In search for audiences, News Intl unblocks search engines

News International will allow the first two sentences in articles on The Times and The Sunday Times websites to show up on search engines, in hopes of attracting new subscribers, the Telegraph reported today.

The Times began blocking search engines in May 2010 when it put up its digital paywall, paidContent noted.

The newspapers worry that “exclusion is limiting their influence and driving down advertising revenues. Sources claim the change was a ‘marketing exercise’,” the Telegraph article explained.

Before the paywall was put in place, Times editor James Harding said that 30 to 40 percent of the newspaper’s traffic came from search, according to paidContent. So, although a significant amount of traffic was lost after the paywall, it allowed the paper to focus on attracting loyal readers and ignore so-called “drive-by traffic.”

The move shows that Google and other search engines are not exactly “parasites,” after all, as Rupert Murdoch has called them. Rather, they bring in “prospective-customer leads.”

Study: Fake social media ratings, reviews to reach 10-15% by 2014

Are social media rating and reviews trustworthy?

According to a new study by Gertner, buying Facebook Likes or Twitter followers is becoming more and more accepted, and fake ratings and reviews could reach 10 to 15 percent by 2014.

Based on the findings of the study "The Consequences of Fake Fans, 'Likes' and Reviews on Social Networks", trust in social media is still low, but could increase from single digits to up to 33 percent by 2014, CMSWire reported.

The study found people are more likely trust those most like them, as well as those they personally know in real life. However, they also trust websites which have a lot of reviews.

Another online survey by econsultancy.com conducted in May 2012 found that companies that have 50 reviews or more get an about 5 percent increase in conversions. Moreover, 31 percent of users said they use reviews to help them make a purchase. Undoubtedly, these all lead to rises of the companies, such as SocialJump, which charge US$ 75 for a thousand Facebook likes. 

Some actions have been taken to regulate these practices. In 2011, Legacy Learning Systems was fined US$ 250,000 by FTC for hiring marketers to post fake reviews online.

FTC also investigated Ann Taylor for the retailer is suspected to give out gift cards in exchange for favorable blog reviews, but no economic sanctions were filed.

“Any short term gains could nullified in the long run if the public finds out about the inflated numbers and starts viewing those companies as untrustworthy,” Gertner said.

Image: Multifamilbiz.com

Publicis bids €416 for digital marketing firm LBi

Ad agency Publicis Groupe is hoping to snap up one of Europe’s largest remaining independent digital ad agencies, offering €416 million, a joint release from Publicis and the firm, LBi, announced yesterday.

Targeted agencies like the Amsterdam-based LBi are being bought up by big four ad groups looking to gain expertise in the growing digital ad landscape, paidContent noted. For example, Publicis bought Digitas in 2006, Razorfish in 2009 and Rosetta in 2011.

LBi is “one of the few large remaining independent digital communications agencies and the only one with a global footprint,” employing about 2,200 people in 16 countries, the announcement stated. Its clients include Volvo, Coca Cola and Ikea. The company touts its independent creativity with a unicorn on its website, stating: “To us, the unicorn symbolises the never-ending quest for digital mastery.”

“The proposed acquisition of LBi will enable Publicis Groupe to increase its share of revenue derived from digital operations to over 35%, in line with its strategic goals, and to capitalise on the complementarity with its existing global digital businesses. Its clients will benefit from the outstanding service offering of this enlarged digital platform and the expertise of talented professionals,” the announcement explained.

“Publicis Groupe has consistently demonstrated a clear and emphatic belief in the importance of digital media and is recognized for grooming and managing its talent worldwide. Our entire strategy to date is built on a commitment to relentlessly drive and optimise value for our clients. There is now a unique opportunity to pace set the market and collaborate across new geographies and marketing services so that we can accelerate our strategic plans aimed at providing clients with a globally integrated offering,” Luke Taylor, chief executive officer of LBi, stated in the release.

Apple reveals lighter and faster iPhone 5

Exciting news for die-hard Apple fans! Apple has just released iPhone 5, which its chief executive Tim Cook described as "the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since the iPhone."

The new version is lighter, thinner and more powerful, Bloomberg reported.

Intended to design the best phones and integrate technologies to make the most fantastic packages, Tim Cook does not view Apple's products only "as a checklist of features," The New York Times quoted.

According to The New York Times, the new iPhone has a longer screen, which is four inches. It has a stronger chip that enables the user to gain access to Wi-Fi faster. It has an anodized aluminum that makes the new iPhone 18 percent thinner and one-fifth lighter. 

Customers will be able to place orders for iPhone 5 on Sept. 14, South China Morning Post reported. Shipments will begin on Sept. 21 in the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. For the rest of the world, iPhone 5 will be available by the end of the year.

Launched in San Francisco, Apple marketing Chief Phil Schiller described iPhone 5 as “an absolute jewel.” “The software and engineering that went into this product is the most challenging our team has ever taken on." Schiller said in the event.

"Only Apple could create such amazing hardware, software and services and bring them together. Apple has never been stronger," Cook said at the event.

Apart from iPhone 5, Apple also unveiled a new version for iTunes music, film and TV series store, according to The Guardian.

An analyst at Boston-based Yankee Group, Carl Howe, predicted that Apple will sell more than 10 million by the end of September. The new iPhone is expected to be the fastest selling consumer electronics device in history in the entire $219.1 billion smartphone market, Bloomberg reported.

Image: Cnet

Google aims to usurp Amazon's top e-commerce spot

The e-commerce competition is tight between Google and Amazon.

Google has recently changed its Google Shopping policy by requesting e-commerce companies to pay in order to be included in the users' search of shopping lists, The New York Times reported.

Google claims its former service could mislead consumers with out-of-date and inaccurate product listings. Google says the change will improve shopping experience for users when retailers are paying.

“Incentives are aligned to make sure the data we’re receiving is of a higher quality,” said Sameer Samat, vice president for product management for Google Shopping. “With better data, we can build a better experience for users.”

At the same time, Amazon has already removed its listings from Google Shopping. If you search for a Kindle in Google Shopping, it would only show Kindles from Best Buy, eBay, etc without from Amazon.However, Amazon has not excluded the possibility of paying Google for inclusion of its products in the listings, an anonymous insider says.

“Google and Amazon both have the same end goal, to be the destination that people go to to do their product searches, and Amazon’s winning that battle,” said Michael Griffin, founder and chief technology officer of Adlucent, which conducts search marketing for online retailers and formerly managed Amazon’s paid search. 

Paid listings are not exclusive to Google: most other comparison-shopping sites also have paid listings, including Yahoo Shopping, Nextag and PriceGrabber. 

According to The New York Times, most online retailers still regard Google as the most important source for online shoppers. However, some mentioned the difficulty of paying to list their products. 

“If you’re a retailer and you don’t have the budgets of an Amazon, eBay, Best Buy or Wal-Mart, it’s going to be really challenging,” said Gerry Bavaro, senior vice-president for performance media at Digitas, whose clients include Procter & Gamble. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, online retail sales in China are estimated to be over $360 billion by 2015 as the world's largest market around that time. China and US together account for more than 350 million online shoppers.

Generally, there are two ways for shoppers to shop online: search items via Google; go to Amazon for direct shopping results. According to Daily Tech, Amazon seems to be winning in its battle against Google in Internet shopping. Amazon is an "established e-tailer" with a wide-range store and attractive prices. 

Image: Tech 2

Just published: Global Digital Media Trendbook 2012

Digital media around the world are an unstoppable force, both in burgeoning usage patterns and steeply rising revenues. The Global Digital Media Trendbook, in its seventh year, captures the trends in revenue and usage patterns for a variety of digital media, including tablets, mobile, social media, Internet and more, and then analyses and projects the future of these digital media segments.

The World Newsmedia Network, of which NewsBizBlog is part, is a not-for-profit, global media research company, based in the United States and the United Kingdom. WNMN and its partners distribute the Trendbook to tens of thousands of media executives, academics, advertising professionals, analysts, consultants and more. 

TheTrendbook is a desk reference for media strategists across industries who want to understand where media markets are headed so they can accurately plan their companies’ digital media positioning now and in the future.

The Trendbook includes 200 full-colour pages with 500 data sets from almost 100 international research companies, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Zenith Optimedia, Pew, comScore, Nielsen, MAGNAGLOBAL and IDATE. The research companies provide WNMN with trend data from a variety of their published and private research reports, with permission.

“We’re proud to publish this volume, chock full of meaningful insights that will inspire the digital strategies of a multitude of media companies,” said Martha Stone, CEO of World Newsmedia Network, the publisher of the Global Digital Media Trendbook 2012.

The data sets are sliced and analysed in multiple ways: by geography, demographics, gender, projections, influences from political and economic forces, and more. The variations in perspectives underscores the notion that each geography and demographic has a different story to tell about how digital media is impacting their lives, their regions and their economies.

In 2012, ZenithOptimedia predicts that Internet advertising will leapfrog newspaper advertising as the No. 2 global ad expenditure medium, surpassed only by television ad expenditures. This fact alone is driving seismic shifts in usership and advertising time and money spent across the world, as advertising agencies are finally driving major expenditures on digital media on behalf of their clients.

“Digital media is now the No. 2 media for ad expenditures, according to Zenith. Finally, Internet, mobile and soon, tablets, will enjoy the surge of advertising spend proportional to their vast usage,” said Ms. Stone. “This is the inflection point for digital media, and heretofore, I predict we will see significantly more investment in digital media publishing infrastructure and advertising spend, as usership skyrockets.”

While the rate of year-on-year Internet advertising growth is slowing, from 16.9 percent to 11.2 percent from 2011 to 2012, the year-over-year increase is almost double that of any other media, according to MAGNAGLOBAL.

Singular and multitasking usage patterns for incumbent digital media as the Internet and mobile continue to skyrocket, while new sales and usage for channels such as tablets and apps are taking off and promise to be dominant platforms for the future of publishing.

The outlook for e-reading, tablets and smartphone devices is robust for the foreseeable future, especially for Apple devices, according to Generator Research. The research firm projects a whopping 108.3 percent increase from 2012 to 2016 for tablets; a 77.5 percent growth on smartphones, and a 22.5 percent growth on notebooks. 

Meanwhile, netbooks appear to be negatively affected by the introduction of tablets, and are projected to decline 65.2 percent from 2012 to 2016, while e-readers sales will drop slightly, by 2.8 percent. By 2016, smartphone shipments are projected to surpass 1.1 billion units, while tablet shipments are expected to reach 250 million by 2016. E-reader shipments will be stagnant, with only 35 million

Publishers and other media owners continue to struggle with growing revenues as fast as the usership is growing. Charging for content online is also a growing phenomenon, and is explored in depth in the report. Advertising for the traditional media sector is rising, if slowly, as the report chronicles in case studies and data sets across digital arms of newspapers, magazines and broadcast.

The partners that make the Trendbook possible are the European Publishers Council, a high level group of leading European media corporations; FIPP, the worldwide magazine media association; and Vislink, the global purveyor of broadcast industry hardware and software.

Global Digital Media Trendbook’s 20-page executive summary is offered free for download at www.wnmn.org. The 200-page report is available for 300 Euros, and the 500 graphic sets are available as .jpg format documents for free with the purchase of the report. These can be used for corporate presentations, annual reports or supplements to existing research. An order form for the report can be found in the executive summary, or a form can be requested by e-mailing mstone@wnmn.org.

Amazon shocks tablet market with 7 new Kindles

Amazon has introduced seven new versions of its Kindle, ranging from US$69 to $599, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The new line of products, launched last week, include a Kindle e-reader at $69, an upgraded Kindle Fire tablet for $159, another three HD Kindle Fires, a 7-inch Wi-Fi version, an 8.9-inch Wi-Fi version, and 8.9-inch 4G version, priced from $199 to $ 599.

There are another two versions of Paperwhite e-reader introduced which are “thinner than a magazine and lighter than a paperback”, as described by the company’s Chief Executive Jeff Bezos.

According to a Washington Post report, Amazon’s market share decreased to 4 percent in the first-quarter from 17 percent in the December, whereas Apple enlarged its market share to 68 percent in the first quarter.

The launch of the new series of products is therefore viewed by many as a direct challenge to Apple as well as other brands in the keen competition of tablet market.

“This wasn’t a product announcement as much as it was a declaration of war,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at market research firm Gartner Inc., the Washington Post quoted.

Aimed beyond a one-time deal, Amazon is prepared to introduce its massive library of movies and television shows to its consumers. “We want to make money when people use our devices, not when they buy our devices,” Bezos said, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“People don’t want gadgets anymore. They want services. Kindle Fire is a service. It greets you by name, it comes out of the box with your content preloaded, it makes recommendations for you,” added Bezos, according to the Washington Post.

But not all of the people buy this kindly offer of recommendations. In his blog “Amazon KindleSpecial Offers are a disgrace”, technological journalist Jamie Lendino commented that the Amazon product was the only one forcing consumers to view ads among different tablets. And customers have to pay another $30 or $40 to deactivate the ads. Compared with Google Nexus 7, Apple, Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, “none of the competing vendors resort to such deceptive tactics,” wrote Lendino.

Negative repercussions withstanding, the news drove Amazon’s stock up to a record high. And the new line of Kindle Fire tablets will also be introduced to UK market.

Image: Tom's Hardware

Print magazine to feature a video ad for first time in UK

Like a magic scene from Harry Potter, UK readers can now experience a first for print.

Fashion magazine Marie Claire will feature a video ad in its October print edition.

The Dolce & Gabbana ad promoting its latest perfume will last 45 seconds, and will only appear in a few thousand copies, much less than the magazine's monthly circulation of approximately 255,000 copies, Media Guardian reported.

When readers open the magazine to page 35, the advert will automatically play, showing the short film shot by Mario Testino.

"It is a bit like getting the golden ticket in the Wonka bar," Marie Claire's publishing director, Justine Southall, told Media Guardian.

The ad depends on the LCD technology from Americhip, a U.S. firm that created lots of similar video ads around the world. According to Mashable, The print/video ad format made its debut in 2009 with a Pepsi ad in 50,000 copies of Entertainment Weekly in Los Angeles and New York. More recently, the format promoted Bacardi in Russian Vogue.

"This is massive and it's a huge change," Southall said. "It is expensive but the cost will come down in time and it will become a more accessible part of what we do."

Image:  Media Guardian

Nokia unveils new phones ahead of Apple's expected release

The smartphone industry is entering a time of keen competition.

Nokia, once the largest worldwide mobile-phone maker, has introduced Nokia Lumia 920 and 820 Windows smartphones. This move is ahead of Apple's expected launch of iPhone 5 next week. However, Nokia failed to mention when and where the phones will be available and at what price, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Rival Motorola Mobility, a unit of Google, also unveiled three phones on the same day. However, Motorola only revealed release dates and prices for one of the three. Nokia's operating system in new products are based on Microsoft system.

The partnership between Microsoft and Nokia is supposed to rival against Apple's iPhone iOS software and Google's Android operating system, which Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop described as a  “three-horse race”, according to Forbes.

“Nokia has shown that they can clearly be different but they must show consumers that different is also better,” Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Gartner, told Forbes. Mr. Gartenberg attended Nokia's launch event in New York. “New features with an evolution of a winning form factor can help Nokia stand out from both other Windows Phone vendors as well as other competitors. No consumer will mistake these phones for other devices on the market.”

According to the Associated Press, Apple has invited reporters to a news conference in San Francisco on Sep. 12. Apple is expected to release the new iPhone 5, which will be on sale a week or two later.

iPhone 5  is expected to have a longer screen. Apart from that, iPhone5 will likely to have the ability to access the latest wireless data networks in the U.S., according to Associated Press.

Other unconfirmed reports indicate that Apple will launch a more portable version of the iPad to compete against competitors like Kindle.

Image: Mobile 88

German publishers may charge search engines

Search engines in Germany will have to pay license fees for reproducing content from other media, PC Advisor reported. At the moment it is a draft law proposed by the Federation of Germany Newspaper Publishers (BDVZ) and last Wednesday received back-up from the German government.

Under the proposed law, the use of links to news stories won't be affected, as it mainly allows news publishers to charge those search engines, who include snippets in their own websites. Bloggers are excluded as they quote parts of an article and write their opinions. The law is also "up to the publisher. The publisher can also agree that search engines can use the snippets for free," said Hendrik Wieduwilt, spokesman for the German Ministry of Justice.

With opposition from the Greens and the Party of the Pirates, the National Parliament (Bundestag) has the last voice to pass the law.

"This is an important measure for the protection of intelectual property in digital era. We will improve the conditions for the news publishers as we offer them an implementation of their rights in Internet, " explained Bernd Neumann, Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

However, Google Director of Communications and Public Affairs for Northern Europe Kay Oberbeck wrote that "this is a black day for Germany. It’s really harmful, not just for users who wouldn’t find as much information as they find now, but such a law is also not justified for economic reasons or judicial reasons." Oberbeck calls the draft law "a threat to the freedom of information."

The draft law sounds contradictory as Google actually drives traffic to the publishers, Gigaom reported.

According to a spokeswoman for the BDVZ, Anja Pasquay, "search engines don't even ask (for content when publishing the snippets), they simply take it." She said this second draft won't do much either. The first draft was published last June, and claimed for rights for publishers if their content was being reproduced for 'commercial purposes. However the proposal was heavily protested and eventually turned down, Future of Copyright reported.

Gigaom noted that a third draft law could be coming soon.

Image: Gigaom