Weekly NDM Story ..

Mail Online fuels DMGT ad revenue rise

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/05/mail-online-dmgt-ad-revenue-daily-mail

Mail Online's ad revenues increased by almost 50% to £14m in the final three months of last year, more than offsetting a fall in print advertising to keep the Daily Mail titles in growth. Parent company Daily Mail & General Trust said that underlying advertising revenues across the Daily Mail's print and online operation grew by a healthy 5% in the three months to the end of December. Mail Online, which is gearing up to switch to a global web domain to further drive advertising revenue growth, reported 48% revenue growth to £14m in the quarter. The company said that this exceeded the £1m decline in print advertising revenues, which fell to £53m, at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday across the quarter.

• Circulation revenues fell 2% on an underlying basis, with the company saying that the sales decline was partially offset by a cover price increase last year.
• DMG Media, the umbrella division which houses the Mail business as well as Metro and daily deals service Wowcher, reported totalunderlying revenues up 2% year on year to £201m.
• DMGT said that the division's total underlying ad revenues are up 6% year on year in the five weeks since 29 December. 
• Overall, DMGT reported total underlying revenues up 6% in the final quarter to £472m, fuelled by a solid performance from its business-to-business operations. 
• DMGT's share price rose 4.5%, 43p, to £1.01p in trading as investors were encouraged by the update.
• DMGT's share price rose 4.5%, 43p, to £1.01p in trading as investors were buoyed by the update.

Analysts were particularly buoyed by confirmation from DMGT that it is looking at "strategic options" for Zoopla Property Group, a competitor to Rightmove, which could include a sale or flotation. Analysts were particularly buoyed by confirmation from DMGT that it is looking at "strategic options" for Zoopla Property Group, a competitor to Rightmove, which could include a sale or flotation. DMGT is a 52.6% shareholder in ZPG, which analysts at Investec value at £460m.

Weekly NDM Story ..

Netflix to spend $3bn on TV and film content in 2014 .. 

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/05/netflix-spend-3-billion-tv-film-content-2014

Netflix is committed to spending almost $3bn on TV and film content in 2014 and more than $6bn over the next three years, as the cost of securing international rights and commissioning new shows continues to mount on the streaming giant's balance sheet. The US company also announced this week that it is to raise $400m to help fund this investment in original programming and a major European expansion later this year. Its annual report, published this week, shows that at the end of 2013, Netflix had run up $7.3bn in "streaming content obligations", which are incurred when the company signs a licence agreement for programming, up 30% from the $5.6bn owed at the end of 2012. The company said it has to pay $2.97bn of that by the end of 2014, with a total of $6.2bn due within three years.

• Netflix made $4.3bn in total revenues last year. 
• 19% year-on-year rise, growth which has made it a darling of US stock market investors, with its share price surging from $92 to $367 across 2013.
• However, total "cost of revenues", of which licensing costs are the major factor, also rose 17% from $2.6bn to $3.1bn.
• With another $500m ploughed into marketing. 
• $378m into technology development
• $180m in "general and administrative expenses", the US company ended the year with net profits of $112m.

The US movie and TV streaming giant, which is expected to expand into Germany and France later this year, said that it expects to "substantially increase" investment in shows that it makes itself, such as House Of Cards and Orange is the New Black. "We expect to significantly increase our investments in international expansion, including substantial expansion in Europe in 2014, and in original content," the company said in a Securities & Exchange Commission filing. "As a result, and to take advantage of the current favourable interest rate environment, we plan to obtain approximately $400m in long-term debt in the first quarter."

Netflix has been able to build its business by snapping up relatively cheap streaming rights, the potential value of which had been largely unrecognised by rivals and rights owners. However, as Netflix has prospered and expanded its operational internationally and faced more competition from video-on-demand rivals, the value of securing these rights has mounted. Netflix pointed out that despite planning a major increase in its original content budget, it would still represent less than 10% of the company's overall global content expenditure on rights to stream TV and films. In a press statement, the company added that some of the $400m could also be earmarked for "potential acquisitions and strategic transactions". Netflix's international expansion is becoming increasingly important to the company's growth plans.

• The company's international subscriber base grew by 1.7 million to 10.93 million in the final quarter last year. 
• Across 2013, Netflix put on 4.8 million new international subscribers in total, 80% year-on-year increase.
• Its international operations made $712m in revenue last year, up 148% year on year.
• The international operation continues to make a loss, $274m in 2013, although this was a 30% year-on-year reduction.
• Netflix launched its first streaming operation outside the US in 2010, when it expanded to Canada.
• Latin America followed in 2011, the UK and Ireland in early 2012, and Scandinavia later the same year. 
• The Netherlands is Netflix's latest market, launched in September last year.

Weekly NDM Story ..

Trinity Mirror shares rise after profit upgrade ..

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/04/trinity-mirror-shares-profit-upgrade-2013

Trinity Mirror's share price rose 6% in early trading on Tuesday on the back of a profit upgrade for 2013, after digital revenues leapt more than 30% in the final two months of 2013. The publisher of the Daily Mirror and Sunday People saw its share price rise 10.5p, to 186p, at about 9.30am on Tuesday as investors reacted positively to an unexpected financial update for the year to 29 December. Trinity Mirror said that adjusted operating profits for the year will now be ahead of expectations thanks to an improved trading performance in November and December, with total revenues down just 1% year on year, compared with a 7% decline in the first 10 months of 2013. In 2012 the company made adjusted pre-tax profits of just under £100m. The company put this improvement down to 32% year-on-year growth in digital revenue in the final two months of 2013, along with growth in printing and "other" income substantially offsetting a marginal decline in circulation and print advertising. Overall, digital revenues will now be up 3% year on year for the year, after a 3% decline in the 10 months to the end of October.

• The 32% year-on-year increase in digital revenue continued through January, Trinity Mirror said, although overall revenues were down 4%.
• Trinity Mirror reported a 3% fall in advertising revenues in the final two months of the year, compared with a 12% fall across the previous 10 months, with circulation revenue declining just 1% (versus 4% for year to end of October).
• It also revealed it intends to cut another £10m in costs this year, in part to offset a rise in newsprint prices.
• The publisher also announced a non-cash impairment charge of £225m goodwill and intangible assets, such as the carrying value of publishing rights and titles.
• Investors were unconcerned about the charge. As a non-cash writedown it will not affect adjusted results, which strip out such charges, but only its full-year results at a statutory level.

However, as the charge is so large – it technically pushes Trinity Mirror's balance sheet to a loss of £520m – the company has to apply for a court approved capital reduction to eliminate the deficit, to allow it to look at options such as a dividend payout to shareholders.The company also announced a non-cash impairment charge of £700m, against the value of investments in subsidiary companies. Again, the charges will not affect the company's adjusted operating results. "The impairment charges are driven by technical accounting requirements," said the Trinity Mirror chief executive, Simon Fox. "They do not relate to or impact the progress we are making with our strategy and I continue to believe that the business has significant long-term potential."

Weekly NDM Story ..

The Debrief website aims to be more than 'BuzzFeed for girls' ..

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/03/the-debrief-buzzfeed-bauer-media

Bauer Media has launched digital brand The Debrief, targeting twenty something women, with a promise that it is more than "BuzzFeed for girls". The Debrief officially launched online on Monday, with the brand available on platforms including Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter. Lauren Holleyoake, publisher of The Debrief, says that there is a gap in the market for pushing a highly-targeted product at "constantly connected, influential, 20-something women."

• "Our target market does go to Mail Online, Stylist, Metro – those broad, mass-market brands – but they don't feel it is really them, they are not as targeted," she said.

She admitted that The Debrief will bear some hallmarks of Jonah Peretti's hugely successful BuzzFeed, which has been built on the back of catchy lists of humorous and "must-read" lists, but denied that Bauer is looking to create a "BuzzFeed for 20-something women". "I don't think we compare to anything else, really. BuzzFeed has been hugely successfully and we will have elements like lists, but we also have our own unique approach," she said. "There will be a depth of content, longer reads, videos, shorter pieces, as well as formats like lists." Bauer Media is the latest magazine publisher to eschew using an established brand – such as Heat or Grazia magazines or Kiss FM – in a bid to target a new generation of digital media-savvy consumers.

"I think traditional publishers have started to realise they don't need a fully-fledged glossy magazine launch to reach these consumers," said Holleyoake. "There is a greater willingness for publishers to try new things in the market." Last summer, Stylist publisher Shortlist Media launched smartphone and tablet product Never Underdressed, which competes with glossies including Elle and Vogue; and last month Future Publishing stated its intention to target the same market, taking a stake in female-focused blog network Handpicked Media. The Debrief's editorial strategy will focus on five "content pillars" – People, Life, Getting Ready, Sex and In/Out.

• An 11-strong team will deliver content "24/7" – 10 staff are based in the UK, with Fiona Byrne based in New York to publish overnight elements, including While You Were Sleeping.

The editorial team is headed by Hattie Brett, another former senior Grazia executive, with Holleyoake claiming there have been no internal issues with The Debrief being set up as a separate venture. "Bauer has a lot of magazines and radio brands a lot do touch this audience but don't cater to them fully," she said. "It is a valuable and relatively untapped market. There is a bit of overlap on a number of brands – like Heat and Kiss . But Heat is about celebrity, The Debrief is not trying to be Heat for 20-somethings. And Grazia is fashion, which will only be a part of our content." Advertisers have embraced the potential of the digital venture, with Bacardi and H&M on board for launch.

• "H&M always aims to interact with our consumers in innovative and unique ways and this partnership perfectly enables us to continue to do that," said Ulrika Miller, marketing manager at H&M.
• Bauer Media is backing the launch with a digital marketing campaign by Gravity Road.

Weekly NDM Story ..

Has The Sun lost sales in Ireland since dropping Page 3? Not many...

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/feb/04/page-3-ireland

At the beginning of August last year, The Sun's Irish edition stopped carrying topless Page 3 pictures. Its editor, Paul Clarkson explained at the time that he had taken the decision because of "cultural differences."

So, after almost six months without the pictures, how has their absence affected The Sun's sales in the Irish Republic?

In July 2013 - the last full month with Page 3:

• The Sun sold 64,450 copies a day on average in the Republic. 
• In August, sales rose to 67,433 and then fell back to 64,599 in September and 64,171 in October.
• They went down to 60,756 in November and fell further, to 59,606, in December. 
• (January's figures are not yet available).

Some qualifications are important. Newsprint circulations are falling across the board. The overall Irish market for editions of UK-based popular papers slipped by 6.7% in the final six months of 2013 compared to the same period the year before. The Sun's fall was slightly greater, at 8.6%.

But The Sun has been declining in Ireland at a faster rate than its rivals anyway. It lost 10% of its sale in the first six months of 2013 compared to the first six months of 2012. So the second half performance was something of an improvement. Of course, it's not possible to say whether Page 3 is the reason it sold 64,450 copies in July and 7.5% fewer (59,606) in December, which is always a poor sales month. On the basis of this analysis, I would therefore suggest that the loss of Page 3 in Ireland has not made any discernible difference to the paper's circulation. Doubtless, the UK editor, David Dinsmore, and News UK's executive team, will have been monitoring these figures closely too. Then again, there are those "cultural differences" to consider.

Weekly NDM Story ..

Ofcom should have final say on media takeovers, say peers ..

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/04/ofcom-final-say-media-takeovers-peers

A Lords committee has called for politicians to be stripped of the power to have the final say on large media deals, following the heavily criticised process surrounding News Corporation's £8m bid to take full control of BSkyB. The House of Lords communications committee report on media plurality, published on Tuesday, also says the BBC should be included in any assessment for the first time, as should the impact of newspaper websites and digital outlets such as the Huffington Post, Google News, Facebook and Twitter. Lord Inglewood, the committee's chair, said the industry regulator Ofcom should have the final say on plurality and competition issues surrounding any major media deal.

• "Issues surrounding media plurality have come under the policy spotlight during the present parliament, after concerns were raised about the proposed (and subsequently abandoned) purchase of BSkyB by News Corporation," Inglewood said. 
• "Responsibility for reconciling plurality and competition assessments of transactions and for reaching a final decision should rest with the Ofcom board, not the secretary of state."
• The government's handling of an investigation into Rupert Murdoch's attempt to increase his stake in BSkyB from 39.1% to full control in 2010/2011 attracted widespread criticism.

Vince Cable, the business secretary, was stripped of responsibility for weighing the ramifications of full ownership when he admitted to undercover reporters that he had "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch's plans. Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, took over the quasi-judicial process, but was accused by opponents of the proposed deal of not taking a balanced approach.

It emerged that a News Corp lobbyist, Frédéric Michel, made 191 telephone calls and sent 158 emails and 799 text messages to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport during the course of the bid process. Inglewood indicated that Ofcom was better positioned as a neutral, non-partisan body for evaluating media takeovers. "Mindful of its twin statutory duties to further the citizen and the consumer interest, the Ofcom board should have the final say about whether specific media transactions can go ahead," he said. The committee also recommended that Ofcom should undertake a regular review of media sector plurality, mooted at every five years, to ensure that no one organisation gradually gains too powerful a position in British media. "The secretary of state should have a role in giving political authority to the conclusions of these reviews," said Inglewood.

The report says that given its scale the BBC should be included in any assessment of media plurality. However, it adds that the BBC would not be subject to any "control measures". It says the BBC Trust should ensure "its conduct in relation to plurality is addressed satisfactorily". The committee also said that with the BBC funding external services such as the World Service, there needed to be clarity in the corporation's next royal charter about how funding was used "positively [to] promote external plurality in the wider UK media". "For our part, we urge the government to support our view that the licence fee should be for the BBC alone," the committee said, although it did not recommend pulling funds from existing recipients.

The report recommends that future assessments of media plurality in the UK should be extended to cover newspaper websites and digital outlets such as the Huffington Post, Google News, Facebook and Twitter. Existing media ownership rules take into account newspapers, television and radio. "Print, broadcast and content delivered over the internet may all be relevant, as could be the influence of digital intermediaries on the consumption of this content," the report says.

Essay Feedback ..

The development of new and digital media means the audiences is more powerful in terms of consumption and production. Discuss the argument for and again this view.

Rupert Murdoch says "The internet has given readers much more power, the world is changing and newspapers have to adapt" this proclamation states that new and digital media developments have changed the way audiences access the internet. For someone who is so strong minded and powerful in the media, who owns a huge conglomerate, New Corporation, to say that newspapers have to adapt because of the new and digital media shows that the audiences really do have much more power in terms of production and consumption. Through New and digital media, the more traditional ways of consuming news are dying out for example The daily Mirror has fallen below 1m sales, the biggest faller in an otherwise broadly resilient daily national newspaper market in December, because audiences now turn to online version which gives them more power when consuming the information. Another strong example would be the use of portable media products like tablets and mobile phones where audiences can read news online which no hassle, holding a A3 size newspaper which can socked in rain is too much effort for people in the morning who want to relax on the trains. 

However, Pluralist argue media content isn't focused on dominate ideology but by their audience. The rise of citizen journalism and users generated content (UGC) has empowered the audiences in terms of production and consumption through the development of new and digital media. Since the audience now can create the news also with the help of the new smartphones and tablets which makes it easier for one to post their own news. A great example of UGC is the incident with Rodney King in 1992, a man who was almost beaten to death by the LA police which was seen by a man merely looking out of his window who then decided to record everything and give it to a news agency who showed it on the news everywhere, soon the video went viral and everybody saw what the LA police did just because a man was looking out of his window and happened to record it. It also created the rise in UGC as people everywhere starting using the development of new and digital media, meaning that the audiences now create their own news, they don't rely on their traditional ways of receiving news, another point to add is how majority of the teenagers today first hear the news on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter which again is another example of how because of new and digital media, audiences have a strong power in terms of consuming the products.