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Monthly Archives: March 2014
ANA/Forrester Survey Reveals Growing Demand for Programmatic Buying Education
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Traditional media is still a great business to be in, if you’re selling video
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The State of News Media: It is Springtime and We Can Grow the Business
After a tough “winter” in the news business, the latest Pew report on the state of journalism predicts an energizing spring ahead, based on a key trend that may have sneaked up on you while you were busy shoveling: The big disruption in the journalism business is now coming from within the profession, not from the old tech bugaboos of the last decade or so.
Part of Pew’s report highlights the proliferation of digitally-centric news organizations and the migration of “traditional journalists” to new media ventures, but the reality is that traditional ventures are not so traditional anymore. And even Pew recognizes that the hiring trend that receives so much hype is not a one-way street noting the New York Times hire of Slate veteran, Farhad Manjoo and The Washington Post’s addition of Jason Millman, who hails from Politico.
The fact is there is reason for optimism in the digital news business, and it is based on the business itself, not (just) tech. So, let’s move past search, social and even mobile as discussion points and embrace the new conversation about real innovation inside the business. It took some time to materialize, and now it’s coming, from both new and old places.
Before Pew cited the trend, a conversation about the big changes underway in digital news, in particular growing audiences of news readers, had already started. Marc Andreessen’s recent blog post took it a step further, looking at the business opportunities arising from this audience explosion. It was also clearly the context for Justin Smith’s recent public memo about the new direction for Bloomberg Media, in which he talks about the ways in which Bloomberg will innovate and experiment to address its growing audiences.
It’s clear that a new inflection point is upon us in the news business, and without diminishing concerns about lost jobs, lost audiences and lost influence resulting from the disruption of traditional media, it’s important to start exploring the new territory that’s being opened. At the Associated Press – the big mainstream news agency I work at – that means continuing to innovate on the content front for the benefit of our customers. Spring is here and there is more news consumption going on, and more journalism blooming. Ultimately, that’s a good thing for established as well as native digital players.
Forbes’ Billion-dollar Baby: Meet the Forbes Billionaires Real-time Wealth-Tracking Platform
Everybody’s doing lists these days. Their popularity in digital circles makes them great fodder for content of all types. While they are one of the content darlings du jour, lists aren’t new. In fact, some of the most popular lists are decades old: People magazine’s Most Beautiful People list debuted in 1991 and the Inc. 5000 dates back to 1982.
One of the most venerable lists, The Forbes 400, also debuted in 1982 and was followed three years later by the introduction of its World’s Billionaires list, which comes out every March and provides a ranking of the world’s wealthiest people. And, as lists proliferate online, Forbes continues to build upon its established brand with the introduction this week of a new digital tool and wealth-tracking platform that provides real-time updates on the net worth and ranking for each individual featured on the Forbes World’s Billionaires List.
Luisa Kroll, Wealth Editor at Forbes, can attest to the popularity of lists: “Given the pop culture world that we live in, it is no surprise that people like lists. Certainly, there are times when people like long-form, in-depth coverage, which we provide. But there are lots of times in which people like easily-digestible news and The Billionaires and the Forbes 400—which offer both—are two of our most popular products.”
While she believes there will be a segment of readers who look for these lists once or twice a year, she also feels confident that there’s a significant group of readers who will find it useful to track Forbes’ Billionaires in real-time. That segment includes “traders, individuals looking for investment ideas; people particularly fascinated with, say, tech titans. Also, a lot of the people on our list are CEOs of companies around the world, who people are tracking for a variety of reasons.” For example, there’s been a lot of buzz about The Buffet Bracket contest in which Buffet, who ranks 4th on Forbes list of billionaires, offered to award $1 billion for a perfect March Madness bracket. As Kroll points out, quite a few people would be interested to know he made more than a billion dollars the day he announced the contest.
For the launch of the new wealth tracking platform, Forbes will track the net worth of the more than 1,600 individuals who qualified for the Forbes World’s Billionaires List this year. Forbes will continue to add to that group over the course of 2014 as new ten-figure fortunes are discovered. The value of individuals’ public holdings will be updated every five minutes when respective markets are open. Billionaires who only have holdings in private companies will have their net worth updated once a day.
The tool was developed in-house under the direction of Chief Product Officer, Lewis D’Vorkin. The profile pages, which include net worth, general biographical information and news related to the individual, are all mobile-optimized. Kroll notes that the content is “really well-suited to mobile devices,” and emphasizes that “mobile is increasingly part of every discussion we have.”
As Kroll points out, “Forbes has been chronicling the ups and downs of the world’s wealthiest for over a quarter of a century and The Forbes brand is beloved and trusted. Now we can deepen that connection by providing readers with the most current information when and where they want it.”
The State of Programmatic Media Survey Results
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Digital First Media Partners with Rumble to Rev Up Mobile Innovation
With a name like Digital First Media (DFM), one might not think that this is a company with deep roots in the newspaper business. But for DFM, rooted does not mean anchored. With a legacy of quality content at its core (including 48 Pulitzers) and a monthly audience of 67 million Americans who visit through more than 800 multi-platform products, DFM continues to push its business forward to live up to its name. Last week, the company announced a partnership with Rumble to upgrade DFM’s mobile technology, introduce real-time and dynamic content and ad-targeting capabilities, as well as launch an Innovation Lab.
When Head of Mobile and Social Products Dave Elchoness joined DFM nine months ago, he found that the state of its mobile was consistent with what he had seen previously at other digital-centric newspaper companies: “We had apps. We had mobile-optimized websites for the most part. But I felt we needed to position the business toward the future.” And while the company was doing a good job developing in-house, he took a look at some third party solutions to see if they could do even better.
Elchoness, who describes himself as “skeptical by nature” said he saw something “truly unique in Rumble…the ability for the publisher to own the presentation layer and to get at an enormous amount of data so we can direct our business in a much more informed way.” On the revenue side, Rumble’s solution will allow them to experiment and innovate in advertising based upon real-time data. The solution collects information about users’ location, interests, etc. and allows DFM to predict what users are interested in both in terms of content and advertising.
As Rumble’s Founder and CEO Al Azoulay sees it, “Mobile is one big operational headache for publishers.” While third-party solutions ease some of the pain, Azoulay points out that most of these solutions are “template-driven, limiting publishers’ content and advertising flexibility.” In addition, he finds that most publishers must rely on several solutions to contend with the full range of mobile: apps, advertising and website development. His objective is to provide “a single solution, across this incredibly fragmented mobile space, which allows a publisher to easily modify UX, the content mix and the entire ad map with the click of a button.”
For DFM, Elchoness says, the solution goes well beyond cost-effectiveness, ease-of-use and flexibility. “This solution will let us prototype quickly in a way we couldn’t do on our own…A solution like this will allow us to leapfrog others in the market by evolving much more rapidly.”
As DFM and Rumble began to work closely together in examining how the solution could help drive forward mobile content delivery and advertising, they found a shared affinity for innovation and experimentation that led them to partner on the launch of an Innovation Lab. “The problem with so many of these technology partnerships,” says Elchoness “is that you talk about innovation, you talk about a road map but then you get caught up in problems, crises and the work that has to go on every day.” So the two companies have joined together with a commitment to “do something incredible on a regular basis.”
In DFM, Azoulay says he found a partner that “wants to play. One that wants to do, not just talk about innovation.” He says we can expect “data-driven products, m-commerce, native ad solutions and UX-driven products that will continue to drive more and more engagement and loyalty with the users.” For Elchoness, the Innovation Labs will help DFM focus on mobile as “not just about delivering content. This keeps us thinking about how we can experiment, iterate, prototype, fail and quickly course-correct so that we are inventing the future of publishing.”
Q&A With Jeff Misenti, Chief Digital Officer, Fox News on Cross-Platform Advertising
This Q&A is part of OPA’s “Three on Three” series where we ask three industry executives the same three questions on a topic to uncover actionable insights… If you want to learn more, keep an eye out on our site for more interviews. Today’s Three on Three interview is with Jeff Misenti, Chief Digital Officer, Fox News on the subject of cross-platform advertising.
Q: What is the biggest hurdle in creating, selling and delivering cross-platform advertising initiatives?
A:I think that the biggest hurdle is the coordination and collaboration of all the parties involved. This includes the internal coordination among our Editorial, Production, Programming, and Sales Team. There is also communication with the Agency and the Client that must be clear and accounted for. All of these pieces need to fuse together seamlessly in order to reach our shared goal.
Q: Describe a recent or forthcoming cross-platform advertising campaign that you think is particularly innovative or successful:
A:We are currently exploring a campaign, featured once a week, which has a natural extension to a live online component. A prospective client approached us looking for ways to engage the audience into a custom campaign. Fox News Channel has a particular show that digitally engages with its audience during live tapings. We are working with both the show teams and advertisers to develop a Google Hangout where we can draw in viewers in to interact live with show talent.
Q: How do you approach the cross-platform sale organizationally?
A:In every organization, internal priorities differ. In order to succeed and create winning cross platform initiatives everyone must conform, at times, while also staying true to his or her own goals and responsibilities for the organization.
The sales cycle might require more time and resources to be collaborative and creative with clients and agencies to propose innovative campaigns. This approach may mean that we have more work to do to integrate the campaign; but again to my point – the execution of the planning stages is just as if not more crucial to launching a successful program. All parties put in a lot of time, effort and money and we need to make sure it isn’t wasted. And if we are successful with our advertisers, they are coming back proactively for ideas around new initiatives and campaigns.
It is also important to develop trust across the organization. As basic as it sounds, we all tend to overcomplicate things. If you and your peers are looking out for each other’s objectives in these situations, there will always be trust – and with hard work and trust, comes victory.
Jeff Misenti is the Chief Digital Officer for the Fox News and Fox Business networks. In this role he is responsible for the strategic direction of the products under Fox News’ digital portfolio. As a digital media veteran of 12 years, Misenti joined Fox News Network in 2007 to manage the success and growing presence of the Fox News and Fox Business digital properties. Coupled with his previous knowledge gained at Dow Jones/MarketWatch – where he constructed business-to-business and consumer business units – he has acquired the expertise of leading the most successful branded media websites. His wealth of knowledge and experience has garnered him a passion and successful presence in digital media.
Note: This Q&A is part of OPA’s “Three on Three” series where we ask three industry executives the same three questions on a topic to uncover actionable insights.
Also in this series:
Q&A With Greg Jackson, Chief Data Officer, Everyday Health Inc. on Cross-Platform Advertising
Q&A with Neil Johnston, Cox’s EVP of Strategy & Digital Innovation on Premium Programmatic
Conde Nast Entertainment Tees off Sports Video with Launch of Golf Digest Channel
Condé Nast Entertainment launched its first sports video channel yesterday with the debut of the Golf Digest Channel. According to Molly Baldwin, Director of Editorial Operations for GolfDigest.com, “We see a really big future in video—particularly when it comes to instruction,” which is something the brand has long focused on.
While Baldwin is enthusiastic about the opportunities to create more effective learning moments for the Golf Digest audience, she believes that video gives the brand ways to deepen audience relationships as well. “The fact that instruction works well in video is very natural for our brand, but any brand would be remiss to think they could only rely on print. Every brand has to evolve and go to where audiences are, which is increasingly in front of a screen.”
Not only does Golf Digest find itself with content that effectively transitions from the page to video—such as the “Hungover Caddie” column, which will become an animated series—Baldwin says they’ve got a wealth of talent that already shine on video. Among these is Ben Crane, who Baldwin describes as “a comedic genius… in addition to being on the PGA tour,” who will host #GolfSecrets with Ben Crane. This increased emphasis on video content will also afford Golf Digest a means to further develop its editorial staff on screen.
Unsurprisingly, Baldwin says “There’s been a wealth of demand for video advertising,” which is certainly a driving force behind Condé Nast Entertainment’s continued expansion in video offerings. This is its ninth digital video channel since its 2011 launch and the second this year. The Golf Digest channel launched with Callaway as its sponsor, leveraging pre-roll and in-stream video overlays. And Baldwin says that they’ve already had “great interest from both endemic and non-endemic brands” and have had early discussions around product placement and custom content. “This is a space advertisers want to play in.”
“It is still early days for this play in digital video and we are eager to learn from our audiences what they want and what works. That’s the great value digital brings,” says Baldwin, “we get immediate feedback and we can continue to learn and experiment.”