Toronto Star uses Groupon to drive subscriptions
By Chris Hogg
As the debate and discussion about the future of print media continues, the Toronto Star is moving to social media and the Web to promote its printed edition through a partnership with Groupon.
Groupon is the leading deal-of-the-day site that offers group discounts on everything from spa services, to restaurant deals, to discounts at major retailers and more. Deals are offered to members by email and through social media.
Today, the Toronto Star is being featured on Groupon with a deal that offers people the chance to get a six-month subscription to the Saturday edition of the Toronto Star for $15 (regular priced $37).
A two-year-old start-up, Groupon is the fastest-growing company in Web history, generating more than $500 million in revenue this year according to Forbes. Valued at $1.35 billion, Groupon has seen competitors and copy-cat sites crop up in markets all over the world in an effort to cash-in on the group-buying craze.
In fact, the growing popularity of group-buying sites prompted Torstar Digital, the company’s digital arm, to acquire Groupon competitor WagJag recently.
With Groupon’s massive reach and proven track record for selling, it’s no surprise the Toronto Star is looking for Groupon to help drive subscription numbers.
The ironic part of this deal is that companies used to turn to newspapers to get their message far and wide, and now newspapers are turning to a start-up to achieve the same exposure.
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This blog post is part of the Future of Media‘s ongoing coverage and examination of what’s happening in the media around the world. If you have a story idea, please contact us. This blog post was originally posted on chrishogg.me.
ESPN taps into power of Facebook Like button for follow-ups and targeted distribution
By Chris Hogg
ESPN’s Cricinfo.com, the news site dedicated to all things related to cricket, has announced some new features for its audience that help news get to a targeted demographic easily.
Like countless other news sites, ESPNcricinfo.com has been using the Facebook “Like” button to allow readers to express their interest in certain news stories.
The problem with a ubiquitous Like button is that it’s difficult to segment or target specific users based on their interests. For example, a reader may Like a story because it focuses on their favourite team, or because it’s about their favourite player, or because they hate the team that lost. Editors and social media managers have no real way of knowing what specific element of a story the reader liked, and there is no way to follow-up with that reader with supplementary news. That is changing, however, as the site announced new targeted “Like” buttons for specific parts of each story.
In a blog post, ESPNcricinfo.com social media manager Will Luke announced the targeted “Like” buttons will allow ESPNcricinfo.com to personalize news to offer stories to specific groups of people.
“If you actively decide that you like a particular player, or your favourite team, then we feel that’s a strong enough indication to us that you’re interested in hearing more about that person or country,” writes Luke. “So now, if you’ve already liked a certain individual on ESPNcricinfo.com, you’ll receive any related stories which are published on the site, straight to your Facebook wall. It includes a summary of the story and a link, so you can go straight to it or share it with your friends.”
An example of what this looks like from ESPNcricinfo.com:
The ability to personalize news and deliver specific information to readers who have demonstrated an interest in the subject presents a new and potentially powerful way to distribute content.
Outside of just sports, any news organization can customize Like buttons to target specifics on their site. For example, someone who likes something in “Business” may be more likely to care about that subject than Arts, for example. What would be the purpose of pushing an Arts story out to all fans on Facebook if you know a segment of the population doesn’t care about that topic? Why not target?
The same can be done for niche topics or trending news topics, such as the Chilean mine rescue; a Like button on a topic page would allow a news organization to push out updates to people interested in that subject without pushing that content to just everyone on Facebook.
In the age of personalized news, the Like button gives readers the power to select topics or items they enjoy reading, while at the same time providing news organizations with the ability to target specific people who they know are interested in their content.
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This blog post is part of the Future of Media‘s ongoing coverage and examination of what’s happening in the media around the world. If you have a story idea, please contact us. This blog post was originally posted on chrishogg.me. Photo Courtesy Prescott Pym
Internet ad revenue in U.S. climbs to $12 billion for first half of 2010
According to a press release from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC US, the first half of 2010 broke a record for Internet ad revenue. The report says search ad revenue remains strong, while digital video and display ad revenue climbed.
Internet ad revenue in the U.S. climbed to $12.1 billion for the first half of 2010, growing 11.3 percent over the first half of 2009. Furthermore, Q2 revenue in 2010 saw the highest second-quarter revenue on record, up 13.9 percent over the same period in 2009.
“Consumers’ appetite for immersive online experiences is limitless as technological innovation and creativity give rise to new forms of entertainment and information in the digital age,” Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB said in a news release. “This report highlights marketers’ ongoing adoption of interactive media to build brands—and that’s only going to continue.”
According to the report, display ads (banner ads, rich media, digital video and sponsorships) totaled more than $4.4 billion in the first six months of 2010. That is an increase of 16 percent over the same period in ’09.
Digital video is seeing record growth, with the first half of 2010 growing 31 percent over the first half of 2009.
Search advertising holds the biggest piece of the pie at 47 percent, or more than $5.7 billion in the first six months of 2010. That is 11.6 percent growth over the same period in 2009.
“Interactive advertising revenue is on a strong upward trajectory,” said the IAB’s Sherrill Mane in a news release. “Nearly all types of ad formats are showing positive movement and marketers across all advertising categories, most notably consumer packaged goods and pharmaceuticals, are increasing their investment in digital media.”
Based on the strong growth numbers, PwC US says “Internet advertising is back, and better than ever.”
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This blog post is part of the Future of Media‘s ongoing coverage and examination of what’s happening in the media around the world. If you have a story idea, please contact us.
Report: BBC spent $320,000 covering rescue of Chilean miners
By Chris Hogg
The story of the Chilean miners trapped in a copper and gold mine for 69 days has captured the attention and support of everyone. Journalists flocked into Chile to cover the dramatic rescue, and images and live video were broadcast around the world.
So what did it cost a news organization to send an entourage of journalists to Chile to cover the rescue? According to the Guardian, the bill was $320,000 USD (£200,000) to send 40 BBC staff to Chile.
The Guardian says a leaked memo confirms that, as BBC world news editor, Jon Williams, sent a memo to fellow executives indicating the cost of reporting the rescue will exceed $160,000 USD (£100,000).
The bill was so steep, in fact, The Guardian reports the BBC is left without enough money to cover climate talks in Cancun, Mexico.
“We had a very constructive planning meeting this afternoon during which we set out the costs and scale of ambition for the Chilean mine rescue – and some of the consequences for other events in the coming months,” writes Williams. “Tomorrow I’m meeting [name omitted by Guardian] and [name omitted by Guardian] to prepare a paper for newsboard. The financial situation is serious: we are currently £67k beyond our agreed overspend of £500k – newsgathering’s costs for Chile will exceed £100,000.”
Williams notes the over-spend in Chile will mean the BBC will scale back editor deployments to the G20; reduced presence at the Lisbon Nato summit and “much reduced ambition”; one single correspondent will be sent to the Cancun climate summit and no live reporting will be available; and the BBC will look to outsource coverage of Davos;
“I apologise to those of you who’ve already invested time and effort in doing so,” Williams writes. “However, it’s right that we remain flexible and we need to act on the decisions taken today. We cannot afford mission creep later in the year. It marks an important moment in terms of agreeing a way forward between input and output.”
The full memo from Williams can be read here.
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This blog post is part of the Future of Media‘s ongoing coverage and examination of what’s happening in the media around the world. If you have a story idea, please contact us. This blog post was originally posted on chrishogg.me