DigitalJournal.com to cover nextMEDIA conference on digital media
DigitalJournal.com is once again a media sponsor of digital media conference nextMEDIA. Taking place on Nov. 29 and 30 in Toronto, nextMEDIA features speakers from leading companies such as Facebook and Torstar Digital.
On Nov. 29 and 30, Toronto’s Design Exchange will host a variety of seminars, panel discussions and workshops as part of the annual nextMEDIA conference in Toronto. Experts and market leaders will speak on media production, mobile tech, social media, funding, online trends and more.
For the second year in a row, DigitalJournal.com will be a media sponsor of the conference and we’ll be reporting from nextMEDIA on both Nov. 29 and 30. We will also be tweeting about what we see and hear at nextMEDIA via our @digitaljournal feed.
Baylea Mahoney, marketing communications coordinator for Achilles Media, the company organizing nextMEDIA 2010, explains why Digital Journal has become an invaluable partner to nextMEDIA. “Emerging technology and ideas are how this industry will grow, and Digital Journal’s commitment to hands-on social reporting gives those new ideas a platform for exposure.”
What coverage should you expect? We’ll be liveblogging the keynote address from Newser.com founder Michael Wolff on the impact of digital media on Monday Nov. 29 at 9:15 a.m. ET.
Other liveblogs include a panel discussion on open vs closed content in the digital age, featuring representatives from Telus, Universal Island Def Jam and Mozilla Drumbeat.
On Nov. 30, DigitalJournal.com will also liveblog the one-on-one session with Facebook Canada managing director Jordan Banks. He will talk about how companies can use Facebook to leverage their business.
Editorial coverage will include summaries of the “Hot mobile technologies” session and the panel discussion on the various platforms for digital media.
Digital Journal fans on Facebook can also check out our Facebook page for live updates during nextMEDIA 2010.
Registration for nextMEDIA 2010 can be found here.
How online interaction is changing radio
by David Silverberg
Adapt or die. That popular proverb could apply to broadcast radio in North America, a sector trying to keep up with digital and social media. But how should radio engage its listeners in a meaningful way?
Future of Media spoke to Deborah Esayian, founder of Emmis Interactive, a software company designed to help bring interactive tools and features to local media outlets. With a focus on broadcast radio, Emmis has worked with Canada’s CBC, Corus and Astral to help “connect their listeners while boosting ad revenue on their radio stations’ websites,” according to a press release.
Emmis Interactive offers several products to forward-thinking radio companies – BaseStation acts as the hub for content management, while TagStation lets station controllers easily tag songs and allows listeners to buy songs via iTunes. Esayian positions her company as a vital player to help broadcast radio recoup recent losses – for the first time since 1993, revenues at private Canadian radio stations decreased by 5 percent to $1.5 billion.
We wanted to find out how Emmis jumpstarts radio to the digital era and what are some of the major challenges this medium is facing.
Future of Media: Why would a radio station want to get involved with Emmis?
Deborah Esayian: Our customers proactively decided be in this space in an intelligent way, they want to move into the digital world and they usually face a few failures before they come to us. Maybe they tried the easy way and then realized it takes more work and investment. I’ve noticed lots of resistance in the U.S. but less so in Canada.
Future of Media: What are the challenges U.S. radio is facing?
Esayian: They don’t have the capital and funding to expand. Some radio operators want to do more but they can’t financially. One of the biggest obstacle is that everyone wants a quick fix, but there isn’t a magic pill to transform a company. It requires tremendous amount of love and patience.
The leadership of a media company matters. I’ve noticed people in radio are the most creative people out there, they know how to engage with their audience. They just don’t have a lot of funds to work with.
Future of Media: Can you give us an example of how radio outlets can better interact with their listeners?
Esayian: For years radio stations have made money doing remote broadcasts, where they bring a DJ and a van to create excitement at a mall or store. The idea is to drive people to the store to get prizes, to promote the outlet’s client. That’s nice but that’s not how people really operate; they don’t look at their calendar and think “I’ll make sure I drive by that store now!” So our twist on that are cyber-remotes – they happen online, and we architect it correctly. We found out more people stop by on their phone or iPad and participate from there. For instance, a DJ can say, “Come visit our website between 12 and 4 on Saturday to see a new housing development, click through to get a virtual tour of these new houses, sign the guestbook, let the salespeople know you like what you see.” This is not only measurable but also targeted and more successful than a regular remote.
Future of Media: How should DJs and radio station managers embrace social media?
Esayian: Social networks are a great way to share info on what is going on at the station, to promote what is happening, to engage discussions. But ultimately everything should lead back to the station’s site. Thing is, there is no definitive rulebook with social media. Not every DJs wants to express himself the same way online. We don’t think everyone should blog, and if they do, their online activity should be tailored to their personality. We sit down with staff to discuss how these shiny new social media toys can benefit them because it’s easy for Facebook and Twitter to be blown out of proportion.
Is Murdoch’s iPad-only newspaper a good idea?
by David Silverberg
Tablet PCs may soon be the new platform for newspapers, if Rupert Murdoch has his way. The media magnate recently announced he’ll create The Daily, a digital newspaper built especially for Apple’s iPad. Staffed with 100 writers and editors, The Daily is expected to launch in beta sometime in early 2011 and will cost 99 cents a week, or about $4.25 a month. As the name suggests, the publication will come out every day.
Murdoch says the newspaper will cover the U.S., from Hollywood to Washington. Also, as the New York Times reports, “The Daily will incorporate some material from the rest of the News Corporation — Fox Sports will provide some video, according to people putting together the prototype — but the plan is that a vast majority of the content will be original.”
But is this a smart approach? At first blush, it does seem progressive for the News Corp CEO: an app-centric media arm could be a signal of things to come, capitalizing on the mobile news frenzy that can only get hotter . We are already seeing iPad-friendly issues from the likes of Wired, so why shouldn’t a upstart newspaper go iPad only? A tablet PCs offers the opportunity to include rich media and live updates. The Daily could truly be a living organism, evolving as often as the hourly news does.
Also, consumers are used to be paying for content on their tablet PCs and smartphones, so it’s not a massive stretch to ask users to fork over $1 a week for daily news. Then again, a lot of the content may be available elsewhere free, so Murdoch and company will truly have to publish engrossing original content readers can’t find anywhere else.
The Daily faces some major challenges, though. If it truly wants to be a next-gen product, the paywall could bog it down irrevocably. You know all those links of stories you enjoy sharing on Twitter and Facebook? You share free articles, right? But The Daily is for subscribers only, so its sharing functions will be hampered by a paywall. Perhaps Murdoch envisions a future where people will always pay for news – and the right to publicize those articles to friends – but that space is too immature to make any solid predictions of what’s to come. Readers might be turned off by The Daily’s paywall because they can just visit their community newspaper on Safari and get the news they want free.
We’ll keep an eye on The Daily’s developments and keep you posted on any major news when it breaks.
Newspapers, Yellow Pages turn to NimbleCommerce for custom group-buying deals
by David Silverberg
A new company wants to bring the Groupon idea to newspapers and service directories, claiming it’s a win-win for struggling media companies: they cement relationships with local businesses while also engaging their readers with a burgeoning trend already trailblazing across the Web.
In an interview, NimbleCommerce CEO Prashant Nedungadi said creating a white-label group-buying technology “is a killer app for newspapers.” He added, “They can monetize their relationships with local vendors much more easily now.”
How does NimbleCommerce work? It strikes a deal with a newspaper or a service directory, such as Yellow Pages Group. Nedungadi said it has deals with 25 newspapers and directories across the US, Canada and the UK, in cities such as New York, L.A., Chicago, Toronto and Montreal. They work with the client to determine what kind of branding and features they want their deal to include. The paper’s sales force goes out to negotiate with a local business to get an attractive coupon deal; NimbleCommerce doesn’t do any sales for its client, but it powers the Groupon-type deal, allowing the newspaper to mass-mail its readership a deal that would offer, say, $89 for $250 worth of teeth whitening, as it did with Philly.com recently. Or the deal would be displayed on a banner ad on the front page of the paper’s website.
Once enough people have bought the deal, NimbleCommerce handles the distribution and fulfillment of the online coupons. The newspaper’s staff can look at metrics tools to determine a deal’s popularity.
“Newspapers aren’t in the technology business so they need someone to create a scalable technology,” Nedungadi said about his Santa Clara, California startup.
He was mum on details relating to how much NimbleCommerce charges its client, but he said it’s a percentage based on the volume of net or gross revenue of the partner deals.
There are some early stats available, even though NimbleCommerce officially launched to the public today: Nedungadi said 75 percent of group-buying deals purchases come from the media company’s mailing list, while 15 percent come from the display ads on the company’s site. A small margin originate from Facebook and Twitter. “They publicize the deals and we do the technology,” he summarized.
Nedungadi didn’t want to cite specific newspapers and other clients, saying many deals have yet to be introduced.
Group-buying deals can also be found in search results, Nedungadi said. Known as real-time flash deals, these coupons are displayed when someone searches for a certain service, such as plumbing, on a directory like the Yellow Pages. The deal for a specific plumber can display for an hour or so, available only to users who click on the deal within that time period.
NimbleCommerce is also focusing on mobile. The company offers an add-on to a paper’s app in order for coupon fulfillment to also work via smartphones. “It’s all about push on cellphones, so users can get notified about deals through push,” Nedungadi said.
NimbleCommerce enters a market bustling with competition and big buzz. Google is reportedly in talks to buy Groupon, and Forbes recently reported around 180 group-buying companies have sprouted across the U.S. since Groupon and Living Social began operations.
Yahoo! Clues reveals popular Internet trends
by David Silverberg
Yahoo! is entering the Web trend space by launching Yahoo! Clues, a new site featuring the popular terms and topics Yahoo users are searching for, a blog post from the company said.
The feature lets you compare trending information for search terms you input, or display trending data on popular search terms. The trends are even broken down into demographics, so you can see how many women checked out this search term, or where the searches originated. For instance, the search term “DJ Hero”, the popular video game, peaked around Nov. 16, was most popular for men between 35 and 54, and originated strongly out of Nevada.
Brian Theodore, Director of Search Products at Yahoo!, said in the post: “We’re also experimenting with an interesting feature called ‘Search Flow’ which offers a unique look at people’s search patterns and the next most probable search term people try after searching for a query.”
Yahoo! Clues is entering a competitive space, with Google Trends and various Twitter trending services already staking their position in this burgeoning field.