Internet Passes Print For News

sign of the times in 2008.

Internet Tops Newspapers As News Source, Still Lags TV
by Erik Sass, Yesterday, 7:43 PM

The Internet is now the most popular source of news after TV, according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, which released its year-end roundup of news media consumption last week. While TV is still king of the hill, its steady decline in the face of Internet competition bodes ill in the long term.
In 2008, 40% of the respondents said they got most of their national and international news from the Internet, versus 35% for newspapers in 2008. The Internet’s share is up from 24% in 2007, while newspapers also increased slightly, from 34%. The long-term trend is even clearer: the Internet’s share has more than tripled from 13% in 2001, while newspapers fell by almost a quarter–from 45%, in those six years.

(The figures add up to more than 100% because Pew accepted multiple responses to account for ambiguity in its survey of 1,489 adults from December 3-7. Although Pew did not explain this ambiguity, it might include respondents citing online newspapers or TV news Web sites alongside the traditional medium itself).

Although print newspapers–especially big metro dailies–appear to be locked in an irreversible long-term decline, newspaper Web sites have had big increases in audiences. In October 2008–the last month for which data is available–newspaper Web sites attracted a total of 68.97 million unique visitors–up 64% from 41.96 million in October 2004. The October 2008 figure represents 42% of the American adult Internet-using population–up from 28% in October 2004.

TV still takes first place as a news source, claiming 70% share in 2008–but that’s down from 74% in 2007, and a peak of 82% in 2002. Significantly, the percentage is lower among adults under the age of 30, who have taken to Internet news enthusiastically. Fifty-nine percent of respondents in this age bracket said TV news was their primary source, while an identical percentage tapped the Internet. That’s a big change from 2007, when 68% of people under the age of 30 choose TV, versus just 34% for the Internet.

New Music Merchandising On Display

OK, so we all are embracing new ways to expose new music and make it available for purchase at a time and in a way most convenient for the music fan.  I’m impressed that some of the oldest school companies on Earth are really getting creative in deploying assets to expose and monetize those exposures.  We should all be gathered around the conference table regularly brainstorming with “those people” to gain new momentum?  How about credit for just trying some new things and seeing what sticks?  Investing in new channels and giving them the time necessary for their viral spread to begin changing the users habits (parts of the program have been around a long time)!  By the way, when you get your sales reports weekly, do they tell you there was a huge AXE push with a particular artist and that may skew that figure?  Is there a way for you to now that and interpret the sales info from that perspective? Does it matter or is it just great for the industry that we are willing to experiment in these areas?

Take a look  at this AdAge article and let me know what you think….. Garry Leigh     Snafu Consulting

Walmart, Unilever Up Partnership in Retailer’s Music Site

Marketer Promotes Its Products on Soundcheck With the Likes of All-American Rejects, Nickelback

by Jack Neff

Published: December 29, 2008

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — As a means to sell more music and attract more visitors to its music microsite, Walmart has teamed up with Unilever for an entertainment- and shopper-marketing program that appears to be gaining momentum.

Bands like The All-American Rejects are featured alongside Unilever’s products on Walmart shelves as well as the retailer’s sponsored music portal, Soundcheck.

In the latest incarnation of the partnership, Unilever is merchandising its new Axe Hair lineup of hair-care products for the cheeky men’s brand in stores alongside CDs from All-American Rejects, Gym Class Heroes, David Cook and Nickelback, while simultaneously sponsoring Walmart’sSoundcheck microsite, which has been backed by the marketer’s personal-care brands since earlier this year.

Backed Beyonce’s new album
In similar fashion, Unilever backed the launch of Beyonce’s “I Am Sasha Fierce” CD last month with displays that promoted the album alongside Suave products, as well as promoting another release from Beyonce’s sister, Solange, who also had an exclusive interview on Soundcheck sponsored by Caress.

Unilever’s Suave also sponsored interviews and exclusive video performances by Beyonce on Soundcheck in November. And Axe sponsored a studio concert performance and a free MP3 download by All-American Rejects earlier this month.

For its part, Dove in October sponsored a “Women in Music” program on Soundcheck featuring videos of nine artists, including Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Hudson and Faith Hill, at the brand’s self-esteem workshops for girls.

Walmart’s Soundcheck initiative dates back to 2006, when it primarily focused on exclusive concerts played on the retailer’s in-store TV network operated by Thomson’s PRN. Procter & Gamble brands such as Gillette Fusion and Venus sponsored exclusive content on the microsite last year.

Program takes off
But the online program appears to have taken off considerably this year in terms of viewership and in-store merchandising support, as Unilever has featured it in programs with most of its major personal-care brands. Unilever and Walmart have gotten mentions about its promotions and exclusive content on Soundcheck in the blogosphere, using a giveaway of a Danity Kane CD and Degree products, for example, on one blog this spring.

URLfan.com now ranks Soundcheck in the top 1% of the 3.7 million sites it tracks in terms of blog mentions, averaging a mention about one every three days. A preview of Beyonce’s Suave-sponsored Soundcheck appearance last month has drawn about 844,000 views on YouTube, and a Soundcheck appearance by the lesser-known Danity Kane, sponsored by Degree deodorant, has garnered more than 400,000 YouTube views.

Newly In The Hunt?

It amazes all of us as we watch business people take over and reformulate art.  How many songs have been written by a senior accountant?  How many number one broadcasts have been hosted by major shareholders?  Did they buy into an accounting firm or a living breathing changing evolving creator of in-the-moment entertainment?  Yea.  It will come full circle as the artists are allowed to connect with the customers in so many new ways either with or without radio.  For those looking for a new outlet at the moment, don’t confine your search to what has been, but rather what will be.  Good luck and don’t let any of this change your artist’s perspective.  It is who you are!

This post may help too….   Gar

Commentary
Dear Bev: What Should I Expect If I’m Unexpectedly Laid Off?
by Beverly Weinstein, 2 hours ago

This holiday season has brought an unwelcome surprise to unprecedented numbers of people in the media business – pink slips.

If you’re among the unlucky, you’re probably going through some predictable emotions. Noted psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler Ross’s five stages of grief pretty much sum up the emotional roller coaster many of you may be riding right now.

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. You may not experience them all and you may not experience them in rank order, but Ross says you can expect to experience at least two.

In my 12 years as a recruiter, I’ve talked to countless media executives that have lost jobs. I’d say denial and anger are the more common one-two punch with an overlay of depression.

Denial. Even with unemployment rates at an all time high and lay-offs occurring in every industry, we all can’t shake the “it won’t happen to me” delusion, until, of course, it happens. You’re crushed, left high and dry by the company you’ve been loyal to for years. Or maybe you were just unlucky enough to be part of the “last in/first out layoffs and it’s way too late to regret leaving that other job for a mere 15% to 20% salary boost. But the tears dry quickly as you move into phase two: Anger.

Now that you’ve had time to reflect on all you’ve done for the company, all the blood, sweat, tears, overtime, and lost weekends that went into producing the best work possible, you’re downright mad. And here’s where it can get tricky. Whether the anger is justified or not it is often rashly directed at the person who gave you the bad news.

Placing blame is easy in this state but burning bridges is something you will quickly regret once you’ve entered the acceptance stage. Avoid the temptation of trashing your boss or your company to anyone that will listen. If you have to complain, even if you’re justified, try to keep it to your loved ones and trusted friends that don’t work in media. And, this should go without saying but no angry e-mails, IM’s, Facebook postings or Twitters. In other words – no digital trail.

Once the anger has subsided, even if it hasn’t gone away completely, depression sets in. Feelings of hopelessness are normal, especially with daily announcements on the economy’s downward spiral flooding the news. But as with any break-up, you’ll find love again. So shove this phase aside and prepare yourself to move on. Who needed that job anyway?

Finally, the acceptance phase. You’ve come to terms with the harsh reality and now it’s time to reorganize and plan your next steps. Pull out your Rolodex and start planning your triumphant return, because they haven’t seen the last of you yet.

Editor’s note: If you’ve lost a job in the media industry recently, or are afraid of doing so, despair not. Beverly Weinstein’s column will reappear here regularly dispensing sound advice and practical tactics for managing your career in a volatile employment market. If you have specific questions about what you should do, please post them below, and Bev will help you out. Or if you feel uncomfortable posting your queries publicly, feel free to email Bev anonymously at bev@markhammedia.com

Mobile Marketing Metrics

I have now read so many executive summaries of the Nielsen Short Code Marketing Study that it’s easy to simply accept the quoted metrics and accompanying analysis. Are you convinced and are you seeing the same conversion rates and interactivity as the examples?

Before we bury everyone of our core constituents in a campaign, let’s make sure it is employs a strategic vision which takes into account all of the positives and negatives of each particular medium utilized. One recent study showed high burn factor on TV creative did more to harm the effort than the impression did good for the brand. No matter how much a message resonates initially, we all know each medium has it’s own very individual shelf-life for a message or tactic and a successful campaign will deploy very different messages and duration thereof for each particular medium. Mobile marketing or text message marketing is very much the same but the experience is so new to most, that we are really creating (or in some cases destroying) the environment and boundaries for this special new interaction between our brand and core customer and need to tread very carefully as we go to insure it’s future value.

I know we all say that hey… we’re not spamming anyone, but does the person on the other end of our message feel engaged and pleased to have received it or, increasingly numb to seeing something from us and thus we are actually eroding the value of the medium for all? I really fear many of us are doing the latter simply because we need to get another message out this week or there is a deadline approaching or maybe an event looming, so we’re not connecting with our customer with anything of real value to keep our side of the conversation going. Remember, to have a conversation both parties have to voluntarily engage and stay engaged until we communicate.  When we ask for the opt-in lets make sure we set a realistic expectation for the interaction and meet or exceed that level every time.

I guess what I’m saying is I’ve attended enough parties this Holiday Season and witnessed so many conversations with no real communication that I want to keep my damn phone out of it. It is a special place reserved for me to invite special friends to actually share something of value with each other. If that’s not a part of that equation, it better not be on my phone! I understand the psychology of texting being an option chosen because we don’t want to have to emotionally engage the other party completely and it is chosen to instead lower the importance of the exchange to a few sentence fragments with no real and lasting weight. The most magical text messages to me though, are the ones that not only prompt a response with a smile, but which force us to upgrade the conversation to something on a more personal level. Making us want to commit time, money, travel or any real consideration to continue an interaction is the metric that counts and if it’s not the goal of your next mobile marketing message, DON’T SEND IT but put it on a billboard or email it to me! Remember, at least as much thought, planning and creativity should go into the mobile medium as into any other if we are really committed to adding it to our arsenal long term (and we should be). So, did you hesitate before you hit send? Thanks!
Garry Leigh
Snafu Consulting

Live From The Steel Peer

This should generate some comments from the broadcast folks!  Why weren’t we streaming this concert as well as carrying it live?  We used to be the “go to” for events exactly like this.  How many even linked thru?  …..  Gar

So that’s what ‘The Golden Age of Radio’ was like …
Posted December 8th, 2008 by David
In the midst of a party with friends Saturday night, a handful of us huddled around my 8-year-old stereo in my neighbor’s apartment.

It’s a three-disc, two-cassette deck 50w detached double speaker system with auxiliary input. The radio tuner is rarely used now, a drastic change from when it sat in my bedroom at my parents’ place. The 3-disc changer hasn’t seen use since my junior year of high school. And, yes, in the very early days the cassette deck got some use. (Then I discovered Napster.)

Back to Saturday night. The stereo system now gets its greatest exercise when it’s hooked up to a computer or iPod, and such was the case here. Tonight’s main act was not our boy band megamix or Hulu watching, but my favorite artist.

John Mayer’s second annual Holiday Revue, “On His Own,” was streamed live at Mayer’s site, allowing fans across the country to listen in stunning clarity. A continuously updating photo slide show accompanied the live player page, adding some perspective as to the set, Mayer and his tone. That was all secondary, of course. It’s the music I was focused on. With a volume-maxed stereo, the show was in our living room.

I could close my eyes, allow my imagination to take over and soon I, too, was there. Two friends, also avid fans, joined in the stereo-huddling. A popular fan blog posted the set list as it developed, and its comments section served the equivalent as between-song side chatter with fellow fans. There we were, most of the way across the country, feeling like we were there.

I flash back to the scenes from “A Christmas Story,” where Ralphie runs to the radio to catch the latest broadcast of radio Orphan Annie. (Yea – this is my recollection of radio’s glory days, as this 1984-born product has always grown up with MTV, let alone transistor radios.) A remarkable Internet broadcast quality made me feel as if I was at Nokia Theatre.

So that’s how the dawning of radio and TV felt.

My generation takes for granted the power of “live.” We’ve grown up in a media-saturated environment where seeing or hearing in real time something elsewhere isn’t “cool” – just normal. Whether it’s a TV station live shot from across town, or a war correspondent on the opposite side of the Earth – we’re used to that.

Last week my best friend told me how he’d just come from chatting with a high school friend serving the country in Iraq. He initially brought up the subject with no real “ooo” or “awe” to it, and was more/less focusing on how bored his friend seemed there .. not so much the fact that he was talking to him in real time over Facebook Chat. He stopped and showed a contemplative look on his face after realizing what he’d said, and how remarkable it truly is.

That same friend was one of the two friends enjoying the sounds of Mayer’s set Saturday night. He had his “live” moment earlier in the week, as I was having mine right then and there. The two-hour, LA-based show started at midnight EST. We intently listened through every minute of it.

Then the feed cut out during the second-to-last song of the encore.

“S—.” It resumed minutes later, as Mayer finished a memorable blend of Coldplay’s “Lost” and his own “Clarity.”

Some general glitches posed some problems for the stream at the end, Mayer’s team blog acknowledged Sunday as they touted the replay of the show. Even now the site continues to stream the concert live, and recordings of the show are already floating about the fan base.

Not only could I hear it live, but now I can replay it like it is forever. Art and technology are beautiful things.

Mass Media Mutations

On The Art and Seek section of KERA.org is a story about the Ft. Worth Star Telegram and competing Dallas Morning News now using the same writers so arts stories now are identical in both papers and thus readers are presented only one local perspective.  It caught my attention on many levels not the least of which is the loss of the worth of every individual’s perspective on an artistic endeavor.  In particular, don’t you think the Arts reviews should be done by dozens of writers sharing their unique perspective as individuals whose perceptions are colored by their own history?  The Arts aren’t owned by any one’s imagination but by everyone’s, so why should a single newsprint review (local or not) ultimately matter to anyone other than the author whose livelihood depends on their special insight (remember the movie Ratatouille?). 

Another thought was why wouldn’t KERA.org be a better place for anyone interested in the Arts to begin their research on an event past, present, or future?  Local, in 2.0 for many individual local perspectives collected as one, trusted as it is Public TV/Radio after all, and not controlled by any one family or entity with a incentive to bias anything. 

Mass Media is dependent on the masses selecting the medium of choice for consumption of particular messages and simply because it is a traditional medium of choice has no real relevance today or tomorrow. In our new global connect, we may just wind up throwing out the necessity of having meaningful thought originate from a particular brand and rather, have a few portals with collective local perspectives which we can take or leave.  Maybe audio (podcasts), maybe video (many now have smartphones for video capture), blogs, maybe a mashup of many, but there are no limits other than bandwidth!  OK, so no one gets rich on this model as banner ads and such would help defray the costs of this community of thought and probably not pay more than a handful of particularly popular reporters or critics, but we all get what we were looking for and isn’t that what mass media is?

Looking for less Mass and more Media? We can form communities thru Facebook or even thru DMA or DBDT or Nasher for more specific interests and sharing of upcoming events?

The Mass Media is now from bottom up rather than top down and we just need to develop ways to monetize each portal enough to support the creators of the assets and to make it’s presence known to the community as a whole.

KERA.org looks like a great model to replace print.

 

Garry Leigh         Snafu Consulting