Watch out Comcast, I’ve Got Choices

It was a great New Year’s gift.

I was at our home in California this week and looking forward to watching my alma mater, Syracuse, play DePaul in basketball on New Years Day. The Orange are undefeated and the number one team in the country this year, and despite my brutal travel schedule and the fact that we are splitting our time between San Francisco and New York City, I’ve had the opportunity over one form of media or another, to watch most of their first 14 games live on TV, a computer, my IPad or my IPhone.

This time I was really looking forward to seeing the game on our big screen TV at home. Even though the game was scheduled on ESPN3, the digital channel available on the internet, I had purchased the pay-per-view package on Comcast’s Xfinity Service that was also carrying the game on cable.

But when I sat down to watch the game at 2pm on New Years day, all I could get was a notice on the screen saying the game would be available soon, and a useless code number.

I called Comcast, which is normally pretty responsive to my calls.

First, whatever choices I made on their infuriating automated call system only got me to a tape that their offices were closed for the holidays. Then, after altering my selections to “technical” difficulties I was able, after 15 minutes (the game was 10 minutes in at this point) to find an agent who was very nice and tried to help me. After several restarts of my system and long pauses while she spoke to co-workers, presumably about my problems, the game finally reached half time (nearly an hour on the phone) before she gave up trying to get this pay service started on cable box. After talking to various people she also came back to tell me there was no such game on the schedule (it was on the on-screen guide in great detail) and then that maybe it was on the schedule but she couldn’t explain why they couldn’t start it..they were able to take my money for the special package, but couldn’t seem to deliver me the content. She seemed as frustrated as I was and was trying to be helpful. Ultimately, all she could do was schedule a service call for later this week.

This would have been a totally infurating process had I not decided (about 15 minutes into the game) to check to see if I was able to get the game on my Ipad via ESPNWatch, a service I get because I’m an ESPN subscriber on Time Warner Cable in NYC and Comcast in San Francisco.

Sure enough, I found the game on my IPad and watched the last 2/3rds of it while waiting for it to appear on my TV. Ironically, if I had the right wire attachments, I could have ported the game from my IPad onto the TV and watched it, with no commercials!, on the big screen.

So despite my frustration with Comcast’s inability to delivery their own service, I still had access to the event. While I still wanted to see it on my big screen, I had found an alternative that wasn’t available to me until this year.

What will it mean for next year, when I’m deciding whether or not to add the extra sports package to my Xfinity service from Comcast?

Take a guess.

The Influence Gap: Who Should Be Talking About You, But Isn’t?

One of the biggest advantages of the new digital media world is the ability to track behavior and generate data that can have profound impact on the success of companies and their products. By measuring actual consumer behavior and being able to track the roots of that behavior — as in discovering WHY someone was led to take an action, or WHO influenced them to buy the product they did — one can craft a much more efficient attack to change or improve image or sales.

While hundreds of new companies are working on data mining techniques that will analyze this newly-available data in real time and help companies discovery what they have to do and who they have to influence to help get their products or services to grow, there are some new developments that significantly raise the bar in the quality of the data that will be available.

Many of the early players in this world, sensing that social media was driving a lot of the new online consumer activity, began to build software that monitored social media influence. By tapping into the social media behavior of people, these firms were able to determine who has power in social media. Which tweeters get retweeted the most, who gets followed or “liked” on Facebook the most, etc. It can measure the level of discussion about a product on social media platforms. Klout is an example of this kind of business, giving everyone who signs up on their site a “score” for how influential they are.

But Social Media is only part of the story. The “Warren Buffett” problem is a good example why it isn’t the answer. Warren Buffett is not on Social Media, but he would rank high on anyone’s list as someone with influence. His influence shows up more, for example, in traditional media like Television, Newspapers and Magazines, on and in which he regularly appears. Yet his Klout score would be zero.

This brings me to a new product being released tomorrow from a company in New York called Appinions (full disclosure, I joined the board of this company earlier this year and watched the development of this product with great anticipation). Using search and analysis software developed at Cornell, Appinions measures the influence of individuals across all forms of media — textual and video — and allows its customers to drill down and see exactly what the influencers are saying. Appinions can tell you how many people are talking about you, how loudly they are speaking (ie how many people are watching, listening, reading their words), and whether or not what they are saying is positive or negative. And it can give the customer the same information about their competition and their industry in general.

Thus is born the “The Influence Gap”, a data product that can produce data on any topic or product or industry and tell a company where they stand in true public discussion. Are they talked about more or less than competitors? How many people are talking about them, and What do people say about them, about their competition and about the industry they are in?

This kind of information is invaluable to companies trying to build a brand, or, for example, politicians trying to win votes. Imagine a politician being able to pinpoint which Influencers, like media pundits or other politicians, are influencing the most people to vote for someone else and to be able to pinpoint exactly what they are saying and where they are saying it. That politician could then target his message to those people and focus on the issue THEY are raising. This would allow for much more efficient campaign spending on advertising or PR. They could, for example, figure our who is influencing opinion on a particular subject, like foreign policy. Then they can target that influence and his or her audience, with just a targeted foreign policy message.

Finally, by following these trends before and after a company has launched it’s marketing campaign, or a politician has responded, Appinions can, for the first time, generate a true ROI on the impact of the campaign on the public perception of a product, brand or candidate. In Appinion’s case, they serve media customers like the Economist, corporate clients and several Advertising and PR agencies like Mediawhiz, Digitas, EuroRSCG and Edelman. And they are in discussions with several political campaigns.

This will be a major step forward toward actually realizing the early promise that digital media platforms would truly monitor consumer and influencer behavior in a much richer way than has ever been available before.

Now THIS is Convergence

You gotta love this. Picked it up at sports site SBNation in a blog item from Jason Kirk. It’s the ultimate use of old media to promote new to drive engagement! Go Mississippi State!

Is The Ad Market Slowing Down? The Media Search for New Revenue Streams Picks Up Steam

Concern is growing that the overall Advertising Market is beginning to slow down, and that situation will worsen after the presidential election is over. Such concerns have caused media companies to accelerate their hunt for new revenue streams.

None of this comes as a surprise. Increasingly marketers have shifted funds from advertising to PR, social media efforts and even content creation. The percentage of marketing money that goes to advertising is dropping and is expected to continue to drop.

According to The Wall Street Journal today, Kantar Media is suggesting that decelerating ad spending growth in the first half of the year could shift to an actual decline in the third quarter.

The Los Angeles Times Story about the same report from Kantar says that “seismic shifts in spending continue to roil the media industry.” Pointing out that many of these changes have been driven by the recession, the LA Times cites major ad buying categories like retailers, automakers and homes sellers as having “been particularly hard hit, and few are predicting a speedy recovery.”

But there have been other contributors to the problems. After the Japanese earthquake damaged car factories and slammed auto production, the floods in Thailand did the same thing to many of the parts manufacturers.

All of this is contributing to a need on the part of content creators to search for new revenue streams besides traditional advertising. In the video world, while some of that money may come from non-traditional advertising, like digital or even advertising supported video-on-demand, there are also non-advertising related revenue streams, like NetFlix and Amazon deals, where consumers are starting to pay both subscriptions and one-time fees to have content delivered when and where they want it.

For print publications, that can mean several things. One of the more interesting strategies comes from the LA Times this week, which launched its e-books business this week with the publication of “A Nightmare Made Real”, an e-book about a crime the paper covered earlier in the year, combining the paper’s coverage and some new material into a digital book. Coming soon is a collection of holiday cookie recipes that paper had published earlier. Pricing on e-books is going to be tested, ranging from 99 cents to $19.99, with some consideration being given to a subscription model. The books will be sold on Kindle, Nook, IBooks and at the newspaper’s own e-bookstore. According to the LA Times, several newspapers are now experimenting with ebooks.

We can only hope the move to generate new revenue streams happens quickly enough to offset the softening in the traditional markets.

Changing The Game For Hotel Rooms

The latest industry to see the rise of a potential game changing start-up is the Hotel Biz.

A little known startup called Room 77 was profiled today by Nick Wingfield in the Bits Blog of the New York Times.
Earlier this year Room 77 launched a web site that allows its customers to select specific rooms in hotels instead of just “Types” of rooms.

With a very clean interface that enables a consumer to study the layout of rooms in the hotel and even see the view from the hotel window for that room, Room 77 allows a traveler to check out things that may be important to them, like distance from elevators or stairs. In the beginning not a lot of hotels will be able to offer the information needed for this product, so getting the exact room will be difficult for a while.

But when they do start offering this service, they will be embarking on a new world for hotel operators: transparency.
Most hotels aren’t thrilled about the idea of a consumer knowing exactly what he or she wants. The problem is obvious: Hotels haven’t been particularly good at giving people what they want, so they use their own judgement frequently to give the potential customer something close to what they really want, but not the exact room type because it may not be available. That process becomes much more complicated if the requests are for specific rooms.

The hotels worry that they will lose customers who can’t get the specific room they want. There is a legitimate question as to whether or not the hotel managers really want to see this kind of information out there in real time.

The Room 77 Site Showing the View from a Cosmopolitan Hotel Room in Vegas.

But the fact is, if you can give the consumer something he or she wants, you are doing the right thing. One way or another they will get the information they want, so if you are a hotel owner/manager, you would be better off embracing this technology and running to be up first and best with it.

On top of that, this opens the door for a new pricing model. The very “best” rooms, based on the demand from customers, could cost more. Think of the airline seats with more space that now sell that added space for more.

No matter what, this is the case of technology improving the relationship between the customer and the company.

Google Seeks To Accelerate Convergence, And Become the Gateway to All Video Content

The latest disclosure that Google is thinking about offering a full cable-tv service, along with phone service, is a strong indicator of where the company is heading. It wants to be the portal into all things video for the consumer.

Google has seen the future of video entertainment and realizes that consumers will ultimately seek out the easiest way to have access to the most content, and that means a system that can access all forms of delivery systems. While some programming will be best served over the traditional point-to-multipoint systems like cable, satellite or even over-the-air, more and more programming will come from interactive 2-way delivery, either on-demand or IP.

The trick will be to hand the consumer a single remote control device that will control access to all those pipes of content, and easily manage and “authorize” their access to programming on each platform.

Cable operators and programmers have called this concept “TV Everywhere” and have been working toward building systems where one point of authentication can allow access to the same programming on all platforms. Google wants to take the next step and provide not just the authentication, but the actual access to the programming through Google software and perhaps even Hardware (Android?)

Another potential player in this world is Apple, which already ties together it’s platforms and allows its customers to access paid content on phones, tablets and computers via its ITunes service. Its Apple TV product is moving quickly toward adding the home TV into the equation.

Some insight into Google’s thinking from Today’s Wall Street Journal:

“Google has been thinking about a move into TV for many years, says Keval Desai, a former Google product director who is now a venture capitalist at InterWest Partners LLC. ‘TV is built on a closed system, which is why traditional cable and satellite operators are the only place where consumers can get ESPN and other channels,’ he said. As more TVs become connected to the Web, he said, ‘Internet companies like Google will be able to give you that same high-quality content,’ possibly at lower prices.”

This Is Why Occupy Wall Street Exists

From Today’s NYTimes Dealbook story about Jon Corzine resigning as head of MF Global, the firm that just went into bankruptcy and could force hundreds of small trading firms to liquidate:

“As Regulators Pressed Changes, Corzine Pushed Back, and Won. Jon S. Corzine, who stepped down on Friday as the head of MF Global, had resisted federal regulators’ attempts to rein in the types of risky trades that contributed to the firm’s collapse.

“A former United States senator and a former governor of New Jersey, as well as the leader of Goldman Sachs in the 1990s, Mr. Corzine carried significant weight in the worlds of Washington and Wall Street. The agency proposing the rule, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, relented.”

While we are all thrilled he has refused the $12 million in severance he is due as he departs, there is a gnawing feeling here that perhaps he and others who were enriched by the overly risky trading strategies they endorsed maybe should be held more responsible financially.

Watch Out Media Companies, Here Comes The Real Google

It was a little notice mention yesterday on YouTube’s own official blog. But with a dash of the obvious, Google is telling the world of television that it is about to have competition in every way for the hearts and minds of entertainment viewers. There is no attempt to sugarcoat this move with statements about how Google is here to help everyone find what they want. This move puts the company in direct competition with today’s media companies. The message is clear: We have a huge audience, and we are going after every possible minute of their time.

Here are the opening paragraphs of the blog:

“Wonderful things happen when cool technology meets great entertainment. Cable television expanded our viewing possibilities from just a handful of channels to hundreds, and brought us some of the most defining media experiences of the last few decades– think MTV, ESPN and CNN. Today, the web is bringing us entertainment from an even wider range of talented producers, and many of the defining channels of the next generation are being born, and watched, on YouTube.

“Today we’re announcing that even more talented creators and original entertainment will soon join YouTube’s existing channel lineup, including channels created by well-known personalities and content producers from the TV, film, music, news, and sports fields, as well as some of the most innovative up-and-coming media companies in the world and some of YouTube’s own existing partners. These channels will have something for everyone, whether you’re a mom, a comedy fan, a sports nut, a music lover or a pop-culture maven.

“Our goal with this channels expansion, along with the grants and educational programs we’ve launched in the past year, is to bring an even broader range of entertainment to YouTube, giving you more reasons to keep coming back again and again. And for advertisers, these channels will represent a new way to engage and reach their global consumers.”

Google is funding all this new development with at least $100 million in advance payments to content creators. And at the same time the company has announced a new version of Google TV, which hastens the steps toward the holy grail: the single interface that brings you all video programming, no matter where it comes from: the web, cable, over-the-air, Netflix, etc. So when a viewer decides he wants to watch a movie, the same remote control can access that movie from any source. Your choice will be made based on the best deal you get. The end result will be the same…you will see what you want, when you want and where you want, only the price will be cheaper based on new competition between all distributors for the same viewer.

For a sneak peek at the scores of new “programs” that will be coming over the new “Channels” created by Goover over the coming months and years,click here. As more and more television sets are shipped internet-ready, these new channels will have equal and direct access to all consumers not only on computers, but on that 60 inch screen in their living rooms. Do you think they will care about exactly where that show is coming from? When you got cable tv for the first time, for those who remember it, how long did you care or even realize, if a show was coming to you from a broadcaster or from a cable-only provider?

Here are just a few of the programs coming from Google:

If you are an entertainment executive at a television media company, be afraid.

The Need For Great Content To Transcend Platforms

Don’t count out the continuing power of traditional media, especially when it comes to building a brand. And don’t be surprised when new Digital Brands start to move on to older platforms, like Print or Television.

At Conde Nast one of the more interesting decisions a decade ago was to build a fashion website that didn’t use its existing fashion brands, like Vogue or Glamour. The idea around Style.com was that while content from those brands could be helpful, the web actually represented a younger audience that might want to identify with its own brand rather than one that attracted older readers in print.

Despite criticism that they were “wasting” great brand value by not using their existing brand names on the web, what Conde Nast did was truly build a content platform that attracted a younger audience, one that was very loyal and remarkably engaged.

Now that Vogue and the other brands have begun to extend their brand on to the web, Style.com has become part of Conde-owned Fairchild Fashion Media and is free to go in the other direction. They have decided to leverage their brand and audience into a print product. They are going to start a new magazine, which is something its parent Conde Nast does as well as anyone else. It’s a logical step and is just as important to its brand as it is for Vogue to get into digital platforms. All media brands have to think about all platforms.

What is unique about this is that it is one of the first purely digital brands that is extending into print. It won’t be the last. Some topics, particularly those like fashion or design, lend themselves to print. Similarly, expect more Conde Nast extensions into television now that they have created a new division in California, under former UPN and CW head Dawn Ostroff, “for the development, creation, production and distribution of original television, film and digital initiatives based on Conde Nast’s diverse and renowned portfolio of brands.”

According to Ostroff, “The chance to create new consumer experiences for some of the world’s most admired brands is a tremendous opportunity.”

News Takes Shape On Digital Platforms

As new versions of digital operating systems are introduced (IOS5 on Ipads/Iphones last week for example) and Apps developers pick up the pace, we see the presentation of news on these platforms begin to mature and take shape.

Here are some interesting developments:

— The Apple Newsstand was introduced with IOS5 and the new Iphone4S this week. It makes the downloading process much easier and reduces the effort needed to update digital news and magazine products.
— The faster networks being introduced are cutting into the time it takes to download heavy content files, so apps like The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The New York Post get downloaded much more quickly.

CNBC.com's Real Time Stocks

— Video is picking up on all platforms. I now watch CNN live on my IPhone or IPad because of their new apps and agreements with cable operators to allow their existing customers to also view the network on portable devices. My CNBC realtime App now gives me real time stock quotes and news. I now see bulletins from both on my phone and IPad screens when they happen, so I’m alerted to big breaking news without their apps open or without my email on.
— Applications are becoming more flexible. Editions, the AOL Magazine that repackages my social network-driven news for me into a digital magazine format, now allows me to view horizontally on my IPad and pulls events from my calendar and integrates them into the presentation.
— The Daily has begun to embrace its position as something of a Daily Magazine (would we always have produced magazine style journalism daily if we COULD have before?). They have built on magazine presentation skills to enhance news for its readers and at the same time build in exceptional social tools to have those readers engaged in a digital way.

Newser.com's new presentation

— Sites that have been around a while have newly designed interfaces that begin to use art, video, etc. in a more regular way. Aggregator Newser’s new app mixes links and the actual stories in a much more functional way.

The sum total is this: Each new week is making it easier and better to get the content we want from our digital devices, whether that content comes from Newspapers, Magazines, Books, Radio or Television.

The good news is the content is being viewed, read or absorbed by more people in more ways than ever before. The bad news, for existing media companies, is that we may also be seeing an acceleration in the migration of consumers from our traditional delivery systems and business models.

What this means, of course, is that the industry’s ability to monetize their content is weakened until the digital platforms have figured out how to generate more revenue from the emerging platforms.

For the mainstream media companies, particularly those involved in news and current content, they simply must be developing content product across all platforms, not just the new emerging ones. They have to be producing words, video, audio, photos, interactive graphics, etc for all platforms.

Newspaper companies must think of themselves as news companies and leverage their news gathering across all platforms, including existing players like television and radio.

Video news operations need to be part of every digital platform on every distribution system.

Digital players, like Yahoo, Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, must begin to build their brands using print, radio and television. The Daily Beast’s acquisition of Newsweek is a start down that path. Bloomberg’s foray into newspaper partnerships and the magazine world with Business Week are also great steps.

There is no avoiding the changes we are starting to see develop. Our ability as consumers to customize the many new devices and distribution systems to give us what we want, when we want it. News organizations need to make sure the content is ready and optimized for those experiences. It’s now easy. It’s a moving target.

But it’s essential to survival.