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ftm Tickle File 5 April, 2007

 

 

The Tickle File is ftm's daily column of media news, complimenting the feature articles on major media issues. Tickle File items point out media happenings, from the oh-so serious to the not-so serious, that should not escape notice...in a shorter, more informal format.

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See Today's Features

Call It Aesop Or ESOP, It’s Still A Fable With A Moral Ending – Tribune Staffers Are Going to Be Paying Back Debt For The Rest Of Their Lives, But Chairman Denis FitzSimons Gets To Take $21.3 Million To The Bank

ZenithOptimedia Says Internet Ad Growth between 2006 – 2009 Will Be Six Times Faster Than Traditional Media

Internet ad appropriations globally “will grow six times faster than traditional media between 200 and 2009, according to a revised forecast from ZenithOptimedia. It says the Internet’s share of total ad revenue will reach 8.7% in 2009 from the 5.8% in 2006.

The company said it expects the total world ads spent to increase by 5.2% this year, and 6.2% next year because of a large number of special events that draw advertising.

Online spending will increase 28.2% this year, the forecast said, while the rest of the market will grow just 3.7%. Internet ad spending already exceeds 10% in the UK, Norway and Sweden, the report said.

Things Getting Tougher For the Citizen Photographer

One result of Getty’s purchase of Scoopt is that the citizen photographer now only gets 40% of the revenue rather than the 50-50 split when Scoopt was private. Also a read of the new Scoopt terms and conditions does not offer any guarantees that Scoopt just won’t hand over pictures to Getty to put on its regular news pictures service – and therefore little payment to the citizen photographer -- or whether the company will try and sell the picture exclusively to magazines and the like where there is more money available. One could argue it is in Getty’s own best interest to try and make the exclusive sale, but no guarantees are offered.

It would be neat if the citizen photographer could state when sending in the pictures “Getty News Pictures Service Out”

Meanwhile USA Today is offering its freelance photographers more money – an extra $100 a day – but in return they have to grant that Gannett can use the pictures any way it wants, wherever it wants globally within the Gannett empire.

The photographer still retains copyright, but Gannett has exclusive use of the pictures for 30 days. While the day rate went up $100, transmission fees went down $75.

New Australian Media Laws Effect

The new Australian media law has taken effect and already the bidding has begun. The new law allows companies to two of the three media platforms (television, radio and newspapers) in the same market, as long as there is a minimum of five voices in the major cities and four voices in regional areas.

Kerry Stokes's Seven Network raised its holdings in West Australian Newspapers to more than 15 per cent, and regional pay-TV group Austar confirmed it had already received approaches. Fairfax Media, publisher of the Herald, survived the first day of the new laws, despite being widely tipped as a takeover target.

US Newspaper Readership By The Young Is Up If Online Sites Included

The Newspaper Audience Database (NAdbase) report, issued by the Newspaper Association of America  shows that during the second half of 2006 unique visitors to newspaper Web sites averaged 57.3 million visitors a month or one in three of all Internet users, a 15 percent increase over the same period a year ago (49.8 million) (Nielsen//NetRatings).
 
In addition, newspaper Web sites contributed to a 13.7 percent increase in total newspaper audience for the coveted 25- to 34-year-old demographic and a 9.2 percent increase for 18- to 24-year-olds (Scarborough).  The report did not give figures, however, on the drop-off of the young reading print alone.

 “The latest NAdbase report is strong evidence that newspapers are succeeding in driving new innovations and growing their audiences in both size and value,” said NAA Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer John Kimball.

China Admits It Has A Problem Of News Media Seeking Money For Coverage

One of the big journalistic problems in China and Russia is that news organizations often ask money from people they cover, but in China, at least, the government has now said that enough is enough, and it has ordered the practice stopped.

"News bureaus must not use news coverage to demand that subjects buy newspapers or advertising, or to do such activities as using 'exposure' in reporting to extort money," China New Service has reported, quoting a new government order.  

Even though Chinese newspapers all are state-owned, they are left pretty much to themselves in financing their operations. There had been rules laid down in 2005 that were to have stopped payment demands from those covered such as pressuring subjects of news coverage for money or goods or to buy advertising, but the government in its new edict has basically admitted the guidelines have not been followed.

When The Washington Post Closes Its Toronto Bureau This Summer It’s The Final Goodbye To US Newspaper Bureaus In Canada

The Toronto Star reports that when the Washington Post closes its Toronto bureau this summer it will mark the end of American newspaper bureaus in Canada — a sign of the tough budgetary times at US newspapers.

Canadian coverage in the United States till then be left to the likes of news agencies,  contract writers, freelancers and “instant experts” parachuted in for specific events.

The New York Times closed its Canadian bureau last summer and now relies on two contract reporters for coverage. Other major newspapers that have shut Canadian offices in recent years include The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune and on the magazine front Time closed its editorial office last year but still keeps a presence for advertising.

Estonia Ad Spending Up 32%

TNS Emor released Q1 ad spending results for Estonia, 32% increase over Q1 last year. Internet and TV spending increased the most, affected by political campaign spending.

TNS estimates ad spending in Estonia to cross the €100 million threshold, growing 22-23% in 2007.

This “golden age” in Baltic media extends to Latvia, where 2007 ad spending is expected to be 25% over 2006. Ad growth rates in the Baltics are exceeded only by Russia, according to TNS data.

The ftm Media Sleuth in Latvia – reporting 50% increases in radio advertising for the quarter year on year - said, “Holy Cow!”

More Than 15% of UK 3G Subscribers Watch Videos On Their Mobile

More than 15% of UK 3G subscribers watched video on their mobile phones in January, according to a study by M:Metrics and Buongiorno, a digital entertainment company.

And 12% transferred music to their mobile devices, compared to 10% in Italy, 9% in Spain and 3% in the US where 3G is not so prevalent as in Europe. Some 80% of mobile music revenue comes from ring tones.

Australia’s New Media Law Takes Effect Wednesday

New Australian laws removing foreign ownership caps and cross-media ownership restrictions are effective Wednesday with analysts saying such major Australian media names as Fairfax Media, the Ten Network, Southern Cross Broadcasting and West Australian Newspapers could be in play.

Major predators  such as  Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd, Seven Network and News Corp. have spent the time since Parliament approved the new laws in October positioning themselves financially for when the laws would come into effect. The government announced only last week the laws would become effective this week.

Among the deals and share market positioning so far: Seven Network and James Packer's Publishing & Broadcasting Limited have formed joint ventures with private-equity outfits to give them access to more acquisition funds; PBL Media and regional WIN TV have made competing offers for Perth's Sunraysia Television; Fairfax and Rural Press have proposed a merger; the Hannan family has sold its community newspaper and magazine interests to News Limited which in turn has bought a 7.5% stake in Fairfax. The Ten Network is up for sale and Time Warner has put four of its magazines up for sale.

Should be an interesting week.

In Russia, if it’s Not An Official Political Party Journalists Can’t Name It As Such

In Russia if a political party is not registered, then the media may not refer to it as a political party, the Federal Service for Media Law Compliance and Cultural Heritage has reminded journalists. And that includes naming it just by initials.

"If there is no party, it's impossible to write about it," agency spokesman Yevgeny Strelchik said.

National Bolshevik spokesman Alexander Averin said authorities were trying to impose a media blackout on dissent.  "They're afraid of us because we are the most combative force, the most radical of those who don't agree with them," Averin said.

While the National Bolsheviks have been banned as a political party, they can still be referred to as a public organization.

What Happens in Dallas Stays in Dallas

UK media is tittering at reports that two – unnamed – executives of regulator OFCOM were “wined and dined” in Dallas, Texas last September by executives of Absolute Radio. Shortly thereafter Absolute Radio received a UK radio license. Perhaps this is only connecting dots that don’t connect.

Or maybe…

Does OFCOM pay its executives to go to Dallas, Texas (think: JR Ewing and, well, others) for meetings? What was the meeting? The Radio Advertising Bureau “Radio Show”…an ad sales expo?

Please do not confuse the otherwise worldly UK regulator OFCOM with Swiss regulator OFCOM, whos officials rarely, if ever, venture as far as French speaking Switzerland.

EC Ads Ruled Political

Last year the European Commission authorized and spent €300,000 for a radio ad compaign in Ireland promoting the Europe Direct information service. Last week the Irish Broadcasting Complaints Commission ruled that the ads went against Irish ad rules. Providing information about Europe Direct was OK but promoting the benefits of EU membership was not.

The EC also promoted Europe Direct in an outdoor ad campaign in Lithuania…where nobody complained.

NY Times Crosswords Can Appear On Google Home Pages

A recent survey indicated that one of a newspaper’s most widely looked at pages is where the crossword puzzle appears. Not exciting news for news pundits, but a good place for advertisers to continue with print. One of the best print crossword puzzles  is undoubtedly that found in the New York Times, and now the Times’ web site has announced its Classic Crossword Widget – an online product that gives the user the ability to personalize their Google homepage  with the Times’ puzzle.

The Classic Crossword Widget will feature a rotating selection from more than 1000 crosswords and includes a puzzle information window containing a summary of the puzzle’s subject and answers, the original puzzle publication date and who was its editor. Incomplete puzzles can be saved for completion.

Yahoo Signs Up For McClatchy News and Blogs From Foreign Correspondents

Yahoo has signed a deal for news and blogs from McClatchy’s foreign correspondents in the Middle East, China, and Latin America. They will appear in a new feature on the Yahoo news portal called “Trusted Voices”.

Scott Moore, head of Yahoo News said, “The daily blog contributions from the international correspondents, combined with their traditional news reports, will offer our readers an on-the-ground perspective unavailable from traditional news outlets.”

This may be the first of several deals that McClatchy would liked to put together with Yahoo and/or Google, although McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt is looking more at advertising partnerships than he is on news. 

``Long term we'll be better off partnering with the big national Internet brands that have such enormous audiences that can drive traffic to our sites,'' Pruitt told Bloomberg in an interview last week.

TV Ads Seem To Work Better Online

Those 30-second TV ads play better on the web, increasing viewer attention by 53%, than when they play on television, according to a new report by Millward Brown.

Its survey showed that web spots increased viewer attention by 53%, awareness by 52%, consideration by 27%, favorability by 26% and prompted recall of brand advertising was four times higher.

But then on the other hand when we sit in front of the PC screen we are unlikely to get up and do something while the ad is playing, unlike TV when you know there’s a clutter of ads and you’ve time to get a cup of coffee.

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