E-Media Reality Check - IAB Ad Rev Report -

IAB's Analysis on the first half of '09's Online Advertising:

Below is the Exec Summary from the full IAB report re: Key trends underlying 2009 year-to-date results

• Revenues Decreased 5.3% in first half of 2009 —Internet advertising revenue in the U.S. totaled $5.4 billion in the second quarter of 2009, a decrease of 0.7 percent from the 2009 first-quarter total of $5.5 billion, and an decrease of 5.4 percent from the 2008 second-quarter total of $5.7 billion.

• Year-to-date Internet advertising revenues through June 2009 totaled $10.9 billion, down 5.3 percent from the $11.5 billion reported for the same six-month period in 2008.

“We are in one of the most difficult economic slumps in decades. Interactive is one of the advertising sectors that has been least affected,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB. “In recent years the digital revolution has driven a transformation of how consumers experience advertising and media. As the economy improves, we’re confident that brands will devote an even greater share of their budgets to reaching consumers as they make interactive media a larger part of their lives.”

• Search Continues to Lead, followed by Display Banners and Classifieds—Search revenue accounted for 47 percent of 2009 second-quarter revenues, up from the 44 percent reported in the second quarter of 2008. Display advertising, the second largest format, accounted for 35 percent, followed by Classifieds (10 percent), and Lead Generation (7 percent) of 2009 second-quarter revenues.

(Note: I was particularly intrigued with the chart on page 10 in the IAB report showing the difference in growth between Search vs. Lead Gen.)

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Folio's Matt Kinsman has put together a thoughtful summary on the state of the eMedia Ad Rev business titled "E-Media Reality Check" that's certainly worth reading for all of us who are thrashing about in the world of "NewMedia".

One quick thought re: both of these articles is that I wonder about the impact Google and the other search engines are having on the ad rev / lead gen market given that more and more advertisers are able to track the conversion of keywords on their respective web sites. Advertisers do in fact have a worthy though somewhat limited alternative for generating leads and when you factor in the info they can derive from Google Analytics the story becomes even more compelling...for them.

My friend Andrew

My friend Andrew was afflicted with ALS a few years ago. Struck down in the prime of his life at age 42 he and his wife Kelly have 2 young boys Briggs and Quintin both of whom are under the age of 10. Andrew's only mobility is via a wheel chair. The manner and speed in which ALS ravages one’s body and their family is truly terrifying.

In the summer of ’08 I brought Andrew’s plight up to our Men’s Prayer Group, a group of 6-7 who meet regularly on Monday mornings. Peter, an engineer with GE who leads our group suggested that we pray not only for Andrew’s physical restoration and family but most importantly for his salvation. I did not know where Andrew had ever heard the good news of salvation or had asked Christ to come into his heart [life]. A few months later I purchased a Bible and asked our group if they would sign it for Andrew. I had no idea whether Andrew would want to read it but when I stopped by to drop it off his wife Kelly was most grateful . For the next year our group continued to remember Andrew in our prayers.

Last Thursday afternoon Andrew’s wife Kelly called me out of the "blue" to say that Andrew would like me to could come over and read to him from the Bible that I had dropped off the previous year; I said “yes”! On the way over I called Bo Matthews, Sr. Pastor of Brandywine Valley Baptist Church in Wilm DE and Peter Mason, Sr. Pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Rexford, NY for advice on where to start when reading the Bible to someone for perhaps the first time - they both said start with Romans 8. I added John 3:16-17, Matthew 5 (first chapter of Jesus’ sermon on the mount) and two of favorite Psalms; 19 and 23.

After reading I asked Andrew if he would like to invite Jesus into his heart to receive the gift of eternal salvation and someday soon a whole new body. To do so all he would have to do is pray in his heart acknowledging to Jesus that he’s a sinner and to ask for forgiveness of those sins and believe that Jesus came and died on the cross to offer that forgiveness.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

I John 1:

There was no formal religious ceremony, just Andrew and the Lord. I closed by praying with Andrew and asked the Lord to wrap His arms around Andrew and to hold him and bring him the joy, peace and hope that can only be found through a relationship with the Lord.

I can’t wait to go back and read some more.

Winning New Business - More Important Than ever!

There are two things every business must do every day to survive and grow. They are:

1. Keep the customers they have

2. Find and close new customers

Read this blog from C.C. Chapman in iMedia Connections that does a solid job of addressing #2 for the media industry but is relevant for most any business.

5 steps for winning the pitch

By C.C. Chapman

September 15, 2009

"New business is the lifeblood of every company. No matter what industry you are in, finding new customers and getting that ever-elusive signature on a statement of work is crucial to your success.

With budgets being tighter than ever both on the client side and within your own agency walls, it is critical that when opportunities arise, you and your team do everything possible in order to land the business. For a lot of agencies, this still means pitching to win the work, whether you like it or not. Yes, it is an old way of doing business, but it is not one that is going away anytime soon, no matter how loudly some people yell.

With that in mind, you might as well get used to it and get better at winning the pitch.

What are the steps to winning the pitch? I've boiled them down into the following:

1. Get a reputation.
2. Come up with a great idea.
3. Do your homework.
4. Be early. Be awesome!
5. Don't forget the human touch.

Read the full blog.

Six Social Media Platform All Marketers Should Consider

Kent Lewis provides a concise and succinct list of the "in's and out's" of the six (6) leadig social media sites that every marketer should be familiar with - if not using - in his blog http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/24169.asp

Facebook

• Community mindset: connect
• Primary demographic: 25 to 45
• Ideal fit for: entertainment, lifestyle brands, and non-profits
• Biggest opportunity: using ads to build fans
• Biggest challenge: few appreciate Facebook advertising
• Metrics: fans, comments, likes, wall posts
• Helpful tools: Lexicon, ad interface, applications, analytics, connect, etc.

MySpace

• Community mindset: connect
• Primary demographic: 15 to 25
• Ideal fit for: music and entertainment
• Biggest opportunity: providing music samples
• Biggest challenges: noisy; losing market share quickly
• Metrics: friends, favorites, groups, impressions
• Helpful tools: Open Platform, MyApps, MySpace Toolbox

LinkedIn

• Community mindset: connect
• Primary demographic: 35 to 55
• Ideal fit for: service providers, industry associations
• Biggest opportunity: creating thought leadership via Q&A and Groups
• Biggest challenge: time commitment
• Metrics: profile connections, best answers, group members, discussions
• Helpful tools: Applications, Salesforce plug-in

Blogs

• Community mindset: create
• Primary demographic: 35 to 55
• Ideal fit for: technology
• Biggest opportunity: develop thought-leadership
• Biggest challenge: requires significant resources over time
• Metrics: feed subscribers, comments, Technorati score, pingbacks, inbound links, visibility in search engines
• Helpful tools: WordPress plug-ins

Twitter

• Community mindset: create (microblogging)
• Primary demographic: 35 to 45
• Ideal fit for: service industry
• Biggest opportunity: customer service, consumer insight, sales and marketing
• Biggest challenges: noisy; reliability issues; platform limitations
• Metrics: followers, @ replies, retweets, direct messages, custom hashtags
• Helpful tools: BingTweets, TweetBeep, TweetDeck, HootSuite, CoTweet, Mr. Tweet, Twitalyzer, blog plug-ins

YouTube

• Community mindset: vote
• Primary demographic: 25 to 45
• Ideal fit for: big brands and entertainment
• Biggest opportunity: creating viral content (e.g., United Breaks Guitars)
• Biggest challenges: noise; conversions
• Metrics: views, comments, subscribers, ratings
• Helpful tools: TubeMogul, YouTube Insight

Nine Rules of Media

Below is an excerpt from Tony Uphoff's blog re: his thoughts/insights on the where media and the media business model is headed. Good read.

What I found particularly interesting was item #8. Let me know if you agree.

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"The center of gravity in media has been on a decade long transition from analog to digital. Traditional media companies have taken their lumps during this transformative phase. At the same time many pure play digital media businesses haven't yet demonstrated the scale some predicted. The recession has accelerated these trends but also shut off the main driver of growth over the last decade;readily available, cheap capital that enabled P/E backed M & A. So we can safely predict that a series of new media rules will emerge out of this economy; driven by the perfect storm of the recession and the continued impact of technology. We can also safely predict that all of us will be challenged to rethink our businesses. So here's our take on the 9 new rules of media:"

1. Reach No Longer Equals Revenue. The new calculus is: Content Equals Engagement-Engagement Equals Revenue.
2. The Moment of Singularity in Media Has Arrived. Content and the applications and technology with which it's viewed and interacted with have become inextricably intertwined.
3. Below the Line Marketing Has Become Above the Line Marketing. The Traditional branding and advertising market has been devastated but not simply because of the recession. Branded response is replacing traditional branding.
4. Content as a Marketing Platform. Advertising is being rapidly replaced by knowledge exchange based on content.
5. Integrate, Integrate, Integrate. People naturally create their own information networks by integrating content from various sources. Make it easier for your audiences to integrate content or someone else will.
6. Live Media is the Original Social Media. Ironically live media, conferences and trade shows, showed extraordinary growth at the same time social networks were launched and started their growth curve. Live media will continue to serve as a central part of the media ecosystem.
7. Brands Matter. As Eric Schmidt CEO of Google has stated "the unbranded web is a cesspool". You will see a return to branded content as audiences and marketers drive a flight to quality and wake up from the hangover of the "User-Driven Content" era.
8. Paid Content Will Thrive. Given the amount of money the average person pays to have web access there is an inherent irony to the proclamation that the web is making all content free. People always have and always will pay for quality content. The challenge that many media companies are wrestling with is that their traditional advertising supported business model has been blown apart. When cable was launched there were dire predictions that people would never pay for television that they had been getting for free since its inception. Taken a look at your cable or sattelite bill lately? We will likely see several new business models emerge but there will be a vibrant and growing paid content business.
9. Challenge the Assumptions that Made You Rich. One of the hardest things to do is to change the core strategy that built your business. Even when you see it in decline. Company philosophy and culture should sustain. Strategy and business models should evolve and in some cases be blown apart. Redefining your business to adapt to today's market is tough. Far easier to simply cut costs and hope for an economic recovery. Saving your way to greatness isn't a business model however. This economy will recover but it won't come back as a clone of the economy before it. Use this time to truly rethink your business and challenge the core assumptions in your business models."

Some Background on US Inflation

My good friend Phil Melnik provided me with this insightful link from John Mauldin's blog FrontLineThoughts

"Inflation, to be properly understood, should be defined as a persistent expansion of money and credit that substantially exceeds the growth requirements of the economy. As a consequence of excessive monetary expansion, prices rise. Which prices go up and at what rate depends on a number of factors. Sometimes it is the prices of goods and services that are the most visible symptom of inflationary pressures. That was the case in the 1970s when the Consumer Price Index (CPI) hit a peak rate of 14% per annum. Sometimes it is the prices of assets such as homes, office buildings, stocks, or bonds that reflect the inflationary pressure, as we have seen in more recent years.

When inflation becomes pervasive, and other conditions are supportive, it can engulf a whole industry. We saw this in the financial sector in the period leading up to the crash. The supporting conditions or "displacements," to use the terminology of Professor Kindleberger, were financial innovation, deregulation, and obscene profits and salaries. These drew millions of bees to the honey. All great manias are accompanied by malfeasance, in this case the biggest Ponzi scheme in history and many other lesser ones. It is relatively easy to steal when prices are rising and greed is pervasive. Overspending and a general lack of prudence always become widespread when a mania infects the general public. Rational people can do incredibly stupid things collectively when there is mass hysteria.

The origins of post-war inflation go back to the late 1950s and early 1960s, though some would take it back much further. In the 1960s, the US dollar started to come under pressure as a result of US inflationary policy and foreign central banks' ebbing confidence in their large and growing dollar reserve holdings. The US responded with controls and government intervention in a number of areas: gold convertibility, the US Treasury bond market, the Interest Equalization Tax, and, ultimately, intervention on wages and prices. These moves clearly flagged to the world that external discipline would be subjugated to domestic employment and growth concerns. The policy was formalized when the US terminated the link between gold and the dollar in August 1971, essentially floating the dollar and setting the US on a course of sustained inflation. Of course, the dollar floated down, which, among other things, triggered the massive rise in general prices in the 1970s.

The next episode of credit inflation began in the 1980s, paradoxically triggered by the success of Paul Volcker's move to break the spiral of rising general price inflation through very tight money. He succeeded famously, and the CPI headed sharply lower along with interest rates, setting the stage for the massive US debt binge and the series of asset bubbles that followed. It was easy for the Federal Reserve to pursue expansionary credit policies while inflation and interest rates were falling."

John Mauldin

"Great American Bubble Machine"

A must read for anyone trying to follow what's been going on with our economy and why.