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Friday, July 13, 2001

Posted 4:26 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Media Consolidation On FCC Agenda

Paul Grabowicz on convergence
The campaign to get the Federal Communications Commission to loosen its restrictions on media ownership is described in detail in recent stories in USAToday and the Columbia Journalism Review. For online companies, the stakes include the future of convergence -- such as having local TV stations and newspapers run joint newsrooms -- and who will compete with conglomerates like AOL Time Warner.

Posted 4:16 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

It's 1991 All Over Again

Vin Crosbie on why Web periodicals won't make money
Web periodicals aren't, can't, and won't -- yes, won't -- truly profit as electronic analogues of print editions. The reasons why are fundamental differences between those two media, which our industry currently prefers to deny. That's my conclusion and reasoning in a presentation I gave at NetMedia 2001 in London on July 5.

Don't worry, the sky isn't falling. We're just in a trough between two generations or waves of online publishing technologies. Similar to our situation in 1991, when we began to realized that publishing periodicals on the proprietary online services (CompuServe, Prodigy, AOL, etc.) wasn't going to be viable long-term but before a rising new wave of online publishing technologies (Internet-based) washed over us. We're now understanding that periodical publishing on the Web likewise isn't going to be viable, a fact that was masked during the recent period of irrational economic exuberance. We also can now sense the next generation of online technologies (wireless pads) rising, but we tend to dismiss these new technologies as yet being too primitive and not in the hands of enough consumers to matter -- just as we dismissed the Internet that way in 1991.

Posted 2:47 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Brush up your SMS

Norbert Specker on short short messages
Been SMSing lately? The cumbersome entry mechanism is a boost to human creativity, a fact confirmed by the Guardians SMS poetry contest. Short messages become shorter and shorter ... and shorter. For an immediate and certainly necessary update on abbreviations, rely on the BBC.

By the way, if you have a similar page in a language other than English, let me know. I'll add them to the list.

Posted 2:39 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Content or Manipulation?

Carla Passino on online publishing trends
Italian soccer stars have discovered the web, and they are using it to their best advantage. Both teams and players have launched their own sites, which they have turned into their preferred channel of communication with fans. For example, Fiorentina's former goalkeeper, Francesco Toldo, announced on his site that he would not play for football team Parma -- before he actually bothered to inform not just the press, but even Parma itself, of his decision.

But some players, and their managers, are abusing the medium. According to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, many athletes post carefully crafted gossip on their sites in an attempt to manipulate the market. Worse, many of the managers directly control (or play an important role in financing) so-called "independent" soccer sites -- highly trafficked portals which are often crucial in propagating the rumours. Many Italian journalists have pinpointed the obvious conflict of interest. But in today's money-driven soccer world, neither fans nor sportsmen really seem to care.

Posted 6:37 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Truth or Consequences

Andrew Nachison on Internet rules and regs
Various news organizations, including the Online News Association and the Associated Press Managing Editors association, have been studying notions of integrity and responsibility in digital publishing. But they've been focused on content and what, if anything, distinguishes the trustworthiness of online content from offline content. A group with a more technical perspective called People For Internet Responsibility has been thinking about the nature of the network itself - who controls it, how it should be managed, and how speech and privacy should be limited or protected - all of which stands to have great influence on what kinds of content and services are available on the Internet of the future.

Earlier this month the group released a statement of principles, and I strongly recommend that anyone involved in digital publishing consider the issues it raises. The principles include these:

Thursday, July 12, 2001

Posted 2:10 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

My My

Andrew Nachison on the end of MyCNN
Is personalization old news, or is AOL Time Warner just bloated with "redundant" systems? The Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post recently unveiled new personalized online news services -- and they're both very good. Today I learned that CNN is eliminating mycnn.com. Instead, CNN users will be directed to My Netscape, another personalized AOL-TW product.

I don't know why AOL decided to go with the Netscape product and brand over CNN, and it would be instructive to learn how the company evaluated its options and what it's thinking of doing to consolidate it various news and information services. Think about all the brands and options -- besides CNN and Netscape, there's the AOL brand, the whole panoply of Time Warner magazine and cable brands, and CNN's reported talks to partner with a broadcast network suggest yet another means to eliminating costs by "merging" redundant services. The result, as critics of media consolidation have long pointed out, will be fewer consumer options. Today, we saw that theory in action: Say goodbye to MyCNN.

Posted 2:07 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Serving It Up at Wimbledon

Steve Klein on online sports content
Think Wimbledon men's champion Goran Ivanisevic has a big serve? On Monday, wimbledon.org, the tennis tournament's official site, recorded more than 3.4 million hits-per-minute at one point during the men's five-set final. By comparison, the official Summer Olympics site during the 2000 Sydney Games had a high of 1.2 million. Also, 3.2 million unique visitors from 165 countries registered 208 million page views during the 15-day tournament. And who said tennis wasn't popular?

Posted 2:04 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Digital Journalism Credibility

Katja Riefler on a new ONA survey
The Online News Association (ONA) is inviting members of the online publishing community to participate in a survey about digital journalism credibility. The confidential survey, funded by Knight Foundation, is available online. If you want to have a look at their goals first, have a look at the mission statement.

Posted 6:47 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Office Internet Use Rises

Steve Klein on the office and the Internet
Office use of the Internet jumped dramatically in June, according to findings by Nielsen/NetRatings. Just some of the numbers and findings:

Said NetRatings Vice President Sean Kaldor: "The office environment is depending more on the Internet as a comprehensive tool for research, business-to-business transactions and day-to-day office management."

Wednesday, July 11, 2001

Posted 7:53 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

The NFL Scores a Touchdown

Steve Klein on online sports content
Who says there's no money to be made in online sports content? Not the National Football League, that's for sure, after completing a five-year deal for its Internet rights estimated to be worth as much as $350 million ($110 million in cash, the remainder in services and promotion). The agreement with CBS, AOL and SportsLine.com includes online and offline cross promotion and marketing with AOL.

Here's how it will work: SportsLine.com will produce and host NFL.com as well as Superbowl.com, according to Terry Lefton of TheStandard.com. AOL will become the "official ISP of the NFL" and be promoted in NFL game telecasts on CBS and at other NFL media and events. SportsLine.com will manage all media sales and direct marketing services for NFL.com and related sites.

Media Metrix Senior Analyst Patrick Keane calls the reported $110M rights fee "shocking when viewed in comparison to Microsoft's no-fee digital rights deal" for the 2002 Olympics. Richard Sandomir of the New York Times points out that the deal "bucks a trend by leagues to produce their Web sites in-house." The deal replaces the ESPN Internet Group's three-year, $10 million contract.

Posted 6:25 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Some Fresh Air

Norbert Specker on magazine website design
FACTS, for which I serve as an advisor, is the leading Swiss news weekly. When the first site was launched five years ago under the energetic guidance of the late Urs Weber, it set the tone and the feel for a cool publishing website. In order to infuse some new blood into the set-up and create some buzz, FACTS, with Thomas Demuth, launched a design competition. From 70 first round entries, eight agencies were invited by the jury to present a draft for the homepage and a following page (in return they were guaranteed exposure in the magazine, on the web, and in a special printout). A vote follwed. The public and the house jury did not agree. The winner is "nothing", with public (2,000 voters) favorite crealogix as runner-up.

Posted 7:16 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

German Newspapers See Internet as Vital Strategic Necessity

Katja Riefler on a German publishers conference
Will the old media abandon the Internet because of the lack of short-time profitability? You would have rubbed your eyes in disbelief while attending the recent new media conference of the German association of newspaper publishers BDZV in conjunction with IFRA. Speakers and attendants agreed that German newspapers have to continue to invest in the Internet (and they really do), knowing that they burn a substantial amount of money and will continue to do so in the next years. But they have come to see that the Internet is "a vital necessity" and an "integral part of the company strategy".

These statements (German only) are even more important if you consider the condition of the Internet industry these days. Look at the print magazines: "The Standard" stopped its European edition some months ago. "Business 2.0" collapsed in Germany soon after. Its successor, "E-Business," a daughter of the well-known financial publishing company "Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt", stopped operations on July 1. E-Market just switched from weekly publication to 14 days.

Posted 7:08 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

A Gutsy Move

Rich Gordon on measuring online advertising
One of the most interesting developments of the past few months: CBS Marketwatch has stopped reporting click-through rates for the banners of companies advertising on its site. "Instead of thinking of ways to create more clicks, we need to be thinking of more ways to gauge the success of online advertising campaigns," said Scot McLernon, executive vice president of sales.

One might argue that the company is just hiding its head in the digital sand -- after all, click-throughs do remain an important metric for some advertisers. But I agree that the industry has done a lousy job selling advertisers on the branding capabilities of online ads. And if Marketwatch's action helps lead to the industry to understand the need for metrics other than click-through rates, they will have taken an important step.

Posted 7:00 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

A Telling Jump to ESPN.com

Steve Klein on online sports content
For the past two years, the phrase "according to SportsLine.com senior writer Len Pasquarelli" has focused frequent positive attention on the No. 2 online sports site. No more. Pasquarelli, who has been a story-breaking reporter on the NFL for 23 years, including 10 years at the Atlanta Journal Constitution before becoming the first major print sports journalist to move to a pure-play online sports site, has jumped again, this time to No. 1 ESPN.com as a senior writer, according to John Manasso of the AJC. Manasso writes that the move "cannot be deemed as a positive sign for the long-term future" of SportsLine. In the first quarter of 2001, SportsLine.com reported a loss of more than $20 million and announced layoffs. At the time, Sportsline had $100 million remaining in cash and said it planned to turn a profit by the end of the year.

When Pasquarelli joined Sportsline, Michael Levy, president and CEO of the online site, heralded the move: "Len brings a wealth of experience covering professional football to his new position. His ability to break the big story in his sport gives CBS SportsLine a new competitive edge over other sports Web sites, enhancing the depth of our football coverage." Indeed he did.

Tuesday, July 10, 2001

Posted 4:29 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

What People Want

Rich Gordon on a new survey on Internet usage
The Markle Foundation is out with what sounds like an interesting new survey of what the public wants and expects from the Internet, and what concerns they have. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Industry Standard all found different angles to focus on.

I tried to download the entire report to read it for myself, but apparently demand for it is bogging down the Markle server. I guess I'll try again tomorrow.

Posted 4:17 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Register Again ... at latimes.com

Rich Gordon on redesign and new technology
Inside.com has an interesting spin on the redesign of latimes.com. Apparently the switch to new technology will require all of the Times' 400,000 registered users to re-register and provide additional personal information they didn't have to provide before (including household income and birth year). General manager Steve Barth says the change was unavoidable: "We haven't been able to figure out any other way in our technology to accomplish it." And he points out the benefits, including increased knowledge about site users and the expected migration to paid content in the future.

From what I've heard about the new "Oxygen" technology, it will be a good thing for latimes.com as well as Tribune Interactive overall. But I'll wager that the site will see a dramatic downturn in registered users -- and maybe even a significant traffic drop in the near term. And whatever the technical complexities, a better strategy would have been to retain existing registered users and offer incentives -- new or improved services -- to get them to provide more information rather than force everyone to re-register.

Posted 4:07 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

It's Nice to Stumble

Andrew Nachison on iTV and Instant Messaging
It's nice to stumble upon things you aren't looking for. Two recent examples:

Monday, I was looking at the new latimes.com. On the technology page, I stumbled upon a May 24 story about today's two-screen version (TV+computer) of interactive TV, which is a far cry from the single-box super TV that has been planned and promised for years. I missed the story when it came out, but it was a good read six weeks after it was "news."

Today, in an Industry Standard story about the MSN Messenger woes, I learned about Jabber.com, a startup that offers a rival instant-messaging service based on open-source code. Imagine the audacity of trying to take on AOL and Microsoft! The notion brightened my day.

Posted 11:39 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

A Glimmer of Hope for Online Content

Carla Passino on the Net Media European Online Journalism Awards
Last week’s Net Media European Online Journalism Awards, in London, came as a relief to those of us who were losing faith in online publishing. After reading horrifying reports of deserted content conferences and funereal delegates, it was good to see the 600-seat Mermaid Theatre, where the event took place, buzzing and almost full to capacity. It was even better to find out that not only are many online publications surviving the dotcom storm -- they are also producing some of the best journalism around.

Have a look at Breakingviews.com, Transitions Online, or the Institute of War and Peace Reporting, and tell me what you think. Although my very own Country Life Online for Kids lost to Helsinkin Sanomat’s Case: Kautonen in the Best Feature category, the EOJ ceremony couldn’t have been better for me: It restored my confidence in the future of the online content industry.

Posted 8:13 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

In My Opinion ...

Jade Walker on new online venues
Instead of writing for online magazines or the Web version of print newspapers, some journalists are opting to generate their own media venues. According to The New York Times, "me zines" are Web sites and/or electronic magazines which feature the opinions of a single writer.

Yes, these sites lack editorial control, make very little money and occasionally publish news items sans reliability. But as someone who writes her own "me zine," I also know this new online venue offers a unique opportunity to share information and entertainment with an unlimited audience.

Posted 7:21 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

NBC Keeps the Games Online

Steve Klein on online sports content
And the winner is ... the same guys who had the Games all along. The Salt Lake Olympic Committee and NBC didn't stray far from their own backyard when they chose MSNBC.com and MSN to produce, host and distribute the official Web site for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and NBC's coverage. The site (which will be accessible from NBCOlympics.com, saltlake2002.com and Olympics.com) concludes the network's search for a Web company to replace Quokka, which shut down in April (NBC had been an investor in Quokka). TheStandard.com's Terry Lefton notes that unlike Quokka, which paid millions of dollars in equity for the Olympic rights to the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Microsoft gets the online rights for free -- although it is responsible for the hosting and production costs. Changes in the site will not take place until later this summer.

It will be interesting to see how NBC, which has television rights to the Games through 2008, will now handle streaming video of live events. The International Olympic Committee has been unfailingly protective of television rights vs. live online coverage. So, will the IOC be protecting NBC from itself?

Monday, July 09, 2001

Posted 6:17 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

L.A. Times Launches Redesign

Steve Klein on site design
Right on schedule, the Los Angeles Times rolled out its new site design Monday afternoon. According to Senior Producer Robert Niles, "It won’t be radical change -- indeed, many of you will think we’ve gone to a more 'traditional' look." Niles says that the Times' conversion to Tribune Interactive’s “Oxygen” publishing system prompted the switch. Take a look and judge for yourself. You can send your comments to Niles at robert.niles@latimes.com.

Posted 3:33 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

News with a GOP Spin

Steve Klein on a new U.S. government site
If you like your legislative news with a Republican spin, then you'll want to check out "Committee Central," a new section of GOP.gov previewed in the Washington Post. The site offers bill summaries and daily/weekly issue briefings. The site also allows party activists and lobbyists the opportunity to express their thoughts on legislation. "This is truly one-stop shopping for Republican members and staff to get information in plain English on every aspect of a bill," said J.C. Watts, the House Republican Conference Chairman from Oklahoma. "Our only fear is that members will catch on to the ease of this site, realize all they need is Committee Central and a scheduler, and the rest of their Washington staff will lose their jobs." Fewer jobs on the Hill? You gotta love GOP humor!

Posted 3:04 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

Sports Site Traffic Slows

Steve Klein on online sports content
Have online sports sites plateaued? Jupiter Media Metrix figures for unique visitors (home and work in the U.S.) dropped for three major sports sites in May when compared to the same month a year ago, according to an article by Noah Liberman in Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal. ESPN.com declined 2.1 percent, sportsline.com was down 11.5 percent and cnnsi.com was down 7.3 percent. "Sports sites are 90-plus percent male, and arguably that audience is already online," said Patrick Keane, vice president and senior analyst with JMM. "They may have saturated the audience of young male sports fans."

Posted 12:43 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below

New Media's Present - and Future

Rich Gordon on an interview with the editor of MSNBC.com
Merrill Brown, editor-in-chief of MSNBC.com, has some interesting thoughts about the new media landscape in an interview with Greg Lindsay of Inside.com. I think MSNBC.com is one of the true success stories of the Internet to date -- evidence of the importance of cross-media promotion (NBC & MSNBC) and effective software development (Microsoft).

Among Brown's observations: