When the Internet Acts Like TV

The convergence of media -- TV, radio, Internet, and print -- is one of my favorite subjects. It isfascinating to see how the various media compliment each other and how the lines between each of them continue to become more blurry. For quite some time the move has been towards making the Internet "more legitimate." In the history of the World Wide Web, sites have evolved from print, slowly added audio, and now has video. The "on demand" power of the Internet makes it the rising star of all media.

How great the influence of the Internet was recently demonstrated when I was watching my TV and turned the channel to CNN. As I watched the network a "button" popped up that reminded me of something you would see online. The blue image on the screen said "Press Select for CNN Enhance." Of course, I quickly succumbed to temptation.


I hit select and a minute or so later (it seemed rather slow), my TV became even more like the Internet. It is interesting that media sees a web page as a more "enhanced" media than a television set. So much for its self-esteem. The site (I am not sure what else to call it) has CNN wallpaper in the background, the CNN logo in the corner, video on another top corner, images lined across the bottom that reflect a category you are on that goes from top to bottom. You can see the top stories, review US and world news, get the latest in business content, find out about technology and science, and more. As you hit these major categories, you find images of numerous subcategories, and when you hit them you find multi-page articles.


To get you more involved in the CNN experience, you can see how people are voting today on a policy issue under "Quick Vote." In order to participate, you are encouraged to go to CNN.com to state your opinion.


I view the enhanced features of CNN to be a significant win for the Internet and only further demonstrates how that media continues to grow. I have been to websites who offer the type of features on CNN Enhanced and it begs the question, do we actually need TV? Only time will answer that question.





Kevin Price is a syndicated columnist whose articles frequently appear at ChicagoSunTimes.com, Reuters.com, USAToday.com, and other national media. Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at PriceofBusiness.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

Why TV May Sweat the Future

There have been numerous changes in the way people find the news, entertainment, and information they want over the last decade and most of the volatility is driven by one thing, the Internet. The Internet has required every media to innovate or become obsolete and very few traditional media maintain only one presence. Virtually everyone wants to be seen online.

Still, in spite of the best efforts to become current, television is beginning to assess its future. Recently, Mediabistro.com indicated that the ratings game is giving people a future glimpse at the long term viability of TV. It noted: "The adults 18-49 demographic remains the gold standard among advertisers -- yet TV audiences keep getting greyer. According to Nielsen's 2008-09 national universe estimates, the 55-plus age bracket is by far the fastest-growing TV audience demo -- accelerating at twice the rate of the overall TV audience."

This is very grim for TV. That demographic is usually no longer accumulating wealth, but instead preserving. They don't plan on dramatically increasing income, but trying to hold on to what they have. Advertisers worship that group that is just out of high school and up to the late 40s. They are making money and they are spending. It seems to make sense that this group will only continue to grow older and those who are behind it in age will only shrink as they become even more web savvy.

Why is this happening? Because people are finding what they want, when they want it, on the Internet. I don't need to tell you that you can find all the video you can possibly consume, audio you want to hear, and articles you need to read, online. Furthermore, you usually have absolute control of the access.

TV costs money (if you want enough channels that are worth watching) and if you want to control the times you watch programming, you have to pay extra for it (in the form of a DVR or TIVO). Increasingly, TV seems so "yesterday". In spite of its bets efforts to get more TV content on the web, most people see it limping behind the web.

Even as I prepare to give my radio show a more national presence and a TV "feel" (via video) I wouldn't even bother pursuing such if it weren't for the Internet. However, because of the Internet, the fact we own a web platform with a presence in virtually every major US city, we will have a national news program in the preferred media of the younger generations. I believe the massive shift from TV to the web will only continue.

TV won't go away, but it is going to have to continue to adapt to remain relevant.

Kevin Price's articles are found daily in national publications such as USA Today, Chicago Sun Times, and Reuters. Subscribe to his newsletter here.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review.

Where are You Spending Your Time?

I am reading a very interesting and useful book to entrepreneurs and business leaders called Always On, about how consumers are taking control of media, marketing, and advertising. The book, by Chrisopher Vollmer with Geoffrey Precourt, boldly asserts that the "thought leaders of Booz Allen Hamilton and strategy + business magazine have collaborated to create an up to minute exploration of this turbulent yet promising new digital era and its implications for corporate executives and marketing and advertising professionals." Its a funny statement coming from a book that praises the far reaching power of the Internet, which is about the only place that is close to "up to the minute" in its ability to keep us informed. Books, including this one, typically have portions that are obsolete before the ink drys. In spite the boldness and the potential inaccuracy, this book is fantastic and I highly recommend it.

The "Media Migration" section of the book shows the shift in where people spend time being entertained or getting information between 2001 and 2006. Here is a breakdown of some of the most interesting numbers:

* There has been an 18 percent decrease in the amount of time people spend listening to music. This is one of the many problems facing the music industry.

* There has been a thirteen percent decrease in the amount of time spent watching broadcast television.

* An 11 percent decrease of time reading a newspaper. This was a surprise to me, I expected it to be a much bigger number.

* A 5 percent decrease of time reading magazines. This is surprising, considering the huge increase in business magazines.

* A 2 percent decrease in time on the radio. Although I know from (HoustonBusinessShow.com), many are going online to hear radio programs.

Where have people moved their attention?

* There has been a 3 percent increase in book readership. This is one of the more startling statistics.

* There has been a 15 percent increase in video game playing.

* There has been a 28 percent increase in cable and satellite viewing.

* There has been a 31 percent increase in home video (much of which shows up online).

* There has been a 41 percent increase in Internet usage. This is no surprise at all.

* There has been a 1,264 percent increase in mobile usage. This was the most startling increase of all. I have a Blackberry and spend a huge amount of time on it now, I must admit. I am not only looking at my email, but surfing for information online, but this is still an amazing number to me. It is a little distorted, since people largely only used their phone for conversation five years ago, but these numbers are significant.

The last figure explains why we are increasingly told on TV, in magazines, and on the radio to not only get additional information on the Internet, but on mobile devices. Smart businesses are certainly focusing their energies on the Internet to attract customers. The smartest ones are figuring out how to reach them via mobile.

This book is a relatively easy read and the information is crucial for those in business who want to compete in our competitive environment today. Order that important book here.

For a copy of the free report, "Why Your Marketing Isn't Working," email Info@HoustonBusinessShow.com and put "marketing" in the subject line.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

Economist on the Media and Recession

For quite some time I have been telling readers of this blog and listeners of my show that the media has wanted a recession. Furthermore, the media has reported an economy in decline while it reflected numbers reminiscent of a strong economy. Now a serious leader in academia has recently validated this assessment.

Economist John Lott, Jr. of the University of Maryland was cited on Fox and Friends as quantifying the distorted views purported by the media about the economy. In an article by Lott on FoxNews.com, the scholar noted that:

A Nexis search on news stories during the three-month period from July 2000 through September 2000 using the keywords “economy recession US” produces 1,388. By contrast, the same search over just the last month finds 3,166. Or, even more telling, take the three months from July through September last year, when the GDP was growing at a phenomenal 4.9 percent. The same type of Google search shows 2,475 news stories.

Over 78 percent more negative news stories discussed a recession when the economy under a Republican was soaring than occurred under a Democrat when the economy was shrinking.
A little perspective on the economy would be helpful. The average unemployment rate during President Clinton was 5.2 percent. The average under President George W. Bush is just slightly below 5.2. The current unemployment rate is 4.8 percent, almost half a percentage point lower than these averages.

Therefore the economy was seen as healthy and vibrant under Clinton with higher unemployment than it is today under Bush at level that is .4 percent lower. The comparison doesn't stop with unemployment, however:

The average inflation rate under Clinton was 2.6 percent, under Bush it is 2.7 percent. Indeed, one has to go back to the Kennedy administration to find a lower average rate. True the inflation rate over the last year has gone up to 4 percent, but that is still lower than the average inflation rate under all the presidents from Nixon through Bush’s father.

Yet, again, the news tends to describe the economic situation in this economy as dire and you would think we were at the brink of economic ruin. Lott goes on to quantify other areas.

The issue I would love to see discussed more thoroughly are the reasons why this is happening. All I can do is speculate, based on approximately two decades of being involved with the media on several levels, but the causes could include:

* The liberal bias in the media. According to the Pew Research Center, there are five liberals for every one conservative in the media. This would certainly lead to the media giving Conservatives a negative spin.

* I personally believe that the media benefits from a bad economy. Much of what we have seen and heard has reflected "wishful" thinking. Why? When the economy is hot, businesses simply don't need as much advertising. A soft economy makes businesses more inclined to invest in marketing.

* Finally, bad news equals big ratings. There is a belief that if all news was good news, people would not be nearly as interested in watching TV, listening on the radio, or reading stories.

I'm impressed with Lott's work and am eager to find more who contribute to this debate.

For a copy of the free report, "Why Your Marketing Isn't Working," email Info@HoustonBusinessShow.com and put "marketing" in the subject line.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

Eagerly Waiting Recession

I love the movie "The Matrix." It is smart and imaginative. Yes, it's violent, but even that seemed to have a purpose. I love the scene where Agent Smith tells Neo the truth about the world he has always known. He tells the hero that in earlier attempts the machines attempted to make a perfect virtual world so that humans would be happy while they waited to be batteries for the machines. Smith goes on to say that it made the humans miserable and they had to give us the current world plagued with challenges and problems in order to make us content. We lived for bad things, he argued, and the Matrix accomodates such.

I like to consider myself an optimist, but there is a part of this story rings true. One of my earliest posts was on the "Real Economy." Back in July of 2006, when the economy was booming, I wrote that "any way, the news isn't good, but the economy keeps on chugging along at excellent levels." In spite of the news today, we only have a very slight drop in the economy over the last month. According to economists, it takes six months of decline to be called a "receission." But believe me, we will keep hearing recession talk, even if February shows a dramatic up swing. The media business is actually the bad news business. They thrive as long as the media is bad, in their opinion.

I'm not ready to buy the recession rhetoric, regardless of how strongly it is pushed down my throat. A recession requires six month of economic decline. We have only seen a soft month. I believe we had years of recession rhetoric, yet continued prosperity. We should continue to determine our economic destiny.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

Creating the New Media

The Internet has turned the world upside down. Brick and mortar has been rapidly replaced by click and portal. People have huge businesses without a building and the hottest TV networks are online.

For example, YouTube wasn't just another "website", but was the first new major network of the 21st century. Clever websites are not purchased by companies like Google for over $1.6 billion. A completely new media platform that has the convenience of the web and the visual qualities of TV apparently are.

The changes going on through the Internet are becoming an obsession of mine, something I discuss on my radio show (see video above), write about in this blog, and even think about when I'm alone (while looking at websites that fuel this interest).

Adding to this Internet debate is a website I recently stumbled on called Brightcove.com. The purpose of the site is to help people and businesses to create online TV networks of their own. Their client list is impressive, including A&E and CBS News (broadcast and cable), The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal (newspapers), as well as Time and Prevention (magazines). However, the site's value isn't limited to companies in the media, but to any company trying to develop creative ways to attract and keep customers.

What is most interesting about Brightcove is that you don't have to be a mega corporation to create your own online network. Instead, they offer options that allows small businesses to have the platform at no cost and share revenue for advertisements that they can run on the site they give you (with plenty of room for additional inventory). This makes it possible to have a very powerful media platform with minimal investment.

In addition, the site offers several lengthy articles on how to make the most of this impressive tool. I've spent hours on the site and I suggest you spend time there too.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and is Publisher of the Houston Business Review.

Media, Advertising, and PR for Businesses in Houston

There is a reason why virtually every advertisement says "that's not all, oh no, that's not all" -- that type of message is very effective. People simply want more for their money and advertisers know it. Unfortunately, rarely do businesses get such offerings. A company I am with, the Houston Business Media Group, is actually doing something about it and is creating quite a stir.

In a recent post, I discussed a new multimedia program that offers radio, TV, web, and other media at a very small package price. Here are the major points of that post:

* 7 ads a day, M-F between 6 AM and Midnight on the hottest new channel in Comcast's interconnect -- Fox Business Network, which is in over 600,000 homes for 13 weeks

* Quarterly interview on the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650)

* Promotion of the ad campaign (and your business) on the radio show

* Campaign (and your business) featured on the home page of HoustonBusinessShow.com (under "As Seen on TV" link)

* Promoted in the Houston Business Review that goes to over 50,000 every week during the campaign

* All production costs are included

* This ad campaign is below market on the TV alone, but includes all these other excellent elements. This is an excellent opportunity to have a multimedia campaign at a very reasonable cost.

I find the single biggest challenge facing small businesses is how to reach new customers in an economically sensible fashion. That is exactly what the Houston Business Media Group offers through this innovative program. I suggest emailing Andy Valadez of Marketing Dynamics (the Media Group's ally in this program) at Andy@MarketingDynamics.org or call him at 713.560.3348. One could call out of the curiosity of how we do it.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and is Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Visit HBR to get your free subscription.

How to Market to Houston Businesses

Secret: This article will work in almost any city, but even the title is a part of the marketing strategy. At the time of this writing most of my clients are in Houston, I want them to find me in a simple Google search. I think you get the idea.

The way people market today is predicated on factors that really didn't exist just a few years ago. You would almost think that someone would have told many marketing businesses that they have no legitimate reason to exist with the advent of the Internet. Or, at the very least, they should make it clear that there expertise doesn't include the Internet if such is not the case. Ironically, some of the largest and most prestigious lag far behind in developing Internet based strategies.

I believe in the convergence of media. I believe some people like some sources of information while others might prefer a different means. I like everything; audio, video and (I'm old) articles. Some like TV, but increasingly many prefer to watch TV online (as Rupert Murdoch likes to say, "when and where they want it."). My firm uses TV, radio, podcasts (video and audio), articles, blogs, etc. to reach audience for our clients. With over 100,000 unique viewers and around 1 million hits each month, this strategy is working.

The hardest people to reach are business owners. It is quite common for them to work 10 hours plus, but still want to be kept informed. These individuals are quick to turn the page at the first sign of an ad, flip a channel at first sight of the commercial, or spin the radio at first sound of a break in their programming. My answer to that problem is simple. Get your message across when people are listening and watching. The group I describe as "the Accumulators" demand such.

I produced an audio about this important demographic group and I have been told by colleagues that recognizing this group and developing strategies to reach them can make or break a business. I have been encouraged to more vigorously spread the word on it, which is why I am writing this post.

I was recently interviewed by Robbie Adair of the Media A-Team on the power of the convergence of media (an essential element in reaching Accumulators) and want to invite readers to watch it here. Until people understand the importance of a multi-media approach and the role Accumulators are playing in the economy, they are going to find acquiring business a much more frustrating proposition.

Note: Order Kevin Price's audio program The Accumulators, which explains the impact that the Internet is having on marketing and consumer behavior. It is available online here for only $10 plus p and h. Receive the Houston Business Review e-zine free each week by clicking here.