Myspace gets their ABC's and their BBC's

Myspace has signed a deal with the ABC and BBC to setup channels for the respective broadcasters on the site.

It's a positive for myspace who get strong, legitimate and LEGAL content on their site. It's unclear what the benefit is for BBC and ABC but it would be reasonably safe to assume there is some royalty and it allows them to monetise their content.

Article here --> http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,23101438-5014239,00.html

Myspace have a lot of current distro type deals with content providers (Rip Curl, BBC, ABC, Oyster Magazine) - what is blurry is how these actually help the bottom line of the company as most of the channels are ad free currently.

The overwhelming positive is that it strengthens myspace's position as a provider of great content. Out of all the publishers they have one of the most enviable collections of content - bands, movies, actors, celebrities - they are all on myspace and most treat it as their main digital channel. I think it's a smart move for myspace to diversify their offering to consumers beyond straight profiles and comments.

It will be interesting to see the January Neilsen numbers when they are released Feb 15. Myspace has been flat in terms of audience for the past 2 months and Facebook is gaining quickly. At the same time YouTube continues to rise, with over 3.8m local users (myspace is at just over 3m). This time last year the two sites were very close in terms of monthly unique audience.

Another danger lies in potential revenue hits to myspace from Facebook, whose local advertiser options are quickly becoming more sophisticated and cost effective; and YouTube, who have been introducing some very strong options to the market in the past 6 weeks.

Yahoo! slash 1000 jobs, share price dips again

After a tough fourth quarter, Yahoo! has announced plans to shed 1,000 jobs.

Right now it's not known if this is limited to the US or will affect other territories.

As a result of some cautious comments by CEO Jerry Yang, the market slashed 10% of Yahoo's stock price ... driving it down to $18.63

This is a massive fall. At the start of 2006 their share price was well over $40. It hit $30 on the announcement and favourable sentiment re the Panama project ... but has plunged since.

Specifics about the job cuts will be outlined in February.

When Eric Schmidt talks you listen

And the big man at Google made a big statement today.

Schmidt on mobile: ""It's the recreation of the Internet, it's the recreation of the PC (personal computer) story and it is before us - and it is very likely it will happen in the next year"

Full article here - http://news.sky.com/skynews/xml/article/tech/0,,91221-12485,00.html

Is 08 the year mobile comes off the bench and becomes a viable medium - not only for marketers but for publishers.

Fairfax and News cosy up in the digital auto space

Fairfax will sell News Limited's Carsguide dealer listings moving forward.

http://www.newsdigitalmedia.com.au/inc/docs/mediareleases/carsguide%20distribution%20deal%2029-1-08.pdf

This doesn't really mean anything for anyone who isn't a car dealer, but is very interesting as it sees two traditional rivals join forces in what is an incredibly competitive space (that both are being flogged in by carsales).

The spin is that this will offer an enhanced service for Carsguide's users ... but you have to wonder why News would hand over dealer sales to Fairfax unless it solved a deeper problem.

Seek embraces YouTube

From AdNews

"Leading employment classifieds website Seek has expanded its advertising inventory to video ads using YouTube. Employers will now be able to integrate YouTube video in job adverts and company profiles on Seek. "Seek video ads give advertisers more scope to showcase things that appeal to jobseekers such as lifestyle and workplace culture, and massively increase the volume of information they impart to jobseekers about the opportunity on offer," said product director Carey Eaton."

Great idea - more evidence of Google's functional suite seemingly being everywhere in 08.

Exploit

News is at it again with lightening fast SEM response to the death of Heath Ledger.

Type Heath Ledger into Google and News is using paid search to drive traffic to their site. The copy alleges it was an overdose ... it even has an exclamation mark (!)

The media hysteria was reported in depth on todays Crikey - and one interesting thing is TMZ.com has been seen as the definitive authority on the death ... they broke the story and are breaking most developments.

Most of the coverage on the local sites is based around what is being reported overseas, or footage/content from recent articles.

You have to ask - is this a desperate grab for page impressions and revenue or legitimate news?

The Age had a major whoops with their headline to the left (pic taken from Crikey) ... and if you look further down they are also running with video footage of Amy Winehouse smoking crack!

Is 08 the year we see the portals go trashy(er)?

Nova: Never more than 2 ads in a row ... unless it's online ...

I like Nova - despite their playlist not really being my thing ... I've always liked the way they've gone about things.

Digitally they have a potentially good offering - it's interesting and generally has a bit of thought about it ... much better than Austereo in terms of cut through and impact online in my opinion.

Saying that, I was horrified to see their homepage today. It had way too many clearly paid messages that made the page seem extremely cluttered. iSelect, Network 10 and Nova's Facebook App were all screaming for attention.

It's interesting a media group that overtly go to market saying they are all about a non cluttered environment that offers the advertiser cut through and integration have allowed this to happen ... btw the Sydney Nova969 site is no better - http://www.nova969.com.au/site/home.aspx

Everyone wants a piece of Corey

Even News.com.au who have bought the search term 'Corey Delaney' on Google.

It even goes through to this dedicated Corey page - http://www.news.com.au/feature/ranked/0,,5015729,00.html?CMP=KNC-google

Slow news day over at theage.com.au

It must be if they are trumpeting this video as a 'hit' with rail fans

The video - http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=bDd1dUQVGw4 - has had all of 1,708 views ... hardly newsworthy and hardly a youtube success.

The journo even increases his word count by putting the entire lyrics of this not-so-hilarious parody within the article.

Terrible article link - http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/01/21/1200764138918.html

Bravo!

Soulja Boy - viral visionary

I'm sure most people with Channel V have seen the new Soulja Boy video - Crank That.

It's straight southern rap - half time beats, lots of hoots and diet crunk beats ... not my thing personally but it's definitely all over the screens.

Watch the video here -->http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=vum3qgoh0x4 (blogger won't let me embed for some reason)

Now Soulja Boy is a great example of an artist who knows how to use new media channels - he is all over youtube, myspace, mobile downloads, messenger etc and in the process has generated some astonishing statistics.

We're talking:

- Over 30m myspace profile views.
- Over 29m streams of Crank That on youtube alone
- Over 52k subscribers to his youtube
- Over 3m single downloads of Crank That (never before done)
- Over 3m ringtone downloads

If you're looking for advice on effective distribution of content using digital channels, maybe speak to this 17 year old.

Dynamic Logic: Online brand effectiveness online on the decline ...

So says Dynamic Logic in this article from Clickz - http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3628144

According to the author, "the Unilevers and Fords of the world are struggling to get their messages across" due to an increase in larger brands utilising online as part of their marketing mix.

Note - this is comparing data compiled over the past 4 years, where online has gone from barely an after thought to an important part of a comms plan.

What has happened over this time

- more ads on each page
- more available executions
- more non traditional websites (ie social networks, blogs, twitter etc)
- more advertisers
- users facing more and more ad impacts everytime they venture online

It's important to view these in context ... Dynamic Logic (disclaimer: MindShare Interaction and Dynamic Logic are owned by the same parent company) measures numerous elements of an online campaign - favbourability, awareness, purchase intent, sponsorship association et al ... the only one to face a real drop is online ad awareness.

From the article ... "While all brand impact measures tracked by Dynamic Logic have declined over time, some have fared better than others. For instance, the boost in "purchase intent" provided by online campaigns has lost relatively little mojo, dropping from 1.6 percent in 2005 to 1.3 percent in 2007, according to MarketNorms. The average lift in "brand favorability" meanwhile actually rose for a year, from 1.8 percent in 2005 to 1.9 percent in 2006, before sliding to 1.4 percent last year. The award for the most drastically sagging lift goes to "online ad awareness," a metric that offered online marketers a 7.3 percent leg-up over a control group in 2005. In 2006 that metric fell over a full percentage point to 6.4 percent, before dropping again to a mere 4.8 percent lift last year. "

So what has caused the drop and what can be done? Most importantly, is Dynamic Logic effectively measuring non traditional (ie non straight display) campaigns.

One suggestion Clickz has (which I agree on) is pressuring publishers to lower the amount of ads per page - some local publishers have more than 15 advertising messages on one page ... it's excessive and unnecessary and ultimately self defeating ...

Time Warner to trial ISP billing based on usage

According to Yahoo Internet News, Time Warner is to start trialling billing some of its subscribers based on usage as opposed to a flat fee.

In the US unlimited Internet plans are common, however the ISPs are starting to struggle with the increased demands on bandwidth due to rich content downloads such as audio, video, torrents etc.

The article mentions that 5% of Time Warner users account for approximately 50% of all bandwidth usage.

Locally most ISPs bill on download caps (ie 20GB), however some offer a more unlimited service. In the US it is very common to bundle ADSL with cable TV.

It will be interesting to see how this affects Time Warner - in terms of users and in terms of speed.

Full article - http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080117/media_nm/timewarner_internet_dc;_ylt=At8xDRwhhN5Nh4aH85W5dxT6VbIF

A slap solves everything

I wanted to do it yesterday, and thanks to the Internet I can do it today

http://www.slapcorey.com

The domain is registered under the Vivo Group. A quick Google search found nothing on them.

Worth a shot - it's fun to slap him.

Good sales reps are the ones who know their product - who would have thought!

AdAge have a good article today - http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=123063 - that covers off what media agencies think makes a good sales rep.

This is a US study/survey, but generally the hallmarks of a good sales rep are universal. What is vitally important is

- knowledge of product

- personality

- communication skills

- understanding of marketing and marketers needs

Interestingly in the US it was found print reps are outperforming their digital and TV counterparts. Maybe this is due to print being the most vulnerable of all mediums right now and the need for them to go over and above to maintain share.

Corey Delaney = Internet Sensation

This punk kid is everywhere at the moment, rocking his Bang Gang-esque hipster eyewear and new era fluro hat ... and despite the fact most would definitely throw a cheeky punch his way if the opportunity arose, Corey Delaney has captured the imagination of the nation during a very slow news period.

Check the stats - this is an impressive 15 minutes. Corey's achievements today include ...

- Most read story on SMH.com.au
- most read story on theage.com.au
- most read story on brisbanetimes.com.au
- most popular video on the Fairfax Digital network
- most read story on The Australian
- most read story on Herald Sun.com.au
- most watched video on ninemsn
- second most read story on ninemsn
- most read news story on Yahoo!7

He is in the top 5 most read for all the large news sites and is all over the TV and traditional media.

Forget giving Corey a job hosting underage nightclub events, get him as a celebrity blogger on one of the major portals.

Apple to launch iTunes Movie Service

Ambitious, sure, but Apple changed the music industry ... and now it's announced an iTunes movie service.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hvMegd0reWWr2UEJKaYIS-mc5Puw

Sony, Universal, Paramount, Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, and 20th Century have already signed up. (Walt Disney is a client of MindShare Interaction)

They will launch with 1,000 titles, new releases are $3.99 USD and older titles $2.99 USD.

From the article ..

"People will be able to view films on any make of home computer as well as on video-enabled iPods and iPhones. After downloading rented films, people will have 30 days to begin watching them.

"Once someone has started watching a film, they can view it as many times as they want for 24 hours.

""We've never offered a rental model in music because we think people don't want to rent their favorite music, they want to own it," Jobs said. "But, your favorite movie you watch maybe once.""

Whilst the launch is US only, Jobs is 'dying' to roll this out internationally.

The clincher for Apple is Apple TV ... which allows this VOD model to push right into the users living room. It has essentially taken the PC out of the picture.

VOD has been sluggish (especially in AU) but if anyone can nail this, it is Apple. After all, they have already sold 4b songs on iTunes.

Porn: the innocent victim of video sharing sites

Maybe karma is coming back to bite the pron industry after years of annoying popups and ads online - http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/porn-barons-face-up-to-net-threat/2008/01/14/1200159333207.html

Reading this article takes me back a couple of years when the music industry were up in arms about this thing called the 'Internet' they knew nothing about.

It must be said, the pron industry knows all about the Internet. Most would argue pron was making money from the internet before anyone else was. They know how to reach people and distribute their content ... however maybe now this has come full circle.

It's mentioned that Vivid - notorious pron house - has seen DVD sales slip from 80% of total revenues to 30%. Nothing really wrong with that as long as total revenues are solid ... which isn't disclosed.

It will be interesting to see how the adult industry faces up to the challenge - one could predict they will be a lot more nimble than their cousins in the music industry ... who are still fumbling around desperately trying to work out a way to reverse plunging revenues yet at the same having their cake and also eating said cake.

One idea could be the music and porn industry combine! Wait ... judging by Britney's last two music videos I think that is already happening.

Banksy making plenty of bank

Non digital but newsworthy nonetheless.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/banksy-sale-goes-to-the-wall/2008/01/14/1200159360514.html

"A wall painted on by mysterious British graffiti artist Banksy has sold for £208,100 ($A453,700) today, according to the results of an eBay auction."

Lets hope my limited Nick Walker Mona Simpson stencil is worth the same in a few years.

IAB Australia Awards - May 1 - entries now open

Haven't heard much about this as yet (the IAB PR department generally don't seem to tell the press much, either that or things are slow at IAB HQ) but agencies and marketers would be interested to know IAB submissions opened today.

http://www.iabawards.com.au/

Categories are

- Auto

- Financial Services

- Consumer Goods

- Travel, Entertainment & Leisure (why are these mashed into one category when generally all 3 categories have different goals)

- Fusion

- Search

There is also a Peoples Choice that will be voted for on the night (token popularity contest award)

Hopefully everyone puts forward their best campaigns and we can see a solid contest. And lets also hope that the submissions are audited and submissions aren't just unsubstantiated claims or clumsy data (ie we eclipsed the 'industry average' CTR by 150% - what does that mean.)

It will also be interesting to see the metrics entrants use - hopefully it moves beyond click through and landing page visits. Personally I want to see awards win that benefit the bottom line of the client (which is what is the most important).

Submissions close March 3. See you May 1 at Star City.

RIP radio?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/rip-radio/2008/01/13/1200159325762.html

Not sure if it's the end for radio, but this article looks at the increased use of podcasts in Australia and now the consumer of today will consume what they want when they want.

This dicussion has generally been focussed around free to air TV, but with numbers like 2 million ABC podcast downloads a month and 850,000 austereo (Melbourne Triple M & FoxFM) podcast downloads a month we see podcasting becoming mainstream.

Ad:Tech Sydney details revealed

Not sure how new these are but it's the first I've seen of them ...

Ad:Tech Sydney (our local version of the international events) takes place March 12 & 13.

Keynote speakers are so-so in my opinion - definitely not up to the level of the international events (where it is not uncommon to have 10-20 global heavyweights speaking about all facets of digital) but still some good local representation.

http://www.ad-tech.com/sydney/adtech_sydney.aspx

Only gripe is a lack of Melbourne speakers and a severe lack of client side speakers (especially leading clients in the digital space).

Pricing is $1599 for a 2 day pass. Tickets available on the website.

Cricket - Who is winning the online battle?

It's obvious this year that cricket is being taken more seriously than ever by the publishers.

It makes sense, it is a good match for online as most games are played whilst people are at work - so many rely on digital channels to get the info on how much Australia is smacking the opposition by. ;)

So who is winning the war?

Well - it's tough to work out ... Neilsen Market Intelligence only allows you to split sites by category (ie sport) ... below are figures for December 07

Rank Site Domestic UBs per month (UBs per day)

1. Foxsports 887,203 (68,483)

2. WWOS ninemsn 729,709 (42,991)
3. smh.com.au/sport 669,448 (47,765)

4. Baggy Green 478,348 (46,005)

5. The Age Sport 413,084 (28,413)

6. Cricket.com.au 275,216 (16,984)

7. Sportal 132,203 (9,987)

Now just to clarify, the only pure cricket plays here are baggy green and cricket.com.au. It's interesting baggy green is still beating cricket.com.au given most of the in game cues are pushing to cricket.com.au. Foxsports includes not only their cricket coverage, but also all their other coverage AND stickcricket.com.au ... so it is hard to grasp which traffic is purely for cricket information. SMH and The Age are strong and one could hypothesise that most of their December traffic is Cricket related ... Sportal rounds things off at 132,203.

It's safe to say Baggy Green has benefited from being an early mover within this category - great figures for 07/08 season with definitely reduced TV pushes. (disclaimer: MI represents the interests of one Baggy Green advertising sponsor).

Another piece of data worth looking at is the % of overseas visitors on the main sites - considering the visiting Indian and Sri Lankan cricket teams

Foxsports - 22% of total traffic is intl

Cricket.com.au - 18% of total traffic is intl

Baggy Green - 4.5% of total traffic is intl

SMH/Sport - 36% of total traffic is intl

The Age/Sport - 33% of total traffic is intl

Fairfax properties have the highest % of intl visitors - however these properties IP target their display advertising to AU eyeballs only. Interestingly baggy green has a very low % of overseas visitors. One would hope the advertisers on Fox Sports and cricket.com.au are utilising IP targeting to make sure some of their ads aren't wasted on intl eyeballs.

A quick check of Google shows none of the above are presently (13/1/08) undertaking any SEM. The only properties using SEM are Yahoo!7, The Roar .com.au and Windows Live Search.

Nova hit Facebook

DMGs Nova network have developed a great new app for Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=8145980259

It allows you to listen to your local station from within Facebook, dedicate music to friends, download podcasts, buy ringtones, buy music from iTunes etc. What it does nicely is bring the Nova content to the masses to increase awareness, usage and advocacy - something many content providers and advertisers struggle with.

So far it only has 288 users but I am sure it will grow strongly - as facebook allows for very strong viral distro - not to mention a national radio network pushing it.

Personally I think the coolest thing is it allows people to vote on what songs they like, which gives Nova realtime information on what is hot/not by daypart they can apply to their programming.

And one would assume it will increase awareness of podcasts, competitions and the itunes deal they have.

This is a facebook app that actually offers something to consumers they can't get anywhere else ... most apps thus far have been pretty half baked versions of their normal functionality (just like many myspace custom profiles so far) sold in without proper thought. This year we should see some robust Facebook apps really show (locally that is) the power the site can provide.

Interesting comments from outgoing Euro RSCG David Tansey

"Tansey said Australian agencies were well placed to meet the challenge due to the “high degree of integration” amongst agencies here, compared to big creative centres such as London and New York where agencies are more free to specialise in particular areas because of their scale. “The scale issue here has forced us to be more a jack of all trades,” he said."

Taken from http://www.bandt.com.au/news/FF/0C0530FF.asp

Question is - is this actually true in most instances? I think many agencies are aware of online ... but would disagree in many cases (from my days publisher side) that there's a high degree of integration in most creative and media agencies.

Undeniably this needs to change ... "I read a report that said in two years time ad spend online in the UK will strip that of TV which suggests a huge shift in skills base with the type of people you are hiring, and the revenue structure of agencies" says Tansey.

It's great to see some really interesting local perspectives on this very issue so early in the year, especially from more, for want of a better term, 'traditional' types.

Google: $16b revenues projected in 08 and they haven't even started

Great article in the New Yorker about Google and their increased lobbying to US political heavy hitters - http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/01/14/080114fa_fact_auletta

Most interesting

- Google is on track for $16b of revenues in 08
- Google performs 400 billion searches a year

The most intruiging thing about Google is, when you really think about it they haven't even really began to scratch the surface on what is possible for them. Sure, they own search and control the largest video sharing site, but what is really exciting is what they can do when they merge the amazing functionality of maps, earth, search, content network, video, UGC, checkout etc and create a beast that takes what we know as 'search' to new and amazing places.

Recently maps seem locally to have been enhanced ten fold in terms of functionality (ie finding businesses, directions etc) that make Sensis's technology look absolutely archaic. Personally, I think Google is the number one threat to Sensis's cash cow directories business and has a very good chance of swallowing it up within a few years.

Everyone always watches Google - but watch out especially in 08.

Slow news day - here's a top 10

Ever wondered what music gets played in the MI office (ie my iTunes, Mauds's would be purely Travelling Wilbury's tracks).

Well wonder no more, here's the top 10 played for Jan so far.

1. Gardens End - Sarah Blasko
2. Rhythm & soul - Spoon
3. The Scale - Interpol
4. Heinrich Manouever - Interpol
5. Stronger - Kanye west
6. Pogo - Digitalism
7. Sick Sick Sick - QOTSA
8. Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
9. Ending of an Era - Midnight Juggernauts
10. Teh Game - Common feat. DJ Premier

In digital related subject matter - I stumbled across this today whilst reading Lost in E Minor - http://www.theroar.com.au/

It's a sport opinion website. Nice interface and concept but haven't the main guys already embraced user debate/opinion/comment already?

Speaking of sports website, wonder what ever happened to itsmyfooty.com.au

Norm Johnston - Mindshare Interaction EMEA CEO - predictions for 08

Great, concise piece from Norm Johnston here -- http://assets.mindshare.ru.isotoma.com/xt-8e182116-ac92-11dc-8795-00188bf8bcb6/normjohnston_2008digital.pdf

Definitely worth a read (around 3-400 words onky), but for the people who are 'time poor' - here's a summary.

Opportunities in 08

- demise of the 10k spot (ie traditional display)
- more meaningful engagament online - more integration and more campaigns that blur the lines between advertising and service.
- Increased emphasis on video. NOT PRE ROLLS - moreso combining the 'emotive possibilities of video with the interactivity of online'.
- The rise of mobile. High penetration as well as better handsets and interfaces, combined with more carrier co-operation (not so much in Oz as yet) and Google's move into the medium are all positives.

Threats in 08
- Possible economic downturn resulting in reduced advertising budgets resulting in clients returning back to 'tried and tested' traditional media.

Juno on YouTube

http://au.youtube.com/profile?user=FoxSearchlight

Cool site for the new Michael Cera flick (I think Judd Apatow is involved).

One of the better YouTube custom channels I've seen - it has pretty solid traffic (over 600k views for their pretty funny 'safe sex song' - http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ar-A8hQXv4).

Great content placed in an area the target audience for the film trust and use.

Entertainment: The new battleground for AU digital dollars?

The launch of ninemsn's The Fix website last year gained some column inches in the local media, including this story (http://business.smh.com.au/ninemsn-offers-celebrity-fix-in-push-to-boost-audience/20071128-1diu.html) from Julian Lee of the SMH which talked about these gossip sites ability to bring in ad revenue (generally across FMCG products which traditionally haven't migrated marketing dollars online despite the eyeballs shifting away from their more traditional media sources).

So anyway, I was checking out news.com.au the other day and noticed that they have also given their Entertainment properties a spruce up (further to their consolidation of their gossip sections into the Confidential section last year). Check - http://www.news.com.au/entertainment

The relaunch looks good - brings a lot of the content to the fore ... only downside is the page is way too long and perhaps is trying to cram too much in. Still - any site with an MREC and a Leaderboard above the fold is okay with me ;)

This relaunch made me think that the main publishers are taking entertainment pretty seriously for 2008.

Sites such as Perez Hilton and TMZ have definitely shifted the way we pry into the lives of movie stars, b list celebs, heiresses etc and the success of Perez Hilton in particular (91,000 AU users according to Neilsen Netview, December 2007) have shown that people now expect gossip to be reported in a different way.

They want it instantly, quickly and easily digestible. Most importantly it needs to be visual - video and slide shows. They also want the editorial to have an opinion - they don't just want AP feeds and Reuters reports. For evidence of this check TMZ and Perez, as well as the local version of the excellent Defamer - http://au.defamer.com/

Interestingly when you look at the top Entertainment sites across the major players (excluding Yahoo as they still don't allow third party site side measurement - ie Neilsen), it's the ones that are doing the above that are finding success.

The Fix - http://thefix.ninemsn.com.au/ - is flying with 699,000 UBs already in the first week of January. The average session is over 2 and a 1/2 minutes - the lead amongst the big players.

News Entertainment - http://www.news.com.au/entertainment has had just over 255,000 UBs so far in January. However they are doing only 53,000 on average per day (compared to 144,000 for The Fix)

Fairfax's flagship entertainment properties (http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment and http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment) are hitting 276,000 and 171,000 respectively. Brisbane Times is sluggish with just over 14,000 UBs so far (around 2,000 a day)

So why is The Fix working ... well lets go through the above again ...

- It is instantly and quickly and easily digestible.

- Most importantly it needs to be visual - video and slide shows.

- They also want the editorial to have an opinion - they don't just want AP feeds and Reuters reports.

On top of the gossip/news that draws people in, Fix has loads of depth across film, music, dining out etc ... which makes it sticky. They also have outrageously strong SEO for their review content across yourguides which would be delivering strong UB numbers. They also have the relatively unique luxury of three absolute beasts of traffic drivers - Hotmail, Messenger and the ninemsn homepage.

Personally, I think for Fairfax and News to catch up they need to look at doing the above - showing some opinion in editorial (which Fairfax does well with blogs and reviews) as well as strong visual content. Yes, gossip isn't really Fairfax's core strength, and I am sure they are happy with their numbers ... but News as a business is built on this sort of content ... so it will be interesting to see how they look to leverage their pedigree in this area online and adapt their content and editorial style to how people wish to digest their voyeuristic content nowadays.

Begs the question - will the right (read new/incremental) advertising dollars follow the eyeballs?

Looking for love online ...

Smart move by US company 1-800-Flowers -http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/business/media/07adcol.html?_r=2&ref=media&oref=login&oref=slogin

"As the first component of a yearlong partnership with Google, the company is holding a “Will You Marry Me?” contest to find the season’s most intriguing marriage proposal. Love-smitten users can log on to a special 1-800-Flowers.com YouTube channel starting on Monday and submit a video of themselves proposing.

"The winning video will be on YouTube’s front page on Feb. 11. The winner will receive a wedding at a Sandals Resorts property, with transportation provided by American Airlines and an engagement ring from the Internet jeweler Blue Nile. "

What a great idea! With Valentines Day fast approaching it would be fantastic if Google did this locally ... YouTube is the perfect medium for a Valentines Day greeting - for the consumer it offers something personable and expressive (with less limitations than 3 lines on a classifieds) ... and for an advertiser it offers cut through and the ability to play in your own space.

Forget the clutter - look for something unique! Simple and effective. Fantastic.

UK: Digital ad spend to surpass TV in 09

So our parent company, WPP, is predicting that in 2009 that ad spend on digital channels will surpass TV in the UK.

Taken from http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article3307648.ece

"The forecast was made by Group M, a subsidiary of Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP group, which expects UK internet advertising revenues to swell by more than 30 per cent to £3.4bn this year. TV advertising, on the other hand, is expected to grow by less than 1 per cent to £3.56bn in 2008. And by 2009, after Sweden, the UK is likely to become the world's first major economy to witness the ascent of the internet past one of its biggest rival mediums in the advertising arena."

I guess the important question for Australian marketers is - when will this happen locally?

And personally I think it is a matter of 'when' not 'if'.

Well, let's look at local data from CEASA.

Total advertising spend for the 12 months ending June 2007 - $9.596b

How does this split?

TV - 3.022b
Print - 3.464b

According to CEASA online accounts for 11.3% of total ad spend - $1.19b (ABVS data used)

In this 06/07 period we had 54.2% growth in digital according to CEASA. It is generally felt digital will sustain approx. 30% growth per year over the next 3-4 years. TV had negative growth (as a share of ad spend not in a financial sense) as did all other mediums (online growth needs to come at the expense of other mediums)

If digital grows at 30% for the next 4 years it will account for 32.2% of total advertising. If TV sees the same decrease it did in 07 (approx 2.3% year on year) it will account for 28.7% in 2011.

Press is the dominant media in AU - however if that sees the same 1.2% decrease each of the next 4 years (as it did in 07) it will represent 33.3% - a touch over digital.

I admit, these are all hypothetical figures based on one data source and loaded with assumptions that things won't really change in the traditional media landscape - but it does create an interesting scenario.

Is digital prepared to be the dominant media in 2011? Are clients ready for this shift? Are publishers sophisticated enough? Are creative agencies ready? Are media agencies even ready? Do we have the talent to drive digital to what appears to be its destiny?

More importantly - will 08 see digital work closer with both press and TV. In the past few years digital has started to work alongside TV (especially through ninemsn), however digital and press often struggle to find synergies to offer advertisers and sometimes it feels like they work against eachother as opposed to working hand in hand. 08 will be interesting to see how News Ltd tackle combining their burgeoning online properties with their dominant print mastheads.

And lastly, will 08 see more conservative advertisers such as retailers, food, pharma and cosmetics dip their toe in the digital water?

*** image stolen from wired.com