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Opinion
After Harold
The ‘Harold rumour’ rarely goes away.
Last time round WPP was rumoured to be looking at buying Mitchell Communication Group. On another occasion one of the trade magazines hoaxed a rival into reporting that Telstra was the buyer.
This time, the rumour appears to have a great deal more substance. Read more »
Intelligent TV – the next big thing?
I was, I must confess, mistaken about last night’s Gruen Nation. Read more »
Masterchef: Homophobic? No. Racist? No. Ageist? Maybe
In this guest posting, Tactical TV’s Tony Richardson argues that Masterchef shows Australian TV audiences are ready for multiculturalism but not older faces
When the popularity of a TV show bumps the prime minister and the leader of the opposition to an earlier time slot, you know you have a phenomenon. Read more »
Bad enough the SMH iPad app is just a PDF, forcing a print subscription is insane
So yesterday Fairfax launched its Sydney Morning Herald iPad app. The strategy – designed to shore up print – and the execution – already derided by users as a “glorifed PDF reader” – are both laughable.
If there were ever doubts that Fairfax is two companies pulling in different directions, then the handling of the iPad app dispels them. Read more »
Is a kettle boiling a good ad?
So would you watch a kettle boiling? The weekend magazines carriedied an unusual ad.It was a plain, unbranded address for the url Life is too short.com.au. Read more »
Guest post: Why Sensis believes in the cause
After Mumbrella criticised the Facebook campaign by Sensis to give socks to the homeless, we invited the brand to explain its thinking. In this guest posting, Sensis communications manager Danielle Horan explains the background to the idea
The debate about the intention behind the Sensis 1234 Warm Up campaign certainly unearthed a range of differing opinions. Read more »
Hungry Jack’s – something to sing about
I often enjoy giving the Hungry Jack’s ads a kicking, so it’s good to see a new one where there’s an interesting idea. Read more »
The big election question
As an occasional media commentator, I’m sometimes asked: ‘Tell me Tim. Given that politicians want to engage the electorate beyond the hardcore politics junkies, would it be a good idea to schedule the leaders’ debate at the exact same time as the final of Masterchef, arguably Australia’s favourite TV programme and likely to be the most watched show of the year?” Read more »
Why this is NOT the Twitter election
If you read the last few days’ papers, you would think that the Twitterati will decide the outcome of the election. Read more »
Paging the fun police
While any brand has to worry about the legal implications of running a contest, there does come a point where the entire thing looks so unappealing it may be worth going back to the drawing board. Read more »
Oh PETA
This ad is a tough watch.
If you don’t want to see seals being clubbed, then don’t watch. Read more »
Sensis – social responsibility isn’t about patronising the needy about their socks
I wish I could put my finger on what it is that makes this social issues campaign for Sensis feel so icky: Read more »
Old Spice: Best use of social media yet?
Today has been a good day. You know those very rare moments where you see an advertising idea and you can recognise not only how good it is, but how it’s going to inspire other great work? What Old Spice did next is one of those moments.It combines great advertising, great writing, a huge PR idea and excellent use of social media as a two-way channel. Read more »
If that’s how paywalls work then we’re utterly flipping screwed
So tonight, for the first time, I went behind Fairfax Media’s pay wall.
Based on that experience, if the future of journalism is paid content then every one of us working hacks is utterly screwed. Read more »
Media Watch picks an odd target
I’ve got a nasty feeling I’ve finally gone native.
Much like Stockholm Syndrome where kidnap victims come to adore their captors, journalists have always been susceptible to a similar syndrome. Read more »
Daily online newspaper launches in Adelaide
The Fairfax-affiliated Independent Weekly has launched a daily online-only newspaper in Adelaide.
Previously the publisher had produced a daily html email with around 20,000 subscribers, but has now switched to a platform from technology firm Realview designed to mimic the newspaper experience. Adelaide’s only print daily is the Adelaide Advertiser, owned by News Ltd.
Indaily is closer to a newspaper feel in terms of layout, although the ads have the same rich media capabilities of a web site, and the publication can also include video.
The five-year-old Independent Weekly is owned by Solstice Media and is a member of Fairfax Digital’s regional network. It also contains some Fairfax content.
MD Paul Hamra said: “What subscribers now receive is aesthetically akin to the print addition, but with all the immediacy, interactivity and response provoking mechanisms that make web environments so powerful.”
The Realview platform is also being trialled as part of the new Audit Bureaux of Australia’s Web Audit Service.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
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Comments
10 Jun 09
2:55 pm
Hmmm, interesting, except what’s the point of having a web-based news source if you can’t have the most up-to-date information on a topic? The best part about getting news from the web is that it’s so current and easily updated, but as the Independent Weekly has to put the stories into layout and then upload it onto Realview they have to deal with similar time constraints that a printed publication has to deal with. So I don’t think they’re really taking advantage of the web medium.
Then again, maybe there is a lot of potential in this format and I just can’t see it.
What do people think in general of papers/magazines that mimic the printed format online?
10 Jun 09
3:17 pm
craptacular
10 Jun 09
3:36 pm
Looks to me like the layout can be readily templated and up to date stories would be loaded in time for whenever the thing was going to be released. Magazines are going this way by the bucket load in the US because advertisers want to be able to represent print campaigns online, which websites can’t support the same way this kind of format can. The images and video support for each story is better integrated in this kind of concept, it connects the reader more readily to the story. Websites are full of videos that don’t have anything to do with the main stories on the page at all and don’t add any value to the headlines.
10 Jun 09
3:56 pm
Hey Sportzilla, interesting take. What are some of the magazines that you know of that are doing something similar? I’d be keen to take a look at them.
Most of the magazines I’ve researched in the US are moving towards a totally different business model. They’re increasing the cost of the publication to the subscribers so that they don’t have to rely solely on advertising revenue and then using the web in a totally different way ie they are not treating their site as an online version of their magazine. And they are not giving away content for free on the web that comes in the magazine.
10 Jun 09
3:59 pm
This is a pretty massive FAIL.
The only conceivable reason I can think of for launching a Flash based newspaper such as this is because it’s targeting an elderly demographic who relate better to the old school newspaper format.
Other negatives are poor accessibility and no search functionality.
10 Jun 09
4:14 pm
I don’t think it is Flash based – I think HTML! Have seen some really cool stuff from this company – RealView! It is fully searchable and trackable as it is web based. And if it is now also auditable it is a complete package deal hey!
10 Jun 09
4:43 pm
Issuu has provided the same thing for publishers for years … and it’s free.
10 Jun 09
4:45 pm
Hi Lizza, looking at the website of the service provider it looks like they are publishing for a lot of different magazines but I am not sure how many of them are using it the same way that the Independent Weekly is – they seem to have taken it to a bit of a new level – check out some of the back issues, they have developed animations to support some of the news stories, it’s just eye catching but not in your face like some web ads can be, which is something I loathe.
Publishing models here have already changed – look at the business that emerged from iSUBSCRIBE. I wonder if using a format like this means publishers can pick up more online subscriptions and maybe keep the subs revenue in-house?
Carl – Depends on what basis you call it a fail – if advertisers are supporting it and readers are engaging with it and it paid for itself, it wouldnt be a failure would it?
10 Jun 09
5:02 pm
I’ve just been checking out this story, as a media buyer I know that more and more titles are going down this path. Some digital titles claim good numbers but I’m not prepared to buy as there is limited support to verify the publishers claim. I wouldn’t look at any print or digital publication that wasn’t audited. End of story.
10 Jun 09
9:26 pm
NNRrrrrr…..dont think so!!
10 Jun 09
10:39 pm
I dont get it either?
Old style paper online was available in 2001.
But maybe I’m missing something too.
11 Jun 09
9:35 am
Old style paper with an old style business model? I think what this is is new style paper with video and interactive ads with a new business model. I think when Murdoch states newspapers will be digital within 10 years maybe it will look something like this?
11 Jun 09
10:26 am
Lizza – I’ve been scouting around this this story came out and there are other companies that have flip book software. Looking at the article again and the sub story about the ABA’s Web Audit Service, I guess the main difference is the Independent Weekly will now be able to get official audit figures on the readership of its digital publications? I’m not sure any other digital publishing service out there has automated an auditing service through the CAB before?
11 Jun 09
10:54 am
feels clunky – it might work on a portable device but doesn’t on a laptop
11 Jun 09
2:41 pm
sportzilla – yeah the main difference does seem to be the CAB service. It’s a good extra.
11 Jun 09
9:04 pm
Ben – . I’ve subscribed now because I am interested to see how the publisher evolves this and I want to keep track of which advertisers are using it. I work from a laptop and I haven’t had any issue with it – what was happening when you checked it out?
12 Jun 09
9:34 am
I love it. There is flash content but it’s good content, a daily, local editorial from a very articulate and engaging editor, and the journos are constantly updating stories both in the publication and on the Independent Weekly’s website. It leaves other online news offerings for dead in terms of feel, digestible reading and relevance. Check it out! http://www.indaily.com.au
12 Jun 09
11:22 am
sportzilla – technically it works … for me as a reader it just feels awkward and doesn’t really make me want to read the content. maybe it lacks the skin articles and sensationalist content of the main digital mastheads that keeps my attention.
13 Jun 09
12:48 am
Hey Nic, hope they give you a pay rise over at the Indy for your post.
13 Jun 09
11:17 am
Hang on Mumbrella is a media and marketing site isn’t it?
Did you see the way the display ads were working on indaily?
Eyecatching but not annoying, there for the viewing, both directly and subliminally.
I’ve never seen so many ads so well displayed on a site.
And since the content is categorised according to subject, advertisers can target their readers…
Everyone is pointing out how online sites don’t earn enough ad revenue to run a newspaper. This could be a way around it…
19 Jun 09
10:53 am
There’s some merit in what they’ve done, but they’re still going about it in the wrong way. Such news sources shouldn’t be trying to replicate the “turn the page” and “two facing pages” parts of reading a physical newspaper or magazine – by default the text is too small and the zoom-to-read functions are a bit awkward. On top of that, unless I’m mistaken, they can’t really track attention to an individual article, but then again that might reduce the downward slide to the “Amazing photos of Miranda Kerr” tripe we get on News Ltd sites.
What is worth replicating though is the inclusion of multimedia and the variety of ad/promo placements which you don’t always get in a standard template-driven news site. But the reason things have evolved in the way they have is that it’s cheaper to paste content into an article template than it is to create a fairly custom layout per page.
The best solution IMO will be the one that combines the best of both approaches and it could be done economically through provision of maybe 10-15 layout templates, and some concept of reading through a publication rather than just scouring a list of headlines. Rather than facing-pages and page-turning mechanisms, there’d be a stronger previous/next navigation – more so than “Next page” which is all most multi-page articles have now.