Digital publishing news for October 28, 2013
We finally find out John Henry’s thought process and reasoning for buying the Boston Globe. Henry wrote in yesterday’s Globe, “Truth is, I prefer to think that I have joined the Globe, not purchased it, because great institutions, public and private, have stewards, not owners. Stewardship carries obligations and responsibilities to citizens first and foremost — not to shareholders. This is especially true for news organizations. As the respected Supreme Court reporter Lyle Denniston once said, “Only one industry throughout America carries on its day-to-day business with the specific blessing of the Constitution.”
Henry went on to say the he invested in The Globe because he felt it was one of the most important news organizations in the world. We learned a few other details about the papers future. Boston.com will remain free. The paper and website will undergo a redesign. One thing is for sure, The Globe has bright future.
GQ Launches New Video Series
GQ has partnered with Bombay Sapphire to create a new video series called American Bartender. Ad Week’s Lucia Moses writes, “The eight-episode series, which launched today, follows 46 mixologists who are competing for the title of Most Imaginative Bartender in Las Vegas. It’s airing on GQ.com, YouTube and syndicated partnerships. It’s the latest original video offering from Condé Nast Entertainment, the Dawn Ostroff-helmed division that was created to parlay the company’s iconic magazine brands into new revenue streams.”
It’s worth noting that the winners of the competition will be featured in in GQ’s magazine. Video content feeding the magazine and vice-versa.
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Eric Schmitt: What Publishers Should Know
Publishing Executive has the details on what former Google CEO thinks all publishers should know. He says that another 5 billion people will be joining online and that these new consumers will be more intelligent so publishers need to step their game up.
Speaking about content discovery, “While Schmidt sees “good judgment” as the value that editors currently provide, bringing to the surface “things that I would have otherwise not found,” he says this kind of serendipitous discovery can be programmed pretty well based on what someone is reading and his social connections. However, the “true one-offs” are what content producers should concentrate on. Right now he sees a strong “follower effect” where everyone swarms around the same topic and reports it to death.”Finding something unique and different is what’s important. That’s a truly amazing human talent…the search for that magic.”
Instagram Rolls Out Ads
Ad Age is reporting on how Instagram is rolling out their ad platform. For now, it’s only available to select brands. Cotten Delo writes, “As expected, Instagram ads are photos published by the brand’s account that will now be shown to people who don’t follow that brand. They’ll be differentiated with the word “Sponsored” at the top of the image. Users can hide them by tapping a symbol at the bottom of the photo, which “will help us show you more interesting ads in the future,” according to the blog post.”
Instagram is being very cautious with who they let use the new ad platform. According to Debra Williamson, principal analyst at eMarketer, ads will be held to the same quality standards as Vogue magazine.
TV Guide Gets New CEO
Jack Kliger is the new CEO of TV Guide. Steve Cohn from minOnline reports, “Jack Kliger, who as a consultant helped make a nearly destitute TV Guide a profit-maker over four years, became a full-time employee as CEO on Oct. 22. The announcement came from OpenGate Capital founder (2005) Andy Nikou, who acquired TVG in Oct. 2008 from Rovi Corp. for $1 and brought in Kliger nine months later to turn things around. Through a restructuring that included his bringing in advisors to run TVG‘s business side (publisher, circulation, marketing, etc.), he did.”
