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| NAA mediaXchange is the largest annual gathering of industry executives in North America, offering unprecedented networking opportunities that combine an exchange of information and ideas with programming designed to generate results. The conference is designed to provide valuable ideas and insights to help newspaper professionals grow audience and revenue for their print and digital products. Sessions highlight leading-edge thinking about media strategies, successes in product and revenue development, new ideas and innovation inside and outside the industry, and tactics and techniques to employ in print and digital. |
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NAA mediaXchange: Stay connected year round.
The mediaXchange hub at www.naa.org/mediaXchange has conference presentations**, video and session coverage, mediaXchange exhibitors and sponsors can be found online at The eXchange .
Updated May 4, 2012
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Mark Your Calendar! NAA mediaXchange 2013 will kick off on Sunday, April 14, 2013, at the Hilton Bonnet Creek , Orlando. Updated April 10, 2012
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Review, share, connect If you were a part of NAA mediaXchange 2012 last week in Washington DC, we hope you went home with good ideas, new connections and contacts with the exhibitors and sponsors who support the event. Presentations, including video archives of the general sessions, are now posted at www.naa.org/mediaXchange . Updated April 10, 2012
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By Varun Saxena The audience
learned Thursday that hackathons are not about hacking. They are a
method of "creating an environment where, in a compressed set of time, people
can rapidly innovate without the day-to-day constraints," said Vijay Ravindran,
chief digital officer of The Washington Post. They are also
responsible for many of the top innovations at ESPN and The Post, including the
NBA Trade Machine and @MentionMachine. "How we build is
equally if not more important" than what is built, Ravindran said. Another point of
emphasis was the importance of continuously monitoring and updating the new
products. David Perpich,
vice president of product management at The New York Times, said it's important
to learn from previous experiences and make sure the engineering staff doesn't
immediately move to new a project when the previous one is completed. Rob King, senior
vice president for ESPN, said the app business is dominated by a few hits. Of
more than 30 apps developed by ESPN, three are responsible for 92 percent of
the usage. King said "failing
fast" is important so the company doesn't sink too much money into unsuccessful
products. He stressed the
importance of functionality and simplicity, saying apps should be designed for
features pulled from shrinking newspapers. "I'd create the ultimate obituaries
app," he said. Another
important tool is use of metrics, King said. For example, he
learned that 62 percent of mobile usage of espn.com and its apps occurs at
home. This surprising insight made him think about the "second screen
experience," or viewing two screens simultaneously. Monetizing the
new products is another issue. ESPN uses the
"freemium" model. Initial usage is free, but customers must pay for additional
content, such as news available on ESPN Insider. The New York
Times charges for electronic content, regardless of how it is accessed. To
charge only for content from certain devices "would defeat the model," Perpich
said. Varun Saxena is a
student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism
students
reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.
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By Varun Saxena Video is a space
worth watching, panelists agreed at this session Thursday. The Wall Street
Journal does 4-1/2 to five hours of live video a day, said Alan Murray, deputy
managing editor and executive editor, online. The iPhone has
made video stories easier to produce and less labor intensive, he said. Murray said it
also uncovers top talent, such as reporter Jeremy Page, who produced a live
broadcast about the death of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il. "They [the
audience] get it that this a real reporter on site doing real reporting, and
they're getting in on it," Murray said. The Journal
receives 12 million monthly video views, half of which views come from offsite
partners such as YouTube, for which it provides premium content. Best of all,
Murray said, ad sales are backlogged. Jim Bernard,
senior vice president for digital at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, said his
paper has experienced a strong upsurge in video views and revenue due to a
recent strategy revamp that included spending more money on a high-quality
online player. Ads known as
prerolls, which appear before the video, are the main method of monetizing
video, and metrics show that half of all viewers click away before the ad ends. Panelists
debated the optimal length. Bernard said he favors 30-second prerolls because
metrics show that the retention rate is similar for 15-second prerolls. Autoplay is
another lightning rod, but the speakers agreed that allowing videos to play
automatically increases viewership, and they are employing the tactic at their
papers. "Video is about
singles, not home runs," Bernard said, because 3 percent of videos generate 82
percent of all views. Popular topics
include sports and the weather, he said. But, Murray noted, "you don't always
know what ones are going to be the hits." One of the top
videos on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch site was about a two-legged dog,
Assistant Managing Editor Bob Rose said. Placing videos
within the context of a print story increases viewership, he said. The optimal
length of an online video is "totally in flux," Murray said. Three minutes used
to be considered long, but that's changing, he said, as he held up his iPad. Metrics
show that people watch longer video on iPads. The editors agreed
that the trend is toward less editorial control of video due to live streams
and the proliferation of outside content.
"We're already
in the self-publishing world," Murray said. The Journal is considering
launching a blog onto which reporters can post video directly, he said. "The mere act of
publishing makes it viewable," he said. With the advent of Internet-enabled liquid
crystal displays, he said, expect the trend to accelerate. Varun Saxena is a
student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting
live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.
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By Drew Grossman Mighty
Amazon.com may reach a national audience, but speakers at Thursday's conference
promoted applications for reaching local shoppers. Representatives
from Find n Save, iCircular and DealChicken shared experiences and best
strategy for reaching a local digital audience. It is critical
to partner with a strong brand, said Chris Tippie, acting CEO of Find n Save
because strong brand partnership results in instant traffic from online search
engines. This is essential for a company like Find n Save, which receives about
one-third of its traffic from search engines. Once users are
on your site, Tippie said, you need lots of content, meaning lots of deals. Content
must be local, fresh and unique. Christian A.
Hendricks, vice president of interactive media for The McClatchy Co., an
affiliate of Find n Save, promotes the digital shopping service across
McClatchy newspapers, the most aggressive of which is The Sacramento Bee. According to
Hendricks, the Bee's classifieds section has been converted to the Find n Save
service. The newspaper has converted all of its classifieds ads onto its local
Find n Save website. Paul Farrell,
vice president of sales & marketing for Lee Enterprises, spoke about The
Associated Press' iCircular local shopping application, which includes weekly
deals, search tools, shopping lists, maps and hooks to social media. But
Farrell said the most important thing is to "promote, promote, promote." Farrell noted
that in digital shopping, mobile has tremendous potential. "You learn so much
in this day in age by learning by doing," he said. DealChicken,
Gannett Co.'s digital shopper, is taking a slightly different approach to local
shopping. DealChicken is
more about discovering local experiences and less about finding money-saving
deals, said Rajan Mohan, Gannett's vice president and general manager of social
commerce. Mojan said it is
important to offer unique and relevant deals to consumers and to advertise
using successful past deals. DealChicken uses testimonials to advertise its
shopping application. Drew Grossman
is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting
live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.
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By Madeline Marshall
Publishers have incredible opportunities for creative and interactive advertising online to help their customers' brands, Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, said in his keynote speech Thursday.
Building the brand makes publishers valuable, he said, and can't be built just through display advertising like banner ads.
Consumers spend most of their time with television media, and Internet media is a close second. Yet money spent on Internet advertising is one-third that being spent on television.
Online advertising remains focused on banners and ads similar to direct mailings or "junk mail" that consumers just "see" but do not really "view," like television ads, he said.
"If we build it, they will come," Rothenberg said. Online advertising has a tremendous opportunity to engage with consumers and become valuable.
"Use the full palette of the medium to engage the hearts and minds of consumers," he said. "Interactive advertising needs a creative revolution."
Rothenberg stressed that no one decreed that ads must be just still banners and that they can utilize video, engagement, social media and real-time updates in the same space.
Users spend twice as much time on interactive ads like IAB's Rising Star units, which use interactive formats. Using that model, the price of ads could increase when they leave the overinflated banner ad medium.
Madeline Marshall is a student at the University of Maryland. She is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.
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By Sarah Hogue
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, speaking in the same room a day after President Barack Obama, criticized Obama and his remarks, and emphasized what he would bring to the Oval Office.
After winning primaries in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Wisconsin on Tuesday, Romney celebrated the victories and responded to Obama's Tuesday address at The Associated Press Luncheon.
>> Watch archived video of Gov. Romney's speech
Romney charged that Obama doesn't say what he means and that all candidates must be candid and honest.
"What the public doesn't know won't hurt him," said Romney, referring to his perception of Obama's campaign strategy of hiding his actual views from voters.
Romney criticized Obama's views on Medicare, his economic stimulus package, the size of the national debt and the president's support of now bankrupt "green" companies such as Solyndra. Romney said the debt under Obama is almost equivalent to that accrued by all presidents before him combined.
Romney discussed his business successes and talked about his home life, assuring the audience that these make him a viable candidate for the presidency.
In the question-and-answer period after the address, which was moderated by outgoing ASNE President Ken Paulson, Romney was asked whether he would support a bill proposed by Sen. John McCain, D-Ariz., when McCain was a presidential candidate. The measure would have allowed journalists to maintain confidentiality of their sources. Romney said he had never heard of the bill and would not respond until he heard pros and cons from both sides.
About 725 people attended the luncheon set for 1,100. Each ticket purchased for the two conferences, which have run concurrently in presidential election years, included tickets to both luncheons.
Sarah Hogue is a student at the University of Maryland. She is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.
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By Tom McParland
Four advertisers urged newspapers to market more creatively and transition into charging for online content as the audience for news continues to change.
Panelists at this session Wednesday said newspapers should be more open to moving toward a paid content system, a heavily debate approach that would charge users a fee before accessing content online.
"I have not understood why the industry continues to give away its biggest commodity for free," said Chris Sutton, media director of hhgregg.
As newspaper circulation declines, news organizations and advertisers have struggled to find an effective way of reaching an increasingly fragmented audience. Advertisers, panelists said, are moving away from digital strategies that have proven to be financially shaky.
"I need to be shown it's going to generate dollars out of the cash register, not just views and click-throughs," Sutton said.
"Be creative and then come to us as ad and say we have this unique idea," he said.
Advertising dollars, previously reserved for print audiences, are being shifted to various areas, requiring a broader perspective of advertising, panelists said.
"Don't just look at print," said Stephanie Stanton, vice president of media operations at Vertis Communications. "Look at it more collectively."
But with no clear economic model in sight, panelists pushed for stronger collaboration in news producer-advertiser partnerships.
"It's about a willingness to listen," said Richard Branch, director of media at The Sports Authority.
"A partnership is about both sides winning," he said.
But, noting that many consumers are willing to pay online, panelists said perhaps the best immediate solution is charging online users to view content.
"You will have more users coming to your site who want information for a reason," Sutton said to a round of applause.
Tom McParland is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.
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By Kara Rose
In a world where Twitter and other social media dominate how consumers get their headlines, news organizations are scrambling to harness those tools as ways to drive traffic to their websites.
Brandon Thomas, director of product management for The Washington Post, discussed the Post's success with the Facebook social reader in terms of material and advertising. While it is a Facebook application, Thomas says his team, "with very few limitations," controls the majority of the content.
"Anything you can do on your website, we can do in this space," Thomas said, adding that 76 percent of the reader's users are under age 35. While the audience was heavily male when it first went on the market in September, "the audience continues to change and evolve," as more than 21 million users have opted in.
Though it is a new space for his team and users, Thomas said he has learned how to move quickly and prepare for success.
"[There are] people dedicated to this project all of the time just to maintain it and keep up with it," Thomas said. "We can't think about features that take three months to build . . . we have to be doing things in day-long, quick spurts."
Silas Lyons, editor and vice president of new media content for Records Searchlight in Redding, Calif., spoke about game dynamics on newspaper.com - which he called "gamification" - that includes recognition, reward and social interaction for users.
This, he said, is achieved through statuses, levels, badges and challenges to engage users. Through the model's implementation, redding.com saw a comment volume increase of 25 percent almost immediately.
"It gives the user some tangible thing they have achieved," Lyons said, adding, "it's good for that advertisers, good for the users, good for their friends and good for us."
Also on the panel was Lila King, participation director for CNN, who spoke about CNN's iReport, which was created in 2006 and has just passed 1 million members. It has created a forum for the collaboration of community journalism with CNN reporting.
King said iReport comprises 10 people at CNN headquarters in Atlanta who help aggregate what material to keep. She said there is now a stronger "desire and willingness to participate . . .than there ever have been before."
"We live in this world where nothing that is worth remembering goes undocumented," King said, adding it is not that "we couldn't" report without the audience, it's that "we shouldn't."
Kara Rose is a student at the University of Maryland. She is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.
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By Kara Rose
It is no surprise that news content is becoming more digitalized each day, and media outlets are finding new ways to stack digital dimes.
Adam Burnham, senior vice president for local digital sales of Digital First Media, said the first step is to "be prepared for the realities we face."
Burnham said Digital First is a "local company with a national scale," with more than 10,000 employees, a sales force of more than 1,000, 1.3 million followers on Twitter and more than 600,000 Facebook fans as of January.
This, he said, was achieved through finding social media platforms that invigorate the sales force and drive results because his company follows an audience-based selling principle.
"You should sell things that advertisers want," Burnham said. "They might not like what they're buying, but . . . if there is an audience, the advertisers will buy it."
"We don't talk brands, we talk audience," he added later.
Each panelist said news organizations must start putting "digital first" to survive in the climate of today's journalism.
Derek May, executive vice president newspapers for Morris Communications, said this concept has been a driving force for his company's sales model.
"[It's been a] battle cry for us in the last year as we tried to turn our company around," he said. "If you have a growing audience, you have more to sell. If your audience is shrinking, you're in trouble."
Similarly, M. Scott Havens, vice president for digital strategy & operations of Atlantic Media Group, said 30 percent of traffic he sees is through social platforms.
"For us, a differentiator - and one of the successful things we've done - is clamped down on costs, be more efficient, ask people to do more, force them to take on more responsibilities and . . . refuse to accept the status quo," Havens said.
The biggest roadblocks he has, though, are individuals resistant to change.
"We will continue to shed them if they can't make the leap," Havens said. "If they can't keep moving forward, they probably won't be around too long."
Kara Rose is a student at the University of Maryland. She is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.
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By Varun Saxena
From video games to medical exams, newspapers are experimenting in areas loosely related to their traditional function due to the advent of mobile technology.
The Oklahoman in Oklahoma City created Pancake Frenzy, a downloadable video game for smart phones, as part of a marketing campaign for De Wafelbakkers, a food manufacturer.
The newspaper's profit margin on the product was 50 percent to 60 percent, said Chief Information Officer Dan Barth.
The technology also benefits readers.
QR codes are displayed on The Oklahoman's print edition. When scanned, related multimedia content is displayed on a reader's mobile device.
The Dallas Morning News' most successful app is SportsDayHS, a smart phone app that displays high school sports standings and real-time updates of high school football games.
Originally, the app was designed to provide locations of the area's high schools, but further researcher determined that real-time updates were in demand.
"It's an evolving process," said Amin Pirani, the paper's digital project manager.
DMNmedia, the affiliated company, launched My Mobile CE, an app that helps health care practitioners participate in hospitals' continuing education programs.
Once the test is passed over a smart phone, tablet, the Internet or a combination of all three for those who can't take the entire test at one time, the results can be shared with others over social networking sites, said General Manager Michael Mayer.
The Boston Globe has launched a variety of mobile apps, including Boston Deals and Best of the New to keep customers informed of best prices and latest business openings, said Domenic Vecchiarelli, senior product manager of boston.com, the Globe's website.
The Morning News and The Globe work on apps with third-party developers, while The Oklahoman has one developer. DMNmedia has a goal of developing 100 apps annually.
All three companies reported that their mobile initiatives are paying off. For example, boston.com, has recorded almost 25 million total views, with the vast majority after 2009.
Varun Saxena is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.
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By Robert Baird
When Barack Obama first addressed the annual Associated Press Luncheon in 2004, he had described himself as a "skinny kid with a funny name" and was an Illinois state senator.
Eight years later, with a much larger security detail, the 44th president spoke at the luncheon for the third time, using the platform to savage the Republican budget plan presented by Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.).
In a campaign-style address, Obama told an audience of more than 1,000, "This congressional Republican budget . . . is a Trojan horse. Disguised as deficit reduction plans, it is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country."
"It is thinly veiled social Darwinism. . . . a prescription for decline."
>> Watch archived video of President Obama's speech
Outgoing AP Chairman William Dean Singleton gave Obama a warm introduction, praising him for pushing through the recovery of the auto industry and the "most comprehensive health care legislation in history." And Obama hammered home a health care message.
"Working families who are scraping by will have to do more because the richest Americans are doing less," he said. ". . . That is not class warfare, that is not class envy, that is math."
In a lighter moment, Obama drew hearty applause when he mocked Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney, who has said he would introduce a similar version of the Ryan budget if elected.
"He even called it ‘marvelous,' which is a word you don't often hear when it comes to describing a budget. It's a word you don't often hear generally," he said to laughter.
The President may not have the last laugh, though. Romney is scheduled to speak Wednesday at the convention. Robert Baird is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.
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By Varun Saxena
Paid content strategies are "sure as hell better," Chris Peck, editor of the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, told the audience at this session Tuesday afternoon.
Before moving toward paid Internet content, revenue at the paper had fallen by 50 percent, and the website received "a lot of eyeballs but not enough revenue," he said.
Now, the paper charges $9.99 a month for smartphone and tablet computer apps, and content has contributed $400,000 in new revenue in its first four months.
Tasaka Digital consultant Guy Tasaka helped to design the Commercial Appeal's strategy. He said it was focused on retaining paid print subscribers by bundling digital content with the print subscription.
Tasaka and Peck said they expect the trend toward more paid electronic content to continue. Peck cited a study which found that 26 percent of American households have a tablet.
"The budget isn't the enemy. Time is," Tasaka said.
Robert Gursha, vice president of marketing for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, also reported that charging for digital content is a winning strategy.
The keys are to have a strong brand name, relevant and differentiated content, and a sound pricing strategy, he said.
The Star Tribune uses a "step up" price strategy, meaning the cost of digital content rises after the trial period, he said.
The newspaper has increased the price of home delivery by 10 percent and included access to electronic content. Sunday-only print subscribers pay extra for digital content.
The Star Tribune has 132,000 digital accounts and has experienced 24 consecutive months of circulation growth, Gursha said.
In the past advertising, accounted for 75 percent of Star Tribune revenues, with subscriptions accounting for the remainder, but Gursha said subscriptions will contribute half of future revenue.
The Boston Globe started charging for content in September 2011 and owns boston.com. This approach allows the company to reach casual readers and charge serious ones, said Peter Doucette, the newspaper's director of circulation, sales and marketing.
Lisa DeSisto, Boston.com's chief advertising officer, said it's a challenge to promote the Globe's content on the site without undermining its fee-for-service model.
Varun Saxena is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.
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By Dave Nyczepir
A panel of publishers shared their digital subscription plan success stories at this session Tuesday afternoon.
Moderator Rem Rieder, editor of American Journalism Review, noted the dynamic shift in publications charging for access in recent years.
"For many years, if you were charging for content on the Internet, it was probably in the pornography business," he said.
James M. Moroney III, publisher and CEO of The Dallas Morning News, contended that smaller publications like his have a differentiated and relevant product to sell - local news and information.
But the decrease in print revenue jeopardizes the size of newsrooms, which is critical to in-depth local reporting and warrants the switch to a paid model, he said.
"I hope that some of you will take this to heart," Moroney said. "I think that if we lose the scale of our newsrooms, not only is our democracy going to be in peril, but I also believe that it's the quickest way you're going to lose your profitability and your business."
The New York Times toyed with the idea of digital subscriptions for a while but ramped up its research into the area when the recession hit, said Paul Smurl, vice president for paid products at NYTimes.com.
"We kept getting this fairly consistent percentage of readers who said they were willing to pay something, and it surprised us," he said. "But that gave us the courage to go forward and say, 'You know, we've got an asset here.' "
The Times employed a metered approach, requiring serious readers to purchase a digital subscription after 10 monthly page views.
Walter E. Hussman Jr., CEO of WEHCO Media Inc., and publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, explained how his paper pioneered digital subscriptions in 2001 and found price elasticity as the cost increased.
Such increases could one day enable the Gazette to fund investigative reporting, he said.
The panel predicted that tablets would be a game-changer, with Smurl saying one-in-five people would own a tablet this year.
The three dismissed the notion that most readers would object to pay walls as undemocratic, saying that the sentiment was generational and that older readers are accustomed to paying for content.
"In 1980, no one could read The Dallas Morning News unless they bought it or they had someone give them their copy," Moroney said. "So what's undemocratic about what we're doing today?"
Dave Nyczepir is a student at the University of Maryland. She is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012.
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