Browse >
Home / Archive by category 'Media'
Shares of Google (NSDQ: GOOG) have been on a sustained decline since late last year, when they briefly hit the $700 mark. They're now off about 35 percent from those highs, factoring in a decline today of more than 7 percent to $451.13 early this afternoon. The latest wave of fear seems to stem from a comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) report claiming a meaningful decline in click-through rates in January to 10.4 percent, from over 12 percent in the second half of 2007. Lehman's Doug Anmuth, who queried various advertisers and search engine marketers, pegs the blame on consumers. Advertisers aren't (yet?) pulling back from paid search, but searchers, perhaps because of the weakening economy, aren't clicking on ads as much they have been. As TechTraderDaily notes, a number of analysts are piling on today, to varying degrees. Though between the share decline and the company's mediocre quarterly performance reported in January, the market doesn't need to be told that the bloom has started to come off the rose.
Related
Written by tim · Filed Under Media
CBS (NYSE: CBS) has announced Q4 revenue of $3.76 billion, down 3 percent year-over-year from $3.88 billion. Net income fell 18 percent to $273.1 million, from $335 million, however this year's quarter included significant declines in the value of certain CBS investment. The decrease in the top-line was partly attributable to asset divestitures and lower political spend. Some highlights:
-- Television: Revenue fell 4 percent to $2.46 billion in the quarter. While overall ad spending fell for the above noted reasons, the decline was offset, in part, due to strength at Showtime and CSTV.
-- Radio: Factoring out divestitures, same-station revenue fell 7 percent due to an overall weak ad market.
Release | Webcast (8:30 AM ET)
Conference call: The first big matter of business CEO Leslie Moonves addressed on the call was the economy: "At CBS, we are not seeing a recession in our day-to-day operations." Sectors that have been hit the hardest have not been big CBS advertisers, he noted. As for the concluded strike, the company says it's come out of it unscathed: "Our financial pictures was not effected by the strike in any shape or form." There will be some changes to business though. This year's upfronts won't be as garish as in past years, although they'll still be held at Carnegie Hall. And the company will attempt to maintain some of the lower cost structure that the strike instigated. Much of the call was spent restating the argument that the network business remains strong, and that "the internet is truly an extension of (the) existing network business." The thesis is that good TV content will be the backbone of digital success.
-- Last.fm: In the company's earnings release, this was the only digital property that got a mention. On the call, the company also touted it as an example of its success in the online space, noting that usage is up 92 percent since it adopted limited full streaming.
-- NCAA Tournament: CBS is projecting digital revenues form the tournament of $21 million, up from $10 million last year. In 2005, using a pay model, the company generated revenue of $250k. Moonves noted that the cost structure of the operations has been the same throughout.
Written by tim · Filed Under TV
Newspapers have been attracting larger audiences with their websites, partly compensating for the decreased readership of their print editions, according to a new report from Scarborough Research. The analysis of data from 88 newspapers in the top 50 local markets August 2004-March 2007 showed web site growth making up for print losses by 28 percent. Interviews with newspaper executives brought out several common themes among successful news sites, including local coverage, unique and interactive content such as blogs, videos and podcasts, and cross-promotion. Among the highlights:
-- Online audience has grown 14 percent, making up print audience losses by 28 percent.
-- Readers aged 18-34 who view only the online editions increased 21 percent.
-- Online readers are increasingly wealthy and educated; readership among adults with annual household incomes of $75k increased 33 percent. Readership among adults with a college degree or higher increased by 16 percent.
The full report isn't available online but the release has some details.
That's where the jobs are...really. AdAge has done an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and come up with some interesting numbers about employment in the media and marketing sectors. U.S. media employment in December fell to a 15-year low (886,900), led by cuts in newspaper industry. On the other hand, jobs in advertising/marketing-services broke a record in November (769,000), and in that sector, the marketing consultancies powered that growth. These consultancies over the past year added 14,500 jobs (up 10.8 percent), nearly matching staff cuts at newspapers (down 16,900 or 4.7percent), according to the analysis. Why? Well, in time of chaos and change, anyone who ties to make sense of change still wins. That's where consultancies fit in.
On the media side, employment peaked in 2000, and since then media companies have eliminated one in six jobs (167,600). The only media sectors to add jobs: magazines (up a meager 400 jobs) and internet media companies (up 9,200).
In a fresh filing this evening, the activists agitating for change at NYTCo (NYSE: NYT) announced that they picked up another 500,000 shares on Wednesday. Through the various funds involved, Harbert Management, the parent company of Harbinger, now controls 15.57 million shares or nearly 11 percent of the company. Just since the investors announced their intentions to seat their own boardmembers on Jan. 25, NYTCo has announced board changes as well as newsroom layoffs. And already, since that date, shares are up over 27 percent.
Related
Top jobs in digital media posted this week:
-- Playboy (NYSE: PLA) Digital Media: SVP of Marketing
-- Time, Inc: Director of Business Development, RealSimple.com
-- Howcast Media, Inc.: Director of Content Development & Programming
-- About.com: Senior Interactive Online Producer
-- MySpace: Senior Product Manager
-- Photobucket: Senior Product Manager
Tons more at our job board.
Written by tim · Filed Under Media
-- Dow Jones: As tipped last month, the SEC has settled an insider trading complaint against ex-Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) director David Li and certain affiliated parties. Li was alleged to have passed on news of News Corp.'s bid for Dow Jones to friends, and though he won't admit to wrongdoing, he will pay an $8.1 million fine. Affiliate Michael Lueng, who traded with the help of his daughter and son-in-law, will pay another $16.2 million. Statement.
-- Star Tribune: The Minneapolis daily has laid off 58 staffers - about 3 percent of the newspaper's workforce. Most of the jobs are in the circulation department; no reporting positions are being affected. The paper, which was sold off by The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) in 2006, also handed down an indefinite wage freeze for all its nonunion employees, which will affect about 600 in total. The Star Tribune's revenues have declined nearly $75 million in the past two years.
-- North County Times: The North County Times newspaper, which covers North San Diego County, has begun offering voluntary newsroom buyouts. In response to the weakening economy, the paper is looking for 20 volunteers to take the buyouts, though it has not announced contingency plans, in the event its target is not met. The paper is a division of Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE). The news comes a day after major reductions were announced at Tribune. (via NC Times)
-- McClatchy: The newspaper publisher had its default credit rating downgraded by Fitch from BB+ to just BB. The announcement goes into some depth on the reasons for the dongrade, but the bottom line is that McClatchy is a "strong operator", but not so strong that it can swim against the tides of the industry. Also, there's an interesting comment on the fear that the company may be pressured to do something drastic: "??? while Fitch recognizes that companies with dual-class stock structures may be somewhat insulated from shareholder activist-driven event risk, we are cautious that boards of directors and management teams may still be similarly pressured to consider management-lead buyouts (MBOs), other leveraging transactions or large-scale digital acquisitions to attempt to boost their companies' share prices." Release.
-- Private Capital Management: Bruce Sherman, the investor who spearheaded Knight Ridder's sale to McClatchy, has washed his hands of the newspaper industry. The latest filing from his fund Private Capital Management has no holdings in newspaper stocks. Just last quarter, the company held stakes in NYTCo (NYSE: NYT) and McClatchy, although by then he had eliminated his holdings in Belo (NYSE: BLC), Gannett (NYSE: GCI), Media General (NYSE: MEG), and Lee Enterprises. (via E&P)
Related
A day after the Tribune Co. announced job cuts both in and out of the newsroom, the New York Times (NYSE: NYT) is planning to eliminate 100 newsroom jobs through attrition, buyouts and possibly layoffs, according to NYT itself. The cuts account for 7.5 percent of the newsroom's 1332 employees. The cuts were announced by executive editor Bill Keller, who described layoffs as a last resort that may be required if the company doesn't get enough people to accept buyouts. In a memo, Keller acknowledged that the "low-hanging fruit" of easy cuts is gone and the move would have an impact on the company's journalistic output. In November, the company announced plans to eliminate a dozen newsroom jobs, although none were reporting positions.
The announcement comes as the company is under pressure from activist investors pushing for aggressive changes. Last Friday, NYTCo top brass met with Scott Galloway and on Tuesday, the company announced a board shakeup to bring in more digital and deals experience.
-- The New York Observer relays a first-hand account of the meeting with Keller when the cuts were announced. Apparently, in an attempt to reduce the pain, there is talk of diverting some money set aside for editor bonuses to saving jobs. Perhaps the most oddly revealing news is that during the Q&A, there was just one question about the cuts: "Instead, there were questions about why the fourth-floor was so cold and why stairwells in the building were still inaccessible."
Sam Zell’s Los Angeles Times has introduced its first stand-alone print weekly, a culture and nightlife freebie — one that was reverse-engineered from a Times website that went live last summer. The new free weekly, whose initial circulation is estimated at 100,000, was reverse-engineered from losangeles.metromix.com.
The new tabloid and the site, both called Metromix Los Angeles, represent a push by the Times to finally get its hooks into the young-adult Angelinos who rarely buy the morning paper. “This is something for the Los Angeles Times that’s really trying to reach a demo that we haven’t before,” said Rich Stepan, general manager for Metromix Los Angeles.
Metromix Los Angeles also showcases one way digital media can benefit the same print predecessors they simultaneously threaten. The site at losangeles.metromix.com helped build the Metromix brand, for example, and served as a continuous test issue of sorts for the new print concept.
“We’ve taken this out to them,” Mr. Stepan said. “From our perspective, it’s a resounding ‘We want it.”’
Where to find it
The print edition of Metromix Los Angeles will be distributed every Wednesday on local college campuses, in grocery stores and on racks throughout major Los Angeles neighborhoods. Its initial circulation is estimated at 100,000.
The Chicago Tribune, which is a Times sibling in Zell’s Tribune Co., publishes the free, daily RedEye for young commuters; RedEye was able to stave off a challenge from the Chicago Sun-Times in the form of Red Streak, now defunct.
In Los Angeles, the new entry from the Los Angeles Times will go up against L.A. Weekly, part of Village Voice Media.
The print version of Metromix Los Angeles got the green light because of newspaper publishers’ conviction that local expertise is their chief advantage over electronic channels such as Google News.
‘Hyper-local’
“We’re hyper-local,” said Deb Vankin, editor of Metromix Los Angeles. “I’ve been in the industry for about 10 years covering these things in Los Angeles. I sort of handpicked who I thought would be the experts.
“I can say with certainty that we’re in an age when the media landscape is saturated,” Ms. Vankin added. “They want not everything at once but someone to curate it for them. What’s great about Metromix is our print edition offers that, and if you want more, you can jump on the website.”
These local, youth-skewed freebies aren’t easy to get right. Last month Metro International, the Swedish publisher with free commuter dailies around the world, eliminated 27 jobs and made other cost cuts in New York, Philadelphia and Boston. An executive said the measures were part of a plan to make the U.S. operation finally profitable.
Via Advertising Age - MediaWorks
No tag for this post.
Related posts
DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) reported Q4 revenue of $4.9 billion, a 17 percent year-on-year increase from $4.18 billion. Net income declined slightly to $348 million ($.30 per share) from $356 million (.29 per share). The company attributed the top-line growth to increased subscribers, higher average revenue per user (ARPU) and better performance at its Latin America unit. Meanwhile, the FCC has still not given an official ruling on Liberty's acquisition of News Corp's stake in the company. Some highlights:
-- ARPU was up 8.3 percent in the quarter to $87.40. The company attributed this to the popularity of DVRs, HD and an increased number of receivers per household.
-- Net subscribers adds of 275,000 at DirecTV US was flat year-over-year. Total subscribers now stand at 16.83 million, 5.4 percent more than what the company had a year ago.
-- Op profit before depreciation and amortization was up 21 percent, with income lowered by higher interest expenses.
Release | Webcast (2:00 PM ET)
Written by tim · Filed Under TV
Next Page »
