TICK, TOCK FOR SWEEPS AND CLICK, CLOCK FOR STUDENTS
ARE YOU FEELING SOCIABLE?
I WANT MY NEW MEDIA TV
BUT I DON’T WANT ADVERTISING
TAKING ON A LIFE OF ITS OWN
DO YOU BELIEVE IN PEOPLE?
We encourage people to pass on copies of Message from Michael. But if you would like to get your own copy, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.
TICK, TOCK FOR SWEEPS AND CLICK, CLOCK FOR STUDENTS: All of 72 hours left in the February sweeps, give or take an hour. But here I go for the beating-a-dead-horse award, reminding folks that sweeps don’t end when the sweeps end. On a sweeps related note, Nielsen’s decision to include college dorms in its ratings survey has proven a boon for several programs. Although the numbers don’t break out college students versus other 18 to 24 year olds and although Nielsen, officially, can’t ascribe the boon to the change, the fact is Fox’s American Idol is up between 11% and 22% in the 18 to 24 demographic, as is Fox’s House (up 89%), ABC’s Greys Anatomy (up 62%), and Ugly Betty (up 86%), and NBC’s Office (up 57%), according to Media Life Magazine.
ARE YOU FEELING SOCIABLE? Maybe you better. Advertisers spent more than $350 Million on social network marketing and even though that’s only 2% of total online ad spending, research firm eMarketer predicts that number will jump to $2 Billion by 2010. The second, and possibly the more significant, fact is that a quarter of the respondents to a Massachusetts University survey say they are using social networking as part of their overall marketing strategy. The study focused on Inc magazine’s list of the fastest growing companies. Two thirds say social media was either very or somewhat important. Social media was defined as message boards, blogging, podcasting, online video, social networking and wikis. To show you how strong the impact is, the headline on the university’s study says, “The Hype Is Real.” The study by the university’s Center for Marketing Research says, “the social media revolution is coming to the business world.” Social media will be the topic of a Revolution in Marketing conference being held in Phoenix this week, and the Phoenix Business Journal quotes one participant who says if you’re not using social media to talk to your customers, you’re “already behind the power curve.”Everybody of course focuses on MySpace, YouTube and Facebook. But there are several strong contenders including MSN Spaces, Yahoo 360, AIM Pages, Bebo, Piczo, Friendster; and, of course, there is the business network LinkedIn and there’s ReverbNation which was recently named the best Social Music Network. Need more convincing? How about the fact that MySpace has launched a site dedicated to comic book fans, or that Facebook is creating a social network based TV series with Comcast using content produced by its users. Need more? How about the fact presidential candidate Barack Obama’s people have relaunched his website to operate like a social networking site where people can create profiles, start blogs and form on-site networks; or that academic software maker Blackboard has launched a social-bookmarking service; or that there is a social network and online directory, MerchantCircle, specifically tailored to small businesses, or that HGTV has launched its own social network. Anyway, you get the point. As an aside, I would make the argument that social media is an extension of business’s CRM (Consumer Relationship Management) and what I call, for television, VRM (Viewer Relationship Management).
I WANT MY NEW MEDIA TV: A study by IBM estimates new media sales to grow at nearly five times the rate of traditional media. Sounds like bad news, but the same report says the biggest surge will come from the Internet syndication of professional produced programming. In other words, programming produced by the traditional media. A Reuters’ report on the study says the Internet syndication of traditional media companies’ programming will be a small part of the estimated – get this -- $655 Billion of annual media revenue in 2010. Traditional media will account for $340 Billion of that. As a warning note, the IBM report says the music industry will have lost between $85 Billion and $160 Billion in revenue between 1999 and 2010 because it “dragged its heels” meeting the demand for digital media. Saul Berman, described as IBM’s ‘global media and entertainment strategy leader’ (catchy title, what?), says this is not a matter of going from black and white to color television, this is a matter of changing from “an era of stability to an era of constant change.”
BUT I DON’T WANT ADVERTISING: More and more of those young people being courted by advertisers are turning into “ad avoiders,” according to a joint study by Microsoft and Starcom. The report titled “lifestyles of the ad adverse” says between 10% and 15% of adults 17 to 35 fall into this category. The report says there are ‘passive avoiders’ who simply can’t be bothered with ads and ‘active avoiders’ whose message, as reported by Media Week, is ‘be good or be gone.’ The active avoiders are primarily young, tech-savvy men who consume media with no ads, like DVD’s and satellite radio.
TAKING ON A LIFE OF ITS OWN: Now, this is getting weird. You can actually dial into virtual world, Second Life, from your cell phone. So, you never have to leave home without it. Converse, described in Technology Review as a wireless multimedia networking company, has developed software to do just that. On top of which, Amazon.com is developing a way to bridge into Second Life. Sears has built a virtual home in the Second Life world to promote its designs. And a market research firm, Market Truths, has won a contest to build a “realistic and profitable business model” for use in Second Life. And, folks, you heard it here first. Regular readers of MfM will remember reading our prediction about the growth of Second Life some time back. In a similar vein, media conglomerate Viacom, which is in a copyright battle withYouTube, has announced a deal to provide videos to Joost, the Internet video service created by the founders of Skype and Kazaa and highlighted in a MfM report a month ago. Okay I know this is bragging but at least I’m not trying to sell you my services like some consulting newsletters. Here’s the next big one to watch – Blinkx.com. It is a VIDEO searching site, much better than anything Yahoo or Google has come up with… so far. Click on the site and the ‘wall of video’ that comes up is a fascinating snapshot of the world. Do a search and you can ask the site to display the results in a wall of video format.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN PEOPLE? If you’re like most Americans, the answer is a big maybe. A new Pew Research survey finds that less than half of Americans (45%) say most people can be trusted but half (50%) say, “you can’t be too careful.” I know this isn’t media related, but a) I just find such social trends fascinating and b) it kind of relates to this week’s MfM lead story on social networking. The survey of 2,000 people found young people are less trusting than those who are middle aged or older and that higher educated and higher income people are more trusting than the less educated and the lower income; Whites are more trusting than Blacks or Hispanics; the married are more trusting than the unmarried; and men at 38% are more likely than women at 32% to have a “high level of trust.” The group has been doing this survey for more than four decades and the results have been pretty much the same that whole time. Other interesting findings are that three out of five Americans (59%) believe most people would try to be fair while less than a third (31%) believe they would be taken advantage of. Three out of five (57%) say most of the time people try to be helpful while a little more than a third (35%) believe most people are just looking out for themselves. If you want to read the full report, it’s at http://pewresearch.org/pubs/414/americans-and-social-trust-who-where-and-why. The same group did a survey among Gen Next Americans (18-25 year olds) and found three-quarters of them (75%) believe today’s youth are more likely to have casual sex than young people 20 years ago. As Claude Rains said in Casablanca, I’m shocked, shocked I tell you. On a completely unrelated note, but since I am doing this social trend thing instead of Cocktail Chatter, the M.I.T. Technology Review reports that 216 Million Americans are scientifically illiterate. The “good news” is that the science literacy rate is up from what the report called a pathetic 10% in 1988 to a not much better 28%.
FACT OF THE WEEK: The world Internet population has reached One Billion. According to eMarketer, the U.S. is still the single, largest Internet market in the world with 181.9 Million Internet users in 2006, but the research firm predicts China will overtake the U.S. before the decade is out. The number of Internet users in China is already greater than Japan, Germany and the U.K.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com. You can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Message From Michael -- February 18, 2007
DO IT YOURSELF JOURNALISM
DO IT YOURSELF TV AND RADIO
TV BEING BEATEN AT THEIR OWN GAME
THE SECRETS OF MARILYN MONROE
COCKTAIL CHATTER
We encourage people to pass on copies of Message from Michael. But if you would like to get your own copy, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.
DO IT YOURSELF JOURNALISM: In the San Francisco Bay area, Clear Channel owned KFTY-TV has fired its news staff and is going to rely primarily on viewer-submitted items for its local coverage. Reading between the lines, this appears more of a cost-cutting move than any kind of social experiment. It is almost humorous to visit their website and find one person listed under the biographies link and every story on the news page appears to have been submitted by one other person. For a more serious local version of citizen journalism, a Danish newspaper (Nyhedsavisen) is merging reader submitted material with its staff material in a sort of competition between the professionals and the amateurs. And on a much more serious, and much broader scope, The Associated Press announced a partnership with website NowPublic.com to bring citizen content under the AP newsgathering umbrella. The news release notes that NowPublic.com is the world’s “largest participatory news network” with more than 60,000 contributors from 140 counties, and the AP is the world’s “largest newsgathering organization” with a staff of more than 4,000 employees in 240 bureaus in 97 countries. The AP move follows earlier, similar announcements by Reuters and the British Broadcasting Corporation.And, of course, they’re not the only ones.
The “grand-daddy” of citizen journalism initiatives may be ohmynews.com which originated in South Korea but which now has an English version. Website cyberjournalist.net lists 79 citizen journalism sites around the world. It lists everything from Al Gore’s Current.tv to WikiNews, Your Hub and down to MyMissourian.com, Ourlittlenet in Atlanta and even Blufton, Georgia’s Bluftontoday.com. Most are, as you would expect, amateurish and most are un-paid. But that is rapidly changing as well. Trend-watching website springwise.com says Generation C (for Content) is fast becoming Generation C (for Cash). Examples cited include CNN’s Exchange, Yahoo/ Reuters’ YouWitnessNews, Scoopt along with ScoopLive and SpyMedia which pay for pictures, Reporter in South Africa, and Ohmynews of course. In previous MfM’s we’ve cited all the various video sites that are now paying for content, forcing giants like YouTube to follow.
DO IT YOURSELF TV AND RADIO: It adds a whole new meaning to the term ‘reality tv,’ according to MIT’s Technology Review. It’s called Splashcast and it lets you create your own shows and broadcast channels, viewable on the web. In a previous MfM, we mentioned the website Brightcove.com which allows you to create your own online TV station. The Splashcast version combines the concepts of video blogging with dynamic syndication using the RSS concept. The article says more than 1,000 “publicity-minded users” have created channels offering a selection of multi-media shows with pictures, video, music and text even though the software was only introduced in January of this year. And if you decide you have a great face for radio, instead, the BBC Worldwide reports the development of a software called Campcaster that allows you to run an entire radio station operation off a laptop. You can store and schedule music, line up news clips and interviews and preview before going to air.On a very much related note about the personalization of the web, Yahoo has announced the release of a tool which it calls Pipes and which lets you pick and choose different feeds from the Internet and create your own online program. The beauty of the program, according to the Technology Review, is its simplicity, with an editor and execution engine that doesn’t require you to know C++ or Java to operate. Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media online publisher, calls it a “milestone in the history of the Internet… (with) enormous potential to turn the Web into a programmable environment for everyone.” And on a related note to the related note, Blip.TV has introduced a do-it-yourself, interactive advertising tool that lets people create ads to go along with their online programming. Company CEO Mike Hudack says it shifts power from the big-time networks to the content creators. Veoh Networks claims it has the most comprehensive platform for Internet video, providing DVD quality content. Video is uploaded to the Veoh website which then syndicates the video to all the other video providers, such as Facebook, YouTube, etc.
TV BEING BEATEN AT THEIR OWN GAME – VIDEO: Newspapers are actually doing a better job of selling LOCAL online video ads than television, according to research and consulting firm Borell Associates. The company says LOCAL (let me emphasize that word) online video advertising will reach $5 Billion in five years. And, as the company says in its news release, “believe it or not” newspapers are outselling television with $81 Million a year versus $32 Million. Frank Barnako who writes a media blog for MarketWatch, cites video classifieds from the San Antonio Express-News as examples of how newspapers are doing a better job than TV. But he also credits Time Warner Cable in North Carolina for doing it right, producing video advertisements for local merchants at GrandStrandNow.com. (Congratulations to friend and MfM reader Alan Mason, who is GM of the operation.)As a side note to this, research firm eMarketer predicts that podcasting will become a $400 Million a year advertising market by the year 2011, quintupling the ‘paltry’ $80 Million spent in 2006. The research says podcasting, which it called “the hot new media darling before YouTube stepped in,” failed to match the sales you would expect when you consider the proliferation of iPods andMP3 players but that is about to change.
THE SECRETS OF MARILYN MONROE: So, who did the blonde bombshell actress become infatuated with in Mexico? And, no, it wasn’t President John F. Kennedy. I don’t know who it was, but it’s all part of the intriguing 100-page dossier the Federal Bureau of Investigation put together on her and it’s one of the many documents you can find on a website http://foia.fbi.gov/alpha.htm. Did you know comedian Bud Abbott showed pornographic films at parties at his house. According to the FBI, he did. He also snuck such subversive words as “kick in the France” into his radio scripts. Olympic medal winner Jesse Owens once sent greetings to the National Negro Conference. There are files on everybody from Desi Arnaz to Andy Warhol, about groups ranging from the Black Panthers to the Ku Klux Klan. It ranges from the entertaining to the strange. For example, there’s a file on Gracie Allen, but none on George Burns. Why’s that? Regardless, there’s hours and hours of entertaining reading.
WORTH NOTING: ABC News with Charlie Gibson has taken over the #1 spot in the evening news race with 9.7 Million viewers, over-taking NBC News with Brian Williams which had 9.52 Million viewers. Now you may have heard that, but a tidbit that was over-shadowed in that news was the fact that the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric scored its best week since the show premiered, with 8 Million viewers. All of the syndicated magazine programs (Inside Edition, Entertainment Tonight, Extra) saw a “significant” spike in ratings with their coverage of the death of Anna Nicole Smith.
WEBSITES TO WATCH: The owners of WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., Allbritton Communications has lanched a website – politico.com, aimed at – just what its name implies – Washington politics. The site is the focus on a recent article on TVNewsday.com, which is another site to watch. ABC has a similar website in which it tracks what’s going on inside the beltway – http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter.
COCKTAIL CHATTER: According to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 64% of Americans support teaching creationism in school. The rock group Queen have won the unofficial title of Greatest British Band of all time, actually beating out the Beatles, according to a poll in Britain. The survey said Queen got a boost in the survey because teen rock group McFly said they had been inspired by the group. The Rolling Stones came in third. The Washington Post asked its readers to come up with alternate meanings for common words. Some of the winning submissions include: Coffee, the person upon whom one coughs; Negligent, a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown; Lymph, to walk with a lisp; Testicle, a humorous question on an exam; Pokemon, a Rastafarian proctologist; and Frisbeetarianism, the belief that, when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
DO IT YOURSELF TV AND RADIO
TV BEING BEATEN AT THEIR OWN GAME
THE SECRETS OF MARILYN MONROE
COCKTAIL CHATTER
We encourage people to pass on copies of Message from Michael. But if you would like to get your own copy, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.
DO IT YOURSELF JOURNALISM: In the San Francisco Bay area, Clear Channel owned KFTY-TV has fired its news staff and is going to rely primarily on viewer-submitted items for its local coverage. Reading between the lines, this appears more of a cost-cutting move than any kind of social experiment. It is almost humorous to visit their website and find one person listed under the biographies link and every story on the news page appears to have been submitted by one other person. For a more serious local version of citizen journalism, a Danish newspaper (Nyhedsavisen) is merging reader submitted material with its staff material in a sort of competition between the professionals and the amateurs. And on a much more serious, and much broader scope, The Associated Press announced a partnership with website NowPublic.com to bring citizen content under the AP newsgathering umbrella. The news release notes that NowPublic.com is the world’s “largest participatory news network” with more than 60,000 contributors from 140 counties, and the AP is the world’s “largest newsgathering organization” with a staff of more than 4,000 employees in 240 bureaus in 97 countries. The AP move follows earlier, similar announcements by Reuters and the British Broadcasting Corporation.And, of course, they’re not the only ones.
The “grand-daddy” of citizen journalism initiatives may be ohmynews.com which originated in South Korea but which now has an English version. Website cyberjournalist.net lists 79 citizen journalism sites around the world. It lists everything from Al Gore’s Current.tv to WikiNews, Your Hub and down to MyMissourian.com, Ourlittlenet in Atlanta and even Blufton, Georgia’s Bluftontoday.com. Most are, as you would expect, amateurish and most are un-paid. But that is rapidly changing as well. Trend-watching website springwise.com says Generation C (for Content) is fast becoming Generation C (for Cash). Examples cited include CNN’s Exchange, Yahoo/ Reuters’ YouWitnessNews, Scoopt along with ScoopLive and SpyMedia which pay for pictures, Reporter in South Africa, and Ohmynews of course. In previous MfM’s we’ve cited all the various video sites that are now paying for content, forcing giants like YouTube to follow.
DO IT YOURSELF TV AND RADIO: It adds a whole new meaning to the term ‘reality tv,’ according to MIT’s Technology Review. It’s called Splashcast and it lets you create your own shows and broadcast channels, viewable on the web. In a previous MfM, we mentioned the website Brightcove.com which allows you to create your own online TV station. The Splashcast version combines the concepts of video blogging with dynamic syndication using the RSS concept. The article says more than 1,000 “publicity-minded users” have created channels offering a selection of multi-media shows with pictures, video, music and text even though the software was only introduced in January of this year. And if you decide you have a great face for radio, instead, the BBC Worldwide reports the development of a software called Campcaster that allows you to run an entire radio station operation off a laptop. You can store and schedule music, line up news clips and interviews and preview before going to air.On a very much related note about the personalization of the web, Yahoo has announced the release of a tool which it calls Pipes and which lets you pick and choose different feeds from the Internet and create your own online program. The beauty of the program, according to the Technology Review, is its simplicity, with an editor and execution engine that doesn’t require you to know C++ or Java to operate. Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media online publisher, calls it a “milestone in the history of the Internet… (with) enormous potential to turn the Web into a programmable environment for everyone.” And on a related note to the related note, Blip.TV has introduced a do-it-yourself, interactive advertising tool that lets people create ads to go along with their online programming. Company CEO Mike Hudack says it shifts power from the big-time networks to the content creators. Veoh Networks claims it has the most comprehensive platform for Internet video, providing DVD quality content. Video is uploaded to the Veoh website which then syndicates the video to all the other video providers, such as Facebook, YouTube, etc.
TV BEING BEATEN AT THEIR OWN GAME – VIDEO: Newspapers are actually doing a better job of selling LOCAL online video ads than television, according to research and consulting firm Borell Associates. The company says LOCAL (let me emphasize that word) online video advertising will reach $5 Billion in five years. And, as the company says in its news release, “believe it or not” newspapers are outselling television with $81 Million a year versus $32 Million. Frank Barnako who writes a media blog for MarketWatch, cites video classifieds from the San Antonio Express-News as examples of how newspapers are doing a better job than TV. But he also credits Time Warner Cable in North Carolina for doing it right, producing video advertisements for local merchants at GrandStrandNow.com. (Congratulations to friend and MfM reader Alan Mason, who is GM of the operation.)As a side note to this, research firm eMarketer predicts that podcasting will become a $400 Million a year advertising market by the year 2011, quintupling the ‘paltry’ $80 Million spent in 2006. The research says podcasting, which it called “the hot new media darling before YouTube stepped in,” failed to match the sales you would expect when you consider the proliferation of iPods andMP3 players but that is about to change.
THE SECRETS OF MARILYN MONROE: So, who did the blonde bombshell actress become infatuated with in Mexico? And, no, it wasn’t President John F. Kennedy. I don’t know who it was, but it’s all part of the intriguing 100-page dossier the Federal Bureau of Investigation put together on her and it’s one of the many documents you can find on a website http://foia.fbi.gov/alpha.htm. Did you know comedian Bud Abbott showed pornographic films at parties at his house. According to the FBI, he did. He also snuck such subversive words as “kick in the France” into his radio scripts. Olympic medal winner Jesse Owens once sent greetings to the National Negro Conference. There are files on everybody from Desi Arnaz to Andy Warhol, about groups ranging from the Black Panthers to the Ku Klux Klan. It ranges from the entertaining to the strange. For example, there’s a file on Gracie Allen, but none on George Burns. Why’s that? Regardless, there’s hours and hours of entertaining reading.
WORTH NOTING: ABC News with Charlie Gibson has taken over the #1 spot in the evening news race with 9.7 Million viewers, over-taking NBC News with Brian Williams which had 9.52 Million viewers. Now you may have heard that, but a tidbit that was over-shadowed in that news was the fact that the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric scored its best week since the show premiered, with 8 Million viewers. All of the syndicated magazine programs (Inside Edition, Entertainment Tonight, Extra) saw a “significant” spike in ratings with their coverage of the death of Anna Nicole Smith.
WEBSITES TO WATCH: The owners of WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., Allbritton Communications has lanched a website – politico.com, aimed at – just what its name implies – Washington politics. The site is the focus on a recent article on TVNewsday.com, which is another site to watch. ABC has a similar website in which it tracks what’s going on inside the beltway – http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter.
COCKTAIL CHATTER: According to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 64% of Americans support teaching creationism in school. The rock group Queen have won the unofficial title of Greatest British Band of all time, actually beating out the Beatles, according to a poll in Britain. The survey said Queen got a boost in the survey because teen rock group McFly said they had been inspired by the group. The Rolling Stones came in third. The Washington Post asked its readers to come up with alternate meanings for common words. Some of the winning submissions include: Coffee, the person upon whom one coughs; Negligent, a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown; Lymph, to walk with a lisp; Testicle, a humorous question on an exam; Pokemon, a Rastafarian proctologist; and Frisbeetarianism, the belief that, when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Message From Michael -- February 12, 2007
SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND DOLLARS
MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A SEARCH
RAINING ON THE BROADBAND PARADE
SUPERBOWL FOLLOW-UP
A MILESTONE TO NOTE
THE POWER OF NETWORKING
COCKTAIL CHATTER
We encourage people to pass on copies of Message from Michael. But if you would like to get your own copy, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.
SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND… DOLLARS: $10 Billion to be exact. That’s how much was spent on search marketing in 2006. And the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization says that number will double by 2011 to $18.6 Billion. SEMPO says its survey shows the increased expenditures on search marketing is coming at the expense of magazines (20%), direct mail (16%), website development (15%), TV ads (13%) and newspapers (13%). And instead of buying a vowel from Vanna White, marketers are buying a word on search engines and it’s costing them a pretty penny. Fathom, a company which specializes in SEM and SEO (more on that later) says advertisers are paying an average of $1.51 for a keyword – in essence, buying certain words that people search for so that when consumers type it in, the search directs them to their website. Just like stores used to talk about ‘foot traffic,’ they’re now talking about ‘web traffic’ – basically, trying to get somebody to wander by your online store.
Okay, here comes the disclaimer. I don’t fully understand SEO (which stands for Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (which stands for Search Engine Marketing). But when you read as many articles as I do, and it comes up time and time again – and attached to numbers like Millions and Billions, you need to figure it out. BrandWeek magazine has gone so far as to recommend that companies create a VP/ SEM position. The concept is pretty simple. Everybody (quote-unquote) does it. Type in a few words on your Google, Yahoo or MSN search site and voila! You’ve got 4,657,493 (or some such number) websites where you can find out the latest on Britney Spears. Or the Iraq War. Or nanotechnology. Or whatever. It is a growing phenomenon that seems like it only applies to the behemoths like Google and Yahoo. Think again. First off, as reported in previous MfM’s, Google et al are getting into the local search market which means your local car dealer, dry cleaner and restaurant in Podunk, America, will want to be on the web front page when Mr. and Mrs. Podunk do a search for Chinese take-out, or the cheapest dry cleaner or tries to figure out whether to buy a CRV or Rav4. To make this more disconcerting, Yahoo announced the launch of its new search system, the so-called Panama Project, which tailors search to be more advertiser friendly. Newspapers are already getting the message by partnering with the online giants. But, even more interesting, and the lesson for all of us, CNet reports that some newspapers, like the Boston Globe, are altering their headlines to make sure they are SEO friendly. The Globe is ranked 15th in circulation by the newspaper audit bureau, but Nielsen/Net Ratings ranked it 4th in newspaper websites. The editor of Boston.com says the reason is SEO.
MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A SEARCH: As we all know, Google has become so dominant that it has become a verbal synonym for search. It, of course, isn’t the only search engine. Sort of like the television networks, there are the Big Four – Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com – which website Read/Write Web only semi-facetiously says account for 99.9% of the searches. The website notes that there are several variations of search engines. One is the recommendation search website. Examples of this are What to Rent, Music Map, or Live Plasma. Another is the metasearch website, which allows you to use multiple search sites. Examples of this are Zuula, PlanetSearch and Goshme. Then there is the continuing effort to develop AI (Artificial Intelligence) search sites. The most famous, or infamous, depending on your point of view, was askjeeves.com. Google even tried it without much success. The latest one, and one that is endorsed by this website, is ChaCha. In any case, the point is that if you have a specialized search, there are alternatives you should consider. If you want a complete list, visit the site: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_100_alternative_search_engines.php. (I should note, in the interest of open-ness, that web guru Sree Srinivisan is the one who first pointed out this website.)
RAINING ON THE BROADBAND PARADE: Or, maybe more accurately, this should be titled – Reality Check. Two major news groups, the British Broadcasting Corporation and Reuters, are reporting that concerns about the Internet infrastructure are growing. Both articles rely heavily on a talk by Google’s head of TV technology, Vincent Dureau, who says the web can not scale to meet the demand of online TV. Both also note the explosion of online video. Interestingly, both also cited TV/PC website Joost (reported in a recent MfM) as one of the reasons for concern. The BBC report says that one hour of video can equal one year’s worth of e-mails. The Reuters report quotes overseas Internet groups who appear relieved that Google has admitted to the problem. In the meantime, Wal-Mart is offering a test version of its new video download service offering 3,000 movie titles, and Amazon and Tivo announced a joint project to allow people to download movies and TV series.
SUPERBOWL FOLO: It’s a little ‘different’ watching the Super Bowl and all the ads with a bunch of advertising experts – my colleagues in the Public Relations/ Advertising department of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Their comments seemed to echo the sentiments I saw elsewhere. In a word –disappointing. But, despite that, the ads may have proven effective, according to several publications, because of the extensive online viewing. Marketing Vox noted that Superbowl XLI was the first one in which EVERY ad was immediately available online. As noted in last week’s MfM, CBS Sportsline posted every ad after each quarter. AOL and iFilm are streaming all the ads. As usual, Anheuser-Busch scored the top ads, with Carlos Mencia teaching English to immigrants scoring the top spot in both the Wall Street Journal report and Tivo’s report on most watched ads. Anheuser-Busch’s ad showing crabs worshiping a beer cooler topped the USA Today survey. But Nationwide Insurance’s ad with Kevin Federline (aka Mr. Britney Spears), Dorito’s, and GM’s Chevy ad scored made it to the top four with Anheuser-Busch. What makes that unusual is the fact that the Dorito’s and GM ads were consumer created advertisements. And just to show you the power of even bad advertising – The Arizona Republic newspaper reports that the GoDaddy.com ad, which was rightfully criticized for its tackiness and lack of quality, saw sales jump on the Monday after SuperBowl by 55% with 23% more new customers.
THE POWER OF NETWORKING: Two professors writing in the Harvard Business Review say that what differentiates a leader from a manager is “the ability to figure where to go and enlist the people and groups necessary to get there.” A summary of their article in the What’s Offline column of the New York Times says you need to have three types of networks to be successful. An operational network so you can do your work efficiently. A personal network that can help in your personal and professional development. And a strategic network to help you figure out the priorities and challenges your organization will face and help you figure out how to accomplish them. I know this doesn’t seem to have much to do with media, but it does because it talks to you media managers and I just thought it was cool. It does though relate back to earlier articles in MfM. One talked about the use of Wiki’s for specific purposes. For example, the intelligence community has created a Wiki to share ideas. The other article dealt with a form of ‘mob thinking’ in which you hammer out decisions using group discussions and arguments with people related and unrelated.
A MILESTONE TO NOTE: The world’s (let me repeat that – the WORLD’s) oldest continuous publishing newspaper (Sweden’s Post-Och Inikes Tidningar) has dropped its paper edition and will now only publish online. Admittedly it is a small paper (1,000 circulation) and it is of limited interest (publishing mainly official announcements), but it is owned by the Swedish Academy – the same folks known for awarding the Nobel Prize in literature. The Paris-based World Associaton of Newspapers says it will continue to count it as a continuous publication. Also of note, freelance videographer Josh Wolf will assume the redoubtable honor of being the longest incarcerated journalist in America on Tuesday. The 24-year-old refuses to provide video of an anti-capitalist protest in which a police officer was injured.
COCKTAIL CHATTER: According to a study reported in the New York Times by the Journal of Studies on Alcohol, ten percent of beer drinkers account for 43% of reported beer consumption. Using those figures, a “core drinker” would be consuming nearly a gallon of beer a day. Nintendo’s Wii video game device is being used in weight loss and physical therapy programs. For the first time, more women (51%) are living without a husband, reports the New York Times. Several organizations are offering an odd, although unique, Valentine gift – a plaque of your DNA code to give to your loved one. You provide a mouth culture. They do the analysis and then provide genetic coding tablet suitable for framing. (Don’t ask me why.)
SUBSCRIPTIONS: If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com. You can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.
MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A SEARCH
RAINING ON THE BROADBAND PARADE
SUPERBOWL FOLLOW-UP
A MILESTONE TO NOTE
THE POWER OF NETWORKING
COCKTAIL CHATTER
We encourage people to pass on copies of Message from Michael. But if you would like to get your own copy, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.
SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND… DOLLARS: $10 Billion to be exact. That’s how much was spent on search marketing in 2006. And the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization says that number will double by 2011 to $18.6 Billion. SEMPO says its survey shows the increased expenditures on search marketing is coming at the expense of magazines (20%), direct mail (16%), website development (15%), TV ads (13%) and newspapers (13%). And instead of buying a vowel from Vanna White, marketers are buying a word on search engines and it’s costing them a pretty penny. Fathom, a company which specializes in SEM and SEO (more on that later) says advertisers are paying an average of $1.51 for a keyword – in essence, buying certain words that people search for so that when consumers type it in, the search directs them to their website. Just like stores used to talk about ‘foot traffic,’ they’re now talking about ‘web traffic’ – basically, trying to get somebody to wander by your online store.
Okay, here comes the disclaimer. I don’t fully understand SEO (which stands for Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (which stands for Search Engine Marketing). But when you read as many articles as I do, and it comes up time and time again – and attached to numbers like Millions and Billions, you need to figure it out. BrandWeek magazine has gone so far as to recommend that companies create a VP/ SEM position. The concept is pretty simple. Everybody (quote-unquote) does it. Type in a few words on your Google, Yahoo or MSN search site and voila! You’ve got 4,657,493 (or some such number) websites where you can find out the latest on Britney Spears. Or the Iraq War. Or nanotechnology. Or whatever. It is a growing phenomenon that seems like it only applies to the behemoths like Google and Yahoo. Think again. First off, as reported in previous MfM’s, Google et al are getting into the local search market which means your local car dealer, dry cleaner and restaurant in Podunk, America, will want to be on the web front page when Mr. and Mrs. Podunk do a search for Chinese take-out, or the cheapest dry cleaner or tries to figure out whether to buy a CRV or Rav4. To make this more disconcerting, Yahoo announced the launch of its new search system, the so-called Panama Project, which tailors search to be more advertiser friendly. Newspapers are already getting the message by partnering with the online giants. But, even more interesting, and the lesson for all of us, CNet reports that some newspapers, like the Boston Globe, are altering their headlines to make sure they are SEO friendly. The Globe is ranked 15th in circulation by the newspaper audit bureau, but Nielsen/Net Ratings ranked it 4th in newspaper websites. The editor of Boston.com says the reason is SEO.
MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A SEARCH: As we all know, Google has become so dominant that it has become a verbal synonym for search. It, of course, isn’t the only search engine. Sort of like the television networks, there are the Big Four – Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com – which website Read/Write Web only semi-facetiously says account for 99.9% of the searches. The website notes that there are several variations of search engines. One is the recommendation search website. Examples of this are What to Rent, Music Map, or Live Plasma. Another is the metasearch website, which allows you to use multiple search sites. Examples of this are Zuula, PlanetSearch and Goshme. Then there is the continuing effort to develop AI (Artificial Intelligence) search sites. The most famous, or infamous, depending on your point of view, was askjeeves.com. Google even tried it without much success. The latest one, and one that is endorsed by this website, is ChaCha. In any case, the point is that if you have a specialized search, there are alternatives you should consider. If you want a complete list, visit the site: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_100_alternative_search_engines.php. (I should note, in the interest of open-ness, that web guru Sree Srinivisan is the one who first pointed out this website.)
RAINING ON THE BROADBAND PARADE: Or, maybe more accurately, this should be titled – Reality Check. Two major news groups, the British Broadcasting Corporation and Reuters, are reporting that concerns about the Internet infrastructure are growing. Both articles rely heavily on a talk by Google’s head of TV technology, Vincent Dureau, who says the web can not scale to meet the demand of online TV. Both also note the explosion of online video. Interestingly, both also cited TV/PC website Joost (reported in a recent MfM) as one of the reasons for concern. The BBC report says that one hour of video can equal one year’s worth of e-mails. The Reuters report quotes overseas Internet groups who appear relieved that Google has admitted to the problem. In the meantime, Wal-Mart is offering a test version of its new video download service offering 3,000 movie titles, and Amazon and Tivo announced a joint project to allow people to download movies and TV series.
SUPERBOWL FOLO: It’s a little ‘different’ watching the Super Bowl and all the ads with a bunch of advertising experts – my colleagues in the Public Relations/ Advertising department of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Their comments seemed to echo the sentiments I saw elsewhere. In a word –disappointing. But, despite that, the ads may have proven effective, according to several publications, because of the extensive online viewing. Marketing Vox noted that Superbowl XLI was the first one in which EVERY ad was immediately available online. As noted in last week’s MfM, CBS Sportsline posted every ad after each quarter. AOL and iFilm are streaming all the ads. As usual, Anheuser-Busch scored the top ads, with Carlos Mencia teaching English to immigrants scoring the top spot in both the Wall Street Journal report and Tivo’s report on most watched ads. Anheuser-Busch’s ad showing crabs worshiping a beer cooler topped the USA Today survey. But Nationwide Insurance’s ad with Kevin Federline (aka Mr. Britney Spears), Dorito’s, and GM’s Chevy ad scored made it to the top four with Anheuser-Busch. What makes that unusual is the fact that the Dorito’s and GM ads were consumer created advertisements. And just to show you the power of even bad advertising – The Arizona Republic newspaper reports that the GoDaddy.com ad, which was rightfully criticized for its tackiness and lack of quality, saw sales jump on the Monday after SuperBowl by 55% with 23% more new customers.
THE POWER OF NETWORKING: Two professors writing in the Harvard Business Review say that what differentiates a leader from a manager is “the ability to figure where to go and enlist the people and groups necessary to get there.” A summary of their article in the What’s Offline column of the New York Times says you need to have three types of networks to be successful. An operational network so you can do your work efficiently. A personal network that can help in your personal and professional development. And a strategic network to help you figure out the priorities and challenges your organization will face and help you figure out how to accomplish them. I know this doesn’t seem to have much to do with media, but it does because it talks to you media managers and I just thought it was cool. It does though relate back to earlier articles in MfM. One talked about the use of Wiki’s for specific purposes. For example, the intelligence community has created a Wiki to share ideas. The other article dealt with a form of ‘mob thinking’ in which you hammer out decisions using group discussions and arguments with people related and unrelated.
A MILESTONE TO NOTE: The world’s (let me repeat that – the WORLD’s) oldest continuous publishing newspaper (Sweden’s Post-Och Inikes Tidningar) has dropped its paper edition and will now only publish online. Admittedly it is a small paper (1,000 circulation) and it is of limited interest (publishing mainly official announcements), but it is owned by the Swedish Academy – the same folks known for awarding the Nobel Prize in literature. The Paris-based World Associaton of Newspapers says it will continue to count it as a continuous publication. Also of note, freelance videographer Josh Wolf will assume the redoubtable honor of being the longest incarcerated journalist in America on Tuesday. The 24-year-old refuses to provide video of an anti-capitalist protest in which a police officer was injured.
COCKTAIL CHATTER: According to a study reported in the New York Times by the Journal of Studies on Alcohol, ten percent of beer drinkers account for 43% of reported beer consumption. Using those figures, a “core drinker” would be consuming nearly a gallon of beer a day. Nintendo’s Wii video game device is being used in weight loss and physical therapy programs. For the first time, more women (51%) are living without a husband, reports the New York Times. Several organizations are offering an odd, although unique, Valentine gift – a plaque of your DNA code to give to your loved one. You provide a mouth culture. They do the analysis and then provide genetic coding tablet suitable for framing. (Don’t ask me why.)
SUBSCRIPTIONS: If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com. You can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Message from Michael -- Super Bowl Edition
Message From Michael February 5, 2007
CONSUMERS SCORE SUPER BOWL TOUCHDOWN
THE INTERNET AND THE SUPER BOWL
ADVERTISING MYTH BUSTERS ABOUT THE SUPER BOWL
CONSUMER GENERATED TALENT
NEWSPAPERS GET IN THE GAME
A Special Note – Because so much of this week’s Message From Michael dealt with the Super Bowl, I am sending it out early so you can take advantage of the many interesting websites and resources outlined in the report. Enjoy.
CONSUMERS SCORE SUPERBOWL TOUCHDOWN: And so do the advertisers. The loser in this year’s Super Bowl contest may (and the operative word is ‘may’) be the ad agencies. The reason – the number of ads being produced by ‘amateurs.’ Consumer Generated Media or consumer generated content has created an offspring -- consumer generated commercials. And now they have made it to the big time. Big time as in these spots cost $2.6 Million to air. Several major corporations have turned to so-called amateurs to produce spots for the Super Bowl. General Motors, Pepsico, even the NFL itself. The word amateur should be put in quotes though. For example, the person chosen by the NFL is an MBA graduate student at Syracuse University but he is also the business development director at an ad agency in Portland, Maine; and the ad itself is being directed by a long-time NFL director. General Motors on the other hand created a team competition for its Chevrolet division among college students with Elon University, Savannah School of Art and Design, San Jose State University, Washington University (St. Louis) and the University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee) winning the final five spots. But the big consumer generated commercial comes from Pepsico’s Dorito’s brand which created a contest that resulted in five finalists. The winner will be shown Sunday night during the game. And when I say ad agencies should be worried, take a look at the ads on the website, crashthesuperbowl.com or http://promotions.yahoo.com/doritos/ and you will see why. Plus, as a Washington Post article points out, they’re cheap, with one ad creator saying the ad cost all of $12.79.For those who can’t afford million-dollar ad placements, YouTube has created a ‘channel’ on its website for ‘faux’ Super Bowl ads which will start Super Bowl day. Bud.tv will re-launch itself Sunday and will begin by airing the ads created by the beer maker. MediaWeek has created a special website for Super Bowl ads (superadfreak.com) with a list of heavy weights in the advertising business blogging about their take on the various ads during the game. The best website though for you Super Bowl ad freaks is iFilm.com/superbowl which has all the ads from the past six years as well as some of the classic Super Bowl ads of all time.
THE INTERNET AND THE SUPER BOWL: The other trend that’s evident in this year’s Super Bowl advertising frenzy is the increasing use of the Internet and Interactive advertising. When you’re spending $2.6 Million a spot, (as we noted earlier, and that’s up from last year’s $2.5 Million), you want to get the bang for the buck. So, several advertisers have placed part of their ads online, using it as a sort of tease, by not showing the ending. Mega Super Bowl advertiser Anheuser Busch has put all of its ads on YouTube, but saving the “punch line” for Super Bowl night. Mars Corporation has done the same with a specially created website teasing its ad for Snickers candy bar. Insurance company Nationwide apparently decided to heck with it and has already posted its ad featuring Keven Federline (‘Mr. Britney Spears’) online. And it’s actually pretty funny. Here’s an interesting twist to the whole advertising game. The Wall Street Journal points out that some marketers are buying ads for the ads. In other words, they are buying the pre-roll ads on the websites which are showing Super Bowl ads. Understandable when you consider that last year AOL streamed 42 million copies of the ads in the week after the game.
DON’T FORGET THE POINT: One time marketing guru Jack Trout makes the very valid point in an article in The New York Sun that, “the purpose of advertising is to sell something” and that the commercials should focus on dramatizing what differentiates their product. But then, probably proving he is no longer the visionary he once was, Trout dismisses consumer generated commercials as a “fad (that) will wear itself out.” Jon Swallen, head of research for TNS Media Intelligence, tells the Arizona Republic newspaper that he believes consumer input into commercials is a “one year gimmick.” However, a survey by comScore Networks shows the consumer generated commercials are working, with a third of those surveyed (33%) saying they are looking forward to seeing which Dorito ad makes the Super Bowl and 19% saying they want to see what happens in the Snickers commercial and 16% wanting to see the Chevy ad. At the end of each quarter, CBS is going to post all the ads that aired that quarter. And just as well. That survey by comscore Networks showed that 11% plan to go to the Internet during the game to watch video clips or ads. Another 5% plan to download them, and yet another 5% plan to forward them on to friends. A die-hard 15% say they plan to go to the Internet to catch stats and stories related to the game. Meanwhile, the NFL Network is promising to air everything but the game in a massive does of pre-game coverage that is actually more extensive than CBS. As a side note, some of the major video corporations like Avid maybe should be worried as well. When you visit the Doritos ad website, you will find that most of the spots have been created using a website called jumpcut.com which, rightfully in my view, sub-titles its site as “making amazing movies online.”
ADVERTISING MYTH BUSTERS ABOUT THE SUPER BOWL: How often have you heard that people watch the Super Bowl for the ads? Well, close but not exactly true. Researcher comScore Networks reports that its survey show two thirds (64%) of the men say they enjoy watching the game most. Less than a third of the women (31%) say it’s the game they enjoy most. But more than a third of the women (36%) say yes, indeed, they enjoy the ads the most. One in six of the men (17%) say they enjoy watching the ads the most. To show you just how the Super Bowl has morphed into a social event, one in five of the women (22%) and one in seven of the men (13%) say what they enjoy most about the Super Bowl is spending time with friends and family. And 13% of those surveyed say they plan to go to the Internet to find recipes and party ideas.
CONSUMER GENERATED TALENT: The Gannett-owned station in Washington, D.C., is getting into the consumer generated commercial business as well. It has started a campaign asking people to submit ads to promote the station. The station has issued a series of guidelines, including that the ad must be in good taste. NBC is trying a variation of the American Idol theme, with a campaign aimed at anchor-wannabes. The Today show is running an ad on the MSNBC website calling on people to “tell us why you want to host the show” by sending in an application and a video clip by mail or online.
NEWSPAPERS GET IN THE GAME: An interesting trend in newspaper websites is not just the use of video, but also of slide shows. I was going to mention this anyway in this week’s MfM when I found an interactive slide and video show on the New York Times website dealing with the Super Bowl. It lists out the different categories of ads (from cars to drugs to beverages) shown in the Super Bowl over the last 20 years and what percentage of them relied on humor, or used animals or celebrities. Not only that but you can click on examples of the various commercials on the time line. (Website: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/business/media/20070201_SUPERBOWLADS_GRAPHIC.html?_r=1&oref=slogin . Also indicative of the changing environment for newspapers in this new media world, the Los Angeles Times announced that it will convert its LATimes website to a 24/7 news site with breaking news. Newspapers across the country have launched a $74 Million campaign pitching them as “the multi medium.” And the American Press Institute has launched website Newspapernext.org aimed at restoring growth in the newspaper business by researching and testing “viable new business models.” Meanwhile, Apropos of nothing in particular, I found it ‘odd’ that there was an advertisement for the New York Times on the website of the New York Sun.
RELATED STORIES: Even with all the stories about the Super Bowl, I couldn’t ignore some other trends that have been reported over the last week. In actual fact, they’re related trends. Think of this as Cocktail Chatter for this special edition. For example, the Chicago Tribune reports that with the growing competition for consumer generated content, many more websites, including the venerable YouTube, are having to pay for the content. Research firm Informa predicts that the increasing broadband availability will lead to increasing TV and movie downloads and that worldwide, revenue for such downloads will increase ten-fold to $6.3 Billion. Meanwhile marketing research firm eMarketer predicts that the majority of ALL digital content will be distributed over the Internet in the years to come. It notes that the process is already under way with music, mainly because of iTunes. The company also notes that because of the restrictions on the iTunes that illegal downloading has increased. The eMarketer company forecasts U.S. consumer spending on all digital – music, TV and movies – will approach $7.8 Billion in 2010, up from $1.3 Billion in 2005.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com. You can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.
CONSUMERS SCORE SUPER BOWL TOUCHDOWN
THE INTERNET AND THE SUPER BOWL
ADVERTISING MYTH BUSTERS ABOUT THE SUPER BOWL
CONSUMER GENERATED TALENT
NEWSPAPERS GET IN THE GAME
A Special Note – Because so much of this week’s Message From Michael dealt with the Super Bowl, I am sending it out early so you can take advantage of the many interesting websites and resources outlined in the report. Enjoy.
CONSUMERS SCORE SUPERBOWL TOUCHDOWN: And so do the advertisers. The loser in this year’s Super Bowl contest may (and the operative word is ‘may’) be the ad agencies. The reason – the number of ads being produced by ‘amateurs.’ Consumer Generated Media or consumer generated content has created an offspring -- consumer generated commercials. And now they have made it to the big time. Big time as in these spots cost $2.6 Million to air. Several major corporations have turned to so-called amateurs to produce spots for the Super Bowl. General Motors, Pepsico, even the NFL itself. The word amateur should be put in quotes though. For example, the person chosen by the NFL is an MBA graduate student at Syracuse University but he is also the business development director at an ad agency in Portland, Maine; and the ad itself is being directed by a long-time NFL director. General Motors on the other hand created a team competition for its Chevrolet division among college students with Elon University, Savannah School of Art and Design, San Jose State University, Washington University (St. Louis) and the University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee) winning the final five spots. But the big consumer generated commercial comes from Pepsico’s Dorito’s brand which created a contest that resulted in five finalists. The winner will be shown Sunday night during the game. And when I say ad agencies should be worried, take a look at the ads on the website, crashthesuperbowl.com or http://promotions.yahoo.com/doritos/ and you will see why. Plus, as a Washington Post article points out, they’re cheap, with one ad creator saying the ad cost all of $12.79.For those who can’t afford million-dollar ad placements, YouTube has created a ‘channel’ on its website for ‘faux’ Super Bowl ads which will start Super Bowl day. Bud.tv will re-launch itself Sunday and will begin by airing the ads created by the beer maker. MediaWeek has created a special website for Super Bowl ads (superadfreak.com) with a list of heavy weights in the advertising business blogging about their take on the various ads during the game. The best website though for you Super Bowl ad freaks is iFilm.com/superbowl which has all the ads from the past six years as well as some of the classic Super Bowl ads of all time.
THE INTERNET AND THE SUPER BOWL: The other trend that’s evident in this year’s Super Bowl advertising frenzy is the increasing use of the Internet and Interactive advertising. When you’re spending $2.6 Million a spot, (as we noted earlier, and that’s up from last year’s $2.5 Million), you want to get the bang for the buck. So, several advertisers have placed part of their ads online, using it as a sort of tease, by not showing the ending. Mega Super Bowl advertiser Anheuser Busch has put all of its ads on YouTube, but saving the “punch line” for Super Bowl night. Mars Corporation has done the same with a specially created website teasing its ad for Snickers candy bar. Insurance company Nationwide apparently decided to heck with it and has already posted its ad featuring Keven Federline (‘Mr. Britney Spears’) online. And it’s actually pretty funny. Here’s an interesting twist to the whole advertising game. The Wall Street Journal points out that some marketers are buying ads for the ads. In other words, they are buying the pre-roll ads on the websites which are showing Super Bowl ads. Understandable when you consider that last year AOL streamed 42 million copies of the ads in the week after the game.
DON’T FORGET THE POINT: One time marketing guru Jack Trout makes the very valid point in an article in The New York Sun that, “the purpose of advertising is to sell something” and that the commercials should focus on dramatizing what differentiates their product. But then, probably proving he is no longer the visionary he once was, Trout dismisses consumer generated commercials as a “fad (that) will wear itself out.” Jon Swallen, head of research for TNS Media Intelligence, tells the Arizona Republic newspaper that he believes consumer input into commercials is a “one year gimmick.” However, a survey by comScore Networks shows the consumer generated commercials are working, with a third of those surveyed (33%) saying they are looking forward to seeing which Dorito ad makes the Super Bowl and 19% saying they want to see what happens in the Snickers commercial and 16% wanting to see the Chevy ad. At the end of each quarter, CBS is going to post all the ads that aired that quarter. And just as well. That survey by comscore Networks showed that 11% plan to go to the Internet during the game to watch video clips or ads. Another 5% plan to download them, and yet another 5% plan to forward them on to friends. A die-hard 15% say they plan to go to the Internet to catch stats and stories related to the game. Meanwhile, the NFL Network is promising to air everything but the game in a massive does of pre-game coverage that is actually more extensive than CBS. As a side note, some of the major video corporations like Avid maybe should be worried as well. When you visit the Doritos ad website, you will find that most of the spots have been created using a website called jumpcut.com which, rightfully in my view, sub-titles its site as “making amazing movies online.”
ADVERTISING MYTH BUSTERS ABOUT THE SUPER BOWL: How often have you heard that people watch the Super Bowl for the ads? Well, close but not exactly true. Researcher comScore Networks reports that its survey show two thirds (64%) of the men say they enjoy watching the game most. Less than a third of the women (31%) say it’s the game they enjoy most. But more than a third of the women (36%) say yes, indeed, they enjoy the ads the most. One in six of the men (17%) say they enjoy watching the ads the most. To show you just how the Super Bowl has morphed into a social event, one in five of the women (22%) and one in seven of the men (13%) say what they enjoy most about the Super Bowl is spending time with friends and family. And 13% of those surveyed say they plan to go to the Internet to find recipes and party ideas.
CONSUMER GENERATED TALENT: The Gannett-owned station in Washington, D.C., is getting into the consumer generated commercial business as well. It has started a campaign asking people to submit ads to promote the station. The station has issued a series of guidelines, including that the ad must be in good taste. NBC is trying a variation of the American Idol theme, with a campaign aimed at anchor-wannabes. The Today show is running an ad on the MSNBC website calling on people to “tell us why you want to host the show” by sending in an application and a video clip by mail or online.
NEWSPAPERS GET IN THE GAME: An interesting trend in newspaper websites is not just the use of video, but also of slide shows. I was going to mention this anyway in this week’s MfM when I found an interactive slide and video show on the New York Times website dealing with the Super Bowl. It lists out the different categories of ads (from cars to drugs to beverages) shown in the Super Bowl over the last 20 years and what percentage of them relied on humor, or used animals or celebrities. Not only that but you can click on examples of the various commercials on the time line. (Website: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/business/media/20070201_SUPERBOWLADS_GRAPHIC.html?_r=1&oref=slogin . Also indicative of the changing environment for newspapers in this new media world, the Los Angeles Times announced that it will convert its LATimes website to a 24/7 news site with breaking news. Newspapers across the country have launched a $74 Million campaign pitching them as “the multi medium.” And the American Press Institute has launched website Newspapernext.org aimed at restoring growth in the newspaper business by researching and testing “viable new business models.” Meanwhile, Apropos of nothing in particular, I found it ‘odd’ that there was an advertisement for the New York Times on the website of the New York Sun.
RELATED STORIES: Even with all the stories about the Super Bowl, I couldn’t ignore some other trends that have been reported over the last week. In actual fact, they’re related trends. Think of this as Cocktail Chatter for this special edition. For example, the Chicago Tribune reports that with the growing competition for consumer generated content, many more websites, including the venerable YouTube, are having to pay for the content. Research firm Informa predicts that the increasing broadband availability will lead to increasing TV and movie downloads and that worldwide, revenue for such downloads will increase ten-fold to $6.3 Billion. Meanwhile marketing research firm eMarketer predicts that the majority of ALL digital content will be distributed over the Internet in the years to come. It notes that the process is already under way with music, mainly because of iTunes. The company also notes that because of the restrictions on the iTunes that illegal downloading has increased. The eMarketer company forecasts U.S. consumer spending on all digital – music, TV and movies – will approach $7.8 Billion in 2010, up from $1.3 Billion in 2005.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com. You can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Message From Michael
January 29, 2007
THE SECRET REPORTS OF THE F-C-C
F-C-C FACTOIDS ON WOMEN AND MINORITIES
THE MOST POWERFUL MARKETING TOOL
BILL GATES LAUGHS AT TV
TWO SIDES OF THE BLOGGING COIN
COCKTAIL CHATTER -- IPODS AND WOMEN
We encourage people to pass on copies of Message from Michael. But if you would like to get your own copy, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.
THE SECRET REPORTS OF THE F-C-C: After all the kafuffle about the reports about media cross ownership not being made public, the release was anti-climactic. Let me see if I can sum up the 20-plus, 33 Megabyte series of reports in brief: The public sees problems with media consolidation but the FCC staff and industry don’t. At least that seems to be the interpretation.For example, the FCC’s former lead economist, Leslie M. Marx, argues in his paper on newspaper-broadcaster cross ownership that although he “assumes” cross ownership has the “potential” for negative impact, he starts from the premise that in large markets with a large number of independent media outlets, he does not expect cross ownership to harm competition, diversity and localism. Marx who is also a business professor at the University of North Carolina adds another premise, that in very small markets, cross ownership may be necessary to guarantee the survival of the news outlets that exist. The question, he says, centers on whether cross ownership is appropriate for the mid-sized markets. In the end, he proposes more studies, although he does cite 60 markets in which the competition is low and 42 markets in which there has been news “curtailment.” In a report titled the “evolving structure and changing boundaries of the U.S. television market in the digital area,” deputy chief economist Jonathon Levy and policy analyst Anne Levine note that although the share and absolute size of the broadcast audience has declined as more video programming has become available, the advertising revenues have not dropped proportionately. After reviewing everything from VOD to ITV to DVR, they conclude that while the “direction” of these new technologies is relatively clear, the size of the impact AND how broadcasters will respond is not so clear. They end with the somewhat trite note that, “the future profitability of the broadcast industry will depend on its ability to provide valuable, cost-effective programming and to harness new technologies like DTV and interactive services to its benefit.” In a study of the ‘multi channel video industry’ (cable operators), FCC staffer Andrew S. Wise says vertical integration has clear efficiency benefits and that “whatever harms are observed seem to be minor, uncertain and attenuated.” Side Note #1: Many of the newly released documents on the FCC website ended up being articles from newspapers or magazines or just letters from consumers. But several of the documents would serve as good backgrounders on television, radio, even newspapers and the Internet. For example, one was titled “background on localism in broadcasting” while another was “financial health of the newspaper industry.” If you would like to see them, the website is http://www.fcc.gov/ownership/additional.html.Site Note #2: Many of the reports were stamped draft, not TO be cited, not public, etc., but my favorite was the one from the FCC’’s Media Bureau staffer Peter Alexander who writes in the cover page to his analysis of the cable industry, “I do not anticipate you will gain any insight from this.” Even better, he then adds a disclaimer/ caveat that “the enclosed draft is extremely crude, superficial, incomplete and contains numerous errors and mistakes. At best it should be viewed as my set of working notes. Please do not distribute or cite in any fashion.” He then goes on to do an analysis with innumerable equations along the lines of E (Greek letter) V/m (En+1) – E4/ 1) – E (Greek letter) (Vm (En+1 – E 4/1) +Tn+1/ m,i).
F-C-C Factoids: One of the many articles on the F-C-C site reports that of the 1,748 commercial and education television stations in the United States, only 15 are owned by minorities while 60 are owned by women. Of those TV stations 8 are owned by Hispanics, 4 by Asians, 2 by Native Americans and one by an African American. There are 6 Hispanic women who own TV stations and 3 Asian women who own TV stations. Of the 8,729 commercial and educational FM radio stations, there are 123 owned by minorities and 357 owned by women. There are 9 African American women who own FM radio stations, 8 Hispanic women, 8 Asian women, 3 Native American women and 3 Native Hawaiian women. Of the 4,770 AM radio stations, 212 are owned by minorities and 335 are owned by women. There are 24 Hispanic women who own AM radio stations, 10 Asian women, 9 African American women, but no American Indian or Native Hawaiian.
THE MOST POWERFUL MARKETING TOOL: It’s the oldest form of consumer generated content, according to research firm BigResearch’s 9th annual Simultaneous Media Usage Report. It’s… ta-da -- Word of Mouth. It’s also the single most influential source of consumer decision making. Word of mouth can be translated into social networks, online buzz and viral marketing but the most powerful is the simplest -- recommendations from friends and family. And in what may be the most interesting line to think about, the report says, “consumers’ choices are rarely in line with advertisers’ expenditures.” If it’s any consolation to my broadcast friends, TV was the second most influential source. On a very much related note, a report on the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (yes, there is such a group) website (womma.org) cites a study by Compete Inc., that says half of those surveyed say they used Consumer Generated Media to mark or narrow their buying decision. A quarter (23%) say they use CGM to confirm a decision while one in six (15%) say it is the way they decide their top choice. It appears though that the definition of CGM is pretty broad in this survey, as it includes customer ratings.Back to the BigResearch study – its survey confirms previous surveys (by both BigResearch and Knowledge Networks) that two thirds (67.9%) use other media while watching TV or while reading a newspaper (68.9%) or while browsing online (70.7%). The Nielsen-funded Council for Research Excellence has commissioned Ball State University (which did the original Middletown Media Studies on Concurrent Media Exposure) to do another study.
BILL GATES LAUGHS AT TV: Or, at least, TV in its present form. The Microsoft chairman and philanthropist told business leaders and politicians at the prestigious World Economic Forum over the weekend that the Internet is set to revolutionize TV in the next five years. He says the issue is the flexibility of video availability as opposed to the rigid programming times of TV. And with telephone companies already building the infrastructure, he says the merging of the two is coming and that, “five years from now, people will laugh at what we’ve had.” Reuters also reports from the forum that Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube, says part of the revolution will be in the advertising model with far more targeted ads tailored to each viewer’s profile.
TWO SIDES OF THE BLOGGING COIN: For the first time in a federal court, two of the 100 seats reserved for journalists will be assigned to bloggers. The Washington Post reports that the Media Bloggers Association (Yes, there is such an association) negotiated the deal to get a freelance writer and a documentary filmmaker into the court. On the flip side, The New York Times reports that Microsoft provided 90 Acer Ferrari laptop computers to bloggers who write about technology which, at least one blogger said, was not a bribe. Thomas Kunkel, dean of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, told the Washington Post the Internet today is like the American West in the 1880’s: “It’s wild, it’s crazy and everybody’s got a gun.” As a side note, the Wall Street Journal notes the announcement by top Democrats that they are running for the Presidency is a recognition of the increasingly powerful role of bloggers and the Internet. And as a side note to the side note, Forbes magazine has created a list of the “Web Celeb 25” and topping the list – Jessica Lee Rose a/k/a lonelygirl15.
COCKTAIL CHATTER: The website Superbowl.com has moved up 2,475 positions among all websites visited by U.S. Internet users and increased its market share of visits by 812%. Apple sold a staggering 21 Million iPods over the holiday season. Despite the fact that the personal savings rate has fallen into negative territory for the first time in history, a Pew Research survey says three quarters (77%) of Americans describe themselves as someone who is always looking to save money. Celebrity fashion designer Bradley Bayou says in his book, You Book: Your unique sexy style that the average American woman is 5-foot-4-inches tall and weighs 164 pounds.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com. You can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.
January 29, 2007
THE SECRET REPORTS OF THE F-C-C
F-C-C FACTOIDS ON WOMEN AND MINORITIES
THE MOST POWERFUL MARKETING TOOL
BILL GATES LAUGHS AT TV
TWO SIDES OF THE BLOGGING COIN
COCKTAIL CHATTER -- IPODS AND WOMEN
We encourage people to pass on copies of Message from Michael. But if you would like to get your own copy, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.
THE SECRET REPORTS OF THE F-C-C: After all the kafuffle about the reports about media cross ownership not being made public, the release was anti-climactic. Let me see if I can sum up the 20-plus, 33 Megabyte series of reports in brief: The public sees problems with media consolidation but the FCC staff and industry don’t. At least that seems to be the interpretation.For example, the FCC’s former lead economist, Leslie M. Marx, argues in his paper on newspaper-broadcaster cross ownership that although he “assumes” cross ownership has the “potential” for negative impact, he starts from the premise that in large markets with a large number of independent media outlets, he does not expect cross ownership to harm competition, diversity and localism. Marx who is also a business professor at the University of North Carolina adds another premise, that in very small markets, cross ownership may be necessary to guarantee the survival of the news outlets that exist. The question, he says, centers on whether cross ownership is appropriate for the mid-sized markets. In the end, he proposes more studies, although he does cite 60 markets in which the competition is low and 42 markets in which there has been news “curtailment.” In a report titled the “evolving structure and changing boundaries of the U.S. television market in the digital area,” deputy chief economist Jonathon Levy and policy analyst Anne Levine note that although the share and absolute size of the broadcast audience has declined as more video programming has become available, the advertising revenues have not dropped proportionately. After reviewing everything from VOD to ITV to DVR, they conclude that while the “direction” of these new technologies is relatively clear, the size of the impact AND how broadcasters will respond is not so clear. They end with the somewhat trite note that, “the future profitability of the broadcast industry will depend on its ability to provide valuable, cost-effective programming and to harness new technologies like DTV and interactive services to its benefit.” In a study of the ‘multi channel video industry’ (cable operators), FCC staffer Andrew S. Wise says vertical integration has clear efficiency benefits and that “whatever harms are observed seem to be minor, uncertain and attenuated.” Side Note #1: Many of the newly released documents on the FCC website ended up being articles from newspapers or magazines or just letters from consumers. But several of the documents would serve as good backgrounders on television, radio, even newspapers and the Internet. For example, one was titled “background on localism in broadcasting” while another was “financial health of the newspaper industry.” If you would like to see them, the website is http://www.fcc.gov/ownership/additional.html.Site Note #2: Many of the reports were stamped draft, not TO be cited, not public, etc., but my favorite was the one from the FCC’’s Media Bureau staffer Peter Alexander who writes in the cover page to his analysis of the cable industry, “I do not anticipate you will gain any insight from this.” Even better, he then adds a disclaimer/ caveat that “the enclosed draft is extremely crude, superficial, incomplete and contains numerous errors and mistakes. At best it should be viewed as my set of working notes. Please do not distribute or cite in any fashion.” He then goes on to do an analysis with innumerable equations along the lines of E (Greek letter) V/m (En+1) – E4/ 1) – E (Greek letter) (Vm (En+1 – E 4/1) +Tn+1/ m,i).
F-C-C Factoids: One of the many articles on the F-C-C site reports that of the 1,748 commercial and education television stations in the United States, only 15 are owned by minorities while 60 are owned by women. Of those TV stations 8 are owned by Hispanics, 4 by Asians, 2 by Native Americans and one by an African American. There are 6 Hispanic women who own TV stations and 3 Asian women who own TV stations. Of the 8,729 commercial and educational FM radio stations, there are 123 owned by minorities and 357 owned by women. There are 9 African American women who own FM radio stations, 8 Hispanic women, 8 Asian women, 3 Native American women and 3 Native Hawaiian women. Of the 4,770 AM radio stations, 212 are owned by minorities and 335 are owned by women. There are 24 Hispanic women who own AM radio stations, 10 Asian women, 9 African American women, but no American Indian or Native Hawaiian.
THE MOST POWERFUL MARKETING TOOL: It’s the oldest form of consumer generated content, according to research firm BigResearch’s 9th annual Simultaneous Media Usage Report. It’s… ta-da -- Word of Mouth. It’s also the single most influential source of consumer decision making. Word of mouth can be translated into social networks, online buzz and viral marketing but the most powerful is the simplest -- recommendations from friends and family. And in what may be the most interesting line to think about, the report says, “consumers’ choices are rarely in line with advertisers’ expenditures.” If it’s any consolation to my broadcast friends, TV was the second most influential source. On a very much related note, a report on the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (yes, there is such a group) website (womma.org) cites a study by Compete Inc., that says half of those surveyed say they used Consumer Generated Media to mark or narrow their buying decision. A quarter (23%) say they use CGM to confirm a decision while one in six (15%) say it is the way they decide their top choice. It appears though that the definition of CGM is pretty broad in this survey, as it includes customer ratings.Back to the BigResearch study – its survey confirms previous surveys (by both BigResearch and Knowledge Networks) that two thirds (67.9%) use other media while watching TV or while reading a newspaper (68.9%) or while browsing online (70.7%). The Nielsen-funded Council for Research Excellence has commissioned Ball State University (which did the original Middletown Media Studies on Concurrent Media Exposure) to do another study.
BILL GATES LAUGHS AT TV: Or, at least, TV in its present form. The Microsoft chairman and philanthropist told business leaders and politicians at the prestigious World Economic Forum over the weekend that the Internet is set to revolutionize TV in the next five years. He says the issue is the flexibility of video availability as opposed to the rigid programming times of TV. And with telephone companies already building the infrastructure, he says the merging of the two is coming and that, “five years from now, people will laugh at what we’ve had.” Reuters also reports from the forum that Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube, says part of the revolution will be in the advertising model with far more targeted ads tailored to each viewer’s profile.
TWO SIDES OF THE BLOGGING COIN: For the first time in a federal court, two of the 100 seats reserved for journalists will be assigned to bloggers. The Washington Post reports that the Media Bloggers Association (Yes, there is such an association) negotiated the deal to get a freelance writer and a documentary filmmaker into the court. On the flip side, The New York Times reports that Microsoft provided 90 Acer Ferrari laptop computers to bloggers who write about technology which, at least one blogger said, was not a bribe. Thomas Kunkel, dean of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, told the Washington Post the Internet today is like the American West in the 1880’s: “It’s wild, it’s crazy and everybody’s got a gun.” As a side note, the Wall Street Journal notes the announcement by top Democrats that they are running for the Presidency is a recognition of the increasingly powerful role of bloggers and the Internet. And as a side note to the side note, Forbes magazine has created a list of the “Web Celeb 25” and topping the list – Jessica Lee Rose a/k/a lonelygirl15.
COCKTAIL CHATTER: The website Superbowl.com has moved up 2,475 positions among all websites visited by U.S. Internet users and increased its market share of visits by 812%. Apple sold a staggering 21 Million iPods over the holiday season. Despite the fact that the personal savings rate has fallen into negative territory for the first time in history, a Pew Research survey says three quarters (77%) of Americans describe themselves as someone who is always looking to save money. Celebrity fashion designer Bradley Bayou says in his book, You Book: Your unique sexy style that the average American woman is 5-foot-4-inches tall and weighs 164 pounds.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com. You can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.
Message From Michael
January 22, 2007
JOOST RIGHT – TELEVISION PERFECTED
SLINGS OF OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE
BIG BROTHER HASN’T FINISHING SINGING YET
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT, ALFIE
MARSHALL MCLUHAN, WE HARDLY KNEW YE
COCKTAIL CHATTER – THE TIGER WOODS OF TV
We encourage people to pass on copies of Message from Michael. But if you would like to get your own copy, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.
JOOST RIGHT – TELEVISION PERFECTED: At least, that’s the feeling you get reading Wired magazine, but they’re not alone in singing the praises of Joost. Formerly known as The Venice Project, it is probably the closest thing we’ve seen to the marriage of TV’s and PC’s that we referred to in last week’s MfM. Now, the real test – let me see if I can explain it. Basically it is a system which allows you to watch television on your PC. Okay, big deal, right? There are lots of systems doing that – AOL’s In2TV, BitTorrent, Brightcove, iTunes, Google Video, even UGC site YouTube has cut a deal with CBS. The difference is the high quality of the picture delivered, the variety of searchable content and the fact that you can still check e-mail or read a PDF document (in other words, use your PC normally) at the same time. What is even more interesting, as tech site Playfuls.com says, is that the Joost controls and menu have a ‘glass-like’ appearance so you can see your desktop menu but watch the video underneath at the same time. The reason is the P2P (Peer To Peer) system of distribution. After all, the creators are the same two who created file-sharing network Kazaa and Skype, the free voice-over IP telephone system which they sold for $2.6 Billion. Janus Friis and Niklas Fennstrom are the Danish answer to Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page. But unlike Kazaa which got the two in trouble with various corporations and copyrights, the video in this is mainstream approved.Still not clear how it works? Let’s say you want to watch Fear Factor. You query the network. If no-one has ever asked for it before, the show is pulled from the 40 terrabyte main server, but then here’s where the P2P comes in to play. The show is then split into segments (with targeted ads – which makes it appealing to advertisers) and stored in pieces on the hard drives of the various computers on the system. So, the next time someone asks for the show, it’s pulled piece by piece in sequence from the various computers. The beauty of this is that the smaller chunks of data mean that the broadband pipes don’t get clogged. So, in reverse of normal downloading situations, the more people accessing the video the better. Somewhat immodestly but semi-accurately, Friis says, “we’ve taken the best about television and added the best things about the Internet.”
SLINGS OF OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE: From the people who brought you the Slingbox comes the SlingCatcher. Regular readers will remember the Slingbox which lets you access anything you have on your home TV through your laptop no matter where you are. Now, they’re going the other way, with the SlingCatcher allowing you to take anything on the Web and on your computer and put it on your TV. What is probably equally amazing is the price tag of under $200. Sling Media and CBS also unveiled a beta version of a system that will allow consumers to share clips from live or recorded TV at the Consumer Electronics Show. And the folks at Sling Media say by the end of the year they’ll have another device which will allow you to transmit anything you have on Cable, Satellite TV or on your DVR to any other TV set in the house wirelessly.
BIG BROTHER HASN’T FINISHED SINGING YET: To state the semi-obvious, these are not the only ones to watch. Monolith Microsoft and chairman Bill Gates says/promises/threats to make the Xbox 360 into a set-top that will not only let you play games but also allow you to watch high-def DVD’s, download movies, music and games from the Internet and record, time-shift and play live television on one system. Meanwhile Apple and its chairman Steve Jobs is following up its successful iPhone announcement with a promise/threat that it, too, will create a set top box that will make it easy to connect computers to TV sets. Plus, Motorola and Cisco’s Scientific Atlanta say they will have similar multi-purpose set top boxes out by the end of the year. And, finally, I couldn’t talk about all this without mentioning, again, Sony’s attempts to build support for its Blu-Ray technology through its PlayStation 2 while competitors are pushing the new HD-DVD. And may the best system win. Hopefully.
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT, ALFIE: This may mean nothing, but I have to note a couple of ‘minor’ developments that may presage something much bigger. CBS is launching a campaign on YouTube called 15 seconds in which people post their own 15-second ‘inspriational’ message. Microsoft is launching a new site that asks users to upload content about their life-changing moments. Of course, both corporations plan to use the ‘messages’ for marketing purposes – CBS in its SuperBowl coverage and Microsoft to boost its new Vista system. But, even so, it ties into several other articles I’ve read about people’s search for something more from the Internet and Life. Readers of last week’s MfM’s will remember the issue of trust, belief, and just getting away from it all, being part of the predictions/ trends. Researcher Ipsos goes so far as to say, “the future will be dominated by competition for public trust.” They say the reason is that people are trying to sort through the cluttered information economy marketplace.SIDE NOTE: New York-based research firm eMarketer reports that one in four TV households were able to access VOD (Video On Demand) in 2006 and one in six had a DVR (Digital Video Recorder). And, of course, the VOD and DVR penetration is expected to rise over the next three years. But not so ‘of course,’ the firm says despite established wisdom that these devices will cut into traditional TV advertising, the dollars will be offset by spending in other areas.
FOOTNOTE: With everything I read, even I occasionally miss the “big” story. The perfect example is the story one about Joost. Luckily I have colleagues like Janet Sharik and David Hazinski watching my back, so to speak. I had heard about The Venice Project off and on for nearly a year but, as David put it, those talks were mostly at the Geek level until the recent unveiling.
MARSHAL MCLUHAN, WE HARDLY KNEW YE: This is a break from what I traditionally do in MfM, avoiding commentary and focusing on facts and factoids. However, an article in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media raised a question in my mind. The article by Donald Fishman, of Northwestern University, was a reflection and re-thinking of media theorist Marshall McLuhan’s role as “the patron saint of the digital age.” I know I don’t have to explain the author of The Gutenberg Galaxy, the ‘medium is the message… global village and hot and cool media’ to the smart readers of MfM. But it just made me wonder where -- as Fishman described McLuhan -- is the… provocative thinker… popularizer… public intellectual… willing to engage in a wide-ranging dialogue about the role of media in society” of the 21st Century.
COCKTAIL CHATTER: The Parents’ Television Council says violence in prime time television has risen 75% over the past six years. The networks averaged 4.41 violent incidents an hour in the year studied – 2005. NBC was the worst with 6.79 incidents an hour, followed by CBS (5.56), Fox (3.84), and ABC (3.80). It seems almost a related note to say that Jerry Springer’s bodyguard and head of security (the guy who bounces people) will get his own talk show in a deal announced, ironically, by NBC. And as long as I’m on a celebrity gig, Mr. Blackwell has announced his 47th Best and Worst Dressed Awards with, no surprise, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, tying for first place honors as “two peas in an overexposed pod.” Paula Abdul made the list as ‘fallen fashion idol’ while new House majority leader Nancy Pelosi made the best dressed list. And finally, on a decidedly more serious note, congratulations to News Director Dave Vincent and his folks at WLOX/ Biloxi. They are the Tiger Woods of Award winners, scoring a grand slam of virtually every award possible, with the latest award -- a DuPont-Columbia for their coverage of Hurricane Katrina.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com. And you can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.
January 22, 2007
JOOST RIGHT – TELEVISION PERFECTED
SLINGS OF OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE
BIG BROTHER HASN’T FINISHING SINGING YET
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT, ALFIE
MARSHALL MCLUHAN, WE HARDLY KNEW YE
COCKTAIL CHATTER – THE TIGER WOODS OF TV
We encourage people to pass on copies of Message from Michael. But if you would like to get your own copy, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.
JOOST RIGHT – TELEVISION PERFECTED: At least, that’s the feeling you get reading Wired magazine, but they’re not alone in singing the praises of Joost. Formerly known as The Venice Project, it is probably the closest thing we’ve seen to the marriage of TV’s and PC’s that we referred to in last week’s MfM. Now, the real test – let me see if I can explain it. Basically it is a system which allows you to watch television on your PC. Okay, big deal, right? There are lots of systems doing that – AOL’s In2TV, BitTorrent, Brightcove, iTunes, Google Video, even UGC site YouTube has cut a deal with CBS. The difference is the high quality of the picture delivered, the variety of searchable content and the fact that you can still check e-mail or read a PDF document (in other words, use your PC normally) at the same time. What is even more interesting, as tech site Playfuls.com says, is that the Joost controls and menu have a ‘glass-like’ appearance so you can see your desktop menu but watch the video underneath at the same time. The reason is the P2P (Peer To Peer) system of distribution. After all, the creators are the same two who created file-sharing network Kazaa and Skype, the free voice-over IP telephone system which they sold for $2.6 Billion. Janus Friis and Niklas Fennstrom are the Danish answer to Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page. But unlike Kazaa which got the two in trouble with various corporations and copyrights, the video in this is mainstream approved.Still not clear how it works? Let’s say you want to watch Fear Factor. You query the network. If no-one has ever asked for it before, the show is pulled from the 40 terrabyte main server, but then here’s where the P2P comes in to play. The show is then split into segments (with targeted ads – which makes it appealing to advertisers) and stored in pieces on the hard drives of the various computers on the system. So, the next time someone asks for the show, it’s pulled piece by piece in sequence from the various computers. The beauty of this is that the smaller chunks of data mean that the broadband pipes don’t get clogged. So, in reverse of normal downloading situations, the more people accessing the video the better. Somewhat immodestly but semi-accurately, Friis says, “we’ve taken the best about television and added the best things about the Internet.”
SLINGS OF OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE: From the people who brought you the Slingbox comes the SlingCatcher. Regular readers will remember the Slingbox which lets you access anything you have on your home TV through your laptop no matter where you are. Now, they’re going the other way, with the SlingCatcher allowing you to take anything on the Web and on your computer and put it on your TV. What is probably equally amazing is the price tag of under $200. Sling Media and CBS also unveiled a beta version of a system that will allow consumers to share clips from live or recorded TV at the Consumer Electronics Show. And the folks at Sling Media say by the end of the year they’ll have another device which will allow you to transmit anything you have on Cable, Satellite TV or on your DVR to any other TV set in the house wirelessly.
BIG BROTHER HASN’T FINISHED SINGING YET: To state the semi-obvious, these are not the only ones to watch. Monolith Microsoft and chairman Bill Gates says/promises/threats to make the Xbox 360 into a set-top that will not only let you play games but also allow you to watch high-def DVD’s, download movies, music and games from the Internet and record, time-shift and play live television on one system. Meanwhile Apple and its chairman Steve Jobs is following up its successful iPhone announcement with a promise/threat that it, too, will create a set top box that will make it easy to connect computers to TV sets. Plus, Motorola and Cisco’s Scientific Atlanta say they will have similar multi-purpose set top boxes out by the end of the year. And, finally, I couldn’t talk about all this without mentioning, again, Sony’s attempts to build support for its Blu-Ray technology through its PlayStation 2 while competitors are pushing the new HD-DVD. And may the best system win. Hopefully.
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT, ALFIE: This may mean nothing, but I have to note a couple of ‘minor’ developments that may presage something much bigger. CBS is launching a campaign on YouTube called 15 seconds in which people post their own 15-second ‘inspriational’ message. Microsoft is launching a new site that asks users to upload content about their life-changing moments. Of course, both corporations plan to use the ‘messages’ for marketing purposes – CBS in its SuperBowl coverage and Microsoft to boost its new Vista system. But, even so, it ties into several other articles I’ve read about people’s search for something more from the Internet and Life. Readers of last week’s MfM’s will remember the issue of trust, belief, and just getting away from it all, being part of the predictions/ trends. Researcher Ipsos goes so far as to say, “the future will be dominated by competition for public trust.” They say the reason is that people are trying to sort through the cluttered information economy marketplace.SIDE NOTE: New York-based research firm eMarketer reports that one in four TV households were able to access VOD (Video On Demand) in 2006 and one in six had a DVR (Digital Video Recorder). And, of course, the VOD and DVR penetration is expected to rise over the next three years. But not so ‘of course,’ the firm says despite established wisdom that these devices will cut into traditional TV advertising, the dollars will be offset by spending in other areas.
FOOTNOTE: With everything I read, even I occasionally miss the “big” story. The perfect example is the story one about Joost. Luckily I have colleagues like Janet Sharik and David Hazinski watching my back, so to speak. I had heard about The Venice Project off and on for nearly a year but, as David put it, those talks were mostly at the Geek level until the recent unveiling.
MARSHAL MCLUHAN, WE HARDLY KNEW YE: This is a break from what I traditionally do in MfM, avoiding commentary and focusing on facts and factoids. However, an article in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media raised a question in my mind. The article by Donald Fishman, of Northwestern University, was a reflection and re-thinking of media theorist Marshall McLuhan’s role as “the patron saint of the digital age.” I know I don’t have to explain the author of The Gutenberg Galaxy, the ‘medium is the message… global village and hot and cool media’ to the smart readers of MfM. But it just made me wonder where -- as Fishman described McLuhan -- is the… provocative thinker… popularizer… public intellectual… willing to engage in a wide-ranging dialogue about the role of media in society” of the 21st Century.
COCKTAIL CHATTER: The Parents’ Television Council says violence in prime time television has risen 75% over the past six years. The networks averaged 4.41 violent incidents an hour in the year studied – 2005. NBC was the worst with 6.79 incidents an hour, followed by CBS (5.56), Fox (3.84), and ABC (3.80). It seems almost a related note to say that Jerry Springer’s bodyguard and head of security (the guy who bounces people) will get his own talk show in a deal announced, ironically, by NBC. And as long as I’m on a celebrity gig, Mr. Blackwell has announced his 47th Best and Worst Dressed Awards with, no surprise, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, tying for first place honors as “two peas in an overexposed pod.” Paula Abdul made the list as ‘fallen fashion idol’ while new House majority leader Nancy Pelosi made the best dressed list. And finally, on a decidedly more serious note, congratulations to News Director Dave Vincent and his folks at WLOX/ Biloxi. They are the Tiger Woods of Award winners, scoring a grand slam of virtually every award possible, with the latest award -- a DuPont-Columbia for their coverage of Hurricane Katrina.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com. And you can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.
Message From Michael
January 17, 2007
SWEEPS
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT 2007
THINGS YOU SHOULD WATCH OUT FOR IN 2007
THE SLEEPER QUESTIONS OF 2007
THE WEIRD PREDICTIONS FOR 2007
COCKTAIL CHATTER
SWEEPS: I couldn’t go this long without at least using the dreaded word. Sweeps. We will be sending out a separate document for client stations with some last-minute considerations for the February sweeps period. In the meantime, this week’s MfM is a look ahead at what the futurists and crystal ball gazers see in your future. I preface it, by referring back to the famous quote or admonition: You can’t predict the future, but you can help create it.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT 2007: Research firm eMarketer says 2007 will see the crossing of the great divide. High-speed Internet penetration AT HOME (an important distinction) will pass the half way market. The firm predicts 50.2% of households will have broadband, up from this year’s 43.9%. That translates into 60 million residential subscribers. By 2010, two-thirds (63%) will have Broadband connection. Yesterday was the deadline for comments to the Federal Communication Commission which is reviewing media ownership rules. The decision is expected to reverberate throughout the broadcast and media world. The FCC has posted all of its media ownership staff reports and studies on its website. (That will be the subject of a future MfM.) On a related note, an estimated 3,000 people attended a national conference in Memphis on media reform.
THINGS YOU SHOULD WATCH OUT FOR IN 2007: The predictions and forecasts centered, unsurprisingly, on the growth of User Generated Content and Social Networks. Half to two thirds of every media source I subscribe to mentioned one or the other. However, one semi-surprising prediction was that the soothsayers and prognosticators should not count out Traditional Media.Consultants with the Deloitte firm say the ‘traditional’ media are, as they put it, “ideally placed” to take advantage of the explosion of user-generated content and social networking even though the revenue, at least for now, is limited. Howard Davies, the director of media strategy for the firm, told Reuters that there are two types of UGC people – those looking for five minutes of fame and those wanting to contribute to a discussion or community. He says the five-minute-famers phenomenon won’t grow, but that the “less glamorous” side is part of Internet society now. As possible proof of the traditional media’s favorable position, Paul Bond in The Hollywood Reporter reports that of the top ten movers of the tech-oriented newspapers Showbiz 50 stock index only one, Real Networks, is generally considered a new media company. He argues that last year was a mixed bag for new media companies while traditional stalwarts like Disney, News Corp and TW showed some strong stock advances. The question, says Deloitte, is whether the traditional media companies will see new media as a threat or an opportunity. Reporter Seth Sutel writing for the Associated Press says that’s why many mainline companies are hiring new media executives with experience, as they try to figure out whether to buy existing new media operations, re-build on their own operations or start from scratch when the investment pay-off is long term. Mike Shields writing for Media Week says the question is whether “web 2.0 darlings (like) MySpace and YouTube can stay hot while becoming more corporate.”Regardless, big companies will soon begin adding social networks and user-generated TOOLS to their Intranet sites, predicts Clark Kokich, worldwide president of Avenue A Razorfish. The simple reason, he tells The New York Times, is that the tools have become part of the youth culture. In a similar vein, Steve Bryant with The Hollywood Reporter predicts that video specialization and video editing will be two of the hot trends. As ‘most viewed’ becomes less novel, people will start looking for video tailored to their specific interests (daredevil stunts and college sports for example) and lesser-known websites (not YouTube and MySpace) will grow. Even more powerful a trend is that consumers are becoming more savvy about the editing tools. As reporter Bryant put it, “when I was was in short pants, I had no idea what a cutaway or cross-fade was… but today’s tweens and teens are intimately familiar with the language of the screen which has major implications for how the online video market will evolve.” Meaning – still shaky handcam videos in 2007, but the quality will improve. The New York Times article framed the issue in an interesting way when it reported that companies designing products will have to consider the large group of young people who use their thumbs more than their index fingers.Although nobody quite said it, it seems a foregone conclusion, ever since the cell-phone recorded London bombing, that UGC will be part of the news mix in 2007. Several major news groups, including the BBC and Reuters, have turned what was once a trend into a fact of life. The next move will be in UGC advertising. Although several major companies, including Anheuser-Busch and Proctor and Gamble have signed on to a greater or lesser degree (mostly lesser), most observers still question how advertisers will turn the viral video phenom into attention-getting, revenue-generating, money-making advertisements. Advertising giant JWT predicts, regardless, that there will be a growth in what it calls “participatory advertising.”
THE SLEEPER QUESTIONS OF 2007: Part of the issue is one of the top ten sleeper questions of 2007 – how to measure the impact of advertising. Nielsen is wrestling with that in its on-again, off-again measurement of commercials. The Online community is wrestling with it as well. Also on the top ten list of questions, possibly even making # 1, is whether the TV and PC will marry or divorce. And, if so, who gets custody of the kids. No-one questions the belief that 2007 will see greater distribution of video via broadband by everyone, including the networks. On the tech side in 2007 there is an echo of the VHS – BetaMax battle of years ago between new video storage system Blu Ray and DVD, although here the question is probably more of a “when” then an “if.” The growth of local search on the Internet raises all kinds of questions for local media – newspapers and television in particular – over how thin can you slice the local advertising pie. Also, on the sleeper question list is just how far mobile/wireless technology will go and whether consumers want to go along. The various groups have mixed predictions ranging from video cell phone ubiquity to rejection. Forbes magazine editors say the process “stretches the limits of human eyesight and attention.” Apple’s iPhone may help decide the question. Privacy issues will become a major question this year as online options grow and with them, the illegitimate spammers, spimmers and phishers and the legitimate marketers and advertisers.
THE WEIRD PREDICTIONS FOR 2007: People’s on-line lives will take on a life of their own in 2007. Second Life, which could arguably be called an amalgam of user-generated content and social networking, is the leader. Futurist Faith Popcorn’s Brain Reserve group predicts that people will start bequeathing their avatars – the characters that represent them in online fantasy worlds – to their friends and families. On the flip side of that, The New York Times, citing several sources, says more and more people will be pushing the ‘off button’ to escape the media-saturated world. Advertising giant JWT in its list of the top 70 trends of 2007 sees a growth in school buses running on biodiesel fuel, sustainable construction of ‘green buildings’ and a greater interest in Hallal foods, which are foods prepared according to the Quran. People will be making their broadband connections by ‘plugging’ into the power outlets at home as ‘powerline networking’ takes hold. Forbes magazine sees electronic books making a comeback, despite some earlier setbacks, as authors and publishers see the value of easily downloadable books and readers become more comfortable reading on an LCD monitor. On the flip side of semi-normalcy in predictions, expect LED lights to replace light bulbs, VoIP (Voice Over Intenet Protocol) taking the place of more and more regular telephones, the mainstreaming of the Internet and a maturing of the online population. In the end, as Mike Shields writes in Media Week, “unpredictability rules” when it comes to making predictions. As he candidly put it, last year’s forecast report by the magazine “did not once include the terms ‘you’ and ‘tube’ in the same sentence, let alone the same word.” But to leave you with a final thought, a quote from Google CEO Eric Schmidt who told the BBC that 2007 will be a “bull market for imagination.”
COCKTAIL CHATTER: All right, this really isn’t cocktail chatter, but it could provide a lot of future cocktail chatter and so I thought it fell into the theme of this week’s MfM. The Project for Excellence in Journalism has launched a weekly “news coverage index.” The report, published online every Tuesday, codes the stories that dominated the news in the past week in newspapers, online, on network TV, cable and radio. Not surprisingly, the dominant story last week was the Iraq policy story which “filled 34% of the overall newshole,” followed by Congress (7%), Somalia (5%), the actual situation in Iraq (4%) and stories about the homefront related to Iraq (2%). The Malibu, California, wildfires came in sixth, just ahead of British soccer star and Posh Spice husband David Beckham’s $250 Million contract. What is particularly interesting about the report is what the different media focus on each week.
If you are receiving this newsletter from someone else, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line. If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, reply to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line.
January 17, 2007
SWEEPS
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT 2007
THINGS YOU SHOULD WATCH OUT FOR IN 2007
THE SLEEPER QUESTIONS OF 2007
THE WEIRD PREDICTIONS FOR 2007
COCKTAIL CHATTER
SWEEPS: I couldn’t go this long without at least using the dreaded word. Sweeps. We will be sending out a separate document for client stations with some last-minute considerations for the February sweeps period. In the meantime, this week’s MfM is a look ahead at what the futurists and crystal ball gazers see in your future. I preface it, by referring back to the famous quote or admonition: You can’t predict the future, but you can help create it.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT 2007: Research firm eMarketer says 2007 will see the crossing of the great divide. High-speed Internet penetration AT HOME (an important distinction) will pass the half way market. The firm predicts 50.2% of households will have broadband, up from this year’s 43.9%. That translates into 60 million residential subscribers. By 2010, two-thirds (63%) will have Broadband connection. Yesterday was the deadline for comments to the Federal Communication Commission which is reviewing media ownership rules. The decision is expected to reverberate throughout the broadcast and media world. The FCC has posted all of its media ownership staff reports and studies on its website. (That will be the subject of a future MfM.) On a related note, an estimated 3,000 people attended a national conference in Memphis on media reform.
THINGS YOU SHOULD WATCH OUT FOR IN 2007: The predictions and forecasts centered, unsurprisingly, on the growth of User Generated Content and Social Networks. Half to two thirds of every media source I subscribe to mentioned one or the other. However, one semi-surprising prediction was that the soothsayers and prognosticators should not count out Traditional Media.Consultants with the Deloitte firm say the ‘traditional’ media are, as they put it, “ideally placed” to take advantage of the explosion of user-generated content and social networking even though the revenue, at least for now, is limited. Howard Davies, the director of media strategy for the firm, told Reuters that there are two types of UGC people – those looking for five minutes of fame and those wanting to contribute to a discussion or community. He says the five-minute-famers phenomenon won’t grow, but that the “less glamorous” side is part of Internet society now. As possible proof of the traditional media’s favorable position, Paul Bond in The Hollywood Reporter reports that of the top ten movers of the tech-oriented newspapers Showbiz 50 stock index only one, Real Networks, is generally considered a new media company. He argues that last year was a mixed bag for new media companies while traditional stalwarts like Disney, News Corp and TW showed some strong stock advances. The question, says Deloitte, is whether the traditional media companies will see new media as a threat or an opportunity. Reporter Seth Sutel writing for the Associated Press says that’s why many mainline companies are hiring new media executives with experience, as they try to figure out whether to buy existing new media operations, re-build on their own operations or start from scratch when the investment pay-off is long term. Mike Shields writing for Media Week says the question is whether “web 2.0 darlings (like) MySpace and YouTube can stay hot while becoming more corporate.”Regardless, big companies will soon begin adding social networks and user-generated TOOLS to their Intranet sites, predicts Clark Kokich, worldwide president of Avenue A Razorfish. The simple reason, he tells The New York Times, is that the tools have become part of the youth culture. In a similar vein, Steve Bryant with The Hollywood Reporter predicts that video specialization and video editing will be two of the hot trends. As ‘most viewed’ becomes less novel, people will start looking for video tailored to their specific interests (daredevil stunts and college sports for example) and lesser-known websites (not YouTube and MySpace) will grow. Even more powerful a trend is that consumers are becoming more savvy about the editing tools. As reporter Bryant put it, “when I was was in short pants, I had no idea what a cutaway or cross-fade was… but today’s tweens and teens are intimately familiar with the language of the screen which has major implications for how the online video market will evolve.” Meaning – still shaky handcam videos in 2007, but the quality will improve. The New York Times article framed the issue in an interesting way when it reported that companies designing products will have to consider the large group of young people who use their thumbs more than their index fingers.Although nobody quite said it, it seems a foregone conclusion, ever since the cell-phone recorded London bombing, that UGC will be part of the news mix in 2007. Several major news groups, including the BBC and Reuters, have turned what was once a trend into a fact of life. The next move will be in UGC advertising. Although several major companies, including Anheuser-Busch and Proctor and Gamble have signed on to a greater or lesser degree (mostly lesser), most observers still question how advertisers will turn the viral video phenom into attention-getting, revenue-generating, money-making advertisements. Advertising giant JWT predicts, regardless, that there will be a growth in what it calls “participatory advertising.”
THE SLEEPER QUESTIONS OF 2007: Part of the issue is one of the top ten sleeper questions of 2007 – how to measure the impact of advertising. Nielsen is wrestling with that in its on-again, off-again measurement of commercials. The Online community is wrestling with it as well. Also on the top ten list of questions, possibly even making # 1, is whether the TV and PC will marry or divorce. And, if so, who gets custody of the kids. No-one questions the belief that 2007 will see greater distribution of video via broadband by everyone, including the networks. On the tech side in 2007 there is an echo of the VHS – BetaMax battle of years ago between new video storage system Blu Ray and DVD, although here the question is probably more of a “when” then an “if.” The growth of local search on the Internet raises all kinds of questions for local media – newspapers and television in particular – over how thin can you slice the local advertising pie. Also, on the sleeper question list is just how far mobile/wireless technology will go and whether consumers want to go along. The various groups have mixed predictions ranging from video cell phone ubiquity to rejection. Forbes magazine editors say the process “stretches the limits of human eyesight and attention.” Apple’s iPhone may help decide the question. Privacy issues will become a major question this year as online options grow and with them, the illegitimate spammers, spimmers and phishers and the legitimate marketers and advertisers.
THE WEIRD PREDICTIONS FOR 2007: People’s on-line lives will take on a life of their own in 2007. Second Life, which could arguably be called an amalgam of user-generated content and social networking, is the leader. Futurist Faith Popcorn’s Brain Reserve group predicts that people will start bequeathing their avatars – the characters that represent them in online fantasy worlds – to their friends and families. On the flip side of that, The New York Times, citing several sources, says more and more people will be pushing the ‘off button’ to escape the media-saturated world. Advertising giant JWT in its list of the top 70 trends of 2007 sees a growth in school buses running on biodiesel fuel, sustainable construction of ‘green buildings’ and a greater interest in Hallal foods, which are foods prepared according to the Quran. People will be making their broadband connections by ‘plugging’ into the power outlets at home as ‘powerline networking’ takes hold. Forbes magazine sees electronic books making a comeback, despite some earlier setbacks, as authors and publishers see the value of easily downloadable books and readers become more comfortable reading on an LCD monitor. On the flip side of semi-normalcy in predictions, expect LED lights to replace light bulbs, VoIP (Voice Over Intenet Protocol) taking the place of more and more regular telephones, the mainstreaming of the Internet and a maturing of the online population. In the end, as Mike Shields writes in Media Week, “unpredictability rules” when it comes to making predictions. As he candidly put it, last year’s forecast report by the magazine “did not once include the terms ‘you’ and ‘tube’ in the same sentence, let alone the same word.” But to leave you with a final thought, a quote from Google CEO Eric Schmidt who told the BBC that 2007 will be a “bull market for imagination.”
COCKTAIL CHATTER: All right, this really isn’t cocktail chatter, but it could provide a lot of future cocktail chatter and so I thought it fell into the theme of this week’s MfM. The Project for Excellence in Journalism has launched a weekly “news coverage index.” The report, published online every Tuesday, codes the stories that dominated the news in the past week in newspapers, online, on network TV, cable and radio. Not surprisingly, the dominant story last week was the Iraq policy story which “filled 34% of the overall newshole,” followed by Congress (7%), Somalia (5%), the actual situation in Iraq (4%) and stories about the homefront related to Iraq (2%). The Malibu, California, wildfires came in sixth, just ahead of British soccer star and Posh Spice husband David Beckham’s $250 Million contract. What is particularly interesting about the report is what the different media focus on each week.
If you are receiving this newsletter from someone else, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line. If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, reply to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line.
Message From Michael
January 10, 2007
THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS
HIGHLIGHTS AND LOW LIGHTS
FACTS AND FACTOIDS
We encourage people to pass on copies of Message from Michael. But if you would like to get your own copy, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.
THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS: How will history record the year 2006? Will it be the year of YOU, as TIME magazine says, with YouTube and consumer generated content. Or will it be recorded as the year computer based social networks such as MySpace replaced neighborhood based social gatherings. Or even more dramatic when Second Life avatars replaced real life people. Interactivity. Connectivity. Wireless mobility. Broadband breakthrough. I feel a sudden urge to break into a rendition of We Didn’t Start the Fire by Billy Joel. Instead I thought I would review the reviews of 2006 by various publications. What follows are some facts and factoids, highlights and low lights. See what you think.
The most watched single telecast of the year, according to Nielsen, was – as always – the SuperBowl with a 41.6 rating. But the top rated program of the year was Fox’s American Idol which averaged a 17.2 rating. In fact, it took the top two slots with ABC’s Dancing With The Stars coming in third with a 12.7. And the top ‘time shifted’ primetime TV program was NBC’s Studio 60 with a 10.9 rating.Not too surprisingly, none of those TV shows made the American Film Institute’s list of TV programs of the year, although NBC’s Heroes which was the second most watched ‘time shifted’ program, according to Nielsen, did make the list along with Battlestar Galactica, Dexter, Elizabeth I, Friday Night Lights, The Office, South Park, 24, The West Wing and The Wire.
The most watched news story of the year, according to the Pew Research Center, was rising gasoline prices with 69% of the public telling the researchers in May, just before the summer driving season, that they were following this story “very closely.” In its list of the top news interest stories of the year, the British officials stopping a terrorist plot to blow up planes coming to the U.S. was second, with 54% saying they were watching this ‘very closely’ when it broke in August. The 12 miners trapped in a West Virginia coal mine was the third most closely watched story (47%), followed by the mid-term elections (46% in November), the school shootings in Pennsylvania (46% in October). North Korea’s announcement that it had tested a nuclear bomb (45% in October) actually beat out the situation in Iraq (44% in November).For writer Alexandra Berzon writing in Red Herring, which covers technology, 2006 was “the year of spamming dangerously and zombies in your home.” Spam increased 30% in 2006, according to her report, accounting for 90% of all e-mails. The even bigger development was the zombies taking over and remotely controlling computers and networks – a development that accounted for 85% of ALL spam on the Internet. Anti-spam company Commtouch says on one given day, zombies took over 8 million hosts and sent out a Billion spam messages in a few hours.
The top Box office movie of the year, according to Nielsen, was Pirates of the Caribbean which took in $423 Million. Far behind in the number two spot was the animated movie Cars which took in $244 Million. For comparison purposes, the top box office documentary movie was Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth which took in just under $24 Million. Consolation for the former vice president though is the fact that the American Film Institute cited the movie as one of the eight most significant moments in film and television this year, arguing that the movie raised the level of debate around the world over global warming.
The hottest DVD of 2006 was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.Dirty Harry, a/k/a Clint Eastwood, was called a “national treasure” by the American Film Institute in its list of most significant moments. The institute calls his two movies, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima, “one of the great motion picture experiences of the new century… an epic reminder that the American viewpoint is not the only human perspective.” The Institute, along with just about everybody else, cited the emergence of YouTube as a significant development “when the audience is both producer and distributor.” On the television site, the AFI declared that TV actually does have some sense of shame and provided as proof, the decision not to air the O.J. Simpson interview on how he would have killed his wife. The institute called the ‘migration’ of TV news to the Internet and the migration from “fact to fiction,” as significant moments for 2006, citing The Colbert Report as an example of the “fusion of journalism and comedy.”
The producers of The Colbert Report can also claim “credit” for producing most of 2006’s most popular words, according to website Dictionary.com. According to a survey of its users, the word “truthiness” was voted ‘word of the year.’ Other top voter getters, also from the show, were Lincolnish, Wikiality, it-getter, grinchitude, factinista, and superstantial. The words love and sex were also voted in as top words along with the word defenestrate, which is defined as a transitive verb meaning ‘to throw out a window.’ The word ‘love’ was the most searched for word on the website, followed by Affect, Effect, good, beautiful, metaphor, integrity, experience, irony and happy.
Media Web named New York Times’ columnist Nicholas Kristoff the print journalist of the year and NBC’s Brian Williams the broadcast journalist of the year. But the big announcement was the Online Journalist of the year – Brian Stelter, the 21-year-old Towson (Maryland) University student who founded the blogsite TVNewser.com – arguably the most influential TV blogsite in the country. Stelter is credited with breaking several major stories, including CBS’s publicity department sending out a touched up publicity photo showing a slimmed down Katie Couric. Aside from the fact the site gets 250,000 unique visitors and 900,000 page views a month is the fact that Brian Williams, CNN chief Jonathon Klein and other ‘movers and shakers’ read him and call him.
Back to Nielsen, the top selling album is Walt Disney’s High School Musical Soundtrack with sales of nearly 3.5 Million, beating out Rascall Flatts’ Me and My Gang (3 Million) and Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts (2.5 Million). The top song played on radio stations in 2006 was Mary J. Bilge’s Be Without You (395 Thousand), followed by Natasha Bedingfield’s Unwritten (336 Thousand) and Sean Paul’s Temperature (324 Thousand). The top ringtone sold for mobile phones was Eminem’s Akon Shake That (1.2 Million) followed by Justin Timberlake’s Sexy Back (1.1 Million). And, no, if it makes you feel any better, I don’t know them all either.
The New York Times’ technology writer Stuart Elliott says one of the high points of the advertising year in 2006 was Phillips Electronics sole sponsorship in magazines Gourmet and The Week, as well as the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams which resulted in an 8% higher rating and 4,000 “praise filled e-mails.” Others taking part in the single sponsorship concept were Ford Motor Company, Match.com, and Nike. One of the low points was a spot showing a Blinged-out Cadillac Escalade as the main attraction at a ritzy fashion show. The problem? It was placed in the SuperBowl which, as Elliott put it, made about as much sense as arranging a product place in The Devil Wears Prada for Hungry-Man Dinners. The ad agency was fired.
Of course, one of the big movements in advertising in 2006 was the growth in viral videos, not just the home-grown version, but the million-dollar ad agency versions. All designed to get attention. One of the best versions I have seen is the Smirnoff “Tea Partay” viral video ad which shows a bunch of rich white boys and girls in boat shoes and clothes doing a gangsta rap style video.On the P.R. side of the fence, in 2006, Businessweek’s Phil Mintz points to Hewlett Packard’s in-house investigation into leaks to the media which brought out the practice of “pretexting” in which people impersonate others on the phone or on-line in order to obtain personal records. Of course, the O.J. Simpson situation made the list. But as an example of doing something wrong and something right, Mintz cites Wal-Mart. Its PR firm, Edelman, created a fake blog about Jim and Laura taking a cross country trip visiting Wal Mart stores. On the flip side, its generic drugs program generated a lot of positive pub.
Back to the news side, the Pew Research Center said there were several news stories in 2006 in which public opinion had an impact, including the Democrats regaining control of Congress in large part because of the “deepening gloom” about the situation in Iraq as well as what the authors of the report call the “stockpiling scandal” of Congressmen being investigated. Other examples of where public opinion had an impact were the decision to stop a Dubai firm from taking over control of some U.S. ports, Vice President Dick Cheney’s quail hunting incident, and the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, with the public still supporting Israel.Under a heading which the Pew folks called, “Dogs That Didn’t Bark in 2006,” the authors cite the bi-partisan panel report on Iraq which just didn’t register with Americans; indifference to the immigration issue; the deaths in Darfur which only 13% of Americans said they followed closely; gay marriage, where although 54% say they favor legal arrangements for gay and lesbian couples, it just was not an overriding concern for voters; the Abramoff bribery case which the researchers say failed to ignite public outrage; and lastly, Katie Couric’s move to CBS which… “despite an unprecedented buildup… public interest remained restrained.”
Lastly, in an article in USA Today, reporter Kevin Maney argues that 2006 may be the year of “you” but 2007 may be the year to get over it. The techie buzz phrase of the year was ‘user generated’ content created by ‘users’ who, in a less politically correct age, would have been called ‘amateurs,’ says Maney. Even some major companies are ‘hyper-ventilating’ over user-generated advertising. And there are some good examples of user-generated content, he says, such as Curriki which is sort of a Wikipedia version of online textbooks for grades K through 12, and Wize.com which is a user-generated version of Consumer Reports. But he argues, “somewhere along the line, after the publicity surge, we realize that what came to pass was actually more evolutionary.” Garage bands, personal journals, community theaters and county fairs are all precursors. He says there is no doubt this is impacting media, entertainment and society, but in the end, reporters and editors will still have jobs to go to and roles to play, and we will all move “on to the next big thing.” I should say this is not meant as commentary, but just as a final thought. Something for you to think about. And, if you want, comment on. Contact me. In the next edition of MfM, I am going to review some of the trends and forecasts making the rounds for 2007.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com. You can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.
January 10, 2007
THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS
HIGHLIGHTS AND LOW LIGHTS
FACTS AND FACTOIDS
We encourage people to pass on copies of Message from Michael. But if you would like to get your own copy, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.
THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS: How will history record the year 2006? Will it be the year of YOU, as TIME magazine says, with YouTube and consumer generated content. Or will it be recorded as the year computer based social networks such as MySpace replaced neighborhood based social gatherings. Or even more dramatic when Second Life avatars replaced real life people. Interactivity. Connectivity. Wireless mobility. Broadband breakthrough. I feel a sudden urge to break into a rendition of We Didn’t Start the Fire by Billy Joel. Instead I thought I would review the reviews of 2006 by various publications. What follows are some facts and factoids, highlights and low lights. See what you think.
The most watched single telecast of the year, according to Nielsen, was – as always – the SuperBowl with a 41.6 rating. But the top rated program of the year was Fox’s American Idol which averaged a 17.2 rating. In fact, it took the top two slots with ABC’s Dancing With The Stars coming in third with a 12.7. And the top ‘time shifted’ primetime TV program was NBC’s Studio 60 with a 10.9 rating.Not too surprisingly, none of those TV shows made the American Film Institute’s list of TV programs of the year, although NBC’s Heroes which was the second most watched ‘time shifted’ program, according to Nielsen, did make the list along with Battlestar Galactica, Dexter, Elizabeth I, Friday Night Lights, The Office, South Park, 24, The West Wing and The Wire.
The most watched news story of the year, according to the Pew Research Center, was rising gasoline prices with 69% of the public telling the researchers in May, just before the summer driving season, that they were following this story “very closely.” In its list of the top news interest stories of the year, the British officials stopping a terrorist plot to blow up planes coming to the U.S. was second, with 54% saying they were watching this ‘very closely’ when it broke in August. The 12 miners trapped in a West Virginia coal mine was the third most closely watched story (47%), followed by the mid-term elections (46% in November), the school shootings in Pennsylvania (46% in October). North Korea’s announcement that it had tested a nuclear bomb (45% in October) actually beat out the situation in Iraq (44% in November).For writer Alexandra Berzon writing in Red Herring, which covers technology, 2006 was “the year of spamming dangerously and zombies in your home.” Spam increased 30% in 2006, according to her report, accounting for 90% of all e-mails. The even bigger development was the zombies taking over and remotely controlling computers and networks – a development that accounted for 85% of ALL spam on the Internet. Anti-spam company Commtouch says on one given day, zombies took over 8 million hosts and sent out a Billion spam messages in a few hours.
The top Box office movie of the year, according to Nielsen, was Pirates of the Caribbean which took in $423 Million. Far behind in the number two spot was the animated movie Cars which took in $244 Million. For comparison purposes, the top box office documentary movie was Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth which took in just under $24 Million. Consolation for the former vice president though is the fact that the American Film Institute cited the movie as one of the eight most significant moments in film and television this year, arguing that the movie raised the level of debate around the world over global warming.
The hottest DVD of 2006 was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.Dirty Harry, a/k/a Clint Eastwood, was called a “national treasure” by the American Film Institute in its list of most significant moments. The institute calls his two movies, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima, “one of the great motion picture experiences of the new century… an epic reminder that the American viewpoint is not the only human perspective.” The Institute, along with just about everybody else, cited the emergence of YouTube as a significant development “when the audience is both producer and distributor.” On the television site, the AFI declared that TV actually does have some sense of shame and provided as proof, the decision not to air the O.J. Simpson interview on how he would have killed his wife. The institute called the ‘migration’ of TV news to the Internet and the migration from “fact to fiction,” as significant moments for 2006, citing The Colbert Report as an example of the “fusion of journalism and comedy.”
The producers of The Colbert Report can also claim “credit” for producing most of 2006’s most popular words, according to website Dictionary.com. According to a survey of its users, the word “truthiness” was voted ‘word of the year.’ Other top voter getters, also from the show, were Lincolnish, Wikiality, it-getter, grinchitude, factinista, and superstantial. The words love and sex were also voted in as top words along with the word defenestrate, which is defined as a transitive verb meaning ‘to throw out a window.’ The word ‘love’ was the most searched for word on the website, followed by Affect, Effect, good, beautiful, metaphor, integrity, experience, irony and happy.
Media Web named New York Times’ columnist Nicholas Kristoff the print journalist of the year and NBC’s Brian Williams the broadcast journalist of the year. But the big announcement was the Online Journalist of the year – Brian Stelter, the 21-year-old Towson (Maryland) University student who founded the blogsite TVNewser.com – arguably the most influential TV blogsite in the country. Stelter is credited with breaking several major stories, including CBS’s publicity department sending out a touched up publicity photo showing a slimmed down Katie Couric. Aside from the fact the site gets 250,000 unique visitors and 900,000 page views a month is the fact that Brian Williams, CNN chief Jonathon Klein and other ‘movers and shakers’ read him and call him.
Back to Nielsen, the top selling album is Walt Disney’s High School Musical Soundtrack with sales of nearly 3.5 Million, beating out Rascall Flatts’ Me and My Gang (3 Million) and Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts (2.5 Million). The top song played on radio stations in 2006 was Mary J. Bilge’s Be Without You (395 Thousand), followed by Natasha Bedingfield’s Unwritten (336 Thousand) and Sean Paul’s Temperature (324 Thousand). The top ringtone sold for mobile phones was Eminem’s Akon Shake That (1.2 Million) followed by Justin Timberlake’s Sexy Back (1.1 Million). And, no, if it makes you feel any better, I don’t know them all either.
The New York Times’ technology writer Stuart Elliott says one of the high points of the advertising year in 2006 was Phillips Electronics sole sponsorship in magazines Gourmet and The Week, as well as the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams which resulted in an 8% higher rating and 4,000 “praise filled e-mails.” Others taking part in the single sponsorship concept were Ford Motor Company, Match.com, and Nike. One of the low points was a spot showing a Blinged-out Cadillac Escalade as the main attraction at a ritzy fashion show. The problem? It was placed in the SuperBowl which, as Elliott put it, made about as much sense as arranging a product place in The Devil Wears Prada for Hungry-Man Dinners. The ad agency was fired.
Of course, one of the big movements in advertising in 2006 was the growth in viral videos, not just the home-grown version, but the million-dollar ad agency versions. All designed to get attention. One of the best versions I have seen is the Smirnoff “Tea Partay” viral video ad which shows a bunch of rich white boys and girls in boat shoes and clothes doing a gangsta rap style video.On the P.R. side of the fence, in 2006, Businessweek’s Phil Mintz points to Hewlett Packard’s in-house investigation into leaks to the media which brought out the practice of “pretexting” in which people impersonate others on the phone or on-line in order to obtain personal records. Of course, the O.J. Simpson situation made the list. But as an example of doing something wrong and something right, Mintz cites Wal-Mart. Its PR firm, Edelman, created a fake blog about Jim and Laura taking a cross country trip visiting Wal Mart stores. On the flip side, its generic drugs program generated a lot of positive pub.
Back to the news side, the Pew Research Center said there were several news stories in 2006 in which public opinion had an impact, including the Democrats regaining control of Congress in large part because of the “deepening gloom” about the situation in Iraq as well as what the authors of the report call the “stockpiling scandal” of Congressmen being investigated. Other examples of where public opinion had an impact were the decision to stop a Dubai firm from taking over control of some U.S. ports, Vice President Dick Cheney’s quail hunting incident, and the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, with the public still supporting Israel.Under a heading which the Pew folks called, “Dogs That Didn’t Bark in 2006,” the authors cite the bi-partisan panel report on Iraq which just didn’t register with Americans; indifference to the immigration issue; the deaths in Darfur which only 13% of Americans said they followed closely; gay marriage, where although 54% say they favor legal arrangements for gay and lesbian couples, it just was not an overriding concern for voters; the Abramoff bribery case which the researchers say failed to ignite public outrage; and lastly, Katie Couric’s move to CBS which… “despite an unprecedented buildup… public interest remained restrained.”
Lastly, in an article in USA Today, reporter Kevin Maney argues that 2006 may be the year of “you” but 2007 may be the year to get over it. The techie buzz phrase of the year was ‘user generated’ content created by ‘users’ who, in a less politically correct age, would have been called ‘amateurs,’ says Maney. Even some major companies are ‘hyper-ventilating’ over user-generated advertising. And there are some good examples of user-generated content, he says, such as Curriki which is sort of a Wikipedia version of online textbooks for grades K through 12, and Wize.com which is a user-generated version of Consumer Reports. But he argues, “somewhere along the line, after the publicity surge, we realize that what came to pass was actually more evolutionary.” Garage bands, personal journals, community theaters and county fairs are all precursors. He says there is no doubt this is impacting media, entertainment and society, but in the end, reporters and editors will still have jobs to go to and roles to play, and we will all move “on to the next big thing.” I should say this is not meant as commentary, but just as a final thought. Something for you to think about. And, if you want, comment on. Contact me. In the next edition of MfM, I am going to review some of the trends and forecasts making the rounds for 2007.
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