Perhaps it’s in the nick of time. Perhaps it’s already too late. Whatever it is – it’s great to see both newspapers and magazines finally making a stand.
Newspapers are being especially bold.
Mr. Murdoch’s Google de-indexing plan, Hulu for News
When Mr. Murdoch first announced his plan to de-index his newspaper sites from Google the reactions were typical -
No news site can survive without Google.
Hitwise has good statistics – Google accounts for 16.36% and Google News accounts for 5.17% of traffic to newspaper sites. That seems a lot – However, it’s less than 25%.
Now that we have news (courtesy Paid Content) that MediaNews Group (Enterprise Record, Daily Record of York, etc.) and A. H. Belo Corp. (Dallas Morning News, etc.) are also planning on blocking Google, the reactions are changing -
If a lot of newspapers block out Google there’s a tiny chance something would happen.
Of course, newspapers would never band together.
It’s almost as if everyone has given up on newspapers – and then you realize that most of the blogs and sites writing about this are newspapers’ rivals.
Nicholas Carr nails it
Perhaps the best post is from Nicholas Carr at Rought Type. A few choice cuts -
Murdoch’s suggestion that he’ll pull News Corp content out of Google’s database could turn out to be a brilliant signaling strategy, one that, as Mike Arrington has written, could ultimately alter the balance of power on the Net.
Thankfully he’s the one blogger on the planet who sees that Google isn’t God -
If a critical mass of newspapers were to opt out of Google’s search engine simultaneously, they would suddenly gain substantial market power.
Newspapers are struggling, but they remain, by far, the world’s dominant producers of hard news. That gives them, as a group, a great deal of leverage over companies like Google who depend on a steady stream of good, fresh online content.
Google needs newspapers at least as much as newspapers need Google – a fact that’s been largely hidden up to now.
That’s so good it’s worth thinking about at length -
Google needs newspapers at least as much as newspapers need Google.
He also accurately points out exactly what Mr. Murdoch did i.e.
What Murdoch effectively did in his interview with Sky News was to send a signal to other newspaper companies: We’ll opt out if you’ll opt out.
Mr. Murdoch is going beyond just creating a Hulu for News – He’s also pushing to get Google and Microsoft and Yahoo to pay for indexing news.
Regardless of what you think of Fox News, you have to admire his courage.
For people who are skeptical this can be done – It already is being done, with Hulu.
Some good news from Hulu
AdvertisingAge reports that thanks to the new TV season Hulu’s traffic jumped 47% in October from the month ago -
Unique visitors were also up nearly 10% to 42.5 million, from 38.7 million in September.
Advertising slots are almost sold-out -
In an interview, CEO Jason Kilar confirmed that Hulu is nearing sell-out in the fourth quarter, even with the huge October viewing increase
Hulu is showing that people are much more interested in quality content than dogs riding skateboards.
Next, let’s consider Magazines and plans for an iTunes for Magazines.
The Great Magazine Conglomerate AKA iTunes for Magazines
The New York Observer talks about the grand plans of Time Inc. , Conde Nast and Hearst -
- Hearst got it started with plans to build their own eReader and distribution channel.
- They got Time Inc. and Conde Nast on-board.
- They plan to build the iTunes for Magazines.
- They aim to leverage multiple channels – iPhone, Blackberry, eReaders, and more.
- John Squires of Time Inc. will head a joint company.
The best part -
Each magazine publisher now believes it’s too risky to go it alone to find new ways to get consumers to pay.
If they all join together, the reasoning goes, they stand a better chance of producing greater revenue.
Finally, magazine publishers see the light. The Alliance will supposedly be announced in a few weeks.
A Random Thought
Shouldn’t Hulu and iTunes for Magazines and Hulu for News all band together?
- If 50 magazine publishers banding together is powerful, then TV, magazines, and newspapers banding together online should be even more powerful.
- iTunes sells movies, music, apps, and a lot more. If magazines are really modeling iTunes they ought to invite TV and newspapers and authors.
In the end its exceedingly simple – The current trajectory of newspapers and magazines leads to Extinction. Hulu for News and iTunes for Magazines can’t really worsen the situation – they might, however, mean survival and perhaps even prosperity.
Filed under: publishing Tagged: | hulu for news, itunes for magazines
