Thursday, May 7. 2009
Murdoch to charge for online newspaper websites
This morning the world’s most powerful media mogul, Rupert Murdoch, made the bold statement that free internet will soon be over. Rupert Murdoch declared News Corporation will soon charge for newspaper websites and that he expects to start charging for access within a year because according to Murdoch: “having free newspaper websites is a 'flawed' business model”.It seems his Wall Street Journal online subscription revenues are what has opened the debate on whether to charge, particularly at such a shaky time for the press, explaining: "That it is possible to charge for content on the web is obvious from the Wall Street Journal's experience."
The whole of Murdoch’s empire will be considered in this decision – with UK publications the Times, the Sunday Times, the Sun and the News of the World also in the online payment shift discussions, Murdoch said: "within the next 12 months‚" adding: "The current days of the internet will soon be over." A dramatic change to our online rights indeed.
Ad revenue in Britain fell by 21% and Murdoch revealed the Sunday Times is struggling with the tabloids doing better thanks to supermarkets’ print promotion spend. News Corp, like many large media organisations, has had to cut 3,000 jobs over the last year, although interestingly minimal journalists or "creative" personnel according to Murdoch.
But Murdoch is looking at this new option with optimism….
On the recession and state of the media in today’s climate, Murdoch this morning joked: "I'm not an economist and we all know economists were created to make weather forecasters look good," He also went on to say: "But it is increasingly clear the worst is over", predicting: "There are encouraging signs in some of our businesses that the days of precipitous declines are done, and things are beginning to look healthier."
But News Corp revealed that its interactive media division, which includes MySpace, had actually done less well. MySpace management was recently replaced as News Corp struggled to build a steady profit – yet Murdoch, renowned blunt business man, rejected competition from its larger rival, Facebook saying: "We're not going for the Facebook model of getting hundreds and hundreds of million of people who don't bring any advertising with them at all," he said.
The BBC also struck a similar chord recently by highlighting that people who watch online programmes are not obliged to pay for a TV licence and the BBC were also considering potential new ways to collect fees for content. The BBC last month argued that recent advances in the way people access television content need to be looked at, saying: "Legislative change is likely to be required in order to reflect technology changes in the licence fee regulations."
So will this new step by Murdoch to charge for online content pave the way for all other non financial newspaper websites? Will this see us revert to buying a good old fashioned newspaper to read on the train – or will we stick to our online and convenient media consumption? More importantly, will people begrudge paying a fee on principle? What will happen in this battle over content rights and whether one should pay or not?
Will someone as influential as Murdoch change the face of online newspapers, and will others follow suit – or will this end up isolating the News Corp brand and enable its ‘online friendly and free’ competitors to benefit? Get your money worth now and log on….
It seems his Wall Street Journal online subscription revenues are what has opened the debate on whether to charge, particularly at such a shaky time for the press, explaining: "That it is possible to charge for content on the web is obvious from the Wall Street Journal's experience."
The whole of Murdoch’s empire will be considered in this decision – with UK publications the Times, the Sunday Times, the Sun and the News of the World also in the online payment shift discussions, Murdoch said: "within the next 12 months‚" adding: "The current days of the internet will soon be over." A dramatic change to our online rights indeed.
Ad revenue in Britain fell by 21% and Murdoch revealed the Sunday Times is struggling with the tabloids doing better thanks to supermarkets’ print promotion spend. News Corp, like many large media organisations, has had to cut 3,000 jobs over the last year, although interestingly minimal journalists or "creative" personnel according to Murdoch.
But Murdoch is looking at this new option with optimism….
On the recession and state of the media in today’s climate, Murdoch this morning joked: "I'm not an economist and we all know economists were created to make weather forecasters look good," He also went on to say: "But it is increasingly clear the worst is over", predicting: "There are encouraging signs in some of our businesses that the days of precipitous declines are done, and things are beginning to look healthier."
But News Corp revealed that its interactive media division, which includes MySpace, had actually done less well. MySpace management was recently replaced as News Corp struggled to build a steady profit – yet Murdoch, renowned blunt business man, rejected competition from its larger rival, Facebook saying: "We're not going for the Facebook model of getting hundreds and hundreds of million of people who don't bring any advertising with them at all," he said.
The BBC also struck a similar chord recently by highlighting that people who watch online programmes are not obliged to pay for a TV licence and the BBC were also considering potential new ways to collect fees for content. The BBC last month argued that recent advances in the way people access television content need to be looked at, saying: "Legislative change is likely to be required in order to reflect technology changes in the licence fee regulations."
So will this new step by Murdoch to charge for online content pave the way for all other non financial newspaper websites? Will this see us revert to buying a good old fashioned newspaper to read on the train – or will we stick to our online and convenient media consumption? More importantly, will people begrudge paying a fee on principle? What will happen in this battle over content rights and whether one should pay or not?
Will someone as influential as Murdoch change the face of online newspapers, and will others follow suit – or will this end up isolating the News Corp brand and enable its ‘online friendly and free’ competitors to benefit? Get your money worth now and log on….
Tuesday, April 28. 2009
A first for the BBC – as they offer resources to news services in a bid to save regional news
Today an industry summit in
The summit – put in place to discuss the recent newspaper crisis concerning the recent fall in advertising revenues, gathered industry leaders from the BBC, ITV, ITN and Channel 4 as well as editors and publishers of national, regional and local press including Helen Boaden, Head of News for the BBC, and controller of the English regions, David Holdsworth.
The event was set up to help struggling local newspapers in particular – with Burnham himself a supporter of local media, and looking to help find a solution to the ongoing problems.
A positive move by the BBC which is set to provide content for local newspapers and free video content access for their websites – plus free access and training to its school of journalism, sharing audio content with community and local radio reporters, and access to BBC iPlayer technology also.
The concept of sharing resources has apparently been discussed by the BBC for quite a while now, with ITV also agreeing to share studio space to support regional news services in a similar deal. The BBC and ITV have an existing agreement with ITV, scaling back their regional news operations, and sharing BBC's studio space and production facilities. National newspapers including the Daily Telegraph as well as local TV stations such as
A senior BBC source said of the new plans: “The industry needs to pull together to weather the financial storm. While the BBC is also facing significant economic challenges, it can play a valuable role in underpinning public service broadcasting, and in helping to ensure wider choice and diversity, at a time when the industry is grappling with huge strategic challenges.”
So is this never before step by the BBC a result of government pressure to help save commercial rivals with their guaranteed licence fee income – or the BBC beating them to it? Surely the BBC is benefiting by striking up partnerships on its own before it is pushed to do so – and these talks will indeed help shape the government's response which communications minister Lord Carter, will announce in his final Digital Britain report in the summer.
This new concept of sharing resources and enabling partnerships to stretch further – not just within broadcast but including other local and national media also, must be considered a good move in the media world – for all parties involved. Merging these communications industries is set to produce a new era of cooperation, so let’s see how these new friendships develop…
markettiers4dc have been championing 15 years of convergence so nice to see the big boys catching up with us!
Thursday, April 9. 2009
This week two commercial radio stations were warned by Media regulator Ofcom for not broadcasting enough local content – both Bath FM and
Ofcom monitored the stations, reporting that the vast majority of Bath FM’s output was made up of music on loop and repetitive commercials, and its news bulletins were all national provided by an external supplier leaving out all local stories….it seems the presenters were not even on air between 10am and 2pm! Brunel FM was the same – no presenters between 11am and 2pm or local material and a "general lack of non-music content".
Following the warning from Ofcom and further monitoring, they said of the findings "We considered that the overall editorial quality of local news bulletins we heard on both stations during the [January] monitoring period was poor, particularly in the sense that the local bulletins were all pre-recorded and constantly repeated," the watchdog stated.
Ofcom went on to say "This is inconsistent with Ofcom's published localness guidelines and, on that basis, the requirement in Bath FM's format for the station to have 'a strong commitment to local news' or Brunel FM's format requirement to be a 'friendly, locally involved radio station…focusing on local news.'"
More worryingly, the examination brought to light the stations use of old content and their "..failure to deliver other local material satisfactorily was exacerbated by automation problems, which meant out-of-date material was sometimes broadcast," Ofcom said.
In response to being told off, South West Radio acknowledged this was "not acceptable" and plan to redeem themselves by introducing a local lunch time show on both stations and devoting more air time to local shows and content.
Ofcom continue to monitor stations and support for local content and news, so perhaps a reminder to other stations and brands of course, of the importance of local information.
(Click here for a free map covering all commercial radio stations across the
Friday, April 3. 2009
Last week the BBC revealed exciting new plans for a new Radio iPlayer equivalent – which would mean making radio content just as accessible as TV.
The BBC’s idea to create an on-demand, catch-up service for UK radio looks like there may soon be a downloadable radio service for listeners, meaning Radio listeners will no longer be made to search commercial stations such as Capital Radio or Heart FM on individual websites. BBC are in talks with commercial radio stations to showcase all UK radio so every radio station in Britain will be put on one website by the BBC (to also fit with its plans to create more 'partnerships' and protect its £3.5bn annual licence).
Tim Davie, Head of Audio and Music for the BBC, wants to introduce this service to all broadcasters to make all radio programmes downloadable from one place. This will mean listeners (and PRs chasing coverage!) can find missed radio programmes in one place (with BBC programmes sitting side by side with commercial programmes).
This could also be a positive move following the recent government Digital Britain Report, and could increase the popularity of digital radio.
James, Head of Future Media & Technology for BBC Audio & Music Interactive stressed it is still early days for the new venture, so discussions between the BBC and commercial radio across the UK to gauge opinions are still in motion.
Longer-term proposals include ‘Radio Plus’, similar to that of Sky+ to operate across digital devices to offer the sort of pre-booking services found on Sky+ and other personal video recorders.
So will a Radio iPlayer version be as popular as it is online – and will it attract the audience levels and success of the current BBC iPlayer? It will certainly be useful for us as PROs chasing coverage, and also offer convenience for listeners to play back radio programmes as and when they choose. We will have to wait and see if it reaches the phenomenal success levels of the BBC iPlayer….
Friday, March 20. 2009
Switch on to ‘Sun Talk’ – is this the model for the future?
Today The Sun will reveal details of its plans to launch a new online radio station – a first for The Sun, and
Publishers such as the Telegraph Media Group have invested in launching Telegraph TV, and Guardian News and Guardian Media also produce well-received podcasts and video.
However, to date no newspaper has launched an audio-only, online radio station – so a first and perhaps model for the future?
‘Sun Talk’ goes live in a month’s time, April 20 and is set to run from their new purpose-built £1million multimedia studios from its Wapping headquarters.
Former TalkSPORT host Jon Gaunt, The Sun columnist will be hosting their first programme, a three hour morning show set to feature Conservative leader David Cameron MP as its first guest (a bold statement in itself). According to a Wapping source, the new station aims to reach 150,000 listeners in year one, but it is not clear whether The Sun’s three million readers will take the time out of their day to tune in….
The sunonline.co.uk reached 21.9 million unique users to its site during January 2009, according to ABCE. So will its new radio station and audience loyalty transfer to online radio also?
Journalists will be able to use the studios for all of its titles (The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and News of the World), and is part of the bigger picture for News International’s vision to expand its audio and video content – and step up its media/digital activity.
markettiers4dc are already ahead of the game – having embraced the concept of convergence for a long time now with our onsite TV and Radio studios, enabling us to produce content via live or pre-recorded items, WebTV online (live, interactive or on-demand), podcasts, vodcasts and more as and when we wish. So now the big boys are also branching out into integrating mediums, does this mean The Sun will pave the way for more?
Certainly, if a force as strong as News International Corporation is moving into convergence then surely this is a sign of things to come? And unless companies keep up with this, and use these modern channels to communicate with their audiences – then are they in danger of getting left behind?
Learn more about convergence come to one of our workshops here in our studios.
