The Internet portal Yahoo! recently hired one of the world's best known war correspondents, Kevin Sites, to report solo from every 'hot zone' in the world over the coming years. The American cameraman became famous for filming the shooting by a US soldier of an apparently unarmed civilian in a Falluja mosque. This move by Yahoo! is seen as an attempt to widen its horizons and challenge traditional media companies.
In a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 13, 2005, Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive, News Corporation, said, "Scarcely a day goes by without some claim that new technologies are fast writing newsprint's obituary. Yet, as an industry, many of us have been remarkably, unaccountably complacent. Certainly, I didn't do as much as I should have after all the excitement of the late 1990s. I suspect many of you in this room did the same, quietly hoping that this thing called the digital revolution would just limp along."
Last week, Murdoch had gathered his top editors for two days of discussions on what he has described as the company's highest priority: how to grapple with the threat and opportunity of the internet to the media empire he has spent a lifetime building. On the agenda was how to turn News Corp's web properties into a hub for entertainment-related content. The strategy can be viewed as an attempt to create a one-stop shop for all those looking for computer games, movies, music or chat online.
News Corp owns a clutch of media assets - including The Times, Sun, New York Post, Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Broadcasting - that are the envy of his peers. Now, Murdoch wants replicate his success in cyberspace.
In July, the company formed an internet unit, Fox Interactive Media, run by a former Foxsports.com executive, Ross Levinsohn, to oversee its website interests. Days later, the firm agreed to pay $580 mn for Intermix Media, a company with more than 30 websites led by MySpace.com, the fifth most popular site on the internet. Then, last week, News Corp reached a $650 mn deal to buy IGN Entertainment, which runs sites such as GameSpy.com for video game fans. It also bought Scout.com, which owns about 200 niche sports websites. Murdoch has said publicly that the company is in talks to acquire a search engine, thought to be Blinkx.
Murdoch has often been regarded as a giant in the world of media. He is one among those who could foresee the future media. So, does his enthusiasm for cyber media indicate that the future of media belongs to the internet?
Statistics on advertising moolah strongly supports Murdoch's obsession with the internet. Advertising revenue is rapidly migrating online. Jupiter Research recently forecast that the online advertising market would reach $18.9 bn by 2010, compared with $9.3 bn at the end of 2004, at the expense of traditional media.
Television's share of global advertising spending is expected to slip by 2007 as more money is diverted to internet. Television's share is expected to peak in 2006 at 37.9 per cent of global ad spending, before slipping to 37.8 per cent by 2007, according to ZenithOptimedia. Newspapers are expected to end 2005 with a 29.8 per cent global ad spend share, and see their market share fall to 29.3 per cent in 2007. Internet's share of ad spending is projected to be about 3.8 per cent in 2005 and rise to 4.4 per cent by 2007. Net ad spending on the internet grew 21 per cent in 2004.
It is estimated that in 2005, there are 26 mn internet users in India, largely in the age group of 20-40. India's advertising industry generates about $2.2 bn annually, according to industry sources. Currently, online advertising comprises less than 1 per cent of the pie.
The total spending for 2004-2005 was about $18 mn, but the Indian Online Association (IOA), predicts this will touch $34 mn in the next financial year and will cross $57 mn in 2006-2007. Print and television still hog a major share of Indian advertising at $700 mn- $920 mn annually.
The many advantages of the medium include the fact that it is a two-way communication. Unlike print and TV, the consumer can decide when and how he wants to be exposed to a campaign, and the advertiser too can zero in on targets more specifically. Internet combines the audio-visual effect of the TV and the detailing capabilities of the print medium and makes the entire customer interface interactive.
Internet is far more cost effective compared to traditional media. "The Net reaches out to the affluent and Net savvy. This is a dream audience which brand managers spend mega bucks to address. Internet delivers them with very little wastage. Internet allows the message to be targeted by various parameters like timeband targeting, daypart targeting, geographic targeting and even interest-based targeting or contextual targeting. Targeting reduces the wastage and the overall effectiveness of the advertising spend," says an industry expert.
Leading portals in India are relishing this attention. Rediff saw an increase of over 70 per cent in online revenue on its India operations in 2004. Yahoo! India saw a 100 per cent growth in advertising in 2004. Indiatimes.com, the online operations of one of India's leading media groups, estimated total advertising on its site to be around $3.5 mn-$4.6 mn in 2004.
On the other hand, younger viewers are drifting away from TV, spending more time online. They're using the Web to socialise and communicate, downloading songs, listening to radio and podcasts, and playing online games. It won't be long before they turn to the Web for longer-form video and TV, thanks to the rise of broadband. In the US, among 25-34-year-olds, almost a third of viewing now takes place away from the TV set, according to a survey by branded content specialist Contentworx. Instead they are using PCs, mobile phones and handheld computers, the survey found, with results that will make interesting reading for broadcasters and advertisers.
The same trend has been catching up fast in Indian. The restless Gen Y prefers internet to TV. “TV viewing in India is still a family affair. You have to fight for the remote with your family members. Besides, my favourite programmes are broadcast at fixed timing. Surfing the net is more personalised. I can view whatever I want at my own convenient time,” says Rajeev Malhotra, student of Delhi University.
Traditional media, however, is still not ready to accept the challenge thrown by internet. In fact, barring a few many of them hardly take it as a challenge.
“I do not think internet can match the popularity of television or print media. Go to the interiors of India and you will hardly find anyone surfing,” says Sameep Rajguru of Aaj Tak.
Rezaul Lashkar of Indo-Asian News Service does not see the Net as a threat to traditional media. “Every form of media has its own advantages and disadvantages. They all can co-exist or rather they complement each other,” he says.
Despite these sceptical views emanating from traditional media workers, the success of www.indiatimes.com, which is one of its kind website in the world, forces everyone to cast aside apprehensions about the future of internet as a new age media. In fact, Indiatimes is the most diversified internet company in the world, a model, which even Murdoch is trying to follow.
“When it comes to getting the latest news, I prefer logging on to a website than to switch on my TV. I can at least log on to the news that interests me instead of being forced to watch Karishma's spat with husband as breaking news,” says Manoj Das, AGM, Nedfi.
“The most visible advantage of internet is its accessibility. Whenever I go abroad, the only media, which keeps me abreast of Indian political scenario is the internet,” says Sandeep Phukan of NDTV.
Copyright © 2005, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Source: The Economic Times (www.economictimes.com)
Jumat, 16 September 2005
Internet eating up TV viewership
The Internet portal Yahoo! recently hired one of the world's best known war correspondents, Kevin Sites, to report solo from every 'hot zone' in the world over the coming years. The American cameraman became famous for filming the shooting by a US soldier of an apparently unarmed civilian in a Falluja mosque. This move by Yahoo! is seen as an attempt to widen its horizons and challenge traditional media companies.
In a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 13, 2005, Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive, News Corporation, said, "Scarcely a day goes by without some claim that new technologies are fast writing newsprint's obituary. Yet, as an industry, many of us have been remarkably, unaccountably complacent. Certainly, I didn't do as much as I should have after all the excitement of the late 1990s. I suspect many of you in this room did the same, quietly hoping that this thing called the digital revolution would just limp along."
Last week, Murdoch had gathered his top editors for two days of discussions on what he has described as the company's highest priority: how to grapple with the threat and opportunity of the internet to the media empire he has spent a lifetime building. On the agenda was how to turn News Corp's web properties into a hub for entertainment-related content. The strategy can be viewed as an attempt to create a one-stop shop for all those looking for computer games, movies, music or chat online.
News Corp owns a clutch of media assets - including The Times, Sun, New York Post, Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Broadcasting - that are the envy of his peers. Now, Murdoch wants replicate his success in cyberspace.
In July, the company formed an internet unit, Fox Interactive Media, run by a former Foxsports.com executive, Ross Levinsohn, to oversee its website interests. Days later, the firm agreed to pay $580 mn for Intermix Media, a company with more than 30 websites led by MySpace.com, the fifth most popular site on the internet. Then, last week, News Corp reached a $650 mn deal to buy IGN Entertainment, which runs sites such as GameSpy.com for video game fans. It also bought Scout.com, which owns about 200 niche sports websites. Murdoch has said publicly that the company is in talks to acquire a search engine, thought to be Blinkx.
Murdoch has often been regarded as a giant in the world of media. He is one among those who could foresee the future media. So, does his enthusiasm for cyber media indicate that the future of media belongs to the internet?
Statistics on advertising moolah strongly supports Murdoch's obsession with the internet. Advertising revenue is rapidly migrating online. Jupiter Research recently forecast that the online advertising market would reach $18.9 bn by 2010, compared with $9.3 bn at the end of 2004, at the expense of traditional media.
Television's share of global advertising spending is expected to slip by 2007 as more money is diverted to internet. Television's share is expected to peak in 2006 at 37.9 per cent of global ad spending, before slipping to 37.8 per cent by 2007, according to ZenithOptimedia. Newspapers are expected to end 2005 with a 29.8 per cent global ad spend share, and see their market share fall to 29.3 per cent in 2007. Internet's share of ad spending is projected to be about 3.8 per cent in 2005 and rise to 4.4 per cent by 2007. Net ad spending on the internet grew 21 per cent in 2004.
It is estimated that in 2005, there are 26 mn internet users in India, largely in the age group of 20-40. India's advertising industry generates about $2.2 bn annually, according to industry sources. Currently, online advertising comprises less than 1 per cent of the pie.
The total spending for 2004-2005 was about $18 mn, but the Indian Online Association (IOA), predicts this will touch $34 mn in the next financial year and will cross $57 mn in 2006-2007. Print and television still hog a major share of Indian advertising at $700 mn- $920 mn annually.
The many advantages of the medium include the fact that it is a two-way communication. Unlike print and TV, the consumer can decide when and how he wants to be exposed to a campaign, and the advertiser too can zero in on targets more specifically. Internet combines the audio-visual effect of the TV and the detailing capabilities of the print medium and makes the entire customer interface interactive.
Internet is far more cost effective compared to traditional media. "The Net reaches out to the affluent and Net savvy. This is a dream audience which brand managers spend mega bucks to address. Internet delivers them with very little wastage. Internet allows the message to be targeted by various parameters like timeband targeting, daypart targeting, geographic targeting and even interest-based targeting or contextual targeting. Targeting reduces the wastage and the overall effectiveness of the advertising spend," says an industry expert.
Leading portals in India are relishing this attention. Rediff saw an increase of over 70 per cent in online revenue on its India operations in 2004. Yahoo! India saw a 100 per cent growth in advertising in 2004. Indiatimes.com, the online operations of one of India's leading media groups, estimated total advertising on its site to be around $3.5 mn-$4.6 mn in 2004.
On the other hand, younger viewers are drifting away from TV, spending more time online. They're using the Web to socialise and communicate, downloading songs, listening to radio and podcasts, and playing online games. It won't be long before they turn to the Web for longer-form video and TV, thanks to the rise of broadband. In the US, among 25-34-year-olds, almost a third of viewing now takes place away from the TV set, according to a survey by branded content specialist Contentworx. Instead they are using PCs, mobile phones and handheld computers, the survey found, with results that will make interesting reading for broadcasters and advertisers.
The same trend has been catching up fast in Indian. The restless Gen Y prefers internet to TV. “TV viewing in India is still a family affair. You have to fight for the remote with your family members. Besides, my favourite programmes are broadcast at fixed timing. Surfing the net is more personalised. I can view whatever I want at my own convenient time,” says Rajeev Malhotra, student of Delhi University.
Traditional media, however, is still not ready to accept the challenge thrown by internet. In fact, barring a few many of them hardly take it as a challenge.
“I do not think internet can match the popularity of television or print media. Go to the interiors of India and you will hardly find anyone surfing,” says Sameep Rajguru of Aaj Tak.
Rezaul Lashkar of Indo-Asian News Service does not see the Net as a threat to traditional media. “Every form of media has its own advantages and disadvantages. They all can co-exist or rather they complement each other,” he says.
Despite these sceptical views emanating from traditional media workers, the success of www.indiatimes.com, which is one of its kind website in the world, forces everyone to cast aside apprehensions about the future of internet as a new age media. In fact, Indiatimes is the most diversified internet company in the world, a model, which even Murdoch is trying to follow.
“When it comes to getting the latest news, I prefer logging on to a website than to switch on my TV. I can at least log on to the news that interests me instead of being forced to watch Karishma's spat with husband as breaking news,” says Manoj Das, AGM, Nedfi.
“The most visible advantage of internet is its accessibility. Whenever I go abroad, the only media, which keeps me abreast of Indian political scenario is the internet,” says Sandeep Phukan of NDTV.
Copyright © 2005, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Source: The Economic Times (www.economictimes.com)
In a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 13, 2005, Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive, News Corporation, said, "Scarcely a day goes by without some claim that new technologies are fast writing newsprint's obituary. Yet, as an industry, many of us have been remarkably, unaccountably complacent. Certainly, I didn't do as much as I should have after all the excitement of the late 1990s. I suspect many of you in this room did the same, quietly hoping that this thing called the digital revolution would just limp along."
Last week, Murdoch had gathered his top editors for two days of discussions on what he has described as the company's highest priority: how to grapple with the threat and opportunity of the internet to the media empire he has spent a lifetime building. On the agenda was how to turn News Corp's web properties into a hub for entertainment-related content. The strategy can be viewed as an attempt to create a one-stop shop for all those looking for computer games, movies, music or chat online.
News Corp owns a clutch of media assets - including The Times, Sun, New York Post, Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Broadcasting - that are the envy of his peers. Now, Murdoch wants replicate his success in cyberspace.
In July, the company formed an internet unit, Fox Interactive Media, run by a former Foxsports.com executive, Ross Levinsohn, to oversee its website interests. Days later, the firm agreed to pay $580 mn for Intermix Media, a company with more than 30 websites led by MySpace.com, the fifth most popular site on the internet. Then, last week, News Corp reached a $650 mn deal to buy IGN Entertainment, which runs sites such as GameSpy.com for video game fans. It also bought Scout.com, which owns about 200 niche sports websites. Murdoch has said publicly that the company is in talks to acquire a search engine, thought to be Blinkx.
Murdoch has often been regarded as a giant in the world of media. He is one among those who could foresee the future media. So, does his enthusiasm for cyber media indicate that the future of media belongs to the internet?
Statistics on advertising moolah strongly supports Murdoch's obsession with the internet. Advertising revenue is rapidly migrating online. Jupiter Research recently forecast that the online advertising market would reach $18.9 bn by 2010, compared with $9.3 bn at the end of 2004, at the expense of traditional media.
Television's share of global advertising spending is expected to slip by 2007 as more money is diverted to internet. Television's share is expected to peak in 2006 at 37.9 per cent of global ad spending, before slipping to 37.8 per cent by 2007, according to ZenithOptimedia. Newspapers are expected to end 2005 with a 29.8 per cent global ad spend share, and see their market share fall to 29.3 per cent in 2007. Internet's share of ad spending is projected to be about 3.8 per cent in 2005 and rise to 4.4 per cent by 2007. Net ad spending on the internet grew 21 per cent in 2004.
It is estimated that in 2005, there are 26 mn internet users in India, largely in the age group of 20-40. India's advertising industry generates about $2.2 bn annually, according to industry sources. Currently, online advertising comprises less than 1 per cent of the pie.
The total spending for 2004-2005 was about $18 mn, but the Indian Online Association (IOA), predicts this will touch $34 mn in the next financial year and will cross $57 mn in 2006-2007. Print and television still hog a major share of Indian advertising at $700 mn- $920 mn annually.
The many advantages of the medium include the fact that it is a two-way communication. Unlike print and TV, the consumer can decide when and how he wants to be exposed to a campaign, and the advertiser too can zero in on targets more specifically. Internet combines the audio-visual effect of the TV and the detailing capabilities of the print medium and makes the entire customer interface interactive.
Internet is far more cost effective compared to traditional media. "The Net reaches out to the affluent and Net savvy. This is a dream audience which brand managers spend mega bucks to address. Internet delivers them with very little wastage. Internet allows the message to be targeted by various parameters like timeband targeting, daypart targeting, geographic targeting and even interest-based targeting or contextual targeting. Targeting reduces the wastage and the overall effectiveness of the advertising spend," says an industry expert.
Leading portals in India are relishing this attention. Rediff saw an increase of over 70 per cent in online revenue on its India operations in 2004. Yahoo! India saw a 100 per cent growth in advertising in 2004. Indiatimes.com, the online operations of one of India's leading media groups, estimated total advertising on its site to be around $3.5 mn-$4.6 mn in 2004.
On the other hand, younger viewers are drifting away from TV, spending more time online. They're using the Web to socialise and communicate, downloading songs, listening to radio and podcasts, and playing online games. It won't be long before they turn to the Web for longer-form video and TV, thanks to the rise of broadband. In the US, among 25-34-year-olds, almost a third of viewing now takes place away from the TV set, according to a survey by branded content specialist Contentworx. Instead they are using PCs, mobile phones and handheld computers, the survey found, with results that will make interesting reading for broadcasters and advertisers.
The same trend has been catching up fast in Indian. The restless Gen Y prefers internet to TV. “TV viewing in India is still a family affair. You have to fight for the remote with your family members. Besides, my favourite programmes are broadcast at fixed timing. Surfing the net is more personalised. I can view whatever I want at my own convenient time,” says Rajeev Malhotra, student of Delhi University.
Traditional media, however, is still not ready to accept the challenge thrown by internet. In fact, barring a few many of them hardly take it as a challenge.
“I do not think internet can match the popularity of television or print media. Go to the interiors of India and you will hardly find anyone surfing,” says Sameep Rajguru of Aaj Tak.
Rezaul Lashkar of Indo-Asian News Service does not see the Net as a threat to traditional media. “Every form of media has its own advantages and disadvantages. They all can co-exist or rather they complement each other,” he says.
Despite these sceptical views emanating from traditional media workers, the success of www.indiatimes.com, which is one of its kind website in the world, forces everyone to cast aside apprehensions about the future of internet as a new age media. In fact, Indiatimes is the most diversified internet company in the world, a model, which even Murdoch is trying to follow.
“When it comes to getting the latest news, I prefer logging on to a website than to switch on my TV. I can at least log on to the news that interests me instead of being forced to watch Karishma's spat with husband as breaking news,” says Manoj Das, AGM, Nedfi.
“The most visible advantage of internet is its accessibility. Whenever I go abroad, the only media, which keeps me abreast of Indian political scenario is the internet,” says Sandeep Phukan of NDTV.
Copyright © 2005, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Source: The Economic Times (www.economictimes.com)
Internet eating up TV viewership
The Internet portal Yahoo! recently hired one of the world's best known war correspondents, Kevin Sites, to report solo from every 'hot zone' in the world over the coming years. The American cameraman became famous for filming the shooting by a US soldier of an apparently unarmed civilian in a Falluja mosque. This move by Yahoo! is seen as an attempt to widen its horizons and challenge traditional media companies.
In a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 13, 2005, Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive, News Corporation, said, "Scarcely a day goes by without some claim that new technologies are fast writing newsprint's obituary. Yet, as an industry, many of us have been remarkably, unaccountably complacent. Certainly, I didn't do as much as I should have after all the excitement of the late 1990s. I suspect many of you in this room did the same, quietly hoping that this thing called the digital revolution would just limp along."
Last week, Murdoch had gathered his top editors for two days of discussions on what he has described as the company's highest priority: how to grapple with the threat and opportunity of the internet to the media empire he has spent a lifetime building. On the agenda was how to turn News Corp's web properties into a hub for entertainment-related content. The strategy can be viewed as an attempt to create a one-stop shop for all those looking for computer games, movies, music or chat online.
News Corp owns a clutch of media assets - including The Times, Sun, New York Post, Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Broadcasting - that are the envy of his peers. Now, Murdoch wants replicate his success in cyberspace.
In July, the company formed an internet unit, Fox Interactive Media, run by a former Foxsports.com executive, Ross Levinsohn, to oversee its website interests. Days later, the firm agreed to pay $580 mn for Intermix Media, a company with more than 30 websites led by MySpace.com, the fifth most popular site on the internet. Then, last week, News Corp reached a $650 mn deal to buy IGN Entertainment, which runs sites such as GameSpy.com for video game fans. It also bought Scout.com, which owns about 200 niche sports websites. Murdoch has said publicly that the company is in talks to acquire a search engine, thought to be Blinkx.
Murdoch has often been regarded as a giant in the world of media. He is one among those who could foresee the future media. So, does his enthusiasm for cyber media indicate that the future of media belongs to the internet?
Statistics on advertising moolah strongly supports Murdoch's obsession with the internet. Advertising revenue is rapidly migrating online. Jupiter Research recently forecast that the online advertising market would reach $18.9 bn by 2010, compared with $9.3 bn at the end of 2004, at the expense of traditional media.
Television's share of global advertising spending is expected to slip by 2007 as more money is diverted to internet. Television's share is expected to peak in 2006 at 37.9 per cent of global ad spending, before slipping to 37.8 per cent by 2007, according to ZenithOptimedia. Newspapers are expected to end 2005 with a 29.8 per cent global ad spend share, and see their market share fall to 29.3 per cent in 2007. Internet's share of ad spending is projected to be about 3.8 per cent in 2005 and rise to 4.4 per cent by 2007. Net ad spending on the internet grew 21 per cent in 2004.
It is estimated that in 2005, there are 26 mn internet users in India, largely in the age group of 20-40. India's advertising industry generates about $2.2 bn annually, according to industry sources. Currently, online advertising comprises less than 1 per cent of the pie.
The total spending for 2004-2005 was about $18 mn, but the Indian Online Association (IOA), predicts this will touch $34 mn in the next financial year and will cross $57 mn in 2006-2007. Print and television still hog a major share of Indian advertising at $700 mn- $920 mn annually.
The many advantages of the medium include the fact that it is a two-way communication. Unlike print and TV, the consumer can decide when and how he wants to be exposed to a campaign, and the advertiser too can zero in on targets more specifically. Internet combines the audio-visual effect of the TV and the detailing capabilities of the print medium and makes the entire customer interface interactive.
Internet is far more cost effective compared to traditional media. "The Net reaches out to the affluent and Net savvy. This is a dream audience which brand managers spend mega bucks to address. Internet delivers them with very little wastage. Internet allows the message to be targeted by various parameters like timeband targeting, daypart targeting, geographic targeting and even interest-based targeting or contextual targeting. Targeting reduces the wastage and the overall effectiveness of the advertising spend," says an industry expert.
Leading portals in India are relishing this attention. Rediff saw an increase of over 70 per cent in online revenue on its India operations in 2004. Yahoo! India saw a 100 per cent growth in advertising in 2004. Indiatimes.com, the online operations of one of India's leading media groups, estimated total advertising on its site to be around $3.5 mn-$4.6 mn in 2004.
On the other hand, younger viewers are drifting away from TV, spending more time online. They're using the Web to socialise and communicate, downloading songs, listening to radio and podcasts, and playing online games. It won't be long before they turn to the Web for longer-form video and TV, thanks to the rise of broadband. In the US, among 25-34-year-olds, almost a third of viewing now takes place away from the TV set, according to a survey by branded content specialist Contentworx. Instead they are using PCs, mobile phones and handheld computers, the survey found, with results that will make interesting reading for broadcasters and advertisers.
The same trend has been catching up fast in Indian. The restless Gen Y prefers internet to TV. “TV viewing in India is still a family affair. You have to fight for the remote with your family members. Besides, my favourite programmes are broadcast at fixed timing. Surfing the net is more personalised. I can view whatever I want at my own convenient time,” says Rajeev Malhotra, student of Delhi University.
Traditional media, however, is still not ready to accept the challenge thrown by internet. In fact, barring a few many of them hardly take it as a challenge.
“I do not think internet can match the popularity of television or print media. Go to the interiors of India and you will hardly find anyone surfing,” says Sameep Rajguru of Aaj Tak.
Rezaul Lashkar of Indo-Asian News Service does not see the Net as a threat to traditional media. “Every form of media has its own advantages and disadvantages. They all can co-exist or rather they complement each other,” he says.
Despite these sceptical views emanating from traditional media workers, the success of www.indiatimes.com, which is one of its kind website in the world, forces everyone to cast aside apprehensions about the future of internet as a new age media. In fact, Indiatimes is the most diversified internet company in the world, a model, which even Murdoch is trying to follow.
“When it comes to getting the latest news, I prefer logging on to a website than to switch on my TV. I can at least log on to the news that interests me instead of being forced to watch Karishma's spat with husband as breaking news,” says Manoj Das, AGM, Nedfi.
“The most visible advantage of internet is its accessibility. Whenever I go abroad, the only media, which keeps me abreast of Indian political scenario is the internet,” says Sandeep Phukan of NDTV.
Copyright © 2005, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Source: The Economic Times (www.economictimes.com)
In a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 13, 2005, Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive, News Corporation, said, "Scarcely a day goes by without some claim that new technologies are fast writing newsprint's obituary. Yet, as an industry, many of us have been remarkably, unaccountably complacent. Certainly, I didn't do as much as I should have after all the excitement of the late 1990s. I suspect many of you in this room did the same, quietly hoping that this thing called the digital revolution would just limp along."
Last week, Murdoch had gathered his top editors for two days of discussions on what he has described as the company's highest priority: how to grapple with the threat and opportunity of the internet to the media empire he has spent a lifetime building. On the agenda was how to turn News Corp's web properties into a hub for entertainment-related content. The strategy can be viewed as an attempt to create a one-stop shop for all those looking for computer games, movies, music or chat online.
News Corp owns a clutch of media assets - including The Times, Sun, New York Post, Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Broadcasting - that are the envy of his peers. Now, Murdoch wants replicate his success in cyberspace.
In July, the company formed an internet unit, Fox Interactive Media, run by a former Foxsports.com executive, Ross Levinsohn, to oversee its website interests. Days later, the firm agreed to pay $580 mn for Intermix Media, a company with more than 30 websites led by MySpace.com, the fifth most popular site on the internet. Then, last week, News Corp reached a $650 mn deal to buy IGN Entertainment, which runs sites such as GameSpy.com for video game fans. It also bought Scout.com, which owns about 200 niche sports websites. Murdoch has said publicly that the company is in talks to acquire a search engine, thought to be Blinkx.
Murdoch has often been regarded as a giant in the world of media. He is one among those who could foresee the future media. So, does his enthusiasm for cyber media indicate that the future of media belongs to the internet?
Statistics on advertising moolah strongly supports Murdoch's obsession with the internet. Advertising revenue is rapidly migrating online. Jupiter Research recently forecast that the online advertising market would reach $18.9 bn by 2010, compared with $9.3 bn at the end of 2004, at the expense of traditional media.
Television's share of global advertising spending is expected to slip by 2007 as more money is diverted to internet. Television's share is expected to peak in 2006 at 37.9 per cent of global ad spending, before slipping to 37.8 per cent by 2007, according to ZenithOptimedia. Newspapers are expected to end 2005 with a 29.8 per cent global ad spend share, and see their market share fall to 29.3 per cent in 2007. Internet's share of ad spending is projected to be about 3.8 per cent in 2005 and rise to 4.4 per cent by 2007. Net ad spending on the internet grew 21 per cent in 2004.
It is estimated that in 2005, there are 26 mn internet users in India, largely in the age group of 20-40. India's advertising industry generates about $2.2 bn annually, according to industry sources. Currently, online advertising comprises less than 1 per cent of the pie.
The total spending for 2004-2005 was about $18 mn, but the Indian Online Association (IOA), predicts this will touch $34 mn in the next financial year and will cross $57 mn in 2006-2007. Print and television still hog a major share of Indian advertising at $700 mn- $920 mn annually.
The many advantages of the medium include the fact that it is a two-way communication. Unlike print and TV, the consumer can decide when and how he wants to be exposed to a campaign, and the advertiser too can zero in on targets more specifically. Internet combines the audio-visual effect of the TV and the detailing capabilities of the print medium and makes the entire customer interface interactive.
Internet is far more cost effective compared to traditional media. "The Net reaches out to the affluent and Net savvy. This is a dream audience which brand managers spend mega bucks to address. Internet delivers them with very little wastage. Internet allows the message to be targeted by various parameters like timeband targeting, daypart targeting, geographic targeting and even interest-based targeting or contextual targeting. Targeting reduces the wastage and the overall effectiveness of the advertising spend," says an industry expert.
Leading portals in India are relishing this attention. Rediff saw an increase of over 70 per cent in online revenue on its India operations in 2004. Yahoo! India saw a 100 per cent growth in advertising in 2004. Indiatimes.com, the online operations of one of India's leading media groups, estimated total advertising on its site to be around $3.5 mn-$4.6 mn in 2004.
On the other hand, younger viewers are drifting away from TV, spending more time online. They're using the Web to socialise and communicate, downloading songs, listening to radio and podcasts, and playing online games. It won't be long before they turn to the Web for longer-form video and TV, thanks to the rise of broadband. In the US, among 25-34-year-olds, almost a third of viewing now takes place away from the TV set, according to a survey by branded content specialist Contentworx. Instead they are using PCs, mobile phones and handheld computers, the survey found, with results that will make interesting reading for broadcasters and advertisers.
The same trend has been catching up fast in Indian. The restless Gen Y prefers internet to TV. “TV viewing in India is still a family affair. You have to fight for the remote with your family members. Besides, my favourite programmes are broadcast at fixed timing. Surfing the net is more personalised. I can view whatever I want at my own convenient time,” says Rajeev Malhotra, student of Delhi University.
Traditional media, however, is still not ready to accept the challenge thrown by internet. In fact, barring a few many of them hardly take it as a challenge.
“I do not think internet can match the popularity of television or print media. Go to the interiors of India and you will hardly find anyone surfing,” says Sameep Rajguru of Aaj Tak.
Rezaul Lashkar of Indo-Asian News Service does not see the Net as a threat to traditional media. “Every form of media has its own advantages and disadvantages. They all can co-exist or rather they complement each other,” he says.
Despite these sceptical views emanating from traditional media workers, the success of www.indiatimes.com, which is one of its kind website in the world, forces everyone to cast aside apprehensions about the future of internet as a new age media. In fact, Indiatimes is the most diversified internet company in the world, a model, which even Murdoch is trying to follow.
“When it comes to getting the latest news, I prefer logging on to a website than to switch on my TV. I can at least log on to the news that interests me instead of being forced to watch Karishma's spat with husband as breaking news,” says Manoj Das, AGM, Nedfi.
“The most visible advantage of internet is its accessibility. Whenever I go abroad, the only media, which keeps me abreast of Indian political scenario is the internet,” says Sandeep Phukan of NDTV.
Copyright © 2005, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Source: The Economic Times (www.economictimes.com)
Jumat, 01 Juli 2005
Paying bloggers to advertise
For a fee, some blogs boost firms
Concerns raised on disclosure
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | June 26, 2005
Jeff Cutler has never purchased anything from Dot Flowers, but you might think otherwise, reading the Hingham resident's blog.
''No more driving to the corner to buy flowers and hand-deliver them," he wrote on his Web page. ''Nope. Now I go online to places like Dot Flowers.com and 1-800-Flowers. I like Dot a little better just because of the personal touch."
Dot Flowers's ad agency paid Cutler $5 this spring to promote the florist and put a link to its website on his blog, or online journal, short for web log. Cutler, who does not disclose the payment on his blog, is one of more than 2,000 bloggers whom marketer USWeb enlisted to hawk products and services. That helped the nascent florist double its sales in the first three months and shoot up near the top of Google's search list, according to USWeb.
Yes, corporate America has discovered the blog and found that the grass-roots medium for supposedly unadulterated opinions is also a powerful marketing tool in a country where about 37 million Americans read these online journals. Even the state of Pennsylvania has joined in, offering free vacations to people who blog on its tourism site.
The blog, in many ways, is the perfect marketing tool: original, personal, and cheap. It has grown popular as advertisers find it harder to capture consumers' attention in a fragmented media market that is making traditional television and newspaper advertising less effective. But despite their foray into advertising, blogs remain an unregulated forum.
With a growing number of businesses using blogs to help promote their products, sometimes in ways that are not very transparent, it is increasingly difficult to discern who or what is behind a blogger's pitch, be it for a museum exhibit or flower company.
Concerns about disclosure have even reached the Federal Election Commission, which is holding hearings this week, in part, to discuss whether to require bloggers to disclose funds they receive from political campaigns. Disclosure became an issue in South Dakota's US Senate race between Tom Daschle and John Thune last year, when the Thune campaign paid two political bloggers to scrutinize Daschle, who was defeated. The compensation did not come to light until campaign finance reports were filed.
''People should be trained to take what they read with a grain of salt," said Cutler, 40, who also was paid to promote credit cards and car insurance on his blog, www.jeffcutler.com. ''A person is not spending their time to throw something up on the Internet unless they have an objective or an ulterior motive. For me, it was making a few bucks and disciplining my writing."
For other bloggers, the compensation can be a windfall. Somerville resident Susan Kaup received $2,100 this winter for writing a dozen times about Marqui -- a Portland, Ore., marketing software company -- and linking to its website on her blog, www.sooz.com. Though Marqui disclosed it was paying bloggers, Kaup did not always mention the compensation on her site
Blogger Linnea Sheldon, 26, of Worcester, has scored nearly $200 in complimentary tickets to events around Massachusetts in exchange for writing about them on her blog, www.linneadates.com, which details her dating life.
''There are freebies everywhere that all different people take advantage of," said Sheldon, who usually discloses that she receives free tickets. ''It is simply a way of getting the word out."
A growing number of companies are also setting up their own online journals and giving bloggers full-time jobs. Earlier this month, Country Music Television disclosed that had it signed a $100,000 contract with a fan of ''The Dukes of Hazzard" to blog daily about the show.
Though many companies involved in blogging spend a fraction of their budgets on these promotions, Forrester Research Inc. reported last month that 64 percent of marketers surveyed are interested in advertising in blogs, the highest percentage compared with other emerging interactive channels, such as instant messaging or video on demand.
Marketers say that bloggers are viewed as opinion influencers and trendsetters and that getting them to write about a product or service is an effective way to spread the word. The blogosphere also offers access to a key demographic: young people. According to Forrester, young adults between ages 18 and 24 make up one-quarter of all adult bloggers.
''Blogs are the hottest area online," said John Cate, vice president of national media for Carat Interactive, a marketing firm that recently launched a blogging division in San Francisco. ''There's real power to be able to speak to and listen to influencers like bloggers."
The more companies can get bloggers to link to their websites, the higher their sites will appear on Google's search list. Google ranks its listings, in part, on how many Web pages link to a website. So paying $5 to a few thousand bloggers is a small price for companies such as Dot Flowers to move up closer to the first page of results in a Google search.
For that reason, some advertisers joke that blog actually is an acronym for ''better listing on Google."
Two weeks after Marqui launched its program to pay bloggers in November, the company's Google results skyrocketed to 278,000 from 2,040, said spokeswoman Tara Smith.
While Marqui remains open about paying bloggers, not all companies are so forthcoming. Though laws exist to protect consumers from deceptive practices and false advertising in other media outlets, there is no formal oversight in the blogosphere.
For now, self-regulation rules. ''We try to be as ethical as possible," said Ed Shull, chief executive at USWeb, the ad agency that pays bloggers to post about Dot Flowers and other companies.
''In our opinion, paying bloggers is no different than Tiger Woods getting money to wear the Nike logo."
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
This news article is taken from www.boston.com
Concerns raised on disclosure
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | June 26, 2005
Jeff Cutler has never purchased anything from Dot Flowers, but you might think otherwise, reading the Hingham resident's blog.
''No more driving to the corner to buy flowers and hand-deliver them," he wrote on his Web page. ''Nope. Now I go online to places like Dot Flowers.com and 1-800-Flowers. I like Dot a little better just because of the personal touch."
Dot Flowers's ad agency paid Cutler $5 this spring to promote the florist and put a link to its website on his blog, or online journal, short for web log. Cutler, who does not disclose the payment on his blog, is one of more than 2,000 bloggers whom marketer USWeb enlisted to hawk products and services. That helped the nascent florist double its sales in the first three months and shoot up near the top of Google's search list, according to USWeb.
Yes, corporate America has discovered the blog and found that the grass-roots medium for supposedly unadulterated opinions is also a powerful marketing tool in a country where about 37 million Americans read these online journals. Even the state of Pennsylvania has joined in, offering free vacations to people who blog on its tourism site.
The blog, in many ways, is the perfect marketing tool: original, personal, and cheap. It has grown popular as advertisers find it harder to capture consumers' attention in a fragmented media market that is making traditional television and newspaper advertising less effective. But despite their foray into advertising, blogs remain an unregulated forum.
With a growing number of businesses using blogs to help promote their products, sometimes in ways that are not very transparent, it is increasingly difficult to discern who or what is behind a blogger's pitch, be it for a museum exhibit or flower company.
Concerns about disclosure have even reached the Federal Election Commission, which is holding hearings this week, in part, to discuss whether to require bloggers to disclose funds they receive from political campaigns. Disclosure became an issue in South Dakota's US Senate race between Tom Daschle and John Thune last year, when the Thune campaign paid two political bloggers to scrutinize Daschle, who was defeated. The compensation did not come to light until campaign finance reports were filed.
''People should be trained to take what they read with a grain of salt," said Cutler, 40, who also was paid to promote credit cards and car insurance on his blog, www.jeffcutler.com. ''A person is not spending their time to throw something up on the Internet unless they have an objective or an ulterior motive. For me, it was making a few bucks and disciplining my writing."
For other bloggers, the compensation can be a windfall. Somerville resident Susan Kaup received $2,100 this winter for writing a dozen times about Marqui -- a Portland, Ore., marketing software company -- and linking to its website on her blog, www.sooz.com. Though Marqui disclosed it was paying bloggers, Kaup did not always mention the compensation on her site
Blogger Linnea Sheldon, 26, of Worcester, has scored nearly $200 in complimentary tickets to events around Massachusetts in exchange for writing about them on her blog, www.linneadates.com, which details her dating life.
''There are freebies everywhere that all different people take advantage of," said Sheldon, who usually discloses that she receives free tickets. ''It is simply a way of getting the word out."
A growing number of companies are also setting up their own online journals and giving bloggers full-time jobs. Earlier this month, Country Music Television disclosed that had it signed a $100,000 contract with a fan of ''The Dukes of Hazzard" to blog daily about the show.
Though many companies involved in blogging spend a fraction of their budgets on these promotions, Forrester Research Inc. reported last month that 64 percent of marketers surveyed are interested in advertising in blogs, the highest percentage compared with other emerging interactive channels, such as instant messaging or video on demand.
Marketers say that bloggers are viewed as opinion influencers and trendsetters and that getting them to write about a product or service is an effective way to spread the word. The blogosphere also offers access to a key demographic: young people. According to Forrester, young adults between ages 18 and 24 make up one-quarter of all adult bloggers.
''Blogs are the hottest area online," said John Cate, vice president of national media for Carat Interactive, a marketing firm that recently launched a blogging division in San Francisco. ''There's real power to be able to speak to and listen to influencers like bloggers."
The more companies can get bloggers to link to their websites, the higher their sites will appear on Google's search list. Google ranks its listings, in part, on how many Web pages link to a website. So paying $5 to a few thousand bloggers is a small price for companies such as Dot Flowers to move up closer to the first page of results in a Google search.
For that reason, some advertisers joke that blog actually is an acronym for ''better listing on Google."
Two weeks after Marqui launched its program to pay bloggers in November, the company's Google results skyrocketed to 278,000 from 2,040, said spokeswoman Tara Smith.
While Marqui remains open about paying bloggers, not all companies are so forthcoming. Though laws exist to protect consumers from deceptive practices and false advertising in other media outlets, there is no formal oversight in the blogosphere.
For now, self-regulation rules. ''We try to be as ethical as possible," said Ed Shull, chief executive at USWeb, the ad agency that pays bloggers to post about Dot Flowers and other companies.
''In our opinion, paying bloggers is no different than Tiger Woods getting money to wear the Nike logo."
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
This news article is taken from www.boston.com
Paying bloggers to advertise
For a fee, some blogs boost firms
Concerns raised on disclosure
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | June 26, 2005
Jeff Cutler has never purchased anything from Dot Flowers, but you might think otherwise, reading the Hingham resident's blog.
''No more driving to the corner to buy flowers and hand-deliver them," he wrote on his Web page. ''Nope. Now I go online to places like Dot Flowers.com and 1-800-Flowers. I like Dot a little better just because of the personal touch."
Dot Flowers's ad agency paid Cutler $5 this spring to promote the florist and put a link to its website on his blog, or online journal, short for web log. Cutler, who does not disclose the payment on his blog, is one of more than 2,000 bloggers whom marketer USWeb enlisted to hawk products and services. That helped the nascent florist double its sales in the first three months and shoot up near the top of Google's search list, according to USWeb.
Yes, corporate America has discovered the blog and found that the grass-roots medium for supposedly unadulterated opinions is also a powerful marketing tool in a country where about 37 million Americans read these online journals. Even the state of Pennsylvania has joined in, offering free vacations to people who blog on its tourism site.
The blog, in many ways, is the perfect marketing tool: original, personal, and cheap. It has grown popular as advertisers find it harder to capture consumers' attention in a fragmented media market that is making traditional television and newspaper advertising less effective. But despite their foray into advertising, blogs remain an unregulated forum.
With a growing number of businesses using blogs to help promote their products, sometimes in ways that are not very transparent, it is increasingly difficult to discern who or what is behind a blogger's pitch, be it for a museum exhibit or flower company.
Concerns about disclosure have even reached the Federal Election Commission, which is holding hearings this week, in part, to discuss whether to require bloggers to disclose funds they receive from political campaigns. Disclosure became an issue in South Dakota's US Senate race between Tom Daschle and John Thune last year, when the Thune campaign paid two political bloggers to scrutinize Daschle, who was defeated. The compensation did not come to light until campaign finance reports were filed.
''People should be trained to take what they read with a grain of salt," said Cutler, 40, who also was paid to promote credit cards and car insurance on his blog, www.jeffcutler.com. ''A person is not spending their time to throw something up on the Internet unless they have an objective or an ulterior motive. For me, it was making a few bucks and disciplining my writing."
For other bloggers, the compensation can be a windfall. Somerville resident Susan Kaup received $2,100 this winter for writing a dozen times about Marqui -- a Portland, Ore., marketing software company -- and linking to its website on her blog, www.sooz.com. Though Marqui disclosed it was paying bloggers, Kaup did not always mention the compensation on her site
Blogger Linnea Sheldon, 26, of Worcester, has scored nearly $200 in complimentary tickets to events around Massachusetts in exchange for writing about them on her blog, www.linneadates.com, which details her dating life.
''There are freebies everywhere that all different people take advantage of," said Sheldon, who usually discloses that she receives free tickets. ''It is simply a way of getting the word out."
A growing number of companies are also setting up their own online journals and giving bloggers full-time jobs. Earlier this month, Country Music Television disclosed that had it signed a $100,000 contract with a fan of ''The Dukes of Hazzard" to blog daily about the show.
Though many companies involved in blogging spend a fraction of their budgets on these promotions, Forrester Research Inc. reported last month that 64 percent of marketers surveyed are interested in advertising in blogs, the highest percentage compared with other emerging interactive channels, such as instant messaging or video on demand.
Marketers say that bloggers are viewed as opinion influencers and trendsetters and that getting them to write about a product or service is an effective way to spread the word. The blogosphere also offers access to a key demographic: young people. According to Forrester, young adults between ages 18 and 24 make up one-quarter of all adult bloggers.
''Blogs are the hottest area online," said John Cate, vice president of national media for Carat Interactive, a marketing firm that recently launched a blogging division in San Francisco. ''There's real power to be able to speak to and listen to influencers like bloggers."
The more companies can get bloggers to link to their websites, the higher their sites will appear on Google's search list. Google ranks its listings, in part, on how many Web pages link to a website. So paying $5 to a few thousand bloggers is a small price for companies such as Dot Flowers to move up closer to the first page of results in a Google search.
For that reason, some advertisers joke that blog actually is an acronym for ''better listing on Google."
Two weeks after Marqui launched its program to pay bloggers in November, the company's Google results skyrocketed to 278,000 from 2,040, said spokeswoman Tara Smith.
While Marqui remains open about paying bloggers, not all companies are so forthcoming. Though laws exist to protect consumers from deceptive practices and false advertising in other media outlets, there is no formal oversight in the blogosphere.
For now, self-regulation rules. ''We try to be as ethical as possible," said Ed Shull, chief executive at USWeb, the ad agency that pays bloggers to post about Dot Flowers and other companies.
''In our opinion, paying bloggers is no different than Tiger Woods getting money to wear the Nike logo."
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
This news article is taken from www.boston.com
Concerns raised on disclosure
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | June 26, 2005
Jeff Cutler has never purchased anything from Dot Flowers, but you might think otherwise, reading the Hingham resident's blog.
''No more driving to the corner to buy flowers and hand-deliver them," he wrote on his Web page. ''Nope. Now I go online to places like Dot Flowers.com and 1-800-Flowers. I like Dot a little better just because of the personal touch."
Dot Flowers's ad agency paid Cutler $5 this spring to promote the florist and put a link to its website on his blog, or online journal, short for web log. Cutler, who does not disclose the payment on his blog, is one of more than 2,000 bloggers whom marketer USWeb enlisted to hawk products and services. That helped the nascent florist double its sales in the first three months and shoot up near the top of Google's search list, according to USWeb.
Yes, corporate America has discovered the blog and found that the grass-roots medium for supposedly unadulterated opinions is also a powerful marketing tool in a country where about 37 million Americans read these online journals. Even the state of Pennsylvania has joined in, offering free vacations to people who blog on its tourism site.
The blog, in many ways, is the perfect marketing tool: original, personal, and cheap. It has grown popular as advertisers find it harder to capture consumers' attention in a fragmented media market that is making traditional television and newspaper advertising less effective. But despite their foray into advertising, blogs remain an unregulated forum.
With a growing number of businesses using blogs to help promote their products, sometimes in ways that are not very transparent, it is increasingly difficult to discern who or what is behind a blogger's pitch, be it for a museum exhibit or flower company.
Concerns about disclosure have even reached the Federal Election Commission, which is holding hearings this week, in part, to discuss whether to require bloggers to disclose funds they receive from political campaigns. Disclosure became an issue in South Dakota's US Senate race between Tom Daschle and John Thune last year, when the Thune campaign paid two political bloggers to scrutinize Daschle, who was defeated. The compensation did not come to light until campaign finance reports were filed.
''People should be trained to take what they read with a grain of salt," said Cutler, 40, who also was paid to promote credit cards and car insurance on his blog, www.jeffcutler.com. ''A person is not spending their time to throw something up on the Internet unless they have an objective or an ulterior motive. For me, it was making a few bucks and disciplining my writing."
For other bloggers, the compensation can be a windfall. Somerville resident Susan Kaup received $2,100 this winter for writing a dozen times about Marqui -- a Portland, Ore., marketing software company -- and linking to its website on her blog, www.sooz.com. Though Marqui disclosed it was paying bloggers, Kaup did not always mention the compensation on her site
Blogger Linnea Sheldon, 26, of Worcester, has scored nearly $200 in complimentary tickets to events around Massachusetts in exchange for writing about them on her blog, www.linneadates.com, which details her dating life.
''There are freebies everywhere that all different people take advantage of," said Sheldon, who usually discloses that she receives free tickets. ''It is simply a way of getting the word out."
A growing number of companies are also setting up their own online journals and giving bloggers full-time jobs. Earlier this month, Country Music Television disclosed that had it signed a $100,000 contract with a fan of ''The Dukes of Hazzard" to blog daily about the show.
Though many companies involved in blogging spend a fraction of their budgets on these promotions, Forrester Research Inc. reported last month that 64 percent of marketers surveyed are interested in advertising in blogs, the highest percentage compared with other emerging interactive channels, such as instant messaging or video on demand.
Marketers say that bloggers are viewed as opinion influencers and trendsetters and that getting them to write about a product or service is an effective way to spread the word. The blogosphere also offers access to a key demographic: young people. According to Forrester, young adults between ages 18 and 24 make up one-quarter of all adult bloggers.
''Blogs are the hottest area online," said John Cate, vice president of national media for Carat Interactive, a marketing firm that recently launched a blogging division in San Francisco. ''There's real power to be able to speak to and listen to influencers like bloggers."
The more companies can get bloggers to link to their websites, the higher their sites will appear on Google's search list. Google ranks its listings, in part, on how many Web pages link to a website. So paying $5 to a few thousand bloggers is a small price for companies such as Dot Flowers to move up closer to the first page of results in a Google search.
For that reason, some advertisers joke that blog actually is an acronym for ''better listing on Google."
Two weeks after Marqui launched its program to pay bloggers in November, the company's Google results skyrocketed to 278,000 from 2,040, said spokeswoman Tara Smith.
While Marqui remains open about paying bloggers, not all companies are so forthcoming. Though laws exist to protect consumers from deceptive practices and false advertising in other media outlets, there is no formal oversight in the blogosphere.
For now, self-regulation rules. ''We try to be as ethical as possible," said Ed Shull, chief executive at USWeb, the ad agency that pays bloggers to post about Dot Flowers and other companies.
''In our opinion, paying bloggers is no different than Tiger Woods getting money to wear the Nike logo."
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
This news article is taken from www.boston.com
Paying bloggers to advertise
For a fee, some blogs boost firms
Concerns raised on disclosure
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | June 26, 2005
Jeff Cutler has never purchased anything from Dot Flowers, but you might think otherwise, reading the Hingham resident's blog.
''No more driving to the corner to buy flowers and hand-deliver them," he wrote on his Web page. ''Nope. Now I go online to places like Dot Flowers.com and 1-800-Flowers. I like Dot a little better just because of the personal touch."
Dot Flowers's ad agency paid Cutler $5 this spring to promote the florist and put a link to its website on his blog, or online journal, short for web log. Cutler, who does not disclose the payment on his blog, is one of more than 2,000 bloggers whom marketer USWeb enlisted to hawk products and services. That helped the nascent florist double its sales in the first three months and shoot up near the top of Google's search list, according to USWeb.
Yes, corporate America has discovered the blog and found that the grass-roots medium for supposedly unadulterated opinions is also a powerful marketing tool in a country where about 37 million Americans read these online journals. Even the state of Pennsylvania has joined in, offering free vacations to people who blog on its tourism site.
The blog, in many ways, is the perfect marketing tool: original, personal, and cheap. It has grown popular as advertisers find it harder to capture consumers' attention in a fragmented media market that is making traditional television and newspaper advertising less effective. But despite their foray into advertising, blogs remain an unregulated forum.
With a growing number of businesses using blogs to help promote their products, sometimes in ways that are not very transparent, it is increasingly difficult to discern who or what is behind a blogger's pitch, be it for a museum exhibit or flower company.
Concerns about disclosure have even reached the Federal Election Commission, which is holding hearings this week, in part, to discuss whether to require bloggers to disclose funds they receive from political campaigns. Disclosure became an issue in South Dakota's US Senate race between Tom Daschle and John Thune last year, when the Thune campaign paid two political bloggers to scrutinize Daschle, who was defeated. The compensation did not come to light until campaign finance reports were filed.
''People should be trained to take what they read with a grain of salt," said Cutler, 40, who also was paid to promote credit cards and car insurance on his blog, www.jeffcutler.com. ''A person is not spending their time to throw something up on the Internet unless they have an objective or an ulterior motive. For me, it was making a few bucks and disciplining my writing."
For other bloggers, the compensation can be a windfall. Somerville resident Susan Kaup received $2,100 this winter for writing a dozen times about Marqui -- a Portland, Ore., marketing software company -- and linking to its website on her blog, www.sooz.com. Though Marqui disclosed it was paying bloggers, Kaup did not always mention the compensation on her site
Blogger Linnea Sheldon, 26, of Worcester, has scored nearly $200 in complimentary tickets to events around Massachusetts in exchange for writing about them on her blog, www.linneadates.com, which details her dating life.
''There are freebies everywhere that all different people take advantage of," said Sheldon, who usually discloses that she receives free tickets. ''It is simply a way of getting the word out."
A growing number of companies are also setting up their own online journals and giving bloggers full-time jobs. Earlier this month, Country Music Television disclosed that had it signed a $100,000 contract with a fan of ''The Dukes of Hazzard" to blog daily about the show.
Though many companies involved in blogging spend a fraction of their budgets on these promotions, Forrester Research Inc. reported last month that 64 percent of marketers surveyed are interested in advertising in blogs, the highest percentage compared with other emerging interactive channels, such as instant messaging or video on demand.
Marketers say that bloggers are viewed as opinion influencers and trendsetters and that getting them to write about a product or service is an effective way to spread the word. The blogosphere also offers access to a key demographic: young people. According to Forrester, young adults between ages 18 and 24 make up one-quarter of all adult bloggers.
''Blogs are the hottest area online," said John Cate, vice president of national media for Carat Interactive, a marketing firm that recently launched a blogging division in San Francisco. ''There's real power to be able to speak to and listen to influencers like bloggers."
The more companies can get bloggers to link to their websites, the higher their sites will appear on Google's search list. Google ranks its listings, in part, on how many Web pages link to a website. So paying $5 to a few thousand bloggers is a small price for companies such as Dot Flowers to move up closer to the first page of results in a Google search.
For that reason, some advertisers joke that blog actually is an acronym for ''better listing on Google."
Two weeks after Marqui launched its program to pay bloggers in November, the company's Google results skyrocketed to 278,000 from 2,040, said spokeswoman Tara Smith.
While Marqui remains open about paying bloggers, not all companies are so forthcoming. Though laws exist to protect consumers from deceptive practices and false advertising in other media outlets, there is no formal oversight in the blogosphere.
For now, self-regulation rules. ''We try to be as ethical as possible," said Ed Shull, chief executive at USWeb, the ad agency that pays bloggers to post about Dot Flowers and other companies.
''In our opinion, paying bloggers is no different than Tiger Woods getting money to wear the Nike logo."
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
This news article is taken from www.boston.com
Concerns raised on disclosure
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | June 26, 2005
Jeff Cutler has never purchased anything from Dot Flowers, but you might think otherwise, reading the Hingham resident's blog.
''No more driving to the corner to buy flowers and hand-deliver them," he wrote on his Web page. ''Nope. Now I go online to places like Dot Flowers.com and 1-800-Flowers. I like Dot a little better just because of the personal touch."
Dot Flowers's ad agency paid Cutler $5 this spring to promote the florist and put a link to its website on his blog, or online journal, short for web log. Cutler, who does not disclose the payment on his blog, is one of more than 2,000 bloggers whom marketer USWeb enlisted to hawk products and services. That helped the nascent florist double its sales in the first three months and shoot up near the top of Google's search list, according to USWeb.
Yes, corporate America has discovered the blog and found that the grass-roots medium for supposedly unadulterated opinions is also a powerful marketing tool in a country where about 37 million Americans read these online journals. Even the state of Pennsylvania has joined in, offering free vacations to people who blog on its tourism site.
The blog, in many ways, is the perfect marketing tool: original, personal, and cheap. It has grown popular as advertisers find it harder to capture consumers' attention in a fragmented media market that is making traditional television and newspaper advertising less effective. But despite their foray into advertising, blogs remain an unregulated forum.
With a growing number of businesses using blogs to help promote their products, sometimes in ways that are not very transparent, it is increasingly difficult to discern who or what is behind a blogger's pitch, be it for a museum exhibit or flower company.
Concerns about disclosure have even reached the Federal Election Commission, which is holding hearings this week, in part, to discuss whether to require bloggers to disclose funds they receive from political campaigns. Disclosure became an issue in South Dakota's US Senate race between Tom Daschle and John Thune last year, when the Thune campaign paid two political bloggers to scrutinize Daschle, who was defeated. The compensation did not come to light until campaign finance reports were filed.
''People should be trained to take what they read with a grain of salt," said Cutler, 40, who also was paid to promote credit cards and car insurance on his blog, www.jeffcutler.com. ''A person is not spending their time to throw something up on the Internet unless they have an objective or an ulterior motive. For me, it was making a few bucks and disciplining my writing."
For other bloggers, the compensation can be a windfall. Somerville resident Susan Kaup received $2,100 this winter for writing a dozen times about Marqui -- a Portland, Ore., marketing software company -- and linking to its website on her blog, www.sooz.com. Though Marqui disclosed it was paying bloggers, Kaup did not always mention the compensation on her site
Blogger Linnea Sheldon, 26, of Worcester, has scored nearly $200 in complimentary tickets to events around Massachusetts in exchange for writing about them on her blog, www.linneadates.com, which details her dating life.
''There are freebies everywhere that all different people take advantage of," said Sheldon, who usually discloses that she receives free tickets. ''It is simply a way of getting the word out."
A growing number of companies are also setting up their own online journals and giving bloggers full-time jobs. Earlier this month, Country Music Television disclosed that had it signed a $100,000 contract with a fan of ''The Dukes of Hazzard" to blog daily about the show.
Though many companies involved in blogging spend a fraction of their budgets on these promotions, Forrester Research Inc. reported last month that 64 percent of marketers surveyed are interested in advertising in blogs, the highest percentage compared with other emerging interactive channels, such as instant messaging or video on demand.
Marketers say that bloggers are viewed as opinion influencers and trendsetters and that getting them to write about a product or service is an effective way to spread the word. The blogosphere also offers access to a key demographic: young people. According to Forrester, young adults between ages 18 and 24 make up one-quarter of all adult bloggers.
''Blogs are the hottest area online," said John Cate, vice president of national media for Carat Interactive, a marketing firm that recently launched a blogging division in San Francisco. ''There's real power to be able to speak to and listen to influencers like bloggers."
The more companies can get bloggers to link to their websites, the higher their sites will appear on Google's search list. Google ranks its listings, in part, on how many Web pages link to a website. So paying $5 to a few thousand bloggers is a small price for companies such as Dot Flowers to move up closer to the first page of results in a Google search.
For that reason, some advertisers joke that blog actually is an acronym for ''better listing on Google."
Two weeks after Marqui launched its program to pay bloggers in November, the company's Google results skyrocketed to 278,000 from 2,040, said spokeswoman Tara Smith.
While Marqui remains open about paying bloggers, not all companies are so forthcoming. Though laws exist to protect consumers from deceptive practices and false advertising in other media outlets, there is no formal oversight in the blogosphere.
For now, self-regulation rules. ''We try to be as ethical as possible," said Ed Shull, chief executive at USWeb, the ad agency that pays bloggers to post about Dot Flowers and other companies.
''In our opinion, paying bloggers is no different than Tiger Woods getting money to wear the Nike logo."
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
This news article is taken from www.boston.com
Kamis, 02 Juni 2005
Revenue For Google And Yahoo Costs Competitors
The extraordinary revenue growth exhibited recently by Google and Yahoo is coming at the expense of established players in the $263 billion information industry, a new report says.
By Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek
The extraordinary revenue growth exhibited recently by Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. is coming at the expense of established players in the $263 billion information industry, according to a report released Tuesday by research and advisory firm Outsell.
"They're literally sucking the financial air out of the room," the report says. "Google and Yahoo are clearly diverting advertising revenue" from established information companies.
According to the report, the 10 largest information companies are Daily Mail & General Trust, Gannett, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Reed Elsevier, Reuters, Thomson, Tribune, VNU, and Wolters Kluwer. Together, they generated $60 billion in revenue in 2004, an increase of $4 billion over 2003.
Google and Yahoo together brought in $6.5 billion in revenue in 2004, an increase of $4 billion since 2003.
"That $4 billion in revenue growth from Google and Yahoo," says Chuck Richard, lead analyst at Outsell, "some of that is marketing and advertising spending that would have gone to the other 10 companies. This is most clearly evident in the newspaper and the B-to-B trade magazine areas, where the problems are quantifiable."
"The traditional media companies have been in a tough situation for a while in terms of getting ad dollars," says Gary Stein, advertising analyst at JupiterResearch. "Many newspapers get better than half of their revenue from classified, which are really susceptible to the type of ads that Google and Yahoo are offering."
The Outsell study, "Financial Performance Scorecard, Full Year 2004," lists the New York Times Co. as one of its "Sinking Stones," citing the newspaper industry's low revenue growth and its difficulties attracting young adult readers.
Last week, the New York Times Co. said it would eliminate 190 jobs. Reporting on its own troubles, the Times said that national newspapers are bringing in less advertising revenue than in previous years as marketers look for new ways to attract customers, such as Web sites and search engines like Google.
One way for traditional information companies to deal with the changing advertising landscape is through acquisitions, Richard says. He points to the acquisitions of Marketwarch.com and About.com by Dow Jones & Co. and the New York Times Co., respectively, as examples.
"It's hard for a newspaper company to just throw a switch and get online, because they really haven't done it in any significant way," Stein says. "So I think there are structural issues that are inside of these types of companies that prevent them from going online and being more like Google."
And there's another issue. According to Richard, there's a substantial price difference in terms of the impact of offline and online advertising. "If you chose to convert every subscriber that newspapers or B-to-B trade magazines have to an online model, but took as revenue the current revenue rates for online ads and did the math, the total revenue equation is out of balance," he says.
In other words, marketers are either paying too much for print ads or too little for online ones. One reason for that, Stein observes, is that print ads represent a leap of faith in that it's difficult to measure results. Online ads, by contrast, can more easily be measured in terms of who sees them and how effective they are.
Whether print-ad costs decline or online-ad costs rise, reconciling the disparity may prove painful.
United Business Media plc, parent company of CMP Media LLC, which publishes InformationWeek, is among the 100 companies covered in the report.
By Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek
The extraordinary revenue growth exhibited recently by Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. is coming at the expense of established players in the $263 billion information industry, according to a report released Tuesday by research and advisory firm Outsell.
"They're literally sucking the financial air out of the room," the report says. "Google and Yahoo are clearly diverting advertising revenue" from established information companies.
According to the report, the 10 largest information companies are Daily Mail & General Trust, Gannett, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Reed Elsevier, Reuters, Thomson, Tribune, VNU, and Wolters Kluwer. Together, they generated $60 billion in revenue in 2004, an increase of $4 billion over 2003.
Google and Yahoo together brought in $6.5 billion in revenue in 2004, an increase of $4 billion since 2003.
"That $4 billion in revenue growth from Google and Yahoo," says Chuck Richard, lead analyst at Outsell, "some of that is marketing and advertising spending that would have gone to the other 10 companies. This is most clearly evident in the newspaper and the B-to-B trade magazine areas, where the problems are quantifiable."
"The traditional media companies have been in a tough situation for a while in terms of getting ad dollars," says Gary Stein, advertising analyst at JupiterResearch. "Many newspapers get better than half of their revenue from classified, which are really susceptible to the type of ads that Google and Yahoo are offering."
The Outsell study, "Financial Performance Scorecard, Full Year 2004," lists the New York Times Co. as one of its "Sinking Stones," citing the newspaper industry's low revenue growth and its difficulties attracting young adult readers.
Last week, the New York Times Co. said it would eliminate 190 jobs. Reporting on its own troubles, the Times said that national newspapers are bringing in less advertising revenue than in previous years as marketers look for new ways to attract customers, such as Web sites and search engines like Google.
One way for traditional information companies to deal with the changing advertising landscape is through acquisitions, Richard says. He points to the acquisitions of Marketwarch.com and About.com by Dow Jones & Co. and the New York Times Co., respectively, as examples.
"It's hard for a newspaper company to just throw a switch and get online, because they really haven't done it in any significant way," Stein says. "So I think there are structural issues that are inside of these types of companies that prevent them from going online and being more like Google."
And there's another issue. According to Richard, there's a substantial price difference in terms of the impact of offline and online advertising. "If you chose to convert every subscriber that newspapers or B-to-B trade magazines have to an online model, but took as revenue the current revenue rates for online ads and did the math, the total revenue equation is out of balance," he says.
In other words, marketers are either paying too much for print ads or too little for online ones. One reason for that, Stein observes, is that print ads represent a leap of faith in that it's difficult to measure results. Online ads, by contrast, can more easily be measured in terms of who sees them and how effective they are.
Whether print-ad costs decline or online-ad costs rise, reconciling the disparity may prove painful.
United Business Media plc, parent company of CMP Media LLC, which publishes InformationWeek, is among the 100 companies covered in the report.
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