Shaping the Future of the Newspaper Blog

Google to challenge Facebook with 'social' Gmail

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:53:51 -0600

Google is preparing to announce new Gmail features that would extend its reach into the social networking realm, the Financial Times reported today, dubbing the plans a "Facebook assault." This following last week's news that Facebook is planning to launch an e-mail service.

The search giant is looking to give Gmail users a way to aggregate contacts' updates, which can currently be viewed in Google's Chat service, within Gmail's inbox. This would create a "stream of notifications that would echo the similar real-time streams from Facebook and Twitter."

News International ads showcase power of print

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:58:07 -0600

News International Commercial has launched outdoor and print advertisements that aim to show the power of newspapers and magazines, MediaWeek.co.uk reported today.

The ads are based on research from Microsoft Advertising, which in December stated that for large retailers, print advertising is more effective than online ads, and more than twice as effective as television ads. Each £1 spent on print ads garner £5 in revenue, while TV and Internet ads bring in £2.15 and £3.44, respectively.

SFN report: Most publishers enthusiastic for change

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:22:17 -0600

The first annual World Newspaper Future & Change Study is a global research study about newspaper publishers' business strategies moving forward for the next five years, with the key objective to inspire newspaper executives to invest and innovate their business units and business practices, according to the latest SFN's report, Charting the Course for Newspapers.

The purpose of the study is to pinpoint the business and strategic challenges of the world's newspapers, and then to identify the publishers' strategies moving forward to turn the challenges into opportunities.

Globe and Mail to publish special Sunday editions for Olympics

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:27:02 -0600

The Globe and Mail will publish three special Sunday editions for the British Columbia market to provide more coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, making it the only seven-day newspaper in the region, MarketingMag reported Friday.

The special editions will be published Feb. 14, 21 and 28. They will be delivered to subscribers, sold at more than 1,000 retail outlets in Vancouver, Whistler and Victoria, and be available to the rest of Canada as an online e-edition.

MediaNews Group to put up paywalls

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:16:34 -0600

MediaNews Group will begin charging for online content in May, adopting a metered paywall system similar to the one The New York Times announced it will put up, Bloomberg reported Friday. The U.S. newspaper publisher will use Journalism Online LLC to handle processing of payments for its Web sites.

The test will begin at the company's Enterprise-Record in Chico, California, and Daily Record in York, Pennsylvania. If it's successful, the paywall may be instituted at more than 50 dailies owned by MediaNews, including The Denver Post and San Jose Mercurcy News, the Denver Business Journal reported Saturday.

Image: Superchou's Flickr photostream

Jobs to go at Swedish daily

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:26:33 -0600

Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter has announced that it will cut between 100 and 120 jobs after sustaining multi-million euro losses, The Local reports. This amounts to almost one sixth of the newspaper's workforce.

The company employs 580 people, with half of these in the newsroom. Most of the cuts are expected to affect editorial staff, with more than a third of these set to go. The newspaper reported losses of 97 million kronor, or around €10 million, last year. Despite this, union official Hans Arbman said that the cuts were unexpected.

For more on this story, visit our sister publication, editorsweblog.org.

Will Facebook e-mail bring down Gmail, Yahoo Mail, others?

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:28:13 -0600

Facebook is working on an e-mail product, and may have Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail and others in its cross hairs.

The social networking site is planning to launch a completely new e-mail product in the place of its current message product, internally known as Project Titan, TechCrunch reported today. "Tacking a real webmail product on top of those vanity URLs and Facebook connect is something even Google may shudder at," Michael Arrington wrote, adding that he doesn't think the new service will be a "Gmail killer."

Image: castortroy520's flickr photostream

Axel Springer launches paywalls on two German paper sites

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:13:36 -0600

Axel Springer has decided to add online paywalls on two of its German papers, the Berliner Morgenpost and the Hamburger Abendblatt, right after French newspaper Le Figaro and NYTimes.com, paidContent reported.

Monthly access to all content on morgenpost.de now costs €4.95 (£4.32/$6.79), while a premium monthly subscription to abendblatt.de is €7.95 (£6.93/$10.90).

Rival magazine publishers join forces to promote medium

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:59:27 -0600

Five magazine publishers will put competition aside to create a marketing campaign promoting their medium, MediaWeek reported Thursday. Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, Time Inc. and Wenner Media will fund the promotional campaign, to be launched in April. More details will be announced in March.

Young & Rubicam will create the campaign, which will be published in magazine ads in titles owned by the companies. The campaign may have digital offerings as well.

Metro Intl announces profits for Q4

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:05:22 -0600

Metro International, the largest free newspaper group in the world, reported a profit in the fourth quarter of last year following minimised operations and a growing share in "most of its markets," said Reuters today.

Total operating profit amounted to €5.9 (US$8.1) million for the period, compared to a loss of €9.8 (US$13.5) million the same time in 2008, wrote the Sydney Morning Herald. However, for the duration of 2009, Metro saw a loss of €21.7 (US$ 29.8) million after a €4.1 (US$ 5.6) million profit in 2008.

Monster's HotJobs buy may move 200 newspapers out of Yahoo's consortium

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:57:55 -0600

MonsterWorldwide has made a deal to acquire Yahoo's HotJobs, a competing recruiting site, which could mean up to 200 of the 800 newspapers Yahoo works with will be cut out of Yahoo's Newspaper Consortium, Editor & Publisher reported today. Yahoo is receiving US$225 million in cash for the purchase.

When members join the consortium, they can choose one of two contracts - one for the display side, which includes search and display advertising, content distribution and its APT ad platform, or the other, which includes recruitment ads through HotJobs, according to paidContent. Six-hundred of the 800 consortium members have the HotJobs contract, while about 200 smaller newspapers rely on the group's recruitment services for job ads revenue.

SFN report: Netherlands and Sweden led in broadband revenue per capita in '07

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:17:50 -0600

According to IDATE and Ofcom, in 2002, Sweden and Canada led in broadband revenue per capita, with £27 and £26, respectively. The Netherlands and the United States came next with £19 and £14, respectively, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2009 reported.

In 2007, Netherlands rose to the first place with £75 in revenue per capita, beating Sweden's £65, Canada's £61, and the United States'53 percent.

Pearson buys macroeconomic intelligence firm Medley Global Advisors

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:59:00 -0600

UK publisher Pearson PLC announced Wednesday it has bought Medley Global Advisors, which advises hedge funds, investment banks and asset managers, as it aims to focus on subscriptions over advertising, Reuters reported.

Pearson, which publishes the Financial Times, is looking to diversify its business model. In 2008, it bought an online news and discussion service aimed at fund managers called Money-Media, for example. It has also bought several data providers, such as MergerMarket, to cut down on reliance on print and advertising for revenues, according to the Daily Mail.

Free Russian papers partner on advertising venture

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:03:58 -0600

Free Russian-language newspapers Moi Rayion, distributed in Moscow and St. Petersburg on weekends, as well as Moscow's daily Metro, announced a joint advertising venture titled "Seven Days a Week," Slon.ru reported today. The publications claim that fusing two separate distribution systems (the subway for Metro and large supermarket chains for Moi Rayion) would provide advertisers with maximum access to a desired audience on any day of the week.

According to Lenta.ru, the combined audience of the two outlets amounts to 1.2 million. Moi Rayion has 557,000 readers in Moscow while Metro has 775, 300. The average cost per thousand (CPT) adds up to RUB 595 (US$ 19.7). Metro has a CPT of RUB 603 (US$20.0) while Moi Rayion of RUB 480 ($15.9).

Kindle acquires touchscreen technology maker Touchco

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:31:42 -0600

InformationWeek divulged Thursday that Amazon may have acquired Touchco, a touchscreen technology manufacturer. According to a New York Times (NYT) article from Wednesday "a person briefed on the deal" revealed that Amazon would be combining the manufacturer's technology and staff members into its California-based hardware division Lab126.

The acquisition was reportedly a step to boost Kindle's touch screen mechanism in light of the launch of Apple's new device iPad, said the Wall Street Journal. The iPad is thought to be better than Kindle because it has a more colourful screen and is easier to navigate.