A ROSE BY ANOTHER OTHER NAME
WOULD IT SMELL SO SWEET
A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE
THE WAR OF THE ROSES
MICHAEL’S MILESTONES
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.
A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME: Call it citizen journalism… consumer generated media… user generated content… customer made… open-source culture… curated consumerism… pro-am (as in professional-amateur) production… or crowdsourcing. The point is the day of top down journalism, like top down management, is being transformed into bottom up journalism. In the past two weeks, I’ve seen numerous articles about the growing partnership between viewers/readers/listeners/consumers/citizens – the volunteers, as one put it – and the professionals. The latest venture Assignment Zero comes from Wired Magazine, working with NewAssignment.net created by New York University professor Jay Rosen. He, by the way, gets the quote of the week, if not the month, award when he talks about “the people formerly known as the audience.” Crowdsourcing, as defined by Wikipedia, is a neologism for a business model in which the work of an employee is outsourced to a large group of people through an open call on the Internet. Or put more simply, you enlist the aid of your viewers/readers/listeners to provide ideas, act as resources, help with research on news stories. In the case of Assignment Zero (zero.newassignment.net), the idea is to use crowdsourcing aka “the wisdom of the crowd” to define the crowdsourcing journalistic model. In case you think this is another soon-to-pass fad, you may recall a previous MfM in which we noted that the Gannett group is re-fashioning its 90 newsrooms into ‘information centers’ using this model.
WOULD IT SMELL SO SWEET: Not according to a poll by Zogby International which showed that three-quarters (72%) of Americans said they were dissatisfied with the state of Journalism today. And almost the same number (74%) said citizen journalism will play a vital role in the future of American journalism. Almost the same number (76%) said the Internet has had a positive influence on the overall quality of journalism. The poll also showed that more than half (55%) said bloggers are important to the future of American journalism, and an equal number (53%) said the rise of Internet-based media posed the biggest opportunity for future journalism. Tell that to Dan Rather. In a speech to the interactive group South by Southwest and an accompanying interview, Rather talked about the potential of the blogosphere and opined (you don’t get to use that word very often) that bloggers who ask questions and do interviews qualify as journalists. Just to put it all in some perspective, back to the Zogby poll, three quarters (72%) of those surveyed said journalism is important to their community and while four out of five (81%) said the Internet was an important source of news, but only 30% said blogs were an important source.
A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE: Let me give you some variations on the theme of consumer generated media (CGM), along with some related and semi-related trends. Website Trendwatching.com notes a couple of examples, including book publisher Penguin crowdsourcing a new novel, Peugeot inviting designs for concept cars, and Kraft inviting people to ‘innovate with us’ with new products. Current TV has launched in Britain on BskyB and Virgin Media. VH1 has launched an Internet-TV hybrid which is also a hybrid of professional and amateur (CGM) content called acceptable.tv. A Los Angeles based start-up, MeatTeam.tv has launched an alternative to the company newsletter by helping corporations launch their own internal TV network using employee-generated content.
THE WAR OF THE ROSES: Okay, I know I’m beating a dead horse with this theme, but it’s actually true in this case. The 15th Century war pitted the two major houses, Lancaster and York, to see who would rule England. This latest war pits the major Internet players, Yahoo and MySpace against Google, to see who will rule the video world. And just like in Medieval England, people are drawing sides. NBC is joining forces with some-time rival News Corp., and News Corp-owned MySpace to do battle with Google and YouTube for control of the online video world. NBC and News Corp have enlisted Time Warner’s AOL and Yahoo as allies in its battle to create “the largest Internet video distribution network ever assembled.” Aside from the obvious, the other big difference is that the new site will be advertiser supported and will, the corporations emphasize, respect copyright laws. All of the news stories about the new online video service also note that Viacom, owners of CBS, has sued YouTube although, oddly enough, you will recall that CBS (a subsidiary of Viacom) has paired with Google and YouTube in the past. But there is no indication whether CBS or ABC will join in the venture. The New York Times article on the proposal noted this as a key question, which limits the new online video site’s offerings and draws comparisons to other earlier such Web ventures that failed. The Los Angeles Times article on the joint venture also noted Hollywood’s “dismal track record” in creating joint ventures, but says the players in this case have little choice but to band together against the Google behemoth. Industry magazine Broadcasting and Cable noted that both networks will continue to stream episodes of their own shows on their own websites but the two networks have not figured out which content will be most prominently displayed on the joint website. TV Week notes in its article that YouTube is well regarded for its ease of use and that YouTube receives more web traffic than the combined sites for 56 networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.
Sub-developments: Yahoo has announced a partnership with MTV to launch a co-branded website using User Generated Media (another variation of the buzz phrases) tied to the MTV movie awards. MySpace is expected to join the aggregator business collecting news from various news sites and blogs, and then having users comment and rate them. YouTube has announced its own Academy Awards of user-created videos with categories – most creative, most inspirational, most adorable along with best comedy, best music and best commentary. The winners will be announced today (Monday) at youtube/ytawards.com. Copyright-challenged YouTube has spawned a knock-off site, Delutube, which shows the videos which YouTube takes off its site.
MICHAEL’S MILESTONES: This is a new addition to MfM. An occasional segment on something that I think will mark a milestone, a tipping point, in the media world. We kick it off with a note about the movie 300. Not just because it made more money in its first weekend ($71 Million) than it cost to make ($65 Million); not just because it was the third highest rated R movie release ever; not just because it is based on an ancient Greek story; not just because critics hated it and movie-goers loved it. But because it is predominantly a digital creation (ergo, its low cost of production) that is not a digitally created cartoon.A Semi-Milestone: Actually I thought this belonged higher up when we were talking about the various news permutations, but it qualifies here, too, as a semi-milestone. CBS has launched a new form of programming/slash/journalism called “webumentaries” which combine reporting and interviews with dramatic staging to re-create important events. The melding of journalism and entertainment in low budget online productions is an “unconventional pairing of fiction and news,” as the Los Angeles Times put it. And before you dismiss it entirely, the producer of the new projects called Countdown is Susan Zirinsky, the woman who was the real-life, hard-nosed inspiration for the movie character Holly Hunter in Broadcast News.
COCKTAIL CHATTER: Just days after Pope Bendedict XVI criticized the media for its “destructive” influence, the Vatican announced it will launch its own TV network titled H2O which will air in seven languages. Six years ago in 2007, more people (74%) owned traditional cameras than digital cameras (24%). By 2005 more households had digital cameras (60%) than traditional cameras (51%). By the end of last year (2006), Jupiter Research reports that 65% of online households had digital cameras compared to 48% for traditional cameras. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Gen Nexters – Americans in the 18 to 15 age group – told a recent Pew Research survey that they received financial help from their parents during the past 12 months and nearly half (46%) said they depend on their parents or other family members for assistance.
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, March 26, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Message From Michael --March 12, 2007
TAKE A BYTE OUT OF TIME
CITIZEN JOURNALISM ADDS TO THE MIX
IT’S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW; IT’S WHO YOU KNOW
MORE SOCIALIZING AND NICHE NETWORKING
R.E.M. TO THE RESCUE
COCKTAIL CHATTER – BIG BYTES
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.
TAKE A BYTE OUT OF TIME: The amount of digital information generated in the world last year alone was equal to 3 million times the amount of information in all the books ever written, according to research firm IDC. An article in MIT’s Technology Review says that’s like 12 stack of books that each reach from the Earth to the Sun. In tech talk, that’s 161 exabytes of data. (An Exabyte is a billion gigabytes.) A study three years earlier in 2003 by researchers at the University of California-Berkeley totaled the global information production that year at 5 exabytes. That’s the equivalent of 37,000 libraries of Congress. By the year 2010, three years from now, there will be more data generated than there will be places to put it. Technically speaking. A report by research firm IDC says last year the world had 185 exabytes of storage available and by 2010 it will have 601 exabytes. But the amount of ‘stuff’ generated will jump from 161 exabytes last year to 988 exabytes in 2010. (And if you want another techie word to throw around in cocktail conversation, 1,000 exabytes equal one zettabyte.) Luckily, the report cited in MIT’s Technology Review notes that much of the data does get deleted and the methods of storage continue to improve. Even so, the article notes that the amount of information being generated will put pressure on developing better technologies to find, sort and secure the material. One last interesting factoid in this age of YouTube and MySpace from the report – by the year 2010, 70% of the world’s digital data will be created by individuals not corporations.
CITIZEN JOURNALISM ADDS TO THE MIX: Starting this week, several broadcast groups are joining in the citizen journalism movement. Television stations owned by Fisher Communications, Journal Broadcast Group and Granite Broadcasting will invite citizen journalists’ to produce anything from online news footage to complete reports. The groups plan to start airing pieces later this month in the different markets under the umbrella name of YouNewsTV. Regular readers of MfM know that several national and international news organizations, including MSNBC, Reuters and The Weather Channel, have already started similar programs. And although the Broadcasting and Cable magazine article emphasizes that this is a local effort, I should note it is not the first. Pappas Telecasting has its own citizen journalism website called communitycorrespondent.com. The president and CEO of Broadcast Interactive Media which put together the three group plan emphasized that it is a “revenue-driving initiative (and) if the video is not suitable to have advertising or is copyrighted material, it is not going up.”In a very much related note, BusinessWeek’s Jackie Coyle reports that TV networks and advertisers are increasingly adopting the YouTube model of viewer created content for a simple reason – they know a good trend when they see it. She makes the interesting point that those people creating videos for the web want to be on TV because it’s “the big leagues.” On the flip side, with traditional media in something of a free-fall, executives are looking for anything to stop it. Coyle scores the quote of the week, from Current TV co-creator Joel Hyatt who says, “this is not a genie that’s going back in the bottle.”
IT’S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW; IT’S WHO YOU KNOW: Remember that old saw? Well, here are some people you should know. It’s PC World’s list of the most important people on the web. Now, some you know, or at least know of – Larry Page, Sergey Brin who founded Google and Eric Schmidt who runs it; Steve Jobs whose name is synonymous with Apple; Bram Cohen, co-founder of BitTorrent; Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia; Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist; Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, co-founders of YouTube; Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, co-founders of Skype and KaZaA. What I liked about the PC World article is the semi debunking note that Time magazine’s Person of the Year – You – would not be making all those viral videos and doing all that social networking without these people. What I found particularly interesting was the people I don’t know but would like to know. People like John Doerr, a Venture Capitalist with the firm of Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield & Byers, whose investing in tech businesses, the magazine says, puts him at “the center of gravity in the Internet.” Or how about Paul Graham, Trevor Blackwell, Robert Morris and Jessica Livingston, co-founders of Y-Combinator, which the magazine says doles out smaller amounts of money, instead of huge chunks, to ‘potential mini-Googles.’ Then there’s the people I vaguely know but would like to know. For example, if you want to understand the war in Iraq, Mohammed and Omar Fadhill are Iraqis living in Baghdad whose blog, Iraq the Model, shows you the war from the citizen journalist power of view. If you really want to keep up with the best of the best in news, you have to keep up with Gabe Rivera, who created website Techmeme, which, as the magazine puts it, harnesses the blogosphere’s investigative power. After writing a news story headlined, “Anna Nicole Smith’s condition downgraded to dead,” how could you not want to read about Drew Curtis, founder of Fark.com where current news is dissected. And if you want to know if you’re in with the in crowd, then you need to know Tila Tequila. The singer/ model/ actress has redefined the word ‘friend’ with – count them – 1.6 Million MySpace user-friends, 56 million page views and 1,734,374 comments
MORE SOCIALIZING: You may remember a previous MfM talked about the social networking or social media revolution (which is the word all the studies used) coming to the digital and business world. Well, as further proof, add all these companies to the list. – Reuters, Netscape, Cisco, USA Today, Royal Dutch Airlines and Velvet Puffin. Now, if you just went, “huh?” on that last name, I understand. Velvet Puffin is a Singapore-based firm that has joined the long list of companies jumping on the social networking bandwagon, with networking software for use on mobile devices. Reuters is building a social networking site for fund managers and traders; Royal Dutch Airlines is building a social networking site for entrepreneurs with special interests in China and Africa; Cisco which is better known for development of the Internet technical backbone has bought Tribe.net, an also-ran in social networking websites overshadowed by YouTube and MySpace; and USA Today has revamped its website to add in social networking features. All of which seems to confirm the prediction by Netscape co-founder Marc Andreesen in an article in The New York Times that social networks will be everywhere, becoming more specialized and personalized niche websites. His Ning.com website is designed to provide the interface and bandwidth for people interested in starting their own social networks. Marketing website Marketingprofs.com says social networks are part of a “democratization of content creation.”
NICHE NETWORKING: A sort of variation on the specialized social networking movement noted in the previous article is the announcement that startup webcompany Next New Networks plans to launch 101 ‘micro-networks’ over the next five years. The websites will target small, different communities and brands. For example, the first ones to launch include channelfederator.com which are cartoons sent in by users, pulpsecret.com which focuses on comic book news, and threadbanger.com which looks at fashion designers.
R.E.M. TO THE RESCUE: Athens-based band R.E.M. will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight. Now, aside from the fact that I live in Athens, why is this worth noting? The event tonight (March 12th) will be carried Live – not just on television (on VH1) but also on-line (on AOL). Remember the worldwide on-line live presentation of the Live Concert? The move marks another milestone in the merging, converging, diverging digital and analog world.
COCKTAIL CHATTER: Presidential candidate John Edwards opened up a campaign headquarters on virtual world Second Life. Okay, that’s weird enough, but what’s even weirder is a group of “anarchist hippies” attacked his virtual world headquarters. On a semi-related note, Sony has announced it is planning to launch virtual worlds as part of its Game 3.0 push. China has launched a successful anti-satellite weapons test, knocking out one of its own weather satellites with a ballistic missile. Okay, that’s bad enough because it raises concerns the Chinese could do the same to an American or other nation’s satellite; but what’s been missed is that this is the largest debris-generating event in earth orbit ever recorded, with 917 pieces of debris recorded – debris which can hit other satellites.
SELF-SERVING PLUG: But a good one nevertheless. We here at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication are offering an all-day Bluejeans Workshop which is “short on philosophy but long on helpful, practical information.” The workshop is actually four concurrent workshops on reporting, shooting and editing but all with one theme – good storytelling. Presenters include Wayne Freedman, storyteller extraordinaire from KGO-TV and author of the book – It Takes More Than Good Looks; WYFF-TV photographer John Hendon who has won more videography awards than just about anybody; former NBC editor and NPPA video editing instructor James ‘Butch” Townsley; and CNN ‘digital news gatherer’ Bryan Pearson. The workshop on Saturday, March 31, costs all of $25, (and that includes lunch) thanks in part to corporate partner, CNN. For more info, go to http://www.grady.uga.edu/Bluejeans/.
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.
CITIZEN JOURNALISM ADDS TO THE MIX
IT’S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW; IT’S WHO YOU KNOW
MORE SOCIALIZING AND NICHE NETWORKING
R.E.M. TO THE RESCUE
COCKTAIL CHATTER – BIG BYTES
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.
TAKE A BYTE OUT OF TIME: The amount of digital information generated in the world last year alone was equal to 3 million times the amount of information in all the books ever written, according to research firm IDC. An article in MIT’s Technology Review says that’s like 12 stack of books that each reach from the Earth to the Sun. In tech talk, that’s 161 exabytes of data. (An Exabyte is a billion gigabytes.) A study three years earlier in 2003 by researchers at the University of California-Berkeley totaled the global information production that year at 5 exabytes. That’s the equivalent of 37,000 libraries of Congress. By the year 2010, three years from now, there will be more data generated than there will be places to put it. Technically speaking. A report by research firm IDC says last year the world had 185 exabytes of storage available and by 2010 it will have 601 exabytes. But the amount of ‘stuff’ generated will jump from 161 exabytes last year to 988 exabytes in 2010. (And if you want another techie word to throw around in cocktail conversation, 1,000 exabytes equal one zettabyte.) Luckily, the report cited in MIT’s Technology Review notes that much of the data does get deleted and the methods of storage continue to improve. Even so, the article notes that the amount of information being generated will put pressure on developing better technologies to find, sort and secure the material. One last interesting factoid in this age of YouTube and MySpace from the report – by the year 2010, 70% of the world’s digital data will be created by individuals not corporations.
CITIZEN JOURNALISM ADDS TO THE MIX: Starting this week, several broadcast groups are joining in the citizen journalism movement. Television stations owned by Fisher Communications, Journal Broadcast Group and Granite Broadcasting will invite citizen journalists’ to produce anything from online news footage to complete reports. The groups plan to start airing pieces later this month in the different markets under the umbrella name of YouNewsTV. Regular readers of MfM know that several national and international news organizations, including MSNBC, Reuters and The Weather Channel, have already started similar programs. And although the Broadcasting and Cable magazine article emphasizes that this is a local effort, I should note it is not the first. Pappas Telecasting has its own citizen journalism website called communitycorrespondent.com. The president and CEO of Broadcast Interactive Media which put together the three group plan emphasized that it is a “revenue-driving initiative (and) if the video is not suitable to have advertising or is copyrighted material, it is not going up.”In a very much related note, BusinessWeek’s Jackie Coyle reports that TV networks and advertisers are increasingly adopting the YouTube model of viewer created content for a simple reason – they know a good trend when they see it. She makes the interesting point that those people creating videos for the web want to be on TV because it’s “the big leagues.” On the flip side, with traditional media in something of a free-fall, executives are looking for anything to stop it. Coyle scores the quote of the week, from Current TV co-creator Joel Hyatt who says, “this is not a genie that’s going back in the bottle.”
IT’S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW; IT’S WHO YOU KNOW: Remember that old saw? Well, here are some people you should know. It’s PC World’s list of the most important people on the web. Now, some you know, or at least know of – Larry Page, Sergey Brin who founded Google and Eric Schmidt who runs it; Steve Jobs whose name is synonymous with Apple; Bram Cohen, co-founder of BitTorrent; Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia; Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist; Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, co-founders of YouTube; Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, co-founders of Skype and KaZaA. What I liked about the PC World article is the semi debunking note that Time magazine’s Person of the Year – You – would not be making all those viral videos and doing all that social networking without these people. What I found particularly interesting was the people I don’t know but would like to know. People like John Doerr, a Venture Capitalist with the firm of Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield & Byers, whose investing in tech businesses, the magazine says, puts him at “the center of gravity in the Internet.” Or how about Paul Graham, Trevor Blackwell, Robert Morris and Jessica Livingston, co-founders of Y-Combinator, which the magazine says doles out smaller amounts of money, instead of huge chunks, to ‘potential mini-Googles.’ Then there’s the people I vaguely know but would like to know. For example, if you want to understand the war in Iraq, Mohammed and Omar Fadhill are Iraqis living in Baghdad whose blog, Iraq the Model, shows you the war from the citizen journalist power of view. If you really want to keep up with the best of the best in news, you have to keep up with Gabe Rivera, who created website Techmeme, which, as the magazine puts it, harnesses the blogosphere’s investigative power. After writing a news story headlined, “Anna Nicole Smith’s condition downgraded to dead,” how could you not want to read about Drew Curtis, founder of Fark.com where current news is dissected. And if you want to know if you’re in with the in crowd, then you need to know Tila Tequila. The singer/ model/ actress has redefined the word ‘friend’ with – count them – 1.6 Million MySpace user-friends, 56 million page views and 1,734,374 comments
MORE SOCIALIZING: You may remember a previous MfM talked about the social networking or social media revolution (which is the word all the studies used) coming to the digital and business world. Well, as further proof, add all these companies to the list. – Reuters, Netscape, Cisco, USA Today, Royal Dutch Airlines and Velvet Puffin. Now, if you just went, “huh?” on that last name, I understand. Velvet Puffin is a Singapore-based firm that has joined the long list of companies jumping on the social networking bandwagon, with networking software for use on mobile devices. Reuters is building a social networking site for fund managers and traders; Royal Dutch Airlines is building a social networking site for entrepreneurs with special interests in China and Africa; Cisco which is better known for development of the Internet technical backbone has bought Tribe.net, an also-ran in social networking websites overshadowed by YouTube and MySpace; and USA Today has revamped its website to add in social networking features. All of which seems to confirm the prediction by Netscape co-founder Marc Andreesen in an article in The New York Times that social networks will be everywhere, becoming more specialized and personalized niche websites. His Ning.com website is designed to provide the interface and bandwidth for people interested in starting their own social networks. Marketing website Marketingprofs.com says social networks are part of a “democratization of content creation.”
NICHE NETWORKING: A sort of variation on the specialized social networking movement noted in the previous article is the announcement that startup webcompany Next New Networks plans to launch 101 ‘micro-networks’ over the next five years. The websites will target small, different communities and brands. For example, the first ones to launch include channelfederator.com which are cartoons sent in by users, pulpsecret.com which focuses on comic book news, and threadbanger.com which looks at fashion designers.
R.E.M. TO THE RESCUE: Athens-based band R.E.M. will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight. Now, aside from the fact that I live in Athens, why is this worth noting? The event tonight (March 12th) will be carried Live – not just on television (on VH1) but also on-line (on AOL). Remember the worldwide on-line live presentation of the Live Concert? The move marks another milestone in the merging, converging, diverging digital and analog world.
COCKTAIL CHATTER: Presidential candidate John Edwards opened up a campaign headquarters on virtual world Second Life. Okay, that’s weird enough, but what’s even weirder is a group of “anarchist hippies” attacked his virtual world headquarters. On a semi-related note, Sony has announced it is planning to launch virtual worlds as part of its Game 3.0 push. China has launched a successful anti-satellite weapons test, knocking out one of its own weather satellites with a ballistic missile. Okay, that’s bad enough because it raises concerns the Chinese could do the same to an American or other nation’s satellite; but what’s been missed is that this is the largest debris-generating event in earth orbit ever recorded, with 917 pieces of debris recorded – debris which can hit other satellites.
SELF-SERVING PLUG: But a good one nevertheless. We here at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication are offering an all-day Bluejeans Workshop which is “short on philosophy but long on helpful, practical information.” The workshop is actually four concurrent workshops on reporting, shooting and editing but all with one theme – good storytelling. Presenters include Wayne Freedman, storyteller extraordinaire from KGO-TV and author of the book – It Takes More Than Good Looks; WYFF-TV photographer John Hendon who has won more videography awards than just about anybody; former NBC editor and NPPA video editing instructor James ‘Butch” Townsley; and CNN ‘digital news gatherer’ Bryan Pearson. The workshop on Saturday, March 31, costs all of $25, (and that includes lunch) thanks in part to corporate partner, CNN. For more info, go to http://www.grady.uga.edu/Bluejeans/.
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, March 05, 2007
Message from Michael -- March 5, 2007
THE TWO SIDES OF THE ONLINE VIDEO COIN
SING IT – THAT’S COM-MUN-I-TAIN-MENT
THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
FACT OF THE WEEK
THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR
COCKTAIL CHATTER – RAZZIES, ESTONIA AND HALAL
A FOOTNOTE – THE NEWS WARS
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 TWO SIDES OF THE ONLINE VIDEO COIN: The Online Publishers’ Association reports that nearly a fourth of U.S. consumers with web access watch online videos at least once a week, while 70% have viewed an online video ad and, of those who have viewed an online ad, a third have gone to the advertiser’s website. A survey by the Leichtman Research Group has a similar but slightly different take, reporting that 4% of ALL adults over the age of 18 in the United States watch video online every day and that an additional 14% watch online video once a week. By way of comparison, the report notes that 93% of all adults spend at least one hour A DAY, on average, watching TV. The survey of what it called ‘non-TV video services’ (meaning not just broadband, but iPods and cell phones) found that men 18-34 accounted for 41% of all online video viewing, although the demographic accounted for only 14% of the sample. What I found particularly interesting, and somewhat buried, was the statement that while total online video usage has increased in the past year, the percentage of adults watching online video remains relatively unchanged. I take that to mean that a small minority are just watching more. Yet, the survey reports that only 8% of those who watch video online ‘strongly agree’ that they watch less TV.
In fact, the researchers at Knowledge Network, which uses a web-based consumer panel, says its study shows that broadband streaming of TV programs is good for the networks AND good for the advertisers. On the network side, the study says three-quarters (78%) of TV network website viewers report that being able to watch online “increases their involvement with a program,” and that a quarter (25%) report they are watching the actual TV program more often because of the availability of the Internet version. On the advertiser side, the study says nearly half (49%) of THOSE viewers say they would give more consideration to sponsors who support such streaming videos, and THOSE viewers (30%) are more likely than Internet users overall (22%) to buy from companies that advertise on their favorite programs. The head of research for Knowledge Network says it all builds equity for the network and advertisers.
SING IT – THAT’S COM-MUN-I-TAIN MENT: Not even Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire could make it sound right. (I’m referring, of course, to the movie That’s Entertainment. Now, when I say That’s Entertainment, the younger people in the MfM crowd will think of Jam while the older crowd will say, “jam who?” Anyway… ). Research firm Piper Jaffray coined the term “Communitainment” which it says is the collision of community, communication and entertainment on the Internet. In a report titled “The User Revolution,” the group says global online advertising revenue is expected to reach $81.1 Billion by 2011 and that “communitainment is taking time away from other, traditional types of content consumption on the Internet.” The firm was on a word coinage binge and created another, ‘usites,’ to refer to user generated sites which are drawing from traditional sites. The report also warns -- or counsels, depending on how you look at it – about the growth of user generated brands with consumers taking control of content consumption and branding; media fragmentation with advertisers having to buy more inventory to have the desired impact; and the ‘golden search’ where search has become the new portal.Coincidentally, and somewhat oddly, Hitwise, which describes itself as a ‘competitive intelligence service,’ also reports that its research confirms the growth of consumer generated media (CGM) which it says is causing mainstream media to “scramble.” (I say ‘oddly’ because the report is only recently making news, although when I investigated it, I found the report was originally released in November of last year.) The report focuses on social networking sites, with the top 20 sites doubling their market share of visits year to year; photo sharing websites which include not just Flickr (which you will have heard about from MfM) but also Photobucket which is described as the clear leader in ‘image hosting’ as well as Imageshack and Slide; and user generated video which the report says has seen “a drastic increase” in the past year with user generated videos like TMX Elmo and Pokemon Theme Music Video rivaling established names like Weird Al Yankovic’s White and Nerdy.
THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: Proof that beauty, and perceptions, are all in the eye of the beholder. The Piper Jaffray report says ad networks are experiencing increased demand because of Internet fragmentation and the need for targeted inventory while ad agencies are evolving into more sophisticated, technology-savvy entities. Yet a survey by Forrester Research finds that clients believe ad agencies are unprepared for the way consumers use media and technology, and warned that the bigger agencies must integrate with smaller media outfits if they want to remain relevant. Not surprisingly, the majority of ad agency executives in the survey think they’re well prepared and well positioned to deal with the changes. AdAge did a similar survey to find out whether traditional media felt ready to use digital media to reach consumers, or as the article put it – are they ready to deliver their clients’ message to wired customers. In any case, the article says, the upshot was – “could you repeat the question.” And for those journalists, broadcasters and other traditional media types, wondering what advertising has to do with them, the point is – ask yourself the same question. Are you really ready?
FACT OF THE WEEK: Nearly 18,000 media employees lost their jobs last year, and that, according to an article in Broadcasting and Cable, is the biggest group of layoffs since the dotcom bubble burst in 2001. The figures from New York based global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas for 2006 are 88% higher than the year before. Reporter Anne Becker writes that the ‘grim reality’ for the media giants is that “staying ahead often means cutting heads” and that while some jobs were ‘obsolesced’ by new technology, other cuts have come from units that “were once sexy but are now less so compared with shiny, new digital products.” And the factoid of the week is a line from her article talking about the rush to introduce new digital products. It reads, “revenue from these products remains a fraction of the advertising revenue from good old linear TV and will probably stay that way forever.” If you would like to read the full article, it’s at: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6419245.html&referral=supp.
THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR: You may have heard that the Fox News Channel has started its own news satire show on Sunday nights called 1D2 Hour News Show as a counter to Jon Stewart’s Daily Show. Well, now, Fox is following that up with a half-hour of stories derived from the blogosphere and titled “It’s Out There.” And later this month, satirical weekly and website The Onion is taking on broadcast journalism with its own streaming video ‘news’ network. The paper which is known for such stories as “expert too lazy for TV” and “scientists discover new cable channel” has established its own production unit to create the viral videos. And if you can’t wait until the end of the month, try “hipster magazine” Vice’s website VBS.TV which produces comedic, satirical and some amazingly biting citizen journalism videos on everything from traveling across the America to visiting the largest gun market in the world.
COCKTAIL CHATTER: The alternative to the Academy Awards is the Razzies, the “golden raspberry awards” for the worst in film-making. “Winners,” if that’s the right word are Basic Instinct 2, for worst picture, Marlon and Shawn Wayans for worst actors in Little Man, and Sharon Stone for worst actress in Basic Instinct 2. The little country of Estonia has successfully introduced e-voting, online voting, with nearly 30,000 votes cast online out of 104,000. Coca-Cola plans to launch a diet coke with vitamins and minerals while Pepsi is planning to introduce a higher-caffeine diet cola. And if your tastes run to something stronger, Jack Daniels is running a sweepstake in which the prizes are whiskey barrels, valued at $96 – empty, of course. Two British companies are introducing Halal prepared baby food. Halal food is prepared according to Islamic religious rules. This is actually fairly serious issue because the World Health Organization reports that iron deficiency is a problem in several countries because of the lack of such prepared foods.
A FOOTNOTE: The PBS program Frontline is doing a four-part series on the News Wars. This should be, and will be, a whole MfM of its own. However, on the briefest of reviews, I have to say that there was little in the program that is new to anybody following media trends. Even so, one of the points made in the program is so basic, yet so important, that I thought it was worth noting. And that is the idea that ‘new media’ is dependent on ‘old media’ in the sense that most of the new media does not do original reporting. Somewhere, some how, somebody must initiate, inquire, investigate. That has been the job of ‘old media.’ Much of the new media simply aggregates that information, and inasmuch as it does so, the program notes, it fails to stimulate original thought. And therein lies the challenge and questions about citizen journalism and consumer generated media.
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.
SING IT – THAT’S COM-MUN-I-TAIN-MENT
THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
FACT OF THE WEEK
THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR
COCKTAIL CHATTER – RAZZIES, ESTONIA AND HALAL
A FOOTNOTE – THE NEWS WARS
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 TWO SIDES OF THE ONLINE VIDEO COIN: The Online Publishers’ Association reports that nearly a fourth of U.S. consumers with web access watch online videos at least once a week, while 70% have viewed an online video ad and, of those who have viewed an online ad, a third have gone to the advertiser’s website. A survey by the Leichtman Research Group has a similar but slightly different take, reporting that 4% of ALL adults over the age of 18 in the United States watch video online every day and that an additional 14% watch online video once a week. By way of comparison, the report notes that 93% of all adults spend at least one hour A DAY, on average, watching TV. The survey of what it called ‘non-TV video services’ (meaning not just broadband, but iPods and cell phones) found that men 18-34 accounted for 41% of all online video viewing, although the demographic accounted for only 14% of the sample. What I found particularly interesting, and somewhat buried, was the statement that while total online video usage has increased in the past year, the percentage of adults watching online video remains relatively unchanged. I take that to mean that a small minority are just watching more. Yet, the survey reports that only 8% of those who watch video online ‘strongly agree’ that they watch less TV.
In fact, the researchers at Knowledge Network, which uses a web-based consumer panel, says its study shows that broadband streaming of TV programs is good for the networks AND good for the advertisers. On the network side, the study says three-quarters (78%) of TV network website viewers report that being able to watch online “increases their involvement with a program,” and that a quarter (25%) report they are watching the actual TV program more often because of the availability of the Internet version. On the advertiser side, the study says nearly half (49%) of THOSE viewers say they would give more consideration to sponsors who support such streaming videos, and THOSE viewers (30%) are more likely than Internet users overall (22%) to buy from companies that advertise on their favorite programs. The head of research for Knowledge Network says it all builds equity for the network and advertisers.
SING IT – THAT’S COM-MUN-I-TAIN MENT: Not even Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire could make it sound right. (I’m referring, of course, to the movie That’s Entertainment. Now, when I say That’s Entertainment, the younger people in the MfM crowd will think of Jam while the older crowd will say, “jam who?” Anyway… ). Research firm Piper Jaffray coined the term “Communitainment” which it says is the collision of community, communication and entertainment on the Internet. In a report titled “The User Revolution,” the group says global online advertising revenue is expected to reach $81.1 Billion by 2011 and that “communitainment is taking time away from other, traditional types of content consumption on the Internet.” The firm was on a word coinage binge and created another, ‘usites,’ to refer to user generated sites which are drawing from traditional sites. The report also warns -- or counsels, depending on how you look at it – about the growth of user generated brands with consumers taking control of content consumption and branding; media fragmentation with advertisers having to buy more inventory to have the desired impact; and the ‘golden search’ where search has become the new portal.Coincidentally, and somewhat oddly, Hitwise, which describes itself as a ‘competitive intelligence service,’ also reports that its research confirms the growth of consumer generated media (CGM) which it says is causing mainstream media to “scramble.” (I say ‘oddly’ because the report is only recently making news, although when I investigated it, I found the report was originally released in November of last year.) The report focuses on social networking sites, with the top 20 sites doubling their market share of visits year to year; photo sharing websites which include not just Flickr (which you will have heard about from MfM) but also Photobucket which is described as the clear leader in ‘image hosting’ as well as Imageshack and Slide; and user generated video which the report says has seen “a drastic increase” in the past year with user generated videos like TMX Elmo and Pokemon Theme Music Video rivaling established names like Weird Al Yankovic’s White and Nerdy.
THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: Proof that beauty, and perceptions, are all in the eye of the beholder. The Piper Jaffray report says ad networks are experiencing increased demand because of Internet fragmentation and the need for targeted inventory while ad agencies are evolving into more sophisticated, technology-savvy entities. Yet a survey by Forrester Research finds that clients believe ad agencies are unprepared for the way consumers use media and technology, and warned that the bigger agencies must integrate with smaller media outfits if they want to remain relevant. Not surprisingly, the majority of ad agency executives in the survey think they’re well prepared and well positioned to deal with the changes. AdAge did a similar survey to find out whether traditional media felt ready to use digital media to reach consumers, or as the article put it – are they ready to deliver their clients’ message to wired customers. In any case, the article says, the upshot was – “could you repeat the question.” And for those journalists, broadcasters and other traditional media types, wondering what advertising has to do with them, the point is – ask yourself the same question. Are you really ready?
FACT OF THE WEEK: Nearly 18,000 media employees lost their jobs last year, and that, according to an article in Broadcasting and Cable, is the biggest group of layoffs since the dotcom bubble burst in 2001. The figures from New York based global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas for 2006 are 88% higher than the year before. Reporter Anne Becker writes that the ‘grim reality’ for the media giants is that “staying ahead often means cutting heads” and that while some jobs were ‘obsolesced’ by new technology, other cuts have come from units that “were once sexy but are now less so compared with shiny, new digital products.” And the factoid of the week is a line from her article talking about the rush to introduce new digital products. It reads, “revenue from these products remains a fraction of the advertising revenue from good old linear TV and will probably stay that way forever.” If you would like to read the full article, it’s at: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6419245.html&referral=supp.
THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR: You may have heard that the Fox News Channel has started its own news satire show on Sunday nights called 1D2 Hour News Show as a counter to Jon Stewart’s Daily Show. Well, now, Fox is following that up with a half-hour of stories derived from the blogosphere and titled “It’s Out There.” And later this month, satirical weekly and website The Onion is taking on broadcast journalism with its own streaming video ‘news’ network. The paper which is known for such stories as “expert too lazy for TV” and “scientists discover new cable channel” has established its own production unit to create the viral videos. And if you can’t wait until the end of the month, try “hipster magazine” Vice’s website VBS.TV which produces comedic, satirical and some amazingly biting citizen journalism videos on everything from traveling across the America to visiting the largest gun market in the world.
COCKTAIL CHATTER: The alternative to the Academy Awards is the Razzies, the “golden raspberry awards” for the worst in film-making. “Winners,” if that’s the right word are Basic Instinct 2, for worst picture, Marlon and Shawn Wayans for worst actors in Little Man, and Sharon Stone for worst actress in Basic Instinct 2. The little country of Estonia has successfully introduced e-voting, online voting, with nearly 30,000 votes cast online out of 104,000. Coca-Cola plans to launch a diet coke with vitamins and minerals while Pepsi is planning to introduce a higher-caffeine diet cola. And if your tastes run to something stronger, Jack Daniels is running a sweepstake in which the prizes are whiskey barrels, valued at $96 – empty, of course. Two British companies are introducing Halal prepared baby food. Halal food is prepared according to Islamic religious rules. This is actually fairly serious issue because the World Health Organization reports that iron deficiency is a problem in several countries because of the lack of such prepared foods.
A FOOTNOTE: The PBS program Frontline is doing a four-part series on the News Wars. This should be, and will be, a whole MfM of its own. However, on the briefest of reviews, I have to say that there was little in the program that is new to anybody following media trends. Even so, one of the points made in the program is so basic, yet so important, that I thought it was worth noting. And that is the idea that ‘new media’ is dependent on ‘old media’ in the sense that most of the new media does not do original reporting. Somewhere, some how, somebody must initiate, inquire, investigate. That has been the job of ‘old media.’ Much of the new media simply aggregates that information, and inasmuch as it does so, the program notes, it fails to stimulate original thought. And therein lies the challenge and questions about citizen journalism and consumer generated media.
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
Message from Michael-- February 26, 2007
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.
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.
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.
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