The new CNN.com: the good, the bad, the ugly

CNN is one of the world's leading news organizations and it's website is arguably one of its most valuable assets today. In an effort to make it even more valuable, CNN has launched a new design for CNN.com over the weekend for both its U.S. and International versions.

According to Nick Wrenn, Vice President of Digital Services for CNN International, "We had a look on how our users use the site, and put a lot of thought and research behind it". The finding: "Breaking news is our core brand and will continue to have a prominent spot. But we wanted to showcase a lot more of the deep, rich content we have. It was falling off the main page too quickly and people couldn't find it".

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Posted 26 October 2009 12:01pm by Patricio Robles with 2 comments

Q&A: Rob Colling on why online video needs subtitles

Rob CollingLaunched earlier this year, internetsubtitling.com is a startup that, as the name suggests, provides captions and subtitles for online video.

The captions and subtitles, as shown in this example, provide a potentially useful way to make online video more accessible. I've been talking to founder Rob Colling about the company and concept...

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Posted 26 October 2009 10:13am by Graham Charlton with 0 comments

Five easy freemium tricks Hulu can use to make more money

Hulu made its name by turning a seemingly bad business idea into a widely popular website. Before the site launched, techies dubbed the television network focused web venture "Clown Co." And for the past two years, Hulu has impressed many with the quality of its content and viewing experience.

But as advertising revenues have dropped and his other properties flounder, Rupert Murdoch has been dropping hints that the company will soon charge for access.

News Corp. Deputy Chairman Chase Carey laid it on the line this week, saying that Hulu will begin charging for content in 2010. Putting Hulu's video collection behind a paywall has the potential to choke off its viewership and tank a thriving business. That said, the potential to charge a subscription fee is clearer getting News Corp. hot and bothered. So here are a few ideas that Hulu could use when it starts charging for content next year.

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Posted 23 October 2009 22:31pm by Meghan Keane with 3 comments

Five ways for online fashion sites to display products

Online fashion is growing fast, but as Leon Bailey-Green pointed out in our recent interview, just 6% of the UK fashion retail market is selling online.

This means there is still huge potential for getting people to shop for fashion online. One way to do this is to attempt to recreate the in-store experience as closely as possible, and to help shoppers get a feel for clothes without being able to see them close up and try them on.

Here are a few ideas from online fashion sites that are doing this well, though the advice applies equally to other sectors...

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Posted 23 September 2009 11:25am by Graham Charlton with 9 comments

Q&A: Leon Bailey-Green on online fashion

Leon Bailey-GreenLeon Bailey-Green works as a consultant to the online fashion industry advising retailers on marketing, partnership and business strategy.

He was also behind the Online Fashion 100, which lists the influencers in the industry, and is launching his agency later this year.

I've been talking to Leon about the latest trends in the online fashion sector...

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Posted 08 September 2009 11:01am by Graham Charlton with 2 comments

Google’s universal search results hit Adwords

More than two years after first unleashing the video plus box on search listings, Google has started to push the video unit into Adwords.

The video plus unit was first introduced to organic search results in early-2007, as part of its universal search results.

Now, entertainment companies including Miramax, Discovery and EA have recently been offered to use the video player to bolster their plain text Adwords ads.

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Posted 01 September 2009 16:57pm by Chris Lake with 1 comment

Why you need to create video for the web

Advertising revenue is down, newspapers are struggling and as the economy takes a downturn production costs are up, at the same time online readership and revenue continue to rise. So what's the answer? Go where the eyes are.

Whether you are writing, taking pictures, shooting video or recording audio you can build communities with your content. But only if you take it online.

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Posted 19 August 2009 11:07am by Christian Payne with 5 comments

Q&A: Nick Bell on the opportunities offered by online video

Previously, Econsultancy has discussed the visible impact that new video formats are having upon the online advertising sphere and is an area which we can easily see will implode within the digital environment as a whole over the next twelve months or so.

To get some front-line opinion of the marketplace, we spoke to Nick Bell, co-founder of the up-and-coming interactive video platform, Quick.tv, about this complex and often overlooked marketing medium. 

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Posted 29 July 2009 12:19pm by Jake Hird with 5 comments

10 videos from the Traveling Geeks roundtables

A few weeks ago Econsultancy hosted the Traveling Geeks roundtables in London, where the US digerati turned out in force to discuss and debate trends and issues.

The Geeks - featuring the likes of Craig Newmark, Robert Scoble and Susan Bratton - found that there is far more in common between the UK and US than is sometimes suggested, albeit with some notable differences (“fear of failure”).

The UK-based attendees included Poke’s Iain Tate, lastminute.com’s Marko Balabanovic and Steph Gray from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

After the roundtable discussions had taken place we shot a little bit of video, where we interviewed a bunch of the attendees to figure out what they’d learned from the day. Do check them out…

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Posted 28 July 2009 11:40am by Chris Lake with 0 comments

Q&A: Richard Spalding of The 7th Chamber on viral marketing

Richard Spalding is CEO and co-founder of Diffusion Media Group, which runs viral marketing agency The 7th Chamber, as well as social media marketing agency Grape Digital.

The company recently sold entertainment site Kontrabrand to Dennis Publishing for an undisclosed sum. I've been talking to Richard about the sale, and his plans for the future...

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Posted 28 July 2009 10:47am by Graham Charlton with 2 comments