Richard Kendall's List: Online news

• many newspapers tried and failed at paid content online in the early days, and even the ones who stuck with it never generated enough revenue to make up for their declines in advertising revenue
• Steve Buttry hits on one possible answer with his "Original Sin" post. His answer: The bundling of online ads with print ads.  Bundling devalued online ads and taught advertisers online could be viewed as an add-on, just something extra.
• bundling taught advertisers to see online as nothing but an add-on, but the flip side is that back in the day, local advertisers barely even knew online existed
• publishers also tried hiring online-only sales reps. The problem, however, is they were rarely really online-only. They weren't allowed to sell against the print reps, and had to consult with print reps on mutual clients
• Throughout the history of newspapers online, there has simply been a lot of thinking that there isn't much different between the Web and print.
• The natural response is to think editors could simply move print stories into pixels and be done with it. From the very beginning we called this "shovelware" and "the daily dump," but the practice has persisted.
• The Original Sin was? Failure to create separate business units for online.

5 more annotations...

• newspaper websites hosting user-generated content are, subject to certain conditions, protected from liability
• publishers cannot be held responsible for potentially libellous material posted by website users so long as it is removed as soon as possible

  • By 'as soon as possible' I assume that means within reason as soon as they have been made aware of the comment
  Add Sticky Note
• websites were acting as hosts of the reader comments for the purposes of Regulation 19 of the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 and therefore would not be liable for any damages even if the material was unlawful
• fulfilled the conditions for protection under Regulation 19, namely that the comments had been posted directly to the sites by third party contributors without intervention by Newsquest, and that they had acted expeditiously to remove access to the material

2 more annotations...

• ewspapers should adopt mixed online charging strategies

  • The distant rumble seems to indicate paywalls of some kind will start to appear soon, unless somebody comes up with a magic money making solution, so finding a path to a mixture of free and premium content makes some sense for some publishers
  Add Sticky Note
• if newspapers convert an order of magnitude of 3% to 4% unique users to a pay model – at roughly £3 a month or 10% of the monthly price of buying print editions daily – you could probably generate as much in revenue as is being made from total online ad revenue currently," Mistry said

  • Not sure about the numbers, but technically only a few paying customers would bring in a noticeable revenue stream
  Add Sticky Note
• newspaper groups fear making a move to a pay, or part-pay, model for their online content is the psychological impact of seeing digital audience levels plummet

  • Yes they inevitably will, but again, it depends on the type of publisher and the types of content, higher value, niche content is prime for some sort of paywall, but would deprive many of reading it in its original form
  Add Sticky Note
• Mistry also pointed out that, since advertisers consider paying users more valuable, ads within content accessed by subscribers can carry a premium of 30% or more

  • Locating and generating higher value audience would be a big advantage, building trust between publisher and regular visitor
  Add Sticky Note

2 more annotations...

• WashingtonPost.Com, told a conference at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard last week that “not enough people are willing to pay” to make the sale of online content a viable business
• Mark Adkins, the president of the San Francisco Chronicle, told me last week that “we believe in being a free website” but plan to develop supplementary “premium content we will charge for.”
• Minneapolis Star-Tribune to continue to run a free site while charging $19.95 a year for access to premium coverage of the Minnesota Vikings

  • Sports coverage is a clear area where there is great value in the content for the audience, but also an area where there is great competition in coverage, which means time and resource and quality of coverage is paramount
  Add Sticky Note
• The hybrid free-plus-premium approach, which seems to be where the industry is heading in several large markets, may be one of the reasons the Gannett Co. recently urged its editors to get their “swagger back” by stepping up the production of unique and differentiated content.

  • Unique and niche audience will pay, but again only for relevant, fresh and to some extent exclusive content
  Add Sticky Note
• Once upon a time, publishers coulda woulda shoulda charged for their content. But the web today is awash in sites offering free access to world news, national news, sports news, business news, entertainment news and, increasingly, local news produced by a growing host of start-ups.

  • Newspaper publishers have rather missed the boat when it comes to charging for everyday content. That horse has well and truly bolted, is long gone over the hill and through the valley, and can now be found galloping merrily along a sun-drenched beach
  Add Sticky Note
• Nearly half of the newspaper publishers in the United States stated in a recent poll that they are not convinced they should try to charge for content.

4 more annotations...

• they treated web ads as a cheap ‘add on’ to sell to print advertisers, which both devalued the ads and overlooked new advertisers
• little investment in online advertising as a medium
• little training of ad sales people
• This is why Google has been so successful – it sold advertising based on user behaviour and results, rather than simply ‘display’
• the profits are so much smaller than selling print advertising
• you’re cannibalising your print margins for something less profitable
• even when they paid for newspapers they could get ‘the news’ for free on TV or radio, and they still bought newspapers because they offered things the other platforms didn’t
• the question is: what can you offer online that print and broadcast doesn’t?
• convenience (personalisation), service (speed) and membership of a community (being able to say ‘I’ve got the Guardian app!’)

7 more annotations...

• Q. What tactics do you think publishers should be adopting to leverage their strengths?

   

  Focus on adapting ad sales departments for the internet age and the measurability and interactivity that that offers. Don’t just sell internet ads – sell the internet to advertisers; because if you don’t, a competitor will.

   

  Be as transparent as possible about everything that they do, linking to sources of information and publishing them in their unedited form if they’re not already online. This creates material for others to work with, leading to more stories, and more people clicking back to the material, not to mention the goodwill that can help drive more leads and more sales.

  • Great tips for online editorial and commercial strategy: Add value to editorial content and give value to customers going online
  Add Sticky Note

• in May 1845, when the revolutionary technology of the day was not the internet—but the electric telegraph
• the advent of the telegraph did away with much of the speculation that had previously been a staple of American newspapers
• The internet may kill newspapers; but it is not clear if that matters. The news business will survive
• For society, what matters is that people should have access to news, not that it should be delivered through any particular medium; and, for the consumer, the faster it travels, the better.
• Those in the news business use the new technology at every stage of newsgathering and distribution. A move to electronic distribution—through PCs, mobile phones and e-readers—has started. It seems likely only to accelerate.

3 more annotations...

• Post a Comment

      <form id="comments-form" class="vertical-form" action="http://blogs.pbs.org/idealab-mt/mt-comments.cgi" onsubmit="if (this.bakecookie.checked) rememberMe(this)" method="post" name="comments_form"> 

  Ground rules for posting comments: No profanity or personal attacks. Please comment on the subject of the blog post itself. If you do not follow these rules, we will remove your post. Keep it civil, folks!

  </form>

  • Great example of simple friendly, transparent comment policy guidelines
  Add Sticky Note

• busy journalists facing too many demands in shrunken newsrooms can’t afford to let anything steal away too much of their day
• first a caveat: You need to invest some time learning to use Twitter and connecting with followers, primarily people in your community and colleagues who share your professional interests
• Some days Twitter will provide great value and be worth spending some time
• Integrate Twitter into your day
• Tweet a few times each day
• you can tweet in just a few minutes a day. Your tweets don’t have to take much time, but they help you engage with colleagues and your community
• Check your “mentions.”
• Search your real name
• Using this search and the mentions, I can engage any time someone is talking to me or about me, without constantly watching the whole stream
• Use Twitter as a news source
• Use a Twitter app

  • I would suggest snaptu.com, quick and straightforward to use
  Add Sticky Note
• ou can browse some tweets or fire off a quick tweet while walking to of from your car, while waiting for a meeting to start or riding an elevator

  • or lift!
  Add Sticky Note
• Twitter Tim.es
• It will present the links your tweeps
• are citing most
• Twitter lists. Twitter lets you sort the people you follow

  • Choose a subject, issue, local community, etc
  Add Sticky Note
• Twitter tools
• Tweetdeck

  • or Seesmic desktop or web application. Twitterfall
  Add Sticky Note
• Tools such as TwitterLocal, Trendsmap and Nearby Tweets help you find tweeps in your community

17 more annotations...

• tweeting links to fresh content and note how it boosts traffic
• Use your real name, either in username or in your profile. Identify yourself by position and organization in your bio. Use a photo, too

  • Remember you are representing your company/organisation and anything you say reflects upon you and that organisation
  Add Sticky Note
• Reporters should follow feeds of any officials on their beats using Twitter
• search hashtags and keywords when news breaks
• connect quickly with eyewitnesses
• Encourage staff to crowdsource stories and story ideas
• Use Twitter and CoverItLive together to provide live coverage of events

  • Live sport is an obvious opportunity, it can be updated via Twitter on mobile phones with an pre-setup cover It Live blog, minimising work required on the day of the event if resource is tight
  Add Sticky Note
• Check Twellow, NearbyTweets, Trendsmap or TwitterLocal for people to follow in your community

  • Journalists covering local communities, specific subjects or niche issues should try and focus on these
  Add Sticky Note
• As you follow people in your community check their followers to find more to follow

  • Building and help to grow the community, benefiting all your followers
  Add Sticky Note
• Check out the people your followers retweet
• Don’t underestimate the power of lists to organize and prioritize the folks you’re following

9 more annotations...

• Opinions and traffic metrics differ on whether ESPN Local steals readers from existing sites or simply provides an additional destination for sports-hungry fans
• The history of newspapers on the Web provides ample warning about what happens when strong new competitors seek your readers and the ad dollars that accompany them
• Every minute spent on ESPN Local is a minute the local news franchise can't use to strengthen its own connections with sports fans

  • Local newspaper websites need to take their web offering seriously, if they want audience for commercial opportunity they need to deliver what the audience wants. Or just do what they can well and leave the rest to the opposition
  Add Sticky Note
• sports sections need to be much more aggressive about adapting to the changing expectations of Web audiences
• Which features are well-read, and which aren't connecting with readers?
• your best brands
• Focus on building them into Web brands, working to make them destinations in their own right and the centers of loyal reader communities
• You need to match what ESPN Local will bring to the multimedia table
• you really do have an incumbent advantage in terms of reader loyalty and physical roots in the community
• Listen to what readers say they want and give it to them
• local bloggers still crave recognition by established media outlets
• finding the best local bloggers and either making them part of your site or reaching out to them for coverage, reactions and expert opinion

  • Many national UK newspapers using local bloggers for reaction on games
  Add Sticky Note

10 more annotations...

• Today, as a brand, the Sydney Morning Herald’s footprint has never been larger: each day, it reaches 2.2m readers.
   Among them :
   - only 19% look at the paper and the website
   - 39% stick to the paper only
   - 42% are exclusively online consumers.

   

  And Fairfax Digital’s media director Pippa Leary says the web enjoys a more qualified audience: younger, with a higher income.
• To put things in perspective, when we compare audiences for NYTimes.com and  smh.com.au in their respective markets, the Australian news sites has roughly three times the penetration of the NY Times. And if we compare advertising market shares: the SMH is doing twice as well as the NY Times.
• Accept the coming digital domination. Today, digital is a fraction of the revenue, yes; but it is the bulk of the profits. Like with the BBC or the New York Times, digital drives growth and strategy. The digital takeover is inevitable. Resistance is futile. So is nostalgia.
• “Engagement rewards content and design”
• video traffic, for instance, is rising exponentially thanks to a greater volume of targeted productions
• classifieds account for a big third and the rest is display ads, mostly in news content.  Of course, this has ruffled feathers among journalists; but pragmatists acknowledge it is the only way to support the cost of quality reporting
• Fairfax Digital has mapped its readership by all possible definitions: type of usage, geography, platform, type of growth, monetization potential
• FD runs an entire team devoted to strategic advertising. They customized all possible campaigns, working directly with brands, creating new formats, adjusting rate cards
• It requires vision from management and trust from its board

7 more annotations...

• Robert Andrews at PaidContent sees hope in the Times now having recurring user revenues.*
• Mike Masnick at TechDirt believes those revenues are unlikely to offset new customer acquition costs and the loss of advertising.*
• General-interest papers struggle to make paywalls work because it’s hard to raise prices in a commodity market. That’s the problem.
• The web puts newspapers in competition with radio and TV stations, magazines, and new entrants, both professional and amateur. It is the war of each against all.
• The advantage of paywalls is that they raise revenue from users. The disadvantages are that they reduce readership, increase customer acquistion and retention costs, and eliminate ad revenue from user-forwarded content. In most cases, the disadvantages have outweighed the advantages.
• anyone advising newspapers will at some point say “All you need to do is offer a product so relevant and valuable the consumer is willing to pay for it!”
• This advice is well-meaning. It’s just not much help.
• merely a restatement of the problem, by way of admission that the current product does not pass that test.
• Paywalls do indeed help newspapers escape commodification, but only by ejecting the readers who think of the product as a commodity. This is, invariably, most of them.
• One way to think of this transition is that online, the Times has stopped being a newspaper, in the sense of a generally available and omnibus account of the news of the day
• Instead, it is becoming a newsletter
• the paywall creates newsletter economics.
• If you are going to produce news that can’t be shared outside a particular community, you will want to recruit and retain a community that doesn’t care whether any given piece of news spreads, which means tightly interconnected readerships become the ideal ones. However, tight interconnectedness correlates inversely with audience size, making for a stark choice, rather than offering a way of preserving the status quo.
• This re-engineering suggests that paywalls don’t and can’t rescue current organizational forms.

12 more annotations...

• Because the APIs have been built over 10 years, they all vary in format and the way in which you access them. This cost Yahoo too much time, which is why it built Yahoo Pipes² — to ease the process.

  ³
  Large view³

  Pipes is amazing. It is a visual way to mix and match information from the Web.

• TweetReach gives you detailed reach analysis for any search term on how tweets about that term have spread on Twitter. See how many different users received tweets about your topic. Know your impact. Discover your influencers.