks like CNBC and Bloomberg.
In fact, a quick visit to those two networks' web sites reveal plenty of on-demand video, but no live video. That's where WSJ.com is distinguishing itself these days, making itself a destination for unnerved investors seeking up-to-the-minute news and analysis of financial markets conveniently on their desktops. Viewers can mute/unmute, run the video in the background and continue doing their day's work while dipping back into the News Hub as desired to follow the market's latest tumult.
Categories: Live Streaming, Newspapers
Topics: WSJ.com
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NCAA MMOD Runs Home Page Takeover Ad On NYTimes.com
Speaking of sports, here's how big a deal live streaming of March Madness on Demand (MMOD) has become for the NCAA and its TV partners CBS and Turner Sports: yesterday, which was the tournament's big kickoff, the parties ran a pricey full-page, rich media takeover ad on the NYTimes.com home page (see below). MMOD has developed into the highest-profile live online video sporting event of the year. It's hard to believe any real college hoops fan doesn't know about MMOD's availability, but with the NYTimes ad, clearly the parties weren't taking any chances.
Categories: Broadcasters, Cable Networks, Newspapers, Sports
Topics: CBS, MMOD, NCAA, NYTimes, Turner Sports
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Newspapers Cranked Out More Online Videos In 2010 Than Any Other Media Vertical
U.S. newspapers uploaded approximately 2.4 million videos in 2010, more than 3x the volume of the next-closest industry verticals of broadcast and online media, according to the latest "online video & the media industry" report from Brightcove and TubeMogul for Q4 '10. Newspapers uploaded 1.2 million titles in Q4 alone, a 147% increase in volume over Q3. The accelerating trend suggests newspapers are deepening their commitment to online video as a way of boosting online engagement and increasing ad revenue. The new data also seems to offset recent news that newspapers are reducing their involvement with online video.
Categories: Branded Entertainment, Broadcasters, Newspapers, Online Publishers, Research
Topics: Brightcove, TubeMogul
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USAToday.com Implements Taboola's Video Recommendations
USAToday.com has begun implementing video recommendations engine Taboola to power videos on all of its News pages. I confirmed with Taboola's CEO and founder Adam Singolda that USAToday.com is using the company's "Text2Video" product on its news pages currently and that a fuller rollout is planned, though he wouldn't provide further details.
With the Text2Video product, Taboola analyzes web pages and uses its proprietary text algorithms to understand the content of those pages. This data is combined with cookies to gain insight into users' interests. Videos are then recommended based on this information using Taboola's EngageRank video solution.
This is the 3rd big recent publisher win for Taboola, following both NYTimes.com and Bloomberg (additional customers include Demand Media, Revision3, Kiplingers and others). What's distinctive about the USAToday.com implementation is that the video recommendations are given the most prominent placement yet (see below), at the top of the right column with 3 thumbnails exposed. That's highly valuable page real estate, and it shows the confidence the USA Today team must have not only in the quality/relevance of the recommended videos, but also in their ability to deliver superior monetization.
Categories: Newspapers, Technology
Topics: Taboola, USAToday.com
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Taboola Is Providing Video Recommendations For NYTimes.com
Taboola's EngageRank video recommendation technology has been officially adopted by the NYTimes.com, following a successful 8-month trial. NYTimes.com has implemented Taboola's recommendations in a section called "Other Videos You May Like" as thumbnails below the main player window and when the video ends. Taboola's CEO and founder Adam Singolda told me that based on A/B testing vs. other recommendations technologies, Taboola was found to drive 250% higher video views. Last week I met up with Adam and Lior Golan, who runs product and technology at the company and was in from Israel where he's based.
Categories: Newspapers, Technology
Topics: NYTimes.com, Taboola
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David Pogue's "Video Wall" Explained
If you're a David Pogue fan like me, you were also likely wondering how he pulled off his recent "iPad Town Hall" which featured him interacting with 20 people in what appeared to be a live "video wall." The town hall video, which runs about 5 minutes is classic Pogue - funny, educational and fast moving.
This week Pogue shared the details of how he built the "video wall" which actually wasn't live, but was instead a mosaic of scripted QuickTime videos he solicited from his Twitter followers. He then embedded them all in a Keynote presentation and through some editing flair created the illusion that it was live. The result is very slick and showcases what a relative amateur can produce with some creativity and persistence.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).Categories: Devices, Newspapers
Topics: David Pogue, iPad
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NY Times' New "TimesCast" is a Home Run for Its Audience
I continue to believe that among newspapers pursuing online video initiatives, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are the clear leaders. Both totally get how strategic video is to evolving their brands, engaging their audiences and generating new ad revenue.
Just last month I wrote about the Journal's newly unveiled companion video series to its "Digits" blog; now this week the Times announced its daily "TimesCast" program which is a 1-hour daily insiders' view of what and how the Times chooses to cover what it covers that runs from 1-2pm each day. In the episodes I watched - exclusively sponsored by FedEx - the cameras visited the daily "Page One" editorial meeting and featured Times journalists interviewing each other to gain more color on selected stories of the day. The pace of the videos was fast and engaging, with snappy sequencing music in the background.
I'll readily admit this type of content isn't for everyone. However if you're a news junkie and regular Times reader like me, it's a home run - and that's what really matters. TimesCast makes viewers feel like they're "in the know," strengthening their bond with the Times brand and deepening their understanding of the news. Plus, it lets the Times showcase their journalists in a way that goes far beyond their bylined articles. A larger point: in print space is finite, on the web its infinite. Brands that learn to "super-serve" their audiences with these kinds of behind-the-scenes initiatives will win.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).Categories: Newspapers
Topics: NY Times, Wall Street Journal
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Magazines are Keen on Video; iPad in Central Role
Following up on my post last week about the Wall Street Journal's new "Digits" video series, in which I reiterated my belief that online video is a huge new opportunity for print publishers, this week brought news of new video initiatives from a number of magazines. As reported by AdAge, Sports Illustrated is launching a new 5 times per day news program called "SI Inside Report," among other video projects. Six new employees have been brought on to support the initiative, which has to be a rare instance of new hiring in the magazine industry.
Elsewhere, Conde Nast is continuing to ramp up for the iPad; as the NY Times reported this week it will offer iPad versions of Wired, GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Glamour. Conde plans to experiment with different pricing models and product approaches. But if the demo of Wired's iPad version is any indication, video is certain to play a large role. Wired's Chris Anderson has emerged as the leading magazine industry proponent of the iPad's potential. While the iPad buzz builds leading up to its release, I continue to maintain that unless the price of all models comes down by at least $200 the device is going to remain an early adopter gadget.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).Categories: Devices, Magazines, Newspapers
Topics: Apple, Conde Nast, iPad, Sports Illustrated
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WSJ Launches "Digits" Video Series; Continues to Lead Newspapers in Online Video
This week The Wall Street Journal launched a video companion series to its popular "Digits" blog, continuing to prove that online video opens up exciting new opportunities for newspapers. Airing at 1pm each weekday, and thereafter on demand, the series is hosted by MarketWatch's Stacey Delo and showcases others in the Dow Jones family like Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. The Digits video series follows last fall's launch of News Hub, a video news series which in January already accounted for 1 million of the WSJ Digital Network's 5.5 million streams.
The Journal is right on the mark with its video strategy, and is nicely demonstrating how newspapers can leverage their brands, journalists and advertising relationships into online video. There's nothing fancy about any of this video as the Journal is using cost-effective technologies like Skype and personal video cameras, plus a simple, yet functional set in its newsroom. The Digits video series would not be mistaken for broadcast journalism, but for the web, where real-time original analysis is key, it's well above the quality bar. Obviously the WSJ is a unique property, and it is complimented by other DJ resources. Still, all newspapers should be looking closely at its video strategy and applying its lessons. I've insisted for a long while that online video is anything but a death knell for print publications; the Journal is proving it in spades.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Newspapers
Topics: WSJ
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4 Items Worth Noting for the Jan 18th Week (YouTube rentals, Newspaper bankruptcies, Prada's film, iSlate hype)
Following are 4 items worth noting for the January 18th week:
1. YouTube dips toe into film rentals, more to come - This week YouTube took a very small step into film rentals, announcing that 5 indie films will be available for $3.99 apiece until the end of the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 31st, and that it is launching a "Filmmakers Wanted" program to bring additional indie films (and possibly other content) to YouTube's audience for rental.Last fall, when the WSJ first broke the news that YouTube was negotiating with a number of Hollywood studios about launching a full-blown rental store, I thought the plan was intriguing, but dubious. I argued that YouTube needed to stay focused on getting its ad model right, that it would be hard to differentiate its film rentals from those of myriad competitors and that the revenue upside for YouTube was relatively small.
I continue to believe those things and hope YouTube isn't still pursuing Hollywood dreams. That said, I do like the idea of it offering a paid option for indie and other hard-to-find video. YouTube's massive audience brings real promotional value to these often-obscure, yet high-quality titles, potentially significant revenue to their producers and for YouTube, another meaningful step away from pure UGC content. Rentals won't generate significant revenue for YouTube, but with Google executives on the company's earnings call yesterday saying that "YouTube is monetizing well," so long as it doesn't divert too many resources away from advertising, that's ok.
2. Revenue models matter, just ask the newspaper industry - This week brought news that MediaNews Group, publisher of 54 U.S. newspapers, including the Denver Post and San Jose Mercury News, will file for bankruptcy. For those keeping count, it's at least the 13th bankruptcy filing by a major U.S. newspaper publisher in the last year.
While the newspaper industry has been racked by the recession and ad-spending slowdown, the larger issue is that 15 years since the Internet's popularity took off, newspapers still have not been able to define a sustainable online business model. Many simply lunged headlong into providing their full print editions online, only to find out that online advertising wasn't sufficient to support their overhead and that Google commoditized their headlines. Others, like the NYTimes tried (and will continue to try) to find a balance between advertising and reader payments.
I've touched on this before, but the havoc being wreaked in the newspaper is a red-letter warning to video industry participants to cautiously guard existing revenue models while transitioning to digital delivery. Some consumers and techies may consider a deliberate pace to be bureaucratic foot-dragging, but for video content producers and distributors to remain viable, a deliberate ready-aim-fire approach to digital delivery is essential.
3. Prada's short online film is intriguing - speaking of newspapers, lately I've become convinced that one of the choicest pieces of online real estate for advertisers is the home page of NYTimes.com, which I frequent. On any given day you'll see huge rich media ads and roadblocks for high-profile brands and product launches. One that caught my attention earlier this week was by luxury fashion company Prada, promoting a 9-minute film by Chinese director Yang Fudong called "First Spring" (it's also available on YouTube) in which the actors are wearing Prada menswear.
I'm not a Prada patron, and I found the film dreary and odd, nonetheless, what intrigued me was how online video has given Prada a whole new outlet to build its brand's aura, a key to success for all luxury brands. Buying TV ads would be incredibly inefficient for Prada, and magazine spreads only go so far. With a short online film, Prada can target its audience well and engage them as long as it pleases. For creative and advertising types alike, that's a compelling opportunity.
4. Get ready for the week of the Apple tablet - In case you missed it, this week Apple sent invites to the press for a Jan. 27th event to "come see our latest creation" - widely believed to be the company's new tablet computer. The buzz behind the product, thought to be called the "iSlate," has been steadily building for weeks now. Next week it will reach a crescendo. We can expect Steve Jobs to bring his A game to the mother of all product demos as the stakes are high for Apple to deliver major wows.
While the product will no doubt be off the charts cool, the nagging question is whether large numbers of people will buy it for the rumored price of $1,000. Gadgets in that price range rarely get much traction, so to succeed the iSlate has to offer essential new value. Video could be its key differentiator, especially if Apple has new content deals to announce. A connected iSlate, with a gorgeous screen and easy portability (sort of an "iPhone on steroids") could open yet another chapter in video distribution and consumption.
Enjoy your weekend!
Categories: Aggregators, Branded Entertainment, FIlms, Newspapers
Topics: Apple, MediaNews Group, NYTimes, Prada, YouTube
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Tiger Woods Scandal Gets Animated Video Treatment
It's hard not to be fascinated by the Tiger Woods "transgressions" scandal and the drip-drip-drip revelations that are keeping the story alive. Amid the hubbub, the big mystery remains what actually happened on the fateful night that Tiger plowed his Escalade into a neighbor's fire hydrant and tree.
As the NY Times reported over the weekend, the animation unit of the Taiwanese "infotainment" newspaper Apple Daily (owned by Hong Kong-based media company Next Media) has created an animated video re-enactment of the events. The video is available on YouTube, where it has already drawn 2 million+ views. Non-Chinese speakers are out of luck on what the narrator's saying, but the animation provides the gist. As many suspect to be the case, there's Elin chasing Tiger's car down the street bashing its rear window with a golf club, causing a distracted Tiger to lose control and run off the road.
Compared to animated feature films, the quality is pretty amateurish. But that's the least of its problems; more significant is that the events shown are not based on the police reports or known facts, but rather on the animators' conception of what happened. So while Daisy Li, the Apple Daily manager overseeing the animated videos is quoted as saying that the idea of the animated videos is to make news more accessible to young people who don't like to read newspapers, by any standard, the video cannot be considered a journalistic pursuit.
Notwithstanding, the significance of the Tiger animated video and the whole idea of animated video re-enactments in general is that they have the potential to hugely influence public opinion about actual news events. By publishing videos like this to sites such as YouTube that have global reach, non-journalistic animators can vie with bona fide news outlets to inform audiences. For purists that will feel alarming, though it should be remembered that this is hardly the first time performance has influenced opinion - consider for example, that many people formed an opinion of Sarah Palin last year not on her remarks, but on Tina Fey's imitation of them on SNL.
Whether it is fact, fiction or something in between, video's power lies in its ability to tell a story better than any other medium. The animators at Apple Daily appear to understand this, as will others who will inevitably try to emulate their success. Audiences beware.
What do you think? Post a comment now.
Categories: International, Newspapers, Sports
Topics: Next Media, Tiger Woods
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4 Items Worth Noting for the Nov 9th Week (Flip ads, YouTube ad-skipping, NY Times video, Nielsen data)
Following are 4 items worth noting for the Nov 9th week:
1. Will Cisco's new Flip Video camera ad campaign fly? - Cisco deserves credit for its new "Do You Flip" ad campaign for its Flip Video camera, a real out-of-the-box effort comprised entirely of user-generated video clips shot by ordinary folks and celebrities alike. As the campaign was described in this Online Media Daily article, finding the clips and then editing them together sounds like heavy lifting, but the results perfectly reinforce the value proposition of the camera itself. The ads are being shown on TV and the web; there's an outdoor piece to the campaign as well.
Cisco acquired Flip for nearly $600 million earlier this year in a somewhat incongruous deal that thrust the router powerhouse into the intensely competitive consumer electronics fray. Cisco will have to spend aggressively to maintain market share as other pocket video cameras have gained steam, like the Creative Vado HD, Samsung HMX and Kodak Z series. There's also emerging competition from smartphones (led by the iPhone of course) that have built-in video recording capabilities. I've been somewhat skeptical of the Cisco-Flip deal, but with the new campaign, Cisco looks committed to making it a success.
2. YouTube brings ad-skipping to the web - Speaking of out-of-the-box thinking, YouTube triggered a minor stir in the online video advertising space this week by announcing a trial of "skippable pre-roll" ads. On the surface, it feels unsettling that DVR-style ad-skipping - a growing and bedeviling trend on TV - is now coming to the web. Yet as YouTube explained, there's actually ample reason and some initial data to suggest that by empowering viewers, the ads that are watched could be even more valuable.
One thing pre-roll skipping would surely do is up the stakes for producing engaging ads that immediately capture the viewer's attention. And it would also increase the urgency for solid targeting. Done right though, I think pre-roll skipping could work quite well. At a minimum I give YouTube points for trying it out. Incidentally, others in the industry are doing other interesting things improve the engagement and effectiveness of the pre-roll. I'll have more on this in the next week or two.
3. Watching the NY Times at 30,000 feet - Flipping channels on my seat-back video screen on a JetBlue flight from Florida earlier this week, I happened on a series of highly engaging NY Times videos: a black and white interview with Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem, then a David Pogue demo of the Yoostar Home Greenscreen Kit and then an expose of Floyd Bennett Field, the first municipal airport in New York City. It turned out that all were running on The Travel Channel.
Good for the NY Times. Over the past couple of years I've written often about the opportunities that broadband video opens up for newspapers and magazines to leverage their brands, advertising relationships and editorial skills into the new medium. By also running their videos on planes, the NY Times is exposing many prospective online viewers to its video content, thereby broadening what the NY Times brand stands for and likely generating subsequent traffic to its web site. That's exactly what it and other print pubs should be doing to avoid the fate of the recently-shuttered Gourmet magazine, which never fully mined the web's potential. I know I'm a broken record on this, but video producers must learn that syndicating their video as widely as possible is imperative.
4. Nielsen forecast underscores smartphones' mobile video potential - A couple of readers pointed out that in yesterday's post, "Mobile Video Continues to Gain Traction" I missed relevant Nielsen data from just the day before. Nielsen forecasts that smartphones will be carried by more than 50% of cell phone users by 2011, totaling over 150 million people. Nielsen assumes that 60% of these smartphone owners will be watching video translating to an audience size of 90 million people. Its research also shows that 47% of users of the new Motorola Droid smartphone are watching video, vs. 40% of iPhone users. Not a huge distinction, but more evidence that the Droid and other newer smartphones are likely to increase mobile video consumption still further.
Enjoy your weekends!
Categories: Advertising, Aggregators, Devices, Mobile Video, Newspapers, Research, UGC
Topics: Cisco, Droid, Flip, iPhone, Nielsen, NY Times, YouTube
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Subscription Overload is on the Horizon
One might think that the depths of the worst economic recession in decades would be a lousy time to begin asking penny-pinching consumers for additional payments to access content. Yet this is exactly what many video providers plan to do, as a variety of broadband-delivered video subscription plans are beginning to take shape. Based on conversations I've been having with industry executives and what I've been reading, various subscription plans are now underway. This leads me to think that "subscription overload" is on the horizon.
Interest in getting consumers to pay has several sources. Many executives have concluded that advertising alone is an insufficient model, even as the cost of delivering broadband video is actually plummeting. Some of this concern relates to the widespread advertising slowdown, where even established players like the big broadcast networks are being forced to accept rate cuts. These declines cannot be made up with greater ad quantity as there's prevailing worry about just how many ads can be loaded into a broadband-delivered program before the viewer gets turned off.
There is also significant fear of not learning from the demise of the U.S. newspaper industry, which largely adopted an ad-only online business model that hasn't worked (causing some like the NY Times to now consider reinstituting subscription services). Newspapers' woes have become a touchstone in practically every conversation I've participated in recently. Last, but not least, there's no small amount of envy toward cable networks, whose dual subscription/advertising revenue model has allowed them to weather the recession better than most.
Subscription plans seek some combination of differentiators: offering premium video in better windows, at better-quality, with deeper selection, across multiple devices and with some degree of exclusivity. The thinking is that these enhancements will allow subscription services to be distinguished from and co-exist with free ad-supported services. The implicit bet is that these differences will be understood and valued by consumers.
Subscription plans are beginning to leak out, as happened last week in remarks by Disney CEO Bob Iger. Many in the industry (including me) anticipate that Hulu will launch a subscription service soon, particularly as it seeks to become a part of cable operators' TV Everywhere initiatives (which themselves seek to enhance the value of current cable subscriptions).
Other plans are on the drawing board. When I read yesterday, for example, about NBC's Ben Silverman jumping to IAC to form a new video venture, I suspect it's almost a given that the venture will consider some type of premium model. The growth of mobile video is another factor fueling subscriptions. This is what MLB is doing with its new At Bat 2009 subscription app for the iPhone, which builds on its highly successful MLB.TV broadband subscription service.
With so many subscription services underway, it's inevitable that many of them won't get traction. I mean, is it likely that consumers will pay extra so they can see a program online just hours after it airs, instead of a day later? Or so they can receive 1080-equivalent HD quality online, when 720-equivalent HD is available for free? I'm skeptical, even before factoring in the recession-driven belt-tightening many consumers have adopted. The bar for a subscription service to succeed is very high.
Still, with broadband allowing video providers direct access to their target audiences, their well-known brands as powerful enablers, and the crummy advertising climate showing no letup, it is no surprise that the pendulum is swinging heavily toward subscriptions.
What do you think? Post a comment now.
Categories: Advertising, Newspapers, Sports
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What the Broadcast TV Networks Can Learn from the Boston Globe's - and Other Newspapers' - Demise
Those of us who live in New England and still actually subscribe to Boston Globe woke up Saturday morning to a banner headline on page 1: "Times Co. threatens to shut Globe, seeks $20m in cuts from unions." With newspapers around the country declaring bankruptcy or going out of print, the news really shouldn't have come as a surprise.
The Globe's and other newspapers' struggles have been widely reported. They are on the wrong end of a double-barreled shotgun: the years-long shift in consumer behavior toward the Internet and more recently,
the devastating recession. To me there's a strong analogy here: the Internet (an "electronic printing press") is to newspapers what broadband (a new video delivery platform) is to broadcast TV networks. So what can the broadcast TV networks learn from the newspapers' travails so they avoid a similar fate? Here are 5 thoughts:Keep the product in synch with the customer - it's cliche to say this, but at the root of every successful business is an ability to keep the product in synch with the customer's behavior. But as the world changes, staying in synch is often at odds with traditions, deeply-ingrained cultures and management's skills. The harsh reality is that there can be no sacred cows when it comes to the product. Just because something's always been done a certain way does not make it right.
For TV networks, I think the key lesson here is around program length. By tradition, programs have been 30 or 60 minutes. But online is about short-form content. Broadband delivery provides an opportunity to expand the networks' mission and capture new market share (as some are already doing). That doesn't mean giving up on 30 and 60 minute programs, but it does mean more actively diversifying their attention and resources.
Focus on monetization - If keeping the product right is job #1, then getting paid for it is certainly job #2. Newspapers have experimented widely with ad-supported and paid models, yet they've suffered their own "analog dollars, digital pennies" conundrum, with online users not generating comparable revenues per eyeball as the print edition. There are various explanations for why they've fallen short.
When I look at networks' current online efforts, I am increasingly concerned they're not going to succeed either. Their ad strategy for online programs is not aggressive enough (yes, as a viewer it hurts to say that) to make the online delivery model work. And on the execution side, as NBC.com recently showed, they're often not even capitalizing on what's readily available to them. Both need to change fast.
Partner effectively - Newspapers have grappled for years with how to defend classified categories like help wanted through industry partnerships. Now broadcast networks are rallying around Hulu (and possibly TV.com) as their own partnership vehicles. But these entities mustn't be forced to compete with one hand behind their back. They need rights to choice ad inventory to sell. They need to be free to pursue their own partnerships and not be curtailed as Hulu currently is with Boxee. And they need to be supported financially and strategically for the long run. Even then, none of this guarantees success.
Restructure costs aggressively - There's simply no escaping the fact that businesses with troubled top lines need to restructure their costs aggressively to stay viable. The key is getting ahead of this process, rather than waiting until the last possible minute. This isn't easy with unions and guaranteed jobs and managements that are well-paid. Broadcast TV networks face similar issues: strong guilds rightfully protective of their members' interests and executives who are perceived as overly compensated. Many in the industry have called out the fact that all of Hollywood needs to focus more on aligning costs with market realities. The day of reckoning is at hand.
Prepare to be radical - Painful as it is, sometimes there's no avoiding doing the radical. The free market can be quite ruthless. If Craig Newmark chooses to run Craigslist as a virtual non-profit, then anyone looking to make money out of classifieds is going to get hit. If the Huffington Post can make a business out of repackaging others' content under its own headlines and excelling at SEO then original newsgathering is threatened. And if Google can support YouTube's operating losses, then it will be around to continue to take video market share and attention away from incumbents. These are game-changing forces; the responses to them need to be equally radical.
While Americans have never watched more TV than they do today, there are storm clouds all around the broadcast networks. Hopefully they're studying the newspapers' demise and taking away the right lessons.
What do you think? Post a comment now.
Categories: Broadcasters, Newspapers
Topics: The Boston Globe
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WSJ.com's "End of Wall Street" Series is an Interesting Template for Print Publishers
Have you caught any of the three-part, 25 minute "End of Wall Street" series running on WSJ.com right now? It may be too depressing to watch if you're nursing big 401k losses, but it does provide a very interesting template for how print publishers like the WSJ, whose reporters and editors have deep subject matter expertise, can use video to expand their value proposition to traditional readers.
In this case there's another twist: the video is actually a companion to a forthcoming book "The Wall Street Journal Guide to the End of Wall Street As We Know It" written by Dave Kansas, a WSJ editor who hosts the video series as well. Oddly though, the video doesn't mention the book at all, which is a key missed promotional opportunity. Placing a display ad or post-roll video promoting the book would seem to like a natural.
Still, the series demonstrates that a print publisher has the chops to produce a compelling video documentary that explains, in simple terms, how the financial meltdown occurred and why it crushed Wall Street. At least a dozen WSJ staffers are tapped for soundbites outlining the chronology and underlying factors to the crisis. The music is gripping, and the cutaways to Kansas wandering Wall Street's alternatively bustling and empty canyons provide a vivid visual metaphor for the change sweeping through the financial sector.
I've been saying for a while that print publishers are sitting on top of a mountain of largely anonymous talent which would be compelling for their audiences to hear and see. "End of Wall Street" demonstrates this perfectly. Other print pubs would be wise to go to school on it.
What do you think? Post a comment now.
Categories: Newspapers
Topics: Wall Street Journal
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