Comments for Aikenstix http://www.aikenstix.com Smart Thinking in a Changing World Fri, 11 Jun 2010 03:37:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Comment on Dust Off Your TV Listings: Why Free-to-air’s days are numbered by Brian Matthews http://www.aikenstix.com/2010/06/dust-off-your-tv-listings-why-freetoair-days-numbered/comment-page-1/#comment-16 Brian Matthews Fri, 11 Jun 2010 03:37:10 +0000 http://www.aikenstix.com/?p=541#comment-16 This post makes many excellent points. And I agree. There is no doubt in my mind that the owners of Free-to-air are no different to the newspapers – they just can’t seem to let go of a declining model. Recently (I’m in Australia) I chose to watch the new TV series called V. I enjoyed the first 3 episodes. Then, suddenly…V was no longer showing. On the fourth week the network dumped it completely to make way for their latest TV series of Underbelly – a very popular fictional show on Australian organised crime. The week after that V got slotted to some late timeslot. Now seriously folks, this behaviour is ludicrous. It’s like a kid in a candy store unable to choose which lolly it wants because there are just “so many good ones.” There is no point trying to get your best show, into the best timeslot, to get the best viewer ratings, to get the best possible advertising revenue –- if it means you’ve alienated and infuriated most of your viewers, whilst you shuffle the cards in your deck. An ever declining deck I might add. I was always taught when playing 500 or Euchre you lead with your best hand; because otherwise you are just second-guessing what the other players will do. The same principle holds true here. Make a decision and stick to it. By the way, the offending channel is Channel 9. So I gave up on watching the V series and have chosen not to get interested in any more weekly TV shows. When I am ready to watch another series I will just download it from iTunes – because I know whilst it may cost me a few dollars, I can watch when I want and without interruption. Now one other observation I will share is the ongoing success of Masterchef Australia. A cooking competition show, it continues to dominate the ratings. The show has many excellent qualities that put it leaps and bounds ahead of it’s nearest rival; however that’s another story. The key here – it’s on every night except Saturday and Thursday. Every episode is engaging and normally involves a different challenge. You can watch every show or you can “catch” a few shows and still enjoy it and follow the competition. Plus it’s on at dinner time. Can you see part of the winning formula? Unlike a weekly TV series, like Lost, V or Underbelly, this little delight of a show is digestible in little chunks, available almost every night and just when I am sitting down to dinner. And we all know the lounge and TV has replaced the dinner table. And just in case you are not sure of what all this means. Channel 10, who run this show, expect to pocket $100 million in advertising. That’s $70,000 per ad. A very tasty little morsel they have cooked up there. This post makes many excellent points. And I agree. There is no doubt in my mind that the owners of Free-to-air are no different to the newspapers – they just can’t seem to let go of a declining model.

Recently (I’m in Australia) I chose to watch the new TV series called V. I enjoyed the first 3 episodes. Then, suddenly…V was no longer showing. On the fourth week the network dumped it completely to make way for their latest TV series of Underbelly – a very popular fictional show on Australian organised crime. The week after that V got slotted to some late timeslot.

Now seriously folks, this behaviour is ludicrous. It’s like a kid in a candy store unable to choose which lolly it wants because there are just “so many good ones.” There is no point trying to get your best show, into the best timeslot, to get the best viewer ratings, to get the best possible advertising revenue –- if it means you’ve alienated and infuriated most of your viewers, whilst you shuffle the cards in your deck. An ever declining deck I might add.

I was always taught when playing 500 or Euchre you lead with your best hand; because otherwise you are just second-guessing what the other players will do. The same principle holds true here. Make a decision and stick to it.

By the way, the offending channel is Channel 9.

So I gave up on watching the V series and have chosen not to get interested in any more weekly TV shows. When I am ready to watch another series I will just download it from iTunes – because I know whilst it may cost me a few dollars, I can watch when I want and without interruption.

Now one other observation I will share is the ongoing success of Masterchef Australia. A cooking competition show, it continues to dominate the ratings. The show has many excellent qualities that put it leaps and bounds ahead of it’s nearest rival; however that’s another story. The key here – it’s on every night except Saturday and Thursday. Every episode is engaging and normally involves a different challenge. You can watch every show or you can “catch” a few shows and still enjoy it and follow the competition. Plus it’s on at dinner time.

Can you see part of the winning formula? Unlike a weekly TV series, like Lost, V or Underbelly, this little delight of a show is digestible in little chunks, available almost every night and just when I am sitting down to dinner. And we all know the lounge and TV has replaced the dinner table.

And just in case you are not sure of what all this means. Channel 10, who run this show, expect to pocket $100 million in advertising. That’s $70,000 per ad. A very tasty little morsel they have cooked up there.

]]> Comment on The Birth of the Tweetvert: Twitter’s Revenue Plans by Brian Matthews http://www.aikenstix.com/2010/04/the-birth-tweetvert-twitters-revenue-plans/comment-page-1/#comment-11 Brian Matthews Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:41:21 +0000 http://www.aikenstix.com/?p=479#comment-11 I find it facsinating that almost all of the successful Internet businesses or business models still rely on advertising to generate their primary revenue i.e. Nine MSN, google, yahoo and now Twitter. When you break it into it's simplest form the Internet seems virtually lacking in any true innovation. It always seems it's an old idea or model simply replicated on the net. It begs the question - is the internet just a modern day newspaper, which in turn was really just the modern day version of telling stories to our clan? Is 'data' where the revolution truly lies and when will we see models generating revenue from things other than advertising? I find it facsinating that almost all of the successful Internet businesses or business models still rely on advertising to generate their primary revenue i.e. Nine MSN, google, yahoo and now Twitter. When you break it into it’s simplest form the Internet seems virtually lacking in any true innovation. It always seems it’s an old idea or model simply replicated on the net. It begs the question – is the internet just a modern day newspaper, which in turn was really just the modern day version of telling stories to our clan? Is ‘data’ where the revolution truly lies and when will we see models generating revenue from things other than advertising?

]]> Comment on The Birth of the Tweetvert: Twitter’s Revenue Plans by Justin Matthews http://www.aikenstix.com/2010/04/the-birth-tweetvert-twitters-revenue-plans/comment-page-1/#comment-10 Justin Matthews Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:41:51 +0000 http://www.aikenstix.com/?p=479#comment-10 There have been a number of pundits and commentators that feel a Premium account model or option should be on the table and this would create income for Twitter. But I don't think this is where Twitter is heading - they want to mimic Google in so much as providing an AdWords-like advertising model, but beyond even search - instead bringing it to the level of playing in our real-time social news stream. As we consume our friends updates, follow our preferred brands and news groups and listen to what personalities have to say - Twitter wants to be there as well with their Tweetverts. Premium accounts will never scale in revenue as would in in-stream advertising - and lets face it - as info-consumption via our a personal social-stream becomes the dominate method of getting web stuff - someone needs to work out how to advertise in it. If Google had allowed people to pay for a Premium search account to stop having to see AdWords they wouldn't be the entity they are today. Twitter recognises this and wants this same opportunity. There have been a number of pundits and commentators that feel a Premium account model or option should be on the table and this would create income for Twitter. But I don’t think this is where Twitter is heading – they want to mimic Google in so much as providing an AdWords-like advertising model, but beyond even search – instead bringing it to the level of playing in our real-time social news stream.

As we consume our friends updates, follow our preferred brands and news groups and listen to what personalities have to say – Twitter wants to be there as well with their Tweetverts.

Premium accounts will never scale in revenue as would in in-stream advertising – and lets face it – as info-consumption via our a personal social-stream becomes the dominate method of getting web stuff – someone needs to work out how to advertise in it. If Google had allowed people to pay for a Premium search account to stop having to see AdWords they wouldn’t be the entity they are today.

Twitter recognises this and wants this same opportunity.

]]> Comment on The Birth of the Tweetvert: Twitter’s Revenue Plans by Jonah Merchant http://www.aikenstix.com/2010/04/the-birth-tweetvert-twitters-revenue-plans/comment-page-1/#comment-8 Jonah Merchant Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:47:05 +0000 http://www.aikenstix.com/?p=479#comment-8 The Phase 2 introduction of promoted tweets into a user's stream is going to be an interesting challenge for Twitter. I have to admit your post here is the most detail I've read so far on the changes but it strikes me that Twitter need to include a premium paid account option for users who want to keep their stream unpolluted of advertising. Have you heard any mention of this being part of the plans? The Phase 2 introduction of promoted tweets into a user’s stream is going to be an interesting challenge for Twitter. I have to admit your post here is the most detail I’ve read so far on the changes but it strikes me that Twitter need to include a premium paid account option for users who want to keep their stream unpolluted of advertising. Have you heard any mention of this being part of the plans?

]]> Comment on Geo-advertising: The Power of the Brand-Zone by Jonah Merchant http://www.aikenstix.com/2010/04/geo-advertising-the-power-of-the-brand-zone/comment-page-1/#comment-7 Jonah Merchant Thu, 08 Apr 2010 10:26:11 +0000 http://www.aikenstix.com/?p=436#comment-7 Nice post Justin. I like the 'Brand-Space' term - very apt! Will be interesting to see if the iAd network does indeed address the framework aspects you mention. And of course when iPhone OS 4.0 is released with its support for background services, we should see the geo-advertising space get a real shot of adrenalin. Exciting! Nice post Justin. I like the ‘Brand-Space’ term – very apt! Will be interesting to see if the iAd network does indeed address the framework aspects you mention. And of course when iPhone OS 4.0 is released with its support for background services, we should see the geo-advertising space get a real shot of adrenalin. Exciting!

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