February 2012

A model to save newspapers: Where paywalls actually work

As news organizations worldwide wonder if they can charge for content that readers are accustomed to getting free of charge, two Eastern European countries have pioneered a new model: erecting national paywalls and charging a monthly fee for access to most of their newspapers. Media executives are now wondering if the model can be scaled up for larger, Western countries, or if it is uniquely suited to small countries, to European nations with a history of mandatory broadcasting taxes, or even to post-communist societies with, some say, a greater thirst for news than those with a longstanding democratic history.

Local TV stations stand to profit from boom in super-PAC spending

Well-financed super-PACs are expected to spend heavily in battleground states this year, and while viewers may get tired of the onslaught of negative ads, the spending could be a boon for local television stations. Total spending on federal elections topped $5 billion in 2008, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. But because of the Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United, 2012 is shaping up to be far more expensive.

Who Advertises on News Sites and How Much Those Ads are Targeted

Between 2011 and 2015, revenue from digital advertising in the United States is expected to grow by 40% and to overtake all other platforms by 2016. Yet how much of that growth will go to underwrite news remains in doubt and throws into question the financial future of journalism as audience continue to migrate online. What will happen pivots in part on whether the news industry can move into the more lucrative areas of digital advertising, particularly using consumer data to target ads, persuading major legacy advertisers to also advertise online and moving into new revenue areas.

A new study of advertising in news by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism finds that, currently, even the top news websites in the country have had little success getting advertisers from traditional platforms to move online. The digital advertising they do get appears to be standard ads that are available across many websites. And with only a handful of exceptions, the ads on news sites tend not to be targeted based on the interests of users, the strategy that many experts consider key to the future of digital revenue. Of the 22 news operations studied for this report, only three showed significant levels of targeting. A follow-up evaluation six months later found that two more sites had shown some movement in this direction, but only some, from virtually no targeting to a limited amount on inside pages. By contrast, highly targeted advertising is already a key component of the business model of operations such as Google and Facebook.

Numerous Small Television Producers Seek Waiver of FCC Closed Captioning Rules

In the wake of Federal Communications Commission's rejection of hundreds of closed captioning waivers last year, many small television producers are now seeking new waivers for relief from the FCC's television closed captioning rules.

Last October, the FCC overturned nearly 300 "economically burdensome" captioning waivers on the grounds that the FCC had failed to apply the correct standard of review and had failed to follow the proper procedure for considering the requests on a case-by-case basis after public comment. Since that decision, over 150 new waiver requests have been filed with the FCC, with most of them coming in the past month or so. The vast majority of these waiver requests have been filed by very small program producers who assert that requiring closed captions for the television program they produce would be economically burdensome. These waiver requests often involve religious programs, local real estate shows, and local sports or entertainment programs. Consistent with FCC's October clarification, the Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau is releasing Public Notices soliciting comment and input on each waiver request. So far, the FCC has issued 14 such public notices in the past few days.

Newsweek’s Publishing of Vulgarity Draws Fire

A recent spate of vulgarity in Newsweek could cost the newsmagazine some valuable partners — the public television and radio stations that offer the magazine as a gift in exchange for donations.

Since 1991, subscriptions to Newsweek and other magazines have raised more than $375 million for public broadcasters, who pay sometimes as little as a penny per subscription, according to the Pledge Partner Magazine Premium Program. Newsweek accounts for 90 percent of the money that the program has raised since 1996, when it was first offered, said Zunk Buker, founder of Pledge Partner, which is based in New London (NH). But as the content of the magazine has grown more brash in recent months after its merger with The Daily Beast — the blogger and author James McPherson documented a dozen examples of vulgarisms in the Jan. 23 issue — some public television stations have taken note.

At MSNBC, a Professor as TV Host

Week seven of Melissa Harris-Perry’s introductory course in African-American studies at Tulane University includes a lecture about “the hollow prize” — a theory that African-Americans tend to be elected as mayor only after a city has tipped into economic decline. One day last summer, when Ms. Harris-Perry was filling in for Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, she recast the class lecture as a television segment, invoking Detroit; her adopted home, New Orleans; President Obama; and tax policy. “I’ve given that lecture a million times — a million times,” Ms. Harris-Perry said in a recent interview. “But I do it once on Rachel’s show, and it was everywhere the next day. It was up on Web sites, people were e-mailing me — that, for me, was a really clear indication of how powerful television is.”

Twitter Is All in Good Fun, Until It Isn’t

[Commentary] Big media companies love when their employees hit Twitter. After all, the short-form social media platform gives consumers direct access to media personalities, and along with it, an intimate connection that large media organizations, and the public, revel in. Until something goes wrong.

Roland Martin, who is paid to spout opinions on CNN, posted a controversial one on Twitter and now he is on suspension. The great thing about Twitter is it offers a friction-free route to an audience — if it can be thought, it can be posted. That’s also the bad thing about Twitter. For employees of almost any company, but especially media companies, it creates an ongoing tension: Yes, build your personal brand and, by proxy, bring social media luster to your employer, but do it in ways that are consumer-friendly and taste-appropriate. That kind of contemplativeness is not generally a Twitter impulse, as Mr. Martin found out.

Jimmy Kimmel Walks Web Tightrope

Before celebrities agree to go on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" one question regularly pops up—can the ABC late-night host please include them in a viral Web video?

"I get sort of annoyed," Kimmel said with a laugh. Yet the frequent requests are a testament to what may be a new trick in television today. By cultivating a popular presence on YouTube, Kimmel has managed to assemble an audience online while at the same time increasing his viewership on traditional TV, when most other late-night hosts are losing viewers.

What a smart phone can't find: happiness

[Commentary] I watched a basketball game with one of our sons the other night. Every time I made a comment or asked an off-handed question he went to his iPad to summon statistics or video clips. We didn’t experience the game together in real time; we processed it search by search. Technology is changing the very nature of experience. It’s no longer linear. We don’t move from one moment to the next anymore. We live in several moments simultaneously. Our computers screens allow us to keep multiple windows open at once. Everything we do is instantly shareable, and everything we desire is searchable. But the one thing you can’t search for on even the smartest phone is happiness. For that you have to stop searching and simply be.

[Sollisch is creative director at Marcus Thomas Advertising.]

Proposal for EU Roaming Fees Includes Global Cap

European lawmakers, who two years ago capped fees for mobile data roaming within the European Union at €50 a month, want to expand the protection to cover the whole world.

The proposal is part of a plan to extend Europe’s five-year-old limits on charges for voice, text and data roaming through 2022 and is likely go to a European Parliament vote by April. The current limits are set to expire in July. Extending the price controls is considered likely, but the rates proposed for the new limits through 2014 have been criticized by consumer advocates as too high, exceeding existing prices in Sweden and some other EU countries. Under the proposal the cost of roaming on voice calls would drop from 35 cents a minute to 25 cents on July 1 and to 15 cents by 2014. The cost of receiving a call would drop from 11 cents to 7 cents in July and to 5 cents in 2014. The price for sending a text message would fall to 8 cents in July this year and to 5 cents in July 2014. The proposal would require that the controls remain in place until 2022 but would set specific limits only through 2015. By then, lawmakers would reconvene to adjust the caps for the next three-year period.

Benton

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