Did You Know 4.0-Mobile is the internet tool of the future.

CNN Puts a Price Tag on Mobile Content.

Back in February I posted an article outlining 6 Strategies For Monetizing Digital Content. One of those strategies was to focus on the delivery and immediacy of content. Whereas most people won’t pay for content, they will pay for mini applications that deliver information to them in timely and convenient ways.

 As many content providers are sitting around planning ways to charge for content online, CNN has taken the plunge today with its new Iphone application, priced at $1.99.  The app is pretty slick and well organized allowing easy access to CNN breaking news and headlines.

Being in the advertising business, I was pleasantly surprised to find that ads are still being served within the application. Though the ads aren’t obtrusive, I’m sure they’ll receive lots of complaints from readers who expect an ad-free environment for shelling out some cash.

There’s a link to iReport so users can submit their own news reports with videos and photos.  The ”Local” section of  the app is called “My CNN” which automatically tunes into feeds from local newspaper websites. Users can also enter a topic and “follow” news topics or save articles for later reading. The video feeds section is quite impressive, allowing users to view videos live on their phone while news is breaking. No more running to the nearest television for updates.

There are a couple of functional downsides however. The app doesn’t support landscape mode and doesn’t seem to allow for zooming like you can from web sites displayed on the iPhone, but  it’s well worth the $2.

I’d expect that this is an opportunity that local newspapers will be looking into to deliver quality and timely local content to their readers in the near future. It’s less costly and easier to produce an iPhone app today than it was two years ago and it’ll cost even less 2 years from now.  The developers kit is free so it’s only a matter of time before this trend catches on.

“The Word Is Alive”

Individuated News

As a kid I can recall fighting  with my brother over the comics section on Sunday morning. My dad always went for the sports section and my grandma pulled out coupons and specials. Often times the rest of the newspaper just layed around until it was thrown out later in the day.

What if you could choose the sections of the newspaper you want delivered every day? 

Better yet, what if you could print them out yourself?

That’s exactly what MediaNews Group intends to do with its new service dubbed “Individuated News”.  Subscribers can customize their news and print it out at home with specialized  printers.  The company will be launching the service on a test basis this summer in the L.A. market with the Los Angeles Daily News.

Because subscribers are choosing the articles they’re interested in, targeted advertising can be delivered.  It’s like Behavioral Targeting in the “real” world. 

Though the business model is still a bit murky and the company has not decided how to charge for the printers etc. it’s an idea that’s sure to catch on as the cost of technology decreases every year. 

I would suggest that they give away the printers or build the cost into the subscription fee. Being able to deliver printed materials to a consumer has far more value that the cost of the printer. I can see consumers sigining up to receive special offers and coupons from local businesses, or subscribing to content from local businesses. Newspapers can set themselves up as the clearing house for local publishers.

It’s still not clear to me why this has to be a “specialized” printer. Why not make the service available on all printers. Perhaps we can create a device that’s picks up the information and delivers it to the printer wirelessly. Subscribers could simply leave their computer on in the evening and pick up their news in the morning.

I’m excited to see where this goes in the coming months and I’m hoping to be one the first to sell an individuated advertising campaign as MediaNews Group happens to be the company that I work for.

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Email Marketing Leads The Way In 2009

Found this on www.kenradio.com:

E-mail leads all other channels by a wide margin in terms of performance for their companies. 80.4% of more than 3,000 executives surveyed chose e-mail as a strong advertising performer, compared to 56.8% who chose search, the second leading performer. e-mail is a proven means to develop one-on-one communications and provide valuable and relevant content. Latest research shows the effectiveness of these programs which drive online and offline behavior, from applying for credit cards to opening new accounts and selecting investment products.

In addition:

* 42.1% chose online display advertising as a strong performer
* 32.8% selected offline media, such as television and print
* 32.1% chose direct mail
* 22.9% selected social media
* 9.2% chose mobile marketing

 

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Charging For Online Newspaper Content-Popular Themes

As reported by paidContent.org this week, NYT editor Bill Keller discussed the following  popular themes as they pertain to charging for online content: “subscription model, micropayments, revenue sharing via devices like Amazon’s Kindle and the non-profit route.”

I’ve included a brief description of each below along with some thoughts on each theme.

1. The Subscription Model: This is basically the abandoned TimeSelect model, with the right kind of information behind the wall this time around.

-While this will be challenging because of the loss of ad revenue to sections behind the wall, I believe people may pay subscriptions for databases and tools to interact with content rather than simply premium text, pictures and videos.

2.The Micro Payments Model: This is a model similar to iTunes, whereby readers would pay small amounts for content they want rather than a full subscription price for all of it.

- I don’t think this model is viable, in the same way that iTunes works. That is, people won’t pay small amounts for text, pictures, and video.  Even if someone does pay, these things are easily shared online, it would be difficult to keep someone from sharing content that they purchased. Newspapers are more likely to be able sell small I-phone type applications that make it more convenient and easy to view content.

3.The Kindle Model: This allows the newspapers to generate revenue from downloads of the newspaper to Amazon’s Kindle reader. NYT is already doing this.

-I’m not sure how the revenue share is setup, but this model makes sense because we’re making content more convenient for the reader and rematerializing it. It looks and feels like the physical paper again through a handheld reader. I wouldn’t stop at the Kindle though. Just this week Google launched a mobile version of Google Book Search, making 1.5 million public domain books readable on small mobile phone screens. While its doubtful that someone would read an entire novel on their cell phone, they will read newspaper articles.  As mobile technology advances I think Amazon’s Kindle will be facing some serious competition.

4. The Non-Profit Model: This is essentially a bail out of newspapers by philanthropists and devout readers who are interested in keeping the paper alive.  Newspapers could start endowments and allow readers to contribute.

-While this is highly unlikely in the U.S., we have seen the government step in to bail out  newspapers in France. In an effort to boost reading habits, French president Nicolas Sarkozy  is providing a free subscription for one year to all 18 year olds in the country, this is paid for by the government.  read the full article here. 

I think Newspapers should find away to bundle their subscriptions in with other services. Maybe a digital version of your daily newspaper is included in your cable bill  and accessible on a channel. Or maybe it’s part of your phone bill. Verizon released it’s new Verizon Hub this week in effort to thwart further declines in its wireline phone business (more households are moving toward wireless only service). This new device with a large screen and broadband connection offers local traffic, weather, business and movie listings. Why not offer the daily newspaper as well.

As Gerd Leonhard might say, the daily news doesn’t have to be free it just needs to “Feel Like Free”.

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6 Strategies for Monetizing Digital Content

As newspapers, books , music and many other forms of content have gone digital, it’s clear that we’ve progressed very quickly from a “mostly paid” content model to a “free” content model. The internet is largely responsible for this progression by:

1. Disrupting the supply and demand of content economies- The internet has allowed anyone and everyone to be a publisher, so there is such an enormous amount of content available that we are overloaded on the supply –side.

2. Changing the form of content- Content is now available in a digital form as opposed to a physical form. People are inherently materialistic so the dematerialization of content decreases its perceived value. If I buy a newspaper and hold it in my hands, it somehow seems more valuable than a PDF file on my laptop.

3. Allowing for the sharing of content- “Share This” is everywhere on the internet these days. The internet has created a sharing culture. Content is freely and easily distributed across the network . Why would I pay for something if someone else will share it with me for free?
While I do believe that we are headed down a path to information overload which will result in the rebound of paid content , there are revenue opportunities “around” content that newspapers can capitalize on today.
Assuming that we can no longer generate revenue from selling content itself until the “comeback” occurs, we have to come up with creative ways to generate revenue “around” free content.

 Here are some strategies that newspapers might take into consideration in their quest to regain content revenues in these times:

1. Finding, Filtering and Repackaging: As the proliferation of blogging, microblogging and web 2.0 applications that allow for the creation of more content accelerates, there will be opportunities for curating and filtering content. As trusted sources, newspapers are well positioned to provide the lenses through which content is viewed. As professional curators of information, newspapers can reprocess information, filter and repackage it for easier consumption. As Kevin Kelly reminds us in his post “Better The Free”:

“ for many years, the paper publication TV Guide made more money than all 3 major TV networks it “guided”. The magazine guided and pointed viewers to good stuff on the tube that week. Stuff, it is worth noting, that was free to viewers.”

2. Upstream Selling: Just because we’re offering free content, it doesn’t mean we can’t up-sell “premium” content services. The strategy here is to offer great content for free and premium content for pay. A great example of this in the music industry is how several mainstream bands released new songs as free downloads on-line before making the album available for purchase. Some bands have even gone as far as allowing users to decide how much they’d like to pay for premium content. Newspapers can offer in depth coverage or behind the scenes information at a premium rate.

3. Sponsorships and Branding: As Gerd Leonhard says “Advertising is Publishing” in the connected culture. We’ve gone from a one way model that shouts messages at the audience to a “push and pull” model where advertisers push content out to “pull” desired audiences in . There are opportunities for advertisers to sponsor content sections on newspaper websites. You can see examples of this today on CNN’s financial website (cnnfn.com) where they have “The Business Of Green” content section sponsored by IBM. Or consider BMW’s BMWFilms.com. The company produced a series of short films on-line, complete with A-list actors and directors. There wasn’t a single advertising plug for BMW in the movie, but the important scenes featured BMW cars. Without removing the “un-biased” editorial veil completely, newspapers can sell programs to help advertisers push their quality content out to the masses.

4. Delivery/Immediacy: Even though content is free, it may not be delivered in the most convenient way for content consumers. There’s a value to having something delivered immediately upon release or through a device that’s more convenient. Many of the great I-phone applications that are available today are simply tools that process and deliver free content to users on mobile devices. I-phone sports information applications are great examples. Whereas users will not pay for scores and game summaries, they are paying for mini applications that deliver this information to them in timely and convenient ways on the I-phone. There are huge opportunities in the mobile and wireless space for newspapers to take advantage of.

5. Personalization: Taking the finding and filtering strategy a step further, consumers may be willing to pay for “personalized “content. Rather than delivering the generic version that everyone sees, content can be custom edited to fit a consumers personal interests. While this requires a substantial time investment because personalization requires dialogue between the creator and consumer, it also demands a much higher premium. Kevin Kelley states it like this, “Aspirin is free, but aspirin tailored to your DNA is very expensive”.

6. Affiliate Marketing: Rather than sticking to the traditional CPM model of selling impression inventory around content, newspapers can look into affiliate marketing arrangement s which can bring in higher revenues during periods of high traffic. Newspapers in particular benefit from content produced around unforeseen events and situations that happen locally and attract national attention. Rather than delivering impressions at remnant rates (often times north of a $1 cpm), newspapers can benefit from affiliate agreements that pay higher commissions and residual commissions from brands and on-line sellers.

I’ll be following this up with a list of practical (and some crazy) ideas that employ these strategies in the coming days.

“The Word Is Alive”

Smart Video Ads That Watch You Back.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Watch an advertisement on a video screen in a mall, health club or grocery store and there’s a slim — but growing — chance the ad is watching you too.

Small cameras can now be embedded in the screen or hidden around it, tracking who looks at the screen and for how long. The makers of the tracking systems say the software can determine the viewer’s gender, approximate age range and, in some cases, ethnicity — and can change the ads accordingly.

That could mean razor ads for men, cosmetics ads for women and video-game ads for teens.

And even if the ads don’t shift based on which people are watching, the technology’s ability to determine the viewers’ demographics is golden for advertisers who want to know how effectively they’re reaching their target audience.

While the technology remains in limited use for now, advertising industry analysts say it is finally beginning to live up to its promise. The manufacturers say their systems can accurately determine gender 85 to 90 percent of the time, while accuracy for the other measures continues to be refined.  Read The Full Article Here

Bluetooth Technology Delivers Targeted Messages

This is copied from a clip compiled by John Kelly at the Palm Beach Post.  jkelley@pbpost.com:

Shoppers at five regional retail malls in the greater Los Angeles area have a new way to obtain promotional messages and discounts. They just have to set their Bluetooth enabled cell phone, PDA or other mobile device to discoverable.
Santa Monica, CA-based Macerich Co., one of the country’s largest owners of major retail properties, is using the Intera Group’s Proximity Marketing network to reach customers. Pleasanton, CA-based Intera installs Bluetooth transmitters in a busy area of the retail properties. Then it sends ads and special offers wirelessly to the mobile devices of passing shoppers.

The program debuted at the Westside Pavilion in West Los Angeles, The Oaks in Thousand Oaks, Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, Lakewood Center in Lakewood, and Stonewood Center in Downey. The five shopping centers have more than six million square feet of combined retail space.
The key to the Intera AzureMayan Bluetooth Proximity Marketing network is Bluetooth wireless technology. Bluetooth is the global short-range wireless standard for personal connectivity of a broad range of electronic devices. The low-power technology has a typical range of 50 to 100 feet, says Intera Group CEO Kevin Thornton.
“This limited range enables us to target promotions to a specific location. In addition, Bluetooth operates independently from the wireless carrier networks,” Thornton says. “That means there’s no cost to the consumer to receive the message or associated content.”

Bluetooth zones are located in or near food courts, theater box offices, information kiosks and other strategic locations where shoppers tend to linger. “We always post signs so shoppers know they’re in a Bluetooth zone. They have to opt-in if they want to receive promotions,” Thornton says.

The network enables marketers and advertisers to deliver targeted messages to consumers based on their location and near the point-of-sale, when targeted marketing has the greatest effect. Intera’s content delivery system supports all major content formats including video, audio, images, downloadable mobile applications and text.
“One of the first promotional offers we sent to shoppers was a 30 second trailer for a soon to be released movie. Consumers who downloaded the trailer received an option to download a second piece of content, wallpaper for their mobile device,” he says. “Once people opt-in and download, 50% opt-in a second and third time. Those who don’t opt in again have typically moved out of range.”

Thornton says the key is to make sure consumers perceive value in the content. The promotions have to be relevant and interesting, and the offers have to be meaningful and easy to access. “Generally speaking, merchants just ask the consumer to show the coupon on the screen to redeem it. A few will include a code that can be copied,” Thornton says.

Scott W. Burchard, senior vice president of business initiatives for Macerich, calls mobile marketing “vitally important” for reaching consumers today and in the future. Partnering with Bluetooth network “provides a unique opportunity to reach millions of consumers with relevant offers at the point of sale,” he says.

Macerich owns approximately 77 million square feet of gross leasable area consisting primarily of interests in 72 regional malls. It focuses on high-growth US retail markets, including in California, Arizona, New York and suburban Washington, DC.

This is from a clip compiled by John Kelly at the Palm Beach Post.  jkelley@pbpost.com

Selling Behavioral Targeting Campaigns

As newspapers across the country continue to rollout Yahoo!s APT platform, strategies are starting to emerge for selling BT (Behavioral Targeting) campaigns to local businesses. Because the APT platform allows local newspapers to sell BT campaigns on both the Yahoo! network and local news websites, too many newspapers are confusing the sales process. Here are a few things newspapers need to consider as they move forward with their BT sales efforts:

1. Only Yahoo! Can Provide Sufficient BT Inventory Initially.

While it’s exciting that newspapers can now track the behavior of their site visitors using Yahoo!s tools, the road to building BT inventory on newspaper web sites is a long one.  Newspapers that expect to have sellable BT inventory within weeks of launching the APT platform are setting themselves up for disappointment.

Regardless of the higher page views that news sites often enjoy, the economics of BT inventory is dependent upon unique users,  something that “local” newspapers have in limited supply. BT inventory can only grow so much as the on-line user community grows and newspapers have limited themselves by being the “local” source for information. While it’s true that users can be members of multiple BT categories, the value of the target decreases as the number of categories they are part of increases. BT sales efforts need to be focused on Yahoo’s BT inventory first.

2. Contextual Advertising Still Rules On Newspaper Sites.

In their zeal to market new BT campaigns locally, newspapers may neglect their real strength which lies in contextual advertising. In contrast to BT opportunities that are limited by online users, there are an infinite number of online user interests which contextual advertising can take advantage of. 

By “contextual” we also include targeted section campaigns which are becoming more effective when combined with topic specific advertising messages. These campaigns offer advertisers the ability to communicate with the newpaper site users by messaging different offers to the same user at different times rather than segmenting and classifying users into targeting categories.

3. Agencies Understand BT.

Just as many agencies jumped on the bandwagon of local search, the same has happened with BT. In fact, agencies have been marketing BT campaigns for the past 4 years to their larger accounts. The cost of BT programs has generally been very high though, so they have not been able to provide solutions for lower tier clients.

The Yahoo! partnership allows newspapers to create lower cost entry points for BT which should attract more agency interest. Purchasing BT campaigns direct from Yahoo! can cost as much as $25,000/month. Agencies can buy Yahoo BT campaigns from newspapers for as litttle as $2500/month. Newspapers need to reach out and create custom packages for agencies in their local marketplaces.

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Online Revenue Strategies For Newspapers.

Once upon a time there was a tiny hamlet in the Swiss Alps. This hamlet was in serious trouble. The well that supplied water to the village went dry. The people began to panic.

There was, however, another well flowing with water across a deep gorge on an adjacent mountainside. An imaginative young thinker came up with a solution. He built a bridge across the gorge.

The villagers were elated.

A bucket brigade was formed immediately, and the water supply was replenished. Needless to say, the bridge became very important to this group. It was their source of life.

They honored the bridge. A committee was formed to take care of the bridge. Only certain people were allowed upon it, and then only on certain days, and then only wearing certain clothes. No one could see or cross the bridge without permission.

Unfortunately, there were disputes within the committee. The disagreement centered around whether a canopy should be built over the bridge. So the bridge was closed until a decision could be made. Many villagers died of thirst while the leaders debated.

A similar tale is unfolding in the newspaper industry. Just as the village in the Alps found another source of water, newspapers have found another source of revenue on the internet. Like the Swiss villagers, they need to work a bit to bring that revenue over. Unfortunately, some newspaper companies have begun to mismanage access to this new source of revenue.

The landscape is different, the product is different and the business model is different, yet too many newspapers are trying to fit interactive models into a print framework. If they’re not careful, newspapers run the risk of putting themselves out of business by not recognizing the differences between print and on-line in their efforts to increase on-line revenue.

Here are some thoughts on the differences between print and on-line models that newspapers should keep in mind in their search for new revenue over the next 5 years:

I. On-line Sales Strategies Are Not The Same As Print Strategies:

Many newspapers are treating on-line as just another product. Training programs are in place to teach print reps how to sell on-line ads. Internet Sales Managers are put in place to coordinate sales efforts and ride-along on appointments. While it’s true that these practices have been helpful and necessary, on-line only sales efforts also need to be put into play. Here’s a few reasons that Newspapers should consider on-line only sales strategies:

1. Print reps are ill-equipped:

Besides the lack of technical skills required, interactive products require much more support after the sale. Without laptops or even access to computers in some offices, its challenging to make presentations and support on-line products after the sale.

2. Core Compensation Plans Discourage On-line Sales:

When faced with allocating a clients campaign budget, print execs take care of the core first in an effort to hit their monthly budget or goal. On-line compensation plans are often based upon a flat percentage with no contribution to core revenue targets. Certainly special bonuses and spiffs can be put into place, but these “Pep Talks” wear off and sales execs go back to their bread and butter core sales activities.

3. Territories Are Gone:

While print sales execs are often comfortable selling and taking ownership of a territory, on-line campaigns are network wide by nature. Execs need to be able to sell into a network of sites. Some newspapers have actually begun trying to territorialize their on-line sales teams, encouraging execs to sell on-line in their territory only. The result is less revenue and poor performance for clients. On-line only sales execs can focus on selling products across territories, reaching businesses who have never advertised with the newspaper before.

“The” Objection:

The major objection to on-line only sales teams seems to be the fact that these new execs will be taking revenue away from print reps who are already struggling. I would suggest that these new execs would actually bring more revenue in for print reps by pulling in advertisers who have never advertised in print. This is “reverse-publishing” at its best.

Perhaps shared revenue programs can be put into place to encourage print and on-line reps to work together. On-line campaigns can be turned over to on-line only execs who are more skilled and better equipped to support on-line products. On-line only execs can do the same with print and bundling opportunities that they run across in the field.

II. Online Ad Production Is Not The Same As Print Ad Production:

Too many newspapers are treating on-line ad production like print production. They need to remember that there are no hard deadlines with on-line. Ad production systems need to be streamlined by leveraging the technology and standards the WWW offers. Any on-line ad producer who has built print ads will tell you that on-line display ads with set IAB sizes are much easier to produce than print ads. There are even some companies like ImpactEngine and AdReady who have built a self-serve business behind standard ad sizes and themes.

Creative services teams need to build similar systems in-house to streamline ad production. On-line specs are a much larger part of the sales process than print specs. On-line specs need to be shown on a website spec, not on a white background as they are in print. It’s like taking a newspaper into an advertiser and showing them their spec ad in the newspaper in the exact spot that it will run. Something newspaper companies have never been able to do, can be done easily on-line.

III. On-line Fulfillment Is Not The Same As Print Fulfillment:

Web traffic changes hourly, unlike print circulation which is more static in nature. Too many newspapers are over-managing their ad-delivery systems. With an often lengthy and layered submission and approval process, newspapers have made it difficult to fulfill on-line advertising orders. There are also too many automated restrictions in the process. At some newspapers, campaigns are actually being rejected by ad serving systems because their impression goals exceed “projected” impression availability by 100 impressions or less. Newspapers need to remember that “available” impressions is a “dynamic” quantity. On-line campaigns need to be started and billed, impressions can be made up later if necessary. Who knows what local news event will occur tomorrow that results in increased traffic and impression inventory.

IV. Performance Metrics For On-line Are Not The Same As Print Metrics:

Newspapers are right at home with CPM models for measuring performance. They’re actually starting to treat CPM’s like CPI’s, a metric they’ve been using for years. Elaborate metrics reports are being developed and refined to help compare different newspaper groups and increase average CPM’s.

It’s time for newspapers to realize that there’s not enough revenue in on-line display ads. Banner revenue is limited by traffic and we can’t just add more pages like we can in print. The formula is simple (Total Banner Inventory Available/1000) X (Target CPM). Perform this calculation for any newspaper site and you’ll see that banner revenue is not going to sustain the industry. While behavioral targeting and niche site development are going to help CPM’s, the CPM metric is the last thing newspapers need to focus on right now. The focus needs to be on (in this order):

1. Interactive Revenue (non display):

Newspapers need money now. Local search (directories), Search Engine Marketing, On-line Video, Web Site Development and hosting, Email Marketing are all recurring revenue opportunities, independent of banners that newspapers can take advantage of now.

2. # Of New Advertisers:

Newspapers need to use their brand to build networks of new customers in local markets. Self-service products need to be developed and sales forces need to penetrate ALL businesses in the local market. Ted Leonsis, former vice chairman of AOL, states it well in his recent blog post where he lays out his “Ten Point Plan For Newspapers“.

Ted writes:

“Create mini local third party networks. Embrace and extend your reach locally by building a great digital sales force and then network and ingest local unique visitors, page views and engagement from third parties. Do locally what Advertising.com has done nationally, superset the region by creating a network of affiliates and build up massive scale of local sites. Promote them in your print-based property..”

3. Traffic Building Content:

Desperate times call for desperate measures, so content comes last. While they still have some quality journalist left, newspapers need to look for innovative ways to deliver quality content on-line. Again, they can leverage technology and partner with companies wanting to reach local markets.

The veil between sales and editorial needs to come down completely and newspapers need to build content initiatives with sales objectives. There are too many instances where sales is not aware of a new on-line section that suddenly appears on the web site. Editors need to let they’re guard down a bit and invite sales people into meetings about on-line special sections. Widgets can be built to syndicate content across other local sites, encouraging viral traffic growth.

Crossing The Gorge:

It should be clear by now that the solution for newspapers and the tiny hamlet in the Alps is to cross the gorge. They need to get out of the newspaper business and into the internet business. Sure there’s competition, but they still have a foothold on local markets. Newspapers also have a brand that’s been around for hundreds of years versus even the largest and most successful internet companies that have only been in existence for 10 to 15 years.

The answer is not in applying old methodologies, they need to create a new framework and business model to redefine the industry.

“The Word Is Alive”