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2012-01-28T08:17:00.001-08:00

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Utah folks on the strip NYE

2011-12-31T20:18:00.001-08:00

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Over the top may be the new cord-cutting

2011-12-08T10:36:00.001-08:00

Verizon May Ignite Online Pay-TV Rivalry With Web Service
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-06/verizon-may-ignite-online-pay-tv-competition-with-web-offering.html

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What's your 12-month price target for Groupon shares? Mine - $13.00

2011-11-06T13:56:00.001-08:00

Groupon shares surge but concerns linger

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Groupon debuts with a bang
Fri, Nov 4 2011

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Groupon strikes a deal with IPO

Fri, Nov 4 2011

Breakingviews: Can Groupon go from IPO to long-term success?

Strong Groupon IPO may set stage for more social media IPOs

Groupon Chief Executive Andrew Mason poses with his fiancee, pop musician Jenny Gillespie, outside the Nasdaq Market following his company's IPO in New York, November 4, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Brendan McDermid

By Clare Baldwin and Alistair Barr

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO | Fri Nov 4, 2011 5:43pm EDT

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO
(Reuters) - The shares of daily deals site Groupon Inc rose as much as 56 percent in their stock market debut on Friday, with at least some of the exuberance the result of the small number of shares sold.
The shares rose as high as $31.14, or 55.7 percent above the IPO price, in early trading on the Nasdaq, at one point pushing the market value of the company to $19.9 billion. The shares later eased to close at $26.11, 31 percent above their $20 IPO price, giving the company a market value of about $16.7 billion.
Groupon had the third-highest trading volume on the Nasdaq on Friday, with nearly 50 million trades.
Groupon sells Internet coupons for everything from spa treatments to nose jobs and is one of this year's most closely watched IPOs.
The offering, one of the largest in recent years, may be a barometer of investor appetite for IPOs. A strong first few trading days could help other private Internet companies -- such as Angie's List, Zynga and even Facebook -- pursue their own IPOs.
There is a huge backlog of companies that filed to go public earlier this year. Most put their plans on hold when the stock market slumped in August. Groupon is the first major IPO since then.
Chief Executive Andrew Mason and Chairman Eric Lefkofsky hugged in Times Square after ringing the opening bell on the Nasdaq. Employees at company headquarters in Chicago donned lime green T-shirts emblazoned with the company's ticker symbol "GRPN" printed in old, ticker-tape-style lettering.
The company declined Reuters' requests for interviews. One employee in Chicago, who declined to give his name, said workers had been discouraged from speaking to the media. Several uniformed security guards walked the perimeter of the building, keeping an eye on Groupon workers who came outside on their cigarette breaks.
All of the shares sold in the IPO were new, which means early equity holders may sell a portion of their stake next spring, once the 6-month lock-up period expires. It also means that, for now, Andrew Mason's newly-minted $1.2 billion remains paper wealth.
Some analysts and investors warn that Groupon's early surge could be a short-term phenomenon and its shares could reverse course and trade down like those of Internet radio station Pandora Media Inc.
There are still lingering questions about Groupon's business model and about competition from better-funded rivals such as Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc.
Groupon has lost two chief operating officers in the past year and had to adjust its accounting twice under regulatory pressure.
"They wanted to have a decent pop on the stock so they didn't take that much public," said David Berman, a consumer technology and retail specialist at hedge fund firm Durban Capital. "They created demand by limiting supply, and they got the pop."
Michael Yoshikami head of money-management firm YCMNET Investment Committee, agreed.
"Much of this pop is based on low float. We continue to be concerned about Groupon's model, especially given the low barrier for entry into this space. But it's a familiar name and investors tend to gravitate to familiar names at first," he said.
On Thursday, Groupon upsized its IPO and sold 35 million shares for $20 each. But that stake amounts to only about 5 percent of the company.
The $700 million raised was on the larger side for a U.S. IPO, but the 5.5 percent represented the second-smallest share float in the United States in the past decade, according to capital markets data provider Ipreo.
Groupon was founded in October 2008 and has never been profitable. In the nine months ended September 30, it posted a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $308.1 million on revenue of $1.1 billion.
A spokeswoman for Deutsche Boerse AG's International Securities Exchange said it expects to list options on Groupon on November 14, with other major exchanges expected to follow suit. Options can be used to bet on the direction of stocks, including a decline. They are often used by traders to hedge stock positions.
Underwriters on the IPO were led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse.
(Reporting by Clare Baldwin, Brendan McDermid, Rodrigo Campos, Edward Krudy and Phil Wahba in New York, Alistair Barr in San Francisco and James Kelleher and Doris Frankel in Chicago; editing by Derek Caney, Gerald E. McCormick, Steve Orlofsky and Andre Grenon)

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Groupon shares surge but concerns linger |

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Ex-U.S. general urges frank talk on cyber weapons
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After reading this article, people also read:
No new euro zone money for debt crisis at G20Nov 4, 2011
Greek PM survives confidence vote, may quitNov 4, 2011
French paper reprints Mohammad cartoon after firebombNov 3, 2011
Groupon's IPO biggest by U.S. Web company since GoogleNov 4, 2011
Wall Street falls ahead of confidence vote in GreeceNov 4, 2011

We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/

Comments (17)

truthtorpedo wrote:

I refused their offer at my restaurant, its nothing but a scam.

they never bothered to vist my restaurant, just went by online reviews, and asked me outright what was the average meal ticket, offered to sell a 1000 of those meals, and split the profit in half and pay us back in 3 equal installments over a period of a year….haha!

Any restaurant that desperate to take their offer is either on its way down and has nothing to lose, or they have no business sense.

I said sorry, not interested and the lady on the other end could not believe I turned her down.

I told her, not only will i lose thousands which I can use for direct advertising in my neighbourhood, but that only dealseekers will take advantage of this and will not convert into regular buyers. People who are this thrifty will never be loyal to any brand. Why dont I give deals out on our website and keep the change? Why do I need groupon?

Nov 03, 2011 11:51pm EDT -- Report as abuse

Darr247 wrote:

Grope one turning down Google’s $6 billion offer a few months ago, and now getting less than $1 billion from the IPO, has to rank higher on the ‘buy a clue’ scale than H. Ross Perot not cashing GM’s $750 million buyout check for a month because he kept thinking they would change their minds and give him his seat on the board again.

Back then (circa 1989), interest rates from banks were around 9%. So for the money he lost keeping that check in his pocket, he could have smoked ten $2000 cigars per day that month, lighting each one with a $100,000 bill.

Nov 03, 2011 12:33am EDT -- Report as abuse

via reuters.com

The Ad Pie Contiues Splintering

2011-11-06T13:45:00.001-08:00

NEW YORK (AP) — Rapper Snoop Dogg gave props on Twitter to an ad for the Toyota Sienna minivan. Actress Tori Spelling linked to a website for rental cars. And reality TV star Khloe Kardashian soliloquized about the brand of jeans that accentuates the famous Kardashian derriere.
"Want to know how Old Navy makes your butt look scary good? Ask a Kardashian," the reality TV star wrote, or tweeted, on the social media website. Of course, she capped off the reflection with a smiley face.
These celebs aren't just writing about family cars and fashion choices for the heck of it. Stars can get paid big bucks — sometimes $10,000 or more per post — to pontificate about clothes, cars and movies in the 140 characters or less allowed per tweet. That adds up to about $71 per character.
Twitter, which in its five-year existence has reshaped how people shop, vote and start revolutions, is now changing the business of celebrity endorsements. Just as Match.com and eHarmony pair up singles for dates, a growing number of startup firms are hooking up companies with stars who get paid to praise products to their thousands — sometimes millions — of Twitter followers.
The list of celebs and the things they hawk is long and getting longer all the time. The endorsements range from subtle to blatant; the celeb pairings from sensible to downright odd.
Singer Ray J urged his 600,000-plus Twitter followers to see the horror movie "Saw 3D." Football star Terrell Owens gave a shout-out in front of his more than 1 million followers to a hotel chain giving away sports tickets: "Comfort Inn is hooking up 3 days of it!" Lamar Odom, the L.A. Lakers forward, tweeted to his nearly 2 million followers about hip-hop artist and entrepreneur Jay-Z's book "Decoded": "My man Jay-Z ... only rapper to rewrite history without a pen. Until now."
Of course, anything on Twitter is short-lived and reaches only a small, self-selecting audience: Research firm eMarketer estimates that only 11 percent of U.S. adult Internet users are on the micro-blogging site. And even though some celebs have faithful groups of followers, it can be hard to measure whether their tweets lead people to spend.
Still, celeb tweets can be a way to grab an audience at a time when many people skip TV commercials using their digital video recorders. And paying a celeb to tweet is much cheaper than a traditional advertising campaign. Want a tweet from Khloe Kardashian? That will cost about $8,000, according to prices listed by social media marketer Izea. Looking for a cheaper option? Ray J is about $2,300.
Companies like Izea, Ad.ly and twtMob usually pair products with celebs through a combination of software algorithms and Hollywood instinct. The companies say they use many metrics to gauge the effectiveness of a paid tweet, such as the number of times it gets reposted by others.
When Ad.ly got Charlie Sheen to tweet for Interships.com in March, the actor was in the midst of getting fired from his sitcom "Two and a Half Men" over accusations of hard partying and drug use. Within an hour of Sheen's first post, Internships.com got more than 95,000 clicks.
"I'm looking to hire a (hash)winning INTERN with (hash)TigerBlood," tweeted Sheen, who had just recently signed up for Twitter and now has more than 5 million followers.
Dan Smith, vice president of marketing for the website CampusLIVE, which helps advertisers connect with college students, hired Izea to help him get a celebrity to tweet about his company. Izea gave him a short list, which included names like "Jersey Shore" reality TV star JWOWW, comedian Michael Ian Black and rapper Bow Wow.
Smith polled his interns and they picked Lindsay Lohan, the actress most famous for her run-ins with the law. According to Smith, CampusLIVE paid Lohan about $3,500 for one tweet: "These challenges for college kids on (hash)CampusLIVE are SO addicting!"
The post to Lohan's 2.6 million fans drove about 4,500 clicks to the website, Smith said. But he also said he wasn't sure if he'd use her again — not because of her troubles, but because he's already tapped her fan base. His interns wanted to know if comedian Will Ferrell is available. Said Smith: "That would be a cool one to get."
For the record, Ferrell isn't on Twitter, says his spokesman, Matt Labov, who adds that the Twitter handles sporting his name are "imposters."
For her part, Lohan on her own time tweets about topics like fulfilling her community service sentence. But she has also posted comments for Izea on a few occasions, the company says. Her tweets about wind energy ("While saving the world ... save money! I love it!") and about a gold mining company ("R ur savings safe? Think again!") were paid endorsements, according to Izea's website.
Those posts, along with the CampusLIVE tweet, included the characters "(hash)ad" at the end, which indicates that a post is a paid endorsement. But Lohan's publicist, Steve Honig, says that Lohan does not "sell" her tweets: "She uses Twitter to communicate with her fans and let them know what she's up to."
Like any endorsement, celeb tweets come with the risk that a star's behavior will not coincide with the company's image. And of course, there's a science to picking the right one: Will consumers buy that their favorite rapper drives a minivan?
Twitter generally allows the paid tweets, as long as they're posted manually and not automated by a computer program. The Federal Trade Commission suggests endorsers end their tweets with the (hash) symbol, called a hash tag, and the letters "ad" or "spon," short for "sponsored by," to clarify that they're ads.
"The more transparent you are with your audience on Twitter, the more powerful that connection is," said Rachael Horwitz, a company spokeswoman.
Ed Aranda, a 27-year-old graphic designer and copy writer in Erie, Pa., doesn't like celebs mining their fans' trust to sell a product. Still, he thinks those reading the tweets should take responsibility.
"If you can't tell snake oil when it's being sold to you," Aranda said, "then you probably deserve what you're buying."
___
AP Business Writer Michelle Chapman contributed.

via news.yahoo.com

Quick question....do you think Twitter dollars are coming from an increase in ad budgets or diverting from another medium?

TV & Mobile Working Together

2011-11-01T11:30:00.001-07:00

In the old days, you’d hear a song on TV, scramble to remember a few lyrics, Google them and then download the song on iTunes — if you’re lucky enough to find it. But the music-identification app Shazam is driving iTunes downloads on its own, and as they’ve provided us the chart below, TV can play a big role.

HBO is known for their musically significant series finales that bring songs back from the dead. When the final moments of Entourage concluded on September 11th and Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California” played, viewers punched up their Shazam apps and tagged it (identified it) nearly 25,000 times:

With 150 million users, 1.3 million downloads per week, 2.5 billion songs tagged (8% buy the song according to Shazam) is the company ready to become the most powerful social TV app, now that they’ve raised money specifically to do so? David Jones, Executive Vice President of Marketing for the company says they already are. “We’re making television ads interactive,” he explains. “We know the precise time” a user Shazam’s during a TV ad, which he says, “can help the media buyers or agency” spend more effectively.

“We know interest level, and we can get that data back so they can shift spend around and get more out of television advertising,” Jones describes. Shazam recognizes the billion dollar business that makes the TV business what it has become and for now feels the solution is improving the engagement with the ad spots that we all know still run strong during our favorite programming.

Jones described that when they work with brands to make Shazamble ads, there’s “a setup fee and cost per impression or fixed price, similar to rich media ad campaigns.” He says the initial setup is between, “$50k-$100k,” and that “some are spending hundreds and hundreds of thousands because it’s effective.”

Their first advertiser, Old Navy, came together in six weeks when the company asked if they could do something for them with their commercials. “27% went deeper with the Old Navy commercial,” Jones said, enabling Shazamers to unlock exclusive content since the spot had been infused with Shazam’s audio recognition technology. eBay, Geico, Capital One and Old Navy are now some of the company’s biggest advertisers.

Related posts:

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Filed Under media buying, music, shazam
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Web overtakes TV as most popular UK ad medium

2011-10-05T09:30:00.001-07:00

Web overtakes TV as most popular UK ad medium: IAB

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By Kate Holton

LONDON | Tue Oct 4, 2011 1:39pm EDT

LONDON
(Reuters) - Brands spent more money advertising on the Internet in Britain than they did on TV for the first time in the first half of 2011, as companies moved online to reach the millions of Britons using social networks and watching videos.
The bi-annual report by the Internet Advertising Bureau, PwC and marketing group WARC said advertising online in Britain rose 13.5 percent in the first six months to 2.26 billion pounds ($3.48 billion), giving it a record high market share of 27 percent.
TV had a market share of 26 percent, the report said.
The medium was boosted by 100 percent growth in online video ads, strong spending by companies in the fast moving consumer goods sector (FMCG), and campaigns designed for social media.
Within the Internet category, 58 percent of revenues came from search advertising, with 23 percent on display ads and 17 percent on classified ads.
Search advertising grew 12.6 percent, while display advertising grew by 18.5 percent, boosted by new formats and demand for online video adverts.
"The spectacular growth of video and social media powering brand display is key to online achieving a record share of 27 percent," IAB Chief Executive Guy Phillipson said.
"FMCG advertisers were relatively late to the party, but now firmly established as the second highest-spending category, they clearly have all the proof they need to invest in line with the medium's share, and enjoy healthy returns from cross-media campaigns."
The IAB said spending online was led by financial clients in display ads but that ad spend from consumer goods groups was now growing the fastest.
The strong growth for online advertising fitted with a revised global advertising forecast released by ZenithOptimedia on Monday, which put Internet ad growth at a faster rate than any other medium, at an average of 14.6 percent a year between 2010 and 2013.
"Overall, we predict Internet advertising will increase its share of the ad market from 14.4 percent in 2010 to 18.9 percent in 2013, when it will overtake newspapers to become the world's second-largest medium," Zenith said.
Overall, ZenithOptimedia cut its forecasts for global ad expenditure growth in 2011 to 3.6 percent, a 0.5 percentage points cut, as companies trimmed budgets in the face of growing concerns about the strength of the global economy. ($1 = 0.649 British Pounds)
(Editing by Jane Merriman)

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Re: Web overtakes TV as most popular UK ad medium: IAB
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And Forrester says this will happen in the US within 3 years.

The Power of Choice in Advertising - Smart, IMO

2011-10-03T09:29:00.001-07:00

The Power of Choice in Advertising

October 3rd, 2011 by JP Colaco SVP of Advertising

Management guru Peter Drucker once famously said, “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.”

Drucker’s observation was spot-on. We share his belief that effectiveness is doing the right things — especially in advertising. This belief has driven our relentless focus on building the world’s most effective video advertising service.

Carefully balancing the needs of all our customers (users, advertisers and content partners) is a core part of achieving our mission. We believe that by offering users a premium viewing environment and relevant, targeted ads, we will reduce budget waste for advertisers and drive higher engagement, brand and message recall, likeability, and purchase intent among consumers. These improvements facilitate higher ad prices, which gives us the ability to better monetize content on behalf of content owners.

We conducted a significant research project with 1,500 people to help us better understand what users really want from an advertising service. We were told by users that they’d like us to innovate on two dimensions: more choice and greater control. Users are tired of seeing ads that are not relevant to them, and are eager for more control over their ad experience. Below is some of the actual user feedback from the study:

“I would let the viewer pick the ads he wants to watch.”

“I would replace the commercials I watched with ones that were relevant and interesting to me.”

“Maybe the Hulu website could offer a choice of what kinds of commercials consumers could watch.”

“A choice of commercials to watch – a lot of the ads weren’t relevant to me and it would be great if I could skip them.”

“Allow for a choice of ads we see during or before the show.”

We’ve always believed that choice and control were instrumental to building the world’s most effective video advertising service. The unique interactive nature of our online streaming service enables users to actively participate in their ad experience. Our first approach to provide more choice and control was introduced with the Hulu Ad Selector, an ad innovation that came to market when Hulu launched publicly in 2008. The Hulu Ad Selector allows users to choose to watch one of three ads from the same brand (e.g. Coca-cola, Diet Coke or Sprite) or one ad from a selection of three different brands. Since 2008, we’ve seen that approximately two-thirds of users choose to participate when presented with the Hulu Ad Selector option. We’ve also found that the power of choice drives nearly 2x higher effectiveness metrics when compared to a standard pre-roll.

The strong performance history of Hulu Ad Selector coupled with the consumer input from our latest research project helped drive the development of our latest ad innovation, Hulu Ad Swap.

Hulu Ad Swap is the next evolution in user choice and control — an ad innovation designed to dramatically improve the advertising experience for users and results for brands. Hulu Ad Swap puts complete control in the hands of the user by enabling them to instantly swap out of an ad they are watching for one that is more relevant.

Here’s how it works…When an ad begins to play, a user can click on the Hulu Ad Swap icon in the top left corner of the player and bring up a number of ad choices, customized to that user’s profile and previous ad viewing preferences.

At this point, the user can select a more relevant ad from the available choices.

The advertiser whose ad initially began to play is not charged for that impression. This is a win-win scenario for both the user, and for the advertiser. The user now has ultimate control over their ad experience and the advertiser does not have to pay for an impression that would have been wasted.

In an online environment, advertisers have many more tools they can use to engage with key audiences, and in ways that are proven to improve brand recall, message recall, likeability, and purchase intent. With Hulu Ad Swap in particular, advertisers now have the ability to connect in meaningful ways with the consumers who are specifically interested in their brands.

We’ve been testing Hulu Ad Swap over the past several months, asking consumers for their feedback in shaping the product. Since testing began, we’ve found that this feature has a significant impact on effectiveness metrics, improving unaided brand recall by 93%, brand favorability by 27%, purchase intent by 35%, and stated relevancy by 46%.

As one user said, “It was pretty fun when the commercial would start and you knew you could change it if you wanted to. I kinda looked forward to it.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

We consider ourselves fortunate that we have the opportunity to be engaged in a meaningful feedback loop with users, advertisers, and content owners on a daily basis. We are also fortunate to find ourselves in the thick of such an exciting time for the video advertising industry. It is this feedback loop that drives us to become the world’s most effective video advertising service.

We hope you enjoy using Hulu Ad Swap as much as we enjoyed building it. Let us know what you think!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 3rd, 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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What can traditional media operators learn from Netflix - one clue...walking away from 95% of your revenue

2011-09-27T10:49:00.001-07:00

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Pew: 77% Think News Orgs Are Biased -does this surprise anyone....anyone?

2011-09-23T15:28:00.001-07:00

Most Americans have a rather negative view of the press, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

The study found that more than three-quarters (77%) of Americans believe that when it comes to reporting on political and social issues, news organizations tend to favor one side -- a 3% rise from 2009, the last time the survey was conducted, and a 10% increase from 2001. Some 80% of respondents felt that news organizations were often influenced by powerful people and organizations -- a 6% jump from 2009.

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Respondents also questioned the accuracy of news reporting. Only 25% felt that news organizations in general got their facts straight, while 66% felt that stories were inaccurate. Opinions were reversed when it came to the news sources respondents relied on: 62% felt the news organizations they used most got their stories right, while 30% found reporting often inaccurate.

The outlook was a little brighter for local news organizations. Sixty-nine percent said they have a lot or some trust in local news sources, compared to only 59% for national news organizations. In general, the press was more trusted than government or business.

The report also found that television is still the top source for national and international news, with 66% turning to the set for news. The Internet, though, has narrowed the gap. Some 43% of respondents said they get their news online -- nearly double the amount from four years ago. Still, 63% volunteered the name of a cable news network when asked to identify a news organization.

The complete report can be found here.

via netnewscheck.com

How to respond to a negative online comment

2011-09-14T17:03:00.001-07:00

From Andrew Shotland...SEO Guide.

U.S. Reading Scores - Oh no

2011-09-14T14:52:00.001-07:00

via zerohedge.com

YouTube Becomes Entertainment Destination

2011-09-07T11:41:00.001-07:00

Just for laughs, San Jose's Dylan Hart and a college friend posted a video on YouTube in 2007 about charging an iPod using an onion and a bottle of Gatorade. More than 9 million views later, that video -- uploaded at 5 a.m. after an all-night editing session -- marks the start of YouTube becoming Hart's meal ticket, the home of his popular "Household Hacker" videos that are often a cross between "Mr. Wizard" and "Jackass: The Movie." It's a winning formula: Household Hacker has more than 1.1 million subscribers to its channel on YouTube. It's also a winning formula for YouTube. Household Hacker is one of more than 20,000 YouTube "partners" -- the number doubled over the past year -- whose videos attract an audience large enough to generate significant advertising dollars. Although Household Hacker may sound like a more polished version of the amateur videos that made YouTube a cultural phenomenon, it and other YouTube stalwarts are also a key piece of Google's (GOOG) plans to transform the video platform it bought for $1.65 billion in 2006 from a money pit into a cash cow, making it into more of an entertainment destination like a TV network. "We're very excited in terms of the growth and the talent that's emerging," said Tom Pickett, director of content operations at YouTube. "In the Advertisement U.S., in the last year or two, we started hitting thresholds where people started making serious money, and that has caused a lot more attention to be paid to a lot of our top partners." Fans of Household Hacker connect each week to see everything from magnets made from neodymium -- a rare earth element -- that defy gravity, to game reviews by Hart's co-founder, to hidden-camera pranks like the shampoo-bottle ketchup bomb, powered by the chemical reaction between vinegar and baking soda, Hart planted in his unsuspecting brother's shower stall. "We have a very high level production-wise, but we're not trying to be the Discovery Channel," said Hart, 28, who took the plunge into becoming a full-time YouTube producer after he got laid off from a job as a graphic designer for a large Silicon Valley company in 2009. Household Hacker is among hundreds of YouTube partners that receive more than $100,000 a year in ad revenue from YouTube, with the most popular personalities now cashing checks of more than $1 million a year, according to YouTube. Popular channels Fans can subscribe to their favorite YouTube channels, where they can exchange comments and watch the latest video. Channels like 2 million-subscriber Mystery Guitar Man, a musical performance artist whose identity is hidden by wraparound sunglasses, and fast-growing Canadian newcomer Epic Meal Time, which turns huge quantities of red meat into a comedy prop for 1.4 million subscribers, now feature ads for everything from Miracle Whip to iTunes to Nordstrom. Mystery Guitar Man, whose off-screen identity is Joe Penna, has even done commercials for Coke and McDonald's. YouTube's popularity leader is Ray William Johnson, who has 4.4 million subscribers and is among the top 10 most-followed people on the new Google+ social network. He produces a raunchy review of the week's top YouTube videos that couldn't run on TV, but his YouTube sponsors include oil giant ConocoPhillips and 5-hour Energy drinks. YouTube says top partners such as Mystery Guitar Man attract audiences of 250,000 to 500,000 individual viewers a day. That compares with 2010 Nielsen data that shows MTV with 979,000 daily prime time viewers, or the NFL Network's 258,000 viewers. By sharing ad revenue with independent partners -- many have evolved into small professional production companies of a dozen people or more -- YouTube helps boost content quality, which attracts more viewers, which in turn produces more ad revenue, said Jon Gibs, senior vice president of media analytics for the Nielsen Co. For most big advertising brands, YouTube remains a relatively small "experimental" part of their ad budget, he said. "The real advantage to YouTube is, by having this kind of content, they wash away a little of the image of consumer-generated content as being a low-quality video experience," Gibs said. YouTube's video viewers averaged 2 hours, 37 minutes per month on YouTube during June, according to Nielsen. That is a tiny fraction of the time people spend watching TV, but Gibs said the partner program reflects YouTube's efforts to transform itself into a TV-like entertainment destination. Equal to TV Nate Houghteling, of San Francisco-based Portal A Interactive, which works as a consultant to help companies get their videos to go viral on YouTube, as well as producing content for its own YouTube channel, believes audiences, particularly younger people, increasingly see YouTube as an entertainment option equal to TV. "Especially with the younger generation, this is their portal, this is their platform," Houghteling said. "We're only going to see more of that as people come of age." YouTube does not disclose its revenue split but says partners get more than half of gross ad revenue. The Google subsidiary does not release detailed partner numbers, but it says there are "thousands" who make more than $1,000 a month. "That's a point where you can make a living at this," Pickett said. "Clearly there are people out there that are making more than $1 million a year, and once you get to be a certain size on YouTube, you start to become a very powerful distribution point" for advertisers. Partners also can negotiate deals directly with sponsors, in which a personality might wear a T-shirt showing a brand or endorse a product within his or her video. Household Hacker's "Scientific Tuesday" video typically ends with Hart making an endorsement -- recent clients included Netflix (NFLX) and Carbonite, an online data backup service. Hart, whose videos typically pull in 300,000 to 500,000 views each week, is keenly aware of the intense competition for audience. YouTube features a thumbs-down button as well as a "Like" button, which provides instant audience feedback. When the weekly version of "Scientific Tuesdays" comes out, Hart and his 31-year-old brother Justin, who was recently hired to do everything from operate the camera to organize meetings with sponsors, are glued to the view count. They spend up to 100 hours a week brainstorming, researching, shooting and editing video, as well as working on sponsorships and responding to viewers. But to succeed on YouTube, they say it's critical to stay true to the site's do-it-yourself, rebel roots. Like many YouTube personalities, they won't share their full names -- insisting that they be identified by their first and middle names only. "We're just a couple of guys making videos. I think at some point, you can look too professional," Dylan Hart said. "We want to teach you something, but we don't want to bore you." Contact Mike Swift at 408-271-3648. Follow him at Twitter.com/swiftstories. NEW MEDIA CHAMPS Top partners on YouTube have millions of subscribers and draw audiences of up to 500,000 individual viewers per day. Ray William Johnson Subscribers: 4,593,905 Total views: 1,281,601,912 Household Hacker Subscribers: 1,162,222 Total Views: 141,468,002 via mercurynews.com

Online Video Eats Away At Broadcast TV

2011-09-05T18:09:00.001-07:00

Viewers are spending more time streaming TV programming online and slightly less time watching scheduled broadcast TV, according to a new study from Ericsson ConsumerLab.

Some 38% of respondents to Ericsson’s “TV & Video Consumer Trend Report 2011” reported watching Internet-based on-demand TV more than once per week, while about 80% watch broadcast TV more than once per week.

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The study also shows that social media usage has impacted the way we watch TV. More than 40% of the respondents reported using social media on various devices such as smartphones and tablets while watching TV.

“On-demand viewing is increasingly popular, while broadcast viewing has remained as the most common way for people to watch TV,” Ericsson ConsumerLab senior advisor Anders Erlandsson said in a statement. “People want both broadcast and on-demand viewing to be available. TV and video have not been negatively affected by the internet in the same way that print has; we just watch TV in many more ways than we did before.”

Data was collected in the United States, Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and South Korea. In all, 22 qualitative and 13,000 quantitative interviews were conducted representing almost 400 million consumers.

via netnewscheck.com

Canary...meet coal mine.

www.invest2innovate.com

2011-09-05T18:06:00.001-07:00

via invest2innovate.com

I love it when capitalism has some true value and meaning.

2000 Feet Above Hoover Dam

2011-09-05T12:33:00.003-07:00

Sent from Randy's iPhone

Yes, this is our pilot

2011-09-05T12:33:00.001-07:00

I wonder if she's old enough for a driver's license?

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Chopper Joni

2011-09-05T11:39:00.001-07:00

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Opening Day at USC

2011-09-03T12:23:00.001-07:00

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Be the first to recommend this article.

Is there really that big of change coming?

2011-09-01T08:43:00.001-07:00

When you read where Forrester and BIA/Kelsey both predict by 2015-2016 there will be shift in the majority of ad spending from traditional to digital media, then you see this below, it's difficult to reconcile to two. Are we really going to see such a dramatic change in spending over the next 3-4 years?

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TAGS: TV, Ad Spending, Television

7 Tips for Dealing With Upset Facebook Fans - or any other digital "fan"

2011-08-30T15:27:00.001-07:00

7 Tips for Dealing With Upset Facebook Fans

By Jim Belosic
Published August 30, 2011

What do you do when you’ve just received a less-than-complimentary Facebook wall post from someone who likes your business (or used to, so it seems)?

The customer could have a simple complaint, or be so upset he’s gone on the offensive, making sure you and the rest of your community knows he’s angry.

Your next steps are key to retaining not only the business of the angry customer, but the business of other fans who like your page as well.

#1: Respond no matter what

It’s vitally important that the complaints and issues your fans pose on your wall are addressed. Inactivity on your part will appear as though you’re trying to ignore the issue and sweep it under the rug. Being unresponsive does nothing more than incite more anger and increase the chance the user will come back with even more angry wall posts.

Moreover, your community can see that angry post. If you don’t reply, it appears as though you are unconcerned with customer support, which can be detrimental to your reputation.

A response that illustrates respect and understanding for customers’ concerns will indicate your intention to rectify any problems. By addressing this upset fan, Newegg is demonstrating that they value their fans’ opinions—even the negative ones.

An upset fan who promises to shop Newegg less frequently still receives prompt, respectful customer service.

#2: Be patient and understanding

In dealing with upset fans, you must remember that you are closer to your industry, products and services than they are. What may seem like basic, common knowledge to you is often foreign to the end user.

Take a step back and put yourself in your customer’s shoes. This can go a long way in understanding why he or she is frustrated. It may not be your company’s fault that the customer is upset.

Whether or not the fault lies on your end, a simple apology will go a long way in keeping the customer’s business. Instead of trying to figure out where the blame lies, turn upset fans into loyal customers by making their experience better.

#3: Contact the Customer Privately

Sending a private message or email to the customer opens up more options for you to address his or her complaints. The goal here is to extend some sort of token letting the customer know you’re sorry he or she is dissatisfied with your company, and you’re willing to make it right. Whether that’s offering the number of the manager’s direct phone line or a discount off the next purchase, moving the conversation from public to private allows you to give the customer a personal touch that signals you care.

However, offering things like direct lines and special discounts publicly can lead to other people creating problems just to get that special treatment, so it’s best to keep these practices off the wall.

While Hayneedle’s customer shown below isn’t visibly upset about the damaged order, Hayneedle handles the situation perfectly, and contacts the customer privately to resolve the issue.

Hayneedle moves conversation with a customer from the Facebook wall to private messages to better help the customer.

#4: Consider asking the fan to remove the post

Say you’ve discussed the issue privately, any problems have been straightened out, and the faultfinder is, once again, your happy customer.

While your wall is an integral part of your web presence, the customer may be unaware of how important it really is to your reputation. If he or she is satisfied with the resolution you’ve reached and grateful for the time you’ve spent making things right, there’s nothing wrong with privately asking the person to remove the post. Most of the time, he or she will remove the angry wall post.

#5: Respond back to the original post

As a general rule, you, the Facebook page admin, should not remove negative posts. Not everyone is going to have a glowing review of your product or company. Social media users know this, and if they see nothing but positive comments, they’ll assume your company is deleting the bad comments.

If you don’t feel comfortable asking your customer to remove the post, you do have the option of publicly responding back to that post. Express happiness in the resolution you’ve reached and thankfulness for her business. Even a negative post can be a good thing, as long as the last comment is positive. Your reputation among your community will soar when they see how well you take care of your customers.

Zappos is shown below addressing a negative comment. The helpful attitude effectively nullifies any poor reflection on Zappos or their services.

Zappos responds quickly with understanding and a desire to create a better experience for their upset fan.

#6: Let your community respond

Letting your community respond for you is really the end result of all the earlier steps. It requires copious time, energy and patience with your fans, and a fantastic product. After you’ve engaged with your fans for a period of time by answering questions and offering support, you’ll notice that your fans will be more active on your page, even to the point of assisting each other.

What’s great about getting this community support is that there’s a genuine credibility when fans endorse your business for you. They become your eager virtual support agents, answering questions and solving problems before you have a chance to. But this is a level you can only achieve if you’ve nurtured and supported your community.

The Pampered Chef has built a fantastic online community of users who love the product so much, and who have been given such great support themselves, peers will answer each other’s questions before The Pampered Chef has to respond.

An outpouring of community support is the direct result of The Pampered Chef's top-notch customer service.

#7: The Last Resort

If the offended party is unreceptive to your customer service attempts, blatantly hostile and only active in your community to start arguments, banning the individual is a last-resort option. And anyone leveling expletives or racial slurs against your staff or fans should be banned. Your staff and your fans don’t deserve to be subjected to the abuse, and in the end, they will respect you more because you took the initiative.

What’s been your experience? How has your business handled complaints from upset fans on your Facebook wall in the past? What has worked? What hasn’t? Leave your comments in the box below.

inShare225
Tags: abusive comments, community management, complaint, customer complaint, facebook community, facebook fans, facebook management, fan complaint, fan experience, fan management, jim belosic, unhappy customer, upset fans

via socialmediaexaminer.com

I was in Wichita recently giving a presentation on digital strategies. I had two folks approach me after the session to get advice on dealing with negative online comments. I had 4 or 5 of these but all 7 are good and to the point.

Apple is working on new TV for 2012

2011-08-29T09:26:00.001-07:00

Apple is almost certainly working on a digital television based on its iOS operating system, according to multiple sources in Silicon Valley.

An Apple-based television makes sense in light of Apple’s continued expansion out of the computer industry into the larger consumer electronics market. But is it real?

Multiple reports, as well as sources interviewed by VentureBeat, support the rumor, which is widespread among the gadget industry.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, a longtime Apple analyst, predicts that Apple will produce a television in late 2012 or early 2013. In an interview with VentureBeat, Munster cited multiple sources, including component suppliers as well as an internal Apple source, to back up his theory. Munster predicts this will be an actual TV, not just a set-top box, and most likely running a version of iOS. (Note: Munster made a similar claim in 2009, except then he said that Apple would have a TV by 2011. He now says “I think the probability is almost zero that it will be this year.”)

Venture capitalist Stewart Alsop, of Alsop Louie ventures, lent credence to the “iTelevision” theory in an interview with VentureBeat. Alsop sits on the boards of TiVo and Sonos, follows the hardware industry closely, and says he has heard from multiple sources throughout Silicon Valley that the Apple television project is underway.

The Wall Street Journal mentioned that Apple is “working on new technology to deliver video to televisions, and has been discussing whether to try to launch a subscription TV service,” according to “sources familiar with the matter.” That’s typically code for an inside source.

And Cult of Mac notes that the time may be ripe for Apple to make a television, as high-end TVs have started to dip below the $1,000 price threshold.

Even former Apple CEO Steve Jobs turned the wheels of the rumor mill in 2010, saying that it made sense for Apple to integrate its technology into television sets.

Apple has been testing the waters with its AppleTV, a set-top box that provides access to movies and TV from iTunes as well as other online video content. The company has a number of partnerships with movie studios and television networks, giving it an impressive content library. And its lightweight iOS operating system seems ideally suited for consumer devices (the OS is already under the hood in AppleTV).

Alsop figures the only thing holding Apple back is the cost of LCD screens, which has been a limiting factor in all of Apple’s iOS products since 2007.

The company initially planned to make a tablet when it started planning a touchscreen-centric computer in the mid-2000s. But, Alsop says, the cost of the display was prohibitively expensive, so Apple instead focused on applying the technology to a device with a smaller, cheaper LCD: The iPhone.

The price of LCD panels has droped fairly steadily, thanks to increased manufacturing efficiency, so eventually quality screens became cheap enough to make the 9.7-inch iPad economically feasible.

It won’t be long, Alsop predicts, before 15-inch or 19-inch touchscreen televisions running iOS hit the scene, probably in time for the 2012 holiday season. That’s big enough to be a serviceable TV for the kitchen, bedroom or dorm room.

More importantly, iOS will enable Apple to transform the television into something that doesn’t just show videos, but also plays games, runs apps, lets you check your schedule and tweet about what YouTube movie you happen to watching at that moment.

And it could tie seamlessly into other Apple devices, like the iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air, giving the company an enviable full-circle consumer product line. The vision might look something like what Corning, the makers of Gorilla Glass (widely believed to be the glass used for the face of the iPhone and iPad), predicted in a promotional video it published in February, below.

“You look at TVs in Best Buy and they’re the same damn things that they’ve been building for 30, 40, 50 years,” said Alsop. Although the display technology has changed and the screens are flat and high-resolution now instead of huge, low-res cathode screens, the fundamental act of watching TV is pretty much the same: Sit back and flip the channels.

“Apple will do to television manufacturers what it did to phone makers with the iPhone,” Alsop said.

Illustration: Sean Ludwig/VentureBeat

Related articles

Apple “Discussing” TV Subscription Service with “New Technology To Deliver Video” (macstories.net)

Steve Jobs’s most ambitious product: Apple Inc. (venturebeat.com)

Apple TV to get subscription service? (techradar.com)

Beyond the iPad: What’s Next for Apple (wired.com)

Apple may still challenge cable with TV subscription service (arstechnica.com)

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Tags: digital video, interactive TV, iPad, iPhone, iTelevision, television
Companies: Apple
People: Gene Munster, Steve Jobs, Stewart Alsop

via venturebeat.com

An interesting question here is will a new Apple TV change the way people use television similar to the way Apple changed the way people use their cellphones. The ecosystem of the TV is quite entrenched (and profitable). There are clearly signs of some pressure on the traditional TV ad revenue pipeline, particularly on the national side. But with major sports and political spending still a reliable source of huge advertising pools of money, business continues to be healthy for TV (network and local).But if a new Apple TV changes the way people use TV, well then it's game on.

Rod Stewart

2011-08-28T22:50:00.001-07:00

OK, no snickering. Went to Rod Stewart concert in Vegas....he was awesome. No kidding.

Sent from Randy's iPhone

Automated Twitter Service for SMB's

2011-07-12T09:30:00.001-07:00

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PaperG, which is behind the PaperG ad offering and PlaceLocal automated SMB display ad creation is announcing a new tool that helps SMBs confront the “Twitter firehose” in an automated way. The tool is Polly.IM:

Here’s a quick description of how it works:

Polly.IM monitors Twitter for mentions of the business, categorizes the tweet, and suggests an appropriate, customizable response. For example, the service can help businesses thank customers for checking-in, send coupons to new followers, and respond to comments about the business.

The business owner signs up and can create a range of responses (many are “templated”) to send to customers under various circumstances. These can be entirely customized as well. A customer mentions or checks in at a local business and an automated response goes out (not necessarily real time however): “Thanks for the mention, here’s 20% your meal on your next visit.”

PaperG CEO Victor Wong told me that Polly.IM is using semantic/natural language processing to figure out what’s being said and which of the pre-determined responses to use. Wong said that in a three-month test the there were relatively few errors or problem responses.

A human can always monitor Polly.IM and intervene to ensure that the right response goes out or to provide a very specific answer to an ambiguous or problem tweet. Wong told me that if the system truly doesn’t understand the essence of the statement it won’t respond.

Currently an account is only permitted to send one tweet per day — in the current free version, which clearly implies a premium version with enhanced capabilities and features. PaperG also envisions resellers and agencies using the tool. That is probably a more likely scenario than direct SMB adoption.

Polly.IM now joins a diverse group of products that includes Needium, LocalResponse, Roost and JoinLocal, all seeking to move beyond more passive “listening” into structured, proactive engagement and prospecting via social media. The big question that surrounds these products is the degree to which social media can be “outsourced” and the degree to which it needs to be actively managed by the SMB itself.

via screenwerk.com

Pontiflex -Making money on mobile ads

2011-07-12T07:36:00.001-07:00

While the mobile app boom has created a lot of success stories, many mobile developers still struggle with extracting money out of their apps and getting more downloads. Pontiflex, a New York City–based mobile advertising company, is helping crack the code with its ad platform by asking users to sign up for the kinds of ads they want to see.

Pontiflex’s AppLeads platform allows developers to embed a full-page ad at different points in their app that allows users to sign up to hear more about ads from relevant advertisers. Consumers can choose to hand over their name, email address and zip code to a trusted brand right from the ad without having to leave the application. This simple transaction has produced big results, with cost-per-thousand impressions hitting $101.76 on Android apps and $47 on iPhone apps. And AppLeads is coming to the iPad today, giving developers more tools to monetize their apps.

AppLeads on iPad will follow the same formula but will be optimized for the larger screen, with users getting a choice of six brands to interact with rather than three on mobile phones. The expectation is that the platform, which a developer can easily install with an SDK, will continue to be a moneymaker for developers. A test on the Color Effects iPad app has yielded CPMs of $67 through AppLeads.

It’s an interesting take on mobile advertising and shows that there are still a lot of creative ways to make ads work on smartphones and tablets. Instead of opting for persistent banner ads, which are often mistakenly clicked, Pontiflex gives users a simple proposition: choose to engage with a brand that it thinks a user will find useful or skip it and move on.

Six million consumers have signed on with Pontiflex’s 300 brand partners, handing over their email addresses. Pontiflex estimates that 15 percent of all smartphone users have signed up on an AppLeads ad, which have been installed in 150 million application downloads. Now half of Pontiflex’s business comes from mobile, even though it just rolled out late last year, following a launch online. The key is that Pontiflex works hard behind the scenes to present the best brands for a user, based on more than two dozens signals and what ads are having success. That tuning can help turn an unwanted ad into a welcome invitation for consumers.

For advertisers, it gives them a way to connect to users with a trusted tool: email. Even with the rise of group buying services like Groupon and LivingSocial, which rely on email addresses, Pontiflex said it hasn’t encountered email fatigue. The company says sign-ups have actually gone up five times since it began.

“We think we’ve cracked the code on mobile advertising. If you make the right offer at the right time, people will opt-in,” said Zephrin Lasker, co-founder and CEO of Pontiflex. “The appetite for email is way bigger than we thought.”

The platform is not just good for advertisers; it has also proven helpful for developers. Developers can use the tool to engage with their users to alert them about updates or to encourage them to buy upcoming apps from them. If developers already collect email addresses, Pontiflex can manage the database for them and show them how to reach out to their users. This might not work for developers looking to score quick downloads, but as the name of the game shifts to longer-term engagement, it makes sense for developers to spark a lasting relationship with users.

Pontiflex is growing quickly, with 57 employees, and it has taken $8.75 million to date from RRE Ventures, Greenhill SAVP and New Atlantic Ventures, including a $6.25 million Series B round in 2009.

I like what Pontiflex is doing, and it seems like a fresh way to get at mobile users. Developers may not want to beat their users over the heads with these ads, but used strategically, they can be a win for developers, advertisers and users. The money in mobile apps seems to be running toward in-app purchases. But with creative ideas still popping up, there are ways for mobile advertising to come of age and become a big contributor to the bottom line of app publishers.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):
Connected Consumer Q1: The Over-the-Top vs. Pay TV Battle Heats Up
Mobile Q1: All Eyes on Tablets, T-Mobile and AT&T
A Media Tablet Forecast, 2011 – 2015

via gigaom.com

"The right ad, delivered at the right time." It's about time!

USDebt.png (PNG Image, 1912x978 pixels)

2011-05-23T08:30:00.001-07:00

via zerohedge.com

Presented without commentary

http://video.ak.fbcdn.net/cfs-ak-ash4/231633/857/2012382155067_5388.mp4?oh=bb...

Weekend dog humor

2011-05-08T11:40:00.001-07:00

Sent from Randy's iPhone

Conde Nast rethinks its iPad strategy - TUAW

2011-05-08T11:35:00.001-07:00

So what do you think a newspaper sub is worth?
http://i.tuaw.com/2011/05/07/conde-nast-rethinks-its-ipad-strategy/

Sent from Randy's iPhone

Really! I sincerely hope this is hyperbole or factually incorrect. Please don't tell me this is true.

2011-04-19T05:53:00.001-07:00

America has two national budgets, one official, one unofficial. The official budget is public record and hotly debated: Money comes in as taxes and goes out as jet fighters, DEA agents, wheat subsidies and Medicare, plus pensions and bennies for that great untamed socialist menace called a unionized public-sector workforce that Republicans are always complaining about. According to popular legend, we're broke and in so much debt that 40 years from now our granddaughters will still be hooking on weekends to pay the medical bills of this year's retirees from the IRS, the SEC and the Department of Energy.

Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?

Most Americans know about that budget. What they don't know is that there is another budget of roughly equal heft, traditionally maintained in complete secrecy. After the financial crash of 2008, it grew to monstrous dimensions, as the government attempted to unfreeze the credit markets by handing out trillions to banks and hedge funds. And thanks to a whole galaxy of obscure, acronym-laden bailout programs, it eventually rivaled the "official" budget in size — a huge roaring river of cash flowing out of the Federal Reserve to destinations neither chosen by the president nor reviewed by Congress, but instead handed out by fiat by unelected Fed officials using a seemingly nonsensical and apparently unknowable methodology.

This article appears in the April 28, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone. The issue will be available on newsstands and in the online archive April 15.

Now, following an act of Congress that has forced the Fed to open its books from the bailout era, this unofficial budget is for the first time becoming at least partially a matter of public record. Staffers in the Senate and the House, whose queries about Fed spending have been rebuffed for nearly a century, are now poring over 21,000 transactions and discovering a host of outrages and lunacies in the "other" budget. It is as though someone sat down and made a list of every individual on earth who actually did not need emergency financial assistance from the United States government, and then handed them the keys to the public treasure. The Fed sent billions in bailout aid to banks in places like Mexico, Bahrain and Bavaria, billions more to a spate of Japanese car companies, more than $2 trillion in loans each to Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, and billions more to a string of lesser millionaires and billionaires with Cayman Islands addresses. "Our jaws are literally dropping as we're reading this," says Warren Gunnels, an aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. "Every one of these transactions is outrageous."

Wall Street's Big Win

But if you want to get a true sense of what the "shadow budget" is all about, all you have to do is look closely at the taxpayer money handed over to a single company that goes by a seemingly innocuous name: Waterfall TALF Opportunity. At first glance, Waterfall's haul doesn't seem all that huge — just nine loans totaling some $220 million, made through a Fed bailout program. That doesn't seem like a whole lot, considering that Goldman Sachs alone received roughly $800 billion in loans from the Fed. But upon closer inspection, Waterfall TALF Opportunity boasts a couple of interesting names among its chief investors: Christy Mack and Susan Karches.

Christy is the wife of John Mack, the chairman of Morgan Stanley. Susan is the widow of Peter Karches, a close friend of the Macks who served as president of Morgan Stanley's investment-banking division. Neither woman appears to have any serious history in business, apart from a few philanthropic experiences. Yet the Federal Reserve handed them both low-interest loans of nearly a quarter of a billion dollars through a complicated bailout program that virtually guaranteed them millions in risk-free income.

RS Politics Daily: Political news and commentary from Rolling Stone writers and editors

The technical name of the program that Mack and Karches took advantage of is TALF, short for Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility. But the federal aid they received actually falls under a broader category of bailout initiatives, designed and perfected by Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, called "giving already stinking rich people gobs of money for no fucking reason at all." If you want to learn how the shadow budget works, follow along. This is what welfare for the rich looks like.

In August 2009, John Mack, at the time still the CEO of Morgan Stanley, made an interesting life decision. Despite the fact that he was earning the comparatively low salary of just $800,000, and had refused to give himself a bonus in the midst of the financial crisis, Mack decided to buy himself a gorgeous piece of property — a 107-year-old limestone carriage house on the Upper East Side of New York, complete with an indoor 12-car garage, that had just been sold by the prestigious Mellon family for $13.5 million. Either Mack had plenty of cash on hand to close the deal, or he got some help from his wife, Christy, who apparently bought the house with him.

The Macks make for an interesting couple. John, a Lebanese-American nicknamed "Mack the Knife" for his legendary passion for firing people, has one of the most recognizable faces on Wall Street, physically resembling a crumpled, half-burned baked potato with a pair of overturned furry horseshoes for eyebrows. Christy is thin, blond and rich — a sort of still-awake Sunny von Bulow with hobbies. Her major philanthropic passion is endowments for alternative medicine, and she has attained the level of master at Reiki, the Japanese practice of "palm healing." The only other notable fact on her public résumé is that her sister was married to Charlie Rose.

It's hard to imagine a pair of people you would less want to hand a giant welfare check to — yet that's exactly what the Fed did. Just two months before the Macks bought their fancy carriage house in Manhattan, Christy and her pal Susan launched their investment initiative called Waterfall TALF. Neither seems to have any experience whatsoever in finance, beyond Susan's penchant for dabbling in thoroughbred racehorses. But with an upfront investment of $15 million, they quickly received $220 million in cash from the Fed, most of which they used to purchase student loans and commercial mortgages. The loans were set up so that Christy and Susan would keep 100 percent of any gains on the deals, while the Fed and the Treasury (read: the taxpayer) would eat 90 percent of the losses. Given out as part of a bailout program ostensibly designed to help ordinary people by kick-starting consumer lending, the deals were a classic heads-I-win, tails-you-lose investment.

So how did the government come to address a financial crisis caused by the collapse of a residential-mortgage bubble by giving the wives of a couple of Morgan Stanley bigwigs free money to make essentially risk-free investments in student loans and commercial real estate? The answer is: by degrees. The history of the bailout era reads like one of those awful stories about what happens when a long-dormant criminal compulsion goes unchecked. The Peeping Tom next door stares through a few bathroom windows, doesn't get caught, and decides to break in and steal a pair of panties. Next thing you know, he's upgraded to homemade dungeons, tri-state serial rampages and throwing cheerleaders into a panel truck.

It was the same with the bailouts. They started out small, with the government throwing a few hundred billion in public money to prop up genuinely insolvent firms like Bear Stearns and AIG. Then came TARP and a few other programs that were designed to stave off bank failures and dispose of the toxic mortgage-backed securities that were a root cause of the financial crisis. But before long, the Fed began buying up every distressed investment on Wall Street, even those that were in no danger of widespread defaults: commercial real estate loans, credit- card loans, auto loans, student loans, even loans backed by the Small Business Administration. What started off as a targeted effort to stop the bleeding in a few specific trouble spots became a gigantic feeding frenzy. It was "free money for shit," says Barry Ritholtz, author of Bailout Nation. "It turned into 'Give us your crap that you can't get rid of otherwise.' "

The impetus for this sudden manic expansion of the bailouts was a masterful bluff by Wall Street executives. Once the money started flowing from the Federal Reserve, the executives began moaning to their buddies at the Fed, claiming that they were suddenly afraid of investing in anything — student loans, car notes, you name it — unless their profits were guaranteed by the state. "You ever watch soccer, where the guy rolls six times to get a yellow card?" says William Black, a former federal bank regulator who teaches economics and law at the University of Missouri. "That's what this is. If you have power and connections, they will give you a freebie deal — if you're good at whining."

This is where TALF fits into the bailout picture. Created just after Barack Obama's election in November 2008, the program's ostensible justification was to spur more consumer lending, which had dried up in the midst of the financial crisis. But instead of lending directly to car buyers and credit-card holders and students — that would have been socialism! — the Fed handed out a trillion dollars to banks and hedge funds, almost interest-free. In other words, the government lent taxpayer money to the same assholes who caused the crisis, so that they could then lend that money back out on the market virtually risk-free, at an enormous profit.

Cue your Billy Mays voice, because wait, there's more! A key aspect of TALF is that the Fed doles out the money through what are known as non-recourse loans. Essentially, this means that if you don't pay the Fed back, it's no big deal. The mechanism works like this: Hedge Fund Goon borrows, say, $100 million from the Fed to buy crappy loans, which are then transferred to the Fed as collateral. If Hedge Fund Goon decides not to repay that $100 million, the Fed simply keeps its pile of crappy securities and calls everything even.

This is the deal of a lifetime. Think about it: You borrow millions, buy a bunch of crap securities and stash them on the Fed's books. If the securities lose money, you leave them on the Fed's lap and the public eats the loss. But if they make money, you take them back, cash them in and repay the funds you borrowed from the Fed. "Remember that crazy guy in the commercials who ran around covered in dollar bills shouting, 'The government is giving out free money!' " says Black. "As crazy as he was, this is making it real."

This whole setup — in which millionaires and billionaires gambled on mountains of dangerous securities, with taxpayers providing the stake and assuming almost all of the risk — is the reason that it's insanely premature for Wall Street to claim that the bailouts have actually made money for the government. We simply can't make that determination until the final bill comes in on all the dicey securities we financed during the bailout feeding frenzy.

In the case of Waterfall TALF Opportunity, here's what we know: The company was founded in June 2009 with $14.87 million of investment capital, money that likely came from Christy Mack and Susan Karches. The two Wall Street wives then used the $220 million they got from the Fed to buy up a bunch of securities, including a large pool of commercial mortgages managed by Credit Suisse, a company John Mack once headed. Those securities were valued at $253.6 million, though the Fed refuses to explain how it arrived at that estimate. And here's the kicker: Of the $220 million the two wives got from the Fed, roughly $150 million had not been paid back as of last fall — meaning that you and I are still on the hook for most of whatever the Wall Street spouses bought on their government-funded shopping spree.

The public has no way of knowing how much Christy Mack and Susan Karches earned on these transactions, because the Fed has repeatedly declined to provide any information about how it priced the individual securities bought as part of programs like TALF. In the Waterfall deal, for instance, we know the Fed pledged some $14 million against a block of securities called "Credit Suisse Commercial Mortgage Trust Series 2007-C2" — but that data is meaningless without knowing how many units were bought. It's like saying the Fed gave Waterfall $14 million to buy cars. Did Waterfall pay $5,000 per car, or $500,000? We have no idea. "There's no way of validating or invalidating the Fed's process in TALF without this pricing information," says Gary Aguirre, a former SEC official who was fired years ago after he tried to interview John Mack in an insider-trading case.

In early April, in an attempt to learn exactly how much Mack and Karches made on the TALF deals, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa wrote a letter to Waterfall asking 21 detailed questions about the transactions. In addition, Sen. Sanders has personally asked Fed chief Bernanke to provide more complete information on the TALF loans given not only to Christy Mack but to gazillionaires like former Miami Dolphins owner H. Wayne Huizenga and hedge-fund shark John Paulson. But Bernanke bluntly refused to provide the information — and the Fed has similarly stonewalled other oversight agencies, including the General Accounting Office and TARP's special inspector general.

Christy Mack and Susan Karches did not respond to requests for comments for this story. But even without more information about the loans they got from the Fed, we know that TALF wasn't the only risk-free money being handed over to Wall Street. During the financial crisis, the Fed routinely made billions of dollars in "emergency" loans to big banks at near-zero interest. Many of the banks then turned around and used the money to buy Treasury bonds at higher interest rates — essentially loaning the money back to the government at an inflated rate. "People talk about how these were loans that were paid back," says a congressional aide who has studied the transactions. "But when the state is lending money at zero percent and the banks are turning around and lending that money back to the state at three percent, how is that different from just handing rich people money?"

Those kinds of deals were the essence of the bailout — and the vast mountains of near-zero government cash turned companies facing bankruptcy into monstrous profit machines. In 2008 and 2009, while Christy Mack was busy getting her little TALF loans for $220 million, her husband's bank hauled in $2 trillion in emergency Fed loans. During the same period, Goldman borrowed nearly $800 billion. Shortly afterward, the two banks reported a combined annual profit of $14.5 billion.

As crazy as it is to lend to banks at near zero percent and borrow back from them at three percent, one could at least argue that the policy may have aided American companies by providing banks more cash to lend. But how do you explain the host of other bailout transactions now being examined by Congress? Like the Fed's massive purchases of securities in foreign automakers, including BMW, Volkswagen, Honda, Mitsubishi and Nissan? Or the nearly $5 billion in cheap credit the Fed extended to Toyota and Mitsubishi? Sure, those companies have factories and dealerships in the U.S. — but does it really make sense to give them free cash at the same time taxpayers were being asked to bail out Chrysler and GM? Seems a little crazy to fund the competition of the very automakers you're trying to rescue.

And then there are the bailout deals that make no sense at all. Republicans go mad over spending on health care and school for Mexican illegals. So why aren't they flipping out over the $9.6 billion in loans the Fed made to the Central Bank of Mexico? How do we explain the $2.2 billion in loans that went to the Korea Development Bank, the biggest state bank of South Korea, whose sole purpose is to promote development in South Korea? And at a time when America is borrowing from the Middle East at interest rates of three percent, why did the Fed extend $35 billion in loans to the Arab Banking Corporation of Bahrain at interest rates as low as one quarter of one point?

Even more disturbing, the major stakeholder in the Bahrain bank is none other than the Central Bank of Libya, which owns 59 percent of the operation. In fact, the Bahrain bank just received a special exemption from the U.S. Treasury to prevent its assets from being frozen in accord with economic sanctions. That's right: Muammar Qaddafi received more than 70 loans from the Federal Reserve, along with the Real Housewives of Wall Street.

Perhaps the most irritating facet of all of these transactions is the fact that hundreds of millions of Fed dollars were given out to hedge funds and other investors with addresses in the Cayman Islands. Many of those addresses belong to companies with American affiliations — including prominent Wall Street names like Pimco, Blackstone and . . . Christy Mack. Yes, even Waterfall TALF Opportunity is an offshore company. It's one thing for the federal government to look the other way when Wall Street hotshots evade U.S. taxes by registering their investment companies in the Cayman Islands. But subsidizing tax evasion? Giving it a federal bailout? What the fuck?

As America girds itself for another round of lunatic political infighting over which barely-respirating social program or urgently necessary federal agency must have their budgets permanently sacrificed to the cause of billionaires being able to keep their third boats in the water, it's important to point out just how scarce money isn't in certain corners of the public-spending universe. In the coming months, when you watch Republican congressional stooges play out the desperate comedy of solving America's deficit problems by making fewer photocopies of proposed bills, or by taking an ax to budgetary shrubberies like NPR or the SEC, remember Christy Mack and her fancy new carriage house. There is no belt-tightening on the other side of the tracks. Just a free lunch that never ends.

via rollingstone.com

And the is confusion as to why there's a brewing clash of classes in the U.S.? Thanks to Rolling Stone for the work.

Local TV News Director FYI

2011-04-14T15:50:00.001-07:00

You mean I don't have to wait for spin doctors to tell me who won?

Lost Remote (@lostremote)
4/14/11 1:42 PM
Watch a debate in sync with tweets and a transcript - a cool interactive from @globaltvnews - bit.ly/ea8dCr cc: @dskok

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http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/03/ariz-golf-cou...

May we play through?

2011-03-27T09:14:00.001-07:00

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http://m.lvsun.com/news/2011/mar/27/strip-shrouded-darkness-observence-earth-...

Lights out on the Strip

2011-03-27T09:01:00.001-07:00

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4 Innovative Ways to Use Web Video for Small Business

2011-03-22T14:17:00.001-07:00

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.
You’ve seen videos of people doing ridiculous things on the Internet. But you probably haven’t seen too many videos of small businesses sharing their good work. Web video is more or less the domain of the ridiculous — whether that means something cute or something painful. Even top ads and commercials have a touch of the absurd (Old Spice, Dos Equis, I’m looking at you).
So how does a small business compete with disturbingly low attention spans and a whole Internet of viral videos? Read on for five ways that small businesses can take advantage of web video without blowing their budgets and let us know your own success stories in the comments below.
1. Request User Submissions
“Going viral” is a frustrating term both for its elusiveness and effectiveness. Viral videos can quickly get your product and brand out to a wide audience, but there is also practically no guaranteed way to “make” a video viral. Save yourself the trouble and get your audience to do the work for you.
Ask your fans or customers to send in videos of themselves using your product. For some, this can be a guaranteed hit. Such is the case with Michael Di Pippo, inventor of Pen Fishing Rods, a telescoping fishing rod that collapses to the size of a large pen. If that didn’t spark your interest, check the above video of someone actually catching a fish with it. Di Pippo bet that the shock value of it actually working would inspire customers to take videos using his product. The result was a motivated user-base and free publicity.
You might not be selling something as unique, but you can still encourage your clients to send in videos of them using whatever you’re selling. It’s a good way of extending the relationship past the point of sale and building a community.
Alternatively you can try to create a viral sensation like Blendtec’s Will It Blend? series. Rather than testing their blenders on tomatoes and walnuts, they started blending strange products like glowsticks, an iPad, and a crowbar. As a result, the videos (and Blendtec’s product) received millions of views and all it took was a little creativity. And a crowbar.
2. Replace Content
Try making a video instead of writing out your business updates. It’s easier for people to click play on a ~5 minute video than read a 500-word news brief. It helps to have some experience with basic editing and a decent camera, but people will ultimately tune in because your content is interesting or useful. Try offering deals or discount codes through your videos, while also talking about your product or service.
Using video to share business news or deals will help your business feel more personable as customers get accustomed to seeing you speak. This choice isn’t for everyone and every business, but it can help make your updates easier to digest and give your homepage a boost of personality.
3. Teach Them and They Will Come
Product demos are fun, but may not work for every type of business. For example, it could be tough to do a “demo” if you sell quilts or home garden supplies. Instead think of ways to teach and give back to your customers while also using your product. Selling quilts? Try a “How To” video on how you sew your quilts. Garden supplies? Make a video on how to plant a variety of bulbs and seeds using the products you sell.
If you’re business isn’t based around a physical product, think about doing a webcast or video on how to use your advanced features or set up the service.
4. Make Some Face Time
If you’re a small business, you can make your size work for you with video services, like Skype or even video calling on Gmail. Huge corporations like PepsiCo and Virgin are constantly trying to make their outreach more personal by attaching real people and real names to their customer service and social sites.
To get even more personal, create a business Skype or Gmail address (or any other service that allows you to video chat). Let customers know they can call you for some digital face time if they have any questions about your product or need help troubleshooting it. Doing so will help you build a stronger relationship with your customers and make your business feel more approachable at the same time.
Interested in more Business resources? Check out Mashable Explore, a new way to discover information on your favorite Mashable topics.

Image courtesy of Flickr, svennnn, tim ellis*

via mashable.com

Sad Few Days

2011-03-11T17:28:00.001-08:00

via google.com

My mom died last weekend. Her "celebration of life" and funeral are over the next few days. This is tough.

Solar Highways - Really!

2011-03-03T10:01:00.001-08:00

via wimp.com

This is cool. I would be so great if this has traction (no pun intended!)

Super Bowl Ads

2011-02-06T19:13:00.001-08:00

Top to bottom the most group of ads - maybe ever

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http://www.fastcompany.com/1720866/what-you-missed-while-you-were-watching-cn...

If you're a TV station planning on covering political races in 2012...planning guide here

2011-01-29T19:08:00.001-08:00

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A peek into Google's TV strategy going forward

2011-01-23T15:47:00.001-08:00

Since the Jets are playing the Steelers on my TV I guess it's obvious I'm multiple-tasking http://gigaom.com/video/5-questions-with-googles-hunter-walk/

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Did Keith Olbermann Bolt MSNBC to Create Media Empire?

2011-01-22T09:43:00.001-08:00

-->
By Dominic Patten & Sharon Waxman

It was Keith Olbermann's decision to leave his high-profile perch at MSNBC, TheWrap has learned. The outspoken host abruptly announced his departure on Friday evening, sending shock waves through the cable news world.

But the sudden departure has a history, and the timing does not rule out a preemptive MSNBC move. The gadfly commentator first told the network last April that he wanted to leave and began negotiating his exit then, according to an individual with knowledge of the situation.

Olbermann abandoned the notion of leaving at that time but revived his plans in recent weeks with new representation from the talent agency ICM.

With two years left on his $7 million a year contract, Olbermann was seeking a full exit package but he really has his eye on creating his own media empire in the style of Huffington Post, according to the individual. That way, Olbermann would control his own brand and, in his view, potentially earn far more as an owner.

SEE ALSO: Video Transcript of Olbermann's Sign-Off From MSNBC

On Friday, Olbermann informed viewers that he had been told that "this was going to be the last edition" of “Countdown,” which suggested that the departure was not voluntary. The host offered no more information.

Video and Transcript of Keith Olbermann's Sign-Off From MSNBC Jan 21, 2011

Olbermann's Exit From MSNBC Sends Shockwaves Throughout Cable News Jan 21, 2011

Neither did MSNBC.

"MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract," said the network in a statement released minutes after Olbermann who ended with his signature flourish of thrown papers, was off the air. "The last broadcast of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" will be this evening," the statement continued. "MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC's success and we wish him well in his future endeavors."

The departure of Olbermann, who recently left his long time talent agent Jean Sage to work with a troika at ICM, came so abruptly that MSNBC was still running promos for him and his show an hour after he signed off for the last time.

Immediately after the host said his goodbyes, speculation started that his departure had something to do with the recently approved merger between NBC Universal and Comcast.

"Of course that is an easy angle to take considering the timing," an individual close to the company told TheWrap, "but it is not true."

The Comcast merger is set to occur next Friday, January 28.

"Comcast has not closed the transaction for NBC Universal and has no operational control at any of its properties including MSNBC," Comcast said in a statement late Friday night. "We pledged from the day the deal was announced that we would not interfere with NBC Universal's news operations. We have not and we will not."

The tempestuous Olbermman did however,according to the New York Times, “came to an agreement with NBC’s corporate management late this week to settle his contract and step down.”

Though the announcement was quick, there was some warning. Despite the presence of Rachel Maddow and other anchors and on-air personalities, Olbermann was nowhere to be seen Thursday at a lunch NBC News hosted in New York City for advertisers.

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Video and Transcript of Keith Olbermann's Sign-Off From MSNBC Jan 21, 2011

Olbermann's Exit From MSNBC Sends Shockwaves Throughout Cable News Jan 21, 2011

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Tags: Countdown, Keith Olbermann, MSNBC, olbermann, people, Television, Television

View the discussion thread.

via thewrap.com

Here's what's interesting to me about Olbermann leaving. I think it's a direct result of the changing TV landscape and a harbinger of the more changes to come. And what's as interesting to me is two former guys from ESPN's SportsCenter are lead dogs on this sled into the future.

Several years ago, Dan Patrick, fed up with rules and dictates from the "mothership" of ESPN leaves to do his own thing. And his own thing has been lucrative. Dan Patrick has established himself as a sports media brand with all the rights and paydays associated with being the owner. Clearly this was not lost on his old SportsCenter anchor buddy, Keith Olbermann. Throw in the respect for what Arrianne has created with the Huffingtonpost and you can begin to understand why Keith was willing to walk away from a cushy multi-million dollar network deal. Olbermann will be back, but this time as the owner/boss.

And I suspect sooner or later this opportunity to create your own media brand will begin to happen more and more on the local level as well. Clearly the financial numbers are different. And yes, there already are some local medial folks that have been forced to give it a try through involuntary separation. But content is more and more becoming separated from the ownership of the distribution channel. So as Keith and Dan use to say years ago on SportsCenter, this is going to be a really big show.

My disjointed earlier post - Cool billboard at Denver Int'l Airport

2011-01-21T16:06:00.001-08:00

I like it!

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Untitled

2011-01-21T15:16:00.001-08:00

Cool billboard ad...am I being geeky here?

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Another silo / this time Starbucks

2011-01-21T14:54:00.001-08:00

Cool new shiny thing but it's another silo. Is this easier than a debit card? http://venturebeat.com/2011/01/19/starbucks-to-announce-that-shoppers-can-pay...

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Deal Biz

2011-01-09T14:13:00.001-08:00

Why all local media should be in the "deal biz" regardless of the crowded field. http://blog.kelseygroup.com/index.php/2011/01/06/townhog-local-media-sites-ha...

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http://www.fastcompany.com/1714666/climate-change-more-important-than-indepen...

Required reading

2011-01-09T14:10:00.001-08:00

Required reading for all members of the new Congress

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The Future of TV is TV....but what's on?

2011-01-05T12:54:00.001-08:00

LOS GATOS, Calif. – Netflix fans will soon be able to use a remote controller to flick through their flicks available for streaming over the Internet on devices such as TV sets, Blu-ray players and others.

Netflix Inc. said Tuesday that consumer electronics companies will begin selling remotes with "Netflix" buttons in the spring. The buttons will bring up the Netflix screen on users' TV sets, providing easier access to TV shows and movies. Though the button will likely only save couch potatoes a few seconds of time, its appearance is another sign that Netflix has become a household name.

Netflix says the list of companies that will make the remotes for some new Blu-ray players include Best Buy's in-house Dynex brand, Memorex, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba. Some Blu-ray devices can connect to the Internet, which lets users stream movies.

Sharp, Sony and Toshiba will also place the Netflix button on some new Internet-connected TVs.

Netflix, based in Los Gatos, Calif., has been spending heavily to obtain the streaming rights to movies and TV shows to help lure more customers and shift existing subscribers away from DVDs, which cost more to distribute.

Shares of Netflix rose 18 cents to $181.55 in after-hours trading, having closed up $2.96 at $181.37.

via news.yahoo.com

Stealing Mark Cuban's line in my title gave me a chance to add a little caveat. Basically I agree with Mark. At least over the next 3-5 years TV will basically be TV as we know it today. Most people will continue to pay cable or satellite providers to get their programming. Internet-enabled TV's (selling well) will not lead to a mass cutting of the cord...at least in the short-term. But this latest news leads me to my greatest concern for local TV....it's not the loss of connected cords we have to worry about in the new few years, it's the loss of eyeballs.

TV households are going to add 8 bucks a month to their monthly video entertainment cost. But what do you think will happen to viewing when Netflix is one press of the remote button away? To think traditional viewing patterns will not be affected is nonsensical to me.

Trying to unlock the SMB ad chest

2011-01-04T15:14:00.001-08:00

In his keynote address at DMS ‘10, Yext CEO Howard Lerman pointed to the imminent release of a tags product in response to Google Tags and emphasized that tags could grow into the standard local advertising unit. Sure enough, the company will officially unveil Yext Tags in January across more than a dozen locally-oriented partner sites, including AOL’s Mapquest and Patch, Citysearch, Superpages, Yahoo! and Yellowbook. And no, Google is not taking part.

Many will assume that Yext Tags is launching to combat Google’s continued migration into local advertising. Some have even termed this an “anti-Google alliance.” For the non-conspiracy theorist, perhaps it is about integrating online advertising for merchants into a single buy and a central distribution engine. Whatever the case, the key to breaking through with SMBs who have found search engine marketing to be a confusing experience will be simplicity, which is at the core of the new platform.

Pricing is flat rate for advertisers ($99 per month), to be split evenly between Yext and the partner sites where the tags appear. From Yext’s dashboard, busineses can create, distribute and modify tags across a local network that reaches more than 100 million UVs each month. No keyword bidding – these are natural search results, not sponsored ones.

For Lerman’s New York-based startup, Tags broaden the overall value proposition that Yext can offer the 30,000 businesses that are currently using some combination of its pay-per-call and reputation management tools. Initially, Yext will market the product, but will soon allow partners to re-sell it. Another “next step” will be enabling clients to update their listings and tags from partner sites (not just on them).

While Tags can be messaged any number of ways, many merchants will seize on it to promote deals and offers. This could appeal to national retailers seeking to drive local store traffic in particular areas (a theme that sprouted in 2010 and will only gain stream in 2011). Gold’s Gym, for instance, has been experimenting with localizing offers across the partner network as part of a Tags beta test.

Google first pushed out its Tags offering in June at a flat rate of $25 (seemingly its new magic number, with Google Boost also being peddled at this rate). The search giant recently enlisted at least 100 telesales reps to market Tags and Boost to businesses that have claimed their Places page. Now it is offering $100 million in AdWords credits to SMBs that enroll in Places. Funneled together, these initiatives have many online search and Yellow Pages companies wondering if Google is trying to take their turf.

This isn’t the first coordinated effort to push back against Google. IAC’s CityGrid Media developed over the past year to connect sellers and publishers through a targeted ad engine that optimizes placement for businesses across the network. At BIA/Kelsey’s Marketplaces conference this past March, CityGrid CEO Jay Herratti described the network as an alternative “scale player” to Google.

Sample Yext Tags Listing

Yext Tags Dashboard (courtesy: TechCrunch)

Tags: CityGrid, Google Tags, Yext Tags
2 Comments

via blog.kelseygroup.com

I would recommend to my traditional media friends the price-point for SMB ad solutions is somewhere in the $25 to $99 a month range.

Is Groupon Good for a Small Business? Do the Math

2010-11-27T09:24:00.001-08:00

I have been reading with great interest (especially here) the stories of retailers sharing their experiences using Groupon. For those of you not familiar with Groupon, the company partners with local businesses to send a daily coupon e-blast to its members. The members who buy the coupon get 50 to 70 percent off on a product or service, and Groupon splits the proceeds with the retailer — usually leaving the retailer with about 20 to 25 cents on the dollar of retail value.

I have never seen anything that is both so celebrated and demonized at the same time. There has been talk that Groupon might be worth as much as $3 billion, and yet here are some blog comments from retailers who’ve tried the service:

“It is for desperate businesses.”

“The financials just can’t work out.”

“Groupon is the worst marketing ever.”

“We did Groupon. It was O.K. It brought in new customers — we kept most of them. But the margins are a killer.”

As a retailer who has used Groupon — as well as traditional advertising — to build my business, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s a lot of misinformation out there. Is Groupon the worst marketing ever? Or is it the best marketing ever? Probably both. One thing is for sure: Groupon is a beast.

What else would you call something that can deliver 2,000 customers to your store? It’s a beast that can propel your business or smother it. It depends on your business. It also depends on you. Here are some key factors:

The first is the type of business you have. How many potential customers in your area don’t know about you? Do you have excess capacity? Can you handle a surge?

The second factor is about branding. Do you believe that by giving out a large discount you risk damaging your brand? It is a judgment call. I am sure that it is a bad idea in some cases.

And then there is the math, which may be the most important factor. I have seen it attempted many times — but if it is not done properly, it can result in very misleading conclusions.

Groupon is advertising. If you don’t need or believe in advertising, there is no reason to look at this. It costs money. Instead of writing a check for an ad, you are choosing to lose money on sales. This can wreak havoc on the brain cells of a good retailer who is always watching profit margins. It can feel wrong, especially when the coupon customers don’t spend more than the amount of the coupon.

That is why it is critical to do the math. Math is cold and unemotional — and eye-opening. Unfortunately, it is much easier and much more accurate to do the math after you try the program, because you will not have to guess on as many numbers. There are eight key calculations you need to consider to determine whether this is a better advertising vehicle than something else you may already be doing:

1. Your incremental cost of sales — that is, the actual cost percentage for a new customer. If you are giving boat tours and have empty seats, your incremental costs for an additional customer are next to nothing. If you are selling clothes, your incremental costs might be 50 percent of the sale price. Food might be 40 percent. In any case, don’t include fixed costs that you would be incurring any way.

2. The amount of the average sale. If the coupon is for $75, will the customers spend more that that? I have seen more than one retailer complain that nobody spends more than the value of the coupon. That’s unlikely but I am sure it can feel that way, and that is my point: Keep track.

3. Redemption percentage. You don’t really know until the end, but from my experience and from what I have heard, 85 percent is a good guess.

4. Percentage of your coupon users who are already your customers. I’m sure this number varies tremendously depending on the size of your city, how long you have been around, and the type of business.

5. How many coupons does each customer buy? (The more they buy, the fewer people are exposed to your product or service.)

6. What percentage of coupon customers will turn into regular customers? Again, it can seem as if they are all bargain shoppers who will never return without a discount, but that’s almost impossible. Is it possible 90 percent won’t return? Sure.

7. What is the advertising value of having your business promoted to 900,000 people — that’s the number on Groupon’s Chicago list — even if they don’t buy a coupon?

8. How much does it normally cost you to acquire a customer through advertising? Everything is relative.

Let’s look at an example of how this might work for a restaurant. Suppose you sell 3,000 coupons with a face value of $75 for $35. Then let’s assume the following:

1. 40 percent incremental costs (mostly food).
2. $85 average ticket ($10 more than the coupon).
3. 85 percent redeemed.
4. 40 percent used by existing customers.
5. Two bought per customer.
6. 10 percent come back again — or send friends.
7. $1,000 advertising value.
8. $125 typical cost to get a new customer through other advertising methods.

Now, let’s do the math:

Number redeemed: 3,000 x 85 percent = 2,550.

Revenue:
3,000 x $35 x 50 percent = $52,500 (Groupon sends a check).
2,550 x additional $10 = $25,500 (additional money spent by each customer).
total revenue = $78,000 (plus, you also get the $1,000 advertising value of having all those people introduced to your product or service).

Expense:
2,550 x $85 (average retail value) x 40 percent incremental cost = $86,700.

In this example, the restaurant took in $78,000 at a cost of $86,700, which means it cost $8,700 to run the deal. The key question is how many return customers the restaurant will get for that expense. If you divide the 2,550 total coupons by two (the average number of coupons bought by each customer), you get 1,275 customers. Multiply by 60 percent (to exclude existing customers) and you get 765. Multiply again by 10 percent (the percentage of new customers who return), and you get 76 new repeat customers.

Divide the $8,700 cost by 76 new customers, and the restaurant paid $114 for each new regular, which in this example is roughly what we assumed it would cost with conventional advertising. The question the restaurant has to answer is whether it was worth the trouble to get 76 customers — especially given that it probably annoyed some of its existing regulars. On the other hand, maybe it kept some of its employees busy when they otherwise would have had short hours.

But keep this in mind: because of the huge volume, if you change any of the variables, you can get very different results. For instance, if the customers had spent an average of $95 instead of $85, the restaurant would have actually made money on the promotion — something it’s almost impossible to do with traditional advertising. Of course, it goes the other way, too. If the customers spend only the $75 coupon amount, the cost to the restaurant will be $24,000 — an expense most owners probably never even consider.

Best marketing ever? Worst marketing ever? It all depends on a few little numbers. Here is the big difference between traditional advertising and Groupon: Traditional advertising requires spending some money and knowing that it can be lost if the ad doesn’t work. With Groupon, you spend no money up front but you mess with your formula for making money. You can win big and you can lose big.

It is a new world. The old math still works in it.

Jay Goltz owns five small businesses in Chicago.

via boss.blogs.nytimes.com

Here's the best calculations I've seen to evaluate Groupons. Since most of the experiences we hear about are anecdotal, the best thing a SMB can do is approach Groupons with some ROI calculations in mind. As with all ROI calculations regarding advertising, there's always some assumptions. But if you're the owner of a local SMB you're the best person to make those assumptions.

Facebook "Deals"

2010-11-04T07:08:00.001-07:00

Facebook Ads Provide 'Deals' for Local Merchants, Marketers

As Users Share Their Locations, a New Way for Marketers Like Gap, Starbucks and McDonald's to Reach Them

by Irina Slutsky
Published: November 03, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) -- Facebook has a new offer for users willing to share their locations in status updates: deals from nearby merchants or big-brand marketers such as Starbucks, Gap or McDonald's.

Facebook is launching the Deals service with 22 big brand partners -- Starbucks, McDonald's, H&M, and Gap -- and 20,000 small-to-medium-sized businesses can start creating Deals on their Places page inside of Facebook.

--> The social network announced "Deals," an extension of its Places mobile feature, which allows users to check in at locations such as bars, coffee shops or malls. Users will be able to claim those deals by walking into a merchant and checking in on their phones or other mobile devices, giving marketers the ability to reach consumers and potentially attracting them into a given store.
The new service combines two of the hotter trends in local marketing: location-based check-in services such as Foursquare, and local group deals services such as Groupon or LivingSocial. "There are many changes in mobile, and there's a revolution in the social space," said Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, which has 200 million mobile users. "Mobile is as big as that -- when you combine mobile and social, industries can get disrupted."

But like everything Facebook does, it has the potential of taking a niche phenomenon now exploited by a coterie of small startups and turning it into a mass phenomenon. "While businesses have been able to use other geolocation services to incentivize customers to some extent, Facebook Deals allows global brands to do so at massive scale," said Michael Lazerow, CEO of social marketing firm Buddy Media.

Facebook announced the Deals Platform and another feature called "Single Sign On," which allows users to log into any app on their iPhones and Android phones, eliminating the need for remembering passwords and typing on tiny mobile keypads. There are 550,000 games and applications available on Facebook, and developers can now build the single sign-on into any of them or build new apps with the feature.
Facebook is launching the Deals service with 22 big brand partners -- Starbucks, McDonald's, H&M and Gap -- and 20,000 small- to medium-sized businesses can start creating Deals on their Places page inside of Facebook. Merchants create a Facebook page where there is an option for choosing the kind of deal they would like to offer: individual, loyalty, friends or charity. Individual and loyalty offers are digital versions of the traditional coupon and loyalty cards, where a customer gets a punch hole for every coffee or sandwich purchased. The friends offer is a strictly Facebook style deal, where if a user checks in his or her friends, they get a discount. The charity deal is where the merchant will donate $1 for each check to a charity.
"The Deals concept solves the long term," said Facebook's director of local, Emily White. "For a long time, merchants have been told to get online. This solves that problem for them and turns the fans into real dollars."
Gap decided to immediately participate in Deals, offering 10,000 pairs of jeans for free to all users who check into one of the 900 Gap stores nationwide. "It's important for us to connect with our customers where they are," said Olivia Doyne, a Gap spokeswoman on hand at the event at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto. "This can be used in so many ways. If a store has too much inventory, we can use Deals for that. We can tailor the deals to our customers' locations."
Facebook does not earn money in the Deals promotions, and Ms. White said this project is very much in a beta state. But inadvertently, by having more businesses create pages on Places and having more people checking into those businesses, there will be a natural increase in Facebook traffic.
Marketers have long seen mobile phones as a powerful means of reaching consumers while they're out shopping or physically close to a given store. "This is continuing Facebook's empowering of small businesses," said Dave Marsey, senior VP of Digitas digital media. "We're gonna see the biggest response with small local businesses that can more directly and electronically manage attracting new customers and rewarding loyal customers."
Mr. Zuckerberg said that, as always, Facebook's focus is to make things better for users. "Whether the deals platform turns into something more commercial, or we choose to monetize something else -- though we have no plans of doing that any time soon -- that works for us too."

via adage.com

Facebook comes to the social buying deal biz. No surprise. But if Facebook's sweet spot for "local" merchants is Starbucks, Gap and McDonalds, I would think that would give local merchants not tied to national chains/franchises are real opportunity to out-maneuver them in the deal biz.

Radio Shack Does Trade-In's for IPhones

2010-11-01T17:43:00.001-07:00

We have two iPhones in our family. Yesterday we traded in the older one — my wife’s first-generation model, bought in 2007 — at Radio Shack. They gave us $72.94 for the phone and charger, against $199 for a new 16Gb iPhone 4. We’ll probably trade our other iPhone, my second-generation 3g one, pretty soon too.

Apple doesn’t have the same offer. I’m not sure who else does. I wouldn’t have known about it if I hadn’t stopped in a Radio Shack to buy an ethernet cable a few days ago, when the kid behind the counter told me about it. Turns out Radio Shack will take a lot of stuff in trade. Since my iPhone 3g is brand new (I replaced it at an Apple store last month for $79, before I knew about this deal), I can get $116.13 for it, according to the online appraisal system at that last link.

Yes, it bothers me that we’re staying inside Apple and AT&T’s joint silo. It also bothers me that Fake Steve Jobs is right about Android fragmentation. I also see a serious risk that Real Steve Jobs might succeed at repositioning closed systems as “integrated”. Just because, well, he’s Steve. We’re all in his reality distortion field now.

Speaking of which, Apple is now bigger than Microsoft, and the iPhone is now bigger than Rim.

I still see this as a phase, and not a bad one. Apple and Google have together cracked open the unholy death grip that phone makers and carriers have long had on the mobile world. At some point those two halves will come completely apart.

Until they do, we won’t have ambient connectivity, or what I call the Frankston Threshold.

But we’ll get there. It’s inevitable.

[Later...] If you do trade in an old iPhone, be sure to erase it before handing it over. Do that under Settings/General/Reset/Erase all content and settings.

via blogs.law.harvard.edu

You'd think Radio Shack would be better at promoting this.

Yes! Cooperation!

2010-10-28T07:31:00.001-07:00

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Seattle Times forges online ad network

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Posted: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 2:14 pm | Updated: 2:15 pm, Tue Oct 26, 2010.

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The Seattle Times and Seattle television station KING have created a local online advertising network focused on local news sites and blogs.

Revenues from ads placed through the BeLocal Ad Network will be shared with online publishers, the companies said.

"This new partnership combines the power of The Seattle Times and KING 5 sales forces to help contribute to the viability of the great variety of local community blogs," said Alan Fisco, The Times' senior vice president of sales and marketing, in a statement.

The Times is an early proponent of working with local blogs and hyperlocal sites. The paper already shares content generated by online publishers through the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation-funded Networked Journalism Project (see News & Tech, October 2009).

The sales initiative, Fisco said, "will only make those partnerships stronger."

Early participants include Seattle local news sites MyBallard, capitolhillseattle.com and Neighborlogs.

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Posted in Whats new, Dateline on Tuesday, October 26, 2010 2:14 pm Updated: 2:15 pm.

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via newsandtech.com

Local media would crush national pureplays if they would only cooperate digitally instead of all competing. An online ad network driven my cooperating local media....powerful. Sure there will be problems in executing the strategy...so what? Don't let the naysayers sway ya!

TV Guide Meet Internet

2010-10-20T14:59:00.001-07:00

via clicker.com

Does your local news or promotion department know about this guide?

www.clicker.com

A rationale look at TV's Future

2010-10-20T14:51:00.001-07:00

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, or subscribe via email. Thanks for visiting!
Dana Settle & I are hosting a dinner tonight (10/20/10) with some of the biggest companies in entertainment to talk about the future of television, film & digital media. Michael Ovitz, the co-founder of CAA will be the keynote speaker.

Nobody can predict 100% what the future of television will be so I won’t pretend that I know the answers. But I do know that it will form a huge basis of the future of the Internet, how we consume media, how we communicate with friends, how we play games and how we shop. Video will be inextricably linked to the future of the Internet and consumption between PCs, mobile devices and TVs will merge. Note that I didn’t say there will be total “convergence” – but I believe the services will inter-operate.

The digital living room battle will take place over the next 5-10 years, not just the next 1-2. But with the introduction of Apple TV, Google TV, the Boxee Box & other initiatives it’s clear that this battle will heat up in 2011. The following is not meant to be a deep dive but rather a framework for understanding the issues. This is where the digital media puck is going.

While we won’t get through all of this, here are some of the issues in the industry that I plan to bring up and ones I hope we’ll discuss tomorrow:

1. “Over the Top” video distribution – Apple TV is brand new and is priced at $99. Given how Apple’s products are normally delivered to near perfection it is likely to be a huge holiday hit this year. While their past efforts at Apple TV have been mediocre it seems clear that this time they’re really trying to get it right. That said, Apple will remain a closed system designed to drive media
consumption through a closed iTunes system and a take a toll for media distribution.

The device itself will have no storage. So without my weighing into the pro’s / con’s of this I can say that I believe it will capture a large segment of the market but leave room for “open platforms” to play a big role.

Just as in the mobile battle when Apple goes closed it creates an opportunity for somebody that is substantively open. Enter Google. If you’re an OEM who wants to move more hardware but you don’t have the muscle to create an entire media ecosystem then you’re best off finding a partner who can build a software OS, app platform and search capabilities.

So it is unsurprising to see companies like Sony, Logitech & Intel partner with Google. Google balances the universe and helps all of the hardware, software and media companies ensure it isn’t a “one horse race.”

That said, it would be an understatement to say that traditional media is skeptical about Google’s benevolence and many fear a world in which video content margins are crushed in the way that print & music have been with the primary beneficiary having been Google. So while they enjoy a race with two major brands competing they also have three other strategies they’ll pursue.

they’ll try to “move up the stack” and provide some of these services themselves. Thus you see television manufacturers rushing to create content ecosystems, app platforms, TV OS’s and Internet offerings

they’ll continue to partner with the MSO’s: tradition cable & satellite providers as well as the new FiOS offerings from Telcos. The MSO’s are today’s distribution platforms and they still have a lot of muscle in the ensuing years

they’ll continue to look for independent technology partners. They will find the Hobbesian power relationship more palatable than strengthening what they consider their “frenemies” (Apple & Google) and as a result will work with independent players like Boxee.

I have always thought there was room for an independent success story like Boxee or someone similar. I’ve always believed that such a player would only succeed if they could capture an enthusiastic user base that feels compelled to use their platform to discover and consume content. Clearly Boxee captured the imagination of this early-mover user base 2 years ago. The launch of their new Boxee Box in November and the user acceptance of that will be telling for their future development.

2. Attempts at “moving up the stack” – In 1997 I led a project to help senior management at British Telecom define its Internet strategy. I did some market sizing analysis and wrote a strategy paper called, “It’s about the meat & potatoes, not the sex & sizzle.” I argued that if BT was focused there would be a large business in access services (dial up, ISDN and the equivalent of T1′s), hosting services and other infrastructure related products that would be very profitable and they had a great chance to corner the market on a high-market growth business.

My paper warned of the dangers of trying to “move up the stack” and become a content company. At the time all telco’s were envious of Yahoo! and Excite in particular as well as all of the Internet companies with grandiose stock market valuations. The attitude was “I’ll be damned if those young kids are going to get rich off of our infrastructure.” Needless to say BT didn’t follow the advice of my paper and it went bananas for content deals signing a string of money-losing content partnerships. I guess shareholders would have probably punished them for being boring and prudent.

Fast forward nearly a decade and it was unsurprising to me to see the death grip that global mobile operators placed over the handsets. They threatened any hardware manufacturer with not putting anything but operator approved software on the phones. In this way they locked down the device (they controlled the phone distribution market through owning retail stores and subsidizing handset costs). The mobile operators were run largely by the same people who ran the wireline telcos a decade early and still felt screwed by the tech industry. The created a hegemony that delayed innovation until January 2007 when the iPhone was introduced.

The iPhone broke the hegemony with hardware & software that had no telco software on it – thus the Faustian AT&T / Apple iPhone deal. They both gained. They both lost. But ultimately we all won because consumers finally had enough of locked down, crappy software from telcos. Imagine how much mobile telco money still exists in meat & potatoes. Imagine if one of them had created a Skype competitor.

So entering 2011 why does this matter? I see a repeat from television manufacturers and MSO’s. They know that the world is changing and they’re shit scared of what that means for hardware and pipeline providers. The hardware manufacturers are on razor-thin margins and see that having apps on TVs will be a way to build direct relationships with consumers and built higher margin businesses. It’s hard to blame them. But none of this will stick. Not because they are bad companies – but because software is not a core competency.

They will never succeed in these businesses. And I think the smartest hardware providers & MSOs are the ones that will sign unique and daring partnerships with startup technology firms. But the whole market will develop more slowly as we watch this bum fight take place. Get your seats ringside – it will take place over the next 2-3 years.

3. The “second screen” – One of the most exciting developments in television & media to me will be “second screen” technologies built initially on iPads and extended to the plethora of devices we’ll see over the next 3-5 years. And this will be real innovation & revolutionary in the way that the iPad is, rather

than just being incremental. It will involve 3d (see Nintendo’s moves, for example). You’ll likely see applications that draw you into interactive experiences, connect you to your social networks, help you browse your TV better and create a richer media experience overall.

I think we’re in the 1st inning of second screen technologies & applications and this movement will create whole new experiences that the 50 crowd will lament as “ruining the TV experience.” The 15-30 crowd will feel like this is what TV was meant to be – social. In my opinion this will replicate what most of us 40 year olds already experienced when we were in our 20′s. We’ll have the post show water cooler effect that was popular in the Seinfeld era. We’ll have simultaneous viewing parties like we did for Friends or Melrose Place. But most of it will be virtual.

4. Content bundling – When there was one pipe capable of broadband delivery leading into our house the person who controlled this could control what we saw and it was delivered in a linear timeframe. As a result it became popular to bundle content together and get us to pay for “packages” when all we really wanted was The Sopranos or ESPN. We all saw what happened when technology let us buy singles on iTunes rather than whole albums pushed by record labels. No prizes for guessing what the future holds for video. The idea of forced bundles will seem archaic. Smart companies will figure this out early. The “Innovator’s Dilemma” will hold others back. The bundle is the walking dead. Only question is how long it survives.

5. Torso TV - Television was designed for a mass audience in a single country. One of the things that has fascinated me over the past couple of years is the rise of global content and its ability to develop a “niche” global audience that is relevant. Think of about the rise of Japanese Anime, Spanish Novelas, Korean Drama or the rise of Bollywood entertainment from India. It’s not a mass, mainstream audience but I would argue that it’s “global torso” content that will be meaningful at scale. Websites like ViiKii, which have been launched to create realtime translations of shows by fan-subbers, have huge followings already. And I’m sure that this is what popularized the SlingBox in the first place. British, India & Pakistani ex-pats on a global scale want to watch cricket.

I believe that NetFlix has won the battle for the “head end” of content from films. They have such a strong base of subscribers and their strategy of “Netflix everywhere” is brilliant. We watch it on the iPad. We pause. We turn on our TV and get it streamed through the Wii. And it’s available also on the Apple TV. It’s on Boxee. It’s effen awesome. Game over. IMO. But the torso? It’s up for grabs. And I think players like Boxee understand this is a juicy and valuable market. As does ViiKii and countless others racing to serve fragmented audiences the good stuff.

6. YouTube meets the television – It was funny to me to hear people say for years that “YouTube had no business model.” It made me laugh because it is so obvious when you capture an entire market of passionate consumers in any market – especially in video – that in the long-run it becomes a huge business. So many people are stuck in the mindset that YouTube is UGC (as defined as people uploading silly videos or watching Coke & Mentos explode) and that brands don’t want to advertise on UGC.

And meanwhile I’ve seen several LA startups focus on creating low-cost video production & distribution houses. They are quietly accumulating audiences in the same way that Zynga did on Facebook. And if you think that these guys can’t monetize then I’ll refer you to everybody’s arguments about games – that free-to-play would never work in the US. And meanwhile Zynga is one of the fastest growing companies in US history.

What Zynga understood is that you need to go where the consumers are, capture those audiences, build a direct relationship and then diversify channel partners. This is happening in spades now on YouTube as a new generation of viewers is being served up by a new generation of TV production houses that
are currently under the radar screen of many people. This will change in the next 2 years.

And as they explode and become bigger companies YouTube becomes even more of a Juggernaut. And don’t forget that as the Internet meets TV, YouTube will continue to be a brand to be reckoned with served up by Google TVs.

7. Content discovery – new metaphors – Anybody who tries to search for a program to watch on TV on an EPG (electronic programming guide) knows just how bad they are for finding “the good stuff.” And for a long time the Internet has been that way, too. The best online video search tool (in terms of usability) that I’ve seen is Clicker. By a long shot. Do a little test yourself. Trying searching for something on Hulu. Then try the same search on Clicker. Try it first for content that is on Hulu and then for content that is not. And Hulu’s search is actually reasonable.

Much of web video search is bad at finding “the good stuff” including YouTube itself. Try searching “Dora the Explorer” in YouTube and then try it on Clicker. And then try it on Hulu. I feel confident that any user trying this will not go back from Clicker (no, I’m not an investor).

But as the Internet & TV merge it will be a major fight for how you find the good stuff. Google isn’t that good at video search today. Will this change in a world of Google TV’s? Boxee prides itself on social TV & content discovery. Will their next version blow us away and be the way we search our TVs? Will the MSO / EPG world improve (answer: not likely)? What about discovering content on our TVs via Twitter or Facebook? Or some unforeseen technology? Will we discover stuff through second-screen apps?

Technology such as that being created by Matt Mireles over at SpeakerText is trying to make video transcriptions and make video more searchable and discoverable. Imagine that world. I’m sure others are focused on solving this great problem.

The amazing thing about content discovery is that it can alter what is actually viewed and thus becomes a powerful broker in the new TV era where pipes don’t have a stranglehold on eyeballs.

I have no idea who will win. I only know who won’t.

8. Gaming & TV – One of the great unknowns for me is what role the console manufacturers have on our future media consumptions experiences. There are about 60 million 7th generatation game consoles in the US between the Nintendo Wii, Xbox and PlayStations against about 110 million homes.

And while free-to-play games are becoming hugely popular and as my own kids spend as much time playing Angry Birds (you can’t tell me you don’t want one of these – I already pre-ordered 2 for Hanukkah!) on the iPad now as they do Super Mario Bros. on the Wii – it’s clear that the games manufacturers will find a way to be
hugely relevant in the digital living room fight.

As will the media companies. Disney acquired Playdom and Club Penguin. EA bought PlayFish. Google has had long-standing rumors around Zynga. It’s clear that games will feature in the Internet meets TV meets Video world. They’re all battling for mindshare & share of wallet. Watch for continued game creep into TV.

Don’t believe me? Check out what the younger generation does on Machinima these days. People record their game experiences and make them into videos to share. Games meets videos meets TV. To make it easier for you to understand – check out this video (NSFW – language – but good graphics & example of future. You can get through first 1.20 safely).

9. Social media meets digital content – I think the social media story is more obvious in many ways. It’s clear that when people watch movies now they Tweet about it when they get out and this has an impact on box office sales. Social media buzz can boost or bury content. The current generation of players are trying to skate with the puck at their feet by simply offering “check-ins for TV” the next generation will connect us in ways we don’t even imagine now. I’ve seen some really innovative companies trying to solve this social TV problem but their stuff is so new I feel I can’t talk about it out of fairness to them. But I’m hugely interested to watch how this space evolves.

10. The changing nature of content & the role of the narrative – A lot of Hollywood people say that the traditional “narrative” of filmed entertainment will hold in the Internet meets TV world. They say that long-form storytelling will be where the ad money will flow and people will still want to consume professionally written, edited and produced content.

While I agree that there is a bright future for the talent that is uniquely in Los Angeles I think the future of TV & Film will be as different as the transition from radio to TV was. As is widely known “many of the earliest TV programs were modified versions of well-established radio shows.” Why wouldn’t we think that 50 years from now our initial Internet meets TV shows won’t seem just as quaint. Consider:

The 22-minute format with 8 minutes of 30-second commercials was designed for linear programming. Why is the number 22 magic? In a non-linear world do we need a standard length?

The world is filled with amazing writers, directors, actors and producers. Many of them don’t have the money or access to be in Hollywood or the ones that are here lack the ability to reach an audience. Companies like Filmaka have been trying to solve this problem.

What happens when content production & distribution is easy to professionally produce and distribute at mass low-cost scale? Will we still have predictable story lines? Or can we develop more fragmented content to meet the needs of fragmented audiences and interest groups?

What happens in a world where content producers have a direct relationship with the audience and can involve the audience directly in story creation? Or maybe even as wacky as involving the audience in the story itself?

Isn’t Arcade Fire’s Wilderness Downtown already an example of the future where you can involve customized assets to an audience? We each see a similar story but with different backgrounds, characters or maybe even music? In a world where the house that I grew up in can play a role in the story (as with Wilderness Downtown) – anything is possible. Isn’t it obvious that content customization to the audience is the future?

I’m such a big believer in the power of writing, editing and producing. When I’m given the choice I always watch independent film with complex characters and non-cliche story lines. I see a future in which Hollywood still is the center of global video content creation in the same way that Silicon Valley remains the center of technology development. But democratization of production & distribution will clearly change the world as we know it today.

And I’m excited to participate in that revolution.

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via bothsidesofthetable.com

I read 5+ articles a week about the future of TV. Most are irrational, lack an understanding of the power of incumbency or are just hyperbole. This article is different.

Local Twitter Ads - Time to Engage

2010-10-11T17:25:00.001-07:00

In the last two weeks, the company has introduced several advertising plans, courted Madison Avenue at Advertising Week, the annual industry conference, and promoted Dick Costolo, who has led Twitter’s ad program, to chief executive — all signs that Twitter means business about business. It’s Twitter’s biggest financial effort since April, when it introduced its first, much-anticipated ad program, Promoted Tweets.
Twitter’s startling growth — it has exploded to 160 million users, from three million, in the last two years — is reminiscent of Google and Facebook in their early days. Those Web sites are now must-buys for advertisers online, and the ad industry is watching Twitter closely to see if it continues to follow that path.
“Having been in the business for as long as I have and seeing things rise, I completely have the same vibe on Twitter as Google, Facebook and DoubleClick,” said Curt Hecht, chief executive of VivaKi Nerve Center, a digital agency that is part of the Publicis Groupe. “You can tell by the client interest levels.”
Another telling sign of Twitter’s newfound interest in pushing its advertising is that although fewer than 20 of the company’s 300 employees work on advertising, that is in contrast to one just three months ago.
But many advertisers and executives say there are questions to be answered and experiments to be done before Twitter becomes a must-buy, if it ever does.
“Agencies are uneducated, brands are uneducated and to a certain extent, Twitter is uneducated,” said Ian Schafer, chief of Deep Focus, an interactive marketing agency. “There are no best practices. There are just hunches about what will work.”
Advertising Week was a debut for Twitter, as Mr. Costolo shared the stage with executives from Google and Facebook and wooed ad executives in the audience with a clear message.
“We’re definitely beyond the experimentation stage,” he told them. “It’s working.”
In an interview later, he said, “We feel like we’ve cracked the code on a new form of advertising, and we feel like we’ve got a hit on our hands.”
This is a sharp change for the company, which has so far been careful to say it will move slowly and experiment a lot. Twitter started with just six advertisers and now has about 40, including Starbucks, Ford and Microsoft. Mr. Costolo said in the interview that it would have more than 100 by the end of the year.
Last week, Twitter added three avenues of advertising. Promoted Accounts, which began immediately with Xbox and HBO, allows companies to pay Twitter to suggest that people follow their free Twitter accounts, based on shared interests. Twitter also began publishing ads on Twitter apps, starting with HootSuite; before, ads had appeared only on Twitter’s Web site. Twitter will split the ad revenue evenly with HootSuite and the other companies that make apps.
And finally, Mr. Costolo said that next year Twitter would offer a self-serve tool for local businesses to buy Twitter ads, and is working on ways to deliver those ads based on location. It will use Internet addresses, location information that users share and clues like whether someone follows a bunch of restaurants in a particular city.
Though just a few dozen advertisers have run Promoted Tweets, and some have not worked well, over all they have outperformed Twitter’s expectations.
Advertisers pay for Promoted Tweets to appear at the top of search results. Search “vacation,” for instance, and see an ad from Virgin America encouraging people to vote in Virgin’s Awkward Family Vacation Photo Contest. Advertisers bid on keywords and pay when someone clicks on a link in the ad, replies to it or forwards it to followers. Promoted Tweets will eventually show up in Twitter timelines, not just when people search, based on the interests of people that users follow.
Twitter also sells Promoted Trends, so advertisers can show up in the list of topics most discussed on Twitter, for $100,000 a day.
“It’s a cheap trick but it’s got a lot of eyeballs,” said Chad Stoller, director of digital strategy for BBDO North America.
According to Twitter, on average 5 percent of people who see Promoted Tweets are clicking on, replying to or forwarding the ads — much higher than the less than 1 percent of people who click on a typical display ad.
Trends are mentioned in Twitter conversations four to seven times as often when they are promoted.
Part of the reason so many people are clicking on ads might be the initial novelty, Mr. Hecht said. But at least one advertiser, Coca-Cola, said its response rates had been significantly higher than 5 percent, which surprised the company because it requires the user to make two clicks — first on the Promoted Trend and then on the link within the Promoted Tweet.
“At the end of the day, it’s a very different product” than traditional online ads, said Michael Donnelly, group director for worldwide interactive marketing at Coca-Cola. “People are engaged and looking for a specific topic, so it’s relevant.”
Coca-Cola has run more than 50 ad campaigns on Twitter, including during the World Cup. Coke was a sponsor and paid to promote the trending topic WC2010. Coke also showed messages whenever someone searched for words like “soccer” and “vuvuzela” with links that directed fans to Coke’s YouTube page.
Twitter ads are a work in progress, Mr. Donnelly said. Coca-Cola learned early on, for example, that dense Twitter messages about particular plays in a soccer game were clicked on or forwarded fewer times than short, simple ones about the World Cup in general.
Other advertising executives say clients are still wary. Twitter has already proved to be an effective free marketing tool, so why pay for an account?
“Every one of our clients has Twitter as a part of their social media strategy, but at the moment we’re not seeing a tremendous amount of interest in the specific packages that Twitter is offering,” said Aaron Shapiro, a partner at Huge, the digital agency within the Interpublic Group.
JetBlue advertises on Twitter, but Morgan Johnston, JetBlue’s manager of corporate communications who operates the airline’s Twitter account, said its “primary use of Twitter is really centered on maintaining a dialogue with customers,” which happens in the free account.
There is a long line of companies that want to advertise, Mr. Costolo said, but as with so many things at Twitter, where popularity with users has outpaced the company’s growth, it cannot yet handle the demand.
In August, Twitter hired Adam Bain, former president of the Fox Audience Network, an advertising unit of the News Corporation, as president for global revenue, and has plucked sales executives from Google, Facebook and Yelp to run sales across the country.
“We’re at this new inflection point, and it’s time to move forward a lot faster,” Mr. Costolo said.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: October 11, 2010
An earlier version of this article incorrectly described the Publicis Groupe, rather than its subsidiary VivaKi Nerve Center, as a digital agency.

via nytimes.com

What can local businesses sponsor, share and benefit from on your site? Plenty of possibilities to empower local businesses, but the emphasis has to be on empowering your local SMB's not just selling them something.

What are local SMB's doing with their ad budgets?

2010-09-21T16:31:00.001-07:00

The wifi at the show has finally been fixed so here’s a summary of my notes from Steve Marshall’s presentation on SMB advertising behavior from their survey of SMB advertisers from the end of 2009.

Print Yellow Pages Took a Big Hit: In 2008, 32% of SMBs advertised in the print book v. only 25% in 2009

SMBs that use direct mail are relying on it much more as it’s easy to turn these campaigns on and off

77% of these SMBs are using digital media v. 69% using traditional media. This is the first time digital has beaten traditional

Consumers are using 7.9 media types to make a local shopping decision. This forces advertisers to chase these media.

SMBs get 40-50% of their business from new customers

43% of SMBs use SEO up from 40% in 2008. It’s likely that poor experiences with PPC and other SEM programs contributed to that growth

32% of SMBs plan to use a social site in the next 12 months as part of their marketing plan, but this skews heavily toward businesses that are less than 3 years old

More Kelsey DMS blogging coming your way soon

#3 is surprising to me. I'd be interested in what they combine in "digital media" category.

Finally, a legit 21st Century Local TV Strategy

2010-08-25T10:30:00.001-07:00

Under the headline, “Why the Apple iTV will change everything,” Digg’s Kevin Rose posted a glowing forecast of the next-generation Apple TV device, which is due out as early as next month. Rose said it will likely have an app store that’s similar to the iPhone/iPad, which means you could punch up your ABC app on your TV and watch “Lost” in 720p. Same goes for local TV stations that offer their own video apps.

Rose also writes that the iPad will turn into “one big badass remote control” that lets you control the iTV and extend the viewing experience, like watching other camera angles.

“This will eventually destroy the television side of the cable and satellite industry, as your only requirement to access these on-demand stations will be an internet connection,” writes Rose. “Say goodbye to your monthly cable bill.”

Rose might be a bit ahead of himself, as network content providers aren’t going to kick cable to the curb anytime soon. Or the affiliates. And set-top boxes, as standalone devices, take a very long time to reach market penetration (TiVo, anyone?) But it’s Apple, and if it does gain some traction, it will certainly throw a wrinkle into the matrix.

Local broadcasters, for example, may feel more compelled to produce web-original video — something that never really took off because the consumption never paid for the costs to create it. But distribute that same clip on the web, iPhone app, iPad app and iTV app, all in a consistent sponsored experience, and that may — may — be enough to jump-start new digital programming efforts in local TV.

Your thoughts on iTV in local markets?

Related posts:

Former TV anchor lands $1 million for local startup
Is TV a better partner for local online news?
Will local TV adopt animated news?

Filed Under Apple, local TV Share

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So often most of what I read about local TV's future revolve around clinging to the status quo of scarcity. It's usually some person with their net worth or career tied to keeping the local media landscape tied to a rear-view mirror. But this article is refreshing. Unfortunately, I think they buried the lead.

I don't think Apple iTV will change everything. First and foremost the TV industry has not shot itself in the foot as badly as the music industry had when Apple rolled out iTunes and iPods. But the real news in this article is the local app strategy for local tv. This seems to me to have real potential. And I don't think the local apps all have to content-driven. Imagine, for example, a local app that I could use to ask and find the best deal on anything I'm looking for. Find me the best deal on a new pair of running shoes...there needs to be an app for that!

That Ain't Goin' Away

2010-08-13T13:48:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I posted some thoughts on the Google-Verizon framework, offering what turns out to be a pretty widespread sensibility, at least in the punditocracy, that this whole thing feels off, not like Google, counter to the brand.

There had to be another reason Google would do this, something super important that forced its hand, something so crucial to its own perceived future that it would be willing to upset its core brand advocates.

But what? I wrote: "it gives me the sense that the two parties are colluding in some way, creating and/or obscuring potential loopholes which will allow side deals in other parts of their business."

I then suggested this had to do with Android. And perhaps it does.

But a very well placed source just sent me a thoughtful note, and it immediately stuck a nerve. Perhaps this has not to do with Android as much as it does the future of television.

Google TV, according to those that see it, is very very powerful stuff, and a major weapon on Google's war with Apple (not to mention Microsoft and others). It's streaming, interactive HD with the web folded into it (and it's based on Android). And to work, it will need a fast lane on the ol' info superhighway. A really fast lane. And perhaps, preferential treatment to boot.

Might Google petition that Google TV is an "Additional Online Service" outside the protected net neutrality framework it's developing with Verizon? Such a service sure would drive subscriptions for Verizon and customers and advertisers for Google.

Hmmm. I think I'll ask.

via battellemedia.com

Earlier this year, during a digital strategy meeting I was having with a TV general manager, I was sharing some my perspective on the changing local advertising landscape. I always tread lightly during those meetings but this GM said something that stuck with me. He pointed to a TV monitor in his office and said, "yeah, some things are changing, but that ain't goin' away." I shook my head in agreement and kept my thoughts to myself. Perhaps I was being a coward, but I choose to pick my battles, particularly with senior managers. Here's what I was thinking: Yeah, that ain't goin' away, it's YOUR version of THAT facing challenges.

Today I come across two articles that added to my need for Pepto Bismal. Earlier today I posted about estimates by eMarketer that Facebook is reeling in $500m annually in self-served local ads. Now this article about Google TV come across my path. I have no idea if Google TV will be more hyperbole than reality (remember AppleTV?) But here's what is clear: There are many powerful, well-funded companies taking aim at TV as we understand it today. These companies have no tie or connection to the terrestrial-based, ad-supported legacy delivery system we understand today. The attacks are on two critical fronts: Local ad revenue and delivery. I'm hoping that GM allows me to help him battle.

Local Ad Dollars Flowing To Facebook

2010-08-13T09:59:00.001-07:00

EW YORK (AdAge.com) -- With its more than half billion users and privately-held status, Facebook's revenue has long been a favorite guessing game for observers from Silicon Valley to Wall Street. But a new estimate from eMarketer says the company will book $1.285 billion in global advertising alone this year, almost double the estimated $665 million the company took in last year. That figure doesn't include Facebook's so-called virtual currency trade, which would nonetheless account for a fraction of the company's overall business.

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Interestingly, Facebook's fastest growing area comes from its self-serve ad platform, which launched in August 2007. "We believe it accounted for about half of all ad spending on Facebook," eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson said. "It's really become a tremendous business for the company. We didn't account for the size of that business last year in our estimate, but we found that it's become a great tool for direct-marketing advertisers."
The eMarketer analysis stands as a significant third-party verification against some of the provisional numbers floating around in the media. A July Bloomberg article, for example, cited two anonymous sources indicating Facebook would book $1.4 billion this year. A March report from the Wall Street Journal pegged the company's 2010 revenue at a wide range of $1.2 billion to $2 billion, also citing anonymous sources. In both articles, it was unclear whether the information came from inside or outside the company itself.
Like Google, Facebook's self-serve advertisers are largely local, coming from marketing dollars once spent on yellow pages listings. If those advertisers perform anything like Google's, they won't be as cyclical as national brand advertising, giving Facebook a buffer against future ad slumps.

via adage.com

Two things strike me here: First, is there really $500 million local ad dollars going to Facebook? If those estimates are true, it's a little staggering. Let's do a little math here. Divide $500m by 200 TV DMA's across the country. That's over $2m in local ad dollars flowing to a new competitor. Obviously Facebook's local ad dollars are not evenly divided across all DMA's, but whatever the size of market you compete in, consider what just happened in the last year.

The second thing that strikes me about the Ad Age story is that Facebook's local ad dollars are SELF-SERVED. I don't underestimate local advertiser's ability to wrap their arms around new technology. I just find most don't have the time. This number suggests they're making the time.

Disruption At Every Level

2010-08-06T11:23:00.001-07:00

Today they are standing on every corner in one town outside New York City. They are blonde, female and clearly under 25. They wear bright green T-shirts and visors that say “Patch,” and they hand out pens and stickers and leaflets by the gross. They do not live here.

“Have you read Patch?” they croon to the commuters and shoppers and mommies with strollers, many of whom stare straight ahead without stopping.

These are the new Journalists. At least they say they are.

Patch, or “Poach,” as someone here at Lost Remote once called it, is the network of identical hyperlocal sites that AOL is rolling out at a reported cost of well over $50 million this year.

In fact, the sites are parachuting down so fast they can’t even keep up with the list of “coming” sites on the Patch homepage; the town where we spotted the lovelies today isn’t even on the list yet, but they are advertising for writers on Craigslist.

In Southern Westchester New York, as well as in other affluent suburban areas in eight other states, Patch has let loose (what they say are) 75 young reporters, bloggers, marketers and sales people to cover an area that we do with two to four, depending on the day.

Editors of hyperlocal sites like mine, like Baristanet in New Jersey, OaklandLocal, WestSeattleBlog and dozens of others that were built on the passions of their founders, consider Poach, I mean Patch, to be anything from a pesky annoyance to a real threat.

My standard response when people ask me how we differ, is that Patch is like a drive-thru McDonald’s, all corporate and chain-like, and we are a comfy diner. That serves cocktails.

I think we must all be mindful that conglomo-sites like Patch, while legitimate local news gathering enterprises, could push bootstrap start-ups off the map, simply because they’re able to spend millions. It feels too much like what Gannett was able to do with dozens upon dozens of local newspapers almost a generation ago.

Patch is hardly the only one out there. I was approached by the Publisher of MainStreetConnect, who told me he has bought up 3000 urls, including www.thedailynorwalk.com in Connecticut. He offered me a job editing all the sites in Westchester County (which has about 72 towns and villages) for $40,000 a year.

“We are going to put you out of business anyway,” he said.

I declined. “We’ll be watching you carefully,” he added.

It’s capitalism. We are okay with that. Media is reinventing. We are okay with that too. These are great training grounds for young journalists. Even better. I’m jus’ sayin’ let’s all keep an eye out for each other and not lose sight of why we do this to begin with: to tell stories, inform, protect, advocate and provide a platform for all voices. The voices with the best economy of scale shouldn’t automatically win.

One of the most important things I learned at the Knight Digital Media Center earlier this year is the importance of the role of the publisher as community builder. Because online journalism is often a conversation between media and readers, rather than the Voice of God of yore, one of the most important things we can do is to help build partnerships and alliances when both sides are committed to the same community.

Last year, we at theLoop had the idea to sponsor a Bastille Day block party in our area with a local restaurant to give residents a reason to visit the village at night. We offered publicity and coverage. We paid the police overtime and the band with modest sponsorship money, and the sponsors put up their banners. Over 500 people came. There was music, food and drinks. It was great for the partner restaurant, for the sponsoring businesses and it was great for theLoop.

This year, Patch approached our partner and offered $900 and ten staffers (in T-shirts and visors and pens, flyers…) to sponsor our event. The restaurant agreed. Most of the staffers were dispatched from Patch HQ in Soho, New York City, and don’t live here. There was little we could do. We set up a table and tried to look cheerful.

But I am going to order some T-shirts.

Related posts:

Roundup: Google Wave, Patch, All-traffic channel
CBS New York rolls out new website model
Guest Post: Establishing news sites from the ground up

Filed Under advertising, hyperlocal Share

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I was struck by this post. I work in traditional media and everyone knows what kinds of disruption this industry faces. But disruption knows no protected class. Today disruption happens at such a fast pace and on some many levels that even the disruptor is being disrupted. Amazing, really. Unsettling, as usual.

Wow - Newsweek sells for $1!

2010-08-03T10:26:00.001-07:00

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Sidney Harman. Credit: Newscom Ninety-one-year-old audio tycoon Sidney Harman's purchase of Newsweek yesterday was greeted with internal cheers. But a look inside the magazine's financial records, leaked to The Daily Beast, reveals its new crisis.

Yesterday's purchase of a 77-year-old magazine, Newsweek, by a 91-year-old audio magnate, Sidney Harman, had all the makings of a feel-good story, even as editor Jon Meacham announced his departure. A legendary media franchise rescued from an uncertain future by someone who regards Newsweek as a “national treasure,” and commits himself to the highest quality, Harman the idealist also has credibility as a brilliant innovator and businessman of stature. Though he has made his fortune in audio, he loves print. He is the author of two books and said writing “enables the process of self-discovery.” He will take over with a staff overjoyed by his commitment and his manners.

"Harman was someone who was taken less seriously by the staff who worked on the deal because he had no plan."

http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;226638639;50349250;m" target="_blank">

But make no mistake, Harman's pocket change purchase of Newsweek—he paid $1, plus the assumption of liabilities for the magazine—has to be a passion play, because it certainly isn't a financial one. The Daily Beast has obtained a copy of the 66-page sales memorandum that the Newsweek seller, the Washington Post Co., gave to prospective buyers, and it paints a picture of a media property given to someone unequipped to fundamentally change the current trajectory.

Much will depend on finding a near-genius editor and an inspired publisher and their freedom and shared approach, as much as their bankroll. As with many weeklies, Newsweek’s financial freefall is jarring. Revenue dropped 38 percent between 2007 and 2009, to $165 million. Newsweek's negligible operating loss (not including certain pension and early retirement changes) of $3 million in 2007 turned into a bloodbath: the business lost $32 million in 2008 and $39.5 million in 2009. Even after reducing headcount by 33 percent, and slashing the number of issues printed and distributed to readers each week, from 2.6 million to 1.5 million, the 2010 operating loss is still forecast at $20 million.

Dig deeper into the document and the numbers get worse. Newsweek lost money in all three of its core areas in 2008 and 2009: U.S. publishing, foreign publishing and digital. Even with the smaller guaranteed circulation, it still retains $40 million in subscription liabilities owed to readers. And then there's Newsweek's lease foibles: last year, it paid $13 million in rent, a startling figure for a company of its size.

Click Image to See 10 Memorable Newsweek Covers

Into this picture steps Sidney Harman, who is venerable enough to have read the very first issue of Newsweek back in 1933. By Harman's own admission at a gathering of the magazine's staffers yesterday, his goal isn't to make a profit any time soon, but rather to reach break-even by 2013. Clearly, while the billionaire founder of Harman/Kardon and Harman International Industries is new to the media world, he's already got the "flat is the new up" mantra down pat.

• Newsweek Staffers Nervous After Sale
• Who Killed Newsweek?But by the Washington Post Co.'s own account, as told via the sales memorandum, Harman's Newsweek lacks what is necessary for a turnaround: the synergies of another media company. "The right strategic partner can potentially provide scale and synergies on the digital platform," the memo states. Additionally, if another media company bought Newsweek—such as when Bloomberg rescued BusinessWeek in a fire sale last year—then the murderously inefficient $55 million in general and administrative costs that Newsweek carried in 2009 (covering everything from finance and accounting and rent to legal, HR and IT. Standalone magazines no longer work.) could be greatly reduced by sharing resources.

Yet Harman has none of that—neither the scale to juice sales or reduce costs. When the microphone had to be lowered yesterday to accommodate Harman's diminutive stature during his address to the troops, he joked, "This microphone will be the last thing I will cut down to size," in an attempt to reassure staffers that he wasn't about to order wholesale layoffs.

In fact, Washington Post CEO Donald Graham apparently considered the fact that Harman would need to retain Newsweek's back office inefficiencies as a selling point, even as his company's sales memo advised otherwise. Graham will not have all that blood on his hands. (When one of the great brands in American journalism sells for a buck, legacy is about the only tangible currency left to haggle over.)

"Harman was someone who was taken less seriously by the staff who worked on the deal because he had no plan," says a person close to the deal. "He won the bid because he had the lowest number of layoffs."

Thus, further cuts have been kicked down the road, to occur on Harman's watch—or that of his heirs, who may include his wife, California Democratic Congresswoman Jane Harman.

"[Harman] has enough money for this to be a hobby that he can have fun with while trying to fix," says prominent media banker Reed Phillips.

Adds longtime friend and Newsweek political correspondent Howard Fineman, who wooed Harman to purchase the magazine over a mid-May lunch at the Hay Adams Hotel in Washington, D.C., "I told him that it's a great nameplate, and it's worth saving for several reasons, one of which is its global reach. It really does circulate around the world."

via thedailybeast.com

You can buy a bottle of water or Newsweek magazine. Amazing. I guess that's what happens to valuation when you post $20+million annual loses. Good luck to Mr. Harman. I'm glad he has a commitment to philanthropy.

iPad Owners Are ‘Selfish Elites'

2010-07-27T09:45:00.001-07:00

Bill Klein models a photo of Steve Jobs on his new iPad at the Apple's Fifth Avenue store on launch day, April 3. Klein, visiting from Boise, ID, and says this is only the second time he's waited in line to purchase a new release--the first being book seven in the Harry Potter series. Klein "didn't expect it to be as awesome as it is." Bryan Derballa/Wired.com

It’s not exactly official, but should also surprise no one: According to a new study the psychological profile of iPad owners can be summed up as “selfish elites” while have-not critics are “independent geeks.”

Chart courtesy of MyType

Of course the “haves” would probably call the “have nots” “cheap wannabes” to which the “have nots” would retort: “FANBOI!!”

Which is why we should stick to the science.

Consumer research firm MyType conducted the study, in which opinions of 20,000 people were analyzed between March and May. The firm’s conclusion was that iPad owners tend to be wealthy, sophisticated, highly educated and disproportionately interested in business and finance, while they scored terribly in the areas of altruism and kindness. In other words, “selfish elites.”

They are six times more likely to be “wealthy, well-educated, power-hungry, over-achieving, sophisticated, unkind and non-altruistic 30-50 year olds,” MyType’s Tim Koelkebeck told Wired.com.

96 percent those most likely to criticize the iPad, on the other hand, don’t even own one (updated). This group tends to be “self-directed young people who look down on conformity and are interested in videogames, computers, electronics, science and the internet,” Koelkebeck said.

One might expect people with an interest in videogames, computers, electronics, science and the internet to be interested in a device that lets you play videogames, functions like a computer, is made of electronics, relies on science and connects to the internet, which suggests there would be a high convert rate if the “have nots” just went to an Apple Store for the afternoon.

Why does the iPad apparently appeal to self-centered workaholics who value “power and achievement” and tend not to be kind or to help others (iPad owners in the Wired.com ranks nothwitstanding)? MyType speculates that one factor could be the device’s high price tag, and that the urge to include an additional screen in one’s life correlates strongly to seeing value in connecting to information in a new way, which is basically a nice way of saying what a lot of people were saying when the iPad was released: What do you need one for, really?

As to the critics-who-are-a-test-drive-away-from-being-fans, the study found that “bashing the iPad is, in a way, an identity statement for independent geeks,” wrote Koelbeck.

“As a mainstream, closed-platform device whose major claim to fame is ease of use and sex appeal, the iPad is everything that they are not.”

Ouch. For the record: Koelbeck said it, not we.

Follow us for disruptive tech news: Eliot Van Buskirk and Epicenter on Twitter.

See Also:

iPad Fuels Magazine Disruption

The Wired Tablet App: A Video Demonstration

Why You Can’t Use Your Phone’s SIM in the iPad

Apple iPad Reaches ‘1 Million Sold’ Twice as Fast as iPhone

HTML5 for iPad Won’t Kill Flash, But Could Change Apps

Overwhelmed? Welcome the Age of Curation

via wired.com

OK, this is mildly humorous, particularly for those of us that DON"T own an iPad. I would strongly suspect the research. But it does synch intuitively, for me anyway.

The Small Business Web

2010-07-26T11:06:00.001-07:00

via thesmallbusinessweb.com

If you're a small to medium size business and find exploring web-business models too time consuming and confusing, watch this. It's about 3 minutes.

Local SMB's - Pay attention to what Google is doing with local search

2010-07-21T10:53:00.001-07:00

With all of the brouhaha going on about Google’s test of a new local SERP for category searches that will make it much harder for local directories to get traffic, I became almost willfully blind to the more subtle change that had occurred to the SERP for business name queries. Thanks to Patrick Altoft for pointing out that GOOG is now linking to a business’ Place Page for these queries instead of to the business’ website. For example:

According to Patrick this is the same whether the listing is verified or unverified.

Some thoughts as to why GOOG did this:

For the majority of cases GOOG thinks their Place Pages are a better experience for users than the typical SMB website

There are plenty of ad units on the Place Pages and why send traffic to a SMB website when you can make a few more bucks by getting in the user’s way?

If they make the big change to the local SERPs nationwide, IYPs will lose a lot of traffic and be forced to buy more via Adwords. This tactic makes a lot more inventory available.

Whatever the reason, it seems pretty clear that 2010 is going to be a time of huge change in the local search biz and GOOG is looking more like a Yellow Pages co every day.

Google has moved local search up on its priority list of projects. Many changes are on the way. If you own a local business, you need to pay attention here.

Local SM

2010-07-21T10:48:00.001-07:00

Content Silos Don't Need To Be Local

2010-07-20T08:57:00.001-07:00

July 20 (Bloomberg) -- A group including Hollywood studios and technology and cable companies is close to approving technical specifications for an online library where consumers can store and retrieve movies and TV shows.

The service, to be called UltraViolet, would let consumers buy and access the material through smartphones, Web-connected televisions, tablet computers, PCs and game consoles, Mitch Singer, president of Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem LLC, said in an interview.

“We’re going to give consumers full flexibility, choice and freedom in where they can access their library of content,” Singer said.

The Los Angeles-based group announced in September 2008 its effort to let consumers to pay a single price for permanent access to movies or TV shows across multiple digital platforms and devices. Individual companies may license the UltraViolet specifications as early as this year, Singer said.

The 58 participating companies include movie studios such as Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and Sony Pictures Entertainment; television and cable companies including General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal and Comcast Corp.; software companies such as Microsoft Corp.; and consumer-electronics companies including Samsung Electronics Co.

Walt Disney Co., based in Burbank, California, is developing a similar platform called Keychest that would let viewers have access to movies and TV shows from a number of devices. Disney has said the technology will be available by the end of the year. Apple Inc., based in Cupertino, California, has proprietary digital-rights management software that lets consumers share iTunes content across Macs, iPads, iPhones and iPod touches.

Virtual Libraries

Companies that license the UltraViolet platform would compete to manage consumers’ online libraries. Some service providers may deliver the service as part of monthly subscription plans or offer it free to keep customers from switching to rivals, Singer said.

Consumers would have to register the devices on which they want to share content, similar to Apple’s approach.

If successful, UltraViolet may be expanded to include digital downloads of books, games and other content, Singer said.

The number of Web-enabled devices that will be able to access such content will grow to 780 million units by 2014 from more than 350 million this year, according to Parks Associates, a Dallas-based researcher.

To contact the reporters on this story: Cliff Edwards in San Francisco at cedwards28@bloomberg.net

via bloomberg.com

UltraViolet, Apple, Disney-Keychest are all content-silo plays that are web-based and don't require local broadcast spectrum. While many of these companies own local broadcast stations, they are planning for content distribution that leaves local broadcast stations out of the loop. While I understand the technical limitations of delivering video over the net compared to broadcast spectrum, the numbers in the final paragraph of this Bloomberg story are startling: 780 million Web-enabled devices able to access content by 2014! There are only 100 million TV households in the U.S. Even at three TV's per household the Web-enabled devices create a much larger universe.

Of course the long-term problem with this distribution play is the silo strategy all media players love to create. Apple is a silo, Keychest is a silo, and now Ultra-Violet is another silo. They appear to be large silos, even fun silos, but silos non-the-less, and this is counter-intuitive to the Web. Web-users, in my opinion, don't want to be locked into silos. The only silo Web-users are going to be locked into is the one the USER created for their own use and enjoyment. Users will pick and choose (and pay) which content (and content provider) they allow into their silo. Think about it from your own perspective. Do you want to decide what you want to watch and enjoy or turn that decision-making over to UltraViolet? In my opinion, in the not-too-distant future it will be a choice you will be able to easily make.

Doc Searls Weblog · Purple Reign Ends

2010-07-14T08:40:00.001-07:00

Prince, to the Mirror:

“The internet’s completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it.

“The internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good.

“They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.”

Dr. Weinberger responds:

Breaking News: The Internet Declares Prince to be Completely Over

Now we can party like it’s 2010.

via blogs.law.harvard.edu

When I saw this Prince story over the weekend I knew it would catch a little traction. This is funny. What isn't so funny is where you will find stalwarts of the status quo...I'm sure that's a description that the "purple one" would have recoiled from a few short years ago.

Local Advertisers move to digital advertising platforms

2010-07-14T08:24:00.001-07:00

Check out this website I found at bloglines.com

Here's my question to local media properties...why can't we build the platform for this instead of letting GOSO take our business?

What Local SMB's Need

2010-07-07T12:07:00.001-07:00

Tribune Co. is getting into consulting with its digital department spinning up a business designed to educate local companies about internet advertising. What makes this especially interesting to the LR Faithful is that the unit, 435 Digital Services, is an outgrowth of the Chicago Tribune’s “Chicago Now” blog network. Writes Chicago Business:

“When Chicago Now began working with small and mid-sized businesses it found that many client-owners knew they needed social media advertising — such as a presence on Facebook — and understood the importance of search engine optimization to help maximize exposure on the Internet, but few knew how to execute on those needs…”

The more you can educate potential advertisers about the value of online buys, the better off your business will be. And once you educate them, you know who they’ll want to spend their money with. It’s an important win-win. We have been pushing this concept for years now – smart, local media companies need to help small- to medium-sized merchants understand the real value of the internet and social media. Selling by the CPM is an abject failure; people don’t see the ads they want, the site can’t generate enough views and merchants get little return. The way to sell is through education and development of joint solutions.

Related posts:

Social networks to take bite out of local ads
Digital Newsstands Heading to New York City
5 reasons why California’s digital license plate ad network will never materialize

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From LR above:
"Selling by the CPM is an abject failure; people don’t see the ads they want, the site can’t generate enough views and merchants get little return. The way to sell is through education and development of joint solutions."

Exactly.

Smartphones Change The Marketing Landscape for Local SMB's

2010-07-07T09:13:00.001-07:00

Compete, a Kantar Media company, today released the results of its Q1 2010 Smartphone Intelligence survey, which showed major movement in the use of local search, social networking and gaming on smartphones. Compete’s quarterly Smartphone Intelligence survey provides behavioral and survey-based insights into how consumers are using iPhones, BlackBerrys, Android devices and other smartphones.

Local Search on Smartphones Now a Powerful Lead Source for Businesses

Consumers increasingly rely on their mobile phones to search for retailers. Nearly one in three smartphone owners has called or stopped into a local business after finding it using a local search application. In Q1 alone, close to a third of Android and iPhone owners discovered at least two new businesses that they were not previously aware of as a result of using local search applications.

“With the increasing popularity of local search, retailers should ensure their sites are optimized for mobile browsers,” said Danielle Nohe, director, technology and entertainment for Compete. “Making it easy for consumers to discover businesses via their devices opens local companies up to a whole new customer demographic, and savvy businesses should make sure they’re maximizing this opportunity.”

Smartphones Now Part of Social Routine for Twitter and Facebook Users

Consumers are increasingly accessing social networking sites via their mobile devices. According to Compete’s findings, 33 percent of smartphone Twitter users primarily send tweets via their smartphones, and 33 percent of these consumers prefer to read tweets on their phone. Of those accessing Facebook from their smartphone, consumers are increasingly using the device to read news feeds (66 percent), post status updates (60 percent), read/reply to private messages (59 percent) and post photos (44 percent).

“Given the increasing popularity of Facebook, Twitter and other social sites, it follows that users are eager to access these outlets on their phones,” continued Nohe. “Based on our findings, I recommend marketers start thinking about new ways to maximize consumers’ use of smartphones on social sites, as mobile adoption will likely only increase with time.”

Mobile Gaming is most Popular with iPhone Users

iPhone owners are particularly heavy gamers — 51 percent of iPhone users have five or more games loaded on their smartphones. In contrast, 46 percent of BlackBerry users have no games on their devices. Not only do iPhone owners download more games, they play games more frequently than do owners of other smartphones. Of the consumers surveyed, 37 percent of iPhone users report playing games on their smartphones at least daily and puzzle games seem to be capturing the majority of this attention.

“It’s evident that iPhone owners have embraced mobile gaming,” commented Nohe. “Developers should turn their attention to targeting other smartphone users in an effort to even out the discrepancies in mobile gaming adoption.”

About Smartphone Intelligence
Compete’s Smartphone Intelligence combines consumer insights (through surveys) with behavioral data (through online click stream data) to reveal how smartphone owners are using their phones, the sites they visit on the mobile Web and what they like and dislike about their phone and experiences. Smartphone Intelligence subscribers will receive comprehensive quarterly reports with fresh data about smartphone use and behavior, as well as actionable recommendations tailored to their business.

Smartphone Intelligence also enables clients to go deeper with custom research addressing specific business questions relevant to unique segments of smartphones owners. Only Compete can bring in the online behavior of millions of consumers through click stream data to help answer these questions. To learn more, visit: http://compete.com/custom_/telecomSmartphone/

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iPhone Users: All Play and No Work?
The Mobile Application Rush: Is the iPhone Really Leading the Way?
Showtimes To Go: How the mobile web may be changing how we go to the movies
Smartphone Intelligence: The iPhone at the mall and on the road
Smartphone Owners Now Spending More from Handset, but Poor Site Functionality Is a Turn-off

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via blog.compete.com

If you're a local business, local search has to be on your marketing radar.

8 Weeks In, Apple Swoops Up 50% of Mobile Advertising Market

2010-06-14T13:20:00.001-07:00

From TechCrunch coverage of Apple’s WWDC:

“Apple has iAd commitments for 2010 totaling over $60 million, which the company says represents almost 50 percent of the total forecasted US mobile ad spending for the second half of 2010. Jobs said in his keynote that Apple has only been selling iAds for 8 weeks.”

via chasnote.com

Wow, is this really accurate?

Untitled

2010-06-14T09:12:00.001-07:00

ClickZ News

Orbit Gum Sponsors 'Dirty Shorts' From Will Arnett and Jason Bateman

By Zachary Rodgers, ClickZ, Jun 11, 2010

DumbDumb, an advertiser-centric production studio, has released the first of three "dirty shorts" with Orbit Gum. Jason Bateman and Will Arnett star in the crass sketch (see video below), which runs five minutes and depicts a strict mother and father (Bateman) confronted with their young daughter's skeevy 40-year-old prom date (Arnett).
Bateman and Arnett are also the driving force behind the DumbDumb enterprise, which they launched yesterday in New York with the help of Electus, the IAC-owned entertainment studio founded by NBC television alum Ben Silverman. The actors have previously appeared together in FOX's Arrested Development and separately in films like "Horton Hears a Who" (Arnett) and "Up in the Air" (Bateman).
Arnett and Bateman screened the video last night at a launch party for DumbDumb, which claims to have already signed multiple other deals with brands.
Orbit's first short was posted on YouTube this morning, and all three shorts will begin appearing in various destinations on the Web in the coming months. Orbit agency Energy BBDO in Chicago had creative input, and DumbDumb also consulted with a staff of writers, including members of the Upright Citizen's Brigade.
"I'm not a seller; I'm not an advertiser. We don't claim to do that," Bateman told the New York Times. "We're just looking to make cool pieces of entertainment and just arbitrarily make that subject matter a brand's message."
The launch party came one day after the similarly themed Digitas Digital Content NewFront in New York, where Silverman and Bateman were also in attendance. That event gathered an audience of advertisers and agencies - mainly Digitas and its clients - to view online content initiatives from stars like Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Pollack, and Seth Green.
Under DumbDumb's relationship with IAC/Electus, the partner gets first shot at U.S. and international distribution rights on all of the studio's content developed for TV, movies, and digital channels.

Follow Zachary Rodgers on Twitter at @zachrodgers.

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via clickz.com

Want your buisness listing to improve on Google?

2010-06-07T23:45:00.001-07:00

David Mihm has done it once again and published another edition of Local Search Ranking Factors. This year David surveyed 32 local search geeks to get their takes on the top factors for ranking high in Google Maps. The entire set of results is well worth the time for any business that wants to do well in local search. For those of you who just want the goods without the verbiage, here are the top factors:

Claiming your Google Place Page/Local Listing

Have a Business Address in the City That is Being Searched

Associate Your Google Place Page with the Proper Categories

Put Your Product/Service Keyword in Your Place Page Business Title

Proximity of Your Address to the Searched City’s Centroid

Product/Service Keywords in your Google Place Pages Description

Associating Photos with your Google Place Page

Associating Local Area Code with your Primary Place Page Phone Number

Associating Place Page with Marginally Related Categories

Location Keyword in Place Pages Business Title

See you in the 7 pack!

Here you go. A simple check list for local businesses to improve their Google listing. Most are rather simple to implement.

Making Social Media Marketing Easier for SMB's

2010-05-18T13:08:00.001-07:00

I recently attended a webinar hosted by SalesBlogcast that featured social media company BizBrag. My reason for attending was to learn how small and medium sized-businesses can take advantage of social media. Based on our Local Commerce Monitor research, 32 percent of SMBs said they plan to use a social site, while 31 percent indicated they plan to place links or ads on social media sites. What previous waves of LCM data have shown is a high desire for social media but lower actual spending, indicating a pent-up demand to spend in this category. My theory has always been that social media is often intimidating to those less familiar with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging and posting news features. All these activities take time and a certain level of technical expertise to manage them while also running a business.

Enter BizBrag. CEO Brian Smith made it his mission to try to develop a single platform where SMBs can manage all their social media activities including e-mail marketing. “With so many social media outlets, with varying ways of inputting data and broadcasting information, BizBrag’s goal was to create an easy to use all-in-one platform. The goal is to help small businesses create ways to draw activity to their Web sites by creating more ways to be found on search engines via blogs, news articles, and social media posts.” Small businesses create a BizFolio that shows all their activity and provides a simple description of the company. The dashboard feature allows the company to create news articles and posts about their company showing them where they can post their information. Enter a news story (Called a Braggit), check a few boxes on where it can be posted, upload an e-mail list, and then hit submit.

BizBrag is two months out of beta and now gaining speed with 1,000 advertisers signed on since going live. Leveraging its social media expertise, BizBrag has been active in working its social media network to get the word out to SMBs. Smith pointed out, “if the pace of inquiries and new advertisers signed on in the last two months is any indication, we seem to have hit the mark with small businesses trying to figure out an easy way to start and manage a social media campaign.”

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via blog.kelseygroup.com

Local media properties should be doing this....or partner with these folks.

Think Social Media is a fad?

2010-05-12T17:28:00.001-07:00

via youtube.com

Finally something is more popular on the web than porn!