The digital revolution has created a seismic shift in the newsmedia audience in the United States, away from local and network television watching and into digital media usage, including mobile, tablet and computer-based Internet usage. Digital media use saw a 7.2 percent increase in audience from 2011 to 2012, while cable television audience increased 0.8 percent, according to Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism 2013. Meanwhile, traditional media use took a beating, led by local television with a 6.5 percent drop in audience, followed by network TV with a 1.9 percent decrease and newspapers, magazines and audio with a 0.2 percent or 0.1 percent drop.

Revenue growth and decline roughly followed the usage patterns, but in a more pronounced way, according to the Pew study.  Local television ad revenue plummeted 10.4 percent, while network TV dropped 5.9 percent.  Digital ad revenue surged 16.6 percent, while cable advertising grew 10.1 percent; audio, 5.4 percent; magazines, 2.4 percent; and newspapers, 1 percent.  Part of the growth is due to the bounceback effect from the 2008 and 2009 economic crisis, and part is a result of publishers and broadcasters scrambling to cut costs and build new revenues to remain competitive and innovative.

The data set is a part of a collection of 500 revenue and usership trends in mobile, social, Internet, tablet, video and other digital categories, published in the 200-page Global Digital Media Trendbook 2013. GDMT, in its eight year, is to be published by World Newsmedia Network, a not-for-profit media research company, in September 2013. To subscribe to the PDF report and/or the tablet edition, go to www.wnmn.org, or contact mstone@wnmn.org.

U.S. paid tablet content preferences

Consumers of newspapers, magazines and television shows are split on the kind of subscription packages they prefer. Newspaper and magazine subscribers are almost evenly split among stand-alone online subscription, bundle with print subscription at an added cost, and an online, one-time purchase.

For a TV show, respondents were more likely to prefer downloading the show as a one-off, compared to either package deal, according to the Online Publishers Association 2012 “Portrait of Today’s Tablet User, Wave II” study.

The data set is a part of a collection of 500 revenue and usership trends in mobile, social, Internet, tablet, video and other digital categories, published in the 200-page Global Digital Media Trendbook 2013. GDMT, in its eight year, is to be published by World Newsmedia Network, a not-for-profit media research company, in September 2013. To subscribe to the PDF report and/or the tablet edition, go to www.wnmn.org, or contact mstone@wnmn.org.

Independent News & Media SA unit sold off

Image Caption: (L-R) Leslie Buckley, Chairman INM and Vincent Crowley, CEO INM. 

Photo courtesy: http://www.independent.ie/business/media/inm-shareholders-approve-sale-of-south-africa-assets-rights-issue-to-go-ahead-29350303.html

As part of a reported attempt to restructure its debts, the South African arm of the Independent News & Media (INMSA), held a shareholder meeting on June 17 and took a final call to sell INMSA and issue new shares, the INM announced.

The South African unit has been sold off to a Sekunjalo-led consortium, and the sale has stirred discussion on the subjects of media transformation and racial divides in South Africa, Business Day Live SA reported. 

A letter issued by the South Africa National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) said it was particularly difficult for the Independent staff to feel secure about their jobs when the identities of stakeholders forming the black-led consortium and that of the shareholders--as well as details on how the company will be funded, and by whom--were not provided until after the deal was put to a vote.

Shareholders, on the other hand, congratulated Leslie Buckley, the chairman of INM, for reaching the deal that will reduce the INM group’s debt by EUR 350mn to EUR 118 mn, the Irish Independent stated.  The agreement involves cost-saving measures like eliminating redundancies and an agreement to reduce payments from the company's pension scheme.

By: Savita V Jayaram

Bloomberg to set up a $75-million venture capital fund

Bloomberg L P. plans to set up Bloomberg Beta, a $75 million venture capital fund, to invest in young start-ups like Codecademy, a website that provides online coding tutorials, and Newsle, a Web service that alerts users to news about friends, NYTimes.com reported.

This fund will invest in and create early-stage technology companies. Bloomberg Beta, in keeping with Bloomberg L.P.’s longstanding pattern of entrepreneurialism, is focused on backing and working alongside exceptional founders. Bloomberg Beta exists to expand Bloomberg L.P.’s horizons by investing in and creating companies within Bloomberg’s broad areas of interest. Set up as a true fund, Bloomberg Beta will invest for financial return, selecting companies independently of their current or future business relationship with Bloomberg L.P, according to the press release.

 “Bloomberg Beta is a natural extension of the entrepreneurial spirit and culture of Bloomberg,” said Daniel Doctoroff, CEO and President of Bloomberg LP. “We’re guided by the belief that the best investors are entrepreneurs and the best entrepreneurs are investors. Through Beta, we get to back and build breakthrough companies in the areas we care about, and entrepreneurs get an investor whose interest is fully aligned with theirs.”

Bloomberg Beta’s partners say they will operate as a separate legal entity from their parent company, which is Bloomberg Beta’s sole investor. The firm will be based out of Bloomberg’s offices in San Francisco, where many of its technology reporters are also based. Bloomberg Beta’s initial focus areas are producing insights from data (data, technology platforms, content discovery, media distribution) and making the experience of work better (networks and communities, human-computer interaction, and radically new organizational models).

Roy Bahat, the head of Bloomberg Beta, said the firm will be set up as a separate legal entity.  Karin Klein in New York heads Bloomberg Beta’s investing activities on the East Coast. She is the former head of new initiatives at Bloomberg and previously was vice president at Softbank’s venture fund, according to the press release.

According to an official source, the company will follow the existing rules on conflicts of interest, which forbid the company to cover itself. In cases where reporters cover companies or investment firms in which Bloomberg has interests, investments will be disclosed in disclaimers.

By: Savita V Jayaram