Hawaii Feels the USA Today Cutbacks
It would seem a natural given today’s digital age and the fact that Gannett owns the Honolulu Advertiser that it would be cheaper to print USA Today for Hawaiian distribution on the Advertiser’s presses rather than flying the papers in from the mainland. But the bean counters have determined that dramatically cutting the Hawaiian circulation and flying the newspaper in from California is an even better deal, and that’s what happens starting in January.
As an economy move the newspaper is cutting back to circulate at just a few locations, primarily airports. That means goodbye to subscriptions, goodbye to hotel bulk sales, and goodbye to hundreds of news racks across the islands.
Hawaii only accounted for about 12,000 sales daily of which 8,300 were bulk sales to hotels and the like. When the Advertiser installed new color presses in 2004 Gannett hoped that would spur circulation, especially with tourists, and spent a fair bit on marketing, but little came from the extra effort.
And with USA Today instituting cutbacks where it can, including the newsroom, savings like this must be a natural.
Parent company Gannett reported on Tuesday that its November operating revenues were down 4.6% from a year ago, citing real estate classifieds down 8.4% and jobs down 23.5%.
Plea To Security Council To Protect Journalists
The International News Safety Institute, the International Federation of Journalists and the European Broadcasting Union have appealed to the UN Security Council to persuade states to respect "in letter and spirit" a key Security Council resolution on the safety of journalists on its first anniversary.(Read EBU release here)
In an open letter to the President of the Security Council, the three organizations said that in the year since the Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1738 on the safety of journalists in conflict more news media personnel had died trying to cover the story than ever before.
INSI counts at least 173 dead -- the worst yearly death toll ever -- since passage of 1738, which expressed deep concern "at the frequency of acts of violence, including deliberate attacks ... against journalists, media professionals and associated personnel." The Security Council condemned such attacks and called on all parties to put an end to such practices and end impunity for the killers.
The three organizations said in their letter to Ambassador Marcello Spatafora of Italy, current President of the Security Council: "We strongly believe that the rising death toll could be arrested effectively if States where journalists are killed were to apply their existing laws vigorously whenever a journalist is murdered." (Read text of letter here)
Warm feelings for the Holidays
…Swiss radio Couleur 3…
I am an absolute sucker for the warm, fuzzy promotions by media outlets during the Holidays. Right here in my home town, Swiss public channel Couleur 3 is on a ‘green’ campaign, raising money with Chaîne du Bonheur (Swiss Solidarity) for water projects. Three DJs are in a tiny radio ‘cabine,’ talking about their experiences traveling to Peru, Bangladesh and Mali to see first hand the struggles of real people less fortunate than most. They are taking donations in return for playing tunes and making dedications. They’ll be on-the-air until noon (CET) Christmas Eve. Check it out. http://couleurterre.rsr.ch. This is what public service is all about!
Have you heard of any good Holiday media promotions? Send the details to me.(JMH)
MTV, still a strong TV brand
…no lack for friends or partners…
Now more than a quarter-century old MTV has lost no brand strength getting there. And with mobile TV looming large on the media scene the obvious brand extensions, cash attached, promise to be too good to pass up. So it makes perfect sense that Nokia would want to attach itself to the biggest youth-oriented universal TV brand.
In one of the years’ best post-modern example of media being media reporting on media being media, a documentary was shot with Nokia N93i handsets of young ad people shooting ads for MTV with Nokia N93i’s at the Cannes Festival. It doesn’t take a degree in demography to figure that young ad people have never NEVER been a day without MTV. It also doesn’t take a financial genius to figure the benefit of MTV generation ad people shooting spots with mobile things. (Read Nokia release here)
The MTV Romania franchise will be taken over by Central European Media Enterprises (CME) in a multi-year agreement with MTV Emerging Markets, part of Viacom. MTV Romania was launched in 2002, licensed then to local Romanian company Music Television Systems. At least five music TV channels are currently available in Romania, including Viacom’s VH-1, which is licensed to Music Television Systems. CME already operates five TV channels in Romania.(JMH)
Sole Sponsor For A Free Newspaper
Several times this year a single advertiser has sponsored US television network news programs, but it’s not something one sees often within a newspaper. But in London on Friday the year’s last edition of the free City AM will be sponsored solely by fund manager Lyxor Asset Management, a division of French bank Société Générale.
With the issue devoted to a year-end review, the edition will be the free newspaper’s last of the year – it takes a traditional summer and Christmas hiatus when most financial industry workers are on holiday.
Is A Nintendo Under Your Christmas Tree This Year?
The most Internet searched-for Christmas gift this year by far is Nintendo, according to Hitwise. One reason could be the game is in short supply in the US and people are trying to figure out where they can find one.
comScore says that already more than $20 billion has been spent online during the holiday season that began November 1, a 19% increase over last year.
And among the Hitwise US Retail 100 index the most popular site was Amazon.com with Wal Mart coming second.
Word Of Mouth A Big Deal For Advertisers On Newspaper Web Sites
The Newspaper Association of America has come up with yet another reason why advertisers should be placing their Internet spend on newspaper web sites – that those readers are 52% more likely to share their opinions than those who do not go to newspaper web sites.
One train of thought is that if the reader trusts the newspaper web sites for its news then it will also trust that same site for its advertising.
Whatever it takes.
TNS wins BARB contract
Bad news week for Nielsen
To virtually nobody’s surprise, UK television audiences will be measured by TNS when the current Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) contract with AGB Nielsen expires in 2010. BARB made the announcement Tuesday (December 18). TNS is ‘delighted’. (Read TNS statement here) AGB Nielsen was ‘disappointed’.
The 'little' restructuring at TNS in September just might have provided the necessary cost savings.
The TNS/BARB deal is actually two contracts; a new viewer panel and the fixed TV meter system known as the ‘TNS 5000 Series Modular PeopleMeter’. According to TNS, the new arrangement with BARB allows ‘potential future’ use of the TotalMeter system, of which Arbitron’s PeopleMeter (PPM) is an integral part. The entire BARB tender process was slowed by Nielsen suing Arbitron over PPM patents.
Nielsen lawyers are receiving lots of holiday cheer. Last week Philippines television broadcaster ABS-CBN filed suit for damages arising from "systematic, organized” ratings distortion.(JMH)
A Poster For A Swiss Free Newspaper: “Zero Francs, Zero information”
A couple of Swiss high students are not enamored by free newspapers so they have taken to printing up their own posters to replace the posters the newspapers attach to their distribution bins. Thus instead of a poster promoting the free newspaper’s story and picture of Pamela Anderson the replacement poster read, “0 francs, zero information.”
According to the 24 Heures website the new posters are courtesy of a couple of high school students living near Geneva in Nyon. They said they were tired of the “dumbing down” marketing of the two free newspapers in the region, Le Martin Bleu and 20 Minutes.
As 24 Heures quoted the students, “Putting the latest implants of Pamela Anderson on the same level of importance as the masacres of Darfur is frankly disgusting. These newsapapers pretend to be free but in the end they end up costing a lot.” The two get early each weekday to make their poster substitutions.
The two newspapers in question are playing it cool. Tristan Cerf, Le Matin Bleu editor, said he considered the protest to be more “healthy and intelligent” than it was destructive and he said he has invited the students to express their views within the newspaper itself, but as of yet no response. Joseph Crisci, manager of 20 Minutes, said, “Obviously, we are not going to react to these provocations even if they involve damage to property.”
A Sure Sign The Political Advertising Season Has Started – First $1 Million Day Reached
The US television political advertising season has struck its first real milestone – December 10 was the first $1 million day. How long will it take until the $2 million day hits?
The candidates are spending big for the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries, both of which hit soon after the New Year’s celebrations.
And according to PQ Media, campaign advertising and marketing will increase 43% to an all-time high of $4.5 billion. “A key trend driving growth is that this is the first election since 1928 without a current member of the executive branch running for office, which has resulted in an unusually high number of presidential candidates participating in the primary season, as well as a discordant political landscape on several fronts,” according to PQ Media CEO Patrick Quinn.
Many television group owners have predicted that TV revenues will see a real spurt in 2008 from the political advertising.
What Will Naming And Shaming Those Baseball Players Do To Their Marketing Value?
When former Senator George Mitchell last week named some baseball greats whom he said had used performance-enhancing drugs, he urged that no discipline be taken against them. Perhaps be believed that naming and shaming for the more famous names would be penalty enough – that they would lose lucrative marketing deals?
As Ken Ungar, president of sports-business consultancy Ungar Strategies, told Advertising Age, “For their sake, I really hope they (the baseball players) have crisis-management plans in place.”
Will sponsors believe that such tainted sports stars can continue to be their best spokespeople to address America’s young? Or, like many other such scandals in the past when personalities have been accused of drug abuse, will time be a big healer and it’s just a question of how long to lay low?
And it may not be such an issue anyway, According to Advertising Age the majority of the players named are not active product endorsers and the initial comments coming from those marketing people deep into baseball indicate they are not overly concerned by the Mitchell Report, which, of course, is a great pity for baseball and the kids who follow every move in the sport.
What may prolong the scandal in the headlines is that the baseball commissioner says he may not follow Mitchell’s advice and will consider each case individually. That means the issue won’t go away quickly. And it shouldn’t.
Not Everything In Search Makes Piles Of Money As Schibsted Will Attest
Our ftm media sleuth in Oslo tells us that Schibsted’s Midas touch has failed it when it comes to its Sesam search engine. According to Dagens Naeringsliv Schibsted has lost some 321 million Norwegian kroner (€40 million, $59 million) and has now slashed staffing in half. It is now reorganized and is looking to create ad-word advertising in conjunction with the various Schibsted media brands.
Sesam is now owned 45% by VG, Schibsted’s tabloid that has the largest newspaper circulation in Norway, and 55% by finn.no.
Tribune Close To Finalizing Its Privatization
San Zell told a luncheon last week that he hopes to close his deal to take the Tribune Company private on Thursday, Dec. 20.
The way was cleared for the deal to be finalized when the Federal Communications Commission gave temporary waivers for two years in those markets where Tribune owns TV stations and newspapers. In Chicago it got a permanent waiver because it owned the newspaper and its television station before cross ownership rules came into play.
Even though it has those temporary waivers Tribune has appealed, saying it wants the waivers for Los Angeles and Hartford, Connecticut, to be permanent, too.
Internet Advertising Continues To Show Strength While Traditional Media Shows Weakness
US Internet display ads for the first three quarters of 2007 showed a 17.2% growth over the same period last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence, whereas for traditional media the increase was just 0.2%
But even that 17.2% growth is a slowdown, for the figure was 17.9% when comparing the first nine months of 2006 with 2005. TNS said.
Through September, the Internet accounted for 7.7% of the US ad spend, up from 6.6% in the year previous.
New TV channel for foreigners in Shanghai
…culture, fashion, Olympics…
Shanghai Media Group will debut a television channel for foreigners January 1st. The idea is to “showcase economic and cultural development” for foreigners. The channel will broadcast in English and Japanese with Chinese subtitles 19 hours a day.
International Channel Shanghai (ICS) will compete with government channel CCTV-9 for the hearts and minds of foreigners.
Athens (Greece) International Radio (AIR 104.4), operated by the city administration, began offering (December 15) an hour of Mandarin Chinese each night from China Radio International.(JMH)
Young journalist barred from Russia
…just published critical report…
Oh, well, we really don’t think Russian authorities will start taking criticism any better, do we? Sunday, reported by AP and The Moscow Times, 23 year old New Times journalist Natalya Morar was returning to Moscow, where she works, from Israel. Border guards told her she was “banned from entering the Russian Federation.”
As a Moldovan citizen Morar doesn’t – in theory – need a visa for Russia. The border guards told her to go back to Israel. But she didn’t have a multiple entry visa for Israel. Some friends hustled together some cash and she flew to Moldova.
Recently she wrote an investigative article on a Kremlin slush fund.(JMH)
French cameraman grabbed in Somalia
…$70,000 ransom demand…
A criminal band involved in human trafficking kidnapped French journalist Gwen Le Gouil Sunday near the port city of Bossaso. He was filming a report on human trafficking. Authorities said the kidnappers want $70,000.(JMH)
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