Combine a massively disruptive technology (the Internet), a weakened company (The New York Times Co.), and a brutal recession, and what you get is a kind of slow-motion fire-sale.
First went the real estate. Then went the NYT’s stake in the Boston Red Sox and NESN (a regional sports cable network). Then went 16 regional newspapers for $143 million. Next (probably) goes About.com, which the NYT purchased for $410 million years ago and is now desperate to sell for $270 million.
Next (after About.com is unloaded) goes the “New England Media Group,” which is to say: The Boston Globe, The Worcester Telegram and some printing operations in Massachusetts. The sale of the New England Media Group won’t fetch much because it carries on its books large under-funded liabilities (retiree health and pension plans). No sane investment group will take on those liabilities unless they are somehow diminished or at least ring-fenced.
Once all that happens—and it will happen—what will The New York Times Company look like?
It will not look like a growth stock. For the foreseeable future, and probably beyond, advertising revenue will remain flat (at best). Subscription revenue might increase a bit; many people would be willing to pay $1000 annually for a complete (paper + online access) NYT package, but a wave of baby boom journalists and editors will be retiring, so the company’s pension and retiree health costs will consequently spike. Those costs will increase with each passing year as more boomer journalists reach retirement age, thus making the Times’ margin for error even smaller than it already is, which is very small. The New York Times Company will look, in a word, vulnerable.
Read more here
Friday, August 10
Are Tablet-Only Publications Dead?
The last few weeks have cast an ominous shadow over this niche industry following substantial staff cuts at News Corp.'s The Daily and a decision by the Huffington Post to give up on charging for its iPad magazine after just five issues. While some media observers are quick to write off the format, many in the industry see recent woes as part of the natural growing pains of an emerging market.
Two years later, however, the tablet publishing market isn't the runaway success many envisioned. Yet despite glaring questions from media pundits, many media buyers and industry veterans are surprisingly calm.
Read more here
Two years later, however, the tablet publishing market isn't the runaway success many envisioned. Yet despite glaring questions from media pundits, many media buyers and industry veterans are surprisingly calm.
Read more here
Monday, August 6
Aggregators Help Radio Reach Online Audiences
For the radio industry, there may be no better symbol for the challenges of adapting to the digital age than two candy-colored mobile apps. The apps, iHeartRadio and TuneIn, are aggregators — conduits for thousands of online radio streams. With a few taps on a smartphone, a listener can dart among a pop station in New York, gospel in Atlanta and talk almost anywhere.
Both have quickly amassed big audiences. TuneIn, which offers 70,000 streams from around the world, announced on Monday that it has 40 million monthly users. IHeartRadio, owned by the broadcasting giant Clear Channel Communications, has been downloaded 95 million times and has attracted more than 12 million registered users.
For broadcasters, these aggregators can help reach audiences in the growing but increasingly fragmented world of online radio, which can mean anything from a customized playlist on Pandora or Spotify to an iTunes stream.
For now only a fraction of the radio audience is online; John Hogan, chief executive of Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, the company’s radio and online division, said that 98 percent of listening to his company’s stations is still on its terrestrial signals. But it is growing quickly. According to Triton Digital, a company that measures Internet radio audiences, Clear Channel’s online audience has risen 117 percent in the last year. But making money through online radio remains a puzzle, largely because of its royalty structure.
Read more here
Both have quickly amassed big audiences. TuneIn, which offers 70,000 streams from around the world, announced on Monday that it has 40 million monthly users. IHeartRadio, owned by the broadcasting giant Clear Channel Communications, has been downloaded 95 million times and has attracted more than 12 million registered users.
For broadcasters, these aggregators can help reach audiences in the growing but increasingly fragmented world of online radio, which can mean anything from a customized playlist on Pandora or Spotify to an iTunes stream.
For now only a fraction of the radio audience is online; John Hogan, chief executive of Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, the company’s radio and online division, said that 98 percent of listening to his company’s stations is still on its terrestrial signals. But it is growing quickly. According to Triton Digital, a company that measures Internet radio audiences, Clear Channel’s online audience has risen 117 percent in the last year. But making money through online radio remains a puzzle, largely because of its royalty structure.
Read more here
Sunday, August 5
Social media stocks lose their luster
The shine is off social media stocks, said Scott Thurm in The Wall Street Journal. “Investors who six months ago clamored for shares of social media firms have turned against them with a vengeance.”
Once touted as being worth $100 billion, Facebook is now valued at less than $65 billion and headed lower. With shares of Groupon and Chinese social network Renren also far below their market debuts, investors are “infinitely more skeptical,” said investment consultant Nick Zaharias.
Read More here
Once touted as being worth $100 billion, Facebook is now valued at less than $65 billion and headed lower. With shares of Groupon and Chinese social network Renren also far below their market debuts, investors are “infinitely more skeptical,” said investment consultant Nick Zaharias.
Read More here
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