Our data team strives to provide users with the most updated media planning data within SRDS.com. In April, the team made a total of 8,501 updates to the SRDS.com databases with the largest chunk of updates coming from the business publication database. Here's the full breakdown:

• 1,921 newspaper updates
• 54 out-of-home updates
• 409 TV & cable updates
• 717 radio updates
• 1,207 digital updates
• 3,343 business publications updates
• 850 consumer magazine updates

We know that current data matters, so log in and check out some of the changes!

Only a short time ago, it would have seemed unimaginable that paywalls would be the accepted norm for media sites. But surprisingly, they have finally become accepted as the normal payment model for print publishers looking to make some money on their online content. Readers still complain about them of course, but we understand why they’re there. After all, media companies have to earn revenue off of their digital versions, and paywalls, though not perfect, are the method of choice.

Big newspaper media like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal already charge readers after they’ve viewed a certain amount of articles and The Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle recently said they will charge readers for online content as well. Smaller papers are joining the ranks too.

But is the paywall the best way to for media companies to profit on digital? It’s certainly not the only way. Several third-party companies have begun offering online media passes in an attempt to find a different slant on the paywall model, but so far, few are making a big splash. Online media passes allow users to manage multiple digital subscriptions in one place and can offer a new way for media companies to gain revenue from their digital readers, according to Press+, which works with about 400 publishers.

Press+ argues that online media passes offer a way for a publisher to launch a metered subscription model, package web, mobile and tablet content into a single subscription package, boost circulation revenue by offering discounted digital access to print subscribers. Plus, it’s outsourced and doesn’t require the internal IT team’s time and effort.

Though Press+ is seeing some success, goliath Google didn’t fare so well. The company’s One Pass product only lasted about a year and only had two publishers join. In an article on EContent.com, author Alan Mutter said he believes Google’s product didn’t catch on because media companies were worried about what Google could do with their customer data.

However, Press+ argues that its model offers a win for publishers because it opens up new ways to turn a profit while preserving existing advertising revenue and online readers.

Similarly, blogger Andrew Sullivan made a big splash with his move into monthly passes, now offering access to his blog, The Dish, for $2 a month versus just a $20-a-year option. He uses TinyPass, another small company that that helps publishers sell content online. Clearly, online media passes demonstrate that they offer value, but will it be enough to take over paywalls?

Do you think online media passes will ever successfully surpass the paywall model?

We’ve added updated Scarborough Newspaper Penetration reports to the new Local Market Info link in SRDS.com. DMA Profiles & Maps will also be housed in this drop-down menu, which can be accessed by all SRDS.com users.

The reports offer valuable media planning data for local newspapers and their e-editions, including daily average reach and percent reach as well as Sunday average reach and percent reach. Log in now, explore the data and let us know what you think.

Our team understands the value of current media planning data and they work hard to update listings every single day. In March, the team updated 8,045 SRDS.com listings bringing the 2013 total to 32,581 updates.

Here’s how last month breaks down:

• 2,757 business publications updates
• 2,080 newspaper updates
• 927 TV & cable updates
• 918 consumer magazine updates
• 887 digital updates
• 381 radio updates
• 95 out-of-home updates

We know that current data matters, so take a moment to log in and check out some of the changes!

Here at Kantar Media SRDS, we’re obsessed with all forms of media. That’s why this brand-new infographic from research company Scarborough caught our eye.  It’s the first in a series of analyses about the evolution of cross-platform media consumption over the past decade with data on social, traditional and digital. Here are five things we learned:

1. Social media grew 238% between 2009 and 2012.
2. 42% of U.S. adults agree the Internet is their main source of entertainment.
3. Consumption of media on traditional platforms is declining or flat, but 68% of adults still read a print newspaper.
4. In 2006, 8% of U.S. adults lived in a household that owned a smartphone. That number rose to 44% in 2012.
5. Austin, Texas, has consistently maintained its position in the top three local markets for social media usage in both 2009 and 2012.

You can view these results here or see more in the infographic below.

 

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• Click here to download the mp3 of this episode
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About Tim Bingaman

About The Media Mic

The Media Mic is an interview series from Kantar Media SRDS with leaders in the media business about the roads they’ve taken, and the stories and people that make up our vibrant industry. Bandwidth and hosting for The Media Mic is provided by Wizzard Media and Libsyn.

February was a busy time for the Kantar Media SRDS data team. This time of year the team is really focused on 2013 rates for newspapers, consumer magazines and business publications.

With 16,850 updates to the SRDS databases, they more than doubled their January number. But look at all the updates for the other databases!

• 3,896 radio updates
• 3,551 digital updates
• 3,290  newspaper updates
• 2,910 business publications updates
• 1,909 consumer magazine updates
• 778 TV & cable updates
• 616 out-of-home updates

If you have any questions about the data you find in SRDS online, just let us know!

Each and every day, our data team makes hundreds of updates to the media planning data on SRDS.com. They’ve already started 2013 on a high note.

Our data team made 7,686  updates to our SRDS databases. Here's the breakdown:

• 1,750  newspaper updates
• 332 out-of-home updates
• 275 TV & cable updates
• 1,227 radio updates
• 1,263 digital updates
• 1,673 business publications updates
• 1,166 consumer magazine updates

We know that current data matters, so take a moment to log in and check out some of the changes!

I live in a household that still "takes" a printed newspaper - actually two: the Chicago Tribune and our local community weekly, The Landmark.

The local paper keeps us up to date with weekend events, house prices, town and school government gossip. We always read (and recycle) it within 24 hours. But in eight years, I've only gone to the Landmark's website a few times.

We have a different relationship with the Chicago Tribune.

Here's a typical day: Before 7 a.m., someone in our family walks the 50 feet out to the end of the driveway to get the Trib, without a coat most days. (I wear a coat.) My husband looks for work-related stories, checking to see if his own quotes made it into print, and he opens to the comics. Both kids read (and discuss) the comics, pointing out funny Dilberts to me. The older one checks the front page looking for a story that will get him extra credit in Western Civ. I flip through the front section quickly.

Both of us rely on the Trib website (and alerts) for breaking news. One of us is on the site constantly, and the other checks it at least once per day, sometimes through the iPad. You could say we're fairly immersed in the brand.

Over the last six months, the Trib is clearly trying to find a sustainable digital strategy. I'm not sure how well it's working.

Last winter, the Trib announced its Printer's Row Journal, sent me a few print issues, invited me into its fledgling online community, then asked me to pay for it. We're a bookish family, we were interested, until we saw the pricetag - $99 a year for current print subscribers, just to get the print and digital edition delivered weekly. No way. The Trib doesn't have enough credibility around book reviews to ask us to pay that price. 

Half a year later, they added free tickets to the Printer's Row events and a discount on purchases, and offered the booklet/digital edition for just $49 a year - to current print subscribers. Digital only is $29 a year. Not for us. Although I do know a family where the 80+ year-old parents take the print and the 40ish kids take the digital.

Then in June, the Trib launched a new website and reports 80,000 registered users in 4 months.

But as of November 1, like many other papers, the Trib put a paywall up on its website. Seven-day print subscribers get unlimited access - if you know your password. They'll let you read 5 premium stories a month for free.

A few weeks ago, we started receiving the digital edition of the Trib. We didn't ask for it, we don't pay for it. We took a look. It is literally just the digital edition of the daily printed paper. We'd rather go online and browse the website, which is part of why we never opened the digital edition again. The main reason we'll never open it? It comes at 6:15 p.m. That's more than 12 hours after I've seen the print edition and I've already been to the site a few times that day.

I understand the rationale behind extending a product line and searching for new revenue opportunities, especially as audiences move online. As a consumer with a relationship and fairly heavy print and digital engagement with this brand, I'm confused. I'm worried that instead of offering several ways to reach audiences in more formats, the Trib is going to push me where I don't want to go. I can get my news elsewhere, online or mobile.

Are you bundling all your print, online, digital, tablet space in newspaper brands into one buy?

Are you (and your clients) placing any value on the digital editions, or are they just thrown in?

Are you using the space in different formats for different objectives? 

On Monday, Adweek named 14 magazines to its 2012 Hot List, which honors the top digital, magazine and newspaper publishers of the year. We’d like to give a shout-out to several of the winners, each of which is featured prominently in SRDS. We’re pleased to see that these publishers are being honored for their fabulous work in the print and digital space.

The Atlantic was the big winner, nabbing three awards including “Best Magazine to be Seen Reading on the Subway.” The magazine’s James Bennet and Jay Lauf were named Editor of the Year and Publisher of the Year, respectively.

Major props to New York; it took home the “Best Embrace of Digital by a Print Brand” honor.

Fortune may have had a tough year, decreasing its print frequency, but it’s still the “Best Publication for Getting (or Staying) Rich.”

If you want to stay on top of news from around the world, subscribe to The Financial Times, which was named “Best Publication for Staying in the Know.”

Addicted to celeb news and gossip? Then you should check out People magazine, which is the “Best Magazine for Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”

Better Homes and Gardens was honored with a big one. It was named the “Hottest Magazine for Women.”

It may only be less than a year old, but HGTV Magazine is already racking up medals. It was bestowed with the “Where There’s No Place Like Home” award.

Congrats to all of this year’s winners!

What’s your favorite magazine of 2012?

A few weeks ago, we wrote about tablet commerce and how publishers are trying to find new ways to make money while offering readers a more interactive experience through e-commerce offerings.

Thanks to Esquire Magazine, we now have a real-world example of this taking place. The December issue of Esquire uses the iPhone app, Netpage, to convert paper print magazine pages into ones that are digitally interactive on your smart phone.

According to an article on Internet Retailer:

“Readers can use the Netpage app to interact with the print edition of Esquire and do things such as purchase items in ads, play videos, and digitally clip and save any article, photo or ad and share it via e-mail, text, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.”

And this isn’t just a test run for Esquire. All forthcoming issues will function digitally using the app. Hearst Corp., Esquire’s publisher, also announced that its other magazines (Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Elle) will use Netpage in the future.

How Netpage Works:

When a reader hovers over the print magazine pages with a smartphone, the app recognizes each page and sends a digital replica of the page to the reader’s mobile screen. As the reader moves the phone over the page, the app tracks it, and then sends instructions to its web servers on what to show the reader based on how the app interacts with magazine pages.

What Readers Can Do With Netpage:

In this issue of Esquire, for example, a user can watch a video of actor Bradley Cooper, buy featured items from internet retailer MadeMovement, share a recipe on Pinterest and save articles to read later on a smartphone.

Advertisers also benefit from interactive publications like Esquire’s in that they can make their ads interactive and flashy. Lexus is the big winner in this issue. The magazine includes a two-page ad spread for a new Lexus sports car. When readers scan the ad using the Netpage app, it’s almost like you’re emerging from the darkness into the light. The scene begins to animate on your iPhone, the car’s headlights flash on and then the screen morphs into a 30-second video ad.

This may be the first instance of a publisher pushing the digital envelope to enhance print reader experience and drive revenue, but it won’t be the last.

What will be interesting though is whether or not Hearst’s competitors will end up with a digital publication/e-commerce model similar to this or one that is radically and creatively different.  

What do you think?

(image source)

In a surprising turn of events, retailers weren’t the only ones pushing big deals during this year’s Cyber Monday. Many newspapers and media companies also offered discounted subscriptions (on digital and print versions) on the online shopping day of the year, according to an article by Nieman Journalism Lab.

Most notably, heavy-hitting papers like The Wall Street Journal and New York Times offered bargain digital subscriptions. WSJ offered a six-month subscription to the paper on all digital devices for the price of one month ($21.99). The New York Times had a half-off special for six months, meaning subscribers could access the paper from all digital devices for $110 versus the usual $227.50 from now through mid-May.

Pay-walls have become much more common for newspapers (and not just the top-tier) but there still isn’t concrete proof that they’re the great save-all and money makers for digital papers.

So it makes perfect sense for these publishers to piggy back off of Cyber Monday. Traditional media—magazines too—are still struggling to develop digital revenue models and by offering coupons and deals, they might be able to increase their subscriber base and add some easy cash to their bottom line.

My prediction: We’ll start to see more and more Groupons and other e-coupon deals for newspaper subscriptions because it’s quick and easy. After all, subscriptions were never meant to be the main revenue sources for print media, even before the digital boom. The money came from ads. Nevertheless, if there is a way to make some extra revenue, newspapers should definitely jump on the opportunity.

Publishers/Media Companies: Did you offer Cyber Monday deals?

The local newspaper is still a key information source for Americans, according to the Pew Research Center. Adults cited newspapers as the most relied-upon source for information about crime, taxes, local government activities, schools, local politics, local jobs, community events and more.

Since 2007, the Local Media Association, a professional trade association serving the suburban and community newspaper industry, has supported local papers by hosting an annual contest to honor the top papers in the U.S.

This year, the award for “Newspaper of the Year” (in the category of dailies with a circulation of less than 30,000) went to the Joplin Globe. The Joplin Globe paper is published in Joplin, Missouri and covers the southwestern part of the state. It’s owned by Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. and employs around 45 journalists.

The Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at Missouri University’s School of Journalism conducts judging for the award. Judges’ comments this year include:

“The Joplin Globe serves its readers well with a comprehensive news report coupled with in-depth articles and features. ‘Faces of the Storm,’ a compilation of biographies and photos of all the victims of the May tornadoes, is an especially noteworthy effort. Thoughtful design continues throughout the sections, and the advertising is modern and inviting. Headlines are appropriate in size and design and accurately written. This is a newspaper that is paying attention to its readers and its community.”

The contest awards newspaper of the year honors in six different circulation classes (two for dailies and four for weeklies). See the other winning papers, in their respective categories below. Click here to view full list of judge’s comments.

Non-Dailies

Circulation: Up to 10,000
The Taos News –Taos, NM

Circulation: 10,001-22,500
The Longboat Observer – Longboat Key, FL

Circulation: 22,501-37,500
The Sarasota Observer – Sarasota, FL

Circulation: Over 37,500
Prince George’s County Gazette (Landover, Lanham, Largo, New Carrollton) – Gaithersburg, MD

Dailies

Circulation: Under 30,000
Joplin Globe – Joplin, MO

Circulation: Over 30,000
Sioux City Journal – Sioux City, IA

When using SRDS, when should I use the database search and when should I use open? That’s a question I get all the time when I’m conducting training sessions, so I wanted to share my two cents in the hope that it’ll make your searching easier and more efficient.

Sometimes it’s a matter of preference and other times it’s a matter of task. Are you researching a category or market or are you grabbing a specific piece of information? Let me give you an example of two different users who asked similar questions about these search options.

In both instances, the user was having trouble finding what they wanted; in one case, a specific set of healthcare pubs and in another, consumer fashion magazines. In both situations, the user became frustrated using the Open Search.

If you think you know exactly what you want to find (say, a specific print media listing), then the results of a general open search can sometimes seem like overkill. This particular client phrased it more colorfully, but his confusion stemmed from the fact that he didn't narrow the open search by using the “Options” drop-down. By default, the Open Search is a keyword search that returns ALL the listings that contain your keyword, from within ALL media types that you subscribe to. If you leave “All Media” selected you will get just that.

When using Open Search, be sure to change the default to the specific media you are interested in and select “Title Only” if you are searching for a specific media listing. Be sure to enter the entire exact title when searching Title Only, not just the first word in the title.

Is there anything else that both users could have done to solve their problem? If you answered “go to the database and search by Classification,” you would be correct! In some cases, it might be easier to do a Class search to see all Healthcare titles or Fashion, Beauty and Grooming titles.

Then if they wanted to see if they were missing anything that wouldn't be in the class, they could have done an Open Search.

Open Search is ideal for getting a high-level perspective on a category or market, but if you want a narrower set of results, use the more specific search tools at your disposal and select a media type or title-only option first.

So, without further ado, here are the 3 must-have guidelines for searching in SRDS.com:

1. Looking for a specific listing? Do a title search.
2. Exploring new opportunities? Do a keyword search.
3. Investigating options in a specific category? Do a database class search. 

Gain an understanding of the marketing trends driving one of the highest spending sectors in the media landscape. Over the past dozen years, financial services companies have pursued new innovations and aggressive marketing campaigns to combat a recession and historical financial crisis. Confronted with increased competition, federal regulation, and turbulent market conditions, these marketers have adapted their strategies and messaging to echo the realities faced by millions of Americans today.

Topics covered will include:

• Ad spend breakdown by advertiser, category, and media (Syndicated, Network, Cable & Spot TV; Newspapers; Magazines: Radio: Outdoor) 
• Overview of financial services marketing by category, including insurance, consumer banking, credit card, and investment & retirement products
• Best practices for television advertising, digital marketing, and creative messaging

Presenters: 

• Richard Fielding - Chief Client Officer, Kantar Media North America
• Julie Liesse - Reporter, Advertising Age

Financial Services: Navigating Rough Seas

Thursday, October 25, 2012 • 12:00 - 1:00PM ET

Register today!

Dan Kennedy wrote an interesting piece on the rapidly changing "alternative weekly" landscape for MediaShift, titled "Alt-Weeklies Struggle to Reinvent Themselves for the Digital Age."

Kennedy covers the decline and occassional rebirth of alt presses, noting:

"As it turned out, the alternative press was just a few years behind the dailies -- and when the Internet apocalypse hit, it hit hard."

He also points to The Phoenix (an appropriately named rebirth of The Boston Phoenix) as a prototypical example.

It seems to me that if alternative weeklies are going to survive and thrive, they need to play to their traditional strengths -- progressive politics, long-form narrative journalism, and deeply intelligent coverage of the arts -- while seeking out new ways of making money. Reinvention as a glossy magazine, the route The Phoenix has taken, is one way, even if the new publication can no longer be considered an alt-weekly in the strictest sense. Separating the journalism from the adult ads, as the Village Voice and its sister newspapers (and The Phoenix) have done, is another.

Half a century ago, the alternative press represented something fresh and exciting. The excitement is long since gone, but the need for a diverse range of high-quality local media is as great as ever. Alt-weeklies -- or whatever we should call them -- can still be a vital part of that. I hope they are.

Read the full article at PBS MediaShift, and keep abreast of changes to alt-weeklies across the nation with the continuously updated Newspaper Media Advertising Source from SRDS.

Newspaper media advertising continues to be at the heart of local market media plans, but the landscape changes quickly and can be hard to keep up with. Whether you are basing your analyses on Metros, Micros or DMAs, Circulation 2013 from SRDS (available this month) provides an in-depth view of which newspapers papers circulate in each area, with updated circulation and market data.

• Click here to listen and subscribe for free in iTunes (Featured by Apple as a "New and Noteworthy" podcast!)
• Click here to download the mp3 of this episode
• Click below to listen in your browser:

About Gabrielle Austin

Until July 2012, Gabrielle was the Vice President of New Business Development at Valassis. Gabrielle joined Valassis in March 2010 and was responsible for leading the Valassis sales team focused on the acquisition of new customers in both well established market segments as well as new customer verticals. 

Prior to joining Valassis, Gabrielle was President of Ethnic Print Media Group, a boutique Multicultural agency, where she was charged with new business growth, relationship management, and corporate development.

Gabrielle’s professional experience includes ten years with NSAMedia, a general market newspaper planning and buying agency. As the President of Strategic Print Marketing, a division of NSAMedia in Atlanta, she spearhead media research, analysis, and strategy development for large entrenched major US retail brands. Gabrielle managed in excess of $630 million of her clients mass print advertising expenditure. She was instrumental in obtaining and retaining the following full stewardship accounts for NSA; The Home Depot,  Toys R Us, Golfsmith, Eye Care Centers of America and Bed Bath & Beyond / CTS.

Gabrielle's mass print media experience includes several newspaper advertising sales management positions with Knight Ridder and Gannett newspapers. She is also well versed in magazine publishing from her experience as the Midwest Director for Essence Magazine.

Gabrielle lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband Wayne and the youngest of her three sons, Tyler.

About The Media Mic

The Media Mic is an interview series from Kantar Media SRDS with leaders in the media business about the roads they’ve taken, and the stories and people that make up our vibrant industry. Bandwidth and hosting for The Media Mic is provided by Wizzard Media and Libsyn.

SRDS is a terrific tool for discovering new media options, but sometimes we know exactly what we're looking for. If you're looking for a specific media listing in SRDS, use the "Open Search by title" feature.

Enter the name of the media property, click the "Options" drop-down, select "Title Only," and click "Go."

For extra specificity, select a media type since some media properties have profiles across multiple media. For example, Glamour Magazine has a consumer magazine, website and direct marketing lists in SRDS.

Greetings my friends,

I have not posted in awhile, but loads of travel and having my wisdom teeth taken from me have kept me from my desk. Making a huge assumption that i have been missed, I promise to be around a bit more than I have.

My bruised ego (and jaws) aside, I wanted to share with you a cool application that recently dropped in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette recently launched Plus, offering an augmented reality, QR-Code-like experience for newspaper content, but without the QR codes. The Democrat-Gazette joins The Philadelphia Inquirer as the second publication in the US to use this app technology, developed by Aurasma (a division of  HP).

While the application demo in the article shows news-related photos, the article also cites great applications for unique advertising opportunities. Walter E. Hussman Jr., publisher of the Democrat-Gazette, explained the benefits for local advertising: “It allows advertisements to tell more than they can do in print alone. The newspaper can become a guide to a lot more information.”

Pretty cool, huh? Give the article a read, check out a demo of the application and let me know what you think.

(And don't forget to explore other newspaper apps at the SRDS Tablet Media Library!)