The Newsonomics of the Digital Mercado

McClatchy’s newspapers are the first big clients for Find n Save, a product ofTravidia, a long-time player in the print-to-digital ad conversion business. Find n Save replaces Marketplace 360, the company’s former regional marketplace product. Two big McClatchy papers — its hometown Sacramento ...

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The Newsonomics of Apple’s/Google’s/Press+’s Pay-for-All

What’s a solution to the mess? Well, there are any number of solutions. Here’s mine: Apple goes ahead and sells digital subscriptions in its store. On revenue shares, it takes 30 percent the first year, 20 percent the second year, 10 percent the third year, and 5 percent each subsequent year ...

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The Newsonomics of Overnight Digital Customers

That’s right. You’re no longer a “user”, a hateful term if ever one were invented, or a “visitor,” or a brother from another digital planet. Overnight, you’re a customer again. In this psychology, a news company has put a value on what it produces. You, the customer, now are being shown that ...

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The New HuffPo-AOL Combo: The Free, Anti-Murdoch Alternative?

Ah, but what kind of new face will AOL/HuffPost's be? It could be, simply, the anti-Murdoch. Sure, The Daily is "centrist," whatever that means in the world of 2011, but the right-leaning proclivities of Murdoch Media are clear. MSNBC has tiptoed into position, leaning forward gingerly, but ...

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Instant Expectations in the Age of Streaming MPR, WBUR, KQED and MSNBC

It comes down to something old-fashioned: News judgment. MPR had the same access to NPR's feed of the press conference as other stations, I'd presume. Yet, it was the only I found (perhaps there were others) that handled the news best and largely smoothly (I even enjoyed the French lessons for ...

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Instant Expectations in the Age of Pandora, Netflix, Roku, Sonos, Hulu Plus and Comcast’s Xfinity

Internet TV is no longer in its infancy; it's toddlin'. Yet our human capacity for change, and our expectation of it, may always be a step ahead. As consumers, we expect all these connections to be made, and yesterday. Given the pace of tech change, that's not totally unreasonable. For those ...

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The Newsonomics of Apps and HTML5

Publishers have to wonder: Is it the romance with discrete, ownable apps that consumers are willing to pay for, or is it the wider experience? We can see, in the makings of Apple’s evolving publisher subscription policies, an understanding of this dilemma. That may be why Apple is forcing news ...

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Nine Questions on Murdoch’s Doubly Cool “Daily”

What will The Daily do with Cairo's Time? Egypt is the story of the week. With The Daily planning on being a daily, not an instant, news product, its thinking and philosophy will be tested Day One. If it has yesterday's Egypt news, as the revolution goes down, it will read like yesterday's. ...

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The Newsonomics of Mr. Murdoch’s Daily

So if the cost run-rate is about $15 to $18 million a year, and subscription revenues net at $7 million, News Corp. would need $8 to $11 million a year in ad revenues to break even. Certainly possible, if that 200,000 number is hit and sustained, but that could be a tough proposition as tablet ...

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The Demise of Lean Dean Singleton and the Rise of Private Equity

Another way to look at it, at least for a moment, is through the eyes of these new owners. The owners are looking at their properties as the only advertising-oriented media that didn't make a comeback in 2010. With ad revenues down in single digits, the companies continue to shrink in revenue, ...

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