Yahoo! and Google to release news readers

Yahoo! is expected to launch a news and social reader, called Livestand, next Wednesday, All Things D reported today. And hot on its heels will be Google’s reader, code named Propeller, which could be unveiled as early as next week as well.

The online giants will be competing with Flipboard and others like it, as digital media consumers’ habits shift increasingly to using apps to sift through news and information.

Flipboard currently is the most used social and news reader. It has been downloaded four million times and partners with more than 50 publishers, according to PCMag.

Image: Livestand

Study: Digital video advertising to grow 25% in 1 year

A survey of advertisers and agencies shows that digital video advertising is expected to increase 25 percent over the next 12 months in the United States, Casale Media Research announced today.

This means that in the next 12 months, digital video advertising will make up about 23.8 percent of total online ad budgets, according to the study, “Digital Video Advertising: Removing Barriers Equals Greater Opportunities.”

Video is the fastest growing spending category for online media, and although this study shows just how fast that is, it is not without barriers, the study stated. Planning, creative and execution of video ad campaigns would likely be booked more often if they were “more simple and painless.” Survey respondents said that planning (38 percent), creative (40 percent) and execution (35 percent), continue to pose problems.

The most common reasons marketers don’t use digital video ads is because they are too difficult to measure ROI (40 percent) and there is “not enough ROI to justify increasing spend (38 percent), the survey found.

However, despite these drawbacks, 80 percent of the survey respondents said they use video ads to increase awareness of traditional and new brands, products and services.

Image: Coldplay American Express video ad on YouTube

U.S. leads in mobile app usage; Asia wins in mobile Web adoption

In terms of mobile application use, U.S. takes the lead, but China and other Asian countries wins in other types of advanced mobile activities, according to a new study by Forrester.

The study shows that mobile Internet adoption is highest in the Asia-Pacific region –about 50 percent of the population in Japan and metropolitan China do so at least once a month. In countries including U.S., Australia, Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands, the rate is between 28 and 36 percent, and even lower in other countries.

In countries such as India, cost and infrastructure challenges may be the causes of low mobile Internet penetration. However, according to Forrester, low rates in wealthier nations like Germany, Spain, France and Italy are more surprising.

China also had the highest percentage of “SuperConnecteds,” the most sophisticated mobile phone users who access Internet on mobile devices at least weekly and make regular use of multiple advanced mobile services and applications. 52 percent of Chinese mobile users in metro areas are SuperConnecteds, versus 33 percent in U.S., 17 percent in the largest seven European countries, and 11 percent in metro India, Media Post reported.

Asia also leads in mobile social networking, with penetration of 34 percent in China, 28 percent in Japan, and 25 percent in Hong Kong and U.S.

However, U.S. is the leader in using apps, with nine out of 10 mobile users having downloaded one in the last three months, followed by the UK at 66 percent, the Netherlands at 63 percent and France at 62 percent. The EU-7 as a whole stands at 61 percent.

The study finds similarities in mobile commerce on either side of the world. One out of four mobile Web users in U.S. and metro China have researched products on their phones, but only between nine and 16 percent have actually purchased something online in both markets.

The Forrester study were based on separate surveys conducted in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific earlier this year, with 10,802, 22,501 and 11,461 participants, respectively, in each region, Media Post reported.

Image: 2ndlook

Street Fight Summit Explores Hyperlocal Phenomenon

In the United States alone, the hyperlocal media business is worth US$32 billion in 2011, according to BIA/Kelsey. A growing group of technologists, ecommerce businesses, advertisers and publishers are jockeying to acquire that revenue.

More than 200 hyperlocal media business afficianados are gathering at the first Street Fight Summit in New York's SoHo neighborhood. Hyperlocal entrepreneurs and publishers from around the world have heard from the industry's gurus, including Fwix CEO Darian Shirazi, Patch president Warren Websiter and FourSquare's general manager Evan Cohen.

WNMN is attending the conference, which started Tuesday, The speakers are exploring the opportunities in daily deals, location-based targeting, granular content on hyperlocal sites, partnerships and reasons for early failures, such as Backfence as a slew of daily deals sites.

“AOL believes in hyperlocal content. Patch will be a big part of their future going forward,” said Warren Webster, Patch’s founder and president. Patch is in more than 800 markets in the United States.

"In many cases, these hyperlocal businesses fail because the revenue does not add up against the costs," said Ezra Kucharz, president of CBS Local Digital Media. CBS has ramped up its hyperlocal presence on its portals in 25 markets in the United States. "You have to have great content in order to be successful."

Newspaper website traffic up 20% in last year

As newspapers across the United States increasingly seek to engage digital audiences, the Newspaper Association of America today released some encouraging news: traffic to newspaper websites has increased 20 percent in the last year.

Average daily visits by adults ages 18 and older were up 21 percent, according to the analysis by comScore for the NAA. Total page views were up 10 percent; total minutes spent on the sites increased 11 percent; and unique visitors were up 9 percent year-on-year.

“This strong audience growth coincided with the introduction of paywalls at many newspaper companies,” Caroline Little, NAA president and CEO, stated in a press release. “Clearly, consumers place high value upon the content that newspapers create – and they are seeking out newspaper websites to get it. Not only do online platforms deliver reach and engagement, they attract the demographics that advertisers want, which bodes well for the continued growth of this revenue stream.”

Meanwhile, The New York Times today also released some good news on the digital pay front; paying digital subscribers reached 324,000 in the third quarter this year, compared to 281,000 at the end of the second quarter. Its online paywall was put up in March.

Image: rmg.bz

Guardian launches iPad edition

The Guardian today announced the launch of its first full iPad app, which is a daily download of the newspaper's print edition.

The app is also available on Newsstand, a feature of the new iOS5, and users use it for a free three-month trial period, after which it will cost £9.99 a month. This is one of the first times the English newspaper has charged for a digital service. Its other paid digital content is its £9.99 per month Kindle app, launched in July.

The price is has been viewed as high by some. However, The New York Times' digital subscription is more expensive yet, at US$5 per week.

“The app will not please everyone. We've consciously set out, with this version, to deliver the Guardian newspaper edition, something that will work for some of our most loyal and passionate readers. It's a reflective once-a-day Guardian, designed and edited for iPad,” the Guardian stated in its introduction to the app.

eNewspaper sales to mobile devices to reach $1.1 billion by 2016

Annual revenues from eNewspapers delivered to portable devices will top $1.1 billion by 2016, as publishers increasingly deliver content via subscription-based applications to compensate the loss from print sales, according to a new study by Juniper Research, cellular-news reported.

The report said one of the key drivers for newspaper publishers to move beyond standalone smartphone apps towards integrated digital strategies is the surge of iPad adoption. Companies such as News International have started to offer a single subscription price, with which users can access content across all digital platforms.

Also, shifting to a paywall model would almost cause a substantial decline in the digital user base. In spite of this, “for many publishers the revenues that accrued from a moderate user base paying a modest subscription charge would outweigh initial loss of CPM (cost per mille)-based advertising revenue,” the report stated.

However, many publishers would struggle to bridge the gap caused by the serious downturn in print sales. Moreover, the ubiquity of free news and online sources force publishers to set digital subscription prices markedly lower than print in order to reach a critical mass of users. This, in turn, would put further pressure on margins, according to Juniper Research.

Meanwhile, pressure could also comes from the emergence of 'NeoNewspapers', such as The Early Edition and Flipboard which essentially create newspaper/magazine-style content on tablets derived from social media, RSS feeds and brand partners, Bloomberg Businessweek reported.

“The problem facing publishers is twofold. Firstly; is their content sufficiently attractive to create a viable paying audience? Secondly, can they continue to sustain the costs of a print proposition during the migration to digital?” said the report author Dr. Windsor Holden.

Image: Paulino Figueirido DPP

NY Times sues U.S. government over Patriot Act secrecy

In an effort to find out how a controversial act by the U.S. Congress is used by law enforcement, The New York Times has sued the federal government, ZD Net reported today.

The suit comes after the government declined a series of Freedom of Information requests that may have shown a secret way in which law enforcement interprets the USA Patriot Act.

The suit stems from a report in May by reporter Charlie Savage, when two senators “referenced secret elements to the Patriot Act and offered an amendment to make public the details that had previously been withheld,” a report by Politico explained. “In other words, the senators said, there was one version of the anti-terrorism measure presented to the public, and another withheld by the government. They proposed making the 'secret' version public.”

The act, which has expanded the FBI's powers, was first signed into law in 2001 under the Bush administration, and was renewed in 2009 under the Obama administration.

Image: UNC.edu

WSJ Europe publisher resigns amid ethics scandal

The Wall Street Journal Europe's publisher has left his post after a deal between the newspaper and another company caused concern over a “breach of ethical standards,” said Dow Jones, which owns the paper, The Associated Press reported.

Andrew Langhoff's resignation comes following a deal between the newspaper's circulation department and Executive Learning Partnership, a consultancy based in the Netherlands.

Two articles in the WSJ's Special Reports section were published because of the deal between the circulation department and ELP, The New York Times reported. The articles, which appeard on Oct. 14, 2010 and March 14 of this year, were reported and written by the News Department. “However, any action that creates an impression that news coverage can be influenced by commercial interests is a breach of the ethical standards of Dow Jones & Co.,” the clarification, published today, stated.

The deal “could give the impression that news coverage can be influenced by commercial relationships,” and even the appearance of an ethical breach would not be tolerated, Dow Jones said in a statement, according to the AP.

The agreement between ELP and the WSJ, part of News Corporation, is now expired, according to the WSJ's clarification.

In addition, the Guardian reported it had “found evidence that the Journal had been channelling money through European companies in order to secretly buy thousands of copies of its own paper at a knock-down rate, misleading readers and advertisers about the Journal's true circulation.”

Image: Newseum

Google’s U.S. search share up to 65.3%; Yahoo drops

Google’s U.S. market share in search rose to 65.3 percent in September from 64.8 percent in the previous month, while Yahoo!’s dropped from 16.3 percent to 15.5 percent, according to the latest data from comScore, Bloomberg reported.

Microsoft was on the third spot, with its share unchanged at 14.7 percent.

Google has introduced new features to help it stay ahead of competitors. It launched Instant Pages in June, which cut the connections to links in query results about 2 to 5 seconds quicker.

Microsoft and Yahoo, however, have struggled to eat Google’s share away, even after joining forces in the search market last year, Bloomberg reported.

HuffPo to launch French edition

The Huffington Post announced to launch a French edition - Le Huffington Post. It will partner with The Le Monde Group and Les Nouvelles Editions Indépendante, who who will share equity, paidContent:UK reported.

It is not clear if the three will own an equal share. The company did not mention its parent AOL, but listed its top content properties as The Huffington Post Media Group. The ad sales will be handled by Le Monde’s M Publicite, not AOL.

France is the third international countries HuffPo enters, after Canada and the UK, Media Post reported.

Arianna Huffington first mentioned it in June as she heralded the coming of several international sites. Other planned expansion markets include Latin America, Australia and India.

“Imaginatively titled Le Huffington Post, not that they had that many choices, the new site will go live sometime before the end of the year and is a joint venture with several big local players,” Softpedia writes. The new site will be largely modeled on the American version with additional reporting by Le Monde and Les Nouvelles Editions Independantes. "Le Huffington Post will combine the local editorial resources of Le Monde … with The Huffington Post’s pioneering combination of original reporting; aggregation; a leading-edge commenting forum and dynamic social engagement tools; and a vibrant platform for a wide range of bloggers," according to Softpedia.

Amazon launches Kindle for France

Three weeks after launching a portal in Spain, Amazon today has launched its first French-language version of the Kindle, as well as a French Kindle Store.

The French Kindle will offer more than 35,000 e-books in the language, as well as English-language e-books. French authors will also be able to use Kindle's Direct Publishing tool to offer their titles for sale on the e-reader, Slash Gear reported.

The French Kindle will cost €99, and is the six-inch, WiFi-only version without a keyboard. Its official release will be Oct. 14, but it is currently available for pre-order. Amazon will also allow self-published authors to have access to the platform, as well as French magazines and newspapers, as either subscriptions or single purchases, according to paidContent.

Kindle is still ahead of Google's latest and only venture abroad in the e-book space, the launch of its eBookstore in the United Kingdom yesterday.

YouTube introduces online movie rentals in the UK

YouTube has launched its movie rental service in the UK. Film fans can now rent new releases for £3.49 and older movies for between £2.49 and £3.49 from the video site, Media Guardian reported.

This move puts YouTube in direct competition with Amazon's LoveFilm, which claims its customer base reaches 1.6 million in the UK and Europe. Non-members need to pay between £2.49 and £3.49 for a new release through LoveFilm.

YouTube’s new service will grant viewers a 30-day window to watch the film, and 48 hours once they have started viewing it.

YouTube has signed UK-specific deals with several film companies, including Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, Universal and Lionsgate, TechCrunch reported.

The UK is YouTube’s third market where movie rental business is available. It launched the video-on-demand service in U.S. in May this year, and later in Canada.

This initiative follows longstanding deals with broadcasters, such as Channel 4 and Channel 5, which programmes are available on the site, Media Guardian reported.

"We're happy to be working with partners of all sizes to bring more content to YouTube users,” according to Patrick Walker, senior director of content partnerships for YouTube in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

"In addition to clips, user-created and long-form TV content our British users know and love, now movie lovers can find full-length feature films on YouTube in the UK."

Image: TechCrunch

Google launches UK eBookstore

Google's eBookstore has opened in the United Kingdom – its first outside the United States, paidContent UK reported today.

The online giant unveiled its U.S. eBookstore in December last year, and is set to launch stores in Australia and Canada soon. UK publishers including Hachette, Penguin and Random House have all signed on to sell their books in Google's UK store; however the UK e-book market is not as large as it is in the United States. More European stores are slated for 2012.

Google has said it will offer hundreds of thousands of commercially available books to UK readers, as well as another two million public domain books, TheBookseller.com reported. All will be available via a variety of devices, including personal computers, tablets, smartphones, e-readers and more.

“We’ve been working with publishers for some time to build new online revenue sources for writers and publishers, and this is the next step in that direction. With Google eBooks, readers can access their books across a variety of devices; publishers have an open platform for selling their works; and booksellers have an easy-to-implement way to sell digital books in addition to their existing offering,” said Jason Hanley, strategic partner development manager at Google, according to TheBookseller.com.

Google's eBookstore does four things right when it comes to selling digital content, Practical Ecommerce noted: It uses good graphics, offers free stuff, uses quick views and allows users to personalise their store when they login.

U.S. mobile ad spend estimated to reach $4.4 billion in 2015

Mobile ad spending in U.S. for 2011 is expected to reach $1.23 billion, which reflects all channels of mobile marketing, display, rich media, search, messaging and video, according to the latest revised estimates from eMarketer.

This represents a 65-percent growth year-over-year. According to eMarketer analyst Noah Elkin, the ad spending calculation this year is adjusted only slightly higher, but the forecast for coming years has been revised more substantially, Media Post reported.

The ad spending is expected to up 47 percent to $1.8 billion in 2012, and up 40 percent to $2.5 billion. In 2014, there will be another 34-percent expansion to $3.4 billion and a 30-percent rise to $4.4 billion in the year ahead.

"The increased outlook reflects steeper smartphone and tablet adoption over the forecast period," Elkin said. "Simply put, these factors are making the Web more mobile and more of an imperative for marketers."

eMarketer also pointed out a considerable shift in share of spending among the major channels in the next several years. This year, messaging owns the largest share at 36.1 percent, but it is estimated to shrink to only 14.4 percent by 2015.

Search, which made up 28.5 percent of spending now, is set to reach 40.2 percent, and banners and rich media will expand from a 30.7-percent share to 36.4 percent by 2015. Video, although only accounting for 4.7 percent, will grow fast to 9 percent, with the compound annual growth rate of 69 percent between 2010 and 2015, eMarketer reported.

Image: eMarketer