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Wednesday, November 24
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CommentWhy newspapers should be afraid, very afraid
From Wired:
Don't think for a minute that young people don't read. On the contrary, they do, many of them voraciously. But having grown up under the credo that information should be free, they see no reason to pay for news. Instead they access The Washington Post website or surf Google News, where they select from literally thousands of information sources. They receive RSS feeds on their PDAs or visit bloggers whose views mesh with their own. In short, they customize their news-gathering experience in a way a single paper publication could never do. And their hands never get dirty from newsprint.
The Post experience merely mirrors the results of a September study (.pdf) by the Online Publishers Association, which found that 18- to 34-year-olds are far more apt to log on to the internet (46 percent) than watch TV (35 percent), read a book (7 percent), turn on a radio (3 percent), read a newspaper (also 3 percent) or flip through a magazine (less than 1 percent).
Monday, November 22
Freaky geek tattoo
Tuesday, November 16
The free vs. subscription debate
Bambi Francisco weighs in on the ad vs. paid online models on MarketWatch:
By contrast, if paid content continues at the same growth rate as the first half of the year, it will reach $1.7 billion in 2004, and register a growth rate that's less than half of online advertising's.
So now that the Web has been commercial for about 10 years, can we conclude that the online advertising model for news is a better mousetrap than a subscription-based model? Apparently . . .
AlwaysOn Network, a news and information site started by Tony Perkins, who previously founded The Red Herring magazine, has been largely free. The media company just launched a paid subscription service for $49 per year.
But even Perkins would agree that, "subscription money is a beautiful thing, but in the end, media is media."
If an online media outlet can get both, "[it's] all the better," said Perkins, who said that he's attracted 1,000 subscribers to his paid service since it was launched earlier this month, the same time as the quarterly magazine, Blogozine . . .
As Perkins puts it: "Ad-supported free content is the Trojan Horse. Once everyone shows up, you figure out different ways to turn them upside down and shake out all the pennies in their pocket."
Online content spending up 14%
From MediaPost:
Consumers in the United
States spent some $853 million for paid online content during the first
half of 2004, reported the Online Publishers Association yesterday.
Entertainment-related categories experienced the greatest gains, and
led an overall 14 percent year-over-year swell. The Online Publishers
Association's "Paid Content U.S. Market Spending Report," covering the
first and second quarters of the year, was conducted by comScore
Networks. Eleven percent of U.S. Internet users paid for content in the
second quarter of this year--and 11.2 percent did so in the first
quarter, according to the OPA.
Entertainment/lifestyles paid content spending--led by music, which grew a remarkable 78.3 percent to $182.8 million--bettered business/investment spending in the first quarter of 2004, according to the report. Sports, including "fantasy" sports games--where fans can orchestrate their own season play-- grew by a notable 68.7 percent, while games increased by 27.4 percent.
Entertainment/lifestyles paid content spending--led by music, which grew a remarkable 78.3 percent to $182.8 million--bettered business/investment spending in the first quarter of 2004, according to the report. Sports, including "fantasy" sports games--where fans can orchestrate their own season play-- grew by a notable 68.7 percent, while games increased by 27.4 percent.
Thursday, November 11
Press Release: IDG's InfoWorld Picks TACODA's AMS for Behavioral Targeting and Audience Management
NEW YORK, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/
-- TACODA, the online industry pioneer in behavioral targeting and
audience management, today announced that IDG's InfoWorld Media Group
has signed an agreement for InfoWorld, the leading weekly
business-to-business technology brand, to use TACODA's Audience
Management Service (AMS).
Friday, November 5
More mainstream press on RSS
From Businessweek:
While RSS could help media titans sell more ads and keep users loyal, the technology could undermine the giants, too. RSS levels the playing field between upstarts and the established media, since news readers don't distinguish between blogs like Gizmodo, which covers consumer electronics, and publications such as PC Magazine. Some believe RSS could make online media even more fragmented than it is today, setting off a struggle for ad revenue. The biggies claim their brands will insulate them against upstarts. Says Catherine Levene, vice-president for product, business development, and strategy at New York Times Digital: "We think people will still come to [our site] for our editorial judgment."
So far most online merchants haven't embraced RSS. But the potential exists for Web stores to alert customers that they now have that snazzy blouse in aqua. Web-savvy outfits, including Amazon.com (AMZN ), Apple's iTunes Music Store, and the Netflix DVD-rental service already use RSS to alert customers to new music or movies. Analysts expect travel, apparel, and financial sites to start testing the technology early next year.
Monday, November 1
The year blogs entered mainstream media
From The Independent UK:
When it is all over, editors and reporters will finally have a moment to reflect on everything that was different about this presidential campaign. What they are likely to conclude is this: the traditional outlets, whether it is CBS News or the New York Times, mattered less. New forces nudged voters' sympathies and even drove the traditional news agenda.
This was the year when the mainstream media outlets unexpectedly found themselves looking over their shoulders at the internet and, perhaps most surprisingly, at the new armies of political bloggers.
Friday, October 29
Why Google is a publisher's biggest competitor
From Internet.com:
The World of Google has become the 900-pound gorilla for supplying the best technical information. When we survey our engineering audience, they start by googling for some product information. While we would like them to first go to our own Web sites, the reality of the situation is that Google is their default home page.
Thursday, October 28
Free WSJ.com
From News.com:
The Wall Street Journal Online, a bastion of subscription-only news on the Web, has begun giving away some content.
In recent months, the business news outfit has been sending nightly e-mail to bloggers, or online diarists, to offer up several daily stories free so that they can point to or link to them from their Web pages. And on Nov. 8, the company plans to remove its paid wall altogether for five days, for the first time in 7 years, according to the company. . . .
Media analysts say WSJ.com may want to test out being an ad-supported site.
Wednesday, October 27
Madison Avenue Ponders the Potential of Web Logs
From The New York Times (via Tom Sullivan on TechWatch):
The biggest fear is an uncontrolled message slipping out, said Steve Rubel, vice president for client services at CooperKatz & Company in New York, a public relations agency with clients including the Association of National Advertisers, J. P. Morgan Chase and Wendy's. "Do they allow comments or do they not? Is there an implication if it is a publicly traded firm? Who is the one who should blog for us? How might that choice be received in the company?"
"Ultimately this will all work out," said Mr. Rubel, who writes a blog called Micro Persuasion (www.SteveRubel.typepad.com), focusing on the effects of blogs and other embodiments of "participatory journalism" on public relations. He also consults with the Association of National Advertisers on matters including its two blogs (www.ana.net/blog).
The Internet Bullshit Generator
Here are a few samples from this classic jargon site:
- engage efficient e-markets
- facilitate cross-media infomediaries
- brand turn-key models
- engage efficient e-markets
- facilitate cross-media infomediaries
- brand turn-key models
Wednesday, October 20
Traditional ad agencies moving into search marketing
From ClickZ:
While a recent JupiterResearch study found the majority of search marketing, approximately two-thirds, is done in-house, the researchers also found demand for agency involvement is increasing. It's this involvement the search media players want to encourage.
"So many of these mainstream online agencies -- typical online agencies -- just haven't really gotten into search yet," said Nate Elliott, an analyst with JupiterResearch. "The little SEM shops have had a free hand, and some of them have gotten pretty big off of that."
More recently, search engines say they have begun seeing more interest from interactive and traditional agencies.
Thursday, September 23
Online ad revenue up over 42% from 2003
From IAB:
Internet advertising revenues (U.S.) for the first six months of 2004 were approximately $4.6 billion - a 39.7% increase over the first half of 2003. Internet advertising revenue totaled approximately $2.37 billion for the second quarter of 2004, representing a 42.7% increase over same period 2003. Q2 2004 revenues represent a 6% increase over Q1 2004. This report replaces the previously announced Q1 2004 estimate of $2.27 billion with the actual of $2.23 billion.
2004 Q2 2003 Q2
Search $947M (40%) $481M (29%)
Display Ads $474M (20%) $382M (23%)
Classifieds $403M (17%) $282M (17%)
Sponsorships $213M (9%) $199M (12%)
Rich Media* $189M (8%) $149M (9%)
$47M (2%) $66M (4%)
Referrals $47M (2%) $17M (1%)
Slotting Fees $47M (2%) $83M (5%)
Clever use of RSS by Japantoday.com
This site has a red "JS" chicklet next to their "RSS" chicklet. When
you click on this button, a window opens and displays a list of options
for customizing a feed. You can select the topic, the display design,
and the number of stories to include. When you've finished customizing
your feed, the page then provides the HTML code you need to display
that feed on your site. The user can then copy and paste that HTML code
on their blog or whatever, and the user will now have headlines
appearing on his or her site dynamically from Japantoday.com.
Friday, September 17
Top 10 B2B Lead Gen mistakes
PDF Download from MarketingSherpa that outlines 10 most common mistakes in B-to-B lead generation programs.
Tuesday, September 14
Website users prefer targeted ads
Poneman Institute survey on attitudes to advertising. Download file:
We see a high level of consumer
frustration over ad clutter: many respondents perceive banner ads as
annoying, intrusive, and irrelevant.
- Most Respondents felt strongly that
banner ads are intrusive and interfere with browsing. Almost as many
respondents indicate that banner ads were generally not tailored to
their interests or tastes.
- Despite frustration with Internet ads, respondents are not willing to spend money in order to reduce ad clutter.
- Despite frustration over ad clutter, banner ads appear to be effective at getting people to browse and buy.
- Respondents prefer targeted banner ads over non-targeted ads
as they found them to be less annoying, more relevant and more likely
to induce an interaction than non-targeted banner ads.
- Respondents are more comfortable getting targeted ads that don’t rely upon PII.
Monday, August 30
IDG's CMO launches
From MediaDailyNews:
The first issue will focus on the many challenges this often beleaguered group faces. A story titled "What's Wrong With Marketing: a Manifesto," authored by Mohanbir Sawhney, the director of the center for research in technology and innovation at the Kellogg School of Management, is featured in the first issue.
Other articles cover such topics as: "Pain-Free CRM," and "How to Make it Through Your First 100 Days" (CMOs' average tenure is in the neighborhood of two years).
Video/webcasts making inroads with B-to-B advertisers
From BtoBOnline:
The advantages of using online video to reach business customers include the creation of a more involving experience, the ability to repurpose existing video assets, the opportunity to take advantage of broadband connections in the workplace and the potential to do extensive tracking of a viewer's interactions.
...A research study conducted after the campaign showed that the AT&T ads increased purchase intent by 55% and association of the company with its core message by 41%, both results being significantly better than those for campaigns not using online video. In addition, a relatively low 24% of users said they found the ad annoying.
Thursday, August 26
"Behavioral targeting will reach $934 million and will account for 8.3% of all online advertising spending"
From eMarketer:
Behavioral targeting has been around, in various forms, since the late 1990s. Previous attempts failed due to problems with privacy and technology, but this generation of software
appears more robust, and marketers seem more accepting. Today’s behavioral targeting can be done on individual Web sites, on networks and via adware applications.
While behavioral targeting will certainly be a part of a smart marketer’s online arsenal, issues of privacy, data sharing and implementation will keep it from becoming a dominant form of
advertising in the way paid search has become. However, behavioral targeting offers a compelling benefit to marketers: the ability to deliver relevant branding messages to a highly targeted audience.
Download the Free White Paper
The eMarketer Outlook 2
Implications for Your Business 2
A. What is Behavioral Targeting? 3
B. Types of Behavioral Targeting 6
C. Behavioral vs. Search: Similarities, Differences 11
D. Challenges of Behavioral Targeting 12
E. Keys to Successful Behavioral Targeting 16
