Following the announcement that Facebook will be refocusing News Feeds to favour posts from family and friends, Bauer Media’s head of digital, Michael Fuyala, takes a look at what the changes mean for publishers and what should be considered when executing campaigns.
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A full rundown on what to expect from the latest issue of NZ Marketing.
Only 100 days after launching a major new product, you’d expect its creators to still be in celebratory mood, sipping on the leftover bottles of champagne that slipped by unopened during the launch party. But this was not the case when it came to Facebook’s Canvas. We chat to Canvas product manager Zack Hendlin about tweaking the platform whenever it’s necessary.
NZME contributed AU$203.7 million revenue and a net profit of AU$30.7 million to APN’s financial figures, but the performance of the various arms—publishing, radio and ecommerce—of the organisation was relatively flat when compared to the figures posted in the previous year. And while Hastings confirmed that digital registrations for the Herald were going to be launched, she said that there were no plans to introduce a paywall this year.
Australian lifestyle brand Urban List is expanding into the Auckland market and is looking to establish partnerships with businesses on this side of the ditch. The website, which was first launched in 2011 and provides content on dining, shopping, health and beauty, has grown quickly in the Australian market, attracting a following of 1.2 million unique visitors per month across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Given the extent of the ad-blocking problem, The Guardian recently took a novel approach to addressing the issue. Instead of following the German example of taking ad blocker software providers to court, the UK publisher has reached out to its readers with a strong moral message.
Sinead Boucher, the group executive editor of Fairfax, has confirmed that the last digital edition of Unlimited magazine will be released in December this year.
On 15 October, The High Court at Auckland placed The Magazine Marketing Company (TMMC), which was founded in 2008 by Stuart Shepherd, into liquidation for failing to meet payment obligations, which included overdue GST, PAYE, KiwiSaver employee deductions, KiwiSaver employer contributions, student loan employee deductions and income tax. KPMG, which was appointed as the company’s liquidator, released its first report on 19 November, revealing additional details about the process thus far.
Around five years ago, the NBR started charging for its online subscriptions, with its corporate IP subscription offer arriving on the scene around a year ago. Publisher Todd Scott says it’s now bringing in $1 million in digital subs revenue and it will be hoping for more after launching its redesigned website and a mobile-only offer over the weekend and also announcing plans to establish an NBR radio service.
Back when newspapers (and, to a lesser degree, magazines) were happily floating down their rivers of gold, the church and state of editorial and sales were kept very separate. But desperate times call for what some may see as desperate measures and as publishers search for new revenue streams, many of them are increasingly offering their skills to help tell the stories of businesses. Now APN has joined that club with the launch of Brand Insight.
The highest-circulating youth magazine in New Zealand, Creme, is to be no more with Bauer Media announcing today that the final issue will be the September 2014 edition. Creme’s decline in circulation and advertising revenue means the title is just not profitable, with publisher Fiona Lyon saying the youth market is one of the most challenging sectors in the industry with increasing numbers of teenagers choosing other platforms over print.
WordPress has become synonymous with blogging and online writing. And while there’s no guarantee of the quality of the content released via the interface, Wordpress founder Matt Mullenweg has effectively democratised online publishing, making it possible for everyone from the emo teen to the food-loving grandmother to share their thoughts online. The tech entrepreneur recently stopped off in New Zealand, and Idealog sat down to with him to find out a little more about what makes him tick.
Fairfax has acquired a 50 percent stake in e-commerce start-up Pricemaker in an effort to tap into the revenue potential of its growing digital audience.
Mana Magazine, which has been in circulation since 1993, will from issue 118 be relaunched by Kowhai Media, the current publisher of New Zealand Geographic. Until now, the bi-monthly magazine has been published by Mana Productions, a company owned and operated by Derek Fox and, according to a release on the Mana website, this move will see Fox’s responsibilities limited to only providing editorial contributions.
To some degree banks have always been publishers, producing voluminous pamphlets and documents relating to their accounts, interest rates and credit card deals. And while this has served the utilitarian purpose of providing information to both current and potential clients, it has always been a bit vapid in the story-telling department. So, in an effort to fill the narrative-shaped hole in its offering, ANZ has launched BlueNotes, a digital publishing site updated daily with news stories directly relevant to the bank and the financial industry.
Over the last few months, Auckland Zoo has been putting its colourful and varied range of tenants to work by having them feature in a series of YouTube videos designed to draw attention to the attraction in the Super City. Rainger & Rolfe, the agency behind the on-going digital campaign, has held the Auckland Zoo account since 2011 (the account was originally held by Rolfe Limited and then moved across after the merger with Rainger Connect).
To some degree, the quarterly results of Nielsen’s readership and ABC’s circulation surveys have become predictable in showing the newspaper industry in decline. And while this was largely the case with the latest figures, there were also a few surprises in the mix. Updated: statistics for provincial papers removed.
An email leaked to StopPress late Friday afternoon revealed that McDonald Vague, the receivers assigned to Mediaweb last month, found several anomalies when analysing the financial records of the struggling company. The message, written by McDonald Vague director Jared Booth, was initially intended only to be read by those involved in the tender process, and comes shortly after Mediaweb went into liquidation on 21 March.
Online is not ‘media’ anymore, says Jenene Crossan. It is about recommendations, connections and closing the gap between the consumer and commercial markets. So it’s time publishers evolved and adapted to this new reality.
The Intermedia Group, which owns over 70 media titles in Australia, has announced that it will release two business-to-business titles in the New Zealand market within the next few months. This move comes only a few weeks after it was confirmed that MediaWeb, which was previously active in both the FMCG and hospitality markets, went into receivership. And although the Intermedia NZ general manager didn’t say that there was a correlation between the MediaWeb receivership and Intermedia’s decision to enter the market, he did admit that situation at MediaWeb influenced the timing of the move. Update: the receivers are accepting tenders from interested parties for all MediaWeb’s assets.
B Magazine, a partnership between Clanmouse and Bronwyn Williams, is offering iPad users the chance to buy products within its virtual pages. Clanmouse says it’s a model that seeks to bridge the gap between advertising, retail and publishing.
As Voice Brand Agency recently learned, publishing a magazine is hard graft, even with the resources of a creative agency behind it. Creative director Jonathan Sagar explains why whacking stuff on Facebook won’t cut it anymore and why chasing perfection is futile.
David Bell, ex-creative director at Media Design School’s creative advertising course and the recipient of the 2011 lifetime achievement award at Axis, has been on a mission to get his book The Dog Hunters in front of as many people as possible since it was published in July. Sales are building slowly as word spreads, he says, and so far he’s been spreading it via social media and at shows like Armageddon. And now he’s harnessing the power of Kickstarter to help fund an illustrated version.
The Listener’s – intended or unintended – jab at KiwiRail is a fine example of satire.
NZ Rugby World has made significant advancements in the digital space this year, launching its iPad edition, increasing the frequency of its eDm to weekly and growing its Facebook fan base to over 20,000 friends. And its latest promotional piece features one of the sport’s most promising players, Steven Luatua, who encourages viewers to buy a copy—or else.
Fairfax Media is celebrating a victory over its main rival APN after Nielsen numbers showed more Aucklanders are reading stuff.co.nz than any other site, with its unique audience for September in Auckland clocking in at 391,000 compared to the nzherald.co.nz’s 360,000.
The Magazine Publishers Association has selected the finalists for this year’s Magazine Awards from 240 entries, up from 228 last year. Fairfax, Bauer Media Group and Tangible Media are well represented with 39, 36 and 30 finalist nods respectively.
The blind and visually impaired have long suffered what has been dubbed a “book famine”. But changes to copyright law have finally provided relief, say Anton Blijlevens and Jillian Lim.
While others are looking apprehensively towards the world of print publishing, the company behind New Zealand Geographic magazine is taking the opportunity to expand its stable. From 5 August, Kohwai Media will publish a bi-monthly photography magazine called Pro Photographer, publisher James Frankham says it’s catered towards those in the photography business.
The sequels to the nerdtacular kids book My Little Geek has reached its US$10,000 funding goal on Kickstarter with a week left to go.