By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
For the (Denver) Rocky Mountain News, the blizzards that blanketed the Mile High City last winter produced something more than a bumper crop of snow babies.
The paper took some of the interactive features it posted on its Web site during the massive December/January storms as a core foundation underpinning a complete redesign of its site, which debuted Nov. 15.
To that end, the new look includes more than just multimedia apps; it also includes sections where readers can upload and share stories with others, mobile alerts and other attractions, said Mike Noe, the News’ interactive editor.
The deployment of interactive features is a direct result of the spike in traffic and participation rockymountainnews.com received from snowed-in Denver residents, he said.
“During the blizzard we started throwing up applications where people could take a picture of how much snow was in their backyard and throw it on the site,” he said.
“People went crazy with that and started looking through all the slide shows we had on the snow.”
Aesthetically, the site shed its former blue hues, instead embracing a white background sporting gray and black shaded navigation bars.
The design envelopes such new features as mobile alerts and shortcuts that make it easier for readers to share stories through such networking sites as Del.icio.us, digg, Newsvine and others.
But rockymountainnews.com still retains some of the old look, Noe said, citing the large photograph that anchors the home page and feature story listings that scroll below the initial display.
“We stayed with a consistent horizontal navigation across the Web site, giving us more opportunity to maintain consistency across the board so that users don’t get lost trying to figure out where they want to go,” said Noe.
More content
The News based the Web site on Ellington, the same content management software used by other E.W. Scripps newspapers.
The paper was the last of the group’s dailies to make the shift to Ellington, a change of pace from what occurred when the News rolled out its former Vignette Corp.-based CMS, Noe said.
“We were the first paper to roll out into the old CMS and that was pretty painful for a paper of our size,” he said. “Given all the bugs and mistakes we experienced in 2000, we decided to be the last property to go onto Ellington so we can let the others work their way through the kinks in the system.”
Among Ellington’s greatest benefits is its ability to support user-generated content, including such features as user-generated commenting and photo submission.
“Our hope is that we will have even more tools to allow the user to interact with the site,” he said.
The app will also give News editors an unimpeded conduit through which they can post stories online.
“The section editors will be taking over their sections on the Web site,” Noe said, adding that the software enables users to post content without writing a lot of code.
“I’m excited about it because it’ll feel like I’ve gained 100 new producers in the newsroom who can update, maintain and manage its look. Plus, we’ll be able to improve individual sections,” he said.
More multimedia
The beefed-up Web site also sets the stage for News reporters to file video and images with their stories. Writers are now equipped with more sophisticated cell phones that can transmit both photos and video, Noe said.
“We are still working on the workflow to get the video into the site, but we do have the ability to post,” he said, citing footage reporters posted during the Colorado Rockies’ playoff run.
The site can also support higher-quality videos, Noe said. Case in point: An early December special report covering Colorado’s energy development.
The series included high-def video that was posted online; some of the frames from the video were also used in the print edition of the paper, Noe said.
“The idea is that we have these reporters out in the field that can record audio and video and get it back to us as quickly as possible to post on the site,” he said.
Web site Snapshot
www.rockymountainnews.com
New site launch date: Nov. 15, 2007
Last major redesign: 2005 • First launched: November 2000
Owner: E.W. Scripps Co.
Employees dedicated to the site:
12 producers and technical staff
Denver NDM* Weekly
Adults 18+
Comp % 100.00
Projected 135,442
Reach % 6.90
Men Women
Comp % 51.30 48.70
Projected 69,460 65,982
Reach % 7.10 6.70
Household income < $50,000
Comp % 24.10
Projected 32,643
Reach % 4.30
Household income $50,000 - $74,999
Comp % 15.00
Projected 20,329
Reach % 4.90
Household income $75,000 - $99,999
Comp % 19.20
Projected 26,047
Reach %a 7.40
Household income $100,000 - $149,999
Comp % 24.00
Projected 32,455
Reach % 12.00
Household income $150,000+
Comp % 17.70
Projected 23,968
Reach % 14.60
Source: Scarborough Release 1, 2007
*The Newspaper Designated Market (NDM) for readership is a geographic area selected by the newspaper. It must encompass at least 75 percent of the total paid circulation.
Terms: Projected- The number of adults age 18+ in the market that are reached by the newspaper
Reach %: The percentage of adults age 18+ in the market that are reached by the newspaper
Comp %: The percentage of the newspaper’s total audience that are part of a particular demographic group (e.g. HHLD income $150k+, Age 55+ etc.)
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
NAA: Online ads up; print drops in 3Q
N&T Staff Report
Although newspapers’ online ad revenues continued to grow, the industry’s total ad expenditures dropped 7.4 percent during the third quarter of 2007, according to a report issued by the Newspaper Association of America.
The NAA said newspapers posted ad sales of $10.9 billion during the third quarter. Of that amount, spending for print ads totaled $10.1 billion, down 9 percent from the year-earlier period.
The bright spot was online sales, which grew by 21.1 percent, to $773 million, the NAA’s preliminary statistics indicated. The group said the increase reflects the 14th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth for online advertising since NAA began reporting online ad spending in 2004.
The continued year-over-year gains have demonstrated the importance of newspaper Web site advertising, NAA said, which now accounts for 7.1 percent of total newspaper ad spending, compared to 5.4 percent in last year’s third quarter.
Still, the uptick in digital advertising couldn’t offset the continued decline in print classified advertising, the report said. Classified advertising overall fell 17 percent to $3.4 billion, while retail declined 4.9 percent to $5.1 billion and national slid 2.5 percent, to $1.7 billion, NAA said.
Within the classified print category in the third quarter, real estate advertising fell 24.4 percent to $1 billion. Recruitment dropped 19.7 percent to $882.4 million. Automotive was down 17.7 percent to $796.6 million. All other classifieds were up 2.7 percent to $713.3 million.
Although newspapers’ online ad revenues continued to grow, the industry’s total ad expenditures dropped 7.4 percent during the third quarter of 2007, according to a report issued by the Newspaper Association of America.
The NAA said newspapers posted ad sales of $10.9 billion during the third quarter. Of that amount, spending for print ads totaled $10.1 billion, down 9 percent from the year-earlier period.
The bright spot was online sales, which grew by 21.1 percent, to $773 million, the NAA’s preliminary statistics indicated. The group said the increase reflects the 14th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth for online advertising since NAA began reporting online ad spending in 2004.
The continued year-over-year gains have demonstrated the importance of newspaper Web site advertising, NAA said, which now accounts for 7.1 percent of total newspaper ad spending, compared to 5.4 percent in last year’s third quarter.
Still, the uptick in digital advertising couldn’t offset the continued decline in print classified advertising, the report said. Classified advertising overall fell 17 percent to $3.4 billion, while retail declined 4.9 percent to $5.1 billion and national slid 2.5 percent, to $1.7 billion, NAA said.
Within the classified print category in the third quarter, real estate advertising fell 24.4 percent to $1 billion. Recruitment dropped 19.7 percent to $882.4 million. Automotive was down 17.7 percent to $796.6 million. All other classifieds were up 2.7 percent to $713.3 million.
LA Times beefing up Web site
The Los Angeles Times Media Group is rolling out software from Aggregate Knowledge to deliver user-driven content suggestions on the Los Angeles Times’ Web site.
The site will use AK’s Pique Onsite Discovery to underpin the travel section of latimes.com as well as forthcoming sections, the paper said.
The software enables papers to harness reader suggestions across media Web sites.
“The Pique Onsite Discovery service is an important part of our strategy to use the wisdom of our users as a means of recommending content,” said Jason Oberfest, managing director of product strategy for Los Angeles Times Interactive.
Pique Onsite drives suggestions for many types of content including breaking news, articles, videos, photos and blogs.
The site will use AK’s Pique Onsite Discovery to underpin the travel section of latimes.com as well as forthcoming sections, the paper said.
The software enables papers to harness reader suggestions across media Web sites.
“The Pique Onsite Discovery service is an important part of our strategy to use the wisdom of our users as a means of recommending content,” said Jason Oberfest, managing director of product strategy for Los Angeles Times Interactive.
Pique Onsite drives suggestions for many types of content including breaking news, articles, videos, photos and blogs.
10 Ohio Gannett newspapers launch online voter guide
Gannett Co. Inc.’s Newspaper Network of Central Ohio launched an online voting guide based on software from Caspio Inc.
The hyper-local guide allows candidates to enter their personal biographies, upload photos, address key campaign issues and answer specific questions posed by the newspapers.
The candidate profiles and positions are then published through automatic and interactive interfaces on NNCO Web sites for readers to access.
Web site users can review, compare and select their preferred candidates and ballot initiatives, plus print a personalized ballot to take to the election polls.
Caspio also provided NNCO with reverse-publishing tools to convert the online database into traditional page format for print editions.
NNCO consists of 10 newspapers, including the Chillicothe Gazette, Newark Advocate, Lancaster Eagle-Gazette and Port Clinton News Herald.
Voter Guide
Caspio is offering its 2008 Voter Guide system to newspapers and online media that are seeking local, county, state and federal coverage for the upcoming election year.
Meantime, Caspio said Media General will roll out its database software groupwide after evaluations at The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune and Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal.
The hyper-local guide allows candidates to enter their personal biographies, upload photos, address key campaign issues and answer specific questions posed by the newspapers.
The candidate profiles and positions are then published through automatic and interactive interfaces on NNCO Web sites for readers to access.
Web site users can review, compare and select their preferred candidates and ballot initiatives, plus print a personalized ballot to take to the election polls.
Caspio also provided NNCO with reverse-publishing tools to convert the online database into traditional page format for print editions.
NNCO consists of 10 newspapers, including the Chillicothe Gazette, Newark Advocate, Lancaster Eagle-Gazette and Port Clinton News Herald.
Voter Guide
Caspio is offering its 2008 Voter Guide system to newspapers and online media that are seeking local, county, state and federal coverage for the upcoming election year.
Meantime, Caspio said Media General will roll out its database software groupwide after evaluations at The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune and Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal.
JRC makes shift to new e-edition software
By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
The Journal Register Co. launched electronic editions for six of its dailies as the publisher continues its deployment of editorial and online publishing software from alfa Media Solutions Inc.
The six, the West Chester (Pa.) Daily Local, Lansdale (Pa.) Reporter, Trentonian in Trenton, N.J., Pottstown (Pa.) Mercury, the Morning Sun in Mount Pleasant, Mich., and the Phoenix in Phoenixville, Pa., are using alfa’s e-dition software, said Allen Mailman, JRC’s senior vice president of technology.
The group began installing alfa’s OpenMedia editorial apps throughout its newspapers six months ago, comprising more than 800 seats (see Newspapers & Technology, May 2007).
The implementation of e-dition comes as JRC converts electronic editions from free to pay subscription, Mailman said.
“The papers are initially offered as a free product for the first few months and then go to paid subscriptions,” Mailman said. “Half of the papers have transitioned to pay with the others moving (late last month).”]
Moving to pay subscriptions reflects JRC’s plan to increase the number of hybrid subscriptions it reports on the Audit Bureau of Circulations’ semi-annual Fas-Fax report.
Hybrid subscriptions include readers who receive a mix of print and electronic editions as part of their weekly subscriptions (see Newspapers & Technology, July 2007).
Automatic extraction
Mailman said JRC liked the e-dition software because it offers automatic XML extraction and a host of user interface features, such as audio support.
“E-dition has an audio component. You can download stories to an iPod, which makes it much more portable for the reader,” he said. “More importantly, it doesn’t take any administrative oversight since electronic edition creation is automated.”
Transition
Ultimately, JRC plans to transition all of its papers to alfa’s editorial and e-dition software, but the Connecticut papers, which include the flagship New Haven Register, will for the time being remain on Atex.
“Right now the Connecticut cluster is using Atex Prestige editorial and that’s running fine,” Mailman said. “What’s working for them is the shared service environment. The properties in the entire state are running off of one network and database and there is no reason to change that. When its life cycle comes up, then we’ll convert it to alfa.”
The other papers will make the shift to alfa software either later this year or in early 2009, Mailman said.
Changing times
Journal Register Co. papers using alfa Media e-dition software:
•West Chester (Pa.) Daily Local
•Lansdale (Pa.) Reporter
•The Trentonian in Trenton, N.J.
•The Pottstown (Pa.) Mercury
•The Morning Sun in Mount Pleasant, Mich.
•The Phoenix in Phoenixville, Pa.
JRC papers using Olive Software
•The Oakland Press in Pontiac, Mich.
•The Macomb Daily in Mount Clements, Mich.
•The New Haven (Conn.) Register
Future alfa e-dition conversions:
•The Royal Oak (Mich.) Tribune (January 2008)
•The Macomb (Mich.) Daily (January 2008)
Source: JRC
Associate Editor
The Journal Register Co. launched electronic editions for six of its dailies as the publisher continues its deployment of editorial and online publishing software from alfa Media Solutions Inc.
The six, the West Chester (Pa.) Daily Local, Lansdale (Pa.) Reporter, Trentonian in Trenton, N.J., Pottstown (Pa.) Mercury, the Morning Sun in Mount Pleasant, Mich., and the Phoenix in Phoenixville, Pa., are using alfa’s e-dition software, said Allen Mailman, JRC’s senior vice president of technology.
The group began installing alfa’s OpenMedia editorial apps throughout its newspapers six months ago, comprising more than 800 seats (see Newspapers & Technology, May 2007).
The implementation of e-dition comes as JRC converts electronic editions from free to pay subscription, Mailman said.
“The papers are initially offered as a free product for the first few months and then go to paid subscriptions,” Mailman said. “Half of the papers have transitioned to pay with the others moving (late last month).”]
Moving to pay subscriptions reflects JRC’s plan to increase the number of hybrid subscriptions it reports on the Audit Bureau of Circulations’ semi-annual Fas-Fax report.
Hybrid subscriptions include readers who receive a mix of print and electronic editions as part of their weekly subscriptions (see Newspapers & Technology, July 2007).
Automatic extraction
Mailman said JRC liked the e-dition software because it offers automatic XML extraction and a host of user interface features, such as audio support.
“E-dition has an audio component. You can download stories to an iPod, which makes it much more portable for the reader,” he said. “More importantly, it doesn’t take any administrative oversight since electronic edition creation is automated.”
Transition
Ultimately, JRC plans to transition all of its papers to alfa’s editorial and e-dition software, but the Connecticut papers, which include the flagship New Haven Register, will for the time being remain on Atex.
“Right now the Connecticut cluster is using Atex Prestige editorial and that’s running fine,” Mailman said. “What’s working for them is the shared service environment. The properties in the entire state are running off of one network and database and there is no reason to change that. When its life cycle comes up, then we’ll convert it to alfa.”
The other papers will make the shift to alfa software either later this year or in early 2009, Mailman said.
Changing times
Journal Register Co. papers using alfa Media e-dition software:
•West Chester (Pa.) Daily Local
•Lansdale (Pa.) Reporter
•The Trentonian in Trenton, N.J.
•The Pottstown (Pa.) Mercury
•The Morning Sun in Mount Pleasant, Mich.
•The Phoenix in Phoenixville, Pa.
JRC papers using Olive Software
•The Oakland Press in Pontiac, Mich.
•The Macomb Daily in Mount Clements, Mich.
•The New Haven (Conn.) Register
Future alfa e-dition conversions:
•The Royal Oak (Mich.) Tribune (January 2008)
•The Macomb (Mich.) Daily (January 2008)
Source: JRC
New app helps publishers track content across Web
By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
Publishers have a new tool to figure out who is copying and potentially making money off their content, thanks to a new online tracking service from startup software developer Attributor Corp.
Reuters last September agreed to roll out Attributor’s software, which digitally “fingerprints” original content and then continually monitors billions of Web pages to track and understand how that content is distributed.
“Attributor’s technology gives us the critical business intelligence to pursue new opportunities for licensing and use of original content,” said Ric Camacho, vice president of digital syndication at Reuters following the announcement. “This agreement is part of Reuters strategy of innovation as we continue to develop next-generation digital news syndication.”
This site copied almost an entire article and Attributor showed the exact amount copied. Users can request a link back to the original site.
Attributor customers can view an online dashboard to see who is copying their content. Users can find information including contextual factors including ads, site links, the amount of content being copied and estimated site traffic.
Reuters’ agreement followed The Associated Press, which last spring said it would use Attributor’s services to track and follow up with sites using its content.
“Our agreement with Attributor will enable AP to safeguard its investment in creating and distributing news reports, while assuring licensees that unauthorized use will not diminish the value of their licenses,” said AP General Counsel Srinandan Kasi.
Need compensation
In an interview with PaidContent.com AP Chief Executive Officer Tom Curley said the news agency needs to get compensated for the content it generates.
”If you want our content, we expect to be paid for it … this nonsense that you can just take the first paragraph or use the picture small doesn’t really fly with us,” he told the Web site. “People die trying to take those pictures.”
Reuters and the AP are just two of a number of news operations working with Redwood City, Calif.-based Attributor, said Matt Robinson, the company’s vice president of business development and legal affairs.
“Web-wise visibility equates with super distribution for a lot of our customers and most of the folks we work with now view content re-use as a potentially good thing and if they can convert or acquire some of the value that the re-use brings,” said Robinson.
Billions tracked
Attributor has thus far fingerprinted more than 18 billion pages and is adding another 75 million to 100 million pages per day to its repository.
Attributor’s software identifies content and then monitors how it’s distributed. If it finds that content is being improperly used, the app can contact the offending site’s operators, asking either for a link back to the original site, a share of revenues or an immediate end to the copying.
“What you end up with on the backend are billions of fingerprint comparisons in order to find matches across the Web,” Robinson said. “We’re not inputting a watermark into any of the content but actually drawing a fingerprint from the content objects themselves and comparing the fingerprints.
“The customer defines what it is that they are looking for, which can range from acquiring links through matches, revenue sharing, identifying new licensees and sales opportunities or in some instances request the removal of their content,” he said.
Robinson declined to say how much Attributor charges for the app, saying only that customers pay based on how much volume they want tracked. For smaller publishers, Robinson said the firm offers a Remedies platform that handles the chores of attribution requests, revenue sharing and content removal.
More services on deck
For now, Attributor tracks text, but it is working on rolling out an image service that is now being tested. As with its text counterpart, the image software tracks and indicates where photos are being used on other Web sites.
Robinson said the image software can even find images that have been severely cropped and reused for other purposes, such as merchandising.
Robinson cites one instance where the app was able to find a Web site that was selling key rings with a purloined image of actress Charlize Theron.
“As soon as this image went out, within 12 hours, someone had taken this photo, put it on a key ring and began selling it on a user-generated product site,” he said. “If they alter the photo we are getting very good at finding it.”
The image service will be available early this year with a video service following, Robinson said.
Attributor’s world
When it comes to purloined data, Attributor Corp. sees the world in two distinct camps.
“We’ve broken up the world into extensive copying and any copying,” said Rich Pearson, director of marketing of the content tracking company.
“Extensive copying is where sales and legal might focus,” he said, adding that sites that take 50 percent or more of an original content provider’s information is guilty of extensive copying.
Attributor’s software can also show users if their content is now being used on a site with advertising. That feature allows users to request from third-party sites a portion of the advertising revenue they may be pocketing as a result of using the user’s original content.
Pearson said Attributor also offers a match site profile that allows users to focus on specific sites such as MySpace.
“Because any action you’re going to take, whether it’s asking for a link, asking for a revenue share or sending a take down notice, will be done at the domain level,” Pearson said. “We’ve aggregated all the matches for a particular domain to show the number of visitors.”
The take-down feature is important for media competing against spam blogs, or splogs, which are used to promote or inflate a search engine’s rankings of associated sites.
“In a search engine-driven economy, links are incredibly important in driving where you appear in rankings on sites like Google,” said Pearson. “Splogs take snippets of your content, put ads around them, determine what are the most searched-for terms and then (they become) very good at being higher in search engine ranks than you.”
Associate Editor
Publishers have a new tool to figure out who is copying and potentially making money off their content, thanks to a new online tracking service from startup software developer Attributor Corp.
Reuters last September agreed to roll out Attributor’s software, which digitally “fingerprints” original content and then continually monitors billions of Web pages to track and understand how that content is distributed.
“Attributor’s technology gives us the critical business intelligence to pursue new opportunities for licensing and use of original content,” said Ric Camacho, vice president of digital syndication at Reuters following the announcement. “This agreement is part of Reuters strategy of innovation as we continue to develop next-generation digital news syndication.”
This site copied almost an entire article and Attributor showed the exact amount copied. Users can request a link back to the original site.
Attributor customers can view an online dashboard to see who is copying their content. Users can find information including contextual factors including ads, site links, the amount of content being copied and estimated site traffic.
Reuters’ agreement followed The Associated Press, which last spring said it would use Attributor’s services to track and follow up with sites using its content.
“Our agreement with Attributor will enable AP to safeguard its investment in creating and distributing news reports, while assuring licensees that unauthorized use will not diminish the value of their licenses,” said AP General Counsel Srinandan Kasi.
Need compensation
In an interview with PaidContent.com AP Chief Executive Officer Tom Curley said the news agency needs to get compensated for the content it generates.
”If you want our content, we expect to be paid for it … this nonsense that you can just take the first paragraph or use the picture small doesn’t really fly with us,” he told the Web site. “People die trying to take those pictures.”
Reuters and the AP are just two of a number of news operations working with Redwood City, Calif.-based Attributor, said Matt Robinson, the company’s vice president of business development and legal affairs.
“Web-wise visibility equates with super distribution for a lot of our customers and most of the folks we work with now view content re-use as a potentially good thing and if they can convert or acquire some of the value that the re-use brings,” said Robinson.
Billions tracked
Attributor has thus far fingerprinted more than 18 billion pages and is adding another 75 million to 100 million pages per day to its repository.
Attributor’s software identifies content and then monitors how it’s distributed. If it finds that content is being improperly used, the app can contact the offending site’s operators, asking either for a link back to the original site, a share of revenues or an immediate end to the copying.
“What you end up with on the backend are billions of fingerprint comparisons in order to find matches across the Web,” Robinson said. “We’re not inputting a watermark into any of the content but actually drawing a fingerprint from the content objects themselves and comparing the fingerprints.
“The customer defines what it is that they are looking for, which can range from acquiring links through matches, revenue sharing, identifying new licensees and sales opportunities or in some instances request the removal of their content,” he said.
Robinson declined to say how much Attributor charges for the app, saying only that customers pay based on how much volume they want tracked. For smaller publishers, Robinson said the firm offers a Remedies platform that handles the chores of attribution requests, revenue sharing and content removal.
More services on deck
For now, Attributor tracks text, but it is working on rolling out an image service that is now being tested. As with its text counterpart, the image software tracks and indicates where photos are being used on other Web sites.
Robinson said the image software can even find images that have been severely cropped and reused for other purposes, such as merchandising.
Robinson cites one instance where the app was able to find a Web site that was selling key rings with a purloined image of actress Charlize Theron.
“As soon as this image went out, within 12 hours, someone had taken this photo, put it on a key ring and began selling it on a user-generated product site,” he said. “If they alter the photo we are getting very good at finding it.”
The image service will be available early this year with a video service following, Robinson said.
Attributor’s world
When it comes to purloined data, Attributor Corp. sees the world in two distinct camps.
“We’ve broken up the world into extensive copying and any copying,” said Rich Pearson, director of marketing of the content tracking company.
“Extensive copying is where sales and legal might focus,” he said, adding that sites that take 50 percent or more of an original content provider’s information is guilty of extensive copying.
Attributor’s software can also show users if their content is now being used on a site with advertising. That feature allows users to request from third-party sites a portion of the advertising revenue they may be pocketing as a result of using the user’s original content.
Pearson said Attributor also offers a match site profile that allows users to focus on specific sites such as MySpace.
“Because any action you’re going to take, whether it’s asking for a link, asking for a revenue share or sending a take down notice, will be done at the domain level,” Pearson said. “We’ve aggregated all the matches for a particular domain to show the number of visitors.”
The take-down feature is important for media competing against spam blogs, or splogs, which are used to promote or inflate a search engine’s rankings of associated sites.
“In a search engine-driven economy, links are incredibly important in driving where you appear in rankings on sites like Google,” said Pearson. “Splogs take snippets of your content, put ads around them, determine what are the most searched-for terms and then (they become) very good at being higher in search engine ranks than you.”
Amazon’s Kindle stokes interest from papers as technology takes root
N&T Staff Report
Amazon.com’s Kindle has sparked 11 U.S. and international dailies to offer their content to users of the new digital reader.
Amazon in November introduced the portable reader, which lets users wirelessly download newspapers as well as books, blogs and magazines to a high-resolution electronic paper display.
Papers offering Kindle subscriptions are the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, Le Monde, Investor’s Business Daily, San Francisco Chronicle, the Seattle Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Irish Times and Frankfurter Allgemeine.
Editions are automatically delivered wirelessly to Kindle each night. Monthly subscription rates ranging from $5.99 to $14.99.
Amazon is using E Ink Corp.’s Vizplex Imaging Film in the new Kindle reader.
The Vizplex displays are designed to offer contrast in both high and low lighting conditions and registers an extremely low power consumption with up to 30 hours of reading with a single battery charge.
The Kindle Store on Amazon’s Web site offers more than 90,000 books as well as hundreds of magazines and blogs.
Amazon.com’s Kindle has sparked 11 U.S. and international dailies to offer their content to users of the new digital reader.
Amazon in November introduced the portable reader, which lets users wirelessly download newspapers as well as books, blogs and magazines to a high-resolution electronic paper display.
Papers offering Kindle subscriptions are the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, Le Monde, Investor’s Business Daily, San Francisco Chronicle, the Seattle Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Irish Times and Frankfurter Allgemeine.
Editions are automatically delivered wirelessly to Kindle each night. Monthly subscription rates ranging from $5.99 to $14.99.
Amazon is using E Ink Corp.’s Vizplex Imaging Film in the new Kindle reader.
The Vizplex displays are designed to offer contrast in both high and low lighting conditions and registers an extremely low power consumption with up to 30 hours of reading with a single battery charge.
The Kindle Store on Amazon’s Web site offers more than 90,000 books as well as hundreds of magazines and blogs.
4 Questions with Mark Zagorski
Mark Zagorski, chief marketing officer of MediaSpan Group, says newspapers come from a position of real strength when it comes to offering users quality content. But why aren’t they exploiting that advantage?
What are some of the issues facing newspapers in the online advertising market?
Versus standalone Web properties and portals, newspapers come from a position of real strength when it comes to quality of content and audience — two things that national advertisers (particularly leading brands) love.
However, they have done a poor job communicating these advantages, keeping them lost in the clutter of the “other 30 percent” — that is those properties not amongst the top 10 Web sites that generate 70 percent of online revenue. Part of this problem comes down to reach — individual newspapers and even small groups on their own have a tough time getting noticed because they just aren’t big enough to demand the attention of media buyers.
Local media networks and some of the new newspaper consortiums are helping in this effort, but there is still a long way to go before newspapers can claim their deserved share of national dollars.
How has online advertising changed over the past few years?
Over the last several years, advertisers have moved away from trying out online advertising to shifting large chunks of their dollars to their online efforts. And these budgets have begun to trend to the extreme ends of the impact spectrum. They are either exceptionally back-end focused or, by contrast, focused on cross-media brand plays embodied in viral ad campaigns typified by such stunts as home page takeovers or integrated sponsorships.
Sometimes the same brand pursues both strategies. What is clear is that standard, CPM-based display ad sales are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
What trends do you see with online advertising technology?
1. Better targeting through behavioral marketing solutions, contextual programs and more database consolidation efforts amongst large publishers and networks.
2. More extensive integration and tie ins. Product placement isn’t just for television. Advertisers are demanding to become more a part of the fabric of Web sites. Sponsored advertorials, custom microsites, and integrated promotions will grow as a percentage of the overall spend.
3. Richer, more immersive ads. What does run in unit will most likely feature compressed video, dynamically changing messaging based on user activity and the ability to receive more information or even transact within the unit itself.
4. More participatory ad activity. Advertisers have cautiously waded into the world of user-generated content, sometimes with questionable results. However, as content moderation and filtering techniques improve, advertisers will become more comfortable with leveraging users’ content in their online activity.
5. Transportable audience data. Much to the chagrin of privacy experts, user information will be moved from Web to wireless to set-top box. Ad serving technology will begin to cross media to leverage this.
What are some of ways newspapers can maintain their online advertising base?
1. Innovate. Don’t fear new ways to engage advertisers with integrated sponsorships, rich media vehicles and special online programs and content.
2. Move out of your comfort zone. Embrace video, user-generated content, social networking solutions and other applications that engage your audience with content and your advertisers with the audience.
3. Don’t cede your brand to anyone. It is still a newspaper’s strongest asset and should be leveraged and promoted. Partnerships are great, but not at the expense of what you have built offline.
4. Continue to focus on your core clients — local advertisers — and don’t underestimate how savvy they are. The big guys like Google and Yahoo are already courting them with innovative, measurable online products. You must respond in-kind.
5. Build more connections between your print product and your Web product, between your editors and your readers, between your advertisers and your audience. Break down the walls that separate them and advertisers will embrace the enhanced engagement.
What are some of the issues facing newspapers in the online advertising market?
Versus standalone Web properties and portals, newspapers come from a position of real strength when it comes to quality of content and audience — two things that national advertisers (particularly leading brands) love.
However, they have done a poor job communicating these advantages, keeping them lost in the clutter of the “other 30 percent” — that is those properties not amongst the top 10 Web sites that generate 70 percent of online revenue. Part of this problem comes down to reach — individual newspapers and even small groups on their own have a tough time getting noticed because they just aren’t big enough to demand the attention of media buyers.
Local media networks and some of the new newspaper consortiums are helping in this effort, but there is still a long way to go before newspapers can claim their deserved share of national dollars.
How has online advertising changed over the past few years?
Over the last several years, advertisers have moved away from trying out online advertising to shifting large chunks of their dollars to their online efforts. And these budgets have begun to trend to the extreme ends of the impact spectrum. They are either exceptionally back-end focused or, by contrast, focused on cross-media brand plays embodied in viral ad campaigns typified by such stunts as home page takeovers or integrated sponsorships.
Sometimes the same brand pursues both strategies. What is clear is that standard, CPM-based display ad sales are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
What trends do you see with online advertising technology?
1. Better targeting through behavioral marketing solutions, contextual programs and more database consolidation efforts amongst large publishers and networks.
2. More extensive integration and tie ins. Product placement isn’t just for television. Advertisers are demanding to become more a part of the fabric of Web sites. Sponsored advertorials, custom microsites, and integrated promotions will grow as a percentage of the overall spend.
3. Richer, more immersive ads. What does run in unit will most likely feature compressed video, dynamically changing messaging based on user activity and the ability to receive more information or even transact within the unit itself.
4. More participatory ad activity. Advertisers have cautiously waded into the world of user-generated content, sometimes with questionable results. However, as content moderation and filtering techniques improve, advertisers will become more comfortable with leveraging users’ content in their online activity.
5. Transportable audience data. Much to the chagrin of privacy experts, user information will be moved from Web to wireless to set-top box. Ad serving technology will begin to cross media to leverage this.
What are some of ways newspapers can maintain their online advertising base?
1. Innovate. Don’t fear new ways to engage advertisers with integrated sponsorships, rich media vehicles and special online programs and content.
2. Move out of your comfort zone. Embrace video, user-generated content, social networking solutions and other applications that engage your audience with content and your advertisers with the audience.
3. Don’t cede your brand to anyone. It is still a newspaper’s strongest asset and should be leveraged and promoted. Partnerships are great, but not at the expense of what you have built offline.
4. Continue to focus on your core clients — local advertisers — and don’t underestimate how savvy they are. The big guys like Google and Yahoo are already courting them with innovative, measurable online products. You must respond in-kind.
5. Build more connections between your print product and your Web product, between your editors and your readers, between your advertisers and your audience. Break down the walls that separate them and advertisers will embrace the enhanced engagement.
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