Lot's of noise and dissonance in the media world right now. The most entertaining debate surrounds the launch of Chris Anderson's new book - Free: The Future of a Radical Price. - http://www.amazon.com/Free-Future-Radical-Chris-Anderson/dp/1401322905
I was fortunate to see Chris present the early concept back in 2008 at an Analog Devices sponsored event in Silicon Valley where he stunned the engineering based audience by compelling to accept the "fact" that transistors are practically "free" and semiconductor companies need to make their money by providing services around those transistors. This theory went down like a lead balloon and there was a great deal of gnashing of teeth and mumblings of Fabs costing billions of dollars etc.
The launch of Free was somewhat sullied by a furor over sources and the use of Wikipedia - http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2009/06/corrections-in-the-digital-editions-of-free.html but this has been forgotten as Malcolm Gladwell (author of Blink etc) stridently disagreed with the basis of Anderson's new theory in his article in the New Yorker - http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2009/07/06/090706crbo_books_gladwell?currentPage=all.
Since then, Seth Godin has come out supporting Anderson - http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/06/malcolm-is-wrong.html and Anderson himself has responded to Gladwell on his Long Tail Blog - http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2009/06/dear-malcolm-why-so-threatened.html and the Guardian in the UK has also weighed in - http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/01/comment-free-media-revenue-models.
The attention that this is getting in the media obsessed media world is mainly because Anderson has touched a nerve about the future of the media industry and how the web is killing newspapers and journalism and, by default, the entire 4th estate! If I remember the presentation that Chris gave at the Analog Devices event, he actually said that business models would be changed to free, "freemium" and paid....book writers would give away the book and charge for book tours, speaking assignments etc. Creators of music are making money from live tours nowadays and not as much from record sales.
It is clear that the media business model is broken, advertising is not supporting quality reporting and that a paid content model is key. The boundaries are blurry and the new rules are elusive but I firmly believe that this is a reset, a revolution and not incremental change.
I'll be buying the book....$17.81 on Amazon.....or you can read some of it here http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-07/mf_freer and I'm told a Free version will be available in digital form.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
The Economist and success
Some good pick up today on the stellar financial results from The Economist. Check out - http://www.buzzmachine.com/2009/06/22/oh-to-be-the-economist/ and http://paidcontent.org/article/419-earnings-economist-powers-ahead-in-print-ft-cutting-more-costs/.
In short, The Economist increased revenues by 17% and profits by 26% in their past financial year.
The Economist is the only "newspaper" that I read regularly anymore and certainly the only one I subscribe to. It has a unique, high quality voice and provides a global view with a huge dose of opinion and attitude.
It's website is strong - www.economist.com - although I don't spend as much time there as with the print product. As Jeff Jarvis points out on his buzz machine blog post linked above, there is room for one high quality leader in all markets - he mentions Apple and The Economist - in the BtoB world, the maniacal focus on cost cutting has compromised quality - who is brave enough to stake out the position?
In short, The Economist increased revenues by 17% and profits by 26% in their past financial year.
The Economist is the only "newspaper" that I read regularly anymore and certainly the only one I subscribe to. It has a unique, high quality voice and provides a global view with a huge dose of opinion and attitude.
It's website is strong - www.economist.com - although I don't spend as much time there as with the print product. As Jeff Jarvis points out on his buzz machine blog post linked above, there is room for one high quality leader in all markets - he mentions Apple and The Economist - in the BtoB world, the maniacal focus on cost cutting has compromised quality - who is brave enough to stake out the position?
Friday, June 12, 2009
Advertising equals failure?
Well, for those of us in media, Jeff Jarvis adds another layer of chaos - http://www.buzzmachine.com/2009/06/06/decencyad/ - It's an interesting theory and one that I don't entirely disagree with.
For all the talk and chatter surrounding Twitter and Facebook and MySpace (ouch!) and LinkedIn, it does all come back to the basics of having a great product.
How people find out about that product is changing. Clearly, the best way is for a whole bunch of influential people to recommend your product and company but that is not easy.
What I will say is that the media companies that are still waiting for this chaos to end and a return to the "good old days" are toast. Those that are dealing in incremental improvements are gambling with their future - it really is revolution not evolution...
For all the talk and chatter surrounding Twitter and Facebook and MySpace (ouch!) and LinkedIn, it does all come back to the basics of having a great product.
How people find out about that product is changing. Clearly, the best way is for a whole bunch of influential people to recommend your product and company but that is not easy.
What I will say is that the media companies that are still waiting for this chaos to end and a return to the "good old days" are toast. Those that are dealing in incremental improvements are gambling with their future - it really is revolution not evolution...
Monday, June 08, 2009
Running a marathon through mud
Arrgghhhh...almost 3 months since my last Blog post and my old colleague and friend at Electronics Weekly, David Manners, is posting twice a day on his Mannerisms Blog - http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/david-manners-semiconductor-blog/
In another attempt to start my blogging engines, check out this excellent You Tube video sent to me by John Reardon of RTC Group - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CqRcCHk_Pc
I am still trying to understand when we begin to pull out of this recession and note that the electronics analysts are seemingly calling -21% "...OK..." (my interpretation) - http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217702118
In my world -21% is, well, minus TWENTY ONE PERCENT....
Back to following the Tweets
In another attempt to start my blogging engines, check out this excellent You Tube video sent to me by John Reardon of RTC Group - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CqRcCHk_Pc
I am still trying to understand when we begin to pull out of this recession and note that the electronics analysts are seemingly calling -21% "...OK..." (my interpretation) - http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217702118
In my world -21% is, well, minus TWENTY ONE PERCENT....
Back to following the Tweets
Friday, March 20, 2009
A new digital dawn...?
In my travels over the past three weeks I have been a keen observer of the reading habits of my fellow travelers. There are a fair share of newspapers and magazines and, the book still seems popular with an even split between fiction, non-fiction and business volumes. I have also noticed the first appearance of the new Amazon Kindle, and a very nice looking device it is too! http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading-Device/dp/B000FI73MA
Yesterday, I actually got to play with one of these new devices and, as an avid book reader, I was ready to write it off as the latest ‘intellectually lazy’ attempt of the technology industry to replace the ‘experience’ of reading a book with a literal translation of the experience in the digital form. After 5 minutes, I was hooked – the thin form factor and ease of use coupled with the easy to read screen quickly ensured that I was reading pages, searching for books and magazines and newspapers via the embedded wireless connection. At $350 in today’s economic environment, I’m not sure what the adoption will be like but I think I will take the plunge as an early birthday present!
The Kindle experience followed a brief stopover to present at the Folio Growth Conference - http://www.foliosummit.com/ in Chicago where I bumped into our EETimes Edge – http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cmp/eetimes030909/index.php#/0 - digital print supplier, NXtBooks – http://www.nxtbooks.com/ – and they demoed their 3.0 release.
EETimes was one of the first BtoB publications to experiment with digital delivery as early as 2001 and we have taken some ‘arrows in the back’ as the advertising community decided to write off the digital reach due to the low open rates. Of course, the media companies didn’t help by refusing to disclose the open rates as they were scarily low and the fear was that advertisers would assume similar low open rates for the actual printed copies resulting in lower rates etc.
Despite this, when given the choice, many readers chose the digital version of EETimes over the print version for a variety of reasons ranging from the search functions through to the environmental advantages of a PDF over paper. Today, over 50% of EETimes is delivered to readers in digital format as requested by our readers.
The CEO of NxtBooks, Michael Biggerstaff has confirmed that EETimes Edge is one of the top 10 performers in the extensive Nxtbooks stable. With average click through rates of 6.48% per reader and 67% increase of time spent reading the digital edition to an average of 13 minutes and 22 seconds in 2008. Add in the astounding figure of almost 8 million page views (a 17.4% increase) in 2008 and it is clear that there is reader engagement.
So, where is the advertiser engagement? I saw another piece of data this week (more to come in another Blog) that was based on research showing that a print marketing campaign can lift lead generation results by 115% - the fact is that the brand of the advertiser plays all the way through to the sales leads they can create and the search result performance they can achieve.
With platforms such as the Kindle 2 and software such as NxtBooks 3.0, it is time for advertisers to engage with digital magazines and not write it off – your next customer is already there.
Yesterday, I actually got to play with one of these new devices and, as an avid book reader, I was ready to write it off as the latest ‘intellectually lazy’ attempt of the technology industry to replace the ‘experience’ of reading a book with a literal translation of the experience in the digital form. After 5 minutes, I was hooked – the thin form factor and ease of use coupled with the easy to read screen quickly ensured that I was reading pages, searching for books and magazines and newspapers via the embedded wireless connection. At $350 in today’s economic environment, I’m not sure what the adoption will be like but I think I will take the plunge as an early birthday present!
The Kindle experience followed a brief stopover to present at the Folio Growth Conference - http://www.foliosummit.com/ in Chicago where I bumped into our EETimes Edge – http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cmp/eetimes030909/index.php#/0 - digital print supplier, NXtBooks – http://www.nxtbooks.com/ – and they demoed their 3.0 release.
EETimes was one of the first BtoB publications to experiment with digital delivery as early as 2001 and we have taken some ‘arrows in the back’ as the advertising community decided to write off the digital reach due to the low open rates. Of course, the media companies didn’t help by refusing to disclose the open rates as they were scarily low and the fear was that advertisers would assume similar low open rates for the actual printed copies resulting in lower rates etc.
Despite this, when given the choice, many readers chose the digital version of EETimes over the print version for a variety of reasons ranging from the search functions through to the environmental advantages of a PDF over paper. Today, over 50% of EETimes is delivered to readers in digital format as requested by our readers.
The CEO of NxtBooks, Michael Biggerstaff has confirmed that EETimes Edge is one of the top 10 performers in the extensive Nxtbooks stable. With average click through rates of 6.48% per reader and 67% increase of time spent reading the digital edition to an average of 13 minutes and 22 seconds in 2008. Add in the astounding figure of almost 8 million page views (a 17.4% increase) in 2008 and it is clear that there is reader engagement.
So, where is the advertiser engagement? I saw another piece of data this week (more to come in another Blog) that was based on research showing that a print marketing campaign can lift lead generation results by 115% - the fact is that the brand of the advertiser plays all the way through to the sales leads they can create and the search result performance they can achieve.
With platforms such as the Kindle 2 and software such as NxtBooks 3.0, it is time for advertisers to engage with digital magazines and not write it off – your next customer is already there.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
It's actually about the audience.....
I have been watching and reading from the sidelines as far as the debate surrounding PR and how companies can become (or will become) publishers and that as journalists are increasingly exiting media companies they will become the answer to vendors who need to "professionalize" their content and packaging.
Well, after reading Brian Fuller's latest Blog - http://greeleysghost.blogspot.com/2009/01/its-about-content-and-packaging-yes-its.html - on this subject, I feel compelled to jump in. Firstly, and the one thing that continues to bug me the most in this whole discussion (in fact it bugs me consistently as far the future of media is discussed) is that there is little discussion of the audience.
The information world is not as simple as hiring a content person, packaging it well and then claiming that you are a "publisher" - in the simple definition of the word, you are actually "publishing" something and, it may well look pretty but, the audience is very savvy.
The real test of whether you can be a real "publisher" or "media company" is if you would be willing to feature content that states that your arch rivals solution could be better than yours...now that would be suicidal for most marketing executives. The customer/reader, especially the engineering customer has "trusted sources" - some are the long standing media companies, some are colleagues, some are peers and some are contacts within various vendor companies. The judge of great content nowadays is the consumer -if a great sponsored white paper helps solve a problem, it doesn't matter if it was created by a vendor or an editor but, there is a reason why engineers go to trusted sources to find such information.
So, I'd like to change the debate and call things what they really are. The vendor as publisher is actually the vendor as "better PR and information provider" - it's something that all vendors can immediately improve upon and many will need to. Brian's right when he states that you must concentrate on content and packaging but you also have to concentrate first on the audience...what problem are you solving? How will you reach them? Where are they in the design cycle? What is your call to action? How will you nurture the lead(s) you create and measure them? Who is your audience partner and who reaches your potential customers? (I assume that you have a great database of current customers!)
Remember that this audience (as described by Brian when at EETimes) have the most finely tuned Bullsh*t detectors of any professional audience. They know a sales shtick when they see one/read one.
The impartial, trusted media/publishing companies will continue to be important - they will change, there will be fewer of the traditional ones and a whole host of new and emerging models - the leaders will continue to aggregate the audience and guide engineers to your well crafted and packaged content!
One last point, brand matters - in risky, unprecedented economic times such as these, engineers will partner with the brands that are seen as technologically sound, financially safe and ones that they trust/are connected to. It's no coincidence that many mutual funds are now promoting their "Safe Return" funds...don't go dark, don't hide away - that just suggests that things may not be well at your company and you become a "risk"....
Well, after reading Brian Fuller's latest Blog - http://greeleysghost.blogspot.com/2009/01/its-about-content-and-packaging-yes-its.html - on this subject, I feel compelled to jump in. Firstly, and the one thing that continues to bug me the most in this whole discussion (in fact it bugs me consistently as far the future of media is discussed) is that there is little discussion of the audience.
The information world is not as simple as hiring a content person, packaging it well and then claiming that you are a "publisher" - in the simple definition of the word, you are actually "publishing" something and, it may well look pretty but, the audience is very savvy.
The real test of whether you can be a real "publisher" or "media company" is if you would be willing to feature content that states that your arch rivals solution could be better than yours...now that would be suicidal for most marketing executives. The customer/reader, especially the engineering customer has "trusted sources" - some are the long standing media companies, some are colleagues, some are peers and some are contacts within various vendor companies. The judge of great content nowadays is the consumer -if a great sponsored white paper helps solve a problem, it doesn't matter if it was created by a vendor or an editor but, there is a reason why engineers go to trusted sources to find such information.
So, I'd like to change the debate and call things what they really are. The vendor as publisher is actually the vendor as "better PR and information provider" - it's something that all vendors can immediately improve upon and many will need to. Brian's right when he states that you must concentrate on content and packaging but you also have to concentrate first on the audience...what problem are you solving? How will you reach them? Where are they in the design cycle? What is your call to action? How will you nurture the lead(s) you create and measure them? Who is your audience partner and who reaches your potential customers? (I assume that you have a great database of current customers!)
Remember that this audience (as described by Brian when at EETimes) have the most finely tuned Bullsh*t detectors of any professional audience. They know a sales shtick when they see one/read one.
The impartial, trusted media/publishing companies will continue to be important - they will change, there will be fewer of the traditional ones and a whole host of new and emerging models - the leaders will continue to aggregate the audience and guide engineers to your well crafted and packaged content!
One last point, brand matters - in risky, unprecedented economic times such as these, engineers will partner with the brands that are seen as technologically sound, financially safe and ones that they trust/are connected to. It's no coincidence that many mutual funds are now promoting their "Safe Return" funds...don't go dark, don't hide away - that just suggests that things may not be well at your company and you become a "risk"....
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
What the numbers tell us
The amount of ink or bits & bytes that is used to cover the demise of print media is simply staggering. Despite the fact that advertisers are continuing to move a greater proportion of their marketing dollars away from print and into online solutions (including their own websites and web communities) and into driving leads into their databases (from white paper downloads to webinars to live events) we still focus on the pain and lament the fact that there is a huge shift going on in the media world. My take is that print is becoming a tertiary information vehicle in the US with online and events/community a real player. Print remains important for some readers but not others and that's OK!
There are still people out there that want and enjoy print in the BtoB space but they don't want it or enjoy it enough to pay for it!!
Contrast this with the fact that EETimes.com recorded record traffic in the months of October and November- over 1.1 million unique visitors - astounding reach and, heres the kicker, many of them were reading long analysis pieces that have been the domain of print publications. In fact, these analysis pieces were among the top 10 traffic drivers for the month of October.
Now, couple this with the advertisers insatiable hunger to drive new leads into their databases and to launch new products to a wide audience and it becomes clear why the print medium in the US BtoB space is challenged.
Of course those media houses that have little online traction will either need to buy their way in or continue to laud the merits of print and hope that those who are resistent to the change will "stay the course" of print advertising. We recently took the decision to reduce the EETimes frequency to bi-weekly and lead the inventory reduction that the market needs. At the same time, we are working on some very exciting plans in the online area as we re-envision what a BtoB media business should look like today and into the future.
Change, as we know, is very painful and creates a whole host of emotional reactions from anger to resistance but, change is necessary and is being forced upon us by a whole new generation of information gathering habits.
Despite all of the doom and gloom that assails my inbox every day, I have to say that I am surprized at how few media outlets picked up the fact that we recently acquired Sanguine Microelectronics based in Shanghai...surely in these dark economic times, a company investing and acquiring in our space is more uplifting than constant reporting on debt laden publishers, sell offs (or not!) and print declines? I guess not.
There are still people out there that want and enjoy print in the BtoB space but they don't want it or enjoy it enough to pay for it!!
Contrast this with the fact that EETimes.com recorded record traffic in the months of October and November- over 1.1 million unique visitors - astounding reach and, heres the kicker, many of them were reading long analysis pieces that have been the domain of print publications. In fact, these analysis pieces were among the top 10 traffic drivers for the month of October.
Now, couple this with the advertisers insatiable hunger to drive new leads into their databases and to launch new products to a wide audience and it becomes clear why the print medium in the US BtoB space is challenged.
Of course those media houses that have little online traction will either need to buy their way in or continue to laud the merits of print and hope that those who are resistent to the change will "stay the course" of print advertising. We recently took the decision to reduce the EETimes frequency to bi-weekly and lead the inventory reduction that the market needs. At the same time, we are working on some very exciting plans in the online area as we re-envision what a BtoB media business should look like today and into the future.
Change, as we know, is very painful and creates a whole host of emotional reactions from anger to resistance but, change is necessary and is being forced upon us by a whole new generation of information gathering habits.
Despite all of the doom and gloom that assails my inbox every day, I have to say that I am surprized at how few media outlets picked up the fact that we recently acquired Sanguine Microelectronics based in Shanghai...surely in these dark economic times, a company investing and acquiring in our space is more uplifting than constant reporting on debt laden publishers, sell offs (or not!) and print declines? I guess not.
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