New Media News Digest, 6/5-6/11, 2007

Sondra Russell works for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and writes the following News Digest on a weekly basis.  I think it's a very nice piece of work, but it's distributed by email only.  So she's given me permission to quote it here so it can get RSS distribution and also be seen by people outside of public broadcasting.  Her email address is srussell [at] cpb [dot] org.  --Dennis

SONDRA’S SUMMARY

> The top story this week is that the Digital Transition (a.k.a. Analog Shutoff) is humming along swimmingly, as evidenced by a recent story in the New York Times that LG and RCA are offering $50 conversion boxes by next January.  Couple that with the fact that new televisions, even those cheap $150 models, come with digital converters, and perhaps the 13% of over-the-air-only households (many of which are public television supporters) won’t be as left out as some have feared.

 > The theme of the week is that “local is the new global”.  A recent report from Borrell Associates indicates that online ad dollars are increasingly migrating to sites focusing on geographically local content, and that many newspapers are responding by creating online-only sales departments.  Can local public broadcasting stations be far behind? In the same week, YouTube has announced a revenue-sharing agreement with local affiliate conglomerate Hearst-Argyle  to create online channels for five local broadcast stations.  However, before we get too excited about the potential for local content, Mark Ramsey cautions that local isn’t always about geography.

 > The think piece of the week is that even the experts can’t figure out how to track traffic online.  This week, the Web Analytics Association reported that 81% of analytics professionals surveyed said “the practice is poorly understood in their companies”. There are multiple initiatives rumbling through the public broadcasting system to tackle this very issue, and it may be of some comfort to us that even the experts are having a hard go of it.  This week’s think piece runner up?  That virtual worlds have begun to appear in non-virtual federal courtrooms.  New Media News Digest, June 5th – June 11th, 2007

 INTERNET

Web Analytics Survey Points to Need for Better Processes

From ClickZNews: "In what it claims is the largest such survey ever conducted, the Web Analytics Association (WAA) has released a report finding most analytics professionals feel they and their companies struggle to grasp Web analytics."

 Second Life "land" dispute moves offline to federal courtroom   

From ArsTechnica: "A lawsuit filed in May of 2006 by Pennsylvania attorney Marc Bragg accused Linden Lab of wrongfully seizing his virtual land —intellectual property that Bragg says is worth thousands of (real-life) dollars."

 Borrell Predicts Local Advertisers Will Spend $7.5 Billion Online in '07
From ClickZNews: "Local advertisers are poised to spend $7.5 billion on the Web this year, up over 31 percent from last year, according to the report."

Warner Group in Deal to Offer Free Music via Internet Site
From the NYT: "Major labels have fought to try to keep fans from listening to music without paying for it. Now the Warner Music Group, has made a deal with Lala.com to allow anyone to listen to its music free hoping that doing so will drive music sales."

TELEVISION

Online will overtake TV news within five years   

From Broadcast Enginnering: "[According to Harris Interactive] online news and information sources will overtake TV newscasts within five years. Even today, many people believe it’s already easier to get news online than to read a newspaper."

 YouTube Goes Local in Hearst-Argyle Deal
From AdWeek: "In its latest move, YouTube has struck a deal to create channels for five local broadcast stations owned by Hearst-Argyle. The companies will share ad revenue generated by news and other content."

Apple Close to a Deal with Hollywood for Movie Rentals
From Business 2.0: "Apple's service would compete, however, with the VOD offerings now provided by cable and satellite TV companies, as well as startups like Microsoft’s Xbox Live, Movie­link and Unbox, a joint venture between Amazon and TiVo."

NBC to Let Other Web Sites Post NBC Video
From Reuters: "Independent Web Site and blog owners can add short NBC video using software widgets -- small bits of code that function as dynamic applications when installed on a Web page."

Converters Signal a New Era for TVs
From the NYT: "Yesterday, the National Association of Broadcasters lifted the curtain on two prototypes for those basic digital converters that will start appearing in electronic and department stores in January, at an expected cost of about $50 to $70."