Mel Taylor Media » Newspaper

Morris Reunites Web & Print Staff

MelTaylorMedia — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 17:55:11 +0000

For years, Internet research analysts have scared Newspaper and Broadcast companies into thinking they had to create a separate staff for digital. While it sounds good on paper and some of that strategy works in unique situations like Deseret Media, it’s now being seen as a deeply flawed plan for most local media operators.

Publishers are steamed. They lost valuable time in trying to ramp up endeavors that were not only expensive, but they created internal warfare that local advertisers found appalling; ex: stay away from my client with your Internet stuff !

Thought leaders warned that traditional sellers were incapable of learning new sales skills. We think that’s a large pile of elitist bunk designed to keep publishers & GM’s in the dark and hooked on outside help.

Almost any Newspaper or Broadcast sales rep can become an excellent digital seller. You accomplish that by addressing the core issues: compensation, management culture, job descriptions, product line, in-house market intel and training.

We’ve seen it first hand. Applying old school sales & business principles to digital is much more effective than pouring scarce budgets into tech, manpower, separate divisions, outsourced sales trainers, research firms and expensive conferences.

Read how Morris Communications is reconfiguring its divisions, executive team, and sales operations…..Morris Digital Works (MDW) is being folded back into the main corporate structure at Morris Publishing. They spelled out two specific goals for the company:

1. Turn Morris Publishing Group from contraction to growth by 2013.

2. Change MPG from a newspaper company into a Digital-First media company that publishes newspapers.

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Training your staff for Web 2.0 Is your staff comfortable in a Web 2.0 world? Do they have skills in things like blogging, RSS, video, podcasting, online sales, CPM or sponsorship selling, digital editing, convergence packages, etc...
Moneyball: Fixing Newspaper Web Sales Traditional Newspaper management is just like the old guard in Baseball. That’s what you’ll think after watching Moneyball starring Brad Pitt as Oakland A’s general manager; Billy Beane. Based on...

Valuation of Digital Assets. Inland Press

MelTaylorMedia — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:14:15 +0000

Local online news & info is about to enter it’s next phase. Newspaper, TV, Radio and hyper local operators can no longer run digital with their fingers crossed. Having editorial execs drive the digital bus by themselves is now seen as a recipe for financial pain and loss. Every part of the business is now up for serious scrutiny: who’s in charge, sales plans, management structure, skill sets, path to profitability, etc. Topping that list is the financial health and business plan of the online operation. Having superior content is no longer enough.

Internet financial health and online investment values were the focus of my session at the Family Ownership Conference in Chicago last month. Inland Press invited me to do: Digital Valuation of Newspaper, Broadcast and Online-Only Assets.
Valuation of Digital Assets. Inland Press. Oct 2011

Inland Press; Patch & Hyper Local On March 18, Inland Press responded once again to the newspaper industry’s interest in hyper local competition and the growth of Patch. They invited me to do an encore of...
Key Executive Multi-Media; Patch Just got back from the Multimedia Key Executives Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was a record breaker as the SNA, Inland Press and SNPA joined forces to create this...
NYT Profit, Internet and Documentary The New York Times Company recently announced a quarterly profit. How they got there wasn’t pretty but who cares, right? In what could be viewed as the new normal for...

Digital Diagnostic for Radio Websites

MelTaylorMedia — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:37:05 +0000

Can Radio beat Newspaper in the online news space?

Here’s part 1 of last week’s webinar we did for a group of Radio executives. Merlin Media and Genesis Communications are featured in this session. We focus on the issues affecting Radio’s ability to build sustainable, online business models.

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Can Radio Build Hyper Local Web Business? Ever taken a really good look at some Radio station websites? Aside from the layout and content, (some harshly call them a train-wreck) have you ever wondered how Radio can build a...

Newspaper’s Digital Competition

MelTaylorMedia — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 10:45:32 +0000

How Newspaper Can Beat Digital Competition. UPDATED for Oct 2011. Slide deck from this week’s webinar. Some competitors are familiar, others are not.

Selling CPM: How to Kill Local Media

MelTaylorMedia — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:12:20 +0000

We hope Broadcast and Newspaper execs fully understand why Yahoo! terminated it’s CEO; Carol Bartz.

Sure, Bartz didn’t hit her numbers. But here’s the key take away for local media and the NAB, RAB, TVB and the NAA:

YAHOO! relied heavily on pageviews, commodity content and CPM or ‘cost per thousand’ selling of banner ad inventory. With online ad inventory growing everyday, that creates a glut. When ever there’s too much of something, the value goes down. Simple supply and demand principles.

Yahoo, along with AOL and MSNBC are getting killed with the exact sales method that most TV, Radio and Print companies employ in running their digital operations. Is the NAB or NAA paying attention?

The Wall Street Journal highlighted many sources that support what we’ve preached for many years: selling your web inventory via CPM or ad networks is bad business and turns your journalism and content into a commodity.

At Yahoo, that (CPM) rate dropped to an average $6.50 in July 2011 from $7.65 in July 2010, while at AOL, that rate dropped to an average of $7 in July 2011 from $9.45 in July 2010.

Not only have CPMs declined over the years, but the old axiom of ‘content is king’ is starting to lose it’s lustre. Unique content will always have excellent value. But if you’re just building and boasting about about page views & Facebook fans, your toast. Relying on these once useful formulas is a recipe for slowly killing your local media business.

Rob Norman; executive at WPP PLLC’s GroupM North America, told the WSJ. “Just because you have a lot (pageviews) doesn’t mean that you have something that is of distinct value.”

Perfect timing! And from our ‘what were they smoking files’, Gannett just did a deal with YAHOO! to sell the Internet giant’s low-value content. Sweet. Gannett is not only selling damaged goods, but they’re also admitting that their own Gannett home-grown editorial is poop nobody wants to sponsor.

Take a look at the chart below from the Wall Street Journal. You’ll see why old school, web revenue tactics don’t work anymore.

Hyper Local Business Models for News Media What’s the best business model for a newspaper, broadcast or hyper local news site? What if the answer was as simple as running your website like a real business, with a...
DataSphere Smart. Local Media; Not So Much Gotta hand it to the fast growing DataSphere. The online solutions vendor has done deals with LocalTV LLC, Raycom and others. Could their offerings threaten WorldNow, Triton, and Emmis Interactive? Better yet, could their business model even...
Local Media…The Digital Land Grab. WE ARE SPARTANS ! So goes the battle cry from the movie….. ’300′. Spartans are a proud people protecting their land and way of life from the incoming Persians. Do I smell...

Hyper Local Business Models for News Media

MelTaylorMedia — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:29:12 +0000

What’s the best business model for a newspaper, broadcast or hyper local news site? What if the answer was as simple as running your website like a real business, with a profit-first strategy? This kind of talk flies right in the face of those who preach entrepreneurial journalism and editorial first strategies.

We know that’s either too damn scary or time-consuming for some old school journalists and media executives. Learning new skills and changing workflow takes time. But when Reach Local, Patch and indie sites like AroundMainline.com are taking bigger chunks of revenue out of the market, you might want to ‘eat your peas’ and get with the program.

In this month’s DIGITAL REVENUE REVIEW (video below), we expose the choke points killing our companies from within.

Jim Schachter from The New York Times giggles about his lack of web-sales, as Warren Webster from PATCH shakes his head in amazement. J-school professors; Jay Rosen and Jeff Jarvis are also in our cross-hairs. (These guys may want to reconsider their interest in teaching entrepreneurial journalism)

Mike Agovino from Triton Media talks the downside of CPM, and so does Randy Michaels from Merlin Media. (Sam Zell makes a guest appearance)

Steve Lanzano from the TVB chats up hyper local TV efforts.

Researchers are skewered for the foolishness of actually asking people to pay big bucks for un-needed, local media research.

Alden Global Capital; the private equity firm with a heart, is on a tear as they quietly grow it’s portfolio of distressed media properties like the Journal Register Company, Gannett and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Hyper Local mis-steps; In-Jersey, Loudoun Extra and TBD.com are outed for the real reason of their demise. Hint: it’s not what side-line commentators like Alan Mutter or Rick Edmunds from Poynter have suggested.

Watch the amazingly spectacular video here:

Hyper Local Business Models 2010 Investors and fund managers are growing impatient. They wrote you a check based on the unrealistic pitch you threw at them: "I will build you a really cool, high traffic...
Sustainable Business Models: Online News Editorial leaders like Jeff Jarvis, Jay Rosen & John Paton have lead the charge to create powerful, online news organizations. Now we need specialists in local revenue & sales models...
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Protected: Pricing your Online Ad Inventory

MelTaylorMedia — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:30:56 +0000

Radio Ink Forecast, Online Revenue Strategy Radio Ink‘s Forecast is the annual radio-industry financial conference that gathers station group owners, CEOs, CFOs, managers, and Wall Streeters to discuss current industry conditions and reveal their predictions for...
Online Video Revenue When will local newspaper websites and hyper local blogs start making money with video? Short answer: When they start sharing their video equipment with sales department. For now, the big...
Revenue: Online Community Journalism TCU in Fort Worth recently played host to an excellent journalism workshop focused on helping community newspapers turn a profit with their websites. I was invited to speak to this...

Mega Conference Recap 2011

MelTaylorMedia — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:37:46 +0000

Inlander April 2011 Mel Taylor

2012 America East; Video Recap from Conference If Newspaper publishers placed business execs in charge of digital, would the industry be in better shape today? Are those in charge of Internet operations, out of touch and un-qualified?...
Inland Press; Patch & Hyper Local On March 18, Inland Press responded once again to the newspaper industry’s interest in hyper local competition and the growth of Patch. They invited me to do an encore of...
Newspaper’s Digital Competition How Newspaper Can Beat Digital Competition. UPDATED for Oct 2011. Slide deck from this week’s webinar. Some competitors are familiar, others are not. Featured topics: Centro: Friend or Foe? Philly.com gets crushed...

Inland Press; Patch & Hyper Local

MelTaylorMedia — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 23:30:53 +0000

On March 18, Inland Press responded once again to the newspaper industry’s interest in hyper local competition and the growth of Patch. They invited me to do an encore of the session that was originally presented in St. Petersburg, Florida a few weeks ago, at the Key Executives conference. See presentation below.

Attendees heard our message loud and clear. Run your website like your newspaper….profit must come first.

Key take-aways that seemed to resonate the most:

Whoever acts as Web general manager, VP Interactive/content, editor, etc….must have their compensation tied to digital profitability and local market share….NOT page views or other soft metrics.
CPM selling at the local level is no longer effective, and is only getting worse.
Ad units and page layout need to be cleaner and more advertiser friendly. ( just like the newspaper )
Reliance on 3rd party ad or remnant networks need to be reduced or eliminated.
Newspapers need better awareness of the new, digital competitors like Groupon, Patch, Reach Local, etc.
Patch may not be a newspaper killer, but they do execute local tactics that newspapers should adopt.
Compensation, management structure and work flow must be re-aligned to embrace a digital first culture.
Let’s stop talking about, or over-researching the problem. Let’s put sales & business 101 into action.
Print is never going away. Yet digital will be the one tool that helps our industry the most.

INLAND PRESS: New Digital Competitors 3.18.11

Valuation of Digital Assets. Inland Press Local online news & info is about to enter it’s next phase. Newspaper, TV, Radio and hyper local operators can no longer run digital with their fingers crossed. Having editorial execs drive...
Hyper Local Purists Steamrolled by Patch? The hyper-local gathering called 'Block by Block 2010' was held recently. Revenue & business models were a top concern. Will these, and other online news orgs be able to compete...
Radio vs Patch, Groupon, Hyper local Can Radio win against Patch, Reach Local, Groupon and Hyper-local competitors? Click below to view the training presentation given to 200 Radio broadcasters on August 10. In this session, we...

Revenue: Online Community Journalism

MelTaylorMedia — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 16:53:25 +0000

TCU in Fort Worth recently played host to an excellent journalism workshop focused on helping community newspapers turn a profit with their websites.

I was invited to speak to this gathering of highly engaged newspaper execs. The 30 participants in this 3 day workshop represented a variety of local newspapers throughout Texas. They were all committed to building sustainable business models for their digital news efforts.

Tommy Thomason; program director of TCU’s Texas Center for Community Journalism, is doing an amazing job with this series of workshops. With funding from the Texas Newspaper Foundation, attendees get intensive, non-stop training and development that really stands out amongst state news organizations.

WOW. No tuition, room or food charges during these workshops on the TCU campus in beautiful Fort Worth. In the past, workshop topics have included photojournalism, writing and editing, advertising sales, management, page design, developing an effective Web edition, sportswriting, and circulation.

Tommy Thomason was the founding director of the TCU Schieffer School of Journalism. He left that position to become the founding director of the Texas Center for Community Journalism. Thomason began his career in journalism in the early 1970s with the Associated Press, working as a sportswriter in Arkadelphia and Little Rock.

Dr. Thomason has taught journalism at five universities and has been at TCU since 84. In 1987, he was one of the winners of a national teaching award in Journalism Ethics from the Poynter Institute of Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Online Video Revenue When will local newspaper websites and hyper local blogs start making money with video? Short answer: When they start sharing their video equipment with sales department. For now, the big...
Online Video for Revenue Things I hear from local media clients about video: We’d LOVE to do more online video; but it’s cost & manpower prohibitive right now. We’re shooting video and posting it….where’s the money? Online video...
Radio Ink Forecast, Online Revenue Strategy Radio Ink‘s Forecast is the annual radio-industry financial conference that gathers station group owners, CEOs, CFOs, managers, and Wall Streeters to discuss current industry conditions and reveal their predictions for...