Major Magazine Tries to Remain onTop

“The Economist - the print publication that ate the newsweekly market single-handedly via the strange strategy of maintaining extremely highly sophisticated news coverage without dumbing down its tone - now has ten percent of its subscribers as online-only paying members. The 150,000 online-only readers have not yet cut into its print circulation on a gross basis, 'but it will,' said the firm's digital editor to The Editors Weblog. The move from one million print subscribers to 1.5 million happened in a few years, perhaps hastened by the whole or partial print demise of former major competitors such as Time and Newsweek. The Economist's corporate attitude, however, is to make haste destroying its hard-fought gains with a superior online offering” ( Economist tries, 2013). 

Economist tries to destroy its print market before someone else does (Jan. 14, 2013). MarketingVox.com. Retrieved from <http://www.marketingvox.com/economist-tries-to-destroy-its-print-market-before-someone-else-does-051963/?utm_campaign=rssfeed&utm_source=mv&utm_medium=textlink>

Consumers Behave Differently on Social Web Sites

"The social-media world is often criticized for introducing new metrics [a way of measuring the demographics of a media] to marketers who want to better understand the social space and the effects it can have on a product or service. Why introduce new metrics, skeptics say, when the data landscape is already complex and confusing? Do we really need this, given the tried and true metrics of digital-media buying in use for the past decade? Let's take a step back. What is a metric? It's a standard of measurement. In advertising it is designed to define a specific type of consumer behavior, be it attention-centric (clicks, impressions, etc.) or more direct response-oriented (sales, conversions, etc.).There would be no use for new metrics if consumers on social platforms behaved as they do when on any other website. But consumers do behave differently when using social platforms and there are some key reasons why" (Sethi, 2012)

Sethi, Nikhil (2012, Aug. 22). "Do we need new metrics for social media. Yes, and here's why." AdAge.com. Retrieved from: <http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/metrics-social/236810/>

Yahoo's Problems Reflect a Changing Web World

"That became painfully clear Tuesday when Yahoo’s board abruptly fired its chief executive, Carol A. Bartz." That's part of a post from the New York Times. "She focused on bolstering Yahoo’s online media and original reporting, but neglected to develop the new social networking tools, video services or mobile apps that people now prefer to use. In that way, the tale of Yahoo’s misfortunes is not just one of management woes, but a vivid illustration of the transition from Web sites that publish professional content to a new digital world dominated by mobile phones and sites where the users are the content creators." Read more.

The post adds the following about trends in Internet advertising: "Advertisers are chasing what they say is more profitable prey — users of smartphones, video sites and social networks, and the companies that cater to them. Yahoo has always led in one of the most important corners of the advertising marketing: display ads, those that show images and video. But Facebook and Google are closing in on Yahoo, in large part because they can offer advertisers more personal information about users."

Users of Social Media and Marketers

eMarketer reports that "as Twitter evolves its advertising platform, with the latest development being Promoted Tweets to followers, there is concern as to how consumers will react to seeing ads from brands in their Twitter feeds. Market research firm Lab42 surveyed US Twitter users in August 2011, asking about their habits related to brand engagement. Only 11.1% of US Twitter users said that following brands was the leading reason why they use the site. The top reasons include following friends (17.4%), to get a good laugh (15.6%), to get the news (15.1%) and to share the news (13.9%)." Read more. See previous post.

What's Google Got that Facebook Don't--a Marketing Purpose

A website may capture the imagination, but that does not make it a great marketing opportunity.

"Let's begin with Tumblr, a niche social-media site with a rabidly loyal and rapidly growing user base, which, according to The Wall Street Journal, is seeking a whopping $800 million dollar valuation, despite having absolutely no revenue model or brand offering. The most successful use of the platform by marketers thus far has been via 'reblog contests,' yet another gimmicky abuse of social media by brands essentially bribing users to promote their content," writes David Teicher of AdAgeDigital. "Which brings us to Facebook. What's so upsetting to the social-media marketer in me, is that despite the sheer number of consumers and businesses on the platform, many of whom want to engage with each other, the resulting engagement predominantly comes in one of two, equally ineffective forms." Read more.

Google+ Adding New Dimension to Social Media

"Google+ has catapulted onto the social media scene, with over 25-million users registered at the start of August 2011. Much is being documented about its innovative use of circles, sparks and huddles (which, I might add, sound more like nursery school playgroup names than social media tabs). But what does it mean for business owners?" (Brews, 2011). Read more.

Brews, Keryn (Aug. 30, 2011). Why marketers should pay attention to Google+. Marketing Web. Retrieved from http://www.marketingweb.co.za/marketingweb/view/marketingweb/en/page71654?oid=137418&sn=Marketingweb+detail&pid=71616

Internet Radio Threatens Traditional Radio

"Internet radio service Pandora posted its first financial results as a public company yesterday, six months after filing for an IPO. While the company may not yet be profitable, they're off to a pretty good start in terms of growth. Its total revenue grew 117% year over year and its total listeners grew 125%. Contained amongst these investor-pleasing stats was another takeaway: The company is now commanding ad rates comparable to those sold on terrestrial radio stations, as GigaOm pointed out" (Titlow, 2011). 

What could this mean? Advertisers are not placing their ads on Pandora because they "like" it. Advertisers place their ads where they expect their primary audience (potential) buyers to be listening.


Titlow, John Paul (Aug. 26, 2011). As digital revenue goes up, will the web finally disrupt radio? NYTimes.com. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/external/readwriteweb/2011/08/26/26readwriteweb-as-digital-revenue-grows-will-the-web-final-92688.html?ref=internet.