The Media Mixer

a great man

kaneumann — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 01:17:09 +0000

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.”

Steve Jobs | 1955 – 2011

Major Changes Coming to YouTube

maryannelee — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:32:31 +0000

By the end of 2011, we can expect some changes to begin filtering its way through YouTube. According to an article posted by the Wall Street Journal, some of these changes include reorganizing the site around channels in an effort to prepare for the rising number of televisions with online video viewing capabilities. The goal here seems to be turning television viewers into habitual YouTube viewers. In addition to capturing YouTube viewers watching from a television, the site is also striving to increase the amount of time spent on the site of each individual user. By doing so, YouTube site owner, Google, hopes to draw more advertising dollars from the television ad market. Paid full length content could also soon be part of the site.

YouTube currently has more than four times the number of unique visitors of Netflix and Hulu. However, the distinct difference between those sites and YouTube is the amount of time spent by each user. A site comparison conducted by The Nielsen Company and comScore revealed that Hulu users spend almost twice the amount of time on their sites than users of YouTube. For Netflix, the time spent per user is four times more. Advertisers aside, YouTube was once a site centered around user-generated content. It will be interesting to see what impact, if any, this has on their user base.

For now, people like Rebecca Black, love her or hate her, will continue going viral. (Note the number of video dislikes to likes) But then again, I guess it is the views that actually count!

A Move in the Right Direction

maryannelee — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:13:57 +0000

The New York Times recently introduced digital subscriptions to NYTimes.com. They have crafted a strategy that involves converting their most loyal readers into subscribers while maintaining the traffic of visitors that frequent the site on a less regular basis. The online news media source made this move in an effort to create a business model that could be structured around content valued by both consumers and advertisers. Evolving the newspaper as a viable medium with content worth paying for requires large news publishers like The Times to acknowledge the shifts in how newspaper is consumed.

Making this change won’t be without its challenges. One of the biggest challenges The Times will face is in preserving its audience of 30 million monthly readers. In their strategy to move towards paid online subscriptions, the Times has acknowledged the importance of creating new revenue streams without narrowing the size of their audience. Nonsubscribers will be able to access 20 articles a month for free before being asked to subscribe. The Times must also determine how they will take a larger share of the advertising revenue held by aggregators like Google and Facebook that sell space on their site. Revenue from online advertising and paid subscriptions are critical factors that will impact the future sustainability of newspapers.

One major benefit of a paid subscription model is that an audience that is paying for content shows advertisers that this audience is engaged. According to the Pew Research Center, “The internet now trails only television among American adults as a destination for news, and the trend line shows the gap closing.” Further illustrating the importance of an online revenue stream is that newspaper revenue from 2009 to 2010 has yet to experience the rebound of television, radio, online, or magazines. While some backlash is to be expected, I firmly believe that this move was necessary and a move in the right direction.

Meet the iPad2

maryannelee — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:40:39 +0000

This past Wednesday, Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, returned to the stage, calling 2010 the year of the iPad. To kick off the highly anticipated iPad 2 reveal, Jobs used some pretty big numbers to illustrate the successes of the original iPad.

15 Million iPads were sold in 2010 in just 9 months
$9.5 billion of revenue generated from iPad sales
90% of the tablet market share was held by Apple
Over 1 million iBooks have been downloaded
359,000 or more apps available in the Apple App Store
Of that, 60,000 apps were developed specifically with the iPad in mind
Not to mention, Apple’s highly competitive starting price point of $499.

What’s so great about it?

Well, simply stated, just about everything. The iPad 2 will be the first tablet to ship in volume fully equipped with an A5, dual-core processer. Improvements to speed have been made for both the CPU, which run be up to 2 times faster, and the graphics which will be up to 9 times faster. No sacrifices were made to the battery life. You can still expect the iPad to run for about 10 hours. While we did not get a USB port or higher resolution, there were still plenty of features and upgrades to be excited about. Front and rear facing cameras will now finally allow you to FaceTime and video conference. iPad 2 users will be able to FaceTime with iPhone 4 users and vice versa. The camera was one of the features consumers had hoped for with the first iPad. Jobs is doing away with the covers that conceal the iPad ’s the sleek design. Replacing the cases are Smart Covers that connect and disconnect from the device with built-in magnets. Since I don’t think any explanation I could give would really do this cover justice, I highly recommend that you watch these Smart Covers in action for yourself.

But wait, there’s more!

Like the iPhone 4, iPad 2 will be able to track movement more precisely with the incorporation of a built-in gyroscope. Another thing iPad users might be glad to know is that the problem of finger prints no longer exists. All iPads are protected by a fingerprint resistant coating. Apple also managed to make the iPad 2 33% thinner and .2 lbs lighter than its predecessor. Higher starting price point? Not at all. The 16 GB wi-fi model will still maintain the same starting price point of $499. Apple will continue to produce 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models with and without 3G. The iPad 2 will be available in stores and online beginning March 11. This just might be the most fulfilling piece of technology I ever purchase.

NFL Lockout Looms Over Advertising

maryannelee — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:23:52 +0000

To the average American football fan, this battle between the National Football League’s owners and the NFL Players Association is largely being referred to now as what the media has labeled a fight between the billionaires and the millionaires. In addition to the millions of devoted football fans, employees, and vendors that will be affected, closely watching the impending lockout are advertisers with billions of dollars may not get spent in football this year. With the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement set to expire this Thursday, March 3, advertisers that have traditionally allocated large portions of their media budget on the NFL may be forced to spend their money elsewhere.

$3 billion in ad revenue for major networks including Fox, CBS, NBC, ESPN, and Direct TV are at stake. Labor stoppage will make the NFL brand less attractive with each day that it continues and could leave the league forever damaged as a revenue-generating vehicle. Economists associated with the NFLPA estimates that the loss of an entire football season would potentially cost the cities of each franchise approximately 3,000 jobs and $160 million in revenue. However, the NFL is not in agreement with these particular figures. I’m not trying to taking sides or anything here, but I will leave you with this final thought.