NewFronts not just about TV money

Once again, the glitzy TV “upfronts” arrived with broadcasters showing off new TV shows and trying to lock in ad money. And again, the NewFronts showed up with digital publishers aiming to wrest some of that money away. But this time, there were a couple differences: 1) money is already flowing online so there’s no need to beg; and 2) digital presenters were not necessarily out for money, but to educate big agencies and buyers. At the NewFronts, usual suspects such as AOL, Google and Yahoo were joined by more traditional publishers such as WSJ.com and Conde Nast, who were…  Full article

Hearst hits 1 million tablet subs

While Hearst Magazines honcho David Carey predicted the company would reach 1 million tablet subscriptions by the end of 2012, the company eventually hit that goal by the end of March 2012. And Carey now predicts 3 million subscribers by 2016. Mashable’s Lauren Indvik talked to Hearst exec John Loughlin, who said subscription growth slowed to 5% to 7% last year, but then picked up to 10% this year. Why the increase? Loughlin pegged it to three factors: sampler issues in the Apple Newsstand; Next Issue Media expanding its offering to 80 titles and increasing marketing; and better targeted email…  Full article

Earnings up: AOL, Groupon, Demand

They might not be the sexiest names in the digital media space, but companies such as AOL, Groupon, Demand Media and LinkedIn all had one common thread in their recent earnings reports: rising profits. And one other thing: skepticism about their future. Let’s start with AOL. This is a company that still relies on subscription revenues from dial-up access to the Net, but also saw ad revenues grow to $359 million, up from $330 million from the year-ago quarter. The AOL “Brand group,” including Huffington Post and TechCrunch, had a 14% rise in ad revenues, but “AOL networks” which includes…  Full article

Twitter makes deals with ESPN, Fox

Twitter might not have presented at the upfronts, but others did the presenting for them. In this case, ESPN used some of its time at the upfronts to tout an expanded partnership with Twitter to show video clips related to soccer matches, college football and the X Games. ESPN will sell ads into the clips, and advertisers will commit to buying Twitter Promoted Posts to go with the campaign. Twitter made a similar deal with Fox to air clips within tweets after shows ended, and has talked to CBS and NBC as well. “We are having lots of conversations with…  Full article

Video ads boom despite complexity

What’s driving Conde Nast to launch 30 web series? For WSJ.com to present at the NewFronts? Easy: a booming video ad market. eMarketer’s report, “Buying Online Video Advertising: Making the Most of Your Budget,” gives the numbers to back that up—despite the fact that it’s far from simple for marketers to run an online video campaign. This year, eMarketer predicts online video ads to hit $4.14 billion, up 41% from 2012, and rise to $9.06 billion by 2017. While buyers have to deal with an array of sites, formats, exchanges and networks, many marketers are beginning to make it easier…  Full article

Brands flourish on Instagram, Pinterest

There’s been a lot of hype around visual social networks such as Instagram and Pinterest, but what do they offer for brands? And by extension, what do they offer publishers? Simply Measured found that 67 of the top 100 brands were now on Instagram with Nike leading the way with 1.3 million followers. Plus, Instagram now has more than 100 million active monthly users, up 500% since Facebook acquired it. MTV, which has 1.2 million followers, had 200% growth in engagement during the MTV Movie Awards, according to Simply Measured. The firm also noted that top brands had many more…  Full article

Of Note

Google+ Redesign Looks a Lot Like Facebook, Pinterest (Mashable)
The company added 41 new features to Google+ as a part of an effort to make it smarter and more intuitive, with the help of bigger pictures and related hashtags.

Snooping and the News Media: It’s a 2-Way Street (NY Times)
While the AP was responding to government intrusion into its affairs, Bloomberg was responding to complaints from clients that it was peering into private matters.

Social media plays bigger, yet not game-changing role in political activity (SFGate)
Americans are increasingly using Facebook and Twitter to engage in political activity, yet social networking channels aren’t broadening the sphere of people involved.

Politico experiments with a paywall (Washington Post)
Politico debuts native ads on its home page and looks to test a metered system for subscriptions in a half-dozen states and internationally.

Report: Google+ Visitors Spent an Average of About 7 Minutes on the Site in March (Mashable)
The average visitor spent 6 minutes 47 seconds on Google+'s site in March vs. 6 hours, 44 minutes on Facebook.com

NYT thinks beyond the pay wall

The New York Times and its new CEO Mark Thompson are doubling down (in a way) on digital subscriptions while also diversifying to focus on other aspects of the business, including conferences, crosswords and even games – proving that even the Times’ almighty pay wall can’t be the only answer to the new-business-model puzzle. The new subscription plans are in tiers, with a lower cost option for less content and a higher cost option that includes extras such as event entry fees. The lower cost option is aimed at readers who have held out on paying the full subscription rate.…  Full article

The viewability race begins

As the industry clamors for more data on the “viewability” of online ads, everyone is trying to figure out how to crunch the numbers, how to share the numbers and most importantly, who is going to be the frontrunner in helping navigate the numbers. The race to own viewability is on. Google was the most recent to make strides in the ever-present viewability challenge, getting Media Rating Council accreditation for its “Active View” – the viewability measurement program it launched in 2012. The program allows advertisers to only pay for ads that are at least 50 percent visible for one…  Full article

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