tony of all media

The Great Twitter Crash Begins?

tcasenyc — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:51:24 +0000

Here’s one that’s easy to do in 140 characters or less: Twitter is sucking wind. After its heretofore unbridled growth stalled out over the summer, in October the social-net site achieved the milestone of actually losing visitors for the first time, as TechCrunch is reporting this morning. According to comScore, Twitter’s visitors dropped off 8% during the month, compared to September. With a range of new features, Twitter aims to keep those tweetheads coming back … but Evan Williams, Biz Stone and the boys have gotta be as alarmed by this news as purveyors of, say, the Thighmaster or Jonathan Franzen’s books.

Murdoch Gets His Ass Kicked By the Google Boys

tcasenyc — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:56:30 +0000

Forbes loves itself some listicles. The mag that created one of the most popular rankings ever with the “Forbes 500″ is at it again, out with its first-ever “World’s Most Powerful People” list, atop which Barack Obama sits. We found it interesting, though, that the Google boys Brin and Page (at No. 5) outranked Rasputin Murdoch (at No. 7), the hateful bully who’s declared war on Google and its damned links to his content, which he says is killing his business (even though it’s actually helping it). And on that subject … the site TechDirt points out that Murdoch is, in fact, to use his own term, quite the “parasite” himself, as his sites, including WSJ, typically link to (or, as Murdoch would say, “steal”) the content of other news orgs. Is the shining of a harsh light on hypocrisy ever more delicious than when it’s trained on those right-wing Nazis, particularly Murdoch?

Martha Stewart and Hearst Are Filthy, Stinkin’ Rich … and You Are Not

tcasenyc — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:24:10 +0000

Clearly, Hearst, while certainly not problem-free, has remained relatively stable in this crash, escaping many of the convulsions rippling through the rest of the media business. Take the company’s magazine unit (encompassing brands like Good Housekeeping, O, The Oprah Magazine, Esquire and Cosmo), which has avoided the mass firings and the shutdown of entire brands (and the hellish headlines that go along with them) plaguing Conde Nast and Time Inc. Keith Kelly is reporting in today’s Post that Hearst is sitting on a “$1 billion warchest” which it plans to use to expand digital and other nontraditional revenue streams. Meanwhile, as WWD is reporting, Martha Stewart has just signed a new contract with her eponymous company that guarantees her a $2 mil a year salary, plus bonuses … and which presented her with a nice little stash of $3 mil in walking-around money just for agreeing to re-up. It may be hard times for the lot of us … but it sure ain’t hard times in Bedford.

Nielsen Finally Getting Out of Publishing Racket, Dumping Famous Media Brands Like Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek

tcasenyc — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:53:58 +0000

As had been rumored since God was a toddler, Nielsen is finally offloading several famous titles in its stable of b-to-b brands, including Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and Adweek and its spinoffs Brandweek and Mediaweek, as Sharon Waxman is reporting on The Wrap. Apparently, Nielsen’s been quietly shopping the publications for more than a year. Getting rid of media properties it never had any business owning and getting out of a business (publishing) it never had any business in will enable the much-reviled research monopoly to focus on its core business: you know, stuff like defending its slipshod TV ratings, warding off lawsuits from angry clients, and fighting that challenge by disgruntled media companies joining together for “alternative” (read: “reliable”) audience measurement.