paidcontent reporting:
According to figures from ZenithOptimedia,
global advertising revenues will reach $486 billion in 2012, a rise of
4.7 percent compared to 2011. With wider economic pressures bearing down
on the overall ad market, digital ad spend is still seeing healthy
growth: it will account for slightly more than one-fifth of all ad
spend, but more than half of all growth, as advertisers become more
confident in digital media metrics, and the ad industry gets more
sophisticated in what it offers to brands and publishers in the name of
digital advertising—which will remain a key way of funding digital
content, as media companies continue to tinker with other charging
models. Here are some specific areas to watch in this space:
Social media and advertising. Social
networks already make money from marketing and advertising
services—according to an estimate from eMarketer in September, Facebook
apparently will have made some $3.8 billion in advertising revenue in
2011—so 2012 will be the year that we see more social networks, not just
Facebook, look at leveraging their audiences to grow this even more.
These advertising services will be a crucial piece to put into place
for Facebook in particular as it gears up for a widely-expected IPO.
Keeping in mind recent IPOs for Groupon (NSDQ: GRPN)
and Zynga, in which people questioned the longer-term business models
for these social media properties, Facebook will be looking for big and
consistent sources of revenue to demonstrate to the investor community
that it has a solid foundation for the long haul...
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-whats-coming-in-2012-digital-advertising-up-close-and-personal/
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
2011: The Year In Book Publishing, By The Numbers
paidcontent reporting:
From Borders’ bankruptcy to Amazon’s ambitions, it was a busy year in book publishing. Here are five numbers to put 2011 in focus.
20: The percentage of book sales that are digital at big-six publishers Random House and Hachette, with other publishers well on their way to reaching that point. It’s estimated that e-books made up 6.4 percent of the trade book market in 2010, and though we don’t yet have an overall figure for 2011, we know many publishers saw triple-digit e-book growth this year thanks to the increased availability of books in digital formats and affordability of e-readers. In addition, Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) reported this year that it now sells more e-books than print books. Companies without a plan for the digital shift (some argue that includes big-six publishers) are in danger of obscurity; this year, bankrupt bookstore chain Borders shuttered its remaining stores.
$79: The price of Amazon’s cheapest Kindle, the ad-supported Kindle 4 with Special Offers. In the last quarter of this year, we saw e-ink e-readers drop below $100 for the first time—and not just older models but the newest-generation devices. The Kindle Touch with Special Offers is $99, the ad-supported Kobo Touch with Offers is $99.99 and Barnes & Noble’s ad-free Nook Simple Touch is now $99. The e-readers’ sub-$100 prices move them into impulse-purchase territory, while Amazon’s $199 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet has emerged as the first credible iPad competitor.
100,000+: The number of original e-singles that longform journalism site Byliner has sold since April. Many newspaper, magazine, book and website publishers, from the LA Times to kids’ book publisher Scholastic, started publishing e-singles this year—standalone works of fiction and nonfiction that are longer than typical articles but shorter than full-length books. E-singles are a logical (and inexpensive) way to monetize previously published content or introduce new ideas “at their natural length,” as Amazon’s Kindle Singles puts it. It remains to be seen whether e-singles priced at $1.99 or $2.99 can bring publishers a significant source of revenue, but 2011 provided us with many testing grounds.
$9.99: The price around which class-action lawsuits against Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and publishers are centered, and the price that Amazon charged for a New York Times (NYSE: NYT) bestseller before big-six publishers adopted agency pricing, which allows them to set the prices of their own e-books.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-highlights-of-2011-the-year-in-publishing-by-the-numbers/
From Borders’ bankruptcy to Amazon’s ambitions, it was a busy year in book publishing. Here are five numbers to put 2011 in focus.
20: The percentage of book sales that are digital at big-six publishers Random House and Hachette, with other publishers well on their way to reaching that point. It’s estimated that e-books made up 6.4 percent of the trade book market in 2010, and though we don’t yet have an overall figure for 2011, we know many publishers saw triple-digit e-book growth this year thanks to the increased availability of books in digital formats and affordability of e-readers. In addition, Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) reported this year that it now sells more e-books than print books. Companies without a plan for the digital shift (some argue that includes big-six publishers) are in danger of obscurity; this year, bankrupt bookstore chain Borders shuttered its remaining stores.
$79: The price of Amazon’s cheapest Kindle, the ad-supported Kindle 4 with Special Offers. In the last quarter of this year, we saw e-ink e-readers drop below $100 for the first time—and not just older models but the newest-generation devices. The Kindle Touch with Special Offers is $99, the ad-supported Kobo Touch with Offers is $99.99 and Barnes & Noble’s ad-free Nook Simple Touch is now $99. The e-readers’ sub-$100 prices move them into impulse-purchase territory, while Amazon’s $199 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet has emerged as the first credible iPad competitor.
100,000+: The number of original e-singles that longform journalism site Byliner has sold since April. Many newspaper, magazine, book and website publishers, from the LA Times to kids’ book publisher Scholastic, started publishing e-singles this year—standalone works of fiction and nonfiction that are longer than typical articles but shorter than full-length books. E-singles are a logical (and inexpensive) way to monetize previously published content or introduce new ideas “at their natural length,” as Amazon’s Kindle Singles puts it. It remains to be seen whether e-singles priced at $1.99 or $2.99 can bring publishers a significant source of revenue, but 2011 provided us with many testing grounds.
$9.99: The price around which class-action lawsuits against Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and publishers are centered, and the price that Amazon charged for a New York Times (NYSE: NYT) bestseller before big-six publishers adopted agency pricing, which allows them to set the prices of their own e-books.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-highlights-of-2011-the-year-in-publishing-by-the-numbers/
What’s Coming In 2012: Book Publishing
paidcontent reporting:
Amazon and Barnes & Noble make a deal, sort of: As Amazon becomes a full-fledged publisher, it has not yet dealt with its bookstore distribution problem. For now, bricks-and-mortar bookstores are still an important place of discovery of new titles. While some have argued that Amazon will simply ignore these bookstores, that the company always takes a long-term strategy and that it won’t care if it misses some physical store sales, I think the company’s recent beefing-up of its force of sales reps suggests it does consider bricks-and-mortar stores at least somewhat significant for now. And with the company publishing books by more high-profile authors like Tim Ferriss and Penny Marshall, readers will be looking for those books in stores.
While a few indies have said they’ll be reluctant to carry Amazon books, Barnes & Noble has said straight out that it won’t carry Amazon titles in print in stores if it can’t also sell them as e-books. I predict that Amazon will offer a select number of new titles, in both print and digital formats, to Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS). The arrangement will probably be less than ideal for Barnes & Noble in some way, because I think Amazon will try to find a way to use Barnes & Noble stores as showrooms while still directing buyers to Amazon.com (NSDQ: AMZN). Maybe Amazon will set high list prices on all of its own new digital titles (it’s already done this with its upcoming Tim Ferriss book), while continuing to sell those books at major discounts in the Kindle store.
E-book pricing will shift to quality-focused debates: The e-book pricing debate up to now has generally focused on the idea that all e-books should cost the same and that all should be priced low. But why should a self-published or mass market thriller necessarily cost the same as a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel in e-book form? It doesn’t make sense to me to say that all e-books should cost $9.99 or less.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-whats-coming-in-2012-book-publishing/
Amazon and Barnes & Noble make a deal, sort of: As Amazon becomes a full-fledged publisher, it has not yet dealt with its bookstore distribution problem. For now, bricks-and-mortar bookstores are still an important place of discovery of new titles. While some have argued that Amazon will simply ignore these bookstores, that the company always takes a long-term strategy and that it won’t care if it misses some physical store sales, I think the company’s recent beefing-up of its force of sales reps suggests it does consider bricks-and-mortar stores at least somewhat significant for now. And with the company publishing books by more high-profile authors like Tim Ferriss and Penny Marshall, readers will be looking for those books in stores.
While a few indies have said they’ll be reluctant to carry Amazon books, Barnes & Noble has said straight out that it won’t carry Amazon titles in print in stores if it can’t also sell them as e-books. I predict that Amazon will offer a select number of new titles, in both print and digital formats, to Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS). The arrangement will probably be less than ideal for Barnes & Noble in some way, because I think Amazon will try to find a way to use Barnes & Noble stores as showrooms while still directing buyers to Amazon.com (NSDQ: AMZN). Maybe Amazon will set high list prices on all of its own new digital titles (it’s already done this with its upcoming Tim Ferriss book), while continuing to sell those books at major discounts in the Kindle store.
E-book pricing will shift to quality-focused debates: The e-book pricing debate up to now has generally focused on the idea that all e-books should cost the same and that all should be priced low. But why should a self-published or mass market thriller necessarily cost the same as a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel in e-book form? It doesn’t make sense to me to say that all e-books should cost $9.99 or less.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-whats-coming-in-2012-book-publishing/
2012: Rise Of Metrics, End Of Click-Through Rates Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/164989/2012-rise-of-metrics-end-of-click-through-rates.html?edition=41748#ixzz1iPGz9Y7Q
Mediapost reporting: Metrics and measurement will become a major tool in 2012 for
advertisers looking to quantify campaigns. Industry execs have been
talking about it for years, but Solve Media CEO and cofounder Ari Jacoby
believes the movement will begin to materialize next year.
"At least one major industry will do away with the click-through rate for brand campaigns," Jacoby said. "For display, I get the sense that all the exchanges that have cropped up will have challenges. They will continue to be measured on the delivery of the click-through rate, but there won't be enough to go around and prices will drop precipitously."
Jacoby believes brands will begin hearing more about "cheap CPMs" for non-viewable commodity inventory -- the type of ad space that serves up below the online fold on a Web page where the person viewing the page must scroll down to see the advertisement. While it is counted as an impression, no one sees it because the ad unit literally sits at the bottom of the page or too far off to the side.
Ad rates will come down significantly in 2012 because the units aren't valuable. There are only so many top positions on a publisher's Web site. Buyers will increasingly require audience participation far beyond what the industry refers to as "engagement," Jacoby said.
The ad industry will move toward brand lift metrics in 2012, as a replacement for click-through rates. These are around user engagement behavior, brand awareness and purchase intent, along with other measures of perception and persuasion.
"At least one major industry will do away with the click-through rate for brand campaigns," Jacoby said. "For display, I get the sense that all the exchanges that have cropped up will have challenges. They will continue to be measured on the delivery of the click-through rate, but there won't be enough to go around and prices will drop precipitously."
Jacoby believes brands will begin hearing more about "cheap CPMs" for non-viewable commodity inventory -- the type of ad space that serves up below the online fold on a Web page where the person viewing the page must scroll down to see the advertisement. While it is counted as an impression, no one sees it because the ad unit literally sits at the bottom of the page or too far off to the side.
Ad rates will come down significantly in 2012 because the units aren't valuable. There are only so many top positions on a publisher's Web site. Buyers will increasingly require audience participation far beyond what the industry refers to as "engagement," Jacoby said.
The ad industry will move toward brand lift metrics in 2012, as a replacement for click-through rates. These are around user engagement behavior, brand awareness and purchase intent, along with other measures of perception and persuasion.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Digital Publishing in the Coming Year
Goodereader reporting:
Next year is already underway in parts of the world, but the predictions for publishing trends in the coming year are still rolling in. One blog post today still holds on to the belief that the rise in ebook sales will actually mean the death of paper within the next five years, despite popular industry belief that paper and digital will both survive well into the future.
Thomas Umstattd, CEO of Author Media, wrote a post for Author Tech Tips in which he compiled some predictions from far-flung corners of the publishing industry. Unlike previous posts, Umstattd’s survey subjects included small to large publishing companies as well as literary agents and editors. The survey posed questions on everything from ebook pricing and independent publishing opportunities to the repercussions of some of the moves made in the traditional publishing world in 2011.
Interestingly, an entire section of the report is dedicated to professionals’ thoughts on Amazon in the coming year. One respondent predicts that Amazon Publishing, the company’s traditional publishing arm, will add a religious imprint to go along with its other genre-specific branches. Umstattd himself predicts that Amazon Publishing will sign as many as twenty-four new previously bestselling authors, forcing the hands of the Big Six in terms of coming to an agreement on ebook pricing.
Speaking of ebook pricing, different industry professionals surveyed had some antithesis statements about where pricing and royalties will be headed in the next year. Author Randy Ingermanson went so far as to provide a detailed explanation of the mathematics behind the potential in ebook pricing.
“Traditional publishers will lower their prices on e-books to $9.99, because they’ll realize that earning 70% of $9.99 is better than earning 35% of $14.99. Midlist authors who have been traditionally published in the past and who are now self-publishing e-books will raise their prices to the mid-range ($3.99 to $6.99) so as to avoid being confused with the zillions of low-quality books priced at $0.99 and below. They will find that they sell better at a higher price, as long as they stay a bit below the $9.99 price point that will be favored by traditional publishers,” says Ingermanson.
Again, there was a 180-degree difference of opinion on where the technology of digital reading will be headed in 2012...
http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/digital-publishing-in-the-coming-year/
Next year is already underway in parts of the world, but the predictions for publishing trends in the coming year are still rolling in. One blog post today still holds on to the belief that the rise in ebook sales will actually mean the death of paper within the next five years, despite popular industry belief that paper and digital will both survive well into the future.
Thomas Umstattd, CEO of Author Media, wrote a post for Author Tech Tips in which he compiled some predictions from far-flung corners of the publishing industry. Unlike previous posts, Umstattd’s survey subjects included small to large publishing companies as well as literary agents and editors. The survey posed questions on everything from ebook pricing and independent publishing opportunities to the repercussions of some of the moves made in the traditional publishing world in 2011.
Interestingly, an entire section of the report is dedicated to professionals’ thoughts on Amazon in the coming year. One respondent predicts that Amazon Publishing, the company’s traditional publishing arm, will add a religious imprint to go along with its other genre-specific branches. Umstattd himself predicts that Amazon Publishing will sign as many as twenty-four new previously bestselling authors, forcing the hands of the Big Six in terms of coming to an agreement on ebook pricing.
Speaking of ebook pricing, different industry professionals surveyed had some antithesis statements about where pricing and royalties will be headed in the next year. Author Randy Ingermanson went so far as to provide a detailed explanation of the mathematics behind the potential in ebook pricing.
“Traditional publishers will lower their prices on e-books to $9.99, because they’ll realize that earning 70% of $9.99 is better than earning 35% of $14.99. Midlist authors who have been traditionally published in the past and who are now self-publishing e-books will raise their prices to the mid-range ($3.99 to $6.99) so as to avoid being confused with the zillions of low-quality books priced at $0.99 and below. They will find that they sell better at a higher price, as long as they stay a bit below the $9.99 price point that will be favored by traditional publishers,” says Ingermanson.
Again, there was a 180-degree difference of opinion on where the technology of digital reading will be headed in 2012...
http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/digital-publishing-in-the-coming-year/
Year in Review: 6 Trends in Journalism Education
Mediashift reporting:
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/12/year-in-review-6-trends-in-journalism-education364.html?utm_source=MediaShift+Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=8be2faf7e4-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/12/year-in-review-6-trends-in-journalism-education364.html?utm_source=MediaShift+Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=8be2faf7e4-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN
Poynter’s paper publishes first edition as Tampa Bay Times
Poynter reporting: The St. Petersburg Times officially became the Tampa Bay Times on Sunday, January 1. In a video showing the first editions with the new name coming off the presses,
editor Neil Brown said, “We felt for a long time that the region we
cover was bigger than one city.” The print edition published Saturday,
Dec. 31 paid final tribute to the paper’s name since 1898. || Related: Gallery of historic St. Pete Times front pages
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/157679/poynters-paper-publishes-final-edition-as-the-st-petersburg-times/
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/157679/poynters-paper-publishes-final-edition-as-the-st-petersburg-times/
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