Here are some media stories of note for Thursday, February 21, 2013: Felix Salmon of Reuters started a two-part series today on content economics. He examines why advertising dollars are not necessarily reaching people online, how network television is sustained by its different, intermediated model that cannot convert into an online model, and how online publishers are finding it difficult to create business models in a climate of direct content from brands. Christopher Mims, writing for Quartz, assesses the new Yahoo home page and concludes that it's irrelevant. For that matter, he notes, no one is talking about anyone's home page any longer because that isn't how content is being consumed. Content is shared and a home page may never be seen. TV viewing has been measured traditionally over the years by Nielsen, but The Hollywood Reporter indicates changes to Nielsen's approach means it will soon count online streaming, the Xbox and PlayStation and, eventually, iPad and other tablet viewing to create program ratings measurements.
Time was, we expected a convergence of the computer and the television into one screen. The fear from television was that the emergence of the Internet was a zero-sum threat; hours into the Internet would be hours out of the television screen experience. While neither has come to pass, it doesn't mean the TV and the computer aren't working with each other. New data from Nielsen indicates Americans are more and more often using their computers while watching TV. About 60 per cent say they do so at least once a month. The level of multitasking rose 38 per cent in one year, Nielsen suggests. It's perhaps an indication why such marquee television events as the Super Bowl, Oscars and Winter Olympics drew high ratings --- the use of the computer, particularly for social networking while the event was televised, turned America into one big living room.
A new survey from the Nielsen organization suggests that, even though women do not comprise the majority of smartphone owners, they comprise the majority of mobile social networking. They "friend" and "Tweet" 10 percentage points (55 vs. 45 per cent) more than do men. And it's not the youngest cohort networking. The 35-54 age group comprises one point more (36 vs. 35) than the 25-34 age group in their use. Even though that's a larger age span, it's interesting to see the level of use in that cohort.
A 52-country survey of 27,000 online users by Nielsen suggests nearly half would consider paying for news delivered digitally. But there are several catches: If people already pay for it in print, they want it free online. If a Web site charges, a large number would stop using it. If they buy it, they feel free to share it. About half of those who would pay would prefer micropayment systems, while more than four in 10 say an easy payment system would be more enticing. And nearly two-thirds feel that, once they've paid, the content ought to be ad-free.
A new Nielsen study suggests Americans are most attached to the television set, then the radio dial, and then the Internet. While the conventional wisdom supposes online has surpassed traditional media, TV and radio have a strong lead in audience. Indeed, radio is made larger by the MP3 player. Newspapers and magazines trail the broadcast/online forms of media in the U.S. The breakdown of percentage of audience daily and time spent was found to be:
- Live television (95.3%, 331 minutes)
- Broadcast radio (77.3% reach, 109 minutes)
- Web/Internet [excluding use of email] (63.7%, 77 minutes)
- Newspapers (34.6%, 41 minutes)
- Magazines (26.5%, 22 minutes)
Editor & Publisher reports Nielsen Online data that suggests the time spent on leading newspaper sites rose slightly in July. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal experienced some substanial gains, while the Washington Post only crept up slightly. It is possible the data isn't representative of trends because Nielsen altered its panels in June. But at the very least, it suggests strong use of the top sites and sustained use of them.
A new Nielsen report suggests the belief teens are eschewing conventional for social media is somewhat mythical. They're still glued to the TV, reading (gasp) printed media, and playing in the new sphere but not living in it.
They watch less online video than adults. They watch TV substantially --- three hours-plus a day, up in the last year. The PC is the second-most-popular medium at 52 minutes. One in four read a paper.
Interestingly, they spend less time online than other demographic groups: 11 hours per month, compared to an average of 29 hours in the general population.
New data from Nielsen Online suggests the time spent on newspaper Web sites declined at 17 of the top 30 U.S. outlets in May. The typical user spends seven minutes a month on such sites.
Part of that decline has to do with weather; spring and summer numbers tend to decline in traffic and time spent. But it suggests that there are some challenges for newspapers in keeping people online to consume their information.
As if that information isn't enough, there is news today that Yahoo is creating a new self-serve advertising tool. My Display Ads is a partnership with AdReady, which already works with the newspaper industry and Yahoo, but the reach of the new service is into small outlets and may prove very troublesome for less-sizeable markets.
A new Nielsen Co study has found that Americans see 61 minutes of commercial messages and promotions and spend 8.5 hours in front of a screen each day.
Television remains the dominant advertising medium, followed by the computer, radio and newspapers. The study followed 350 people and their media consumption over weeks.
Surprisingly, it was the middle-aged cohort in its 40s and 50s who spent the most time --- 9.5 hours daily --- in front of a screen. Among younger people, TV viewing was lower, text messaging was high and computer use was strong.
Nielsen Online has released new data indicating the top 10 newspaper Web sites in the U.S. continued relatively strong growth in 2008. Year-over-year, the top 10 sites experienced 16-per-cent growth in the period ending December 2008.
The New York Times, with 18.1 million unique visitors, is the top site in the country, but its growth was a slightly flat six per cent in the year. USA Today (11.5m) and Washington Post (9.2m) were second and third.
The New York Daily News doubled its UVs, while Boston.com was off six per cent in the top 10.
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