Tag Archives: New technology
CNBC’s digital ops viewers rise
by Chris Roush
CNBC.com was visited by 6 million unique users in February, flat compared to the same time period last year, according to comScore Media Metrix.
However, CNBC’s iPhone application posted 576,000 unique visitors, a 7 percent increase year-over-year, according to Omniture.
CNBC’s iPad application posted 421,000 unique visitors, a 10 percent increase year-over-year, according to Omniture.
And CNBC mobile web recorded 2.4 million unique visitors, a 16 percent increase year-over-year.
WSJ launches page for app news
by Chris Roush
The Wall Street Journal has added a page on its website devoted to news about smart phone applications.
The page is a a landing page for a series about the app business and future coverage, a spokeswoman said Sunday night.
FT Group revenue up 4 percent in 2012
by Chris Roush
The Financial Times Group, which operates the business newspaper, reported a 4 percent increase in revenue in 2012.
In addition, digital and services now account for 50 percent of FT Group revenues, up from 31 percent in 2008, according to data released Monday.
Content revenues comprised 61 percent of total revenues, up from 48 percent in 2008, while advertising accounted for 39 percent FT Group revenues, down from 52 percent in 2008.
The FT’s total paid circulation was more than 602,000 across print and online, modestly up on 2011, with digital subscriptions exceeding print circulation for the first time. Digital subscriptions increased 18 percent to almost 316,000.
Mobile devices now account for 30 percent of FT.com traffic and 15 percent of new subscriptions. FT Web App now has 3.5 million users.
The FT now has almost 2,800 direct corporate licenses, up 40 percent on 2011.
Read more here.
FT content now available on HTC BlinkFeed news aggregator
by Chris Roush
The Financial Times is partnering with HTC for the launch of HTC BlinkFeed, a news aggregator available on the new HTC One smartphones devices, offering select FT content for free.
HTC BlinkFeed brings content to the device’s home screen, enabling users to see content that is most interesting to them without having to open a series of apps. It offers instant access to a continuous feed of aggregated content, including daily blog posts and videos from the Financial Times. A limited amount of FT content is free, but readers will have to register and subscribe if they wish to read further articles.
FT.com managing director Rob Grimshaw said: “This move supports the FT’s successful channel neutral strategy, offering our readers flexibility and freedom of choice in how they choose to receive our content. As well as being on HTC BlinkFeed, FT content is available on News Republic, the multi-platform news aggregator app from personal mobile media company, Mobiles Republic. Mobile is an important channel for the Financial Times, driving around a third of traffic to FT.com and 15 percent of subscriptions.”
The FT web app, launched in June 2011, now has more than 3.5 million users.
The FT Windows 8 app launched in August 2011 and extended the FT’s mobile footprint across all three major tablet platforms (Windows, Apple and Android), giving readers more flexibility in accessing FT content.
One-third of WSJ’s traffic coming from mobile
by Chris Roush
Almost one third of the Wall Street Journal’s online readers access the content on a device that has a screen size of between four and seven inches, Raju Narisetti, head of WSJ Digital Network, told a conference Tuesday.
Sarah Marshall of Journalism.co.uk writes, “Narisetti told Digital Media Strategies, which is taking place in London today, that 32 per cent of WSJ traffic comes from mobile.
“The split between those reading on a phone and a tablet is roughly 60:40, Narisetti said.
“Putting mobile first is “profound challenge’ for publishers, he said, saying that many large newsrooms are making mistakes in that they are not paying enough attention to how readers consume advertising on different devices. ‘We have to own that knowledge,’ Narisetti said.
“He also shared some stats, explaining that the print circulation of the WSJ is 2.3 million, which he said has risen from 1.8 million five years ago, with 60 million unique users a month across the digital network and 130,000 paying iPad subscribers.
“He said that growth is in part due to expanding into new markets, with the WSJ launching different language sites in key locations.”
Read more here.
FT expands digital staff, readies new functionality
by Chris Roush
Andy Plesser of BeetTV.com talked to Martin Dickson of The Financial Times about the paper’s new digital strategy.
WSJ launches index of influential New Yorkers
by Chris Roush
The Wall Street Journal announced Monday the launch of NYIndex, an interactive, dynamically updating list of influential New Yorkers.
Encompassing power players in all of the city’s major sectors, from finance to fashion, education to entertainment, and powered by real-time data from Factiva, one of the world’s most comprehensive databases of news, the NYIndex uses frequency and context of media mentions, among other factors, to determine the rankings.
A special four-page section highlighting the 10 sectors of rankings appears in the Greater New York section on Monday with profiles from Journal contributors including Jason Gay, Ralph Gardner Jr., Sumathi Reddy, Pia Catton, and Anne Kadet.
The NYIndex rankings of influential New Yorkers, which will be updated online every Monday, include interactive components showcasing the biggest jumps and drops on the list.
In parallel with the Factiva-generated list is ‘People’s Picks,’ generated entirely by readers’ votes, and appearing alongside the main Index. A mobile-optimized webpage, People’s Picks enables readers to vote and to easily share their choices across social networks. The top vote getters are displayed each week as People’s Picks, denoted with a thumbs-up icon.
The FT moving into the digital age
by Chris Roush
Eric Pfanner of The New York Times writes about how the Financial Times has transformed itself into more of a digital publication as it celebrates its 125th anniversary this week.
Pfanner wrtites, “The F.T. was one of the first newspapers to charge readers for access to its Web site, which it did in 2002. It revamped its digital business model in 2007, moving to a ‘metered’ approach, in which readers get a certain number of articles free before they are asked to subscribe.
“Since 2007, The F.T.’s paying digital audience has tripled, and the metered approach has been adopted by a number of other newspapers, including The New York Times.
“With print circulation moving in the other direction — last year alone it fell about 15 percent — The F.T. recently accelerated its move away from paper. In January, Lionel Barber, the paper’s editor, sent a memo to the staff, detailing a plan to ‘ensure that we are serving a digital platform first and a newspaper second.’
“Under the plan, the print operations of The F.T. will be streamlined. While separate regional editions — for the United States, Britain, Continental Europe, Asia, India and the Middle East — will be maintained, there will be fewer nightly updates.”
Read more here.
YouTube cuts funding for WSJ, Reuters channels
by Chris Roush
YouTube has cut off funding to the Wall Street Journal and Reuters that formed part of its $150 million dollar plan to help launch more than 100 premium channels, repots Hamish McKenzie of PandoDaily.com.
McKenzie writes, “The termination of the one-year deals, which has resulted in contractors losing their positions at Reuters, comes even as the Google-owned company has said it would double down on its investment in original channels.
“PandoDaily has learned that at least 15 editorial and production contractors at Reuters who have been working on the YouTube channel over the past year have not had their contracts renewed, meaning they will have to find new work. The staff were informed of the funding cut about a month ago.
“The YouTube unit at Reuters consisted of 18 people, most of whom were freelancers and contractors. Today was their last day on the job. The cutbacks follow Tuesday’s news of nine editorial layoffs at the news organization, a move attributed to the company’s need to focus attention on its ‘global cost structure.’
“In January last year, Reuters heralded the deal by launching Reuters TV, a YouTube channel featuring 10 news, commentary, and analysis programs. The channel has been hosted on Reuters’ own site and on a dedicated YouTube page. It’s unclear whether or not it will continue.”
Read more here.
An auto reporter takes a multimedia approach
by Chris Roush
Bob Mong, the editor of the Dallas Morning News, writes about how the paper’s auto writer, Terry Box, used his multimedia skills to cover the Detroit Auto Show.
Mong writes, “Don’t just think of him as Terry Box, auto writer, any longer. Picture him, instead, as Terry Box, multimedia journalist. Here’s why.
“No question, Terry wrote plenty of Business section stories from Detroit last week. But this time his output also included 23 photo galleries, nine videos and several blog posts for dallasnews.com.
“The new approach was orchestrated by one of our top digital editors, Mark Francescutti. Mark put together an ambitious plan that included videographer Brian Elledge and placed Terry in a starring role in front of the camera.
“It was a lot of fun and good visual journalism too.
“‘Brian was great,’ Terry said. ‘He knew how bad I am in front of a camera, so we took the videos slow at first.’
“Terry got the hang of it pretty fast, and Brian’s camera work was first-rate.”
Read more here.
