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Welcome to the Digital Edge Blog!
The Digital Edge Blog focuses on developments, trends, best practices and more in newspaper digital media. The blog launched in 2006 (archives before August 2008 are here).
We look forward to reading your comments and contributions to the Digital Edge Blog. Questions? E-mail Beth Lawton at beth.lawton@naa.org.
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As part of NAA's ongoing PR efforts to promote the vitality and value of newspapers, we have invited industry thought leaders to write op-ed pieces on behalf of newspapers, including Centro CEO Shawn Riegsecker, Martin Agency President Mike Hughes and Scarborough President Bob Cohen.
On Friday, The Huffington Post published a piece by IAB President and CEO Randall Rothenberg. In it, he wrote:
Newspapers remain a vital force - and maintain a strong business position - in a place where the Web-centric technorati of the Left Coast rarely look because they spend too much time in their cars and their cubicles: the community. ...
Recent research by the Newspaper Association of America shows that local newspaper Web sites rank first among all sources for trustworthiness, credibility, and access to local content online, and that consumers also consider local newspaper sites to be their most trusted source for online advertising.
Read Rothenberg's Huffington Post op-ed and join other NAA members on LinkedIn to discuss it.
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 "Is the day of tiny ads finally here?"
That's what The New York Times asked in a recent news
analysis, half-joking that we've all been declaring for several years that
"this year" - whatever year it was/is - would be the year mobile advertising
really took off.
eMarketer reported in December that mobile coupons usage is going to accelerate. In an update this week, eMarketer reported
that younger and more affluent mobile users are most comfortable using mobile
coupons, even though the number of people interested in using them is still
fairly small, especially compared to print coupon use.
Still, several newspapers are having success selling mobile
coupons to their advertisers, and other newspapers are doing well at creating ad programs
that really engage smaller, local businesses. Some of the mobile programs are even re-energizing
interest in related print advertising.
NAA will explore best practices and opportunities for several types of mobile
revenue (from basic text messaging programs to complex apps) in the mediaXchange session, "Mobile Revenue: Beyond the Mini-Banner
Ad." The conference is April 11 - 14. You can register for mediaXchange here.
Confirmed speakers for this session: Jeffrey Litvack, Associated Press Mobile; Tim Repsher, Media General; Andy Lobred, Media General. Additional speakers to be announced. More information about mediaXchange is available at mediaxchange.naa.org. Remember to check out mediaXchange on Facebook, follow the NAA_Community on Twitter and connect with NAA on LinkedIn.
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This week
is worldwide Social Media Week!
At a Social
Media Week event in New York yesterday, Ian Schafer,
founder of the interactive marketing agency Deep Focus,
said this:
[Social
media] is forcing governments to listen to their people once again, and forcing
businesses to remember that they have customers with voices that can make more
rational, informed decisions. ... We are undergoing a renaissance of sorts, where
ongoing planning and real-time thinking has become more important - more valued
- because so much of what drives a consumer's purchase decision has spiraled so
far out of marketers' control. These decisions are now happening because of
conversations - not just commercials. For brands, the depth of social
interaction is just as important as the breadth of the reach and frequency of
ad impressions. And we believe that delivering that depth of engagement - at
scale - is not only the future of marketing services, but also the future of
marketing.
The
Newspaper Association of America will be hosting a session during our annual mediaXchange conference on how your
newspaper can earn revenue through social media - and Ian Schafer will be our main
presenter.
Also
presenting: Jay Horton from the Knoxville News Sentinel. That newspaper has
been experimenting with setting up (and in some cases running) entire social
media campaigns for local advertisers, including car dealerships and
restaurants.
This is
just one of several digital media revenue-focused session during this year's
mediaXchange conference. Throughout the next several weeks on the Digital Edge
blog, we'll be posting information about these important sessions.
The conference is April 11 - 14 in Orlando. To register
for mediaXchange, go to mediaxchange.naa.org.
Recent
social media news:
News Organizations Tap into Twitter, Facebook
to Generate Ad Revenue (Poynter)
Could
Facebook Overtake Yahoo as the Third-Largest Web Property Worldwide?
(TechCrunch)
Bravo!
FourSquare Snags a TV Partnership (Mashable)
NAA's Digital Edge released a
series of articles in November about how newspapers are using social networks
to engage readers and advertisers.
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Looking for a way to interact with your fellow
colleagues?  The previous Newspaper Association of America Federation e-forums
have moved to the LinkedIn platform. A new NAA LinkedIn Group has been created
for employees of NAA member companies and for select employees of associate
member companies.
To join the NAA LinkedIn Group and begin participating
in the discussions, please visit LinkedIn. You will be asked to sign-in to your existing
LinkedIn account, or to create a new account if you do not already have one, and
submit a request to join our new group.
Membership in the NAA LinkedIn Group is restricted to
NAA members only. Participation in the group also provides access to the
following topical sub-groups:
- NAA
Digital
- NAA
Revenue
- NAA
Research
- NAA Audience &
Circulation
- NAA Production,
Operations & IT.
NAA Web Audience
Measurement Series
Lack of
standards in measuring Web traffic and audience behavior and discrepancies
between panel and server data are inhibiting more robust growth of online
revenue. Major Web measurement companies are now participating in Media Rating
Council audits and improving their methodologies to provide more reliable and
consistent data to publishers.
This series
of free Webinars will update the industry on changes in how Web audiences will
be measured going forward and the impact on newspaper Web-site traffic
data.
Future of
Web Audience Measurement
February 19, 2 p.m. (ET)
Media
Rating Council CEO and Executive Director George Ivie will provide an overview
of the audit process; obstacles faced by publishers, advertisers and suppliers;
methodology changes that will improve data collection; and the emergence of
hybrid systems (combining user-centric panel measurement with site-centric
"census" measurement). Register here. Nielsen
Online Update Tuesday, February 23, 3 p.m. (ET)
Nielsen Web
measurement executives will provide an update on Nielsen products and its own
hybrid solution. Register here.
comScore
Update Thursday, February 25, 2 p.m. (ET)
comScore
Chief Research Officer Josh Chasin will describe improvements in comScore's
methodology, including its hybrid Media Metrix 360 Methodology and its impact on
newspapers. Register here.
Quantcast
Update Wednesday, March 3, 2 p.m. (ET)
CEO Konrad
Feldman will describe how Quantcast's free, hybrid service can help newspapers
better measure their audience and find new advertisers for unsold
inventory. Register here.
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Editor's Note
Beginning
Wednesday, Feb. 3, NAA will launch PRESSTIME Update, a weekly electronic
newsletter designed to provide members with the information they need to
achieve success in today's media environment - from legislative news that
affects your bottom line to advertising and audience trends. The new
publication will be delivered each Wednesday and will combine elements from all
of our newsletters - including the Digital Edge, Growing Audience E-Alert and
Public Policy News.
Subscribers
to this newsletter automatically will be subscribed to the PRESSTIME
Update. While we will not continue to publish the Digital Edge News Update
(formerly the Online Publishing Update) as a 3x/week newsletter, we will
continue to post discipline-specific items of interest to the Digital Edge Blog.
Thank
you for your support and we hope you enjoy PRESSTIME Update.
Hype Over, iPad Presents
Opportunities for Newspapers
 For all its hype,
the Apple iPad
will not be the savior of the newspaper and magazine industries. However, it
does present some interesting opportunities for publishers. That's the
consensus among dozens of technology and media reporters following Apple's
debut of the iPad tablet device earlier this week. Read more in NAA's Digital Edge Blog. Source: NAA
See also:
IAB's
Rothenberg: iPad is a Threat to Online Ads (Paid Content)
Device
Revives Gaget Debate: One Thing Well, or All Things in One? (The Wall Street
Journal)
Who Will
Buy the iPad? (CNet)
Apple May
Sell 1 Million to 5 Million iPads in First Year (Apple Insider)
Google to Launch Location-Aware Mobile Search Ads
Google has
launched location-aware mobile search ads, allowing a person who searches for a
product on their GPS-enabled smart phone to click and call a business or see
local ads based on their search. According to the Official Google Blog, "if a
store or restaurant has multiple locations, you'll be calling the nearest one,
and not making reservations in some other city."
Source: The
Official Google Blog
See also:
Giving
Mobile Ads a Makeover (The Wall Street Journal)
Why Some Online Ads Don't Work
Sometimes
online ads don't work well because they are too complex, ugly or difficult to
read. "Most people aren't as interested in your products and services as you
are; avoid the details. To interest them, attract their eye with uncluttered
visual displays and concise, to-the-point headlines and body copy. In short:
Keep it simple," wrote advertising effectiveness consultant Philip Sawyer in an
AdAge column.
Source:
AdAge
Quote of the Day: Focusing on the Content,
Not on the Device
"With the
evolution of e-readers and tablets, readers will have exponentially more
choices for content packaged in more ways than ever before. While this might
offer grand potential for news distribution and commerce, those that don't make
quality and unique content their priority are likely to find that the
technology will only hasten their demise as readers leave for all their newly
discovered choices."
-- Sean Reily, L.A. Times director
of editorial finance and current Reynolds Journalism Institute fellow, in a
blog entry.
Note: Sean Riley will be speaking at
NAA's mediaXchange conference in a special session on newspaper e-reader business models.
You can register to attend and learn more about mediaXchange at
mediaxchange.naa.org.
Have you registered for
mediaXchange yet?
 mediaXchange is an
interesting, cost-efficient way to learn about new revenue opportunities and
network with your newspaper media peers.
In addition to connecting
with the advertisers above, mediaXchange is your chance to meet new people and
learn about opportunities that will boost your newspaper's digital media
revenue. The trip will pay for itself in the knowledge you gain!
mediaXchange has lots of
programming for the digital media executive!
Digital Media session
topics include:
- Opportunities with E-Readers and Other Emerging
Devices
- Digital Media Revenue Ideas Session
- 10 Technology Trends
- Growing Revenue through Mobile
Innovations
- Leveraging Social Media Solutions
Hear from Kodak's Jeff
Hazelet!
Jeff Hazelet is
responsible for Kodak's worldwide marketing operations, including the design
and implementation of all marketing strategies, investments, policies, and
processes.
Kodak is one of the many companies that have successfully navigated a major
transition from a print to a digital world. According to a recent AdAge.com
article, Kodak tapped "influential bloggers, Twitterers and
Facebookaholics to move the needle" for its recent "Time to
Smile" branding campaign.
mediaXchange
is April 11 - 14 in Orlando.
Register for mediaXchange today!
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For all its
hype,
the Apple iPad
will not be the savior of the newspaper and magazine industries. However, it
does present some interesting opportunities for publishers.
That's the
consensus among dozens of technology and media reporters this morning following
yesterday's debut of the Apple iPad tablet device.
The
unfortunately
named iPad is like a bigger, souped-up iPhone (without the phone or camera). The iPad
features a browser (Safari), photos, video, maps, e-mail and a calendar; it runs iPhone
applications, including the new iBook store app; it has a wireless connection
and a contract-free 3G option. The New York Times, which developed a new app
for the device, took part in the debut event yesterday. (Get started: Here's the software development kit.)
It didn't
take long for reporters to call it a Kindle killer. Earlier this week (in a smartly-timed
release), a University of Georgia study gave Amazon's Kindle e-reader low ratings as a newspaper-reading device, Editor
& Publisher reported. This isn't a surprise, really, since the Kindle does
not have a color screen, dynamic layout, etc.
Although
the iPad (and some other e-reader/tablet-like devices) promise better
experiences than the Kindle, the real potential here lies in the fact that most
things
Apple touches turn to gold. This device could put new life into the tablet market
the same way the iPod did for MP3 players. The iPad, just by existing, may spur
competitive innovation. (The announcement itself was so hot that Twitter slowed
down and CoverIt Live was overloaded.) For newspapers, this puts on some pressure to develop applications or sites and features that will keep consumers engaged with the newspaper's content on this new device. It also offers a chance for newspapers to show readers how forward-thinking and innovative they can be on any platform -- something many newspapers have shown through their impressive mobile and online video efforts in the past few years. As many
analysts and reporters have pointed out, there are shortfalls to the iPad. A chief concern
among advertising executives (and therefore for newspaper execs) is that the
device doesn't support Flash.
This morning, AdAge reported that "either means advertisers will need to stop building ads in
Flash (no chance) or publishers will need to build app versions of their
publications upon the iPad SDK (software development kit), resulting in a lot
more work, a lot more time, a lot more resources." It is unclear how much subscription-related revenue newspapers will be able to get from iPad readers.
Here's a
roundup of some worthwhile reading about how the iPad will impact the newspaper
and magazine publishing industries: Wall Street -- Not Apple -- May Offer the Best E-Reader Direction (RJI)
What Apple's iPad Means for Journalism Design, Multimedia & Business
(Poynter)
How Media
Can Profit from the iPad (Reflections of a Newsosaur)
Apple iPad Creates Opportunities, Not Solutions, for Publishers (Poynter)
Even Apple Can't Save Newspapers (MediaPost)
How to Know
if the Apple Tablet Will Save Print (Gawker)
For Media Industry, a Mixed Bag in iPad (The Wall Street Journal)
With Its Tablet, Apple Blurs Line Between Devices (The
New York Times)
P.S. Do I
want one? Yes. Am I going to get one? Probably not until version 2.0 comes out.
Besides, if Apple history repeats itself, the price will drop in a few months. P.P.S. Interested in more about the e-reader market? Go to www.naa.org/e-readers. Also view this archived NAA Webinar about application development.
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Newsday's Pay Wall: 3 Months Later...
 Newsday's
online pay wall isn't bringing in a lot of new revenue. The New York Observer
reported
just 35 people are paying $5 per week to access Newsday.com content.
However,
the goal of the project, according to Newsday, was not to increase revenue or
sell online subscriptions. Paid Content reported,
"the real emphasis has been on creating additional value for the services
Cablevision customers already get and improved engagement with local
subscribers." Cablevision subscribers get free access to all Newsday.com
content - a major factor in the whether the pay wall can be described as
"successful."
Sources:
The New York
Observer, Paid Content
More on paid content:
Nieman Lab
Blog Posts Paid Content Calculator (Nieman Journalism Lab)
What Apple's Tablet Could Mean for
Newspapers
 Until at
least 10 a.m. PST today, the Apple tablet is still just a rumor, as Nashua
Telegraph Online Managing Editor Damon Kiesow reminded us all this morning in a
Poynter round-up:
"According
to published reports, the forthcoming Apple tablet will: have a color touch
screen, work on 3G and Wifi networks, run a version of the iPhone operating
system, save the media industry, cure cancer and be announced at an event today
at 10 a.m. PST. Only the timing of the event is confirmed by Apple."
The
yet-to-be-official device has breathed life into the tablet industry and has
media publishers and developers scrambling to figure out how - and whether -
this will impact print content consumption the way the iPod did music.
"With the
widely anticipated introduction of a tablet computer at an event here on
Wednesday morning, Apple may be giving the media industry a kind of time
machine - a chance to undo mistakes of the past," The New York Times reported
in an article headlined, "With Apple Tablet, Print Media Hope for a Payday."
Poynter
will post a list
of live blogs, Tweets and other coverage during Apple's event today.
More on the tablet and other
e-readers:
Will
Newspapers Cash in on Apple's Tablet? (The Editors Weblog)
As a
Newspaper Device, Amazon's Kindle Gets Poor Consumer Reviews (Editor &
Publisher)
Apple
Tablet Can't Save Print on Its Own (Reuters)
Apple Seeks
to Avoid Past Tablet Flops (The Wall Street Journal)
Lessons to
Learn from Tablets Past (CNet)
New York
Times Reportedly Developing Large-Screen App with Video (The Los Angeles Times)
Hearst-Backed Skiff E-Reader to Debut This Year (Crain's
New York Business)
Canada's Metro News and FourSquare
Partner
 Canada's Metro News will be adding
location-specific editorial content to geo-social network FourSquare, the
newspaper announced. "People who choose to follow Metro on
Foursquare will then receive alerts when they're close to one of those
locations. For example, someone close to a restaurant that Metro has reviewed
would receive a "tip" about that restaurant and the have ability to
link through to the full Metro review on metronews.ca," according to a Metro News article.
Source:
Metro News
Also see:
My advice to the
New York Times? Copy Foursquare (eMedia Vitals
Engagement on Social Networks a Top
Priority for Marketers
Marketers
will be looking to invest more in social networks and applications to reach out
to consumers, according to a study from the Society of Digital Agencies,
eMarketer reported. More than 85 percent of survey respondents said social
networks and digital infrastructure were either a "top priority" or
"important." More than 75 percent said search optimization was a "top priority"
or "important."
Source:
eMarketer
State of the Union:
YouTube Lets Citizens Submit Questions for Obama Interview
YouTube
will broadcast President Barack Obama's State of the Union address live on
Citizentube tonight, and ask viewers to submit questions through a Google
Moderator series. Citizentube will host an interview with Obama next week with
viewer's top-rated questions, MediaPost reported.
Source:
MediaPost
NAA Foundation News
Challenge Deadline: March 1
News
Challenge, an innovative training session for upper-level college students
interested in digital media, takes place the first week of June. The NAA
Foundation pays all costs for participating students. Program objectives are to
give students a sense of the digital and multimedia opportunities at newspapers
and to interest them in working for the industry.
If you have any ties with
local colleges or know of students working part-time or as interns at your
newspapers, please encourage them to apply. The deadline to apply is March 1,
2010.
Snapshot from the Edge:
Newspapers Test Google Wave
As more
newspaper editors get invitations to Google Wave, NAA decided to take a look at
how media companies are experimenting with the technology.
In a new Digital Edge
article released Friday afternoon, Mark Toner wrote:
As Google Wave ends its
first year of existence, we have learned two things: First, there's no shortage
of critics who argue that the Google product, may be a technology searching for
a purpose. Second, the term "beta" applied to a Google product means
just that for a change. But newspapers should not wait to experiment with it,
given its potential to shape conversations both within and beyond news
organizations.
Read more in "Snapshot
from the Edge: Newspapers Test Google Wave."
Have you registered for
mediaXchange yet?
mediaXchange
is an interesting, cost-efficient way to learn about new revenue opportunities
and network with your newspaper media peers.
In addition to connecting
with the advertisers above, mediaXchange is your chance to meet new people and
learn about opportunities that will boost your newspaper's digital media
revenue. The trip will pay for itself in the knowledge you gain!
mediaXchange has lots of
programming for the digital media executive!
Digital Media session
topics include:
- Opportunities with E-Readers and Other Emerging Devices
- Digital Media Revenue Ideas Session
- 10 Technology Trends
- Growing Revenue through Mobile
Innovations
- Leveraging Social Media Solutions
Hear from Kodak's Jeff
Hazelet!
Jeff Hazelet is
responsible for Kodak's worldwide marketing operations, including the design
and implementation of all marketing strategies, investments, policies, and
processes.
Kodak is one of the many companies that have successfully navigated a major
transition from a print to a digital world. According to a recent AdAge.com
article, Kodak tapped "influential bloggers, Twitterers and
Facebookaholics to move the needle" for its recent "Time to
Smile" branding campaign.
mediaXchange is
April 11 - 14 in Orlando.
Register for mediaXchange today!
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Survey: How Journalists Use Social Networks
 In addition to using social media to promote newspaper content, many journalists are conducting some story research through blogs and social networks. A survey of 371 journalists by Cision and George Washington University's Don Bates revealed "89 percent said they look to blogs for story research, 65 percent go to social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, while 52 percent check out what's happening on Twitter and other microblogging sites," Poynter reported.
Source: Poynter
Note: In a series of articles released in November, the Newspaper Association of America took a close look at how newspapers are using Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and social bookmarking sites.
Time Spent, Audience on Social Sites Both Increase
Web users worldwide spent about 5.5 hours on social networking sites last month - an increase of 82 percent over a year ago, according to new data from Nielsen Online. The worldwide audience for social networking has increased 50 percent in the past three years, MediaPost reported.
Sources: MediaPost, Nielsen Online
Knight News Challenge Releases Report on Journalism Contests
 The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which runs the highly competitive Knight News Challenge, has released a report analyzing media innovation contests from the past four years. Journalism innovation contests like the Knight News Challenge have proliferated in the past several years as a tool for newspapers and other media outlets to encourage creative problem solving.
"We hope it will be a useful resource for organizations that are designing and implementing contests to spur innovation, as well as for nonprofits and individuals looking for funding opportunities in the area of media, information and communication," wrote Gary Kebbel, Knight's Journalism Program director, and Mayur Patel, director of strategic assessment and impact, in the introduction to the report.
Source: Knight Foundation
Rumored Apple Tablet to Impact Development of Apps
The rumored Apple tablet device, which the company might announce on Wednesday, will most likely run applications that were originally designed for the iPhone. However, developers are already gearing up to design new apps that take advantage of the tablet's larger screen, The New York Times reported. One developer said the larger screen "could mean entirely new user interfaces, screen layouts, instruments, contraptions and games."
Source: The New York Times
More on application development:
App Usage to Soar in 2010 (eMarketer)
Big Boost is Forecast for App Stores (eMarketer)
Financial Times to Launch Blackberry App and Micropayments (The Editors Weblog)
Web Presence Outlives People, Creating Business Niche
New companies are popping up online to store people's passwords and other personal information that can be accessible to others after that person dies, The Washington Post reported.
As more of our lives - financial, personal and otherwise - are conducted online, accessing someone's Web presence after their death such services "help denizens of the digital world grapple with the thorny issues raised after your physical being leaves behind only its virtual reality," according to the article. "Internet experts and estate planners say a cybercrisis is brewing because popular Internet services have policies that, barring an order from a court, forbid accessing or transferring accounts -- including recovering money -- unless someone has the password."
Source: The Washington Post
comScore's New Hybrid Method, Costs Bring Controversy
Web measurement and research company comScore has been rolling out a "hybrid" measurement method combining server-side and panel-based information, but the plans turned controversial over the weekend. One CEO slammed comScore for allegedly charging a high price to participating in the hybrid model if a company is not a comScore member, MediaPost reported.
Saturday, comScore posted a long blog post explaining the method and the associated costs.
Source: MediaPost
NAA Foundation News Challenge Deadline: March 1
 News Challenge, an innovative training session for upper-level college students interested in digital media, takes place the first week of June. The NAA Foundation pays all costs for participating students. Program objectives are to give students a sense of the digital and multimedia opportunities at newspapers and to interest them in working for the industry.
If you have any ties with local colleges or know of students working part-time or as interns at your newspapers, please encourage them to apply. The deadline to apply is March 1, 2010.
Snapshot from the Edge: Newspapers Test Google Wave
 As more newspaper editors get invitations to Google Wave, NAA decided to take a look at how media companies are experimenting with the technology.
In a new Digital Edge article released Friday afternoon, Mark Toner wrote:
As Google Wave ends its first year of existence, we have learned two things: First, there's no shortage of critics who argue that the Google product, may be a technology searching for a purpose. Second, the term "beta" applied to a Google product means just that for a change. But newspapers should not wait to experiment with it, given its potential to shape conversations both within and beyond news organizations.
Read more in "Snapshot from the Edge: Newspapers Test Google Wave."
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Reactions to NYTimes.com's Pay Wall
Announcement
 Wednesday
morning, New York Times Co. executives announced
the newspaper will implement a metered payment system online in January 2011.
The newspaper will spend this year figuring out the details, including price.
NYTimes.com visitors "will be allowed to view a certain number of articles free
each month; to read more, the reader must pay a flat fee for unlimited access.
Subscribers to the print newspaper, even those who subscribe only to the Sunday
paper, will receive full access to the site without any additional charge,"
according to a New York Times article.
Newspaper
executives Martin Nisenholtz and Janet Robinson answered questions
from NYTimes.com readers this week online. The memo to the newspaper's staff says, in part, "We are doing so because we believe that a second revenue stream will be
an important part of our future. While digital advertising will
continue to be the major contributor to our success on the Web, we
expect that online subscription revenue will improve our ability to
grow an important part of this business."
Reactions
to the announcement from journalists, industry pundits and others (even within
The New York Times) were swift and opinionated. Here are links to some of the
reactions:
Charging for Web Access Makes Business Sense for New York Times (Rick
Edmonds, Poynter)
Dialing in
a Plan: The Times Installs a Meter on Its Future (David Carr, New York Times)
NYTimes.com
Meter Could Alienate Valuable Readers (Nat Ives, AdAge)
The New
York Times' Online Meter Will Hardly Move the Needle (Erick Schonfeld,
TechCrunch)
Blodget's
Thoughts on This Paywall Decision by The New York Times (Henry Blodget,
Business Insider)
Pay meter
works at FT, but can it help NYT? (Alan Mutter, Newsosaur)
New York
Times Looks to Charge Online Readers, Again (Bill Mitchell, Bill Grueskin on the NewsHour)
* Note: The
Newspaper Association of America last year published a series of articles and
analysis on newspaper online paid content. Access the series at www.naa.org/paidcontent.
Apple Speaking with Publishers about
New Device; Kindle to Open App Store
Apple has been talking with publishers and other executives at several companies
about its new tablet device, which most people expect Apple will debut at a
Jan. 27 event. The device could ship to consumers this spring or early summer, The New York Times reported.
Meanwhile,
the Amazon Kindle e-reader will be letting people create "active content"
(similar to an app) for the device and keep 70 percent of the revenue from app
sales. Amazon already has released a software development kit to a limited
number of people.
Source: The
New York Times
Also see:
Apple Sees New Money in Old Media (The Wall Street Journal) Could Verizon Handle Apple Tablet Traffic? (The Wall Street Journal)
Yankee
Group: U.S.
E-book Reader Market to Hit $2.5 Billion in 2013 (Digital Media Wire)
E&P Report: Seattle Times Looks at Ads, Ethics and How Readers Perceive Contextual Ads  The Seattle Times took a look at how readers
react to contextual advertising and learned that readers are more accepting of
it on "soft" news stories.
Editor
& Publisher reported that "...the type of story the ad appeared next to
mattered greatly. The respondents' tolerance of contextual ads increased with
softer content, such as news that involved sports, entertainment and travel.
When a relevant ad ran next to a hard news article, respondents' eyebrows shot
up. Too many contextual ads surrounding news stories also made readers
suspicious."
The Seattle
Times conducted the study with a research grant from the Ethics &
Excellence in Journalism Foundation.
Source:
Editor & Publisher
NewsCred Shifts Focus to
Customizable News
NewsCred is
now giving users a way to build customizable news sites, TechCrunch reported.
Users can choose topics and categories, and NewsCred aggregates relevant
stories. In addition, users can write their own opinions and soon will be able
to profit from ads.
"With
NewsCred Pro, you can host your paper at a personal domain, run your own
advertising on the page, eliminate NewsCred branding, and further customize the
layout and newspaper template. Together, these features could allow you to
build a Huffington Post-style news hub, complete with your own opinion pieces,
focused on whatever topic you wanted," TechCrunch reported.
This is a
complete change in focus for NewsCred, which launched in 2008 with an algorithm
and user voting to rank news sources on a credibility index.
Source:
TechCrunch
Check In Here: FourSquare for
Newspapers; Yelp Gets Location-Aware
FourSquare,
which has been described as a location-based Twitter-like social network, may
have uses for journalists after all. "I see a lot of potential for it in terms
of journalism education, as it offers a new way to tell stories and add to the
record," wrote Jeremy Littau,
a former newspaper reporter and now a professor at Lehigh University.
"Did a local business fail a health inspection recently? Right now we put that
in the newspaper, which people are reading less, or on a Web site, where people
don't know how to find it among mountains of information. There is value in
journalists adding news and verified information to the record (including links
for more information) that would enhance a person's knowledge and ability to
experience (or avoid) a place."
Review site
Yelp.com has added a series of location-based features for its iPhone
application, including "check-in" information. A user who checks-in to a
location regularly may add credibility to his or her review. It is also seen as
a competitive move against FourSquare, according to Mashable.
Yelp will
also be debuting augmented reality features for the iPhone soon, CNet's
News.com reported.
Sources: @JeremyLittau,
Mashable, CNet
NAA Foundation News
Challenge Deadline: March 1
News
Challenge, an innovative training session for upper-level college students
interested in digital media, takes place the first week of June. The NAA
Foundation pays all costs for participating students. Program objectives are to
give students a sense of the digital and multimedia opportunities at newspapers
and to interest them in working for the industry. If you have any ties with
local colleges or know of students working part-time or as interns at your
newspapers, please encourage them to apply. The deadline to apply is March 1, 2010.
Snapshot from the Edge:
Newspapers Test Google Wave
As more
newspaper editors get invitations to Google Wave, NAA decided to take a look at
how media companies are experimenting with the technology.
In a new Digital Edge
article released Friday afternoon, Mark Toner wrote:
As Google Wave ends its
first year of existence, we have learned two things: First, there's no shortage
of critics who argue that the Google product, may be a technology searching for
a purpose. Second, the term "beta" applied to a Google product means
just that for a change. But newspapers should not wait to experiment with it,
given its potential to shape conversations both within and beyond news
organizations.
Read more in "Snapshot
from the Edge: Newspapers Test Google Wave."
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Update 10:06 a.m. -- New York Times Announces Pay Wall Plans for 2011
The New York Times announced this morning it would be implementing a metered pay wall system on its Web site in 2011. According to the newspaper's press release, the plans "will offer users free access to a set number of articles per month and then charge users once they exceed that number. This will enable NYTimes.com to create a second revenue stream and preserve its robust advertising business. It will also provide the necessary flexibility to keep an appropriate ratio between free and paid content and stay connected to a search-driven Web."
See the New York Times pay wall press release for more information.
Source: The New York Times
Outsell: News Users' Report Focuses on Aggregators, Paid Content
About 44 percent of Google News users just scan the headlines but never click through to a story, according to research firm Outsell's third annual News Users' Report. The report is based on a survey of more than 2,700 U.S. news consumers.
Other data points (from Editor & Publisher and TechCrunch):
Newspaper Web sites have increased their share of people going online for local news. Newspaper sites' share is up to 17 percent from 8 percent three years ago.
6 percent of those surveyed went to newspaper Web sites "first thing" in 2009, up from 3 percent in 2006.
10 percent of news consumers say they are willing to pay for a print newspaper subscription to gain online access.
75 percent say they would seek another source of local online news if the local newspaper required a paid online subscription.
See Outsell's press release for more information.
Sources: TechCrunch, Editor & Publisher
Gartner: Revenue from Mobile Apps to Increase 50 Percent This Year
Revenue from mobile applications will grow to $6.8 billion this year, up from $4.2 billion last year worldwide, according to a Gartner forecast. Just a fraction of that ($600 million) will come from in-app advertising, MediaPost reported. Advertising growth will pick up in the next few years, possibly to one-quarter of mobile app revenues by 2013.
Note: A few of Gartner's claims about Apple's share of app downloads are being questioned.
Source: MediaPost
iPhones May Get Location-Based Ad Capabilities
Apple may be adding location-aware advertising capabilities into the iPhone's operating system, Fast Company reported. The clues are in a patent filing related to how the iPhone will handle contacts.
"Apple's idea is to allow new app icons to pop up on screen under the control of a nearby system or device. Essentially the iPhone would broadcast a Wi-fi or Bluetooth signal that it was capable of receiving an incoming app, and the download and installation would happen automatically. According to the patent details the icon needn't even be a permanent thing--it could be temporary, and it could be location-sensitive," according to Fast Company.
Source: Fast Company
Newspaper Partnerships with News Start-Ups Raise Vetting Questions
Established news organizations are increasingly establishing content partnerships with online news start-ups, but sometimes the trustworthiness of the partner's information is debatable, according to The New York Times. Richard Perez-Pena reported that analysts have said "there will be groups or individuals with particular slants offering to fill the reporting gaps for traditional news organizations - and the more of them there are, the harder it will be to perceive their agendas."
Source: The New York Times
NYTimes.com to Build Pay Wall Soon... Maybe
New York Magazine reported this weekend that the New York Times Web site will soon be behind a "metered" pay wall. The magazine reported that Arthur Sulzberger Jr. "appears close to announcing that the paper will begin charging for access to its Web site" and that the model will be similar to that of the Financial Times, where readers can read a few stories before being asked to pay.
However, the NYTPicker blog said New York Magazine's report wasn't a scoop at all, but just a "mish-mash of previously-reported stories, along with some carefully-hedged speculation about the future."
See also:
Reactors to Rumors that The New York Times Pay Wall is Coming Soon (The Editors Weblog)
How The New York Times Should Charge For Content (Paid Content)
See the update at the top of this post.
Google Expanding Local Business Reviews
Google Maps is adding more reviews to its Places Pages, including taking content from local blogs, portals and news sites, Search Engine Land reported. The reviews are appearing on Google's Places Pages.
Source: Search Engine Land
NAA Foundation News Challenge Deadline: March 1
News Challenge, an innovative training session for upper-level college students interested in digital media, takes place the first week of June. The NAA Foundation pays all costs for participating students. Program objectives are to give students a sense of the digital and multimedia opportunities at newspapers and to interest them in working for the industry. If you have any ties with local colleges or know of students working part-time or as interns at your newspapers, please encourage them to apply. The deadline to apply is March 1, 2010.
Snapshot from the Edge: Newspapers Test Google Wave
As more newspaper editors get invitations to Google Wave, NAA decided to take a look at how media companies are experimenting with the technology.
In a new Digital Edge article released Friday afternoon, Mark Toner wrote:
As Google Wave ends its first year of existence, we have learned two things: First, there's no shortage of critics who argue that the Google product, may be a technology searching for a purpose. Second, the term "beta" applied to a Google product means just that for a change. But newspapers should not wait to experiment with it, given its potential to shape conversations both within and beyond news organizations.
Read more in "Snapshot from the Edge: Newspapers Test Google Wave."
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As more newspaper editors get invitations to Google Wave,
NAA decided to take a look at how media companies are experimenting with the
technology. In a new Digital Edge article released Friday afternoon, Mark
Toner wrote:
As Google Wave ends its first year of existence, we have
learned two things: First, there's no shortage of critics who argue that the
Google product, may be a technology searching for a purpose. Second, the term
"beta" applied to a Google product means just that for a change. But newspapers
should not wait to experiment with it, given its potential to shape
conversations both within and beyond news organizations.
Read more about how publications like the Seattle Times and Chicago Tribune's RedEye are using Google Wave in "Snapshot
from the Edge: Newspapers Test Google Wave."
Plus, tell us how your newspaper is using Google Wave by clicking
on "comment" below.
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Twitter, Texts, Video all Key in
Haitian Earthquake Coverage
Digital
media has been paramount in coverage of the earthquake that devastated Haiti earlier
this week. Many newspapers are aggregating Tweets, text messages, mobile
devices photos and video and more as part of their ongoing coverage, Columbia
Journalism Review reported. Several news organizations used Skype for video calls.
PCWorld
reported,
"What's not clear, however, is whether Haitians are using these technologies to
communicate and help each other. From what I've seen so far, the use of tools
like Twitter and Facebook are more helpful for delivering news about Haiti to
the outside world instead of aiding those directly affected by the crisis-a
recurring theme that we've already seen play out in places like Iran and
India."
However,
mobile has been important in coordinating relief and donations. The Red Cross
and other organizations have raised millions of dollars in relief funds through
text-messaging, The New York Times reported.
Facebook also activated its Global
Relief network to collect donations.
Sources: Columbia Journalism
Review, The New York Times, Mashable
Editor & Publisher Resumes
Operations in Print, Online
 Editor
& Publisher, which shut down at the end of 2009, is resuming
operations. The Duncan McIntosh Co., which primarily publishes boating
magazines, has purchased the publication from The Nielsen Co. Chas McKeown will
continue as publisher, and Mark Fitzgerald will be editor.
Source:
Editor & Publisher
AP, Yahoo Close to a New Content Deal
The
Associated Press and Yahoo are close to working out a deal that may "impose
tighter restrictions and potentially a higher price tag on AP stories
distributed on Yahoo's news site, people familiar with the matter said,"
according to The Wall Street Journal. Neither the AP nor Yahoo would comment.
"The deal,
expected to be reached in the next few weeks, could begin to resolve an
increasingly urgent issue in the media industry: how news organizations deal
with the major Internet portals, which some publishers say unfairly profit from
their work and cost them tens of millions of dollars in revenue," The Wall
Street Journal reported.
Source: The
Wall Street Journal
Quote of the Day: Fidler on What
Consumers Expect from E-Readers, Tablets
"Any device
that does not allow for easy Internet access, whether that is a tablet or an
e-reader, does not have much chance of success. We expect to be connected, and
our transactions are dependent on that."
-- Roger Fidler, program director
for digital publishing at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the
University of Missouri,
in a Society for News Design feature story.
New York Times Claims 99-cent
Newspaper Apps Are Not Authentic
Two New
York Times iPhones apps have appeared in the Apple iTunes store for 99-cents
each, but the New York Times did not create those apps, the newspaper says. As
of earlier this week, the applications were ranked in the top 20 in the news
category.
In general,
Apple says it will remove applications that are under dispute until the parties
reach a resolution, but All Things D reported media companies have had mixed
results getting Apple to remove such applications.
Source: All
Things D
Twitter Paid Accounts Coming
Paid
Twitter accounts are still a work in progress, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone
told Silicon Alley Insider. The primary reason: Not enough staff. The company
is hiring.
Source:
Silicon Alley Insider
New York Times Opens Self-Serve Real
Estate Service
NYTimes.com
has opened a Real Estate Agent Solutions platform that lets real estate agents
post and manage ads at a lower cost, Paid Content reported. The system is built
off of the small business ad platform that debuted last year.
Source:
PaidContent
Also see:
Borrell:
Online Real Estate Advertising to Decline (MediaPost)
Still Available!
2010 NAA Planbook: Your
"How-To" Guide to Improving Advertising Effectiveness and ROI  Included for 2010: new research on
the value of newspaper media to advertisers, and how America shops and spends; a competitive
media section; increased emphasis on digital product advantages; and more!
Don't Wait - Order Today!
Planbooks are available now. Order yours at www.naa.org/planbook.
Do you have comments on
today's news items? We welcome your comments on the Digital Edge blog! Click on
"comment" below!
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The Financial Times
has emerged as one of the most successful newspapers to navigate the transition
from a traditional, ad-supported business model to a model incorporating paid
content and other diverse revenue streams.
"FT.com
does not limit access to any particular piece of content, nor does it identify
some as free and others as requiring payment. Rather than charging for content,
the FT charges based on frequency of use. If you are an infrequent visitor to
the site, you may never realize the site is not completely free," ITZBelden
reported earlier this week in its new report, "2010
Paid Access Models: Practices and Profiles."
In the past two
years, economic turmoil, eroding print circulation and a variety of other
factors have prompted newspaper publishers across the industry to look at paid
content, including charging for reading newspaper content online.
ITZBelden released
the report, which focused primarily on paid online content and replica e-editions, earlier this week. The report was in partnership the American
Press Institute, with information and support from Mather Economics and
NewMediaHub.com.
ITZBelden
estimates that of approximately 1,600 U.S. and Canadian daily newspapers, 60
percent have some paid access to their Web site (including e-edition replicas).
The estimate is based on an ITZBelden/API Executive Survey from September
2009.
Some
of these newspapers are having more success charging for online content than
others. The report looks at more than a dozen newspapers, including Newsday, the
Lima (Ohio) News, and The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash. It also analyzes
multiple models, including paid online subscriptions and membership
programs.
Of
course, the model that works for one newspaper won't work for another. The
demographics of each market and the audience for each publication's Web site
will factor into these decisions. As the Financial Times has figured out,
different audiences (fly-by readers versus heavy online users, for example)
present different challenges and opportunities.
"It
is unlikely that charging for access to news will be a solution for all markets.
But charging for news is only one dimension of paid access. Charging for premium
content, using paid content as a driver of new product development, partnering
with deep niche content suppliers to develop new content channels, charging for
services or database access are all emerging as potentially important revenue
streams," according to the report.
Among
ITZBelden's suggestions:
- Set
pricing high to begin and work down, not the other way
around.
-
Implement approaches based on local market conditions. One-size-fits-all pricing
and offerings do not exist.
-
Provide for easy, "low-friction" transactions for low-frequency use - story,
session, day and week-long access.
-
Involve the marketing team in addressing objections to paid
access.
Sources for the
report included proprietary Belden Interactive local market studies, an
executive survey produced by ITZBelden (in partnership with API) last year,
executive interviews by ITZBelden and NewMediaHub.com's Alisa Cromer, data
analysis by Mather Economics and and client-submitted
information.
Clients who purchase
the report ($500) will receive both a PowerPoint and narrative including case
studies and analysis on payment structures, bundling practices, newspaper reach,
paid content competition and more. To purchase the report, download this order
form
or contact Greg Harmon at harmon@beldeninteractive.com.
For more on paid content, see NAA's reports at www.naa.org/paidcontent.
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PAID CONTENT
ITZ/Belden: Small Percentage of
Print Subscribers Paying for Online Content
About 2.4 percent of print subscribers are paying for access to online content,
according to an ITZ/Belden Interactive survey of 26 U.S. daily newspapers that
are charging readers. The average price that the surveyed newspapers charge is
$8.14 per month, but the price did not seem to impact readers' willingness to
pay.
Source:
Reflections of a Newsosaur
AdWeek: Most Willing to Pay
‘Nothing' to Read Newspapers Online
An AdWeek
and Harris poll completed last month showed most people (77 percent) were
willing to pay "nothing" to read the newspaper online. Just 19 percent said
they would pay between $1 and $10 per month, and 4 percent said they would pay
between $11 and $20 per month. People ages 35 to 44 were the most likely to say
they'd pay $1-10 per month for online newspaper content.
Source:
AdWeek
Also see:
There is No New Revenue Model for Journalism
(Online Journalism Review) NAA's Paid Online Content Report (NAA)
PolitiFact.com Partners with Austin
American-Statesman
 PolitiFact.com,
a political fact-checking Web project of the St. Petersburg Times that launched
in 2007, has partnered with the Austin American-Statesman to launch PolitiFact Texas.
The Texas site will focus on
2010 races (especially the governor's race there), and it will include the
Truth-O-Meter. PolitiFact.com is offering affiliate opportunities to
news organizations in other states, as well.
Sources: PolitiFact and The
Austin American-Statesman (press release)
Two Years After Change, Editor Says
Capital Times Online Still a ‘Work in Progress'
 The Capital
Times Editor Paul Fanlund says the online publication is an ongoing evolutionary
process.
Two years ago, the newspaper switched from a daily print publication
to a daily online publication (with print tab supplements two days per week).
"The evolution has been quick and traumatic and is ongoing. ... How is it
working? It's probably too early to tell," Fanlund told About.com.
In moving
primarily online, Fanlund said, "What was gained was a greater focus on
the core mission of producing important journalism. We produce several stories
every week that try to step back and provide the kind of journalism I've loved
my entire career."
Source:
About.com
Interview: AP's McCullough on Using
Social Networks to Choose, Report News
In an
interview, Lauren McCullough, manager of social networks and news engagement at
the Associated Press, said AP uses social networks to gauge buzz and inform
news reporting. "Every day, stories buzz and rumors emerge on social networks.
Our editors make judgment calls on what merits further reporting. We won't
report a story solely because it's trending on Twitter, but we will discuss it
and weigh its popularity against its news value," she said.
McCullough
also addressed social media's role in gather news, engaging the public and AP's
social media policies.
Source:
Poynter
More on
social networking:
How WSJ
Gets Social with News Behind a Pay Wall (MediaShift)
Social
Media ROI: Newspapers Engage Readers, Advertisers (NAA)
Online Video Viewing Up Again in
December
Although
online video viewing was down in December compared to the month before, it was
up substantially when compared to the same month a year ago, Nielsen reported. Year-over-year,
unique viewers were up 10.3 percent, total streams were up 11.8 percent,
streams per viewer were up 1.4 percent and time per viewer was up 13.2 percent.
Source:
Nielsen
Mashable: Real-Time Ads Could Show on
Google's Street View
 If a patent
filing is any clue, Google could be putting ads into the street view of Google
Maps. Mashable reported that Google has applied for a patent "Claiming Real
Estate in Panoramic or 3D Mapping Environments for Advertising".
The patent
would cover "techniques for identifying groups of features in an online
geographic view of a real property and replacing and/or augmenting the groups
of features with advertisement." "The idea is ingenious, really. Most of those
obsolete ads on billboards serve very little purpose in the virtual world of
Street View, but if one could replace them with up-to-date advertisements, they
could be another source of income for the giant from Mountain View," according
to Mashable.
Source:
Mashable
Google Considers Leaving Chinese
Market
After a
series of security attacks and attempted hackings into the Google accounts of
human rights activists, Google executives said they are considering pulling the
company out of China.
Google is not the no. 1 search engine in China, but leaving now could hurt
Google's chances at becoming a big player in the rapidly growing Asian Internet
economy, The New York Times reported.
Source: The
New York Times
Have you registered for
mediaXchange yet?
mediaXchange
is an interesting, cost-efficient way to learn about new revenue opportunities
and network with your newspaper media peers.
In addition to connecting
with the advertisers above, mediaXchange is your chance to meet new people and
learn about opportunities that will boost your newspaper's digital media
revenue. The trip will pay for itself in the knowledge you gain!
mediaXchange has lots of
programming for the digital media executive!
Digital Media session
topics include:
- Opportunities with E-Readers and Other Emerging Devices
- Digital Media Revenue Ideas Session
- 10 Technology Trends
- Growing Revenue through Mobile
Innovations
- Leveraging Social Media Solutions
Hear from Kodak's Jeff
Hazelet!
Jeff Hazelet is
responsible for Kodak's worldwide marketing operations, including the design
and implementation of all marketing strategies, investments, policies, and
processes.
Kodak is one of the many companies that have successfully navigated a major
transition from a print to a digital world. According to a recent AdAge.com
article, Kodak tapped "influential bloggers, Twitterers and
Facebookaholics to move the needle" for its recent "Time to
Smile" branding campaign.
mediaXchange is
April 11 - 14 in Orlando.
Register for mediaXchange today!
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This year
at mediaXchange, we'll kick off the digital media track with ideas session focusing entirely on
digital media revenue.
Start
mediaXchange off on the right foot by opening your mind to new revenue ideas!
This session will present at least a dozen interesting, innovative,
digitally-based programs that are guaranteed to provide revenue. You will leave
this session with new ideas you can implement in your own market.
To make this session great, we need your ideas!
E-mail Beth
Lawton at Beth.Lawton@naa.org with your interesting revenue-producing idea, and we may include it in our
ideas session (giving you full credit, of course)! Please include information about the idea, how long it has been in the market, how much revenue it has produced and why we should include your idea in this session. Also, please make sure we have your full contact information, including your phone number and e-mail address. If our session committee chooses your idea, we'll be in touch!
See you at
mediaXchange! mediaXchange is April 11 - 14, 2010 at the new Hilton Orlando. Register to attend at mediaxchange.naa.org. Friend mediaXchange on Facebook, follow mediaXchange on Twitter and connect to mediaXchange on LinkedIn.
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