Et tu, Hulu?: Internet Television at a Price

November 13^th, 2009

By Molly O. Fitzpatrick

Network television operates very simply; the major networks get advertisers noticed by the viewers by coming up with good programming that people enjoy. A new internet tv website, Hulu.com has benefitted from this by offering non network television and a choice as to when to watch ads, at the beginning, or in between programming. Hulu is now talking about offering a subscription fee for its viewers. Television is struggling to keep up with internet television as of late, and Hulu isn’t helping, and may also be competition for Youtube. Youtube is not an ideal place to view network television and is often hard to find full shows. If Hulu does introduce a user fee, it’s direct competition will be Netflix. The author is not convinced that Hulu will benefit from charging users, unless its going to cut out ads altogether, or add some extra perks for its customers.

The Price of Free

November 13^th, 2009

By Nicholas Carr

In late september rumours surfaced that Comcast was trying to buy the media conglomerate NBC Universal. Wall Street reacted with disappointment, when media production companies have tried to combine with media distribution companies in the past the results have been disastruous. AOL Time Warner’s ill fated partnership ended in dissolution and red ink and investors don’t react well to red ink.

After pointing these facts out the article’s author, Nicholas Carr, decribes his own recent experience with the multimedia entertainment in his life. He, like many North Americans, recently invested in a blu-ray player. This particular blu-ray player was web-ready and Mr. Carr found himself diving full bore into the cable cutting, free content consuming, media empire threatening, future. With the ability to watch some of the showcase and HBO programming he had been paying extra for as part of his cable on the internet he was able to dramatically cut his entertainment costs. Here enlies the problem facing conventional media distributors and producers, how to get people to pay for things they can get for free.

Until recently, the TV industry was spared the ravages that the Internet wrought on the music and movie industries. Perhaps this is proof that the time are changing for everyone, even those who had originally thought they were insulated from the change.

Will fans of Web TV sit still for just as many ads?: Networks debate how far they can go online

November 10^th, 2009

By Jeffery Scott

People on average watch about 40 hours of commercials each month on television, so this article asks the question, will people put up with as many ads while watching tv online? It is clear that television is being watched elsewhere increasingly more in recent years, but it is not known how many advertisements someone will put up with over the internet. For being a customer, you get access to content earlier, but you have to endure more ads. It is believed that viewers are willing to make the sacrifice. The internet audience is about 1/50th of that of the TV audience right now, but this is beginning to rise.

This article is significant because it shows that advertisers are not doomed. Although people are exposed to a mass amounts of commercials on television, they are still willing to watch them on the internet, in exchange for getting content earlier and instead of missing their favorite show completely. Advertisers on television and still going strong, and the internet, according to the author, will bring ad revenues up because people are willing to endure commercials over the internet during tv shows.

Murdoch’s Google Gambit

November 10^th, 2009

By Eric Etheridge

In an interview on Sky News (Australia) Rupert Murdoch announced that pay per use was going to sweep across his media conglomerate’s web presence, and would soon most likely do the same all across the Internet. Not only would he take this (relatively) revolutionary step but he also plans to shut Google out from any access to the content of these newly enshrined temples of Internet knowledge.

Most think this would spell the end for Murdoch’s arcane ideas about profit modelling and many others are eagerly awaiting what is shaping up to be the final showdown between the search engine present/future and the $1.25 per stack of processed, folded wood pulp present/past.

Is it possible that someone has finally answered the visionary steps Google is taking in the name of volatile new media frontiers with equally visionary steps in defence of the staunch, conservative media establishment of old? It seems more likely that as his easy-money empire erodes around his feet, shaking in his boots, Rupert Murdoch is throwing a temper tantrum and getting dragged out of the media spotlight kicking and screaming rather than bowing out gracefully and retiring to the pages of some dusty tome of media history.

Google Set to Acquire AdMob for $750 Million

November 9^th, 2009

By Miguel Helft

In accordance with Google’s apparent and shameless campaign to take over the world, one information medium at a time, it seems the search engine giant is on the acquisitions warpath once again. This time the target of the Internet empire is AdMob. AdMob is an example of the changing times in the media realm. They are currently one of the top sellers of banner ads on iPhone applications and web pages that can be retrieved from mobile phones. Google wants to get in on the ground floor of the rapidly expanding mobile advertising economy.

For some time now the mobile ad industry has been hailed as the next big thing on the new media horizon but as of last year only $160 million dollars were spent on mobile ads compared to, for example, $23 billion in online ads over the same time period. The mobile ad industry seems even less important when one considers that the vast majority of the $160 million figure went into ads delivered by text message.

However, once the scale of the relatively small industry is taken into account, it is even more telling of how quickly the advertising industry landscape is changing. Google, now a grandfather of the new media industry is taking interest in AdMob, a fact which in and of itself provides legitimacy to its impact and value. So as money shifts from print to online advertising, is it possible that the next media revolution is already in its infancy? Is it possible that the infant mobile ad industry will overtake the, still very young, industry of conventional online ads, before it even reaches adolescence? Pardon the extended metaphor, but boy oh boy are the times a changin’!

Seeing the Future in 3-D Television

October 9^th, 2009

By Hiroko Tabuchi

Flat-panel television screens can’t get much flatter and consumers don’t want the screens to get much wider, so Japanese television makers are banking on a whole new dimension to buttress their lineups.

Author, Hiroko Tabuchi, thinks that HD 3D TV is the near future for the television industry in Japan. Panasonic’s research suggests that they could sell a 50 inch model for approximately 2000$ and a pair of 3D glasses for 50$. While a poll conducted by the research firm In-Stat shows that at least 64 percent of respondents would be highly interested in 3D television, 25% of those would not be interested if they had to pay more than regular television.  Panasonic is banking on the fact that the clear, eye popping images will be enough to win over fans and get them past the idea that they have to wear glasses in order to enjoy the show. While there seems to be many sceptics of at home 3D TV, a prototype set up at a Tokyo electronics show produced massive crowds and generated a highly positive response from viewers. Masayuki Kozuka, innovator on Panasonics 3D team said they will have not been successful until half off all the TVs the sell are 3D.  The media industry is also looking to expand 3D technology into other avenues of entertainment. Video games and Blue Ray players are also beginning to be outfitted with 3D technology.  However, this adaptation of this technology is doubtful as there seems to be several stumbling blocks in the way of success.  Production costs are high and during a worldwide economic crisis, individuals have become increasingly frugal.

The New York Times

Hot on Heels of Google, Facebook to Take First Step Into Music

October 21^st, 2009

By Brad Stone

It seems that both Google and Facebook are looking to bring music into the mix. Google is looking at rolling out a music service link that is devoted to offering lyrics, photos, info about bands and sample streaming. Following in their musical footsteps, Facebook is playing with the idea of bringing music into the social network. Currently, Facebook has a gift store from which one friend can purchase and give a virtual gift to another to be posted on their profile. Facebook will begin testing to allow companies to add virtual wares to the gift store so that people can exchange web songs.  This new technology will simply allow music lovers to have more ways to find sample music. However, with other resources available to obtain free music, Facebook will not make much a dent in changing user’s habits.  If we can post  youtube links of our favourite songs on our friends profiles, why would we buy a song to give to them as a gift? Facebook is trying to tap into a market that is already dominated by systems that are free and that users are comfortable with.

DVR, once Tv’s mortal foe, helps ratings

November 1^st, 2009

By Bill Carter

Television network executives have discovered that their once enemy, the DVR, is actually not taking away from television commercial advertising. People with DVRs are actually quite content with sitting through commercials, and as a result, boost ad revenue.  According to the article; 

 According to Nielsen, 46 percent of viewers 18 to 49 years old for all four networks taken together are watching the commercials during playback, up slightly from last year.”

It has been found that the reason why people aren’t skipping past commercials when they technically can, is because television is still viewed as a passive media. When shows first started getting recorded, network executives were fearful of the change and thought that viewers would skip past all commercials. This proved to be wrong. Since Nielson recently added DVR viewed and recorded programs to ratings,  the numbers have increased, some shows are gaining viewers, on average there was a 10% increase.

Some shows, for example, the Jay Leno Show, were marketed as “DVR proof”, which means that it was recorded live so people would have to endure commercials. This has proved to be a disadvantage for the network, and less people are recording the show.

This is a significant article because it shows that something that was so widely feared by networks and advertisers- the DVR, can actually help rather than hinder the ad revenue and increase consumer viewing. Television, as long as it remains a passive activity, which it has since its creation, will probably not go extinct and its advertising won’t either. With new technological advances like the introduction of the interactive ad, television viewing will only get more attention and more viewers, as long as it can stay passive, and compete with the internet.

Acclaim is not bankable: Harnessing all the bells and whistles a hit – but someone has to pay

October 6^th, 2009

By Jamie Sturgeon

This article focuses on the creators of CoverItLive, which began as a blogging platform and become a large news organization for names like Newsweek and ESPN.  Toronto entrepreneurs Keith McSpurren and Bob Barnard created this medium as news feed through online tools such as tweets.

CoverItLive is only two years old but has attracted a large audience and has provided professional coverage regarding important news. The company is not only a tool to provide news to an audience but it also provides a tool for companies across a multitude of fields. CoverItLive, which was financed and started up with one million dollars, by Flagstone Capital, became highly demanded and was given five-hundred million for a social-networking sit MySpace to News Corp. OverItLive is not only in demand online, but it also has become asked for by other backers, such as Disney’s Steamboat Ventures.

The significance of this innovation towards blogging in order to attracted a large audience and has provided professional coverage regarding important news is due to the fact that although this is a new technology it is already being scrutinized to create revenue. Since this technology does not make any money, it is struggling to stay in tuned with the needs of companies and organizations. “The company, like so many Web ventures that have started down the rabbit hole, offers even its biggest clients its software at no charge”. CoverItLive is already threatening to place a price to their technology in order to provide needs and wants. The only other option available within this situation is to place advertisements on such sites in order to receive support and funding.”We’ve been very clear with all our users that, eventually, one of two things is going to happen with your software: we’re going to put ads into it and you can [still] have it for free, or you’re going to pay for it, says McSpurren”. As CoverItLive receives more attention and creates a demand they become more important and recognizable and need to create some kind of revenue. “We’re a platform. We’re at a point where it’s finally become a core part of enough organizations’ communications toolboxes that it can start commanding a fee”.

Although CoverItLive began as a small blogging opportunity, they have become a large part of news coverage and company objectives and are beginning to consider advertising as a means of revenue.

Part V: You’ve been targeted,  Information gathering has become the stuff of KGB, Gestapo fantasies, privacy experts warn

February 5^th, 2009

By Don Butler

How would you feel if online ads, pitching deals on products and services aimed directly at your interests, popped up automatically whenever you surfed the Internet?”

This article focuses the use of using targeting measures to create consumer profiles and patters. Companies and business are using privilege information to generate targeted advertising based off of a consumer’s interests and past spending behaviors.  

There are a few different ways that organizations are able to accomplish and use targeting information for their benefit. The main way is to track and individuals Internet activities and merge them with other information about the person in order to build a comprehensive profile of one’s likes and dislikes; thus completing a consumer profile.

The significance of this article is not due to the information pertaining to how consumer profiles are compiled but in regards to the controversy created by targeting the audience as well as the future of such programs.

Although targeting advertising reaches the viewer based off of personal needs, interests, and desires there are numerous drawbacks to such advertising. As for the consequences of targeting an audience, people do not trust companies that virtually spy on them and feel as though their privacy is under question. Mr. Graham, the author of Fishing From a Barrel states, “that in order to learn more about individual consumers, marketers have to resort to ‘spying’”. Targeting the audience may be risky because once the viewer has a bad taste in their mouth, concerning being spied on, they will become more unreachable and uninterested in the product and/or company. Valerie Steeves, a University of Ottawa criminologist who focuses on human rights and technology states, “Once I know you’re seeking to manipulate me, I’m not going to trust you. Marketers assume they can use behavioral targeting to build customer loyalty, however I think they’re cutting their legs off right from underneath them”.

Although targeting audience behaviors may be risky due to its controversial methods, there is still a future towards this type of advertising. This advertising technique is a recent innovation, but it is continually growing and is increasingly becoming more favored by companies. “Last year, nearly one in four American advertisers used it, according to Forrester Research. Almost half expect to employ it this year”.