Steve Smith's Eye on Innovation: Oscars, Malaysia and Tweaking Facebook Bring Traffic Back in March
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May 5, 2014 Media Industry Newsletter Vol. 67 No. 18 New York, N.Y. www.minonline.com Steve Smith's Eye on Innovation: OSCARS, MALAYSIA AND TWEAKING FACEBOOK BRING TRAFFIC BACK IN MARCH. The expected bounce-back from the shorter February traffic month had even more bounce than usual for some magazine sites in our monthly digital boxscores. Double-digit in- creases were enjoyed by a number of sites. Some of it was clearly seasonal as travel planning and the tail end of an extended awards season. The Oscars, which came in early March this year, was very good to the relevant celebrity and fashion titles, especially EW.com (56.36% page views, +11.94% unique visitors) and VanityFair.com (+52.92% PVs, 4.05% UVs), which have special direct ties to the show. EW and People editorial director Jess Cagle co-hosted the pre-show for ABC and VF hosted the can't miss post-show party that produced gushers of photos and videos for the site. (boxscores are on pages 8 and 9; text continues on page 7) THE NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARDS HAD THE FAMILIAR AND THE NEW. The May 1 ceremony at New York's Marriott Marquis had The New Yorker editor David Remnick accepting Ellies four times, New York magazine counterpart Adam Moss accept- ing three and lame-duck National Geographic editor-in-chief Chris Johns winning two as he moves to corporate chief content officer with Susan Goldberg succeeding. Rem- nick's joy, he once told min, was less for him and more for his staff and writers. Otherwise, he might have withdrew TNY from the National Magazine Awards as Bill Cosby did with the Emmys. Winning NMAs for Magazine of the Year and Personal Service was much more the nov- elty for, respectively, Fast Company editor-in-chief Bob Safian and Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Joanna Coles. FC had been recognized only once during Safian's eight years and Cosmo had a goose-egg over the 49 years since the late Helen Gurley Brown revolutionized the magazine–and the industry. Go to minonline for more. MEDIA STOCKS ARE DEVOID OF "RAGING BULLS." The 30-stock min Index remained in its 2014 holding pattern in April. Most evident was Time Warner Cable, where its $142.10 per-share close on May 1 remained well be- low Comcast's announced $158.82 per-share ($45.2 billion) purchase. Will the value rise after the Federal Communications Commission gives its approval, or was the May 1 price an indicator that the FCC will turn it down because of antitrust concerns? Google made headlines on April 3 with its two-for-one stock split. Still, that is conservative next to Apple, which will split seven-to-one perhaps as early as June 6. Its $591.48 price per share on May 1 would drop to $84.50, and that would be more conducive to Apple being factored into the Dow Jones Industrial Average. To do so, Apple would have to switch its trading from the tech-dominated Nasdaq to the more traditional Dow. (Stock Watch is on page 2) • MOBILE VIDEO IS WELL-"ENGAGED"; NYM & STERLING'S "BRAIN"...... Page 3 • POOR FASHION RETAIL "CHILLS" FASHION ADS; MORE FIT FOODIES.... Page 4 • YAHOO! TECH'S GOOD–BUT NOT GREAT–APP.......................... Page 6 • min DIGITAL AWARDS FINALISTS; BURDICK b2b COLUMN. .. Pages 10, 11 and 12 • REMNICK, ALI & KRAMDEN; PEOPLE'S 25 YEARS OF MOST BEAUTIFUL.. Page 14 www.minonline.com © 2014 Access Intelligence, LLC. Federal copyright law prohibits unauthorized reproduction by any means and imposes fines of up to $100,000 for violations. PAGE 2 MIN 5/5/2014 ABM EXPLORES NEW WAYS OF SERVING MARKETS IN 2014 ANNUAL CONFERENCE. The first annual meeting under SIIA control started this weekend in Phoenix. B2B media is in some ways more resilient than other forms of media, and in many ways has not been as dramatically disrupted. But even here, radical change is everywhere, and the days of the old American Business Media spring meeting are long gone. Ten or 15 years ago, the leaders of all the major b2b companies would head for the resort of the moment to network, hobnob, play golf, smoke cigars and talk shop. Now, many of those companies are gone, and the ABM itself merged (out of necessity—it wouldn't have survived otherwise) with SIIA. The agenda is all about a behind-the-scenes look at product development, from conception to sales. But B2B media is also struggling with new types of competitors, and especially a new set of needs from customers on both the buyer and seller sides. This year's meeting represents an important pivot for both the association and the b2b media industry. Still, the ABM continues the resort "tradition" not seen at the MPA's American Magazine Conference since the mid-2000s. The next AMC will be held in New York on February 2, 2015, when weather could be a concern. ------------------------- STOCK WATCH (May 1, 2014, Wall Street close) COMPANY [SYMBOL] PRICE %/Change COMPANY [SYMBOL] PRICE %/Change 5/1 4 wks# 2014@ 5/1 4 wks# 2014@ APPLE INC. [AAPL] 591.48 9.78 5.43 REED ELSEVIER PLC (ADR)## [RUK] 59.63 -2.60 -0.70 CBS CORP. [CBS] 57.37 -8.38 -9.99 ROVI CORP. [ROVI] 22.06 -7.58 12.04 COMCAST CORP. [CMCSA]TWC 52.11 1.94 0.27 R.R. DONNELLEY & SONS CO. (RRD) 16.49 -9.45 -18.69 WALT DISNEY CO. [DIS] 79.56 -2.61 4.14 SCHOLASTIC INC. [SCHL] 32.67 -3.54 -3.94 FACEBOOK INC. [FB]WHATSAPP 61.15 2.79 11.89 SCRIPPS, E.W. & CO. [SSP] 17.52 1.27 -19.34 GANNETT CO. [GCI] 27.23 -1.91 -7.94 TIME WARNER CABLE [TWC]TWC 142.10 0.44 4.87 GOOGLE INC. [GOOG]** 531.35 -6.74 -5.18 TIME WARNER INC [TWX] 66.87 0.18 -4.09 GRAHAM HOLDINGS CO. [GHC] 676.11 -7.37 1.93 20TH CENTURY FOX [FOXA]FOX 32.47 -3.76 -7.68 INTERPUBLIC GROUP OF COS. [IPG] 17.34 1.46 -2.03 TWITTER INC [TWTR]IPO 39.09 -11.26 -38.59 LEE ENTERPRISES [LEE] 4.06 -13.43 17.00 VIACOM INC. [VIA] 83.45 -4.44 -4.92 MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA [MSO] 3.95 -12.03 -5.95 XO GROUP (THE KNOT) [XOXO] 10.60 3.92 -28.67 McCLATCHY CO. [MNI] 5.43 -19.67 59.71 YAHOO! INC. [YHOO] 36.51 2.10 -9.72 McGRAW-HILL FINANCIAL [MHFI]MHP 74.07 -3.01 -5.28 MEDIA GENERAL [MEG] 16.65 -5.07 -26.33 min MEDIA INDEX 2,874.54 -2.35 -1.44 MEREDITH CORP. [MDP] 44.17 -6.83 -14.73 MICROSOFT CORP. [MSFT] 40.00 -2.46 6.92 NASDAQ COMPOSITE 4,127.45 -2.60 -1.18 NEW YORK TIMES CO. [NYT] 15.75 -3.37 -0.76 NEWS CORP. [NWSA]FOX 17.3 1.11 -4.00 DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE 16,558.87 -0.08 -0.11 # = From April 3, 2014; @ = From Dec.31, 2013; ## ADR = American Depositary Receipts; MHP = McGraw Hill Financial changed from McGraw-Hill Cos. on May 14, 2013; TWC = Comcast agreed to purchase Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion ($158.82 per share) on February 13, 2014; WHATSAPP = Facebook purchased messaging specialist WhatsApp for $19 billion on February 19, 2014; ** = Google effected a two-for-one stock split on April 3, 2014; FOX = News Corp. spun off its entertainment units (Fox TV, etc.) into 20th Century Fox [FOXA] on June 28, 2013. Both stocks restructured, with News Corp.'s June 28 opening be- ing $15.50 and 20th Century Fox's being $28.86; IPO = Twitter went public on November 6, 2013, at $26 per share Editor-in-Chief: Steven Cohn ([email protected]) 203/899-8437 Digital Media Editor: Steve Smith ([email protected]) 302/691-5331 Editorial Director: Bill Mickey ([email protected]) 203/899-8427 VP Content: Tony Silber; Director of Business Development: Scott Gentry ([email protected]); Director of Market Development: Laurie M. 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Distributed via email and online. For email and postal address changes, allow 2 weeks notice. Send to: Client Services or call 888-707-5814. For advertising info contact 301/ 354-1629. Contents may not be reproduced in any form without written permission. Subscription Rate: $1049 MIN 5/5/2014 PAGE 3 Steve Smith's Money Shot: MOBILE VIDEO SHOWS EARLY 'ENGAGEMENT' WINS. In the first benchmark study of mobile video performance, the Mobile Marketing Association survey of over 500 million video ads showed impressive engagement metrics. Using click- through rates as an initial proxy for engagement, even on ads that probably have brand- ing goals (yeah, go figure!), the study found rates ranging from 1.5% for skippable linear video ads to 2.66% for video ads done as a value exchange.