Ignoring users is bad business
Nate Elliott of Jupiter Research has written a nice piece for MediaPost’s Rich Media Insider that gives an excellent analysis of rich media advertising. In providing his insight into the deal that put two disparate ad companies together (Viewpoint and Unicast), Nate reveals the harsh reality encountered when trying to get too fancy with Internet advertising.
Even with an enviable roster of advertisers - including consumer packaged goods firms, Hollywood studios, and auto manufacturers - Unicast simply hasn’t been able to achieve the volume needed to make their business work.The problem is that superstitials and video commercials are incredibly invasive. That’s great for advertisers, because it forces consumers to pay attention and helps generate brand lift. But it’s not as good for consumers, who don’t always enjoy having their browsing interrupted.
I’ve said it here ad nauseaum. The user is in charge on the Internet, and the rules of mass marketing don’t apply.
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Gilmor’s new venture
Dan is leaving the San Jose Mercury News to get involved in a citizen’s media start-up. Dan’s book, We, the Media, is must reading for those who are interested in the challenges facing traditional media, and I suspect this venture will be successful.
Dan was interviewed last week by the grand daddy of all citizen’s media ventures, OhmyNews! He doesn’t give much insight into his project, but the interview is filled with good stuff.
Your comparison of journalism-as-a-lecture model vs. journalism-as-conversation is fascinating. How would you like to implement this in your new media startup?
What I’ve been doing personally on the blog for some time now has been all about that. The only way you can have a conversation is if you listen. That’s the first rule of conversation. And I’ve had a wonderful time listening, even when they attack me (laughter). I typically learn more from those who think I’m wrong than from people who think I’m right. Especially when they tell me why I’m wrong.And then once you learn how to listen — which is something journalists need to do better — then we can then say that with the tools being created — things like what OhmyNews is doing — then we can say “Don’t just respond to us but let’s all talk together,” and “Let’s develop ways of taking that publication of a story and broadcast and make that the beginning of something.”
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It’s the form, not the content
Great quote from a Miami Herald article about newspapers and the 21st century:
Now many in the industry say they’ve come to realize it’s not the content that’s the problem, it’s the form of the newspaper itself.
This is the real issue confronting media in the 21st century, and if it’s not adequately addressed, all the gizmos in the world won’t help the bottom line. Life in a bottom-up marketing world is the question. “Form” is only part of the answer.
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A Broadcaster’s Christmas Carol
Here is the latest in the series of essays, TV News in a Postmodern World. This one is a bit different, the fictional tale of Ebenezer Broadcaster and visits by three Ghosts on Christmas Eve. You’ll forgive me for borrowing some of Dickens’ original prose, but the lesson put forth is important: it’s not too late to change.
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Who writes this stuff?
One of the joys of the holidays is putting things together, which brings one face-to-face with instructions and warnings of the morons, by the morons and for the morons.
I got this little tree for the bedroom with fiber optic lights. Here are a few of the warnings:
“To reduce the risk of a burn during relamping, disconnect power by turning off the unit switch, or unplugging before relamping.” One has to wonder what kind of idiot would do otherwise.
“Bulb gets HOT quickly. Only contact bulb when the product is turned off.” It makes you wonder if they have a room full of people playing with hot bulbs in order to figure this kind of stuff out.
“Do not touch hot enclosure.” This is along the lines of ‘don’t touch the hot stove’ from my youth.
“Do not remain in light if skin feels warm.” This is my favorite. In other words, if your skin feels warm and you start to smell something burning, you might be ON FIRE!
“Do not look directly at lighted blub.” I’m blind, Mildred! I’m blind!
“Keep away from material that may burn.” In other words, don’t assemble this thing near the gas can.
These are the kinds of thoughts that kept me out of the good schools.
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When churches advertise
This business about the United Church of Christ going after the licenses of stations that won’t broadcast their commercial is more evidence that the press can’t get anything right. Even the normally astute Jeff Jarvis misses the point. NBC and CBS have refused to run the commercial, because it’s, well, too controversial. I don’t blame them.
The commercial shows a series of gays and lesbians being rejected by bodyguards at the entrance to a church. It concludes with these lines:
Jesus didn’t turn people away
and neither do we.
The aftermath of the spot’s rejection is the stuff the press loves. The big, bad networks against the poor United Church of Christ and, more importantly, gays and lesbians who are merely searching for acceptance. Jarvis argues the First Amendment, and normally I’d side with him. I mean who could argue against tolerance and acceptance.
The problem is that tolerance and acceptance aren’t being sold here. It’s just the opposite. This is not only a political message, but it sticks its thumb in the eye of Christians who hold a different view. The idea of bodyguards is an affront to any other church, regardless of your bias. Implicit in this commercial is the notion that “neither do we” means “you do.”
“See? We’re the good guys (and those other bad churches aren’t).”
Where are the arguments that this type of advertising is a political smokescreen disguised as religion? No, the press just parrots the UCC and the controversy nets the church more publicity than any ad campaign. I don’t know the download numbers, but I’d wager they’re beyond what the church originally hoped to reach through advertising.
What if the tag line was this:
Paul wrote that homosexuals won’t enter the kingdom
and we follow his teachings.Or
Jesus loved the sinners but hated the sin.
Homosexuality is a sin.Or
The solution to your sin is inside,
but your own heart blocks the way.
Come on, folks. Let’s look at the WHOLE picture.
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Dick Clark’s (im)mortality
The news of Dick Clark’s stroke has me waxing nostalgic this morning and contemplating life without him. I was a teenager when Bandstand first appeared on the scene, and Dick Clark has always been one of my heroes. (”I give it a 40, Mr. Clark. It’s a lousy song, but I can dance to it.”)
In today’s world of homogenized entertainment and ubiquitous music videos, fans see their bands in the light the record company wishes them to be seen. But appearing on Bandstand meant what you see is what you get. Raw and real. No fancy effects and gimmickry. Just the bands and the music. The real stars of the show, however, were the kids, and that was its charm. It was magic, the type of which is rare in a lifetime.
Better minds than mine will write tributes when the time is right. I’m just sitting here remembering the innocence of Saturday mornings with a man who believed not only in the music but also in us.
Thank you, Mr. Clark. Get well soon.
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Everybody’s talking about Martha Stewart…
…and her new syndicated daytime TV show produced by Mark Burnett of Survivor fame.
“America is all about giving someone a second chance,” Burnett told the Los Angeles Times. He’s visited Stewart at the Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia. “Martha is totally the American dream for a lot of women.”
This has, of course, brought out the moralists and legalists of the culture, but I like the spirit of what comedian Tim Allen said:
“Boy, I feel safer now that she’s behind bars. O.J. & Kobe are walking around, but they take the one woman in America willing to cook and clean and work in the yard and haul her ass to jail.”
And so it goes…
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TV journalism’s newest embarrassment
The Guardian has a nice take on the BBC’s live interview yesterday with a man claiming to be a representative of Dow Chemical on the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster in India.
The story is right out of a movie. The guy is a member of the Yes Men group, which hoaxes businesses and governments, and this one was quite elaborate and included hijacking a portion of the Dow Website. The BBC knew the anniversary was coming, so they assigned a producer to book a guest from Dow. The producer went to the Dow Website and ended up with the Yes Men.
The embarrassment caused great harm for awhile in India, because the man said Dow was offering a $12 billion settlement to those involved in the incident. Hopes were raised and then dashed. Disgusting.
Frankly, the planning and execution of the hoax was so sophisticated that it would likely have fooled any producer. Be that as it may, the incident will renew calls for Internet security and the like. It’ll also give more ammunition to those who prefer the status quo — not that they’ve ever been fooled, eh?
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The online video boom
The online video market is predicted (by Jupiter) to rise by a factor of five by 2009, but it may happen even sooner. That’s why this is such an important space to watch. On the Viewpoint acquisition of Unicast this week, Mark Naples writes for MediaPost:
For my money, what this acquisition means goes beyond even such tactical concerns as becoming a one-stop shop for brands and agencies that want all their interactive needs met under one roof. This deal tells me loud and clear that the consolidation to be watched in the next year is not between and among companies in our space; it’s between video content on sites and video content in ads online, with an eye toward video content on television and even in theaters. Watch the companies that can deliver the quality of video that we expect in broadcast to the desktop for premium brands and within interactive video ads served online.
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Utter crap, Mr. Chairman!
Jeff Jarvis vomits eloquence all over FCC Chairman Michael Powell in the wake of the chairman’s New York Times op-ed piece justifying indecency fines. It’s important reading for all broadcasters, because we’ve got to find the balls to take on this out-of-control beast. The whole thing is good, but here’s my favorite part.
Here is your big lie, Powell. You know damned well that these alleged “escalating calls” are the Xeroxes of the few. Millions upon millions watch and listen the shows you censor. Yet, as I proved, only three prigs like you bothered to write letters complaining about a show that you found to be the most indecent in history, since you brought the biggest fine in history against it.
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Of Rather, a ghost and the roundtable
Ray Richmond of The Hollywood Reporter writes of Dan Rather’s retirement and quotes from an interview he did with Rather last year. It’s stuff I’d not heard before (where’ve I been?), so the idea that Dan talks with the ghost of Edward R. Murrow is a little, well, curious.
“Ed Murrow’s ghost is here. I’ve seen him and talked to him on the third floor of this building many times late at night. And I can tell you that he’s watching over us.”
What a loss for journalism when you can’t count on Murrow’s ghost to keep you on the straight and narrow.
But it gets better.
“In my mind and the minds of the people I work with, this is a magical, mystical kingdom — our version of Camelot. And we feel we are working at a kind of roundtable of King Arthur proportions. Now, it may be that this kingdom exists only in our minds. But that makes it no less real for those of us who live it every day.”
But isn’t it a beautiful description of the pedestal of the press?
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When I grow up, I want to be like Jeff Jarvis
As an observer of life, the greatest joys are beyond the mundane. That, after all, is the real attraction of the news business, isn’t it? Aberration IS news, while most of life is the rest. Differences of opinion in journalism all flow around the definition of aberration — the source of your bias.
That said, I experienced great joy twice this week while in New York with a client. We held meetings with software providers, and I got to meet Dave Morgan, CEO of Tacoda, the online contextual advertising innovators. To be in the room with Morgan is to sense the presence of genius. He’s smooth and articulate, but what makes him unique is his downstream focus and an ability to translate that into reality.
I had a similar — but even more intense — joy when Jeff Jarvis joined us for lunch on Tuesday. Jeff and I have been online friends for a couple of years, and his blog, buzzmachine is daily reading for me, but this was our first actual meeting. I would put Jeff in the same category as Morgan but with even more energy. Here he was, in a room with a dozen broadcasters, methodically navigating his way through local media issues, citizen’s media, blogging, RSS and, of course, the FCC, and his audience was completely engaged. Jeff has a command of these matters that others can only envy, but — most importantly — he’s able to communicate their complexity in a manner that’s clear and easy to understand (even though he’s talking at 100 mph). I absolutely love the guy.
Here’s what I think. Broadcasters of every hue need to engage Jeff Jarvis in discussions about themselves and the future. We ought to give him keynote status at the NAB next year, although that’ll never happen. Too bad.
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Swiping the local broadcast audience
Television broadcasters need to pay close attention to the latest report from Borrell Associates. The report, Here Comes Online Radio, notes that start-up companies may swipe the local radio audience — or at least all but the drive-time segment — from local broadcast stations altogether.
It’s already happening. For as little as $2,000 per year in music licensing fees and Web hosting costs, anyone can establish an online radio station. No FCC license, no broadcast tower, no expensive tape decks or remote broadcasting trucks. There are already about 450 professionally run Internet-only companies operating thousands of online “channels,” plus another 2,250 web sites run by broadcast stations that simulcast their programming.Online radio today is reminiscent of the early days of the Internet. Our surveys show an overwhelmingly male, educated and higher-income audience — just as the Internet had when it first took hold in 1994. It is also a small audience, barely 10 percent of the U.S. adult population listening to “radio” through their PC speakers. But it has a very interesting characteristic: A very high buyer’s ranking for homes, cars, computers, CDs and travel.
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