David Moth
Johnston Press (JP) CEO Ashley Highfield says he plans to make the newspaper publisher “digital-first” and keep its news content free online while increasing advertising revenues.
Speaking at The Guardian’s Changing Media Summit yesterday, Highfield said that mobile and web content would remain “free all the way” - but that the publisher would charge for iPad apps.
Since launching mobile sites for its 211 regional titles in December the company has added 2m unique users, taking JP’s overall online audience from 8m to 10m.
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by David Moth
22 March 2012 09:59am
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Beleaguered games retailer Game Group has said it intends to file for administration just weeks after it indicated that it planned to modify its business model with a shift towards digital downloads.
A statement released this morning said that talks with stakeholders had not made enough progress, and it was now "of the opinion that there is no equity value left in the group".
Game Group shares have now been suspended by the London Stock Exchange.
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by David Moth
21 March 2012 13:55pm
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American pharmacist Walgreens has added an ‘Answers’ tab to its Facebook page, providing social customer service in relation to prescriptions and health queries.
Walgreens says that this is another example of its commitment to innovation in the digital space, and that it provides customers with greater access to pharmacists and other clinical experts.
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by David Moth
21 March 2012 12:29pm
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Twitter has announced that it is to begin showing Promoted Tweets to mobile users who don’t follow the advertiser's feed.
The social network has also added new targeting tools that allow advertisers to target their messages to desktop computers and laptops or specifically to mobile devices.
A blog post states that since launching Promoted Tweets and Accounts in its mobile apps last month “reactions have been positive.”
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by David Moth
21 March 2012 11:12am
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Linking Mobile is attempting to use transactional QR codes to take the affiliate model to offline marketing channels.
The codes have been printed onto 100,000 leaflets advertising the Accident Advice Helpline (AAH), which have been distributed across London by promotions company Double Bubble.
Rather than paying up front for cost of printing the hand-outs, AAH will be charged using a cost per acquisition (CPA) model, and Double Bubble with also be paid per registration.
In this case, the 'acquisition' is based on how many customers fill out a form after being directed to a mobile site via the QR code.
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by David Moth
21 March 2012 10:03am
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More stringent ISP filtering and deteriorating sender reputations mean that global email deliverability declined by 6% to 76.5% in the second half of 2011.
Email certification company Return Path announced the findings in its Global Email Deliverability Benchmark report, which monitored data from 1.1m campaigns.
These covered 142 ISPS in North America, Central and Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific territories from July through December of 2011.
In the UK, 83% of marketing emails reached the inbox, with 7% being delivered to the spam folder and 10% registered as missing or blocked.
The study suggests that an increased volume of emails also contributed to the fall in delivery rates, as overwhelmed consumers are more likely to mark emails as spam rather than unsubscribing.
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by David Moth
20 March 2012 13:24pm
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Independent TV production company All3Media has launched a new connected TV app that will allow viewers to rent its archived shows.
If it proves to be a success, this could be a new way for production companies to monetise their content.
The app will make over 230 hours of content available to rent for a 48 hour period, and includes programmes like Skins, The Only Way Is Essex, Midsomer Murders and Peep Show.
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by David Moth
20 March 2012 12:28pm
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Mobile ad spend increased 157% in 2011 to a record £203.2m, according to the IAB and PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC).
With smartphone ownership now standing at 53% in the UK, the IAB attributes the growth to the rapid uptake of apps and social media, fuelled in part by cheaper tariffs.
Consumer use of smartphones and strong tablet sales has sparked a surge in interest from brands, particularly in the retail, technology and FMCG sectors.
The report also states that 51% of Britons now use a mobile device while watching TV, causing advertisers to create more engaging and interactive rich media ads.
O2 Media MD Claire Valoti said the study reflects the confidence in the marketplace that brands and media agencies have around mobile.
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by David Moth
20 March 2012 10:36am
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TV App Agency (TAA) has set its sights on the nascent connected TV market with a new product that allows developers to create apps that will work across six different manufacturers.
TAA’s new technology creates apps for Samsung, LG, Philips, Sharp, Opera and Google TV sets from a single source code.
In the past year, the company has created TV apps for Absolute Radio, Spanish broadcaster RTVE, National Rail Enquiries, and for property companies Rightmove, PrimeLocation and Findaproperty.com.
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by David Moth
20 March 2012 11:34am
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Nearly a quarter of Living Social’s subscribers interact with the deals site via mobile (across both its apps and mobile site) according to the company’s UK MD Peter Briffet.
Speaking during a panel discussion at the Daily Deals Summit Europe, Briffet said that working out how to deliver better content through mobile channels was key to the industry’s future growth.
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by David Moth
19 March 2012 13:07pm
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