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ftm Tickle File 2 February, 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.

We are able to offer this new service thanks to the great response to our Media Sleuth project in which you, our readers, are contributing media information happening in your countries that  have escaped the notice of the international media, or you are providing us information on covered events that others simply didn't know about. We invite more of you to become Media Sleuths. For more information click here.

See Today's Feature Articles:
Here’s A Question Every Publisher Needs To Answer In Determining The Right Strategy Going Forward: Is It More Important In The Short-Term To Maximize Making Money Now Or For the Long-Term To Increase Readership?

Swiss Public Radio Powerhouses Continue Increasing Shares

Chinese Internet Usage Just Grows and Grows

China is second only to the US in the number of Internet users it has, but its growth soared 23.4% last year to hit 137 million whereas the US, with around 210 million users, saw just about a two per cent gain last year.

But that Chinese growth still means that only 10.5% of the population have Internet access whereby in the US it’s about 73%. Chinese analysts believe that within two years China could overtake the US to be the largest Internet user in the world. How long will it take for Chinese to become a dominant Internet language?

“The growth now is gaining much momentum. We’re expecting even faster growth in 2007 and 2008, Wang Enhai , director of the government-controlled China Internet Network Information Center, told the China Daily newspaper.

“The online population now makes up 10.5% of the total population,” according to a report by the center on its web site. “In Beijing it now exceeds 30% of the total population for the first time ever.”

US Newspapers to Advertise For Advertisers To Come Home To Print

The National Newspaper Association of America (NAA) says it is going to spend $75 million to convince advertisers that newspaper readership is not shrinking but rather it is growing via multi-platform.

Print circulation may be down but online numbers keep increasing and the NAA wants advertisers to understand that newspapers are no longer a single print platform, but are digital utilizing all the digital platforms out there.

“This is about audience and audience is a multimedia term. Newspapers have multiple channels into the marketplace that we didn’t used to have and that’s what we’re talking about. That audience is not shrinking. That audience is growing,” said John Kimball, NAA chief marketing officer.

Taking the Internet head-on, one campaign slogan reads, “The Internet is the best thing to happen to newspapers since the paper boy.”

How Great It Is To See Some Real Newspaper Competition In The US, Even If It Is Only Between Bureaus

Dean Baquet was well liked and professionally admired as editor of the Los Angeles Times. Now, after his firing last November, he is going to take over running the New York Times Washington bureau in March. And admired or not, the Los Angeles Times Washington bureau is getting ready for him.

Doyle McManus, The LA Times Washington bureau manager has written his staff: "How will we compete against a NY Times bureau led by someone as formidable as Dean? To be high-minded about it, a good, competitive NY Times bureau is good for journalism as a whole. To be low-minded about it, well, it will still be the NY Times, still encumbered by that paper's institutional weaknesses and still, even with Dean on the premises, an often unpleasant place to work. To be more concise about it -- and to quote one of our most incisive newsroom philosophers -- we'll just go out and kick their ass."

Should be interesting times ahead. It reminds one of the ferocious competition there used to be between AP and UPI (when UPI really was UPI) and that was the best rivalry going for American journalism.

Household Media Budgets Will Not Budge

Retiring Medienanstalt Sachsen-Anhalt (MSA) media regulator director Christian Schurig left office this week forecasting more competition among digital technologies for the German household budget.

“Individual household media budgets will not increase. The consumer will decide which offer is best for the money.”

AdLink Offers Behavioral Targeting

Without revealing specifics, AdLink announced a new behavioral targeting product for pan-European on-line ad campaigns. User socio-demographics will be merged with content and “context” to “increase the advertising effectiveness of national and international online campaigns.”

The product will roll-out this year in Switzerland and Germany giving ad agencies the ability to specifically target the 7 female red Porsche driving bankers between 30 and 35 years of age with household incomes in excess of €1 million. 

Online TV and Video Revenues Set To Explode Within Next Five Years

Global online and TV video revenues will jump to $6.3 billion by 2012 – a 10-fold increase -- with two-thirds of that coming from the US, according to a report published by Informa Telecoms & Media.

Well behind the USA in second place will be the UK followed by Japan, Germany and France, the survey predicted.

Behind the growth is that consumers are no longer willing to be docile TV watchers, viewing just those programs available locally when the TV stations decides to transmit them.  The consumer, armed with digital recorders and the like, can now decide the best time to watch programming – not only that but the consumer also can search online for a wide variety of other video opportunities.

 “These trends are now so pronounced that the term ‘social revolution’ no longer seems too much of an exaggeration. With social change occurring on such a large scale, traditional media companies are being forced to change their behavior and business models to adapt their offering to consumer demand,” according to Informa’s Adam Thomas.

The Super Bowl Spurs Sales Of Large Screen TVs

Prices of big screen TVs in the US have dropped some 20% - 30% in the past year and that combined with many retail stores and manufacturers offering Super Bowl sales is tempting around 2.5 million Americans to purchase a new big high definition flat panel set before Sunday’s big Super Bowl game, according to a survey by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association.

With the Chicago Bears in the final, TV sales in Chicago in particular have taken off as never before, retailers say. One store, said to be the largest TV seller in the country, claims to have sold on average 170 large screen sets a day in January.

Many buyers say they are holding Super Bowl parties and want to impress their guests with the best sound and picture quality.

Another Banner Quarter For Google

It seems that financially Google can do no wrong – the search engine nearly tripled its Q4 net income from the year before, earning $1.03 billion, and the share price rose above $500 before falling back after the close.

The performance was 12.5% higher than analysts had predicted. They were expecting earnings of $2.92 per share, rather than the reported $3.29. The company has topped forecasts in nine of its 10 quarters as a public company.

Revenue for the period was $3.2 billion, a 67 percent increase from $1.92 billion a year ago.

And it looks like the growth will continue. According to Outsell, advertisers in 2007 are planning to increase their search engine advertising by 39% over last year.

Think of something ridiculous to make the ridiculous look ridiculous

Several ftm correspondents note with great sadness the passing of syndicated columnist Molly Ivins, who died yesterday (Wednesday January 31) in Texas after a long bout with breast cancer. She was 62.

“She was the reason I went into journalism,” wrote one, a sentiment shared by many.

Ivins’ columns appeared in over 400 newspapers. She never hesitated skewering everything and anybody who deserved it. She was particularly tough on US President George W. Bush, writing a book titled Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America.

And President Bush added his condolences:

“Molly Ivins was a Texas original. She was loved by her readers and by her many friends. I respected her convictions, her passionate belief in the power of words, and her ability to turn a phrase. She fought her illness with that same passion. Her quick wit and commitment to her beliefs will be missed. Laura and I send our condolences to Molly Ivins' family and friends.”

Fortunately that powerful voice will live on in those who she inspired.

Me, too. (jmh)

Yet Another Survey Tells Us We All Multitask

A new survey says that 100 million Americans watched TV while they were online in 2006, that 90 million listened to the radio while online, and even 50 million were reading magazines while they were surfing. So does that mean we tune out when the advertising comes on?

“Media multitasking …has a profound impact on the ability to absorb and remember content and advertising messages,” according to Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst at eMarketer who has just written a new report on the topic.

The report says that the computer is the center of our multitasking. “A substantial portion of multitasking behavior takes place either entirely on the computer or with the computer as a part of the media mix. The computer, with its multiple windows and applications, creates an environment where multitasking is nearly unavoidable,” Williamson said.

The report says everyone is multitasking, but it is the kids who have it down to a science.

And what can marketers do to get their message heard in such situations? “The best strategy may be to assume that attention waxes and wanes during media usage and that full engagement is no longer a realistic expectation.” She said. Ok, but if that’s a given, it still doesn’t provide the answer. 

US Click Fraud Getting Worse

Click Forensics says that US click fraud is getting worse, hitting 14.2% in Q4, the highest for the year. It also reported a 19.2% click fraud rate for advertising on search engine content networks.

The company noted that for keywords priced $2 or more the fraud rate has remained steady at 20.9%.

The biggest problems seem to come from affiliate sites – sites that list other people's websites, thus becoming an affiliate of those sites and earning commissions every time someone makes a purchase via the affiliate site.

“The fraud rate for affiliate sites was significantly higher than the overall industry standard,” according to Click Forensics CEO Tom Cuthbert. “The data confirms what other recent independent investigations have uncovered … affiliate sites represent a large and growing source of click fraud traffic.”

What Else Did You Get When You Bought A SonyBMG CD?

SonyBMG has settled with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over charges the music company illegally embedded anti-piracy software within some of its CDs so that when they were played on PCs the software would limit how many times the CD could be copied.

The FTC says the music company has agreed to allow consumers to swap their CDs and also pay up to $150 per user for computer repairs if necessary. The FTC said the software create security problems that would allow unauthorized access to the computers.

The software is no longer embedded in its CDs.

PwC Predicts Another Big Year for European Media Deals

A report from Pricewaterhousecoopers LLC (PwC) sees 2007 as another strong year for European media mergers and acquisitions. 2006 deals were worth €43 billion ($56 billion), the highest in six years.

Deals from private equity groups KKR and Permira alone accounted for €19 billion ($24.6 billion) in 2006. Six deals were worth €1 billion plus.

The Media Insights report, issued yesterday (Wednesday, January 30) also suggests that US firms will continue to stay from foreign investment, citing the weak dollar and “problems at home.”

For 2007, PwC predicts 175 deals worth €40 billion ($52 billion). UK media deals should revive following an expected ad market recovery.

David Beckham To Promote the NFL

David Beckham said one of the reasons (besides the money) that he wants to play soccer (football everywhere else but the US) in the US with the Los Angeles Galaxy is so he can promote the sport to Americans who play it avidly until they reach their teens and then they seem to dismiss it from their thoughts.

So how come he’s agreed to appear in a Super Bowl ad to promote the NFL?

Beckham will appear in the ad for the NFL cable network as a guest at a party hosted by Cincinnati football star Chad Johnson. Other guests at the party include former US Attorney General Janet Reno, and Martha Stewart of media and federal penitentiary fame.

Beckham is cleaning up with his promotional activities outside soccer. He recently signed with Disney to promote its global theme parks with that campaign scheduled to hit in March.

Maybe US Local Television Isn’t Such A Bad Business To Be In After All

Last November’s mid-term elections proved to be a bonanza to local TV stations and they made a mint, and now that Democratic candidates are already declaring themselves the feeling is the political ads won’t be far behind.

Advertising Age says the Democrat candidates might well spend up to $1 billion to get their message across with spending starting this summer. Apparently the 11 p.m. local news is considered THE prime time.

Myspace Most Popular Search Word in 2006

Within the top US search terms of 2006 various forms of myspace took five of the top 10 positions, according to Hitwise.

Top position went to “myspace”, followed by “myspace.com”. It then hit the sixth position with “my space” in eight place and “myspace layouts” in ninth.

The top non-myspace search term was “ebay”, coming in third, followed by “yahoo” and “mapquest”. The top search word without any particular site in mind was lyrics.

Russia TV Ad Rules to Meet EU Standards

Last summer ad rules in Russia became tough on broadcasters.  Sales-house Video International nearly choked, unwilling to set rates for 2007.

Russia’s Ministry of Culture is working on draft legislation to bring ad rules in line with Europe’s Television Without Frontiers guidelines by 2009. At risk, say broadcasters, are TV movies if ad breaks are limited to once every 40 minutes instead of the current 20 minutes beteween ad breaks.

“It is certainly in the interests of TV audience, but it might negatively affect the profits of TV channels. Consequently, the audience might suffer,” said one of the new bills authors Vladimir Medinsky, quoted in Kommersant.

EU Says Music And Video Game Downloads To Lead Five-Fold Growth In European E-Commerce In Next Five Years

The European Commission says it expects a five-fold increase in e-commerce in the next five years, spurred by music and video game downloads.

EU retailers have reported that their 2006 e-commerce sales were about 30% higher than 2005, but the buying was very much controlled by country language with very little cross border trade. The EU is currently reviewing new regulations that will make single-market purchasing within the 27 EU countries far easier.

The EU is not happy, however, that Europe came behind the US, Japan, and South Korea in providing high-speed broadband Internet services according to its own study, and Telecommunications Commissioner Vivian Reding said she wanted to ensure that consumers had a faster and cheaper access to the Internet.

Google Execs Now Admit Bowing To Chinese Pressure Was A Mistake

Google has been criticized strongly for allowing censorship of its Chinese search engine, but the company has always said that with its computers physically within China it has to abide by Chinese laws.

The first crack in that came at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week when Sergey Bin, one of Google’s two co-founders admitted, “On a business level, that decision to censor …was a net negative.”

But whether the decision is going to be reversed any time soon seems doubtful. The other co-founder, Larry Page, said that newspaper headlines were to blame for creating a perception for people who don’t really read the articles. “ I don’t think a company should be making decisions based on too much perception,” he said.

RCS Media Stock Jumps on Rumors

Spanish media reported Thursday (January 25) the imminent announcement of RCS MediaGroup (Italy) buying Recoletos Groupo (Spain). Traders immediately bid up RCS MediaGroup stock by 8% and causing RCS MediaGroup to issue a “cool it” statement. (Read full statement here in English or Italian) With so many media deals in the pipeline, traders can almost be forgiven their “irrational exuberance.”

RCS MediaGroup publishes, among other multi-media activities, major Italian daily Corriere della Sera. Recoletos Groupo publishes Marca, Spain’s biggest sports daily, Expansión, the major business daily and other media outlets. A deal has been rumored for months and could be worth about €1 billion.

The two media companies have done deals before: Recoletos Groupo selling its 30% stake in El Mundo to RCS MediaGroup in 2004 for €80 million.


"But how do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values, which then become subject to unexpected and prolonged contractions… ?"

Alan Greenspan, December 5, 1996

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