Content everywhere? More like content nowhere
Will Big Media and Big Tech companies ever stop punishing their biggest fans?
Like many people, I woke up yesterday and reached for my iPad for my morning hit of news, entertainment and information, so I could start my day. (And like many, I’m embarrassed to admit it.) Padding to the front door to get a newspaper still sounds more respectable, but my iPad gives me a far more current, rich and satisfying media experience than a still-warm printed Times could ever produce.
Except, lately, it doesn’t. Yesterday morning, I saw the exciting news that Bill Simmons, ESPN’s most popular, profane and controversial writer, had secured an interview with President Obama. Simmons published his interview in podcast, text and video form on Grantland, a longform sports journalism website he founded last year under the ESPN umbrella. I clicked over to the story from my Twitter feed and saw three YouTube excerpts of Simmons with Obama. And that’s all I saw. When I hit play on the videos, I discovered ESPN had set them to be “unavailable” on mobile devices.
Moving on, I tried to read a New York Post headline that also found its way into my Twitter feed. But when I tapped in, the Post webpage that loaded was not the story I wanted to read. Instead it was a notice, which I took as an admonition, that to read New York Post content on an iPad, I would have to download the app, which retails for $1.99.
I want to make it clear that I’m not against paying for content. But what I’ve just described aren’t paywalls, where publications warn users that they won’t be able to consume content for free.
The situations I’m describing are blanket denials of content because of a choice I made about which device to use. With these tactics, media companies aren’t creating content paywalls, they’re creating content ghettos. Big Media, set my content free! Stop messing with the user experience to deny readers their content simply because you can detect what platform they’re on. And stop punishing users who are investing in the latest devices to consume your output. In other words, grant my hyper-advanced iOS device or my friend’s fancy new Android phone just as much access to the Web as my mother’s four-year-old Windows XP PC. Which one of us do you think wants to watch Simmons talk crossover dribbles with the Commander-in-Chief?
Sports Illustrated unveils another digital app subscription plan
Time Inc’s Sports Illustrated unveiled the details of another subscription plan for the Samsung Galaxy tablet computer and Android based smartphones — the print version of its parent Time Warner Inc’s “TV everywhere” idea currently touted by Chief Executive Jeffrey Bewkes. Like TV Everywhere, magazines everywhere charges one price for access to content across print and digital platforms.
The SI digital and print subscription plan comes on the heels of a Time Inc announcement about a similar subscription plan for SI and People for Hewlett-Packard’s forthcoming tablet device the TouchPad.
“The key to the media business is habituation,” said Time Inc EVP and Chief Digital Officer Randall Rothenberg.
Indeed, the SI digital app subscription plan is available everywhere with one glaring exception: Apple’s iTunes store.
That was the elephant in the room this morning when Time Inc executives showed off the SI app on various devices. Currently, only single copy editions of SI are available on the iPad and iPhone. It’s a sore point among publishing executives who depend on subscriptions for circulation and more important, advertising revenue.
“We love Apple,” Rothenberg said. “We have a great desire to sell subscriptions in the iTunes store and we’re confident we can sell subscriptions at some point in the iTunes store.”
The sticking point between Apple and media executives is over the control of subscriber data in that Apple wants to control most of it. Publishers are loath to give up subscriber data such as names, addresses and credit cards, which helps them court advertisers and market new product to existing readers.
“The sticking point between Apple and media executives is over the control of subscriber data in that Apple wants to control most of it. Publishers are loath to give up subscriber data such as names, addresses and credit cards, which helps them court advertisers and market new product to existing readers.”
Apple’s position distinguishes it from its peers in this regard. This is the threat that Google fears most … yet with the trend toward richer clients where ads make less sense, it is what is likely. The ability to peer into personal lives and infer things that then are sold to the ad community is something Google has built its company around. While I love its search engine core, I personally think that building a company around advert revenue that is threatened so significantly by an alternate approach is so 2000 … it represents a bubble that can burst and threaten even the electronics products Google has successfully introduced to the market. Indeed, Android is probably laced with functionality that enables Google to know where you are and what you do. It is your permanent ip address … AND named context (in that number identifies to who you are, and you essentially stay permanently logged in … if this erodes, Google and its ecosystem members are very hurt.
In general, the trend toward richer client will force a rethink of advert-based business models. It is not that adverts won’t still play a big role in business models, but the idea of having a customer always in the position where opt-out is necessary, it could be we’ll see a consumer-benefitting position where opt-in is the default, and vendors depending upon customer demographics, etc., will have to approach the customer in the old fashioned way … through bona fide value that instills a sense of customer loyalty that leads the consumer to permit the vendor to present new innovations and products.
Time Inc creates sports and news divisions
Just before the Christmas holidays, newly appointed Time Inc. CEO Jack Griffin put the finishing touches on changes in the executive suite with the formation of two new divisions, one for news and one for sports.
Mark Ford has been promoted to executive vice president of Time Inc. and president of the Sports Group, responsible for the Sports Illustrated franchise.
Additionally, John Q. Griffin (no relation to Jack Griffin) has been named executive vice president of Time Inc and president of the News Group, responsible for Time, Fortune and Money properties. He was previously president of publishing at the National Geographic Society. Within that group, Kim Kelleher will become publisher of Time and Brendan Ripp, currently the publisher of Time, moves over to become publisher of Money.
Kelleher’s spot as publisher of Sports Illustrated will be filled by Frank Wall.
Griffin, who took over the helm of Time Inc at the end of September, has structured the magazine brands into six divisions: sports, news, style and entertainment, life style, marketing services, and its international unit (IPC).
On tablets, ads could be entertainment too
One of the aspects that gets lost in discussions about the wonders of digital readers and tablets is how they might change the shape of advertising. Thankfully this morning a Time Inc. panel about tablets sparked a conversation about how ads could be built in new ways on digital devices – especially the iPad — and how publishers can benefit.
Sports Illustrated is thinking pretty deeply about these issues. As one example it previewed a very cool Gatorade. The ad had traditional elements like video and readers could choose different “branded” Gatorade bottles. For example by selecting the Michael Jordan bottle, users could have the choice of viewing old clips of Jordan in action or pulling up nutritional information. One could easily spend a lot time playing around with the ad.
As Sports Illustrated Editor Terry McDonell put it: “Advertising will become content.”
Sports Illustrated integrated some of its editorial content into the Gatorade ad, in the example McDonell showed. He thinks merging editorial with advertising will become more common on these devices for publishers in general.
Time Inc. is still trying to determine how to price advertising in its digital publications. For example they kicked around the idea of a meter that would charge rates based on how long a viewer spent time with the ad. One things that McDonell made clear is that initially Sports Illustrated is only creating six to eight ad positions for the app.
McDonell revealed that in focus groups for the Sports Illustrated iPad app, people actually wanted to go back and play with the ad– something he had never seen before in decades of testing.
What will the iPad mean for publishers? – a few opinions
We have out a piece which looks at the hopes and ambitions of traditional publishers of newspapers, magazines and books in the run-up to the unveiling of Apple’s long-awaited iPad tablet device on Saturday. The consensus seems to be that the iPad will be a great boost for the industry. Pictured above is the April issue of Interview magazine‘s version which will be available for 99 cents on launch day.
Here are a few more thoughts we couldn’t get into the piece:
What does the iPad mean for Amazon’s Kindle?
Brian Murray, CEO Harper Collins:
“People love their Kindle but I think there’s room in the market for both a dedicated book reader like the Kindle, Sony Reader or (Barnes & Noble’s) Nook. But there’s room for a single device that can accommodate books, magazines, and newspapers and surfing the Internet like the iPad. My view is the price of the Kindle,Nook and Sony Reader is going to drop dramatically I suspect to under $100 so there will be a market for certain.”
John Makinson CEO Penguin Books:
Steve Ballmer might as well take applications for Yahoo job
Able to use a computer? Check. High school diploma? Check. Work well with others? Check. Willing to strike a deal with Microsoft? Ummmm….
Indeed, in the hunt for the next top dog at Yahoo that last issue — whether the candidate can do a deal with Microsoft — may be the most pressing.
Since Yahoo’s announcement on Monday that Jerry Yang would step aside, the tech/media world has been abuzz with speculation about his replacement. Silicon Alley Insider is even running a terrific mock election — letting its readers vote among six candidates.
(News Corp’s Peter Chernin is one of them. Wouldn’t it be great if he got the job? It would let us spend some time chattering about what will happen over at Rupert Murdoch’s empire).
But as Anupreeta Das points out in the Reuters story, the only way Yahoo may be able to satisfy its investors is either a massive turnaround plan, which would be very difficult in this environment, or an M&A deal. And the best shot at a deal may be with Microsoft.
“Microsoft wants Yahoo’s search audience, the traffic, the clicks,” Needham & Co. analyst Mark May said. “They want to have as much as Google does. So it’s important for Microsoft to have a big presence in search and display.”
What does Yahoo need in a new CEO? They need someone who is a business and technology person. They also need someone with a strong background in mergers in case Yahoo’s board decides to sell.
The best executive I know with those skills is James Kennedy
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How bad is advertising? Think 1950s
Everyone seems to have accepted (like it or not) that advertising spending will be in bad shape in the fourth quarter and well into next year. But just how bad is a matter of debate — every new piece of research marks another downward revision to the advertising outlook.
Case in point is Citi’s Catriona Fallon, who issued a new report saying that U.S. advertising spending would drop by 1.8 percent in 2008 and 3.6 percent in 2009. So what? Well, consider this: that would mark the first back-to-back annual declines since at the 1950s. The 1950s! We’re talking The Cold War, Fats Domino, Gidget, Cadillac Eldorado — you get the picture.
Here’s a bit from Fallon’s research report, where she discussed the thought behind cutting the 2008 outlook from growth of 0.2 percent to a decline of 1.8 percent :
Essentially, we made a dramatic reduction in our Internet advertising growth expectations and also see steeper declines in local ad-focused media categories, including newspapers, radio, and yellow pages. Internet advertising had been one of the few shining lights coming into 2008, but overall economic softness has lowered 2009 expected growth rates in this medium to the single digits. Meanwhile, Q3 results for publicly-traded newspaper, magazine and yellow pages companies, and CIR forecasts for the radio industry show that the ad revenue declines in these businesses have sharpened over the course of the year.
Anyone seen my Elvis Presley albums?
Keep an eye on:
I think we are seeing the market adjusting to a number of pressures. Yes advertiser’s are feeling the pinch at the moment and having to deal with budget cuts…
But, perhaps this will lead to more targeted advertising, less clutter, more innovative campaigns on shoestring budgets?
The current bright light seams to be Google Adwords, perhaps the advertising industry can learn something from that model.
Amazon spills (some) beans on the Google phone
Thanks Amazon! The online retailer put out a release this morning with some juicy details about Google’s new mobile phone — even as we’re still waiting for the official unveiling later today.
So, here’s what they say about the phone…
“The T-Mobile G1 is the world’s first Android-powered mobile phone in an exclusive partnership with Google. The T-Mobile G1 combines full touch-screen functionality and a QWERTY keyboard with a mobile Web experience that includes the popular Google services that millions have enjoyed on the desktop, including Google Maps with StreetView, Gmail, YouTube and others. ”
Amazon, which has a deal with Google related to the phone, also says that the phone will have “one-touch access” to Google Search and will allow access to Android Market, “where customers can find and download unique applications to expand and personalize their phone to fit their lifestyle.”
More details will be coming, including pictures. So stay tuned. While you do, read why some experts say the phone won’t be a game changer.
Keep an eye on:
- NBC Universal will present a sweeping new study this week showing that audiences recall advertisements far more clearly when they are run on both TV and the Internet, findings that could change the way commercial time is bought (Reuters)
- Online movie rental company Netflix has signed agreements with the CBS Corp and Walt Disney Co’s Disney Channel that will allow current season episodes of a number of TV shows to be streamed at Netflix (Reuters)
- Time Inc’s “Life” magazine is being brought back as part of a joint venture that will launch a Web site offering photos (NY Post)
Exciting Stuff!
I wonder what else Google will pull out of the bag!
Be sure to check http://www.g1tube.com for all the latest news & videos
Pearlstine to make the most of Bloomberg
It looks like Norman Pearlstine couldn’t resist the glamorous life of journalism. After two years in the private equity business at the Blackstone Group Carlyle Group (D’oh!), Pearlstine is joining Bloomberg LP as “chief content officer,” where, as Bloomberg said in a press release, he will work with “Editor-in-Chief Matthew Winkler to seek growth opportunities for its television, radio, magazine and online products and to make the most of the existing Bloomberg News operations.”
Pearlstine used to be the editor-in-chief of Time Inc for 11 years, and before that spent 23 years at The Wall Street Journal. More details on his CV, directly from the release :
He was the paper’s top news executive for nine years, serving as Managing Editor and then Executive Editor. He previously worked as the founding editor and publisher of The Wall Street Journal/Europe, the first Managing Editor of The Asian Wall Street Journal, and the Tokyo bureau chief.
Pearlstine was founder of Smart Money magazine and worked as an Executive Editor of Forbes. He is the author of OFF THE RECORD: The Press, the Government, and the War over Anonymous Sources , published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2007.
We don’t know what to make of this. Our immediate questions:
- Will he succeed Winkler, with whom he worked at the Journal?
- Will he put Bloomberg into M&A mode?
There’s one big issue with your article, and that is it doesnt’ touch on the advertising model of an iPad version vs a web version. Though it’s changing fast, advertisers were slower to adopt iPad platforms, and therefore, to the media company were perhaps less profitable. You can’t have an ad-supported or near-free model if there aren’t advertisers willing to buy on that platform.
So far, most of these digital platforms have not monetized as well as the traditional players, and that has everything to do with the decision making process.
Boycott an iPad advertiser? That’s silly. They’re the ones that are helping you out. You should be boycotting the advertiser that ONLY wants tos how up on their web site. There is also generally less real estate on the screen of an iPad app to unobtrusively show you ads as compared to your mother’s 4 year old XP system.
And $1.99 for a permanent application is hardly “through the nose” … How much does a single print edition to the NY Post cost? I can’t imagine that the app couldn’t pay for itself in a few days.
Maybe the real problem is the group of whiney consumers (and blog writers) not willing to spend $1.99 on an app that gives them full access, when in the old days it would’ve been 50cents/day?