Yet Another BBC Sex Scandal?

A new book is claiming that two senior staffers with BBC's hallmark Sci-Fi series Doctor Who used their positions to sexually exploit young men, amny of whom were under the legal age of consent at the time.  The allegations appear in a new biography of the series' longest-serving (1980-1989) producer, John Nathan-Turner.  The book's author described his own experience of being propositioned while visiting the studio at age 17:

‘It happened after the first time I was invited to up to go and see a recording of the show, and he [Nathan-Turner] got a bit frisky, shall we say.
‘I was a bit taken aback; I was only 17 and . . . he said to me, “You’re so f****** provincial”. And of course I was f******* provincial, I came from Bishop's Stortford, I didn't know about anything.
'I just thought I was in this kind of wonderland that was Television Centre, thinking it was an amazing place, and so I wasn't really prepared for anything really sophisticated.'

The book's author, Richard Marson, describes Nathan-Turner as a gay man taking advantage of the situation he was in, rather than a predator.  That label he reserves for Nathan-Turners' partner, Gary Downie, who served as Production Manager, and who Marson says assaulted him in an elevator on a later visit to the BBC studios.
  In the wake of earlier allegations, the BBC has established a review commission to look into allegations, and whether the BBC's culture of aloofness contributed to the problem.  As for these particular allegations, a BBC spokesman said they would be referred to the Dame Janet Smith Review.

Source -  Two senior Doctor Who staff 'used their jobs to sexually exploit young male fans of BBC show in 1980s',  Mail Online

Too Competitive to Care

 From a New York Magazine piece on the decline and fall of NBC's Today Show comes an anecdote about the bad side of competition.

  Many attributed the decline to Ann Curry - some arguing that she wasn't right for a morning news host, and many others pointing to how NBC handled her firing after it became glaringly obvious that the chemistry between Curry and Matt Lauer was toxic - and that at least one of them had to go.  At that point, fears, contracts, reputations - and particularly the growing success of Good Morning America - made a mess of things. The article makes for some fascinating reading on the inner workings of a disaster in the making.

But for me, the central theme of the piece was the mounting paranoia as Good Morning America supplanted the Today Show as top of the morning show heap.  And this short anecdote captures its essence:

When Robin Roberts left Good Morning America a month later to get treatment for MDS, Curry asked NBC if she could tweet a note of sympathy for the ABC co-host. NBC said no, afraid she was trying to aid the enemy.

That just about sums it up.

Source -  Long Night at Today, New York Magazine

Online Newspapers: Paywalls vs. Advertising

Here's the issue - for the most part, people accept advertising in media because it keeps other costs down.  But the more ads - or at least the more intrusive the advertising - the less valuable the media bundle, and the less people are willing to pay for access.  So push ad loads, and the media bundle becomes less valuable.  Conversely, install a pay wall or increase subscription costs, and you have fewer regular visitors, and your ad space become less valuable to advertisers.
  Online newspapers are starting to see real revenues from online advertising.  Still not enough to replace what the print version's lost - but frankly that's not coming back, as advertiser's have found better outlets.  And it's starting to look like paywalls for online newspapers may be viable for some - but at what cost of online advertising?  A recent presentation by Gordon Borrell of Borrell Associates looked at the issue.
  More than 450 U.S. online newspapers have adopted paywalls to date, up from 300 in 2012 and 10 in 2010.  On the other hand, 95% of local news websites remain free - TV and radio have largely rejected paywalls, as have local and hyperlocal alternative news sites.  When paywalls first go up, web traffic falls 20-40%, but if there is a free access provision, many users eventually return (if not as frequently).
  In the meantime, online advertising revenues are booming, and are now the biggest advertising segment,surpassing both newspapers and TV (which briefly supplanted newspapers).  However, online newspapers get less than a quarter of online local advertising revenues (23.6% in 2012).  Looking over time, though, that share is shrinking.

When it comes to the lean-forward medium of online, the mass-media news model doesn't work very well...
That's because local advertisers seek buyers in the online arena, not readers.

 In addition, eye-tracking research is showing that online readers have learned to tune out banner ads.

Thus, online newspaper advertising is looking less and less valuable to advertisers.

The good news for local news outlets is that people are interested.  Almost three quarters (72%) say they follow local news most of the time.  The bad news is that they've gotten used to getting it for free, so about three quarters of "news enthusiasts" indicate that they're unwilling to pay for local news.  And the number's higher among more casual local news users.  If you follow the numbers, that suggests online newspapers behind paywalls are unlikely to attract more than 15-20% of their market audiences - readership levels below what print editions are still getting.  That's not likely to be a big draw for advertisers.

Consider the NY Times Group revenue sources, plotted against their peak values.  Ad revenues peaked in 2000, showed early signs of decline before falling precipitously in 2007.  While the decline's slowed in the last few years, it dropped below 30% of peak levels in 2011.  On the other hand, subscription revenues have been slowly growing since 2005, so essentially it's peak is this now (or at least until it starts falling).  But the gain in subscription revenues hasn't kept pace with advertising loses, so total revenues have fallen. since 2007.

Thus, erecting paywalls is likely to further damage the ability of online newspaper sites to generate local online advertising revenues. So you might think that erecting paywalls is a bad idea.  But Gene Borrell argues that it isn't:

• Ad revenue per print reader is ten times what it is for a unique visitor;
• Low value and demand for online newspaper banner ads isn't likely to increase to match
• Free online newspapers contribute to eroding print readership
• Paywall subscriptions can be a good supplemental revenue source (not a replacement)

So put up a paywall and charge, but don't expect it to solve all of the newspaper industry's revenue problems.   The Internet's been a disruptive technology, but it's also an opportunity.  And just because it's disruptive doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to kill off the newspaper industry.  Borrell's good advice is to remember your core business and focus on it, and treat online as an opportunity to develop new products and revenue streams to supplement and complement it - rather than seeing it as a replacement.

Source - Will Newspaper Paywalls Kill Web Advertising?  Research presentation from Borrell Associates

Ad spending shifting Online

2013 is looking to be a major transitional year - one where a lot of big changes are occurring in the media landscape.  Here's an interesting table from Borrell Associates on the change from 2012 ad levels and those forecast for 2013 (in the U.S.).

The biggest change is the boom in online advertising - up 17% in the national ad market, and up 30% in the local ad market.  One factor aiding that growth is the success of Google Adwords service, which has grabbed 44% of the global online advertising market.

The table above looks at the share of advertising dollars for various media in the U.S.  The most notable trend is ref;ected in the black line of newspapers, who have seen their domination of advertising revenues fall precipitously, eventually surpassed by the television market.  If you combine TV and cable, they indicate that video advertising now dominates - while radio's share has been fairly stable over time.  The table shows the rapid increase in internet advertising - the downturn in their golden line is for forecast revenues, after pulling out the new media darling for advertisers - mobile. 

If you combine internet, mobile and social advertising, you see that online advertising is set to compete for top share, if not become the dominant media for advertising.  The opportunities that mobile and social media offer for targeting is just starting to be explored by advertisers.  The next few years should see a lot more investment in highly targeted, highly contextual, mobile and social advertising.
 

Source -  Local Advertising & Online Forecasts for U.S. to 2016,  Borrell Associates presentation

Social Media Week Infographics: Good for Democracy?

Next week is Social Media Week here at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Communication & Information.  For our part, we'll be reposting some infographics and taking a look at some of the more recent research reports.


Infographic 1 - Are Social Media Good For Democracy? (Courtesy Knight Foundation)

Source - Are Twitter and Facebook Good for Democracy? (Infographic),  AllTwitter

Edits -  I jumped the gun with this post - so edited to reflect my poor sense of time.

Scary Graphic for Newspapers

From The Atlantic:

Since 2003, print advertising revenues for newspapers has fallen from $45 billion to $19 billion, while online digital advertising has grown from $1.2 billion to $3.3 billion.  In other words, over the last ten years, the average annual decrease in print advertising revenues for newspapers is larger than the total increase over that decade in online advertising revenues.

Source -  This Is the Scariest Statistic About the Newspaper Business Today,  The Atlantic

The State of Local TV News

The Pew State of the News Media 2013 report is out, and addresses a range of news outlets by media type. This post will look at Local TV News, and I'll start off noting that the report and numbers actually cover 2012.
The quick report - amount of local news programming is up, local TV advertising revenues are up (thanks to high levels of political advertising), but audiences for local TV news programs continues to decline.  Local TV broadcasters also experienced revenue gains from retransmission fees (growing 30-40% a year recently), and continued growth in digital revenues and online advertising - although these segments account for only 10-12% of station revenues on average. Most revenue forecasts for 2013 expect a small decline, as modest basic growth in some areas are offset by the loss of political advertising.  Long term forecasts suggest modest improvements in revenues over time, although stations will also face growing programming and personnel costs.

Local News Audiences

Audiences for local TV news has been generally declining for years.  Some stations tried to counter this trend by expanding the amount of local news programming they scheduled.  While this may have added some viewing, the numbers show that total audience numbers were declining across all broadcast times and all age groups. The report notes that the small gain in viewership in 2011 was wiped out in 2012.
  In almost every sweeps period, both the ratings and shares for the main local news time slots declined.  Local stations affiliated with the major networks saw audience decline an average of 6% (9% for the prime-time news programs common on Fox affiliates). While the decline in shares was smaller, the problem is that the overall ratings decline indicates that fewer people are watching any kind of TV at those times.  As the report notes:

With fewer people watching broadcast TV in general, local stations have little hope of reversing the long-term decline in audience for news in key time slots.

Another indicator of long term decline is that the drop in viewing is highest among younger adults.  Only 28% of 18-29 year olds indicate that they "regularly" watch local TV news broadcasts

There are indications that local TV news outlets haven't lost all of those users. People are increasingly going to online sources for local news and information. 

“Are they watching us as much? No. But our online numbers are up dramatically,” said Scott Blumenthal, executive vice president for LIN Media. “We are not a TV station anymore as much as a provider of news on multiple platforms.”

Local TV news websites have been helped recently by the expanded use of paywalls for newspaper websites. Online tracking data suggests that when newspapers introduce paywalls or restrict free access to their online news sites, much of their traffic shifts to local TV news websites.  Many local TV news websites are also pushing mobile-friendly sites and apps.

“Our audience proportionally is growing faster on mobile than on Web,” said Chip Mahaney, senior director of local digital operations for E. W. Scripps. “It used to be mobile was a small fraction [of our digital audience]. In some cases mobile has overtaken Web.”

Other research suggests that younger mobile audiences are leading this transition to alternative access to, and delivery of, local news and information.  Some of the viewership decline, particularly among younger adults, may reflect a shift to alternative (digital and mobile) access behaviors, rather than a loss of interest in local news.

Local TV News Programming
2012 saw a continuation of recent trends in local TV news programming.  There continues to be some expansion of local TV news hole, and in the number of news staff (in aggregate and on average - individual station numbers vary widely), and most TV news managers anticipate continuing to add staff over the near term.

  As for staffing, surveys  show an increased reliance on solo journalists (also known as "one-man-bands" or backpack journalists) who can cover news, shoot video, and produce stories for multiple media delivery.

“They’re looking for people who can do everything,” said Micah Johnson, president of MediaStars, an agency that represents TV news employees in contract negotiations.

Asking for more skills has not meant that local stations are willing to pay more.  Average news salaries increased just 2% in 2011, and stations moved to lock in more news staffers into long-term contracts as a means of controlling costs.

  Another way to keep costs under control is to share resources.  Roughly one-fourth of broadcast TV stations airing local news have that news produced by another station in the market.  More than half of the stations originating local news report feeding news stories to other TV stations, radio stations, or local cable channels in their market.  The Pew report suggests that some types of sharing have stabilized and may be declining, as technologies continue to shift production preferences and costs.

The increasing news hole over time has not necessarily resulted in more local news stories.  The number of edited package stories has dropped over time, and average story length has also fallen. In 2012, half of news stories ran under 30 seconds, while only 20% ran a minute or longer. A sampling of local newscasts showed that news packages accounted for only about a third of local TV newshole (down 20% from a 2005 study).  In contrast, the program time for sports almost doubled from 2005 to 2012, and time for weather and traffic also increased.  Combined, sports, weather and traffic coverage account for more than 40% of local news program content (by time). Those topics are also assuming greater importance - Pew reports that 20 of 48 morning and evening local newscasts they examined led with a weather report or story.

The Digital Front
Broadcasters were among the first news media to develop websites, and local news and information was a frequent focus (Bates et al., 1997).  For a while, local stations sought to limit online news coverage for fear that it might impact traditional viewing.  Well, viewing of local TV news broadcasts declined anyway, and now local stations are giving more emphasis to expanding their digital offerings as a way to expand their reach, and particularly to recapture the younger audiences that are rapidly deserting local TV news broadcasts.

“For TV, online generates what TV considers ‘extra revenue’ and helps bring at least some additional audience to the TV screen,” said Bob Papper, who produces the annual RTNDA broadcast news reports.

As a results many local TV stations and newsrooms (who often have separate websites and social media feeds), are pushing into social media and mobile feeds.

Mobile is becoming a larger driver of Web traffic, particularly outside of working hours. At WRAL in Raleigh, N.C., it accounts for 15% of digital visits and could double in six months, according to the station’s general manager, John Conway. “It’s a good way for us to grow our audience at times when historically you’d see somewhat of a trail off of your traffic,” he said.

Research does show that these online digital efforts are attracting users and generating traffic.  Perhaps most importantly, research is starting to suggests that mobile users actually seek and consume more news and information than typical news audiences.  With the rapid expansion of mobile technologies, those in the news industry are hopeful that mobile may lead to a news renaissance of sorts.
  The problem with these digital efforts has been that its been difficult to evaluate their impact and effectiveness.  Online local digital advertising revenues, while growing at a faster rate, are still tiny compared to broadcast advertising revenues.  Similarly, with all of the current focus on online metrics, there aren't any widely accepted (or industry-standard) measures of whether a local station's online, mobile, and social media users have actually expanded their audience.  Nor is there any clear indication of whether social media is delivering on its potential to increase audience engagement.  The potential is there, and stations are optimistic that good things are happening, but stations will need better measures to get top dollar from advertisers.

In sum, the prospects for local TV news is perhaps best described as "hopeful."  Revenues, employment, and newshole appear to be slowly growing over time, even as traditional viewing of local TV news broadcasts continue to decline.  The rise of digital, online, and mobile are providing a plethora of new opportunities for local TV news outlets, although revenue gains from these activities have yet to really kick in.  The real clear change is in the nature and packaging of local news and information - with less focus on investigative and serious news reporting, and more reporting of sports, weather, traffic, and quick headlines, promotions, and social buzz (on social media).  There's growing concern that these shifts in news content might be economically beneficial to local broadcasters, but perhaps not as broadly helpful to society.


Sources -  Local TV: Audience Declines as Revenues Bounce Back, Pew State of the News Media 2013
The Changing TV News Landscape, Pew State of the News Media 2013
"WebTV: How Broadcast Television is Using the World Wide Web,"  Bates et al. research paper.

Apps rule! (among users)

A new study of more than 3500 smartphone and tablet users around the globe has found an overwhelming preference for using dedicated apps, rather than mobile websites, for information.
Some 85% of the survey's respondents preferred using apps, citing their speed, convenience, and ease of use.  The study found that people spend an average of almost 2 hours a daily with apps, twice the time they spent with apps a couple of years ago.  Those factors help explain why global app store revenues are expected to reach $25 million this year (a 62% increase).
  Happiness with apps isn't uniform, however.  Two-thirds of respondents indicated that they had a bad app experience - the app crashed, froze, or returned an error message.  Almost half (47%) had experienced slow launch times, and 40% have tried an app that failed to even open.  Users weren't very tolerant of problematic apps - 79% said they'd try an app that failed initially only one or two times before deleting it.
  Finally, the study found that app ratings were very influential when looking at apps.  84% said user ratings posted in app stores were an important component in their decision whether or not to try the app.

Source -  Speed Wins: Users Favor Apps Over Mobile,  OnlineMediaDaily

Infographic: Online Newspaper Use

A look at the shift to digital consumption of newspaper content.

The Internet, Big Data, and the Surveillance State

In a recent opinion piece for CNN, Bruce Schneier proclaimed: "The Internet is a surveillance state."

The Internet's never been secure or private - by design.  It's design goals were to be open and shared - to make it universally accessible, flexible, and adaptable.  And for those who remember the DARPA (defense-related) roots, even there the primary goal was survivability rather than security.  There's a reason the military's never relied on it.
  Sure, there are things you can do to make Internet use somewhat more private - use encryption, route through anonymizers, etc.  But still, every bit of data carries addresses, and all that flexibility and sharing requires that basic information on users and connected devices be readily available.  Add the fact that every data packet travels public routes where they can be duplicated, and ISPs and servers regularly back-up content and messages, and you realize that the Internet is a very public place.  As for encryption, industries trying to rely on encryption for copyright protection (as well as governments) have found that every encryption system is beatable, given enough brains, computing power, and time.  That many governments seek to restrict the use of encryption technology is a matter of laziness and cost rather than a fear of totally private communications.
  For a long time, the sheer volume of Internet traffic provided a bit of privacy protection for common users - searching through the volume of packets and files, identifying and matching traffic through multiple sites, etc. was just too problematic.  But if you had the resources, you could often break through whatever privacy/security roadblocks used (if any).  Schneier offers three recent illustrations -

• the Chinese military hackers that have been attacking U.S. and European government, military, and commercial sites, were identified in part as they accessed their Facebook accounts through the same networks and hardware used for the hacking.
• a leader of the LulzSec hacker collective was identified and arrested, reportedly because he slipped up and once logged into an IR chatroom in the clear - without masking his IP address as was his normal practice.
• Paula Broadwell, who had an affair with then CIA Director David Petraeus, was identified despite only logging into the anonymous email account created and used for the affair from public internet sites.  The FBI reportedly identified her by matching hotel and service receipt records from the times of the emails, and finding hers was the one name in common.

Schneier's point is that Internet traffic is widely tracked, and not only by governments and counter-espionage organizations.  Google does it on everything running through one or another of their sites.  Google also tracks and records websites and content for its search engines.  Blogger.com, for example, lets me know who's visited this blog, where you're from, what OS you're running, and how you found me.  Apple tracks user behaviors on iPhones and iPads.  Facebook tracks its members and their behaviors, and backs up their content and submissions.  They've also admitted tracking their members non-Facebook activities, and using cookies to track online behaviors of non-members who visit Facebook pages.  Pretty much every commercial site builds profiles of users and customers.  And metrics firms collect and track data (anonymized, they say) on users and their Internet behaviors in terms of data traffic flows..

Now if all these were separate, private, and secure, they may be seen by many as the acceptable cost for the services and benefits provided by the Internet and various online services.  Even if they were shared, it might not be so bad, if it would take significant time and effort to try to link things together (particularly if you're looking for patterns in behavior).  If "surveillance" was too costly or inconvenient to be used regularly or for trivial purposes.
However, that's increasingly not the case, due to technology advances and the rise of Big Data.  If you haven't heard the phrase before, Big Data refers to a range of programs and techniques for trolling extremely large data sets (such as online tracking data) to tease out and identify patterns and links.  With Big Data to help, the sheer volume of online data is no hindrance.  Automated systems can scan millions of emails in real time looking for key words or phrases.  Automated systems can match online searches, or the use of certain apps, to purchasing behaviors and location data from mobile devices to send users a coupon for a nearby store or restaurant.  And data storage costs keep falling.  (And while not exclusively Internet, facial recognition software and the myriad private and public video cameras can be used to track a person's movements).
  As Schneier puts it,

This is ubiquitous surveillance: All of us being watched, all the time, and that data being stored forever. This is what a surveillance state looks like, and it's efficient beyond the wildest dreams of George Orwell.

Nor does there seem to be an easy solution, or a means of opting out.

There are simply too many ways to be tracked. The Internet, e-mail, cell phones, web browsers, social networking sites, search engines: these have become necessities, and it's fanciful to expect people to simply refuse to use them just because they don't like the spying, especially since the full extent of such spying is deliberately hidden from us and there are few alternatives being marketed by companies that don't spy.

So, Schneier concludes, welcome to an Internet without privacy; welcome to the Internet surveillance state.  While public interest groups try to raise concerns about privacy, and individuals rant, the public doesn't seem to mind - as long as Amazon and Netflix make good recommendations, YouTube lets you know about the latest "cute kitty" viral video, and social media don't charge fees.  The Internet was never truly private in the first place, and isn't likely to ever significantly shift in that direction.  In part because one of the significant public values of the Internet comes from the lack of privacy and the ability to find and make connections.  What international and national regulatory moves there are are about giving governments more control over the Internet, and more access to the information it transmits and generates.  Which means even fewer real privacy protections.

  If that worries you - and it should - you could go offline.  But in a modern global information society, that comes at a high cost.  Or you could try to level the playing field, as David Brin suggests in The Transparent Society - let us, as citizens, have the same access to surveillance of government activities as the government has over our activities.  Make government truly transparent, rather than settling for "transparency" being defined as giving people access to information the government wants to provide them.  Turn the cameras around, open records, and let the public see what government actually does, rather than only what the government claims it's doing (true or not).  Or hoping that an (increasingly scarce) honest and aggressive press will investigate and report, and do the monitoring for them.

Sources -  The Internet is a surveillance state,  CNN Opinion
David Brin's Transparency website

Edit - fixed some typos

Pew 2013 State of the News Media Report released

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism has released its annual "State of the News Media" report for 2013.  I'll try to take a closer look at some of the components over the next week or two, but here's some highlights from the overview.

Resources for newsrooms continue to decline.  Estimated cuts for 2012 put full-time professional news staff numbers under 40,000 in the U.S., the lowest employment level since 1978 (and down 30% from its peak in 2000).  This contributed to shifts in news coverage - sports, weather, and traffic reports account for 40% of local news program content.  On CNN, the number of produced news packages in 2012 were half that of five years ago.  Across the cable news networks, live coverage of news events fell 30%, while interview segments rose 31%.  The sole remaining news magazine, Time, cut 5% of its staff earlier this year.

Pew interprets this as resulting in "a news industry that is more undermanned and unprepared to uncover stories, dig deep into emerging ones or to question information put into its hands."  In fact, they suggest, this fall has been noticed by news consumers.  A recent survey found that 31% of respondents had indicated that they had stopped using a news source because it no longer provided the amount and quality of news they expected and wanted.

Source - The State of The News Media 2013 Report, Pew Research Centers.

Edit - fixed some typos, phrasing (19/3/2013)

Thoughts on SXSW

Not mine, regrettably - I've never managed to make that shindig.  Anne Czernek from Online Media Daily, though, offers her thoughts on the top trends for 2013, as seen at SXSW-Interactive.

1. Democratization of hardware.  Not only is the tech for producing quality media content affordably available and nearly omnipresent, but 3D printing is showing the same potential for physical goods.
2. No breakout app - the focus this year was more on what the new hardware made possible, rather than new ideas for using old(er) tech.
3. Social media's impact on technology.  Technology made social media possible, then feasible, and finally practical.  This year, it was social media through crowd-funding that returned the investment.
4. Inspiration from outside - This year's big inspiration was Elon Musk, who talked of space and reusable rockets, not digital payments.
5. Convergence as a good thing - Increasingly, talent and content is being shared across old industry boundaries.  Ideas flowing from journalism to health care to aeronautics are demonstrating that synergies can develop in unexpected ways.
6. It's a global world - SXSW, which started as a showcase for Austin bands, is attracting vendors, entrepreneurs, participants and visitors from around the world.
7. More focus on content - and going viral -  Both publishers and marketers seem more comfortable with digital and social strategies, and realize that you need content to draw audiences in and get them active.
8. Some trends refuse to die - A few keep breaking out, generating buzz and potential, yet somehow haven't crossed that critical mass point.  In recent years, NFC, RFID, QR (codes), and AR (augmented reality) have gotten attention, and found success in niche applications, yet haven't found that mass appeal value.

For me, the biggest transformative potential is 3-D printing, although costs still need to drop before it's likely to hit critical mass.  That is, if the current industry bigs don't try to outlaw it first.

Source -  SXSW Interactive: 8 Top Trends of 2013,  Online Media Daily

Scotland Joins Press Regs Movement

Meanwhile, to the North, the Scottish Parliament is set to consider its own recommendations for press regulation.  And in disturbing directions - by expanding its coverage, and requiring it to fund itself (presumably either by collecting fines or making publishers pay licensing fees to cover news).

"The principal difference between what we advise and what others have proposed is that the jurisdiction of the regulatory body must extend by law to all publishers of news-related material. No publisher of news-related material should be able to opt out of that jurisdiction. We have little confidence that the voluntary 'opt in or opt out' model proposed by Leveson would work - whatever incentives were devised to encourage publishers to opt in."

One industry insider was quoted as saying

"These measures are draconian and unprecedented in a parliamentary democracy. The provision that all publications are required to register with this new body is effectively newspaper licensing. There it is. In theory is could extend to everything from a parish newsletter to a fishing journal serving the north-east."

The storm clouds are gathering...  (and not just in Knoxville for this afternoon's rain).

Source -   Scottish Government publishes Leveson report press regulation recommendation and sparks newspaper licensing fears,  The Drum

UK Tries to Reign in Press

The Labour Party claims it has a deal with the other major UK parties to publish a Royal Charter, to be backed by legislation, that would set tough new standards and oversight on journalism and the press in Great Britain.  The prompt for action comes after the publication of the Leveson inquiry into the actions and ethics of the press following a series of scandals. Leveson proposed statutory changes, but balance them with enshrining into law the freedom of the press, and the government's duty to actively promote press freedom.  The shift to the device of a Royal Charter was seen as a way to impose regulation and oversight without having to actually formally commit to the principal of a free press.

  Press and free speech advocates were outraged.  From tabloid The Sun:

As they bargained overnight in talks that ended at 2.30am, newspaper industry experts appealed to MPs not to shame Britain by throwing away 318 years of Press freedom.

Tim Luckhurst, Kent University’s Professor of Journalism, said: “Popular newspapers are bold defenders of the public interest. It protects our liberties and holds power to account. MPs should search their conscience and vote for freedom of expression unlimited by state intervention.”

Nick Pickles, director of civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, said of proposals to shackle newspapers: “MPs should reject these dangerous measures that would be seen around the world as Britain abandoning its free Press.”

Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, commented, "I’m very cautious about controlling the media, because it always leads to something bad - it always leads to misuse of power."

In a perversion of language, Prime Minister David Cameron claimed

“What we wanted to avoid and we have avoided is a press law,” he said. “Nowhere will it say what this body is, what it does, what it can’t do, what the press can and can’t do. That, quite rightly, is being kept out of parliament.”

Instead, the Charter will create an "independent press regulator" that will create and enforce a strict code, including the ability to impose heavy fines and require front page "apologizes."  And instead of transparent language and judicial oversight inherent in any statute, the "independent regulator" will be under the oversight of the Privy Council (i.e. not subject to public oversight).  Sounds a lot like telling the press what it "can and can't do."  Only without the protections for the press that the Leveson Inquiry report felt were critical to maintaining press freedom and independence.
  In particular, the new regulator would draw up a code of behavior for journalists and the press, set up a bureaucratic authority to investigate complaints, adjudicate complaints, and levy fines and other punishments.  Including telling the press what it must print and where to print it.
  While the inquiry and later discussion focused on the print press, it seems the Charter proposal takes things a large step beyond.

Schedule 4, Point 1 of both the government and the opposition’s versions of the Royal Charter will bring blogs under the regulator’s control:
“relevant publisher” means a person (other than a broadcaster) who publishes in the United Kingdom: a. a newspaper or magazine containing news-related material, or b. a website containing news-related material (whether or not related to a newspaper or magazine)”

What's most bewildering to me is that this is the one thing that can unite U.K.'s three largest political parties.  They must really hate having to deal with a free, inquisitive, and at times argumentative press.


Sources -  Parties reach deal on UK press regulation,  ft.com
European Human Rights Watchdog Criticizes. U.K. Press Regulation Proposals, The Hollywood Reporter
D-Day for Press Freedom, The Sun 
Guido's Warning to Liberal & Progressive Bloggers: Royal Charter Aims for Tabloids and Guido, It'll Get You Too,  Order-Order blog

For background on the Levenson Inquiry and Report,
Leveson - New Regulator Proposed,  BBC.co.uk

UK sees boom in digital reading - Infographic

The 2012 National Readership Survey showed significant growth in the use of digital devices for reading newspaper and magazine content with use of tablets and other e-readers doubling, for both magazine and newspaper content.  While they report ownership of those devices was fairly low at the time of the survey, the results indicated that such devices are widely used by their owners for reading newspaper content (44%) and magazine content (27%).  And diffusion of tablets and e-readers continues to expand, suggesting that the importance of digital reading will continue to grow, becoming a significant means of reaching readers.

Source -  National Readership Survey infographic illustrates rise in digital magazine and newspaper reading,  journalism.co.uk

Infographic: Shifting TV Landscape

The data's a bit old (2011), but this infographic gives a good quick review.

Source - How the TV landscape is changing: infographic,  Econsultancy.com

New Devices, Shifting Habits: Online News Use Infographic

Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, using ComScore data -

Source - The Habits of Online Newspaper Readers,  Wall Street Journal

France goes after Skype

French telecomm regulators are repeating their demand that Skype register as a "communications operator" under French law.  Registration would impose a range of legal obligations on the network, including developing mechanisms to allow "emergency calls" from non-subscribers, and to provide means of intercepting and recording calls "when legally required." 

   Skype, now owned by Microsoft, has continually responded that its services do not constitute "electronic communications services" as defined under French law, and thus it is not required to register as a provider of such services.  The French regulator, ARCEP, seems to be arguing that providing voice services "implies" it is a public telephone service, and thus it must register and comply with French law.  Including, according to an ARCEP spokesman, compelling it to declare its revenues to local and national tax authorities, and subjecting Skype to paying local taxes.

French telecom and mobile operators have raised concerns that they are losing revenues as consumers switch to various VoIP services (including Skype, Viber, and What's App).  Part of their complaint is that they must bear regulatory burdens and costs (particularly taxes) that other operators have not had to face.  France was also one of the countries pushing for new international Internet governance agreements in last years ITU meetings, as a means of allowing nations a legal foundation for regulating and taxing major global internet firms.  France also recently challenged Google, claiming Google News was anti-competitive by not paying for linking to content from French news sites.  Google allegedly offered to block all French news sites before the issue was quietly resolved.

Source -  French authorities launch Skype probe,  Computer Business Review
France Wants Skype To Pay Tax: Microsoft Says "Screw You,"  Silicon Angle

edit - fixed what had been a run on sentence about France & Google.

CBS takes shows mobile

CBS has released an app for Apple mobile devices (using iOS) that will provide direct access to current network programming.  (The network indicates that Android and Windows 8 versions are in the works).
  The free (but ad-supported) app allows users to watch full shows streamed in HD, and includes live social feeds for fans to chat with one another.  The network indicated that most daytime and late-night programming will be available within 24 hours of initial broadcast, but prime-time programs will normally be available only after 8 days.  It also seems that for now, at least, not all programs will be available through the app.

Source -  CBS holds Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist from iPad app, FierceCable

FCC Approves T-Mobile/MetroPCS Deal

After the AT&T/T-mobile deal fell through, the U.S.'s fourth largest mobile operator went shopping for a new partner.  T-Mobile's corporate owner, Deutsche Telekom, had felt that the network was not well-positioned to be competitive into the next generation of mobile and sought either a buyout from a larger operator, or merger/acquisition of another midsize mobile operator whose strengths were in complementary markets.  The found a potential new partner in the country's fifth-largest mobile operator, MetroPCS.
  The FCC has now approved the merger, finding that the merger would not have a significant anti-competitive impact on consumers, and could even lead to "the development of a more robust, nationwide network,” according to FCC Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn.  The deal now awaits approval by MetroPCS stockholders before its finalized.

Source - FCC approves T-Mobile/MetroPCS merger, Telecoms.com

Infographic: Internet Goes Zettabyte in 2015

From Cisco, a forecast of the growth in online data traffic.

Newspapers' Online Paywalls Show Promise?

One of the metered access (paywall) platforms available for newspapers is Press+, which has released some data on the 400-plus publishers using their platform.  The numbers suggest that these paywalls are modestly successful - at least to the point where publishers are increasing subscription rates and reducing the number of "free" articles they make available before users hit the pay wall.  They report that the average price for a monthly subscription has risen from $6.66 in July 2011 to $9.26 at the time of the survey.  The number of "free" articles averaged 13 in January 2012, but has dropped to 10 in the latest report.  In addition,The company suggests that rather than seeing online readership drop, publishers are feeling confident enough to push the business model for additional revenues.

What’s more, according to Press+ co-founder Gordon Crovitz, publishers are enjoying the benefits of increased circulation revenue without sacrificing any online advertising revenue; however Press+ didn’t release any figures on this score.

While this news might be encouraging, the research methodologist in me has to throw in a lot of caveats.
First, the release actually provides no numbers with respect to online ad revenues (as noted in the quote), subscription revenues, or subscription (circulation) numbers.  Thus, there is no direct evidence provided in the report that online news paywalls are financially successful.
  Second, there's a line in the report that the numbers are based on a survey of Press+ customers - but there's no indication that the same publishers participated in the surveys at the various times that numbers were reported from. (For example, the rise in "average" subscription may be the result of fewer responses from publishers with lower subscriptions - who might also have dropped their paywalls).  As such, its not clear the comparisons over time are valid.
  Following up on that, I'll also note that the comparisons are aggregate - the survey apparently didn't directly ask respondents if they changed subscription prices or where the pay wall kicked in.  (Or if in fact they did, the failure to mention that might suggest that those results weren't so rosy).
  Finally, I'll note that even if the sample of Press+ publishers was random, the responding publishers are limited to Press+ customers, and thus are not necessarily representative of online newspaper publishers  more generally.  As such, any results are not generalizable.
  As such, I'd say the story jumped the gun with the headline "Paywalls Pay Off,"  The results reported don't justify that conclusion.

  For many of the same reasons, you shouldn't infer that the issues with this report suggest that paywalls aren't successful, either.  Anecdotal evidence suggests some are - for example, the NY Times seems to be doing well on their current paywall approach (after several glaring failures).  On the other hand, News Corp. recently closed down their paywall online newspaper, The Daily, citing low readership and high losses. 
  In spite of my caveats with respect to these specific numbers (and improper conclusions), I'll take this report as being in line with my own cautiously optimistic perspectives.  That is, pay walls can be successful - particularly when publishers provide unique content of clear value to some set of users - but are less likely to be successful with generic news coverage that is widely available elsewhere.

Source -  Publishers Raising Digital Sub Prices, Paywalls Pay Off,  MediaDaily News.

Infographic: Online Content Creation

It's always a bit overwhelming to think about how much information is added to, and available through, the Internet.
This infographic provides numbers per minute.

From Pinfographics page on Pinterest.

For Fun: The Social Media Zombie Apocalypse

From Pinfographics Pinterest page

Ready for Fox Sports 1?

News Corp. recently announced that it will be launching a new major sports channel - Fox Sports 1 - on August 17.  The company looks to leverage its combination of 22 regional sports channels, and niche sports channels (like Speed), into a major national brand.  To do so, it is planning to start with a foundation of 4800 hours of programming, and anticipates being available to 90 million homes.  That will put it in a competitive position with ESPN, although they downplayed that goal.

“We are not trying to beat ESPN,” (News Corp. COO) Carey said. “Sports is a big, huge arena. We’ve proven we can do some interesting and exciting things. We can enlarge the category and bring a new dimension to it. The key to success for us is to build an attractive business that resonates with consumers."

Source - News Corp. To Launch Fox Sports 1, MediaDailyNews

When Journalists Get Bullied

Ran across this editorial from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), noting that 68 journalists were killed on the job last year, and bemoaning that -

according to Guy Berger, Director of the Division of Freedom of Expression and Media Development at UNESCO, is that “killers are not being brought to book.”

The editorial, and accompanying infographic bemoans what they call a culture of impunity that seems to be spreading - -despite international efforts to improve journalist safety, such as resulted in the United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists, adopted last November.  But as one journalist working in a high-risk area noted,

“Such initiatives haven’t done any good because there is no will to make the laws and programmes designed to protect journalists actually work.”

 

Source - Bylines Lost on the Frontline, WAN-IFRA editorial

Nielsen/Arbitron deal edges closer

Nielsen's purchase of Arbitron is still not official - the FTC has yet to formally sign off on whether the merger would be anti-competitive.
  But the deal edged a bit closer as a Federal Court 2011 ruling in an anti-trust suit brought against Nielsen was upheld in appeal.  The 2011 decision found that while Nielsen was a monopoly in the US TV ratings business, it wasn't behaving in an anti-competitive manner.  That finding was just confirmed on appeal.

“Neither party disputes that Nielsen exercises monopoly power over the television audience measurement services industry, both nationally, for the United States as a whole, and for all 210 markets.”

However, the court ruled that on the specific allegations of the suit - that Nielsen had acted to prohibit other audience measurement services from entering the Miami market - that there was no evidence of specific anti-competitive behavior.  If such evidence had been forthcoming, it would likely have had a significant impact on the FTC's ruling of whether the Nielsen-Arbitron deal would be anti-competitive.

  Another factor in Nielsen's favor is that while Nielsen and Arbitron had once been fierce competitors in the U.S. TV and Radio ratings business, there is limited direct competition between the two today.

From 1978-1989 as Arbitron went head-to-head with Nielsen in the local TV ratings business, 60% to 80% of clients subscribed to both, the appeals court said. Those days are long gone -- Arbitron pulled out of that arena in 1993 -- much to the dismay of many in the advertising business.

As such, the purchase of Arbitron is seen primarily as a way for Nielsen to expand into additional areas of audience behavior measurements, and not as a means to remove a rival.  If that perception holds true, the FTC could still approve the deal, even if Nielsen is technically a monopoly.



Source -  Confirmed: Nielsen Is A Monopoly -- But Court OK With It,  TVBlog

Infographic: Value in News

An interesting visualization of the various sources of value in news.  As we move from habitual news consumption to more active news consumption, we need to give more thought in terms of the various ways in which news can have value for consumers.  And how to shape and market news in ways that add value.

Infographic - Trust in Media

Edelman Trust Barometer 2012

Resource- Social Media(ted) Infographics

Found on Pinterest - Top Social Media Infographics.

One example -

Source - Top Social Media Infographics,  Pinterest page by Dainis Graveris
http://pinterest.com/1stwebdesigner/top-social-media-infographics-in-2012/

Cable MSOs grow Business sector

Cable MSOs are shifting their focus to providing broadband access, as well as TV.  Between licensing costs, growing competition, and the prospect of cord-cutting, most of the big MSOs are losing subscribers and seeing shrinking profit margins on the TV side - while margins and subscribers for broadband services continue to do well.  The big MSOs are also entering the business services markets.
  They've had some hard lessons to learn along the way, from the higher expected standards for reliability and quality of service, to the different needs and focus of business customers.  In the business world, having a big data pipe wasn't enough.  So MSOs upgraded and refocused business lines, and established separate sales and service staff dedicated to business services.  Now, the big 5 MSOs offer various flavors of Gigabit Ethernet services, along with a range of other business services.  Other wholesale services for business include wireless backhaul, voice and video traffic, and leased private networking across locales.

• Cox provides Ethernet and other wholesale services to 200,000 business customers in 38 markets, and reported earnings of $1.48 billion in 2012
• Time Warner has announced a $25 million expansion of its fiber network in New York business districts, and offers business services in 29 states.  Q4 2012 business operations brought in $515 million
• Charter is the only one of these five providing Layer 3 VPN services at this point, and reported business revenues of $168 million in 2012.  Its active in 11 markets
• Cablevision's Lightpath business operations has focused on public and health sectors as well as business in the New York metro area.  It's developed distinctive service bundles for the education, healthcare, and government sectors, and reported $81.8 million in Q4 2012 revenues.
• Comcast only launched its business services division in 2010, making a splash by purchasing two local business networking firms (Cimco & NGT Telecom). The investment's paying off, with business services being Comcast's fastest growing segment, with operations in 20 markets and a reported $660 million in Q4 2012 revenue.

Source -  Cable MSOs: A phoenix rising in the Ethernet industry,  FierceTelecom

Evolving Video Landscape

More indications of a changing video landscape...

Europe is seeing the rise of "Hybrid" TV - integrating traditional TV with online video. 
  In Sweden, telecom and IPTV operator Helm is planning to launch a multiscreen service using the TiVo interface. Com Hem says it wants to improve the TV experience for its viewers, by expanding viewer options and experiences via time-shifting and place-shifting, bringing TV and apps to multiple devices in the home as well as outside it. Tomas Franzen, CEO of Com Hem, plans to use the TiVo interface to bring "features like TV Everywhere, remote recording, universal search, smart recommendations and access to a wide range of third party interactive applications."
  In contrast, Panorama TV is a smart TV app that offers access to live HDTV streaming from 250 European travel destinations, along with weather reports and tourist information.  More than a million viewers have accessed the service via smart-TVs since October.  Germany's Feratel indicates that it plans to introduce a booking service to the app in the near future.

  In-room revenues from VOD and IPTV offerings increased around 150 percent since 2011, according to iBAHN, who provides content services to the hospitality industry.  iBahn's service provides smart-TV functionality, including letting guests access their individual streaming subscription content, without the need to update HDTVs to smart TVs.

Ooyala's 2012 Global Video Year in Review report is out, and shows that use of online and mobile videos continues to grow rapidly.  The share of streaming video viewing doubled in 2012, with a huge spike of tablet viewing on Christmas Day.  That's still only 8% of all video viewing, however.  The kind of online videos being watched varied by device.  Long-form quality IP videos (TV shows and movies) accounted for 63% of all video viewing on tablets, and about 80% of IP video viewing through connected devices and smart TVs.  In contrast, almost half of IP video viewing on smartphones were under 6 minutes in length.  Ooyala's metrics are based on the online habits of 200 million users in 130 countries.

A large-sample study from Hitwise Mobile shows that Google's various sites accounted for 5 of the 10 most used portals for mobile broadband (3G, 4G, WiFi) users, and almost a quarter of all visits.  Google's YouTube video portal was the second most visited site (4.55% of all hits), and sported the second highest usage in terms of time spent on the site.

A new report from Rovi is indicating that video streaming on mobile devices is on the rise.  The report indicates that in the U.S., as well as many countries in Western Europe, more than two-thirds of mobile device owners report watching streaming video on those devices at least 2-3 times a week.  Tablet owners reported the longest viewing sessions - about two-thirds of UK and US tablet owners average more than 30 minutes a session. About a third of tablet owners in the UK use their devices primarily to watch TV shows, while a third of tablet video streaming in Germany and the US were movies.  Roughly 80% of tablet viewing was in the home.  Video streaming sessions tend to be shorter with smartphones - with more viewing of user-generated content and live events, and are more likely to occur outside of the home..  But perhaps the most important result for the future of mobile video was that 93% of US tablet users rated their devices as a good way to view movies and TV shows.

A market report by IHS Screen Digest suggests that a quarter of TV sets shipped in 2012 included Internet capabilities, and by 2015, more than half of all TVs shipped will be smart-TVs

“Consumers are now increasingly buying big-screen TVs that include the Internet capabilities, even if they’re specifically looking for [those capabilities] or not,” Veronica Thayer, TV systems analyst at IHS.

The report also notes that partnerships between set manufacturers and IP video apps (see above) are on the rise in Europe and will make their way into US markets - as they offer a way for program producers and distributors to reduce costs while providing greater presence among viewers home entertainment options.

Sources -  'Hybrid TV' Taking off in Europe,  FierceIPTV
Global Video Index - 2012 Year in Review, research report from Ooyala
Google Dominates Mobile Sphere,  Online Media Daily
Video Streaming Growing in U.S., Europe,  MarketingDaily 
Smart TV Growth Is Set To Explode, Marketing Daily

Scripps - Amazon Licensing Deal

The recent success of audio and video streaming services is opening up a new source of licensing revenues for content producers and owners.  Scripps Networks is testing the waters with its first online-only licensing deal, with Amazon's subscription-based video streaming service.  By the end of this week, shows from Scripps' top channels - HGTV, Travel Channel, and Food Network - will be available through Amazon's Instant Video service.  For now, access will be limited to shows from previous years will be available.

"The risk Scripps wants to be careful about is to make sure that it (online subscription deal) doesn't take away viewers from its current shows. The advertising dollars are from its current programming on pay TV, that's the main source of their revenue," (Morningstar Inc analyst Michael Corty) said.

 Comments in earlier announcements suggest a similar deal with Netflix may be in the works.

Source -  Scripps Networks signs content licensing deal with Amazon,  Broadcast Newsroom

Cable Fee Blame Games Begin

If recent news stories are any indication, it's time for The Cable Fee Blame Games to begin.

  It's no surprise that cable (and other multichannel provider) subscription rates are going up.  Programming license fees keep rising, the number of channels increase, and the last round of retransmission consent negotiations didn't go well for the multichannel industry.  And the increases look to be even higher this year - perhaps enough that the industry is looking for others to blame.  Many licensing deals require system-wide carriage of top channels, and are often sold in conjunction with new or less-valuable channels. So now some cable execs are talking about possibly breaking the basic tier into mini-bundles, even as public interest groups raise the prospect of a la carte pricing.
  It's come to the point where Cablevision launched an anti-trust suit against Viacom, accusing it of forcing the cable MSO to carry (and pay for) less popular Viacom cable networks in order to get MTV and Nickelodeon.

"Without the 'take it or leave it' requirements of bundled programming packages at a wholesale level, cable companies could tailor smaller and lower-priced packages that could offer flexibility and have great appeal to specific interests and audiences," said Charlie Schueler, spokesman for Cablevision.

   Other multichannel providers are experimenting with partial unbundling.  Verizon's offering a basic mini-bundle that drops expensive sports channels and knocks $15 off monthly fees.  Mediacomm has been advocating a hybrid model with the most expensive channels offered a la carte on top of a basic bundle.
   And now the broadcast networks are talking about wanting to get big license fees from multichannel distributors, either directly or indirectly, by grabbing a big share of increased retransmission consent fees for affiliates.  Some of the amounts I've been hearing are unreasonably and exorbitantly high - but between what the broadcast nets are talking, and sports channels passing through sky-rocketing coverage rights fees, coming jumps could be as high as $25-$50 a month, as they can't afford not to have high-demand content in an increasingly competitive environment.  Thus, cable needs to try to put the blame for big rates increases elsewhere.


Here's some other recent headlines and highlights.

• Cable One is going public with what it says is AMC's demand for a 520% increase in license fees.  AMC has seen significant gains in viewing due to a number of successful original series.
  Cable One claims AMC is demanding 520% increase in license fees,  FierceCable
• Dish Network gets $4.86 million jury award from ESPN, after alleging it wasn't getting the "best licensing rates" its contract provided.  That's about 3% of the damages Dish claimed.  Don't expect anybody's rates to go down.
  Jury orders ESPN to pay Dish Network $4.86 million, FierceCable
• In 2012, Mediacom Broadband average video subscription revenues up 12%, subscribers down 7%. Mediacom LLC saw average video sub revenues up 10%, subscribers down 7%.
  Mediacom Broadband increases average video subscriber revenue by $14 in 2012, FierceCable

Sources -  Imagining a Post-Bundle TV World, Wall Street Journal

Infographics: How Mobile Connects Globally

A couple of infographics, courtesy of Nielsen.

Sources -  How the Mobile Consumer Connects Around the Globe, NielsenWire

Milepost: Global Music Sales Actually Rise

On the heels of the news of iTunes' sales of songs surpassing 25 billion (6 Feb, 2013), comes a report that total global music sales actually increased in 2012 - the first increase since 1999.

  Global music industry trade group IFPI released their annual report earlier this week, showing a very modest increase in total sales revenues of 0.3%, to US$16.5 billion.  While the increase isn't huge, it is the first year-to-year gain seen in the 21st century.  In addition, while the industry has long blamed their decline on digital music, the latest report from the IFPI touts the growing contribution of digital music sector as the driving force behind the (hoped-for) recovery of the music industry.

“Digital is saving music,” said Edgar Berger, Sony Music’s international chief.

  The report puts annual growth of the digital music sector at 9 %, and being driven by a variety of revenue streams - sales of downloads, licensing to both subscription-based and advertising-based online streaming services, music video downloads and streaming.  In addition, there's been a huge increase in the expansion of digital music markets around the world.  While only 23 nations had viable (and legal) digital music marketplaces at the start of 2011, the end of 2012 saw more than a 100 nations where major digital music outlets operated.  Some quick supporting stats -

• Digital sources now account for more than a third of all global music sales.  Downloads currently account for 70% of the total.
• Licensed music streaming services saw a 44% increase in the number of subscribers.  The success of subscription music streaming services has opened up licensing fees as a major new revenue source for music labels.
• Social media is becoming an important channel for music promotion and fan engagement, as well as digital sales.
• Digital sources account for more than half of all revenues in a number of markets, including the U.S., India, Norway, and Sweden.
• Acceptance and use of digital music sources is expanding globally.  More than 100 countries have legal markets for digital music, and surveys suggest more than 60% of all Internet users have used a music subscription service in the previous six months - a number than jumps to 80% among young adults (16-24 age group).
• iTunes song sales generate about a quarter of all global music industry sales ($4.3 billion in sales generating $3.4 billion in licensing to music labels for 2012).

  The IFPI argues that this year's results, and the continuing expansion of digital music into markets around the globe, signal the return of the industry.  The report goes so far as to argue that digital music will be a major driver of the digital economy.

  It may be a bit early for for a victory lap.  The global total sales are still well below the industry's sales peak of $29 billion, as well as being well below revenues for other forms of media and digital gaming.  Still, it is a positive sign for an industry that's been having hard times.  I'm also glad to see the belated embrace of digital music and the range of new revenue streams it's been creating.

Sources -   History Shadows an Upbeat Music Sales Forecast, New York Times
IFPI publishes Digital Music Report 2013,  IFPI press release
Wednesday Apple Rumors: iTunes Music Revenue Up 10% in 2012,  Investorplace.com
IFPI Digital Music Report 2013, study report
The Digital Music Consumer - A Global Perspective, February 2013, slides for research report from Ipsos MediaCT