DigitalMediaTrends.com

Newspapers Incorporate Video, Other Web Offerings

A new study of newspapers' Web offerings shows that online video has become a nearly ubiquitous feature offered by major U.S. publications. The Bivings Group study, which analyzed the Web offerings of the top 100 newspapers according to Fas-Fax data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, found that 92 of the largest newspaper sites now offer video, a 31 percent jump from a year ago. Their video sources are varied: 39 papers offer original video content, 26 use video from the Associated Press, 13 use video from local news outlets and 10 papers use at least two types of video content on their site. The study found that use of other online features increased in nearly every category, too. Ninety-seven of the 100 papers offer RSS and text feeds, while 95 have at least one reporter blog. Forty-nine papers have podcasts, compared with 31 last year, while 44 provide some sort of bookmarking, compared with just seven last year. The number of sites requiring users to register also increased to 29, with three requiring paid subscription after registering. Mobile offerings from U.S. newspaper publishers are also on the rise, with some 53 papers creating content specifically for mobile devices. More ...

Big Media Embraces Web's Long Tail

It's déjà vu all over again, as big media companies rush to by just-developing Web properties, CNET's News.com writes in an analysis of recent purchases like CBS snapping up video blog Wallstrip and Discovery buying eco-blog TreeHugger. While the article tries to draw a straight line to some of the disastrous moves in the dot-com mania - the specter of AOL-Time Warner is trotted out - these acquisitions are in a much different market and at a far smaller scale. After all, Discovery paying up $10 million for TreeHugger isn't going to break the bank, nor is The New York Times absorbing the Freakonomics blog. It's more likely any big checks will be reserved for non-content plays, like ad networks. More ...

New York Times Ditches Times Select

Immediately following his monumental takeover of Dow Jones, News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch suggested that one of the media conglomerates first moves would be to make The Wall Street Journal free online. Perhaps that's what moved New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. to ditch the TimesSelect, the paper's experimental for-pay service. For $7.95 per month or $49.95 per year, TimesSelect readers received access to the paper's well-known columnists Maureen Dowd, Thomas Friedman and Frank Rich, in addition to its extensive archives and other content at NYTimes.com. The program started in 2005, at a time when other papers (with the exception of WSJ.com) were abandoning online subscriptions. Its unclear when exactly TimesSelect will shut down, or whether annual subscribers will get their money back. TimesSelect, which had 221,000 subscribers in June, was always controversial: Readers complained and so did columnists, who said the program stunted their readership. More ...

Online Newspaper Audiences Up 7.7% From 2006

More than 59 million people on average--or 37.3% of all active Internet users--visited newspaper Web sites during the second quarter, reports Nielsen//NetRatings for the Newspaper Association of America. Traffic was flat compared to the first quarter, but up 7.7% from the same period in 2006. More ...

Should Newspapers Become Local Blog Networks?

Chicago Tribune just relaunched its website with, of course, more blogs — A LOT more blogs — news, entertainment, sports, living, business travel, with multiple blogs in each category. It struck me that this is more than a “me too” step, as it was last year , when launching a blog was how traditional media sites tried to show they were still hip and relevant. Now, many newspapers — from the New York Times to my own local Loudoun Times-Mirror (which also just relaunched) — have dozens of blogs, covering every traditional newspaper topic. More ...

News Corp. Looks Online, Could Offload MySpace

As Rupert Murdoch patiently awaits Dow Jones' decision about News Corp.'s takeover offer, analysts -- expecting that deal to happen -- estimate that the media giant would allocate the expected $5 billion to further Internet acquisitions. "Rupert has a shopping list. Dow Jones is at the top of it, but it's not the end of the list," a source told the Financial Times. Near the top of that list, perhaps, is a deal that would involve the sale or a possible merger of its massive social network MySpace. At an estimated value of $10 billion, some feel News Corp. has gotten all the mileage it can out of MySpace, which skeptics say is fading in light of the resurgence of rival Facebook. News Corp. bought MySpace for $580 million in 2005. Despite MySpace's huge usage numbers, it was never able to make the most of its non-search inventory. Which is precisely why some believe the exchange of MySpace for 25% to 30% of Yahoo would benefit both parties. More ...

Microsoft to Invest in CareerBuilder Web Site

Microsoft said Wednesday that it would take a small equity stake in CareerBuilder, a popular job recruitment site operated by three big media companies. The deal deepens an existing partnership in a lucrative category of online classified advertising.       Officials at  CareerBuilder and the Tribune Company, one of the current owners, put the stake at 4 percent, though neither they nor Microsoft would disclose the amount invested. More ...