Shaping the Future of the Newspaper Blog - Industry Trends

SFN report: U.S. mobile ad spending totalled $320 million in '08

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 10:40:32 -0600

U.S. mobile ad spending, including display, search and messaging-based advertising, totalled US$320 million in 2008, and exceeded $593 million in 2010, according to eMarketer. In 2013, it is expected to surpass $1.5 billion, detailed in World Digital Media Trends 2010, released by the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.

To break down as national versus local, back in 2005, U.S. mobile national ads accounted for $138 million, while local was only niche, according to the 2009 third quarter data from Borrell Associates. In 2014, national mobile ad spending is forecast to exceed $5.5 billion, while local mobile ads will surpass $4.7 billion.

SFN report: News most popular content consumed by British iPhone and smartphone users

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:05:31 -0600

The most popular content consumed by iPhone users and all smartphone users in the United Kingdom is access to news via mobile browser (79.7 percent and 48 percent, respectively) in January 2009, according to comScore. By comparison, 55.6 percent of iPhone users and 22.1 percent of all smartphone users accessed news and information by downloaded applications, detailed in World Digital Media Trends 2010, released by the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.

E-mail was accessed by 75.4 percent of iPhone users and by 35.4 percent of all smartphone users, while listening to mobile music was consumed by 65.6 percent of iPhone users and 40.5 percent of all smartphone users during the same period. By comparison, a fraction of all mobile phone users did any of these activities.

Just published: World News Future & Change Study 2010

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:03:23 -0600

Newspaper publishers around the globe understand their traditional revenue sources will not return to the levels they enjoyed in years past, and they are making the development of new products and new channels their top priorities for more profit, the second annual World News Future & Change Study concludes.

Continual transformation and change is a way of life in the media world, not a one-time process, they acknowledge in the study, conducted by the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project, of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers' (WAN-IFRA), in partnership with the Norwegian School of Management (BI) and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) in the United Kingdom.

SFN report: Global telecom services market totaled €997 billion in '08

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 09:42:46 -0600

The global telecom services market has grown from €851 billion in 2005, to €997 billion in 2008, according to IDATE. Mobile services include search, e-mail, weather, news, photos, sports, maps and other non-data download services, detailed in World Digital Media Trends 2010, released by the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.

The most dramatic surges in telecom services are in the Asia Pacific region, particularly in China and India, as well as in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. During the same time period, the more established markets of North America and Europe have grown slightly in global telecom services.

SFN report: Google top-ranking website worldwide in 2010

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 13:41:04 -0600

From 2005 to 2010, the top-ranking websites have changed considerably, with only Yahoo, Google and MSN on the top 10 list from five years prior, according to Alexa. Google took the No. 1 ranking from Yahoo, which has dropped to No. 4. Meanwhile, relative newcomers Facebook,YouTube,Windows Live,Wikipedia, Blogger, Baidu and QQ are among the most popular sites on the Web detailed in World Digital Media Trends 2010, released by the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.

Nielsen categorises the top 10 global websites differently from Alexa, by organising the list by parent companies, some of which have a dozen or more websites included in the grouping. Google remains in the No. 1 position, and in this group, includes YouTube.

SFN report: About three-quarters of American men and women are online users

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 12:16:05 -0600

About three-quarters of American men and women are Internet users, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project conducted in late 2009.

The Pew study examined the demographics of Internet users in America, and found that 76 percent of whites, 70 percent of blacks and 64 percent of Hispanics in America are Internet users, detailed in World Digital Media Trends 2010, released by the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.

Fate is a good provider: Questioning Larry Blumenthal's enthusiasm

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 09:31:55 -0600

There is a saying in French, "Le Hasard Fait Bien les Choses," which can be translated as "Fate is a Good Provider."

No other expression best applies to what happened to me while I was reading one of this week's class readings: "Social Media Can Open Door to Philantropy's Future," by Larry Blumenthal.

In his opinion column, Blumenthal describes a workshop he led for staff from a variety of foundations to convince them that there were no such thing as social media. To him, engaging with social media is tantamount to fostering collaboration, openness, transparency, timeliness, sharing work in progress, embracing and learning from failure. In this respect, the author believes, any person claiming that social media does not seem relevant to his or her work is - to say the least - totally wrong!

SFN report: Global entertainment and media market to exceed US$1.69 trillion in 2014

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 07:20:54 -0600

The overall entertainment and media market worldwide was valued at US$1.17 trillion in 2005, and grew to more than $1.32 trillion in 2009, according to data from PricewaterhouseCoopers and Wilkofsky Gruen and Associates.

It is expected to exceed $1.69 trillion in 2014, according to the data, detailed in World Digital Media Trends 2010, released by the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.

SFN report: Mobile customers worldwide to reach 5.2 billion in '12

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 13:16:26 -0600

According to IDATE, the number of mobile customers worldwide has grown from 2.16 billion in 2005 to a projected 5.2 billion in 2012, with the number of Chinese customers far surpassing any other country, with an estimated 915 million customers in 2012. The Asia Pacific region on the whole will grow from 820 million to 2.54 billion customers from 2005 to 2012.

SFN report: Spending on print-plus yields an increase in sales

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 17:45:06 -0600

Despite the global economic downturn that has slowed or reversed growth across media industries since 2008, technologies and digital sectors continue to advance and grow, and new media platforms gain market share across the board. Meanwhile, traditional media are seeing limited growth or decreasing shares overall.

Because audiences consume news across platforms, spending on print plus another category yields an increase in sales, according to research by BrandScience for the Outdoor Advertising Association in the United Kingdom, released in September 2009, according to the report, World Digital Media Trends 2010, released by the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.

Powering digital futures: Solar and wind power

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:47:51 -0600

Tech companies may be on the verge of investing in alternative energy sources. According to the Washington Post, Google is set to invest in an offshore wind energy farm in the United States. Meanwhile, Georgian designer Archil Vardidze proposed an iPhone 6 concept that features a solar-powered device, Concept Phones wrote.

The concept outlines the same single-button approach as current models, but also introduces a model that is slightly longer and wider, Uber Gizmo informed. Furthermore, it has an aluminum casing, an external antenna as well as a solar panel at the back for extra battery life. TFTS added that the design also incorporates a USB/charger docking station, a camera at the front and an LED flash cam at the back.

When non-profits meet innovative platforms

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:34:45 -0600

In the recent past, one of the biggest criticisms of the non-profit sector was its ineffective method in "selling itself." Many non-profit organisations admittedly encountered problems in their marketing and advertising, or what some in the field prefer to call "advocacy." This often led to sub par fund raising events, awareness campaigns that rarely reach beyond the inner circles, and difficulties in bringing in new constituents. Several organisations still rely solely on the older methods of fliers, newsletters, and mailing or phone lists, but clearly these avenues are becoming more and more limiting. In a digital age, advocacy is not what it used to be, and non-profits, with their lack of funds and manpower, are finding that they need to work even harder to keep up with current and potential supporters.

"The history of advocacy and marketing goes like this: we started with face to face approaches, then it went to snail mail, then TV and radio, then email, and now we've rapidly moved into a society that is growing more into the online space," Rob Wu, founder of the networking and fund raising platform CauseVox, pointed out. He went on to talk about the prevalence of social media marketing and the use of technological innovations in this field.

Killer campaigns: Using social media successfully

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:57:09 -0600

"Need a break? So does the rainforest."

This was the message behind Greenpeace's social media campaign last March against Swiss chocolate giant, Nestlé. The environmental organisation criticised Nestlé for using palm oil suppliers that allegedly destroy Indonesian rainforests and threaten the Orangutan habitat.

Just days after posting a one-minute commercial parody on YouTube featuring an office worker taking a break with a Kit Kat bar made of orangutan fingers, Greenpeace and hundreds of thousands of people across the globe watched the video go viral. They also watched Nestlé's reputation take a beating.

Americas Society: Taking digital bulls by the horns

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:16:19 -0600

While many NGOs, non-profits, and news organisations are still baffled and skeptical of the impact new media tools can have, Americas Society is embracing the Web and social media to broadcast news and augment their readership. By engaging with Twitter, Facebook, and Web 2.0 platforms, Americas Society is an example of cultural institutes and policy think tanks coming into the digital realm.

On Sept. 23, hours after news broke that a Colombian military attack had resulted in the death of a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia leader, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos spoke at an Americas Society event in New York. Live tweeting of Santos' remarks entered the international news stream, and it was announced to the world that not only had the FARC leader, Mono Jojoy, been killed, but 14 computers and 60 USB drives of information about the FARC had also been seized by Colombian authorities.

Moody's lowers U.S. newspaper outlook to 'negative'

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:31:15 -0600

Even though Moody's expects newspaper revenues to go down only 5 to 6 percent this year, and in the mid-single digits next year, less than the 22 percent drop in 2009, "the industry's longer-term secular deterioration is returning to the forefront," according to John Puchalla, vice president at Moody's, News and Tech reported.