Digital publishing news for February 13, 2014
UpWorthy has been receiving a lot of attention lately. Fast Company has dubbed them as a “soulful BuzzFeed.” Instead of posting links to funny cat videos, they are posting links to meaningful topics like human rights and social issues. They are also tackling native advertising in a unique way. Ad Age’s Michael Sebastian reports, “Upworthy moved to show that readers are engaging with the content, not just clicking and potentially wandering off with the page open, with a new metric called attention minutes.” Attention Minutes are a culmination of web metrics that include video plays, mouse movements and even which browser tab is open.
Eli Pariser, co-founder of UpWorthy was interviewed by Ad Age. He was asked how he planned to convince brands to accept their new metric. Praiser stated, “Initially we’re just applying this metric to ourselves and we’d love to see other people take it up. If all it does is make us much smarter about content we deliver to our users and how they experience it, that’ll be big win. That said, I think the promise of really measuring stuff on the granular level is that we can provide much more interesting data to the folks who we work with. It’s not just how many shared this, but what does the attention curve look like for this piece of content.”
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Comcast to Acquire Time Warner Cable
The New York Times is reporting that Time Warner Cable has agreed to be purchased by Comcast for $45.2 Billion. David Gelles writes, “The deal will leave Time Warner Cable shareholders owning approximately 23 percent of Comcast’s common stock. Although the deal will be scrutinized by regulators, the executives said that they expected it would get clearance. Comcast and Time Warner Cable do not compete directly in any markets.” The deal is also subject to shareholder approval from both companies.
Cygnus Heavy Construction Group for Sale
Folio is reporting that Cygnus Business Media has put its Heavy Construction Group up for deal. Bill Mickey writes, “Folio: has learned. Included in the deal will be seven print magazines, two websites and an event. The Heavy Construction Group is one of three groups within the Construction division, which also includes the Residential Construction and Landscaping groups.” According to Folio’s sources, “revenues are in the $10 million range.”
Bauer Launches Yours
Bauer Media Group is launching a new magazine for woman over 50 called Yours. Mumbrella did an interview with Yours editor-in-chief Fiona Connolly. Mumbrella writes, “The typical reader, Connolly said, is 58, but she feels 14 years younger. She’s young at heart, fashionable, modern and energetic.” The first issue offers 18 pages of advice, which they are calling the “Good To Know” section. Bauer hopes to connect with a demographic they feel is underserved.
Write Like Hemingway
There is a new web app that teaches you to write more like Ernest Hemingway. It’s called Hemingway App. It’s like writing in Google Docs, but with someone telling you to keep it short and to the point. You also have the ability to export your document as a Word file. It may not teach you to be a better writer, but it sure is a lot of fun.
