This Week in Aducation! September 10, 2010

After two bad years of declining advertising, SNL Kagan predicts that U.S. ad spend will grow 3% to $210 billion in 2011. Cable television, online search, and mobile advertising will likely see the most increase while business/trade publications and newspapers will see sharp declines in ad spend. No surprises there. [Adweek]

Speaking of newspapers, The New York Times says they expect to stop printing physical papers sometime in the future. [Mashable]

I actually picked one up for the first time yesterday since probably before summer started. I hate to admit this, but I focused more on the ads than on the articles. I mean, it was because ALL the ads in it were luxury consumer brands: Mercedes, Prada, Gucci. And I got really sad because, as a poor college student, it felt as if I didn’t fall into the  Time’s target demographic anymore and therefore shouldn’t even be reading it. For being such a highly circulated newspaper, the ads within target such a small number of people.  But I guess it’s because these brands are but the select few who can afford the high rates anymore. It’s quite sad.

But to wrap up on a much lighter note, this bit of news made me quite happy.

The Auto-tuned version of the internet meme “Bed Intruder” (aptly titled “Bed Intruder song”) made it onto the Billboard Hot 100 last month. Also on the list for that week? Eminem, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and more Katy Perry. [NYTimes] Watch it!

ID of the Week!

Microsoft announces it’s new Arc Touch Mouse, which features a really fascinating design that flattens when you want to put it away and pops up when you need to use it. The insight for this design according to Microsoft user experience director Young Kim? That people who are constantly on the go don’t like carrying a mouse around due to their inconvenient bulky shapes (honestly, I’ve had this problem before; I hated every time my laptop bag would bulge at the front because of my mouse). BUT ALSO that people in general would prefer to use a mouse instead of the trackpad on their laptop. The product solution? The Arc Touch Mouse, of course.

Watch Young Kim go through his design process.

What would you pay for free content? September 23, 2009

As print circulation and advertising revenue spirals downward publishers are left searching for alternative revenue options.  While paid online advertising continues to grow it is nowhere to the point of replacing print advertising.  So how do publishers re-coup the loss?

One of the more interesting online debates that has been brewing over the last couple of years is the concept of paying for content online.  Will consumers pay for content that they are already receiving for free?   Chris Anderson from Wired Magazine recently released a new book titled “Free.”  Here is the basic concept of the book, directly from Anderson:

“I described Freemium as the opposite of the traditional free sample: instead of giving away 1% of your product to sell 99%, you give away 99% of your product to sell `1%. The reason this makes sense is that for digital products, where the marginal cost is close to zero, the 99% cost you little and allow you to reach a huge market. So the 1% you convert, is 1% of a big number.”

Below are some interesting reviews and response to this topic that I have stumbled upon -

• Malcom Gladwell - Priced to Sell. Is free the future? (The New Yorker)
• Seth Godin – Malcom is Wrong (Seth’s Blog)
• Chris Anderson – Dear Malcom: Why so threatened? (The Long Tail)
• Can the mainstream media learn anything from National Public Radio’s new look and business plan? (Newsweek)

As a media professional I find this topic very interesting.  If websites start charging for content what will that do to traffic?  Will traffic metrics be more about quality than quantity?  How will this effect paid placements?  If ESPN.com charged for content but SI.com did not, who would I rather advertise with?

Check out the new poll and let us know what you think.