Category: Digital
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Lessons in Leadership from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos
“Jeff, what does Day 2 look like?” That’s how Jeff Bezos started out his annual letter to shareholders. While the text talks about what he’s been trying to instill into the culture at Amazon, the message applies to any business and its leaders. Bezos has been reminding people that’s it’s…
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Who you trust more: Advertising or News Media?
While we hear a constant drum beat that trust in the news media continues to drop, it’s not the same for advertising. In fact, more people think ads are more honest than they were three years ago, according to a YouGuv survey in March. Trust but verify
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Overall news consumption is up 18%
Overwhelming majority of consumption happens on TV Adults in the US spend more than 72.5 BILLION MINUTES consuming news during an average week. The Nielsen folks say total new consumption across platforms was up 18% last year. Broadcast TV (local and national) accounted for the biggest chunk of viewing (29.4…
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Robert Martin complained about his internet-connected garage door opener. Company responded by remotely turning off his service.
Robert Martin bought an internet-connected garage door opener from Garadget. When he had problems with his product, he posted an angry rant on the company’s community board: “Just installed and attempting to register a door when the app started doing this. Have uninstalled and reinstalled iphone app, powered phone off/on — wondering…
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Facebook adds a rocket to its lineup
You may have noticed a little rocket icon pop up on your mobile version of Facebook. Tap it and it will take you to alternative news feed. No, not “alternative facts,” but an algorithmic design feed of content similar to what you interact with on your regular feed, but…
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How Twitter ditching the “egg” will stop harrassment
The default profile picture for lazy people that haven’t uploaded their own photo for their Twitter profile is an egg. Maybe I’m a little dense, but I never realized the reason for the egg was – according to Twitter itself – “a playful reference to how eggs hatch into…
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A bad idea: Congress looks at taxing advertising
The Trump administration has put tax reform on the table for debate. There are very few people that would argue what we have right now is working fine. One of the things under discussion, however, is eliminating the business deduction for advertising. Businesses are able to deduct the cost of…
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Internet advertising to surpass TV advertising, but…
For the first time, more dollars are being spent on internet advertising than on traditional television. That news comes from Zenith (a Publicis company) in taking a look at 2017 internet advertising dollars and projections.
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Should Google & Facebook be regulated, pay license fees for news content?
The British government has officially opened an inquiry into “fake news.” Damian Collins MP, Chair of the Committee investigating, summed it up: “The growing phenomenon of fake news is a threat to democracy and undermines confidence in the media in general.” Now British publishers have responded. The newspaper group News Media…
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Three challenges for the web, according to its inventor
Al Gore jokes aside, the man credited with creating the WWW in web addresses says we’ve got some big problems on-line that need to be addressed. He’s published a letter to the world, titled “Three challenges for the web, according to its inventor.” In the letter, Tim Berners-Lee, talks about…
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Low renewal rates from ad buyers on Native Advertising: Does it work?
You know native advertising. It’s when instead of running an ad, publishers integrate advertising messages into content. It may be in the form of a news-looking article that features the company’s information or employees. In its best form – clearly labelled as advertising content – it may provide interesting and…
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A huge number of Millennial Men aren’t watching any TV on any device
How big a deal is this cord-cutting thing for TV? It may depend on who you ask. The number of people cutting out cable has slowed, but it’s still a growing number. But when you slice and dice those dropping (cord-cutters) or never subscribing (cord-nevers), this new report shows…
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Cable company hit with $25 million penalty, $8 million legal bill for not cracking down on music piracy
Known fact: people pirate music online. It’s hard to track down each offender, and even taking individuals to task, it’s like the little boy sticking his finger in the dam only to have another leak pop up. Music publishers have tried to put the burden on internet service providers (ISP’s)…
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Majority of millennials say they don’t think pirating video is illegal
There’s more evidence that this Millennial generation is really different than Boomers. Taking a look at two studies, one done by YouGuv commissioned by Irdeto and the other by Anatomy Media, shows than more than half of millennials watch content illegally. The survey also asked if they felt any guilt or…
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Everytime there’s new technology, someone figures out a way to hack it, exploit, or infect it
Doesn’t it seems everytime there’s new technology, someone figures out a way to hack it, exploit, or infect it? 16 million homes have had a serious virus problem in the past two years. The conflicker virus alone has infected nearly 9 million computers. Even cars are being hacked. And there’s…
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Google ad changes hurt organic search
When Google announced expanding text ads in April allowing publishers more characters to use in text ads, it claimed it could lead to up to a 20% increase in CTR (click-through-rates) for advertisers. So how did it do?
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At what point does Facebook stop adding users?
In its earnings report this week, Facebook said monthly users of its social media platform now top 1.86 billion people. That’s roughly 25% of the entire world’s population that users FB regularly. In total more than half the world’s population that have Facebook accounts (although to be fair, a lot…
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Facebook testing targeted ads in Messenger app
A test in Australia and Thailand this week may lead to more ads from the folks at Facebook. This time, they’re testing adding advertisements to its Messenger app. “This means that a business is able to place an ad in an area of Messenger below your recent conversations, similar to…
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75 million U.S. homes now have internet connected TV
Nearly three-quarters of broadband-connected homes now have a TV connected to the internet. The adoption of internet-connected TVs has mirrored the adoption of broadband in the US, but has slowed recently as more homes were connected. According to new research from The Diffusion Group (TDG), the penetration of Internet-connected TVs…
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Are voice-enabled devices a threat to Google’s ad revenue?
Voice-enabled apps and devices seem to be the next big thing. It was the clear star-of-the-show at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in December. But using voice to do searches may reveal a vulnerability for Alphabet (aka Google). While its Google Home device may compete in the market, it —…
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Cord Cutting and Skinny Bundles: More hype than hope?
Cord cutting is real and it’s gaining traction, but not as quickly as predicted. Nielsen’s latest report shows homes that subscribe to pay-TV (cable or satellite) is down 1.7% from last January. That’s hardly a tidal wave of cord cutters. At the same time, the number of TV households actually…
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Paul Dughi named as one of 16 “Media Influencers” by Local Media Today
I was honored to be included in the list of 16 “media influencers” as named in the 2017 monthly edition of Local Media Today, by the Local Media Association (an industry trade association of more than 2,400 newspaper, TV, radio, pure plays and other media partners). It’s a pretty impressive group to be…
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Are restaurants that don’t accept cash the next trend?
Sweetgreen restaurant chain is in the “fast casual” category, serving up healthy food choices. What won’t be on the menu in 2017 is… cash. Starting mid-January, they will stop taking cash at 64 locations. The company says it will speed up transactions by as much as 15%. Employees touching cash…
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Now ransomware is showing up on a Smart TV?
Wow. Just wow. Darrn Cauthon is a software developer. On Christmas day, he says, a family member was using their Smart TV and downloaded an app to watch a movie. The TV set froze up. When it rebooted, this notice appeared claiming to be from FBI Director James Comey. Full…
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US digital ad spend nearly $18B in 3Q 2016
U.S. advertising spend in digital advertising in the third quarter of 2016 alone was nearly $18 billion dollars. The latest IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report shows the number at $17.6 billion. This marks the highest third quarter for digital advertising spending on record and a 20% increase over the same time period in…
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At what point does new technology become mainstream?
Commercial mobile telephones were actually invented in 1949 by AT&T, but it wasn’t until the early 70’s that phones were truly mobile – not tethered to vehicles. I remember when neighbor kids would want to ride in my car so they could call Mom at home and tell her where…
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Four times people were threatened or sued for leaving bad reviews on Yelp… and won
Put a bad review on line and you risk not just making the business mad, but maybe lawsuits and fines. You may not even know you’re doing something that could get you in trouble, but buried in the TOS (term of service agreements) you never read, or buried in some…
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The best media to use to drive car buyers to actually buy
TV TOP INFLUENCER FOR MILLENNIALS, TOO The Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) asked consumers a pivotal question for car dealers: What’s doing the best job at driving consumers to the point of purchase? The November study, done by Research Now, found that TV carries the greatest influence of all media throughout…
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Cord cutters are cutting cable AND broadband internet at home
First it was cutting landline phones for mobile. Next, cord cutters dropped cable TV and opted for streaming devices. Now, in what Ovum researchers call “triple cord cutting,” we’re seeing people start to trim their broadband connections at home and use cell phones to do their online viewing. “Cord-cutting started…
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Talking cars could help make roads safer, help the environment
If you’ve bought a new car lately, you know there’s an incredible amount of tech going on that has nothing to do with driving. My new car has weather radar maps, sports scores, movie times, and even Open Table available on the touchscreen. But a proposed rule from NHTSA (National…
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The dirty little secret of digital ad networks
In the rush to move to digital advertising, there’s been an awful lot of ad dollars wasted because people didn’t really know what they were buying. Remember the early days of the world wide web? People reported “hits” – which we then learned equated to server calls and could be…
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Can one country tell the world what it can and can’t see online?
That’s what’s being examined by Canada’s Supreme Court as it looks at a court decision that ordered the censorship of content on Google even outside the country’s borders. Google appealed, as you can expect, and the SupCo is hearing the case now. It stems from a Canadian company (Equustek) that…
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Google Maps renames “Trump Tower” in NYC as “Dump Tower”
If you googled “Trump Tower” for a while this weekend, you’d find this… Instead of this… Yup, somebody re-named Trump Tower as Dump Tower on Google Maps.
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Cyber Criminals now spreading ransomware through Facebook, LinkedIn
If you find a graphic or image on your computer and you don’t remember downloading it, stop before opening! Experts have seen a dramatic increase in what’s Locky Ransomware being shared by unsuspecting victims, now through social media platforms LinkedIn and Facebook. Ransomware is insidious. It locks up your computer…
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Are newspaper endorsement irrelevant in today’s world?
USA Today is the most-circulated newspaper in the country and until this election year, had never taken sides in a Presidential election. In 2016, it asked readers not to vote for Donald Trump. The Arizona Republic supported Hillary Clinton, the first time it had endorsed a Democrat in 126 years.…
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YouTube struggling to get paid subscribers
You really have to wonder about that whole “give it away for free and then later we’ll charge for it” model. Here’s yet another example: YouTube is the world’s largest video streaming service and streams more music than anyone else. It’s been free from inception, but YouTube has been touting…
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The Nausea rule of advertising
Think of your brain as a giant hard drive. It can hold a lot of information, but it does have a limit. And, like a hard drive, the limit is reached frequently. So when new information comes in and there’s no room left, it often pushes out the other information…
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Should internet providers be held liable when its users illegally download content?
“In this copyright action, the putative owners of more than 1,400 musical composition copyrights seek to hold Cox Communications, Inc. and Cox Com, LLC (collectively, “Cox”) contributorily and vicariously liable for alleged copyright infringement taking place over its high-speed internet service.” With those words, the court’s opinion in the case…
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How Advertising Works
The first time a man looks at an advertisement, he does not see it. The second time, he does not notice it. The third time, he is conscious of its existence. The fourth time, he faintly remembers having seen it before. The fifth time, he reads it. The sixth time,…
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When did we become an opt-out world?
We all know that nobody reads Terms of Service on anybody’s website, or User Agreements when downloading an app. We have just come to accept that there’s probably bad stuff in there that we won’t want but it’s the price we have to pay. I say enough! It’s time to…
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Define your Weapon of Mass Distinction: Avoiding “We do it too” advertising
Advertising lessons learned from working in the news business For several years, I worked as a strategic consultant and trainer at some of America’s top television stations, including those owned by Gannett Broadcasting, Hearst-Argyle, Post-Newsweek, Cox, Raycom Media, Journal Broadcasting, Freedom, and Fox. I have worked on projects for Entertainment…
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Bulls-eye marketing: Finding the sweet spot
To maximize the effectiveness of your advertising, you have to place it squarely in the target for consumers. You already know it’s not enough to have a great product. It’s not enough to assemble your unique selling proposition – what I call your Weapon of Mass Distinction. It’s not…
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Instagram appears to be readying live streaming by users
Is it any surprise that Instagram would be playing around with the idea of live streaming in its app? Some users have seen a Live icon pop up according to Russian website, TJournal (Thank goodness my browser will translate Russian), which published pictures showing a “Go Insta” button on the…
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Majority don’t trust media, but one source does better than all the others
We’ve all heard that people don’t trust the media anymore. Heck, I’m in the media and I view everything through a skeptic’s lens these days. Through it all though, one media source continues to do better than all the others:
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Americans spend 47% of time awake on TV, PC, Tablets, or phones
According to new research from The Diffusion Group (TDG), consumers spend a lot of time each week using a ‘screen’ — a television, personal computer, tablet, or mobile phone. It now tops 50 hours with TV topping the list.
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Olympic streaming is up, TV viewing down – NBC doing “make goods” for advertisers
TV ratings from the summer Olympics are down. Live streams across various platforms, though, are way up. NBC reports a 232% increase in live streams on August 10th versus the same day of the Olympics in 2012. On that day in 2016, live streaming topped ONE BILLION MINUTES through the…
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