MTV and the State of Music Videos: Just In Time For The VMAs

(from USA TODAY)
On Sunday night, MTV will bestow its prized metallic moon-man statue for Video of the Year to Coldplay, Green Day, Gwen Stefani, Kanye West or Snoop Dogg. Chances are, viewers who tune in to the Video Music Awards (8 p.m. ET/PT) may be more intrigued by Puffy-cum-Diddy’s moniker makeover or Mariah Carey’s overt exposure than any specific music video, the once-mighty art form that dominated the channel in the ’80s and slipped to the fringes when reality dawned with Real World.

And for those who do enjoy Beck’s E-Pro, Common’s Go or any of the mini-musicals that provide the spindly premise for MTV’s annual celebrity shindig, chances are they’ve seen them elsewhere.

– All posts written by Chris Kennedy

Portal Performances: Revamped MSN Portal Still Lacks Momentum (IQ Interactive)

(from August 15, 2005 AdWeek IQ Interactive posting)

Microsoft has a ways to go if its wants its MSN portal to become first and foremost in the minds of Web users.

According to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index report from the University of Michigan, “MSN had minimal improvement in customer satisfaction since 2003.” The portal’s ACSI score of 75 (on a scale of 100) lags behind leaders Google and Yahoo, which scored 82.5 and 80 respectively.

The report was blunt about the brand’s lack of momentum: “MSN is not in a good position to make a serious move.” That’s despite MSN’s efforts to revamp its search product and a national TV branding campaign earlier this year.

“Despite the commitment from its top ranks that it is fighting to beat Google, Microsoft hasn’t quite figured out how to transfer its Windows platform ubiquity into a dominant position as an interface to the Internet,” said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results, which managed the study. “In fact, Google seems ready to start to battle Microsoft on its turf with the introduction of desktop search. Given the links between customer satisfaction and revenues, they need to take a smart look at what users really want and start there.”

While Yahoo and Google scored highest in consumer satisfaction, the recently relaunched AOL.com portal exhibited some strong momentum. AOL went from a very poor 56 to a respectable 71 this year. “A company that was down for the count just a few years ago will give the leaders a real run for their money if their scores continue to rise at this rate,” said Freed.

Tier two search player Ask Jeeves also has shown solid improvement, moving from a 62 in 2002 to 72 this year.

Also of note from the study – while various news and information Web sites are clearly popular among the Internet audience, users appear to be less brand loyal to traditional Web properties. Scores in the category were relatively flat, averaging a 75 for the second year in a row. Interestingly, while leaders such as ABCNews.com and CNN.com showed no improvement, the “all others” category lead the field with a score of 78, indicating that more users are turning to lesser known sites for news.

“There is no clear winner in the news and information space, as all of the sites have difficulty in differentiating themselves from the pack and leveraging their unique personalities that exist in their traditional channels,” said Freed.

–Mike Shields of Adweek IQ Interactive

– All posts written by Chris Kennedy

Car Wars: HD Radio vs. Satellite Radio

A study by Strategy Analytics, In-vehicle Entertainment Systems Market 2004-2011, states that “automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) should be cautious about introducing satellite digital radio options, despite the increasing adoption of satellite radio among U.S. consumers.” The reason? Terrestrial radio’s dedication to the growth and implementation of HD Radio.

“XM and Sirius face competition from iBiquity’s HD Radio. However, iBiquity now needs to shift focus from radio station upgrades to consumer system upgrades,” said Strategy Analytics Automotive Multimedia & Communications Service analyst Clare Hughes. “There has been significant investment in terrestrial radio station upgrade by iBiquity; however this now needs to be translated into revenue.”

Strategy Analytics does expect the market for in-vehicle satellite radio in North America to increase from 5.2 million units in 2004 to 12.8 million units by 2011, but that is in terms of shipments in the original equipment, which doesn’t necessarily translate to subscriptions. XM recently reported during its second quarter conference call that six out of ten people that buy a car with a factory-installed satellite radio accept the service.

Strategy Analytics also reported that the “explosive satellite radio growth seen over the last three quarters will not translate automatically into the automotive market however, and growth in general will slow down toward the end of 2005. In-vehicle satellite radio growth will face competition from portable satellite radio devices and HD Radio/iBiquity systems.”

BMW recently became the first car company to offer HD radio as a factory install, with the others expected to follow soon. And terrestrial radio companies are starting to launch HD side channels, with more announcements expected such as the one made by Greater Media Detroit. Until the BMW announcement was made, both satcasters have had free reign over in-vehicle digital radio, but as terrestrial radio steps up its campaign, the competition will heat up, giving consumers a choice beyond one of the satcasters.

– All posts written by Chris Kennedy

Google and Yahoo! Grilled By Advertisers For More Transparency

(from DMnews.com)
Search advertisers grilled Google and Yahoo executives on the lack of transparency and the complexity of their paid ad programs at this week’s Search Engine Strategies 2005 conference.

“Google won’t tell us demographic and geographic information. Is it possible that you guys could be more open about the information you provide to advertisers, like other media companies?” one audience member asked during a search engine advertising forum.

Click heading for the full article

– All posts written by Chris Kennedy

Protecting Children from Media Sex and Violence: New Industry Group Advertising Campaign Emphasizes Parental Responsibility

WASHINGTON (from AdAge.com) — In the face of continuing congressional concern about the violent and sexual content of entertainment products, a new industry-backed group is launching an advertising campaign to educate parents about the controls they already have to protect their children from such fare.

The “Pauseparentplay” advertising effort kicked off at a Washington news conference yesterday. It’s between-the-lines message is that government regulations are not needed to protect children from overly violent and indecent entertainment content because parents currently have the power to do that.

– All posts written by Chris Kennedy

Study Shows Major Increase In Ringtone Sales

(from fmqb.com)
A pair of new studies from Ipsos Reid look at ringtone downloading and the impact of Internet usage on other media. Their study finds that ringtone downloading has jumped fourfold in the past year, with a just under a quarter of mobile phone users downloading ringtones. A year ago, only five percent of mobile phone users said that they downloaded their ringtones. Unsurprisingly, half of 12-24 year-old respondents downloaded ringtones, with 30 percent of 25-34 year-olds, 17 percent of 35-54 year-olds and five percent of those 55 and older.

The study also shows that even though ringtones are pricier than purchasing songs online, they are sold legally far more often than songs, which are of course illegally traded regularly. In the Ipsos TEMPO study, 78 percent of mobile phone users paid for their ringtone downloads. “This is an intriguing phenomenon,” said Ipsos VP Matt Kleinschmit, “as ringtones often cost twice as much or more than a high quality, PC-based full digital music track. Given the lack of non-paid alternatives, as well as consumers’ apparent willingness to pay more for the immediate gratification involved in a mobile-delivered download, there appears to be significant opportunity for continued expansion in the paid ringtone arena.”

The study also looks at downloading full songs onto mobile phones, even though the technology is far from commonplace at this time. Still, six percent of mobile phone users reported having done so, with others also having tried such newly downloadable content as ringbacks (six percent), short video clips (three percent) and music videos (two percent).

Another new study from Ipsos Reid looks at the impact of the Internet on other media in Canada. While Internet usage is on the rise, radio listening has seen a downturn. Canadians surveyed now spend an average of 12.7 hours online a week, up dramatically from 8.7 hours in 2002. However, radio listening has declined from an average of 16 hours a week in 2002 to just 11 hours per week now. However, TV watching is still the number one media activity.

– All posts written by Chris Kennedy

comScore: Bloggers up 45% to 50 million users

Fifty million U.S. Web users visited blog sites in the first quarter of 2005, up 45 percent from a year ago, representing roughly 30 percent of all U.S. Internet users and 1 in 6 of the total U.S. population, says a new report from comScore Networks…

– All posts written by Chris Kennedy

Story To Watch: Howard Stern vs. Google

Story To Watch: According to MarketingVox.com, Howard Stern and an industrial printing firm launched a class action lawsuit in California courts against Google last week, alleging that the search engine giant fails to live up to its promises regarding the daily budget limits that AdWords users can place over their accounts. Which means that Google allegedly could be charging more than it should.

This story could prove to be a watershed case, especially if Stern scores a victory of new media darling Google. Keep watching…we will…

– All posts written by Chris Kennedy

Have You Had Your WOM Today?

Word of mouth is not a new advertising concept. It has always been the most powerful influence in new purchases…the recommendation from a friend. Now, there is a new concept when developing new marketing or advertising campaigns: the WOM Unit (Word of Mouth Unit), which converts potential influencer word of mouth into $$$ and cost.

So, read the AdAge.com article and hone your water cooler skills…

– All posts written by Chris Kennedy

Podcasts: David vs Goliath (from BusinessWeekOnline)

In one of the shortest trajectories yet for a new Internet technology, podcasting has gone from the hands of indie developers to media giants in less than a year. Credit Apple’s easy-to-use service on iTunes. Indie podcasters such as Kempenaar and Hallgren rejoiced, ready for the mainstream to embrace the technology they had championed.

But the reality isn’t so simple. Apple’s service, though just over a month old, is already changing the dynamics of the field, making it harder for indies to make it onto the top 100 podcasts list. Once a podcast drops off the top 100 list, it’s almost impossible for a casual visitor to find it.

So what does it mean for indies? Read on…

– All posts written by Chris Kennedy