Another fantastic round up media news goodies.....
Iplayer rival for ITV
As part of a major re-think of its online offering, ITV is planning to overhaul its online video player. Launched less than a year ago, the online catch up service is being re-examined following the success of the BBC’s Iplayer product. A major marketing campaign is proposed to promote the revamp, as well as pushing the idea of watching television online generally, and using the ITV website in particular.
Captain Kickback says: "with your licence fee money paving the way, the internet is changing the way that televisual media are consumed. Similarly, the increased availability of streamed content is changing the way the internet is used. While ITV are clearly playing catch-up here, it won’t be long before their video player, as well as Channel 4’s OD product, the BBC’s Iplayer and the likes of YouTube attract as many British viewers as Satellite television."
Big Change
Also undergoing a change at the moment, charitable magazine The Big Issue was recently redesigned. The magazine has been seeing a fair amount of success recently, with a year on year circulation increase of 21% nationally, and is seeking to expand on this success following the addition of columns on the internet, living ethically and food, as well as the addition of a changing cast of columnists including Rod Liddle and Iain Duncan Smith.
Captain Kickback says: "If you’re truly committed to bringing rates down, and really haggle with the vendors, you can get the price of the magazine down to 70p, or perhaps even swap it for the remains of a cup of tea. But perhaps I’m missing the point."
London Loser
Faring slightly less well on the streets than The Big Issue, The London Paper turned over just £8m in its first 10 months of distribution, recording a loss of over £16m. The clear winner of the battle for supremacy among London’s free sheets, The London Paper distributes around 500,000 copies each day as compared with roughly 400,000 copies of London Lite. Despite this success, the paper has failed to generate enough advertising revenue in its first year of trading to meet the substantial costs of setting up shop. Publishers News International expect to be able to turn a profit during the paper’s second year.
Captain Kickback says: "Losing the race for readers will be a double blow for Associated, as the glut of free newspapers has also put a sizeable dent into the number of paid-for copies of the Evening Standard they distribute each weekday. Following a significant drop off in sales immediately after the launch of London Lite and The London Paper, the number of copies of the Standard given away free of charge or sold cheaply for bulk distribution was increased so as to prop up its ailing distribution."
Boom for AND
A happier story for the Daily Mail and General Trust Group sees Associated Northcliffe Digital announcing that it now reaches 22 million people in the UK. Following its largest investigation of readership web use to date, in which a whopping 60,000 people were surveyed, the publisher has stated that it reaches 17% more consumers than it previously believed.
Captain Kickback says: "Measuring combined online and print reach is a contentious issue, as it is difficult to say with any accuracy whether people who purchase your printed product aren’t also the people who log on to your website. There are also technical aspects to consider, such as the percentage of people who delete their cookies regularly. Doing so prevents websites from recognising users who have already visited the site, and so has a significant impact on reach figures. As yet attempts by the Audit Bureau of Circulation Electronic to standardise web measurements have achieved little."
HomesMine
Eager to provide a local alternative to RightMove, Manchester publishers MEN Media are soon to launch a local property listings portal. Much like many local online offerings, the MEN website currently has a searchable database with the properties provided by Fish4Homes.
Going live in late June, HomesMine will offer a searchable database to which local property developers and estate agents will be invited to subscribe to show their wares. The launch of the website will coincide with a re-branding of the property section in the Manchester Evening News and each of the publisher’s weekly titles.
That's your lot for another month. If you'd like more details on any of the offerings mentioned here, reply to this email or contact your team at Space and Time.
See you next time!!
Captain Kickback