A recent press release on Mediabids -
From Marketingcharts.org - full story here
This report should be interesting for newspapers and magazines still determining the best way to sell their digital space.
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A “one-staff-fits-all” strategy may not be the best approach for local media companies, according to a January 2012 report from Borrell Associates, which finds that sites with dedicated digital account executives (AEs) outperform those without by a factor of 2.5. In fact, gross online revenue per sales representative (online dollars divided by all representatives selling digital products) is roughly $186,000 for sites with digital AEs, compared to $73,300 for those without any dedicated AEs.
Among TV stations the disparity is even greater: those with sales representatives dedicated exclusively to selling online advertising average almost 3 times the gross revenue of those without ($208,200 vs. $70,300).
46% of local media respondents reported having an online-only AE, down from 60% in 2009. Radio sported the lowest average of digital-only sellers, with just 11% of radio companies employing at least one. Only 2 in 5 local TV stations had at least one online-only AE, although the majority of newspapers (55%) did.
Overall, sales managers seemed pleased with their representatives’ performance using the consultative approach, with the majority rating their performance good to outstanding. However, there was a clear difference between companies working with dedicated digital AEs and those without: managers with digital AEs reported an excellent to outstanding rank at a rate of 56%, while those without a dedicated digital staff reported that satisfaction level at a rate of 32%.
Similarly, managers whose staff included digital AEs were far more likely than those without to rank their staff’s understanding of digital products as excellent to outstanding (58% vs. 11%).
About the Data: Borrell’s analysis was derived from: an online survey of 345 local media sales managers that yielded 230 usable responses, conducted November 2011 to January 2012; Borrell’s database of online revenue and number of dedicated sales representatives at more than 5,100 local media companies in the US and Canada; and a survey of 7,805 local businesses conducted January to December, 2011.
Before starting Mediabids, I published a group of reader-written newspapers in Connecticut. It is a great way to generate interesting content. The trick is being able to put aside the biases that many "professional" journalists have towards the writing of readers. I have been surprised that so few publications have successfully pulled it off, although based on this story from AdAge- it looks like Ladies Home Journal has the right attitude.
Crowdsourcing has been common in advertising for some time, but in a highly unusual move, it's now vaulting the wall at the venerable Ladies' Home Journal, which is planning to turn over many of the pages in its 128-year-old publication to work written by readers.
Starting with the March issue, LHJ editors will cull much of the magazine's material from posts on DivineCaroline.com, a sibling at Meredith Corp. that lets consumers upload their own stories, as well as from the magazine's website, its Facebook page and other digital channels.
The magazine will still use fact-checkers and include experts in fields such as medicine and beauty, but it will start with consumers where it can. "We really flipped this model," said Editor-in-Chief Sally Lee. "Usually content creation begins with an editor. We have content creation that begins with a reader."
While other publishers have dabbled in the practice, its adoption by Ladies' Home Journal, a title that guarantees advertisers an average paid circulation of 3.2 million, is significant since it is the largest traditional media brand to commit to so much user-generated content on an ongoing basis. If it's successful, other mass-circulation titles may follow. "I've been asked a lot about whether we foresee this becoming a model that other magazines will start to implement," said Diane Malloy, publisher of Ladies' Home Journal. "My answer is, 'Gosh, yes, I think everyone is going to sit up and take notice.'"
The magazine says the changes were driven by research revealing that readers wanted a greater role in filling its pages. But the move could also help LHJ, which competes in the very mature category of women's service, improve its traction with advertisers.
An accompanying revamp by design firm Pentagram will signal the shift and include a new Ladies' Home Journal logo that shrinks "Home" to small type and overwhelmingly emphasizes "Journal."
Unlike the Huffington Post, where many bloggers post without pay, Ladies' Home Journal won't tell its amateur writers to settle for the exposure. "We are going to pay them our professional rates," Ms. Lee said.
The magazine wants to build a community of readers engaging with one another and with editors, but the idea predates the current notions of user-generated content and constant conversations with consumers.
The editor of McCall's, for example, told The New York Times in 1990 that the magazine's coming redesign would address a tendency to talk down to readers.
"Among the changes in the magazine, she said, McCall's traditional 'The Mother's Page' will no longer be written by professionals but by readers talking about mutual problems," the Times reported then.
The median age of Ladies' Home Journal readers has declined slightly, to 55.8 from 56.1, according to the most recent round of research by GfK MRI. But its readers remain much older than the U.S. population as a whole (GfK MRI puts the median age at 45.8), and somewhat older than readers of magazines such as Good Housekeeping, Redbook and Woman's Day. So LHJ is trying to make itself "relevant to the next generation without annoying some of the core readers," said George Janson, managing partner and director of print at Group M, the media-buying and -planning conglomerate.
Ad pages fell 13.6% at Ladies' Home Journal last year but slipped just 2.6% in monthlies as a whole, according to data compiled by the Media Industry Newsletter. A major downturn in food advertising that undermined the mass-market women's service books was partly to blame.
"I commend them for trying to add new life into a very mature magazine that has been around for a very long time," Mr. Janson said. "The redesign seems to be very clean, much bolder and much more energetic in terms of the visuals. The photography is pretty stunning. And I think it's a novel concept."
How the effort plays out over time remains to be seen. User-generated content is certainly no magic bullet: San Francisco startup 8020 Publishing introduced two magazines several years ago filled with consumer content that was first posted to the web and voted up or down by the public. The magazines -- a photography title called JPG and a travel magazine called Everywhere -- both left print during the worst of the recession, although JPG now prints individual copies to order for $14 to $19 through HP's MagCloud service.
And there are plenty of questions to answer. Mitch Fox, the magazine veteran who ran 8020 Publishing for a time, argues that readers will remain outsiders, not a community, unless they also have a say in choosing which submissions get to be in print. "You're still screening the content without any kind of community involvement," said Mr. Fox, now president at WGA Global Marketing. "It's a half-step."
Ms. Malloy, who was named publisher in October after her predecessor moved to Univision, said the magazine's big audience gave it an advantage over startups, like 8020, that try similar strategies.
"We feel very, very confident that the consumer is going to receive the new product well," Ms. Malloy said.
From AdAge in an article entitled: "ComScore Study Confirms What We Already Knew: You're Wasting Money on Ads No One Sees"
One of the key findings: 31% of the 1.7 billion ad impressions were never in view. The number is probably not a shock to many in the space, and is the main reason why so-called remnant inventory sells for a fraction of the space above the fold. But with this knowledge, advertisers can more accurately manage expectations and calculate ROI, said ComScore CEO Magid Abraham.
Not a huge surprise- online display ads have always produced very poor results. Full story here
Publishing & Media/Advertising Leaders, Knowledge Is Power
Register Here for the Free Teleseminar: http://marketing.mediabids.com/seminar/TeleSeminarReg.html Join publishing and advertising expert Ernest F. Oriente of PowerHour, LLC [ http://www.powerhour.com ], and Jedd Gould, CEO of Mediabids.com [ http://www.mediabids.com ] for a free MediaBids PowerHour teleseminar on Thursday, January 26th at 1:00 p.m./Eastern/New York time focused on *Knowledge Is Power*. During this 60-minute MediaBids PowerHour teleseminar we will be discussing the points below plus fielding your specific questions: 1. Why is it important to stay current with emerging trends and fast-moving news in the adverting sector? Why is your ongoing training/learning and continued education...more important now than ever? 2. LinkedIn is a wealth of knowledge and discussions that are focused on advertising sales success. What are the three most important things to know about LinkedIn that will help you succeed? As prep for #2 above...please join our flagship LinkedIn group.Advertising Sales Success---with 1100+ leaders at the url below, http://www.LinkedIn.com/groups?about=&gid=2379105&trk=anet_ug_grppro 3. What LinkedIn groups are key to joining and how can you maximize your time on LinkedIn to stay current with fast moving advertising sales trends? Which industry groups are most important to join...with a focus on adding/driving more sales revenue? 4. Prior to our teleseminar---please watch the presentation below...about the research on success & grit. You will find it very insightful.as you think about your perseverance focused on industry knowledge. The last three minutes---are the most compelling. Your True Grit , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaeFnxSfSC4 Registration Information ================== When: Thursday, January 26th Please note, the above MediaBids PowerHour teleseminar starts at 1:00 p.m. Eastern/New York/Toronto time, which is 12:00 p.m./Central/Dallas/Winnipeg time 11:00 a.m./Mountain/Denver/Calgary time 10:00 a.m./Pacific/San Francisco/Vancouver time 9:00 a.m./Alaska time Fee: No charge Recording is available after the MediaBids PowerHour teleseminar but you must register below to receive it. To register, please go to: http://marketing.mediabids.com/seminar/TeleSeminarReg.html For additional registration information, please contact Mediabids.com at 800-989-0406 or E-mail jpeterson@mediabids.com ======
There has been talk for years that this type of distribution model was where major print pubs were headed. This is a very tentative first step but worth noting nonetheless.
Story from paidcontent.org
In Barnes & Noble’s largest Nook promotion yet, the bookstore chain is offering discounted or free Nooks to those who purchase one-year subscriptions to the Nook editions of People or the New York Times. It’s the first time a major retailer has offered an e-reader free with a content subscription.
The promotion will run through March 9. The NYT’s Media Decoder, which announced the news ahead of the official Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) announcements (here and here), reports:
The Nook edition of People is $9.99 a month; with a one-year subscription, customers will receive a Nook Tablet, a color device with a 7-inch display, for $199, a discount from its regular price of $249. Customers who buy a one-year subscription for the Nook edition of The New York Times for $19.99 a month, which includes access to NYTimes.com (NYSE: NYT), will receive a black-and-white Nook Simple Touch free or a Nook Color for $99.
The Nook Tablet is discounted by only $50, but that brings it down to the price of the Kindle Fire. The Nook Color is heavily discounted, by $100. The Nook Simple Touch is normally $99. The total cost of a one-year People subscription on Nook is $119.88, and the total cost of a one-year NYT subscription on Nook is $239.88.
Barnes & Noble announced last week that it may spin off its Nook business, though CEO William Lynch said in a CNBC (NSDQ: CMCSA) interview that B&N stores and Nook would “continue to have a very symbiotic relationship.” This promotion is intended to showcase Nook Newsstand, which Barnes & Noble sees as one of the fastest growing parts of the Nook business.
More significantly, the promotion opens the door for other retailers—ahem, Amazon—to start offering free or discounted e-readers or tablets with content subscriptions. Nothing was preventing Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) from doing that before, of course, but I would not be surprised to see it respond now with an offer of its own for Kindle Fire Newsstand subscribers.
It is our understanding that Time Inc. (NYSE: TWX) and Barnes & Noble are sharing the cost of the discounted Nook Tablet that comes with the Nook People subscription. The New York Times says it is “not divulging terms of our agreement with Barnes and Noble.”
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